Story Telling

From the horse's mouth: "appa, aye thumedhaa, Maddu paru. Ajja kaaru patthu, kayyu patthonthu, thumedhaa no no, aLithu, beth maddu paru."

Translation: " Papa said, Aye Sumedha, drink your medicine! Grandpa held my legs and my hands. Sumedhaa said, "No, No" and then Sumedhaa cried. Finally she drank the medicine"

The dailogue came up with all the expressions that you can expect out of a 2 years and a few months old.

The whole story goes like this.

Mickey's Grandpa had come to visit us. In the morning, I got everything ready, including breakfast for all, Mickey's bag, etc. Mickey had caught cold. In a hurry to reach office on time, I left without feeding the medicine and forgot to tell her dad about it too. The day got over. I picked up mickey from her Creche and on our way back asked her if she had taken her medicine in the morning. So she gave me this whole big story. I was thrilled.

This was the moment I had been waiting for. It was just the beginning. The time had come for us share our daily events. It was in this joy that I narrated this to her dad and Grandpa. They were spellbound! Why??? Coz Mickey could narrate this long story (which is actually long for her standards) in such great detail?  No No! Not at all...  This was the beginning of Mickey's Story Telling. There was no fuss at all about anything in the morning and she had drunk all her medicines herself. All this was Mickey's fancy tale. (rofl)

(11/25/2009)

Mickey Dictum - Opposites

Anyone and Everyone interacting with kids love the way they talk. The way they pronounce words incorrectly is the best of them all. People back home call me Chachmi coz I called myself that for a long time. With Mickey mixing of words and pronunciation is not the only problem. She mixes 3 to 4 languages (Tulu, Kannada, English and Tamil). I have hearty laughs many a days becoz of Mickey's words (I know she will hate me if she ever reads this).

dumbu kuthonu = pira Kuthonu

This is a word that first came up while she was sitting on the comode. She would climb up the comode and slowly slide back while sitting on it and then would say, "thumedha dumbu kuthonu" meaning Sumedhaa will sit in the front. :)

PS: Sit in the front = sit at the back
(08/15/2009)

OLaGe iji = HoraGe iji
Every night it is part of Mickey's duty to keep the basket with coupons for milk. She takes the basket which has coupons in it, QA's it, makes sure that everything is kept as per her standards, opens the door, places the basket in the right place as per her specifications, comes in and claims "thumedha OLage iji" meaning Sumedhaa kept it in.

PS: OLaGe means 'inside' in kannada, HoraGe means 'Outside'. Iji is 'keep' in tulu.
(09/11/2009)

Sama Kethonu

As part of training Mickey, we (as in her parents) usually try to correct her whenever she isn't doing things right. This is true, when she holds the pencil upside down, or wears her clothes inside-out, or anything like that. We tell her, "Thats not the way to do it Sumedhaa. Sama ijoNu (hold/keep it properly) or Sama Ampu (do it right), etc.,

One night, sometime later than the middle of the night, Mickey gets up, turns around and says - "Sumedhaa Sama kethoNu" meaning 'Sumedhaa sleep properly'. Saying this she slept on her tummy with her face on her left hand. Hearing this, I slept with a smile on my face

PS: Sama means "correct/right" but for Mickey, it means sleeping wrong side; on her tummy.
(10/06/2009)


Mitthu iji = sitthu iji
The first time I heard this was in the middle of the night again, when she was sleeping with her head on my arms. She pulled my hand down, and said, "Kayyu mitthu iji" and went back to sleep when the hand went down to where she wanted. :)

PS: keep it up= keep it down
(11/10/2009)

What a daughter does, a mother did (Newspaper)

Mom Did: Mornings at 301, Coral Nest, would always begin with an argument about the time spent by Mickey's dad reading newspaper. He had this habit of reading newspaper for 2 hours everyday. The worst part was, and is, that he wants the newspaper in its entirety. He wont share the newspaper with anyone while he is still reading it. He reads everything that is printed in the newspaper. It would annoy me even more during weekends where in I would have planned to go out somewhere early in the morning but our man wouldnt budge from his newspaper. The argument reached to a stage where it was decided that there will be either no newspaper at home at all or a kannada newspaper at home which can be finished reading in 30 mins maximum. Things cooled down a bit with Mickey's birth. The time spent on Newspaper reading reduced. Also, I got too busy with the baby to bother about such tiny miny things. 

Daughter Does: I read the Bangalore Times first everyday as that is the only supplement that is available for me at the time, even today. I think, mickey feels that the rightful owner of any part of the newspaper is her dad alone.  So, our litttle madam, acts as an arbitrator taking the newspaper away from me as though freeing the newspaper from a hijacker and putting it in the right hands.

It flares me up when I see the feeling of triumph on the faces around.