Which language do you speak?

It so happened that when Vansh started going to school here, he came across a lot of different children from different cultural backgrounds and speaking many different languages. It was kind of funny, though natural for a 6 year old to ask among one of the first questions he asked his friends or in fact anybody he met, was whether they know Hindi. Hindi, being his preferred and most used language of communication, he felt comfortable if he could express himself naturally to just one friend when the rest of the time he had to talk in English, which he can speak in though not spontaneous. Now the answers of his friends started fascinating him. While someone replied that they knew just a few words of Hindi because they spoke in Telugu at home, another child said she knew Spanish, another one said Tamil and a little boy moved to our complex a few weeks back who speaks Marathi. He told his Telugu friend that he knows two words “Annam tintinawa!” and formed a bond. Similarly he told his Spanish friend “Hola!” and yet another bond was formed. Which is why childhood is considered to be so sweet and innocent. J The fascination kept growing. Since he also displays interests in names of countries, where they are located, which flights operate via them (*rolling eyes*) and so and so forth, I got him a Children’s Atlas from the library.

Now the Atlas is pretty cool for young kids in the sense that it has the very basic starting information which keeps kids occupied with the tidbits it provides and neat pull outs for every continent containing lots of information like the countries in that continent, animals found there, what’s manufactured, their flags and yes the languages spoken in the various countries. Oh my God! It was such a hit with him. Most of all for the languages he got to know people speak in different parts of the world. So many new names he didn’t know exist. His conversations were so animated. He looked like a model child, any mother’s heart would swell with pride at, when she saw her child chatting with his grandfather in India on Skype with an Atlas open in front of him and saying “Nana, do you know they speak French also in Canada, so your so and so friend must also be speaking French, ask her!” I had also told him that my mom and dad were born in Pakistan (pre-partition), so he asked them what language is spoken there and learnt a few phrases in Urdu.

During our conversations, looking at his interest I told him a few phrases of the different languages I knew, thanks to the song “Angrezi mein kehte hain ki I love you!” I told him I could say that in Bengali, Gujrati, Punjabi and boy was he impressed. (I didn’t tell him about the song though J) I threw in a few more phrases in German – Guten Morgen, Guten Naakht, and the counting eins, zwei, drei till zen. And he was thrilled asking me where I learnt all that from. I milked the opportunity like a true Desi mom and told him how I studied so much when I was a kid and learnt so many languages ;) So now when someone asks him how old he is he answers zecks and then proceeds to say that’s German for six. Showoff!! Ricky Martin came to help with his Un, dos, tres after which Maria has become his favorite song he keeps humming and claims of mastering Spanish.

I got him a book yesterday from the library which has 12 common phrases like Hello, What’s you name, Thank you, Good Bye etc in 12 different languages and he devoured it with much delight remembering his bua from Dubai, checking that Arabic is spokem there and saying next time he meets her, he’ll greet her with a Salam and the friend in class who speaks Spanish with a ¿Cómo Estás? and the Tamil friend with a Vanakkam.

At times, the scene is hilarious when four friends are playing in the park, two good at English, one at Hindi (Vansh) and the fourth one at Marathi. The two recently moved from India (the Hindi and Marathi speaking one), high on cricket take it upon themselves to teach the other two the game who have no clue how its played. So a lot of animated hand gestures, shouting out “no this, no this”, come “ikde”, “tu ye pakad” and everybody just trying to hurriedly tell everybody something in their language, we have a jolly good time, often times literally holding our tummies while laughing.

Edited to add: Thanks to his dada, who is an active member of the Sindhi Panchayat in our locality in Delhi, Vansh participated in a couple of Sindhi programs when we were there. In one of them, he learnt and recited a rhyme in Sindhi. At times, I and Ashwini speak to each other in Sindhi as a spontaneous gesture (and sometimes when we want to communicate something we don't want the kids to understand) and he picks up a few phrases. An oft repeated one is Khile thi (she is laughing) when he sees Jiya laughing and he asks me to then appreciate him for his Sindhi skills. When I tell him thats just one phrase, he recites the Sindhi rhyme that he had learnt :)

So friends, can you please leave us a phrase, any one you like in a language you know and you’ll make a boy who would be hugely interested very very happy J

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Vansh turns 5 and another BIG news

So finally the wait ended, the wait that lasted almost a year when he kept asking whose birthday is it next and had the order on his finger tips and kept repeating "Pehle nani ka b'day aayega, phir papa, phir Jiya, .... , phir chachi ka b'day, phir dadi ka aur phir VANSH KA!" In the last week before his b'day, he had already started saying "You know, next year I'll turn 6 years old!" oft leading to responses like "How about first turning 5 dude!"

