pretend play

Last night, Sophia was quite cranky. Her afternoon nap, usually about 3 hours long, had been cut to one hour, on half hour patches. Naturally, she was more tired and cranky than usual.

We were on the webcam with Bunica, Anjali was eating pizza, hot cross buns (garlic bread), and soya milk. She was essentially dipping all her stuff into the soya milk and "exploring" it, and what was in the plate was a great soggy mess of bread and soy milk. I ensure that she ate about half a slice of pizza and then dropped it.

Sophia was too tired to sleep and wanted to be bounced. Husband took her to carry her for a bit. I rubbed my hands over my face, the heat and tiredness was getting to me.

"Mummy, why you ciing?"

"I am not crying. I am just rubbing my hands over my face"

"Mummy, why you ciing? You are soia baby?"

"I am soia baby?"

"You want booba?"

"Ok."

"Go to sheep"

I stretched on the sofa.

"On the floor!"

I stretched out on the floor. She sstretched ouot next to me.

"Dink booba"

I drank accordingly.

"Other side" she says, moving over to the other side.

In thirty seconds...

"Enough Booba?"

"Enough"

THen she pulls a chair above me and brings a book.

"Ead to Soia baby. Mummy's hand. Mummy's thumb. Mummy's elbow. Mummy's thoppai. Baby's thoppai engai?"

And then come a pile of postcards

"Number time Soia baby. This is four. This is 43. Plus equal to 5. Plus equal to 47"

She is going to be a C programmer.

A sight for sore eyes

A diaper free baby

We have done it. There are occassional accidents tthough, but for the most part, we have not taken out the pee wiping cloth from the cupboard for over two weeks. The worst thing that happened was when she couldnt wait until I got her underwear off on our way to the mannu playground, and me, being confident, had not packed a spare set of underwear.

And then there was the time when she drank about half a bottle of water and peed in front of the elevator at Jurong MRT. But that was a blip.

So I arm myself with a plastic bag and a spare underwear when we go out without diapers.

Just on case.

So yesterday we were getting ready to go to the playground.

"Anjali, take some pants to put on."

Anjali comes down with, not one, but three pants.

"Mummy. two pants"


"Why do you need two pants?"

"Of make oosha this pant, yother pant"

Anjali & Sophia: New games and routines

These days, game exploration is growing fast. I have to work hard to catch up. My usual day routine (weekday) goes like this.

Wake up around 5.30, pump milk for Sophia
6.00 am, enjoy the relative peace around the house
6.15am: arrange Sophia's dot cards
6.30am: take a shower, get ready for work, come out and work on a game/ activity for Anjali
7.00am: Sophia wakes up. (thats first light), feed and do one set of numbers
Between 7.15 to 7.30am: Anjali wakes up, do a lot of dancing cuddling and feeding, and perhaps a bit of exercises
7.45am: leave for work
9am: Anjali goes to school
Somewhere between now and 11am, Patti gives Sophia a bath
11am: Anjali comes back from school, has paruppu sadam and then does pretend play with patti. Patti is really good with pretend play, I dont have that much patience. Anjali and patti can spend hours giving booba to baby doll, sending the children to school, expressing booba milk and putting in the fridge (The imp grabs a bottle, lifts her shirt and says that she is expressing milk.)
2pm: return from office (with luck, one or both girls are just beginning to nap)
Have lunch and take some rest until around 4pm. If Sophia is up, then we usually squeeze a number session somewhere in the middle.
Around 4.30 or so, Anjali's learning time gets started. This is anywhere between 190 minutes to an hour, depending on the activities. They vary between math, cards, reading, coloring, pasting, claying, painting, jelly play etc. Atleast once or twice a week, I take her to the kitchen to help me cook. Usually it is baking. She is extremely good at whisking the cake ingredients, putting cinnamon and such stuff.

Husband comes home at about 6.30. We try to have dinner before that so that we can get the children to the playground early. Anjali usually spends somewhere between half an hour to one hour in the playground, and then we get back home between 8.30 and 9. Thats the time that Sophia must be in bed, or else the house will shake. So we put her in bed, And Anjali often helps me to clean Sophia up. The kid (Sophia) loves having warm water sponged on her. If Anjali over does it with the sponge, then I give her one of her other dolls to sponge.

With luck, one of the kids (possibly Sophia) will be asleep by 9.30. After Sophia's bedtime, Anjali likes to spend time with us. She has gotten to be really understanding in that count, that I need to spend a good fifteen minutes to half an hour lying down with Sophia. So she closes the bedroom door and plays with husband during this time. After that, we do some simple stuff - puzzles, maybe a bit of coloring, some reading, or, on some days, a late night cooking, until she is ready to go to bed.

The thing is that by the time Anjali goes to bed, I am really pooped that I dont do anything else but sleep.

Anjali's math

I am a very proud mother today. Why?

Well, we saw two sparrows when we were walking to the busstop (Husband and Anjali walk me to the busstop everyday to say bye bye mummy)

So I say,

"Anjali, how many sparrows are on the grass?"

