Bye bye A the Nanny

No trace of her from Tuesday to Saturday. No calls. Yesterday her uncle called explaining about a family situation at home and whether she could re-join from Monday.

The wife's only question was - why couldn't she call on Tuesday? Asked her to come on Monday and collect her dues.

She did come today. No words were spoken. Not even to the boy. Collected her dues and left.

Looks like the boy is off the bouncer. The bouncer seat pad was put away to wash and the boy has not asked for the bouncer.

Ah turns 6

The boy is not very enthusiastic about the park nowadays.  Yesterday he fell down from the tricycle as he reversed it down the slope and couldn’t control the speed. Grazed his elbow.

I took out the wife’s old mini piano today and he enjoyed pressing the keys. 
On the bright side, he insists on the potty seat when he wants to go and does not go in the diaper anymore. The boy talks a lot more now. And he is fine with brushing in the morning and in the evening.  We still have not been able to get him out of the bouncer. With the boy growing the bouncer sags and touches the floor when rocked hard.

Today was Ah's birthday party in the community hall. He has turned 6. A bad idea to give whistles to the boys. They were shrill. There were games and the boy had his fill of cake.

Tractor sighting

The boy was so excited to see the tractor in the apartment complex that he didn’t move till it left. There is a rhymes recitation in school and we signed him up for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

Today he had a Nursery visit. I saw the photos and he didn’t look interested at all. 

It rained heavily and the boy was playing in the corridor when he fell down on his face struck by a ball on his legs, which was kicked by an older boy. His lips were swollen.

Get out!

I got a kick at 430 am with the comment “Get out”. The boy mumbles in his sleep and has picked up more words - “Get up”, “Get it”..

Today we went to visit my parents. There was a park in the vicinity and I took him there. He was not comfortable when other children came to use the slide and moved away.

We also moved from Enfagrow A+ Nutritional Milk Powder to Himalaya HiOwna kidz.

Raincoat

The IL’s (grandparents) left before the boy woke up. He created a fuss when he found out but then settled down. 

There were rains, he wore the raincoat and loved it so much that he wanted to wear it in the house.

The Potty book that was delivered is proving to be helpful, reminding the boy where to go potty.

Screw driver and more rhymes

The boy has stopped his “no school” chant and crying – he walks through the gate without any fuss, turns around bids good bye. So far so good.
Yesterday he had a beading competition in school. The first 3 places went to the girls.

He figured out that the screw driver is something that one uses to take toys apart and pokes it in every nook and corner of the toy in his hand. My heart was in my mouth when he ran around with the screw driver in his mouth. When I asked him to give it back, he got so upset that he threw the screw driver and the toy down and started crying.

Today we went to attend a wedding and the boy was glued to the Nadaswaram and Tavil players. For the first time I saw a saxophone being played at a Hindu wedding.

Like last year, this time too he was in awe of the Ganesha and the drum beats. I took him twice to the road when he heard the sound of drum beats.

He (and in turn I!) has learned more rhymes - Goosey Goosey Gander, Hickory Dickory Dock, Old McDonalds Had A Farm, Wheels On The Bus

“I don’t know”

The boy has learnt to say “I don’t know”. That too with a shrug of his right shoulder. There was a book with Hindi alphabets and he has picked up “Hindi bolo”.

Phone for him is “shone”, “one more time” are some of the other words in his vocabulary now.

Yesterday, we went for wedding reception at Royal Orchid. The boy wanted to be carried. Ate portions of spring roll and paneer. He had just started eating chapatis when he saw the grandparents with the dessert. Ditched the chapatis and went straight for it.

Tantrums

The boy threw a tantrum today and did not go to school. He wanted me to carry him as soon as he got up. I attempted to get him to brush his teeth but he refused and wanted to sleep in the bouncer. And that’s it – no going to school.

Throwing up

The boy threw up in the stroller on the way back from school. It was not that bad. I was able to clean it up.

The IL’s (grandparents) are here visiting and the boy was thrilled to see them.

A way with questions

The boy has started drinking milk with a straw from a glass. Last Friday he went to school dressed as Krishna. He briefly let us photograph him with the headgear and flute before discarding them. 

On Saturday we went to our friend’s apartment. They had just moved in. Surprisingly the boy patiently played with her daughter who is one year older than him. In the evening there was a coloring competition in our apartment and the boy insisted sitting in the middle of all the children and coloring.

Ah has learnt a way to get the boy to say yes. His questions would be “You don’t want to play with my toys, yes?” Since there is the absence of “no” at the end of the question, the boy answers with “yes”!

On Sunday we walked with him to the public park. This park had larger play equipments. He was reluctant to climb the slide although he wanted to. Just as he made up his mind, one of the local boys pushed him aside and the boy gave up.

RIP Aylan Kurdi

I hope you are in a better place now.

I hope this war ends soon leaving children like you safe in the hands of their parents than in the hands of the almighty.

I was very upset seeing the images of Aylan’s lifeless body. He was just an year older than the boy. What were his thoughts? At that age he wouldn’t have understood this world and yet this world was cruel to him. And the plight of his father, unable to save both his sons and his wife.

This world is turning out to be a cruel place for such innocent people. I pray that there are no more Aylan's and I am thankful for what I have.

Sunglass and locked out

The boy found the Orao Bearoo child sunglasses that our close friends AA, had gifted him on his 1st birthday. He didn't like it when he got it but this time, he wore it. 

Today the wife got locked and I had to rush home. I had so much to do and the boy told the wife that I had a “call”. I locked myself in the room but the boy wanted to play with me. It was painful hearing the boy cry and bang the door.

Tomorrow we need to get him dressed up as Krishna for the event at school. He picked out a manja (yellow - all the colors boil down to yellow for him) colored costume with a head gear and flute.

"Car push"

Since the boy is used to pushing the pram, he has this idea in mind that "push" works - things move. Last evening at a traffic signal, while waiting for the green light, the boy started telling me "car push! car push!" to move the car forward.

He slept late, woke up late today morning, thew a tantrum and did not go to school.