But its so heart warming to see and feel the excitement, the glee in his voice and the wonder in his queries. "So will you buy me new clothes for 5 year old children then, new shoes too?", "So will I grow taller?", "When will I turn as old as papa?" and then the countdown every morning, "Is it today" followed by a whiny "Why not?" I wish for you to be always so enthusiastic about beginning a new year in your life, dear son as I wish for you the bestest of joys and the most wonderful cheer. I do expect a lot from you, you know that and we try hard together. We are successful in some things and have to try even harder in some more.

The other BIG news is that I get back to work next week. After 6 long years ..haaah. Even though its a 7 week contract to begin with, but for me, its still big. Its in the school that I worked in before getting married and moving to the US. I am thrilled to be getting back. You know out of the total of 5 meals that I have to feed my allergic-to-food and even more allergic-to-the feeding-mommy kids, 3 would be done by the daycare that we decide to put them in while I am away!!!! How cool is that?! Okay so thats not the only thrill factor ;) I had to go to meet the Principal and my HOD (Head of Department) today and Vansh was home with his grandmother. He was a bag full of questions when I returned ...

- So did you teach today? You were mam today? Don't make faces the way you do with me, okay, otherwise children will say our mam is so funny! Ohh, okay, thanks for the reality check!

- So who will drop me at my bus stop and who'll pick me up? Oh so if you go before me, I'll drop you at your bus stop, okay!

- Today he got quite worried about going to his Karate class, my mother in law told me. he even changed into his uniform and told her "Will you please take me since mamma has been away for so long?" when we have to go only inthe evening at 5:00 and I returned at like 12:00 :) But to be honest I felt good about the role that I play in his life and that he is realising it.

- Jiya chipped in with her queries - so will you go in Bhaiya's school bus? Why not?

I have a lot of apprehensions myself. To be working first time ever after having kids. I am so used to being there for them all the time as are they. What would it be like? I hope and I pray to the kind Lord to be especially generous with his blessings on us right now, to watch over us as we start yet another new chapter in our lives.

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Are they really 4 and 2?

Experts from a couple of conversations last morning and evening respectively, with the supposedly 4 and 2 year old residents of the household

Vansh took a long time to get up and out of the bed last morning, more than 20 minutes and considering that morning is really the time when 'every minute counts' lest you miss the school bus, it was a lot. After about 10 minutes of trying several ways to make him get up, it came to a point where I told him, threatened him would be more like it that I would now stop telling him to get up. He can get up whenever he wants to and then I'll ready him and walk him to school even if that means he reaches an hour late. And if after getting up, his taking a bath clashes with anyone else's bath time in the house, he would have to wait even further. And I actually intended to follow through. The boy still slept for a further 10 minutes as I strolled around the house, pretending to be not losing it! I don't know what ultimately made him get out of bed but when he did, we just had enough time to rush to the bathroom, rush through the daily 'motions' (I think I experienced the smallest unit of time yesterday as the one between the time I made him sit on the pot and the time it took for the potty to come out!) and rush with the bath and the dressing up before rushing out the door for the bus. We were late by about 5 minutes but there were still about 3-4 minutes before his school bus came and guess what this guy has the cheek to tell me, as I acted all angry with him for doing what he just did ...

"See, even after getting up so late, I can get ready in time for the school bus!" !!!!!

Later in the evening, Jiya was busy with one of her favorite things - doodling on her palm and wrist with a red pen claiming to be applying 'mehndi'. Her grandmother asked her to give the pen to her as she wanted to work with it. And this is the conversation that followed:

Jiya: I won't give this to you. You take another one!
Grandma: I don't have another one. Please give me this one!
Jiya: Then you can buy another one from the market.
Grandma: How can I buy another one?
Jiya: Are you a boy or a girl?
Grandma: You tell me!
Jiya: Girl!
Grandma; Then?
Jiya: Boys have wallets and girls have purses! So you take money from a purse and buy a red pen from the market. I will not give you this one!

