After almost a month of starting school, Ms. Pandey has started loving school dearly.   So much so that one night, while lying on the bed, she quips: “Mama, why didn’t you put me into school when I was 2 years old?”

The FBI in small feet. Anika is now extremely curious about grown-ups’ conversations. If she is around any conversation that she does not understand, a soft purr of “Wot?” is utterred. If words are spoken that are not part of her burgeoning vocabulary – “Wot, Daddy?” If Mama and Daddy are trying to encode in…

Anika started school today. Months of conditioning resulted in no crying for the duration of the class. But a wait of 5 minutes for Mama to come and pick her up after school was too much to ask for – Anika was in tears by the time Mama’s car came to the curb.

Anika, Daddy and Dada were visiting a restaurant. Anika asked Dada to sit on the dirtiest chair. Dada: Why? Anika: Because you are old Dada: How come? Anika in some thought Anika, pointing to a red jar: What color is that jar? Dada: Red Anika, pointing to the mustard-colored wall: Which color is this? Dada:…

New Mexico for the big trip before Viraj came into being. They drove to the airport in their unwashed and dirty blue CRV. Upon arrival, they rented a slick, shiny, black PT Cruiser for the duration of the stay. A few days later, when they were driving from Taos back to Santa Fe, Ms. Pandey…

A bit of history.. It has been a year, and Anika’s closet doors have not been fixed. Daddy has been ultra lazy as usual, and now the doors barely move; in fact, they are close to toppling over. After a long hard day, Ms. Pandey was lying in her bed and was very chatty, as…

While walking around in the backyard, generally abiding her time, Ms. Pandey gets intrigued by the white hair on Nana’s head. “Nana, why is your hair white?” “I don’t know Anika, can you tell me why?” “Because you sit in the sun, Nana”

In the car, interrupting Mama’s and Grandma’s conversation – “What you talkin’ about Mom?”, “Excuse me”. On the dining table, interrupting Daddy and Mama’s conversation – “Excuse me. What you talkin’ about Mom?” When Daddy was pointing at the garage ceiling and murmuring something to himself, “What you pointing to and saying ‘That’s very nice’…

3/10: Piano and Do Re Mi – together and in tune 6/25: Sky is falling down – Daddy will fix it 5/10: Mama, here is the missing piece. Good job. Daddy gave this to me 5/31: Why is the carpet wet? Sprinklers 6/10: Dead spider – we need a battery for that

Not just narrations, but expressed feelings make their way through Anika’s short conversations. When the happiness is intense enough and unstoppable, Ms. Pandey whispers: Anika is so happy.

Through the course of our trip, Ms. Pandey grew even more caring as time progressed.

Aur chahiye, Nai chahiye, Vahan Pe, Who that? Singalongs, Storytelling, Independence, Multi-words and phrases (09/01) What’s thaaaaat? (McDonald’s fly, smoke, motor) (09/05) Mama Anika Gugga Daddy going walkie walkie Safeway (10/01) Simple pleasures of life – stone throwing, carousels, sandcastles (09/20) Complete songs – Happy Birthday, Twinkle, Lakdi ki kathi (10/15) Jealousy – Mama walkie…

 This Fourth of July weekend, we decided to drive down Highway 1 to San Simeon and then onwards to Morro Bay to soak in the California sunshine. As an added benefit, we sneaked in one of those guided tours to William Randolf Hearst’s lavish country home – the Hearst Castle. As impressive as it was,…

Anika seems to be figuring out what fear is, and the first thing that seems to bother her is darkness. She was happily strolling out with Daddy to check the mail at 10 in the night, and out of habit, darted out from the front door towards the lawn. A few seconds later, she was…

It seems like Daddy is the gullible one when it comes to thumbsucking. When Mama is around, either the thumb is never sucked upon, or Ms. Pandey bursts into tears crying “No-no, Mama, no-no”, recalling the stern instructions from Mama. But, when only Daddy is around, the thumb is quietly slipped in, and Daddy is…

Every time Mama put Anika into the car seat, she used to say, “Let me buckle the baby into her car seat”. Ms. Pandey has picked up the tag line, and now as soon as the car stops and Ms. Pandey finds herself still strapped in, she starts asserting “Buckle, Baby, buckle, baby, buckle baby..”,…

Coherent, longer sentences seem to be getting easier for Anika to speak. Current examples, in relation to her strongest desires, seem to be: “Le’go (Lets go) aaoottide (outside).” “Le’go (Lets go) check may (check mail).” Some rhymes are also getting good treatment. The full versions of Twinkle-twinkle little star and Baa-Baa black sheep are now…

The current fad seems to be to force Mama and Daddy to do exactly the same acts that Ms. Pandey is doing. Yesterday, she sat on the apartment steps and asked Mama to “Mama, sit”. Poor Daddy was still standing, and that was unbearable, so she quickly responded, “Daddy, Daddy, sit”, patting her puny hands…

Ms. Pandey knows her way around. Literally. Today, Mama asked Anika to lead us to the mail box, which is a good 6-7 apartments away, and involves multiple turns. Not only were we lead successfully to the mailbox, but were guided back to our apartment after the mail had been collected. Ms. Pandey paused intermittently…

Mama is on a mission! She had a nightmare where Ms. Pandey’s teeth were sticking out like a rabbit’s, and guys were not willing to date her. All because of Ms. Pandey’s horrible thumb sucking habit. So every time the thumb was moved close to the mouth, a strong “No-no!” was uttered for 2 –…

Usually, its a tough act to get Ms. Pandey to say “Bye” to Daddy when he goes to the office, amidst all the hollering for “aaoottide, aaoottide, birdie, birdie, pool!”. Today, for some reason, an extra ounce of care swept her aside as she quietly whispered “Bye! See you Daddy!” Of course, Mama doesn’t remember…

Sadaf and Kazi were visiting us, and therefore Mama and Daddy were busy chatting, while Ms. Pandey was nitpicking through the bowl of fruit loops, when the whole bowl scattered all over the carpet. Initially Ms. Pandey didn’t lose her cool, and started collecting the fruit loops one by one back into the bowl, but…

When both Mama and Daddy are sticklers for cleanliness and order (though they are turning out to be extremely lazy in following through), Ms. Pandey could not be far behind. If Ms. Pandey finds pieces of paper – big or small – lying around the house on the floor, she picks them up and runs…

Mama’s tummy was not in the best of conditions, but her taste glands were revolting from the bland food. So Mama decided to cook her favorite cauliflower dish without informing Daddy. When Daddy realized the gross misconduct, there was a 5 minute lecture on why this was terrible for Mama (as always). I firmly asked…