idi = vedi

Daph told me that there were a lot of fire crackers going around in madras for diwali. And C is running around, afraid, calling "Idimma"

Appa on phone

C And D are still in Madras. When I called them yesterday, D gave the phone to C. C took the phone and realized it was me and showed it to all the kids that were around and said "Appa itho!" I hope she does not think "the phone" is the appa!

pesu appa pesu

Daph pass the phone to C. C came onto the phone and said "pesu appa pesu" in the same tone we tell to talk over the phone!

amma engey at parking lot;

I went to drop off C and D at the airport. First we dropped off D and I took C to the parking lot. When I took C out of the car, C started asking "amma engey?" I told her amma poyachu! Luckily she didnt start to cry.

blood test

I took C to the doctor to get a blood test. C sort of realized her predicament when the nurse took her temp and pressure. But after we went into to room and when the nurse came with the injection, C started crying really loud. Luckily the nurse finished it fast. C stopped crying after some time.

car driving

Jones came and left the other day. I asked her where did Periappa go and she said "poch". Later, she went and total thatha that pediappy poch bye bye!
Today she sat in the driver seat (while the car was parked in our garage) and started trying to push this lever and that and tried to operated the steering wheel. It looks like she has observed me doing in and knows how to do it!!

Thatha Killimma...

Thatha was asking C to do something. She didnt respond and so thatha touched her. C ran away and went to D and reported "thatha killimma...!!!"
Later she came around and saw some things lying on the floor (which she must have thrown away) and started animatedly said her version of "yen ippdi panna?"

Jones visit

Jones visited us for his interview at washu. C started calling him pediappa.

mudi...appamma

C started throwing away her diapers away again. Today she removed her diaper and later shit on the carpet; That was bad and so she got adi; She was moody for sometime. When I pulled her hair she went to D and started complaining - " mudi - appamma!"

Solo engey?

We went camping with the TCF. C got up in the morning and started asking Solo engey for solomon uncle. After returning C started going walking with granma. If she tries to take her walking without the sweater, C asked for it! ...sweatae....sweaterrrrr....

koppalikirathu

I have been trying to teach koppalikirathu to chantel after brushing her teeth. I give some water and C sprays it all over. She is slowly gettingit.

after shave lotion

Today C climbed onto her potty when D was not watch. Then she proceeded to clim onto the wash basin and then grabbed the thatha's after shaving lotion and started applying it all over her body.

Complaining

We went to Solomon/Mary's 25th anniversary. C was loitering around the stage. Rosy started pushing c two or three times. C didnt fight back and went to mary to complain! It was quite interesting to watch her do that.
Back at home, I started teaching her to push back while saying "Po"...Daph didnt like it and wants C to be nicer to people than assertive...

pony tail

D combed C and gave her a pony tail. C was very proud of that. I started playing with her pony tail and started giving sound effects whenever I chundufy her kondai. C got hooked to it and started making the sounds whenever I did that to her kondai.

Chicago

We went to chicago around this time. C didnt have any fear in the flight nor in the chicago suburban trains. She liked the idea of having seatbelts and wanted to sit by herself! On the way to chicago , we didnt check on chantel. She had her diaper on but when we reached the hotel, her shorts was fully wet. We could not believe that she could have peed that much. We checked and checked for spilled water bottles but in vain.

Sears tower etc

At the sears tower, c wanted to go the edge and look down. D was a little hesitant. but c had her way. At the mcdonalds, she didnt want to sit in one place and was running around.
When parents went to phoenix c started asking "thatha engey?" the next morning!

cd- removing and keeping it back

We were quite worried C would damage all the CDs we have if we arrange them on our open shelf for quite sometime. Yesterday we bit the bullet and arranged it and asked C not to touch it. C was fine for some time. But later, she pushed all the CDs to the floor. I sat next to her and made her arrange all the CDs on the shelf again. C did it patiently. But after some time, she thought it was a game and started taking off the Cds one by one!

Chantel calling

Today C pestered D to call me and talked lots of stuff over the phone. I could not understand anything but she kept on talking. Was nice.
We took her to the butterfly house. C was afraid of them initially but later started playing with them. (dupperfly)

un pair enna?

I have been trying to teach C "what is your name?" to whcih she replies Chantel. However, if we ask her "Un pair enna?" she says Yazhini!