Huh! I am actually amazed at the way these two think!

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Four years and counting

These are some of Vansh's thoughts on 'growing big', something he is currently obsessed with and talks about a lot -

- Mamma, you know I am going to be 5 years soon (7 months is soon enough, no), then I'll be 6, then 7, then 8, then 9, then 10, then 11, then 40, then 80, then 90 to 100 to 40 to 69 to 500. For once I thank God he doesn't know his counting well enough to say all the numbers till 100 in the correct order.

- When I grow bigger than you, then I will scold you.

- When will I become bigger than you? Then will I be bigger than papa also? And goes on to ask the same question about all the other members of the family including Jiya. And I'll be bigger than Jiya also?When I ask him 'But aren't you already bigger than Jiya?' , he has that part amused and part embarassed expression on his face at having asked a silly question which he voices with an "Oh!" :)

- Mamma, jab aap aur bade ho jaaoge na, tab aap doctor banoge, pata hai! (Mamma, when you grow up even more, you'll become a doctor, you know!)

Ok?! But I was a teacher you know and that's what I'll be when I return to work.

Nahin jab aap aur bade ho jaoge, tab bol raha hoon! (No when you grow up even more, then you will be a doctor).

As for hiw own career plans, they oscillate between a Metro Train Construction Engineer to a doctor depending on where he went that particular day.

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Heard yesterday ...

... as I entered the room after brushing my teeth and changing into my night dress, both the siblings lying down on the same pillow face to face with a smile and deep in conversation

Vansh - Jiya kaunsi kahaani sunaoon? (Jiya which story should I tell you?)

Jiya - aaannnn ..Giaff wali (aannn ..the Giaff one)

Vansh - Giraffe waali nahin aati (I don't know the Giraffe one)

Jiya - aaaannnn ...Monkey waali (annn ..the monkey one)

Vansh - monkey waali bhi nahin aati (I don't know that either)

Jiya - phir kaunsi aati hai (which one do you know then?) (this is where my jaw started to drop, she actually has the logic and the righht words to express that??!! when? where? how?)

Vansh - accha main monkey or metro train waali sunata hoon (Ok I'll tell you the monkey and metro train one) (oh yeah, you just have to meet Vansh for 5 minutes to realize thathe's obsessed with metro trains.)

And he then goes on to narrate a 2 line story where the monkey first boards the train to Ambience mall and then after having fun there boards it again to City Square mall. And is met with generous doses of boisterous emphatic laughter from the captive audience who can never awe her brother enough.

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I adore the stage ...

... Vansh is at because

- Even though he wants to be Batman, he snuggles up close when I play a Batman video for him on the TV and after a while not being able to stand the fighting, switches it off declaring "Vansh ko accha lagta nahin hai!"

- When his 7 year old neighbor, friend and hero dons his cool jazzy Ben 10 watch the size of a tennis ball, Vansh comes home quickly and asks to wear his old and tattered faded green Shrek watch (which incidentally we found lying somewhere) and races back to show to his hero.

- Everytime he sees flowers, he remembers his Nani because she had brought flowers for him at the airport last time he went and then tells her to get 10 orange flowers for him this time.

- Once again, he called his hero to come to his house and look at the NEW little 20 inch TV that we got off Craigslist (after having sold off the one we had as we get ready for the move.)

- He kept loving and preferring the old 94 model Toyota Corolla to the newer Honda CRV because we bought the Corolla much later (just a few months back to serve us for the remaining 3-4 months as we needed 2 cars with the kids' increasing activities out of home) and hence actually it was the new car for him.

How I wish the utterly delightful innocence lasts forever!

And by the way a couple of days back, I had to make him stand straight for clicking a picture for attaching to his school registration form which my father in law is filling back in Delhi. I had to click 35 odd pictures to get a couple of decent results because Vansh decided to honor me by making one silly face after another. However at the end of it, I laughed as I went through all the pictures I had taken because they covered almost all the expressions and the accompanying face on his look he has these days - from grumpy to angry to giggly and mostly silly.

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La la la la, la la

Just for fun, some songs Vansh is found crooning these days :)

Nanha munha rahi hoon, desh ka nahayan hoon

Ganti ke bappa morya

Lakkad katthi kaathi, kaathi pe ghoda, dummmm barrraake dauda.

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Because ...

