What Did You Say ? - 1

Li'l one: What's your name? My Thaïs...

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The other day li'l one called out to me from the kitchen. I was in the bedroom, so I didn't hear her. I went into the kitchen and said, "What did you say, darling?"

"I wanna eat something. Are you deaf?"

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I needed the jar of Vaseline yesterday and was looking for it in its usual place, unaware that it had been moved to the top of the TV.

Li'l one: Mummy, what you looking for?

Me: The jar of Vaseline. Have you seen it?

Li'l one: It’s here... on the TV... Blind bat!

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Li'l one asks to be taken out for a walk every evening. After about 5 minutes of walking, "Mummy please carry me. I can't walk. My legs are broken...!"

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Mario: What's mummy doing?

Li'l one: She's giving all dishes a bath...!

Back Home

Li'l one has come back home now after spending about a week with Mario’s parents. She hasn’t stopped talking since she got back In fact, her vocabulary has increased and her speech is a lot clearer now.

During the week that she stayed with them, they’d bring her over for a ‘visit’ every other day. Twenty minutes at a time was all she wanted with us. She’d chat with us for a bit, and then walk around inspecting the place, looking for any changes. That done, she’d be ready to go back and wouldn’t hesitate to tell us so.

She’s with my sister now, and the two of them are busy tickling and worrying each other. And when my sister isn't tickling li'l one , she’s clicking pictures of her. And how she loves it! The way she poses, you’d think she was a professional model.

I was combing her hair yesterday and had brought it down over her face in order to part it in the center. She started grumbling immediately. “Hair gone in eyes, hair gone in eyes,” she said.

So I told her to close her eyes and continued combing. After I finished, I told her she could open her eyes. “Yes. My eyes are on, mummy!”

Daddy, Don’t Feel Shy!

Mario got caught with his pants down today. By li'l one.

Before I go any further, let me make it clear that she didn’t see anything of importance – although she tried to…

He had just finished his shower and had come out in his towel. Since li'l one was talking to me in the TV room, he didn’t bother to lock the bedroom door while he changed. I was facing the bedroom, while li'l one had her back to the bedroom door, so we both assumed she was unaware of the fact that he had come out of the bathroom.

I don’t know how she realized Mario was out, but as soon as my ‘conversation’ with li'l one was over, I turned back to the TV and she ran straight into the bedroom. Talk about being alert!! She probably heard the bathroom door open. I didn’t know what was happening until I heard Mario’s frantic cries for help.

So I went into the bedroom and there I saw Mario backed up against the wall covering himself with his shorts with li'l one bending down in front of him trying to look under the shorts.

She turned to me and said, "Wanna see daddy bum."

Trying to keep a straight face, I picked her up and started to walk out. I tried to distract her with the TV show that was on, but before we were out of the bedroom, she turned around and asked Mario, "Daddy, wanna see bum. Why feeling shy?"

Now, every time she catches Mario ducking into one of the rooms to change, she says, "Daddy, don’t feel shy!"

Stomach Infection

My little angel has finally recovered from her stomach infection after 5 days of misery. She and I stayed with my mum for the duration of the illness. There would have been no way I’d have been able to manage without help.

Anyway, she’s back to normal now and that means that the noise pollution levels have also gone up. The last 5 days were so peaceful. But now that her strength’s back, she has started talking non-stop, as is her wont. Why this… and why that….

She’s only 2 years and 2 months – I thought I had at least another 8-10 months before the questions began…?

Nevertheless, it’s good to have her back.

Just Another Day

Today just seemed to drag on and on. All because the little one wasn’t around. The good news is that she’s coming back tomorrow morning.

Went to play cricket as usual today, but it wasn’t the same without her running between wickets, picking up stones and throwing them into the lake, standing in the middle of the pitch thereby bringing the game to a halt, basically, just making a nuisance of herself…

While on the topic, li'l one’s knowledge of cricket terminology is increasing. According to her, there are 3 ways to get out: caught, clean bowl-out, and eb-lee-dub-loo.

At any point of time during the match, the batting team’s score can be any of the following 3 options: 46, 44, or 10.

If, for some reason, she thinks I’m not paying adequate attention to the game she tells me to go ‘feel’ (field). Never mind that I’m on the batting side!

OK! Till the next time. Can’t wait for tomorrow morning. Ciao.

Beach Bum - 2

Watched 'Koffee With Karan' yesterday. I watch the show regularly, and I must say last week's guest, Rakhi Sawant, a relative new-comer to the show-biz world, from what I understand, was more entertaining than any of the other so-called celebrities he usually interviews.

Anyway, on a different note, my little darling has gone off on a two-day trip to some beach south of Goa. No doubt she’ll have a great time there with her cousins. And how she loves the water! In the shower, she doesn’t like the water getting into her face, but she has no problems getting doused by the waves. Talk about a beach bum!

Help!

Have you ever been locked up in a room by a two year old? Well, I have. About a month ago. By my own daughter.

I had gone into the bedroom and shut the door in order to reach for my clothes hanging behind. The little imp came along and I guess she couldn't resist the temptation. She's seen us bolt doors so she must've thought, "Now's a good time as any... Daddy's not here, Mummy's on the other side of the door so she can't do anything to me.... 'Less' do it!"

Initially, I wasn't too alarmed. I figured she'd be able to un-bolt the door on her own. But unfortunately, she didn't have the strength for that. She panicked and started crying. I ran out to the verandah and called out to the neighbors but they couldn't hear me. I felt like crying too -- out of frustration because I needed to get to my Italian meeting. I even managed to get her to bring her plastic stool, put it down near the door, stand on it and try to undo the latch, but it didn't help.

So there I was, alternating between standing in the verandah shouting out for help and trying to calm li'l one down and get her to open the door. My frustration soon gave way to anger. I started pounding on the door -- partly because I was so mad and partly because I was hoping the latch would somehow loosen and she'd be able to undo it. No luck. All that banging on the door only frightened her further.

Finally, after about 10 minutes of shouting our immediate neighbor heard me and came out to see what all the noise was about. Fortunately Mario was at the guest house (two buildings away). I explained the situation to the neighbor and asked her to go call Mario.

By the time he opened the front door, li'l one was sobbing hysterically and kept apologizing over and over again. I don't think she's going to fiddle around with any of the bolts any time soon.