'She turned three'

Birthday list

Anvitha's third birthday is slowly on the way....
She has learnt that her favourite day is approaching.
She has already presented her list of things for the day....the new Fisherprice 'Pink' baby which talks and a remote controlled car.
Somebody save us!!!

Saree mania

Saree is her new obsession.
The moment she looks at someone wearing a saree she too wants one.
But this time the colour of the saree she's demanding for is 'Purple' and not 'Pink'...strange!
We are waiting for her granny's arrival as it has been ordered to us that Anvitha's first Saree will be bought by her.

Eco-friendly

Anvitha's eco-friendly kitchen set!

My little girl has grown up a bit today.
She, at last, has learned to pedal her bicycle.
After pedalling, she exclaimed "Amma I can ride the cycle, I am a Big girl now!!!

Desire of growing up

Anvitha has been eyeing on my high heeled sandals (which i bought after so many years). She is not even three years and she wants to wear a 3 inch heeled sandals. I explained her that she has to grow up to wear them. Now, because of that, she wants to grow up fast. She is ready to drink her milk and eat food to become big and strong- the result would be growing up fast so that she would try on all her mother’s belongings ranging from fancy ear-rings to sarees to cosmetics to sandals.

There was a time when I too wanted to grow up fast and study in college because I thought all the people who went to college enjoyed and had a great life. Never did I realise the responsibility that came with growing up. My daughter too will realise it one day but then she would be a grown up girl.

Pinky

The colour Pink has become a synonym for Anvitha now.
She thinks whatever is in pink colour has to her sole property.
She has a array of things in that colour- dress, toys, shoes, bangles, hairbrush, watch, glasses, her kitchen set, umbrella etc etc.,
Though it's her favourite colour she always says it as 'Blue'. So need to understand that whenever she utters Blue it's ought to be 'Pink'.
This colour swapping has come down considerably now, her love (or rather obsession) for pink objects remains intact.

Backbeat

'My friend Ganesha'

It all started with her Bal Ganesh movie...
She must have watched the movie hundred times by now.
She utters a few of the dialogues too.
Bal Ganesh, mooshik (mouse), modak, Nandi are all her friends.
Her love for him grew even more when her 'doddappa' bought her a 'Bal Ganesh' doll.
She has played with the doll, worshipped him, has had endless conversations with him.

The idol that was brought during Ganesh Chaturthi became her new Ganesha.
She hugged him and photographed herself with him, when brought home.
On the day of immersion she was all told and prepared by her dad that her beloved Ganesha would go to a swimming pool that day and would not come back.
She was indeed very excited to see her Ganesha taking a dip in the water.
She jumped with excitement while going to the lake shouting 'Ganapathi bappa moraya'.
But it was after the immersion, that she realised her friend had left her.
She cried unconsolably for almost an hour asking him to come back.

At present she is happy with her Ganesha doll and is back to her playtime with him.

When Anvitha became Radha

Learning shapes

Circle, square, triangle, oval, diamond and star...these are the shapes she has started recognizing without any difficulty.
She has rather started generalizing these shapes in her daily activities.
The plate in which she eats is round, the TV she watches is square (though she cannot differentiate between square and rectangle), the road safety signboards are pictured on a triangle board, the rice grain she eats and the seed of the date fruit she eats is indeed oval in shape...
I was cutting cucumber the other day in circles and she said 'that's a circle'. Later, i cut them into sticks and chopped them.
'Now they have turned into squares' she remarked. I was impressed.

This is how learning should proceed...from knowing specific concepts to applying them to daily life.

Becoming Bilingual

Anvitha's ಅಮ್ಮ has been replaced by 'mummy' while her ಅಪ್ಪ has become 'papa'.
Yes! she has started speaking in English now(mostly the influence of her school).
Her most favourite sentence is 'Mummy, i want water'.
The other words and sentences are hailed from her school and her interactions with her class teacher.
For e.g., 'Ma'am what is that?', 'Don't touch', and 'Don't talk'.
There are times when her English language follows the rule of Sanskrit language that of free usage of words in a sentence without any sequencing.
Just an e.g., 'Papa, where is?'
It's not just the transition from Kannada to English but to Hindi as well especially her Hindi rhymes learnt at school.
Though very hard, I have learned the art of deciphering her rhymes learnt at school.

It is of course necessary that she learn English but when she utters those precious words ( ಅಮ್ಮ and ಅಪ್ಪ) in English there is a pang in both me and S's stomach.

Getting ready for Independence day

Here are a few pictures from my girl's scrapbook for her first Independence day celebration at school

Tantrums

Me and S are having a tough time figuring out the reason behind Anvitha's temper tantrums these days...
Is it because of lack of sleep (as she has to get up early to go to school) or just a passing time, i do not know.
But her uncontrollable behaviour and outrage forces me to think that the reason behind all this is her school environment.
She is still missing her old school and refuses to go to her new one.
Is she putting out all this frustration at home?
Hopefully she will change once her grandparents are here (whose arrival she is waiting so eagerly).

Music

When first Anvita started learning her rhymes she intently watched her Rhyme CDs and listened to me singing for her.
Once she caught hold of that, she understood a few words and would sing along.
The next step for her was listening just the music and then recognising the respective songs for the tune (which is admirable).
Now, that she has learnt both she wants to put her own words into those song tunes which i think is a bad idea. That's because, this nuisance I need to bear all the time.
From past 2 days she is learning 'Jana gana mana' at school. Hope the National anthem doesn't get remixed and Rabindranath Tagore's glory is preserved.