Some time back I overheard a pre-teens' conversation and learnt that a convenient answer to any why question, gaining extremely quick personality, is "because". Plain and convenient, indeed! It probably means that you don't really know the reason behind the why or probably are just feeling lazy to reason with the converser and so just answer "because". Little did I know that my 3 year old son would catch up so soon with the latest talk in town! So these are a few examples of short and not so sweet conversations in our household.

I want not to eat apple!
Me: Why?
Because!!

I want not to do nai-nai (take a bath)
me: Why?
Because!!

Convenient indeed! Now mommy tried to pull the same card in an attempt to give the little master a taste of his own medicine.

Me: Vansh you sleep now, I'll sleep after some time.
Vansh: Why?
Me: Because *beaming that I have hit the nail on the head*
Vansh: Because what?
Me: errr ...because ...err ....

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Updates after a long time - Part II - Verbal

Now for the most fun of all, the verbal updates.

- The sentences come out much more coherent now. He is a careful speaker though - doesn't speak too fast. One can see the effort put in to get out the sentence right. An inconsequential slip makes him leave the sentence mid way and start afresh or repeat the whole sentence with the mistake corrected. Having said that, he is not aware of many a slips himself and continues to amuse us immensely with those.

" Mere ka green glass hai."

" Yeh sab logons ke gharrrrs hain." (The plural of any word merits an 's' right!! :) And Oh the American twirl to the r is unmistakable!)

"Mere ko bahut accha nahin lag raha hai!" (He doesn't know the word ganda or kharab, I guess)

"I want not water. I want juice."

- He weaves stories now. And the tricky part is it doesn't begin like a story and in fact the whole of it is not really a story, there's reality in it too. So while he starts telling me something about his summer camp ... Incidentally while I am at it, allow me to digress. I never get to learn about how his day was or what he did or ate or played when I go to pick him up. Only when an incident takes place that is in some way similar to something that might have happened at summer camp as well or he is doing something that he had done there as well do I get to know about it. Bits and pieces is what I get. For instance, he begins to roar and declare "I am a MONSTER!!" and then tells me giggly as ever "Vansh and Mohit were roaring at the teacher" Which teacher I ask. He thinks for a moment and "That teacher!" comes the reply. Anyways back to weaving stories. So the other day he started telling me about an incident that apparently happened at summer camp.

Aaj Puru nahin aaya. (Puru didn't come today.) (making a sad face)

Koi baat nahin. Aapke aur friends to aaye the na. (But your other friends were there, no!)

Usko kal owie aa gayi thi. (He got hurt yesterday.)

Kahaan pe? (Where?)

Park mein. Woh park mein gir gaya tha. Phir uska tyre burst ho gaya tha. Phir bdoom bdaam boom ho gaya tha. (He fell in the park. Then his tyre burst. and then went bdoom bdaam boom!!)

Uska tyre kaise burst ho sakta hai Vanshi? (How can his tyre burst Vanshi?)

(thinks for a while) Aaj Puru nahin aaya tha. (excitedly) Vansh ne Puru ke saath masti kiya tha aaj! (Giggles) (Puru didn't come today. Vansh acted silly with Puru)

Par Puru to aaya nahin tha? (But Puru didn't come, right?)

Aaya tha! Usne Vansh ko maara tha phir Vansh ne usko maar diya tha!! (He came! He hit Vansh and then Vansh hit him)

Even though I do go on to explain to him ho to handle hitting et al but my mind is reeling as to which part is reality and which is the story apart from the tyre bursting part clearly being the story.

As I read through the last update post, I realized that the following conversation STILL takes place in our house even after 8 months!!!

Papa, office aa gaye?
Haan beta
Car park kiya?
Haanji kiya
Ashutosh uncle ke saath red/white car mein gaye the
Haanji, Ashutosh uncle ke saath gaya tha

Some things never change!!

And he is so much in awe of Ashutosh uncle that he pretends that he himself is papa and any other friend or even Jiya is pretend A uncle and they are pretending to go to office in a pretend car which can be the sofa or the dining table chairs or the car carts at the supermarket.

- Even though the fascination with cars and trucks and all moving things continue, he's taken it a step further as he now tries to fix the car when its tire bursts or when it needs an oil change. He uses his tools to also fix his fire truck bed after pronouncing that "Its not working!" He continues to surprise moms and dads of his friends by pointing out Lexus, Mitsubishis and Mazdas as they pass by. 'Contible' (read convertible) is his latest fancy. I am wondering whether he too will come up with Nantu's brilliant idea of breaking the roof to have one of his own :)

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Prayer time turned really funny!

