Colourful

A colourful sketch by Anvitha.

My angel turned 'five'...

ಮಗಳು ತುಂಬಾ ಜೋರಾಗಿದ್ದಾಳೆ. ಎಲ್ಲದಕ್ಕೂ ಲೆಕ್ಕಾಚಾರ. ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ತನ್ನ ಸುತ್ತ ಸುತ್ತಬೇಕು ಎನ್ನುವ ಆಸೆ.

ಹೋದ ವಾರವಷ್ಟೆ ರಾಜಸ್ಥಾನದಿಂದ ತಂದ ಬಟ್ಟೆಯನ್ನು ಹಾಕಿಕೊಂಡೆ. ತಕ್ಷಣ ಒಂದು dialogue ಬಂತು. "ನೀನು ಮಾತ್ರ ನಿನಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದ dress ತಗೊಂಡು ಬಾ tour ಇಂದ, ನನಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಒಂದು ಜೊತೆ ಲಂಗ ಬ್ಲೌಸು ತಂದು ಬಿಡು ಸಾಕು" ಎಂದು. ಇದಿಷ್ಟು ಕೇಳಿಯೂ ನಾನು ಎಲ್ಲದರ ಜೊತೆ ಹೊಸ ಚಪ್ಪಲಿಯನ್ನೂ ಹಾಕಿ ಹೊರಟೆ. ಅದನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ಇನ್ನೂ ಮುಖ ಊದಿಹೊಯಿತು.

ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ದಿನ ನನ್ನ ಹಾಗೂ ಅವಳ ಅಪ್ಪನ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೂಗಾಡಿದ್ದಳು- "ಅಂಗಡಿಗೆ ಹೋದರೆ ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ಅಮ್ಮನ ಅಡಿಗೆ ಸಾಮಾನು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಬರ್ತೀಯಾ ನನ್ನ ಅಡಿಗೆ ಆಟಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾವ ಸಾಮಾನು ಕೊಡಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ" ಎಂದು. ಅದೇ ಸಿಟ್ಟನ್ನು ಮುಂದುವರಿಸಿ- "ನನ್ನ ಮೇಲೆ ನಿಮಗೆ ಕಾಳಜಿ ಇಲ್ಲ, ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಅಮ್ಮಮ್ಮನ ಮನೆಗೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ನೀವಿಬ್ಬರೂ tour ಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಮಜಾ ಮಾಡಿ ಬರ್ತೀರಾ" ಅಂತ ಮೊಸಳೆ ಕಣ್ಣೀರು ಸುರುಸಿದಳು.

ಅವಳ ಮುಂದೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡೋದು ಅಥವಾ ಮಾತಾಡೋದು ಇದ್ಧರೂ ಹತ್ತು ಸಲ ಯೋಚನೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು.

ಕಿವಿಯಂತು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ದಿಕ್ಕಿಗೂ ಹಬ್ಬಿರುತ್ತದೆ.
ಸಧ್ಯಕ್ಕಂತೂ ನಾವು ಅವಳನ್ನು tour ಗೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೋದ ವಿಷಯಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಬೇಕಾದಷ್ಟು emotional blackmail ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಳೆ:)

Germination process

After teaching about the 'Human body- Nervous system and the Skeletal system' and about the 'Lifecycle of Butterfly', it's time for A's teachers to share their knowledge about the 'Germination process'.

Here are the images of a small activity they assigned to teach the concept.

Go Green, Save Earth

A miniature earth that I and Anvitha prepared for her Show and Tell competition.

The topic we chose for her was 'Go Green, Save Earth'.

Palm

The Gingerbread Man

After all the hard work, she has at last won the first place (as a compensation for missing the opportunity last year)for telling "The Gingerbread Man story".

Here are the sticks with characters who helped her narrate the story...

Sharpened crayons

Anvitha thought of sharpening her crayons!!!

To her amusement (as well as mine) the fallen 'dust' looked pretty.

And she gave me the idea of taking a picture of the same.

Here's is the result...

Palms

Design of Mehendi shining in the evening light...

Monster palm with scary paws...

Strategy Planning

From past two days myself and mother of A's friend have become strategy planners- planning for bringing some definite structure for their play time.
Though the structure remains manageable when it comprises of only two of them: A and A.

But it seems to be going haywire when one more companion peeps into the picture: J.

At this point we feel that we are ruthless against own children but I think it's also necessary that we discipline them at the right time.

Now, my day passes by planning something for her; leaving no time for myself but I know what's of utmost priority at present.

Their companionship reminds me of "Two is company; three is crowd".

Back beat

Waiting near the window...

Picking the sand...

She has been learning the Kannada letters and she has succeeded in it quite well.

Her whole conversations are but in questions now!

"Where did I come from? Once I grow big like you will I too get a baby?
Why every body else has a sister and not me?
I have never seen papa conducting meeting inside his office, can I see it?"

The questions are never ending...

She is very excited to attend her K2 class now. More so as her mother is at home waiting for her:)
She played a new game with me that was taught to her in the class; the ABC game I would call it- rather very good to teach children lowercase letters.

'Sun Blocking'

Took this picture on a sunny day against the light in my drawing room.

This is the third time she's been away from us now.
There is an unusual quietness around without her.
The whole house would be bustling with laughter and shrieks of cries in her presence.
Now, it's all STILL.
The otherwise unkempt corners of the house are now clean and tidy untouched by her foot prints.
The only noise that can be heard comes from outside: the shrill sound of the concrete mixture next to the apartment, children splashing water in the swimming pool, the brushing of the broom sticks on the floor as a maid tries to push aside puddle of water that entered the corridor because of an unusual downpour.

The heart felt bitter when she cried on first two days as she wished to be with her mother in Hyderabad.
Though regretful, some corner of the heart felt happy for this fact.

But now, she semms to be enjoying in her world with her grandparents. This is heartbreaking:(
Parents are SELFISH (for their children)... The only reason for that could be LOVE.

MISSING YOU my dear.

Sight words

Anvitha has started learning three letter words.
Though she is trying hard to make connections between the letter and its corresponding sound, she is learning many of them just by looking at them.

After getting an idea of teaching sight words accidentally, I decided to make the 'sight word caterpillar'.
And it proved to be really useful.
She has learnt almost 10 words and can recognize them while am reading a story for her.

Happy Holi

Peers

A slight feeling of jealousy passes through my heart everyday when I see Anvitha going away with her friends to play.
Complete freedom filled with innocence. Our complete corridor reverberates of their laughter, calling each other and to end it all- a fight.
Cycling, visiting each others' house, role playing... her whole evening is engaged in these activities.

She has grown to be the leader of her group now where she commands and others follow.
She can even start a conversation with adults if is unable to find her agemates.
It is good to see her having company all through the evening. It's given me some free time too:)

Grandparents' house as depicted by Anvitha

I told her to draw the picture of a house and she drew the picture of her grandparents' house with extra details of garden laid on both sides of the road:)