dont tease

Chantel read "http://chantelyazhini.blogspot.in/2015/01/chantels-teacher.html" in viber which i posted and felt very sad. She does not want to be teased. I told her that she will cherish these memories at a later time very much.
She wants her own blog now. I told her that i would create her a new id and she could keep writing her version of her life in this blog.

Want to listen to you both talking

Today at church, during the church PC election, we were sitting under the tree and talking. Chantel wanted to come in between D and myself so that she can listen to us talking.
I told her, it is very nice to do this now. However, when we become old, you would like to listen to your kids and most probably not us. This is the niyathi of life!

Chantel's Teacher

C's teacher H visited our house yesterday. I had helped her daughter M to get a job with a structural consultancy and they had come to thank us. Good times. 

God gave kids and Appa gave money

Chantel told me that Daph was the only one who made both the babies (c and c) to be born.
I told her that "I was also responsible and I gave my part!"
Chantel thought for some time and said: Yeah, God gave the babies to Amma and you gave money!

I can do all by myself

Last week, I told C that she should not watch youtube on the Ipad anymore. She started crying. After sometime, she came back and asked me if she could watch for one hour. (She was permitted to use the ipad only one hour) I said no. She got really angry. She said there were no girl games, and so, using it for 1 hour without watching youtube princess movies is not possible.
She wanted to go inside the bedroom and slam the doors. I told her not to slam the doors. They she did her homework in the bedroom, ate her dinner in the corner infront of the cupboard. She also said I can do all by myself, I dont need any help from you. 

Kaelavi

During their everyday tussle while teaching Chantel to learn, D said her "நீ என்ன கெழவியா ? why cannot you understand"
C said "Dont use bad words"
When D tried to explain "கெழவி" is not a bad word,
C says: "Well. I dont like it"

Dream

Early morning, C cried once or twice in her sleep. She went back to sleep without our intervention. Later, while driving to the church, we prodded her about her sinunkal. Just two days back, she had cried in the early morning and had told us that she missed granma very much and that made her cry. But this time around, to our surprise she had an elaborate story!
It seems, C and D were on a race. That was NOT a slow race but a fast race. During the race, C ran to touch the wall and return, while D was just walking. C came first and got the first prize. D came last. But to C's astonishment, D was given a prize called "the last prize". C didnt like it and reasoned that, D should not have got the prize, because it was a fast race.
And so she cried.
Ca 11 july 2010

Dropping C at school

The feeling of dropping off one's daughter - she gives a flying Kiss and then turns around to walk towards her class....

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• Senthil Kumaar, Shalmali Shenoy, Aradhana Handa Pandey and 17 others like this.
• 

  Eben Jayanth precious moments 

  August 22 at 8:40am via mobile · Like
• 

  Siva Shankar I used to drop my father-in-law's daughter everyday. I don't remember such a thing happening even once 

  August 22 at 9:01am via mobile · Unlike · 3
• 

  Eben Jayanth its complicated...if ur father-in law has more than one !

  August 22 at 9:07am via mobile · Unlike · 3
• 

  Siva Shankar Eben: Unfortunatelly, no. Still a good one though 

  August 22 at 9:09am via mobile · Like · 1
• 

  Cleona Lira That means you've done a stellar job as a parent! Woohoo!

  August 22 at 4:15pm · Like
• 

  David Doss He he. Sometimes they turnaround and then wave bye

  August 22 at 8:17pm · Unlike · 1

Teaching Tamil to Chantel

Because of the paranoia of not our kids being able to understand / read / write in tamil, I thought of teaching Tamil to C during our 10 min ride in the car to her school. I thought I would play some tamil movie songs (may not be a good idea) and explain her. As of today, she can speak quite a bit in Tamil.
We started with Thanga nilave unnai urukki. The song is tough. She knew Nila but not nilavu; She didnt know urukki; She didnt know thangam. The next line was "natchathiramae unnai udaichu". Surprisingly she knew "natchathiram" (which I thought was a tough word) from the tamil Dora serial!
Then I thought, I would explain more and said, one could not actually break the moon to make jewels, but the poet was just using his poetic license, and that the moon was not actually made of gold.
She looked at me and said, "Yeah, I know! The Moon is made of cheese!"

Conversations with my daughter

Today I drove Chantel to her school for the dance practice for their forthcoming Christmas program. She was in a happy mood and was explaining the dance steps and movements. I asked her if her teacher liked the way she danced.
"YES! I was in the first line. But I forgot to do the turnaround. So, now I am in the second line. It is NOT the second line, but behind the girl on the first line!"
"oh"
"yes. Also, the music gets faster and faster, and we have to dance faster and faster, but I cant; so I dance slowly"
"And others keep dancing faster"
"Yes."
At that time "Hey You" was playing on the car stereo. I was singing (shouting) along and asked: "I have a good voice, right?"
She covered her mouth with both her hands and giggled, but didn't reply. I asked her again. She waited for some time and said, "You are not singing in tune with the song!" I looked at her and felt that she didn't give any bad comment on my voice and told her: "What is the point of singing along with the tune? You have to show your individuality! That is why I dont sing along"
"What is individuality?"
"It is kinda creativity"
"What is creativity?"
"... தனித்தன்மை ...you have to be different...."
I hope she didn't understand. I hope she does NOT dance differently in the group.
And then, the song "Shine on you crazy diamonds" started to play and I asked her whether she liked that song. Again she waited for some time, and said, "This guy has not started singing at all.... taking so much time to start!"

I asked her "When was this dance program at school?"
"I dont know"
"Can you ask your teacher today, so that I can also come to the program?"
"How can I ask the teacher?"
"Just ask her: Can you please tell me the date and time of the program?"
"But she will ask 'why?'"
"Tell her, "I would like my dad to attend the program, baby!"
"Cheeei! I won't say that!"
In the meantime, she complained that I was not driving fast enough and that we would be late. And then the song "Broken Arrow" by Rod Stewart was on. I asked her whether she liked the singer's voice. Again, she waited for some time and said "This voice is a cough voice!!!"