Last night, while folding hands in front of Sai Baba before going to bed, as Vansh repeated after me what I asked him to say

Me: Bhagwan ji, mujhe accha bacha banao. (God, make me a good kid.)

Vansh repeats

Me: Mujhe acche sanskar do. (Bless me with good virtues)

Vansh : Mujhe acchi cars do !!! (Give me good cars!)

HOWZZAT!!!

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CARS CARS CARS

Mummy white car mein chalein?

Papa white car mein jaate hain? Kabhi kabhi red car mein jaate hain?

Ashutosh uncle red car mein jaate hain? Mohit silver car mein jaata hai? Pranay black car mein jaata hai?

Hum green car mein chalein? Okay! Vansh green car mein ja raha hai. Keys le li mamma?


Vansh is talking about cars A-L-L D-A-Y L-O-N-G !!! No exaggerations !! 'He is obsessed' sounds like an understatement. He wants to drive a car, that not possible he wants to sit on the driver's seat and pretend to drive. He even goes to the extent of saying that we go inside the store to shop while he'll sit there doing that. Not satisfied with the time for which he can do that, he pretends his plates, lids of boxes, forget all the round things, even the books are imagined to be steering wheels. He insists on letting him open the car door with the keys, he takes his toy keys (well actually Jiya's baby keys) and just tries to fit them in the wall pretending them to be car doors.

He keeps thinking about the same things for 15 minutes at a stretch at times. I know that because just yesterday after he had his lunch and was in one of his deep thinking sessions, I asked him what he was thinking about. He said "Vansh ne galti se car ka darwaaza band kar diya tha." (Vansh had closed the car's door by mistake.) I assumed he must have done that just a little while back when he had gone outside with his dad to look at him while he did a little paint job on it. And I simply said Okay! He repeated the same sentence 4-5 times before Ashwini took him inside to lay him down for his afternoon nap. I went inside the room after no less than 12-14 minutes, he was still laying awake, still in the 'deep thinking' mode and he repeated the same sentence "Vansh ne galti se car ka darwaaza band kar diya tha." when he saw me. This to me is surprising. I didn't imagine before this that kids this young are capable of holding on to to a thought for so long. He also surprises me by actually telling the right color of his friends' car which I might not have noticed but when I do notice the next time we meet, I realize that he indeed was right. And the latest mantra occasionally heard in the house and especially outside is

"H is for Honda, T is for Toyota!" 'Acura'te indeed!

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Talking surprises!

Vansh is lately making it a habit of taking us by surprise by talking the way he does. Suddenly he sounds so grown up and mature. He is literally a sponge these days, so quick in absorbing what we say, experimenting with the phrases and a bit and then making them a part of his everyday conversations. Its a pleasure to listen to him talk in a neat voice, forming and expressing his opinions coherently and being able to carry forward a conversation. It also means that we need to pick our own words much more wisely now lest be admonished by him and be told "Yeh koi tarika nahin hai" (This is no way!) The first time he said that (and he said tarakki, which means progress) I cracked up so loud that he kept repeating it after every sentence I spoke in an attempt to cause the same burst of laughter again. We still cannot help but smile when he says that. He expresses his displeasure using words by saying "Mere ko aise accha nahin lagta" (I don't like it) when I raise my voice at him or Jiya. He is increasingly using pronouns now and has to be reminded to use 'aap' for elders and not 'tum' or 'tu'!
A few days back, after waking up from his afternoon nap, he suddenly said "Vansh mamma ka sweetheart hai, mamma ki baat maanta hai." (Vansh is mom's sweetheart and listens to what she says) That, as is obvious, is enough to make any mom's day and so it did.