Toy lion

C is afraid of lion toy in the baby room. She does not want to enter the room, if that toy is in her bed. However, she is not afraid of the lion in the book. She does RRRRRr to imitage the singam and enjoys it.
I am also amazed at her ability to recognize things; She recognized a photo of odile even upside down; in different dress; and situations; She also successfuly pointed and called out thatha; granny; amma and appa;

Color

Today we started teaching her the colors. Some of the times she got it right. She learnt the words green, yellow, orange "color" but didnt necessarily understood their meaning. Just fun to watch her go around the colors.

amma engey?

Daph went outside for sometime. C was playing with her toys and then started looking for daph in thekichen, etc. Since she could not find daph , started crying, saying "Amma engey?"

brushing teeth

Daph bought C a special tooth paste. It looks like the paste is so sweet and chantel loves it. She wants to brush her teech whenever I am brushingmine. i ask her togo and sit on the tub and then ask her to do aaaaah or eeeeeh and try to brush her (2) teeth. Chantel would kinda allow it, but quickly put her lips onto the tooth brush and start sucking on the tooth brush to eat the sweet paste.

shoe shopping for c

We went to target to buy a shoe for C. After entering the store, C started directly to go the the eaterly to the popcorn counter. It looks like daph has spoilt her whenever she took C to target and C remembers it well! C started wearing all kinds of shoes and would not give it away. We had to cajole her into giving the shoe at the register.

ETCH A SKETCH - DAFFY

C Has a very small etch a sketch. I try to draw on it once in a while and ask C to identify it. She easily identifies 1 but am not sure whether she understands it. She also identifies any human head or feminine form as 'daffy' (thanks to my coaching! ;)

singam, poonai, duffly (buuterfly from book)

D bought C a book on animals. C likes to name the things. We try to teach her both english and tamil - singam, poonai, duffly (butterfly) and she gets it well.
We also taught the sounds these animals make and C loves saying "miaahve"

Tantrum - 1

Today C tool the photos on the table and started throwing them to the floor. I guess she wants all the photos to be pics of herself, else they go! When I spanked her, her eyes became so wide and started crying. GranAma tried to explain her that pointing the photo. We will have to ask C after she grows up whether she understood!

video - dancing

I tried to video graph C dancing. It was very difficult. C wants to see the image on th camera, and so whenever I took it out, she could come running towards the camera and wanted to see it making it impossible to videograph her. She likes her image on the cam and says "chantel" and feels happy about it!

Tissues

She learnt to use "achacho" - "adado" to show her sympathy. (Achchacho).
She wants tissues to after eatinig to wipe off her hands and mouth.

Allergy and the mole

C Has some sort of allergy. She gets small skin swelling in hand. (I get this too, and we dont know what this is...) It itches and C scratches and it itches more again.
C also has this habit of scratching a mole on daph's arm. C does not like the mole and tries to erase it away, which gives, allegedly lot of pain to D! C also likes to keep scratching it while going to sleep and gets irritated if Daph wears a full sleeve dress that covers the mole!!!

Doing away with the diaper

C does not like the diaper. I guess it must be the itching. So, she just removes it, throws it away and then walks around the house, along with the imminent danger of spoiling the carpet. So I caught her and spanked her. Amma started laughing. We had to ask amma to present a stern face.
C behaved ok for sometime. Then went upstairs and removed the diaper again. Adi again. This time she started crying. But I guess she got the message.

peek a ba

C likes to play peed a boo. She pronounces it as "peek a baa", which is cute. She gets lots of pleasure doing this and laughs uncontrollably.

ABCD

Time to teach C the alphabets. Because I dont spend enough time with her, the best time is when she is 'going' in the potty. I had to sit on the bathtub, while she waits patiently for things to go, and all. I start singing ABCD, and she gleefully joins. Whether she gets potty trained soon or not, she would have memorized the alphabets!!

Diarhea

C had diarrhea today. It was sad to see her go quite often. Daph stopped all milk. I took her to the toilet again. She sat on the potty and started going really fast and noisy. I was afraid that C would not understand what is going on and that she might start crying. I tried to look at her face consolingly....but C smiled and said "good girl!" on her prowess.

let there be Light

Today we were teaching C to keep things back at its place. She drank the juice and kept the spoon back into the washer.
Because of Daph's constant use of light everywhere (!), C demanded me to switch on the light in the toilet, when she was going. It was daytime and there a lot of light coming from that big window. C pointed the light to me and said "light". I pointed the window and told her "Light" She thought I didnt understand and kept repeating. Didnt happen!!!

Shhh...

