Twelve months update

Continuing with the one year series, I realize that I haven't really done a Puttachi update this month, so here goes.

The one year mark was in my head all the time, but it was brought home to me all of a sudden when I opened my mailbox and instead of the Baby center mail with the subject "Your baby this week". the subject was "Your Toddler this week". Sigh. I am the mother of a toddler now. How time flies!

The nice thing about this stage is that there is something new everyday. S~ gets back home and asks me, "What did she do today?" And invariably I have a couple of new things to tell him.

There isn't much to say in terms of her motor development. She already walked steadily last month, climbs most objects with ease, eats biscuits without spilling any crumbs, things like that. So most of the development this month has been in her understanding and vocabulary.

*****

She loves looking at pictures in books. Especially if they contain animals. She brings a book to me, makes me sit down, climbs on to my lap, and settles down, expecting me to open the pages and point out things to her. Sometimes, she points to each picture, and demands "Enu?" (What?) and I have to name each object for her. Sometimes, I point to pictures that I know she knows, and she identifies them, either with the name of the object (Kaa for Car, Teedee for TV), or the sound (Tick tock for Clock, kack kack for duck), or the way it moves(jumps up and down for Horse, moves her hand in air for Aeroplane). And sometimes, if the object in question is around her in the room, she identifies it in the book, then points to the corresponding object in the room.

This book development has happened all of a sudden in the last fifteen days, so you can imagine how overwhelmed and surprised I am at each incident of recognition.

*****

When she wants a book she cannot reach, she points and says "Ada!" (Adu is "That one" in Kannada), and if I point to one and say, "Ida?" (This one?), she shakes her head impatiently, points again and says, "Ada!" and repeats until she gets the book of her choice.


*****

For lunch, I dish up a concoction of Rice, dal and vegetables for her. Usually I leave chunks of cooked carrot in the food for her to chew. Once I was out of carrots, and there were chunks of other vegetables instead. Puttachi ate about two spoonsful, peered into the bowl, and then demanded, "Catat?" (For carrot). It left me shaking my head in disbelief. I had a tough time making her eat the rest of the food. I now ensure we always have carrots in stock.

*****

She enjoys putting "Taala" on her lap, something she picked up watching my mother teach music to her students. So I encourage it by singing "Saregama" to her, complete with taala, and nowadays I started singing "Lambodara" too. [Lambodara lakumikara is the first composition taught to students of Carnatic music]. So now, out of the blue, she stops doing whatever she is busy with, shakes her head from side to side, and sings, "Ta pa ta pa" (I guess it is Sa Pa Sa Pa), all the while beating out a vague rhythm with her tiny hands. Now she also sings "Ambaatuta" with it. [The second line of Lambodara lakumikara is Ambaasuta Amaravinuta"]. She likes Ambaatuta and sings it all the time. My guess is that she thinks it is a song about cows, because "Ambaa" is her word for cows.

******

I once caught her putting something into her mouth, and tried in vain to remove it. She had swallowed it, whatever it was. I made a serious face and told her not to do it again. She was disturbed, and she took my hand, shook it, and whimpered. I didn't allow my expression to change. She made a pretending to cry face, but it didn't work. Then she sat down cross-legged, made this sweetest face, and put Taala on her lap, and sang "Ta pa ta pa ambaatuta". Was she actually trying to make me smile, because she knows that this is something I find very cute and always burst out laughing at it? Who knows!

*******

The little devil also tests my reactions when she does anything forbidden, like putting something into her mouth. She takes it close to her mouth, keeps it there, and looks at me, and laughs with delight when I admonish her and repeats it again and again. How on earth do people discipline kids?

******

Her favourite word is Aaytha? (Done/Over/Finished?). Aaaytha? Is the question, and Aaythu is the answer (yes, it is done). But Puttachi doesn't know that, and Aaytha it is for everything.
- When she has had enough food or water, she announces, "Aaytha!" and proceeds to try to get down from the high chair.
- When I am trying to make her do something she doesn't like, like take her to the toilet when she is not ready, or am trying to scrub the sticky remnants of a meal from her face, she screams, "Aaytha! Aaytha!" and squirms and tries to get away.
- She greets everybody with an "Aaytha?" I don't know what she intends, but I guess it is because people usually ask her, "Oota (food) aaytha", "Taachi (sleep) aaytha" or "Tata (outing) aaytha?". So she probably thinks that you have to greet people with an Aaytha. It sounds doubly funny because a traditional greeting in these parts of Karnataka is to ask the person you meet whether s/he has finished his coffee/lunch, according to the time of the day (Oota aaytha? Coffee Aaytha? etc).


*****

Her latest passion is lolling around on the bed. Watching her play on the bed is exactly like watching a gymnast do the Floor Exercises. Back flips, Somersaults, cartwheels, you have everything. And she even ends with a flourish, and looks to see if you are watching and appreciating!

*****

We actually get her to do things now! S~ and I keep giving her objects and tell her to go and give it to the other person. She does it obediently, and it is quite delightful to see her accept the object, walk over to S~, hand it to him and clap her hands herself and say "googa" immediately when we say "Good girl!"

*****

Just today, I taught her to put rubbish into the dustbin. It worked half a dozen times, and then later, she tried to pick it back from the dustbin. And as I type this, I thought of something - what if she puts non-rubbish into the dustbin? Oh, what have I done?

****

When she wants help with climbing something, or she wants to be lifted, she says, "attha! attha!" Hatthu in kannada is climb, and Etthu is lift, so I have no idea what she is saying, but she gets her work done. And she climbs me like a coconut tree.

****

Somewhere along the way, she has understood the concept that little girls are Akkas and little boys are Annas and elderly men are Thathas (grandfather). So, a walk down a street is punctuated by her calling out to random people, Akka, Anna and Thatha. When we were going by Janatha Bazaar, she started screaming "Thatha thatha" excitedly. Wondering why she was looking upwards, I followed her line of sight, and burst out laughing when I saw - a picture of Gandhiji! :D

****

She has started communicating her wants too. She once pointed to the water container to tell me she was thirsty, she pointed to her hand where she had hurt herself and told me "Abbu" (hurt), and a couple of times, just a couple of times, she told me that she had some restroom business to do too!

*****

All these days, When asked, "Where is Puttachi?", she would point to the mirror, or any reflective surface. All of a sudden, she has understood what this is all about. Five days ago, when asked where Puttachi is, she pointed to her own stomach, and as if to reinforce the information, she gave her entire chest and tummy a good massage and a couple of pats, and even said her own version of her name! That was quite exciting :D

*****

This update is already too long... so I think I had better stop. But wait, did I tell you how she conducts an entire telephone conversation, complete with nonsense talking, and a fake laugh too?

Ok, I'll really stop, and if you have read so far, you must either be family, or else, you must really be interested in Puttachi, in which case, Thank you. :D