The biggest pleasure, apart from the fact that he is talking so well now, is the fact that its now easier to talk to him about something that he does and we don't like. Of course there are instances when he's being plain naughty and then doesn't have an answer, except a silly grin or a random "kaapa or badoom badaa", when we ask him why he did that. But there are some other like this one that happened few days back. Vansh and Jiya were in the same room and Vansh was just building some random structures with wooden blocks. Jiya was playing them too and in the process knocking down what he was building, reason enough to evoke screams from him, pull the blocks from her hands and as a result evoke screams and cries from her as well. When I asked him what happened, he replied by saying

"Dekho Jiya kya kar rahi hai. Sab sab gira rahi hai. Vansh ko nahin accha lagta." (Look at what Jiya is doing. She is making everything fall. I don't like it) and to Jiya in particular "Kya kar rahi hai ghonchu?" (What are you doing silly).

I told him that he could hand over the blocks himself to Jiya and make her happy or if he really wanted to build structures he needed to do that on the table so that Jiya couldn't get to them. He chose the former option as he usually does. And then took pride in handing her the blocks and eventually making her smile.

The other day we had to go for a birthday party and I came out of the bathroom wearing a denim top and pants. Usually Vansh takes a moment to look carefully and appreciate whenever I am wearing something dressy - Indian or Western, even if its with a simple "Wow!" That day he just stood looking and didn't say anything. I asked him "Vansh ko mamma ki dress acchi lagi?" (Did you like mamma's dress?) to which he replied "Nahin acchi lagti Vansh ko mamma ki dress. Mere ko yellow or orange dress acchi lagti hai jo mamma India mein pehenti thi" (I don't like this dress. I like yellow and orange dress that you wore in India.) Even though a little dampening for my spirits, his being able to form an opinion and express it verbally more than made up for it.

The picture above incidentally is taken on Jiya's mundan ceremony on Apr 14, 2008 and the yellow dress is the one Vansh was referring to :)

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Back from a fulfilling vacation ...

... we returned last Sunday from a 6 week long vacation, a fun one in many ways. Not having to deal with nasty illnesses would rate #2 on my list, a close second after the gigantic joy of meeting my parents after 2 years. I was quite nervous after our last trip 2 years back when Vansh and Ashwini had the most terrible bout of stomach upset accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. The kids stayed healthy apart from a couple of instances of moderate cough and cold. They had way too much fun with both set of grandparents, kisses and hugs pouring in from every whichever way, the weather being just perfect for outdoors for the most part, and with a thrilling life sans routines and bedtimes and only specific days reserved for candies and lollipops.

There is no way I can sit down to write about the trip in detail, one because I am anyways finding it hard to adjust back to the quiet life here with just the 4 of us, 3 of us for the better part of the day. The Sunday that we reached, we wondered whether it had always been so quiet here or was that a special day! And two because I wouldn't even know where to start. I believe my subsequent posts would have a distinct flavoring to it with references to the time that we spent there.

We are slowly settling back down. Vansh surprised us with his maturity when he said "Dada dadi nana nani trip finish ho gaya" (Our trip to our grandparents has finished) as soon as we reached our apartment complex and didn't demand to be taken back there until last Friday when I chatted with my parents and he turned into a blob of mush, tears rolling down his cheeks as he stood at the door waiting for us to get out and on the plane. But he understood. Saturday, when we chatted with my in-laws, he once again stunned us when he responded to his dadi's "I am missing you." by saying "Aap US aa jao." (You come to US) completely on his own with no prompting of any kind whatsoever. Jiya is unmistakably sad too. She follows me around the house (She started crawling at about 8-1/2 months), expressing her displeasure if I move around too much, making it difficult for her to catch up by crawling. She was happy beyond words this Saturday when we had a few friends over for some time and today when we went for a playdate, happy to be amidst so many people again. I still think of what I was doing 2 weeks back in India at this time. Even as I cooked chicken this Friday, I thought of cooking it exactly 1 week back on my brother in law's special request. As Vansh runs away from me when I try to change him into his night clothes and I hide behind his room's door to pounce on him as he comes back, I think of my mom who had to literally force him to hug her back and then giggle away to glory. And I smile with misty eyes.

Well, enough for my first post after returning. Shall sign off with a picture of each of the kids which perfectly sums up the fun they had while there.

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Tongue tied!

I had written, a few months back, about how Vansh was experimenting with his newly learnt concepts of hot, cold and warm here. He has now taken it a step further cognitively and mentally! This is what one of our conversations sounds like these days -

Vansh: Mummy, paani saath khelna hai. (I want to play with water)

Mummy (considering that he recently recovered from a nasty cough and cold): Its pretty cold right now. You might catch a cold again playing with water. Play with it once the weather fairs out a bit.

