'Where memory fails records remember' Prof. B S Raman rightly said. This is the testimony of my life mostly with my daughter Sumedhaa AKA Mickey...
For those of you who are NOT students of Accountancy from Mangalore University, Prof B. S Raman wrote our Accounting bible.
I miss you a lot my dear. I miss your looks, the beautiful slender body and the silky skin that slipped from my hands everytime. Oh, your lovely voice, thats what you were famous for. The clarity and the intensity could impress anyone. I miss everything about you. I would try and get another of you if you were still in this world. Alas! that isn't possible anymore. I miss you my beloved - Nokia XpressMusic. May your soul Rest in Peace. :(
On April 19th, 2010 my favorite cellphone, Nokia XpressMusic, fell off my pocket and got run over by, I don't know how many, vehicles. By the time the ambulance reached the spot, the cellphone was almost lifeless. It was declared DEAD on the spot. Few parts of the body like the battery couldn't be found at all. Few other parts like the heart and a part of the brain were functioning, hence were passed on to the heir - Nokia 6303 i on April 21st 2010.
This should have been a prequel to the post 'An Inspiration'. Anyways, another of those incidents which has inspired me to go to the gym.
Mom & Me is a store near our house exclusively for mothers to be, new mothers and kids. The stores name board has a slender mom and a baby's picture. Mickey always refers to the baby as Sumedhaa babu. One day she said, 'Sumedhaa babu, amma aath'. This was an indication to me that I am not as thin as the lady on the board.
I have heard and read that the third year of any kid is the most difficult year for the parents. This statement must be true coz handling Mickey this year has gotten tougher. I don't know if it is my incompetency or if it is Mickey, the menace. This is yet to be decided.
Mickey helps me in my daily chores, be it folding clothes or chapati making. It can even be cleaning up the sofa or the refrigerator. The problem with her helping me is that after she finished helping me, I have to do it all over again with double the effort.
Mickey loves climbing. I have said that earlier and I repeat again, she climbs anything from window to gate, from chair, table to breakfast counter, ladder. She hangs on any of our legs. When she does that she calls herself a monkey. The heights was when we were in Udupi. She was climbing the iron pillar in the house with the support of Prashanth's hands (her uncle). Shri and I are wondering if Mickey will become a gymnast or a pole dance!!!
Mickey can reach upto any height to get what she wants. It's not that she has grown so tall. At home you can always see Mickey walking around with a small chair or a carton in her hand. Mickey can never climb up or down the stair case in our building without loosening the nut which is on the staircase railing.
My memory fails to record all such incidents. I don't know if this is the maximum that a child can do. Or is it that every mother feels that her child is the most unmanageable kid around. The answer is still unknown to me.
Its really been quite a while since anything has been posted about Mickey's diction. Not that there isn't enough to write but I am so engrossed in enjoying my time with her that there isn't enough time left in between my daily chores to update the blog.
'ENma Thare aan, lakle'
'ENma Thare aan, lakle' ('8 heads are done, get up') to actually say 'ENma arE aan, lakle' ('its 8.30, get up') whatever may be the time. This is how Mickey wakes Shri up on any day she is up before Shri.
'Amma, Appag nerothri. Paapa alla Appa'
I was whining about how the house was dirty and how it needed to be cleaned. Also I was asking him why he couldn't take up the initiative to clean up the house when Mickey said 'Appag nerothri, Paapa alla appa.'
'Please don't do that Amma'
Mickey slapped me very hard one day. Instead of asking her not to do that, I hit her on her leg. She was so insulted that she frowningly said 'Please don't do that Amma'.
'Sumedhaa Kannu Soola' (look at Sumedhaa's eyes)
If Shri or I don't do something that Mickey wants us to do, then this is what Mickey says.
'I am sorry Appa, nana ampuri. OR Ist ok Appa'
This is what Mickey says whenever she does something wrong, especially when she pees anywhere other than the bathroom.