How easily these children can sense the subtleties of human behaviour change:either good or bad.
Now, that Anvitha is going to her new school she is missing her old school extremely.
Is it the environment or the handling of children at new school or the way they are treated i and S do not know. But she is just not ready for it.
When she attended Daksha she had loads of stories to narrate.
We, parents never asked the school authorities what is being taught to her?
But we saw the live result of their teaching at home, in her way of spontaneous reproduction of everything that she had learnt.
They managed to give attention to each details of a child's routine.
This new place seems to be chaotic for her and she seems to be lost.
I only hope this would change as a little time passes.
But i also wish we hadn't shifted her from Daksha.

Happy Mother's Day

Both of us got our palm printed...courtesy Johnson and Johnson.

Plus 2 years

I think this 2+ yrs is the most toughest period handling her.
She understands many things and at the same time she 'doesn't understand' many other things related to them.
The end result being TANTRUMS.
I seem to be loosing patience so many times yet she makes me laugh immediately with her cute reactions and consolations:)
The most unbearable yet adorable behaviour is her 'incessant talk' for the whole day (even while she is having her food for which i need to remind her that she has to chew her food and not talk).

Missing Daksha

When she'd just started enjoying her school schedule it was time for them to wind up the term and year:(
She does miss her school now.
The year end souvenirs for her were all the more beautiful.
Here is a sample:

A Poem for every kid

Here's the poem for my girl from her school-Daksha...

"Your little one started school today
A first big milestone on the way.
She's not a baby, no not she
As big as any in the class, you see.
Till now you've been her shining sun
Your influence equalled by none.
But now I'll share in her work and play
Thanks for lending me your child today.
This little hands so small
Is starting school today.
This little hand so small
with others will work and play.
And I will try to train
this hand throughout the year, wonder if this hand will belong
to a scientist, doctor, engineer
to a teacher, philosopher or leader."

Very cute poem with my little one's palm printed on the paper.
(Please do not copy). The credit for this should go to Daksha school team.

First worksheets

Anvitha's first vegetable printing worksheets from school.

Open House

Open House is Daksha's way of conducting so called 'exams' for preschoolers.
All the materials taught for the kids were neatly arranged in a room and we parents were the examiners who were free to ask anything.
Nowhere did the teachers make their presence felt (their way of getting natural responses from children without any fear).
Just a week ago Anvitha was crying to go to school and now she even faced her exams!!!
And the best part: Nobody even knew that it's her exam.

Coming back from school happily:)

Now, after a week...

Now, that after a week she has completely settled down in her school (though she cribs about it while leaving home and enjoys once she enters) it's the school stories that i should be listening and training myself to be heard.

The rhymes and music sessions, the activities of her classroom, and her snack menu are the main topics for discussion.

But after all this, when she is asked as to what she did at school the first thing she says is that "she cried".

Day(s) out at play school

Anvitha has been attending play school since last week and seems really enthusiastic to play her favourite games there. Of course, that's only if her mother is alongside!!!
Even while playing her much adored slide or sand she wants me standing next to her.
Day before yesterday I was told go out for at least half an hour but her teacher called me back within 10 minutes as she was sobbing uncontrollably.
Every night while going to sleep she shows her interest to go to school next day and she doesn't forget to add about her favourite snacks also being served there (which she wouldn't even try if prepared at home) which she savours to the last bite.

Hope she understands soon that her mother can't be with her all the time.

Devotion

I have never been a beleiver of God. But my girl seems to be my opposite.
Though it is difficult to say about the 'belief' part at this age but the 'ritual' part she performs without any mistakes and inhibitions.
I too am forced to perform those rituals which i wouldn't do otherwise.
The best example would be our 'daily' visit to the temple. I never go to temples until and unless i am asked by someone.
But for Anvitha a visit to the temple during our daily evening walks is a must.
Joining her palms for 'namaskaar', taking 'teertha','aarti' and 'prasada', performing the 'pradakshina'- everything has to be perfect for her.
Recently she has learned to do her pradakshina not only in the temple but around the 'tulsi' plant too.
She doesn't miss out on chanting of 'mantras' while doing all this.
Though in her own language mantras are a new addition to her practices.
All in all she's carefully practicing my part of the rituals too.

Back Beat

Music

Apart from the usual English rhymes Anvitha's been learning a few old Kannada rhymes too and i think she loves them more than her English rhymes.
Her latest favourites are 'ಆಚೆ ಮನೆ ಸುಬ್ಬಮ್ಮನಿಗೆ ' and 'ರೊಟ್ಟಿ ಅಂಗಡಿ ಕಿಟ್ಟಪ್ಪ '. The former, she can sing complete chorus and the latter, only two lines.

Other than these rhymes, she has also learnt 'ಸ ನಿ ದ ಪ ' of karnatic music from her neighbourhood class where she makes her presence every now and then. Then too, she would want a book infront of her to guide her(!!!!) and her position should be cross legged while her palms play the 'ತಾಳ'.

Symbolic and Pretend Play

Symbolic Play refers to symbolic, or dramatic, play which occurs when children begin to substitute one object for another.
Which predominantly starts after 2 years.
And I can definitely see my girl doing the symbolic play.
Her car remote can become her TV, a plate and spoon can serve as her drums at one time and my turn into her 'aarti' plate at other times.
She has learned to feed, comb and even toilet train her favourite doll.
I had learnt in psychology that symbolic play is very important in a child's development.
It not only enriches their imagination but this is how they start relating to the outer world.
And even more, it also develops the child's language abilities as they do lot of 'self talking' when they actually communicating with their toys.

Sand Play