Vansh: C says Cold ho jayega. Vansh H says Hot paani se khelga. (I'll catch a C says Cold, Vansh will play with H says Hot water)

Mummy (obviously laughing hard and hence extremely vulnerable to being defied): H says Hot to hot lagega na Vansh ko. (Won't H says Hot water hurt you!)

Vansh: W says Warm se khelga Vansh? (Should I play with W says Warm water?)


Answers anyone??

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What Vansh means!

Its funny, to say the least, the results which emerge when kids who are expanding their communication skills experiment with new words and phrases, in a hit and trial kind of way, using them in what they think might be appropriate situations. These are a few hilarious phrases doing the rounds in the Sukhwani household these days.

We have just recovered, still not completely, from a spate of illnesses and an oft repeated phrase has been "I am feeling better."

Me (looking at a few left over morsels on Vansh's plate): Beta, finish your food!

Vansh : No mummy! I am not hungry. I am feeling better!

***********************************************************************************

I just turned on the shower inside the bathroom when I heard Vansh talk to me from outside.

Vansh: Mummy, shower on kiya? (Did you turn on the shower?)

Me: Haan beta. (Yes son)

Vansh : Little bit shower?

(I have no idea what he was thinking when he used this one.)

***********************************************************************************

Many a times, Vansh pretends to be talking on the phone with his dad and asking him, like I do at times, to get a few groceries on his way back.

Vansh: Hello Nona (thats what I call Ashwini). Will you go to Rainbow?
(pauses to wait for an answer)

OK! Get carrots, milk, apple, banana, pizza (now starts pausing between things), peanut butter-jelly (pause), chips (pause)
(eyes me for a moment to see if I have any objection with his list by far. No objection! Great!!)

Continues in one single breath - Get candies, skittles, lollipops, apple juice, orange juice!

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When Vansh tries to sneak in 4 cherries instead of the 'pointed at' 3 while playing Hi-Ho Cherry O just to finish the game and proudly chirp "Vansh jeet gaya!" (Vansh won!), we tell him "Vansh, no cheating!"

A couple of days back, Jiya was trying to get her hands at one of Vansh's books to which what Vansh had to say was "Jiya, no cheating!"

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Red Stop Green Go

Ever since Vansh started getting the concept of colors some 6-7 months back, one of the first things that fascinated him was the traffic lights turning from green to orange to red and he soon figured out, with our help of course, 'green go, red stop, orange slow' and pronto started generalizing it, much to our amusement, to things around of these three particular colors. For instance, if I asked him which t-shirt he would like to wear, he would say

"Green go pehnni hai." (I want to wear 'green go')

or would look at me and exclaim

"Mummy red stop pehnti hai". (Mummy is wearing 'red stop') or better still "Mummy red stop hai, Papa orange slow hai" (Mummy is red stop, papa is orange slow)

An interesting incident happened once at an Indian store where he went with Ashwini to get some groceries. Apparently, there were a couple of other customers in front of Ash and Vansh. The first one was holding a red basket full of groceries and the second one was holding a green one. Thoughtfully looking at those baskets and recalling the newly learnt fascinating information about colors meaning something, he was quick to quip in a loud and clear voice, enough to draw the attention of everyone who was involved and with appropriate hand gestures

"Red stop hota hai, green go hota hai"

as if to tell the person with the red basket to stop and make way for the person with the green basket to go cos thats what their basket colors signified. The green basket man was delighted and wished he could do that and everyone around mighty amused.


Another funny episode took place a few days back when I put up the camera battery for recharging in the charger. The light turns from red to green once the charge is complete. As soon as Vansh spotted the light turn green, he said too me in a hurried tone,

"Mummy, green go ho gayi. Jaldi le lo, orange slow ho jayegi." (Mummy, its green go. Remove it quickly, else it will turn orange slow)

It took mom a moment to realize the context and the meaning of the profound words and once she did, she was found doubling with laughter and once again delighting in the astonishing marvel, that's childhood

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A few samplers on Vansh's verbal platter

Scene - Jiya crying.

Vansh (in an absolute grown up tone) - Jiya क्यों रोती है? पापा, मम्मी, Vansh रोते हें? Hanh? (Why are you crying Jiya, Do papa, muumy or Vansh cry like that?)