'ari thinare aavanu, ari challare aavanu, sumedhaa Nerpe'
Mickey pulls rice out of the Rice container and eats it. She is yelled at for that. So one morning, Mickey gets up early in the morning walks to the kitchen and tells me 'ari thinare aavanu, ari challare aavanu, sumedhaa Nerpe' (One shouldn't eat rice or spill rice, Sumedhaa will yell at them).
'Ini Ammi maami barperu'
Its a routine for us to meet up with Shri's sister Mamta's family every weekend. On any Saturday morning after about 11.30 am, Mickey would say, 'Ini Ammi maami barperu' (Mamta Aunt will come home today) and we would wonder how she would know that Mamta would come home. Later we realized that she said this based on her biological clock. Any day if Mickey didn't go to school even after 10 am in the morning that was her weekend. :)
It's very funny to hear Mickey say a few things for the first time though it may not sound interesting for anybody else. It may be the way Mickey standing on the Shoe stand, behind the door, peeping through the peep hole and yelling - 'Amma, See here baakil (Door)' or it may be what she said when she first saw Shrinath's baby 'Shrinath maama g kinni baabu undu, avenu incha incha ampuve'. Or the way Mickey asked 'what happened amma?' in her regular tune that goes high and low. Or the way Mickey spoke to Adi on the phone and said 'Adi, Hello pann Sumedhaa g',
But a few things remain very funny. Like the Mickey says 'PuLi Juice' for sprite or 'Poo' for a flower and 'Poos' for flowers.
Will post more of these when I get to hear more of these, that's it for now.
The last three days have been somewhat silent. Is this the silence before the storm or is it a tactic of the nature to indicate how important children are to us.
We were in Udupi over the Good Friday weekend and the following Monday and Tuesday. Mom was asking us to leave Mickey in Mang with my parents for the rest of the week. Amma, Appa and Ramya were coming to Bang on Saturday morning. So it was just a case of 3 days and 4 nights. It would also save us Rs 3500, the fees to be paid to the Day Care. It was a good break for all of us. Shri agreed to this with a lot of reluctance.
On Tuesday (April 6th), Shri and I started back to Bangalore as planned after leaving Mickey behind. I was glad that I could sleep early in the bus and be fresh to go to office the next day. It was funny to see Shri in the bus. He was sitting and silent all the while. He denied that he was missing Mickey first by saying he wasn't sleepy, he was just tired, etc. He accepted that he missed Mickey only when I openly asked if he was missing her. Shri and I were completely silent in the auto on our way back home.
The next day the scene was completely different the next day. In the evening, Shri went off with his boss Rakhee for dinner, I was left alone. I gymmed, read all the shlokas even then the clock wouldn't move. I went to bed as early as 10 PM. I didn't cook for the next three days. Whenever I started from office, I would start missing her. I realized that I am relaxed only if she sleeps with me.
We both started counting days for Mickey to reach Bangalore. At the bottom of all this, Shri and I realized that we can't live without Mickey.
The other side of the story:
When I left her in Mangalore, I was really scared and tensed. I had asked my mom to come to Bang the very next day she asks for even one of us. But in reality was that she didn't even miss us. Mickey asked for her Appa twice and Amma only once at the end of the 3rd day. She happily lived with my parents. She wanted my dad to do everything that Shri does. I don't know if it is a fortunate thing or unfortunate thing that she can live without any of her parents around.
Our fear 'can she live without her parents?' has changed to a feeling of insecurity 'if she can live without her parents?'. Have we become redundant? This is really scary.
'aanti g banji nee iddi'. When Sumedhaa said this, I had a shock of my life. It was early Sunday morning in April (4th) when we were in Udupi for the good Friday weekend when Shri and Sumedhaa were reading a Kannada newspaper (Udayavani). There was a very beautiful model who has a great figure advertising some jewelery. It is very much expected from anyone who has seen only big tummies ( Mom, shri, Mother in law, me).
Its high time that I get to shape myself up before Sumedhaa directly comments on me. Since then I have been working out and am on a diet. I have lost about half a kilogram in the last 3 days. Right now, I am writing this with Absolute in my hand, that too a second one. I don't know how many more days this remains as a motivation. But I don't want to hear this from her mouth again.