"One spaiow, two spaiows... mummy, two spaiows"

"Ok... Now, if one sparrow flies away, how many sparrows will there be?"

"One sparrow only."

"Very good" (Already I was extremely proud, but wanted to try one more thing)

"Ok, now, if both sparrows fly away, how many sparrows will be there?"

She didnt blink an eyelid.

"No more sparrows!"

I grew two centimeters today

updates

The most important update: As of last Friday, Anjali is toilet trained. Her diapers are clean, she gives a "pipi vayuthu" warning and runs to the bathroom. When we are outside, she gives the warning, and waits for us to take her to the washroom. The diaper is just a security underwear for now.

These days, she has two favorite questions "what is this?" and "----- enge?"

"Lets go on the travellator"

"travellator enge" (for the next five minutes)

"Anjali, dont go near the stove, its hot"

"near the stove"

"Its hot. I have given you fair warning"

"Fair warning enge??"

After I explained to her what fair warning meant, she was somewhat satisfied.

But a few days later, i was making noodles for her on the stove.

"Mummy, Anniya baby sit up"

"Ok. wait a minute"

"no sit near stove."

"Why?"

"Because.. fair warning!!"

Anjali's imagination

We are always astounded by Anjali's imagination. Yesterday, we were reading Good Night moon. This is the first time Anjali is reading the book. While we reached the bit about the three bears sitting on chairs, she said

"mum mum?"

"What mum mum?"

"for the bears"

"What will they eat?"

"Idli mum mum"

"Ok.. after eating mum mum, where will they go?"

"Walking"

"Then who will come?"

"Santa Claus"

"What will Santa do?"

"Aie Aie" (Anjali had just finished her business before that)

"Where?"

"Potty le"

"Why?"

"Because Santa Claus cant go in the toilet".

----

Later at night, I wondered if I could get her to repeat the story for husband. So after Sophia slept, I began with her again.

"Anjali, what were the bears doing on the chair?"

"Goldilocks came"

"What did Goldilocks do?"

"Sit down, mummy chair baby chair"

"Then what happened?"

"Broke it chair."

"What did Goldilocks do when the chair broke?"

"uhu uhu" (That is Anjali's crying)

"Why?"

"Because Broke it chair cant sit anymore."

"Then what happened?"

"Bears came back"

"Did they find Goldilocks?"

"mmm!!"

"Where?"

"Bathroom le"

"What was Goldilocks doing in the bathroom?"

"Pi Pi"

"In the potty or in the toilet?"

"In the toilet"

"Then what happened?"

"Scared of Goldilocks"

"Who was scared of Golidlocks?"

"Bears"

"So what did they do?"

"Play with Goldilocks."
========

She also has a fantastic memory. I got her a Clifford book from the library. She sees it and then says

"Mummy, no no this book. Other Clifford book"

"What other Clifford book?"

"Soft Clifford book."

Then it dawned on me that two months ago, I got a touch and feel Clifford book for her from the library. I didnt know that she was interested in it. She only read it a couple of times. But she still remembers it very well.
 

Sophia's bottom jumping

its getting quite ridiculous. She goes the vicinity, from the altar room to the computer area and then to the dining table. When I try to put a dress on her, she bottom jumps once for each sleeve, and does 25 minutes at a stretch before getting tired and wanting to be picked up.

We are currently at 85 with the dot cards. I think I should move on to more complicated equations. We are also doing books.. Usually I pick a book at do it about three to four times continuously with her before moving to a new book. Sophia loves books.

These days, she is showing a preference to sleeping early... anywhere between 7.30 to 8.30. If we are outside, the only thing that calms her is me putting her in the carrier facing inward and walking her around, after which she would eventually sleep. If we are at home, it boils down to cuddling up with me at the bed until she sleeps properly. 

Bullet post

Sophia is trying hard to eat her toes. The next time she does it I'll put up a post.

We are doing day seven of divisions. I need to start operations with cero with her soon.

 

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despite the documentation

Despite having a blog, I reflect back and see that my children's babyhood is slipping away. When did Anjali stop speaking single syllables and start speaking long sentences and multiple sentences? Even then, when did she start to understand everything that we told her, in multiple languages? I know it was sometime around when she began to walk. But the change has been so gradual, that I look now at the clear communicator, the imaginative thinker, who was, less than an year ago, speaking only two words - amma and apa

Its way too hot

Its still the end of April and the weather is already way too hot. Both Sophia and Anjali run around the house (in the case of the older one, the younger one bottom jumps).;

Husband had a brilliant idea to use the bottom cloth as a rest for her head while she flip flops around the concrete. I didnt object, for a multifold of reasons

1. it was way too hot for me to be bothered
2. She looked too cute
3. She was enjoying herself
4. She wont have stayed on the mat for too long anyway.

Sophia, when she cries, can always be bribed by one of the following

1. Booba
2. Conversation
3. Walks
4. Maths (recite multiplication equations and division numbers to her at random and you have gotten her won over for life)