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Scene - Vansh snatching something from Jiya's hand

Mom (in a reprimanding tone, voice raised) - Vansh क्यों गन्दी बात कर रहा है? ऐसे Jiya के हाथ से छीनते हें? (Vansh why are you doing something wrong? Should you be snatching things from Jiya?)

Vansh (solemn tone) - Vansh को नहीं बात करनी। (Vansh doesn't want to talk)

2 minutes later

Vansh - Mummy, Doodlebops song चलाओ। (Mom, play Doodlebops song)

Mom - आप तो बात नहीं कर रहा था। (You said you were not talking)

Vansh - Sovy (for sorry). Doodlebops song चलाओ।

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Scene - All of us going in the car

Vansh (out of the blue) - Hello Arunabh! What you doing? 941-621. Okay! Ya! OK Bye!

Mom - Who are you talking to?

Vansh - Vansh meeting hai. Vansh saath Arunabh saath. (Vansh has a meeting with Arunabh)

Mom and dad laugh.

Vansh joins in and says - Funny Guy!!!

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Bal Hanuman

Last night we were watching the movie 'Bal Hanuman' with Vansh. The Hindi was too tough for him to understand. So when Lord Brahma asked Indra Dev "इस बालक की यह दुर्दशा kisne की?", he asked me "Mummy, kaun hain? Kya bol rahe hain?" (Who are they? What are they saying?) I explained to him "Yeh bhagwan ji hain aur yeh bol rahe hain ki Hanuman ji ko owie kisne ki?" (This is God and he's asking who hurt Hanuman ji?). What resulted was a sudden spate of questions :

"Mummy, blue waale bhagwan ji kya bol rahe hain? Yellow waale police uncle kya bol rahe hain? Bal numan ji owie aa raha hai? Numan ji fly kar rahe hain? Police uncle pakad ke le jayenge yellow waale bhagwan ji ko?"

(What is the blue colored God saying? Yellow colored uncle is police uncle, is it? Is Hanuman hurt? Is he flying? Is police going to catch the yellow colored God?)

Boy oh boy!! Talk of generalizing personal everyday experiences to others around. When he gets over excited around Jiya and starts pressing her tummy too hard or pulling her arm a tad bit vehemntly, even after being reminded to be gentle, we warn him by saying that Police uncle does not spare those who harm their little sisters and takes them away. On several occasions, as a result, when he hears a crying child in the building corridor, he makes up a story "Police uncle girl ko leke ja rahe hain. Chhoti sister ko owie kiya." (The police uncle is taking away the girl because she hit her little sister.) Taking it one step further to apply the story to Gods in heaven sure was hilarious for us.

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Figuring out the intricacies of speech

Its funny and fascinating at the same time when you see a child learning to speak. First they start with the major words, overlooking the finer details. And now a days Vansh is trying hard out to figure out those intricacies right - the का, की, को, ने, et al.

So these are a few samples of how his sentences sound these days

"Vansh ko laptop close kiya ko" - the correct version being "Vansh ne laptop ko close kiya"

"Cherry O khel raha hai Vansh saath papa saath"

"Pani piya Vansh ko"

"Owie (a word commonly used when it hurts somewhere) aa raha hai finger ki"

Funny yet intriguing nonetheless!!

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acting BIG and loving it :)

Talking about acting grown up, here's a few things Vansh has been saying to Jiya these days.

-Jiya often grabs her feet and puts them in her mouth. Many a times, her socks remain there and out comes the foot. To this, depending on his mood at that time, this is what Vansh has to say

*good mood* - Jiya kya karti hai? (in a sing song voice) Muhn mein nahin daalo socks, chhee chhee hai. (JIya, what are you doing? Don't put your socks in your mouth. They are dirty.) and tries to put them back on.

*grumpy mood* - Jiya!!! mat dalo muhn mein! Gussa karoon!! (Jiya, don't put in your mouth! Should I scold you?) and snatches them from her hand.

- At times, she does the same with her clothes thus revealing her tummy. To which, Vansh would go "Pssst! Jiya aise nahin karte!" and pull her dress to cover her belly again. Look who's being a protective big brother, eh!

- Often times, Jiya is not able to hold on to the toys we give her for very long and drops them on the ground from her bouncy, to which Vansh says "Jiya, mat fenko toys" (Jiya don't throw the toys) and hands it back to her.

He so loves being able to boss someone around :)

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