We have been trying to teach C about the importance of being quiet. We try to do "shhh..." to her whenever she starts crying or if she makes noise in a calm surrounding. She never understood the shh...thing and didnt respond properly. Or so we thought!
These days she does the shhh to us, whenever we talk loudly or sing loudly (i am not sure whether she is doing this because she does not like the song or the voice!)
So, I thought, okay, now she understands the shhhh and would respond well when she makes noise next time...but no!

Tiemeyer park

Yesterday we went to the Tiemeyer park. It was a last minute decision. Daph prepared chicken and st louis bread company bread sandwich. We were late. C was sleeping when we arrived. Daph took her to the swings. But it seems, C asked specifically asked for the ducks and then D took C to the lake too. It was getting dark and C would not want to leave. I took her again to the slide and helped her slide down a 10 feet one with D's help 3 or 4 times. C didnt know how to slide smoothly - she spreads her arms and legs and so her speed is greatly reduced. I tried the same slide and found that to be very fast and realised it was good C didnt experience the full speed!!!
C still didnt want to leave and ran away from us to a smaller slide and tried to walk down in it without realizing that she has to slide. We helped her 2 or 3 times and then D helped C to slide on the big one for the last time. It was quite dark by then and C didnt want to leave at all and started crying. However, once inside the chair, she stopped crying and became ok. Good.

Vali

Yesterday C started crying "Vali" to amma in the evening. I didnt understand the word and she was showing outside. Later we realized she was saying "veliyae" and wanted us to take her out. We did. C started running to the back house and brough her in after sometime. C would not have it. She started crying. Amma took her out to the frontyard. C behaved well for 10 secs and then started running to the road. Amma was trying to tackle her for sometime but in the end, C managed to succeed. luckily the car driver didnt yell, but said "hi". Amma had a great workout and has sworn not to take C out in the front again. (She learnt later than taking C out in the back also is not good, because C tries to raid the neighboring houses!!!)

appa amma arrival

Yesterday appa and amma arrived. C became very hyperactive after sometime and was running to amma and then generally running around the house. She didnt go to appa in the beginning but only to amma. However, after sometime she went to both of them.
She also wore the dress appa and amma brought her. She also wore the ring and was crying after sometime because it would not come off her fingers!!

Wakeup climb down in the morning

Ever since we moved to the new house, C is quite mobile in the mornings. In the old house, she would get up, but would not move from the bed and start crying. Here, because the bedrooms are on the upper level, most of the days, none of us are up. C would get up, start crying, but would climb off her bed and start walking and start climbing the stairs to join us. This is nice and saves us climbing up the stairs to bring her down!

Fall from bed

Yesterday C fell from bed again. Because of the carpet, she did ok. However, the fall seemed quite dangerous - head down first. In the end, she managed not to land on her head!

Zoo

We went to the zoo last weekend. C liked it much. She was shouting at all the animals, including bears, etc as doggy. It was quite interesting. She enjoyed the penguins very much. Also during the day, C was highly excited and wanted to get off the stroller and took a fall and cried inconsolably. We had to leave the scene because all the by standers started looking at us.

Potty Train Ultra

Yesterday was the first day, (as far as I know) she, by herself, went to the potty, pulled down her panty and sat on it and went potty. After she finished, she promptly picked the potty and showed it to me, so that i can throw it outside. This is perfect. We hope she continuous to do this.

Wetting clothes

Yesterday C said kakka and I put her on her potty. She didnt go. However, after 5 minutes, she went on the sofa with all the nicely arranged washed clothes! Daph will rewash them (hopefully)

Removing frock

C likes to take off her frock. Whenever she hears the word, "kuli", she would try to take her frock off saying" kugi"

Lake and water

we went to the creve couer lake yesterday. C was quite happy seeing the water. C had enjoyed the water in the six flags and was playing in it. C didnt know the difference and wanted to walk into the CC lake too (thinking that this was just another pool!!!)
She grabbed small pebbles and religiously put them into the water for sometime.

Fireworks

Before the dinner, Praveen starting the fireworks. C was very afraid and was clinging to us. Whenever we carry her, C does not bother to hold on to her and we have to hold her tightly so that she does not slip. If we ask her to 'pidi' she would not do it. However, during the fireworks she was holding on to us like anything! She could never get used to even the small ones like mathapu...

Dining table climb

We went to Praveen's house for dinner. C was quite elated to see the baby, playing with their fish, etc. She hugged their baby. But dinner time, as usual, she started standing up on the chair and started reaching out for the stuff on the dining table and started climbing on it.
This was quite embarassing. We both were trying to have dinner and didnt realize that one of us should have taken care of C while the other dined.
However, it was not good and made me feel bad that C didnt not behave properly. We also realized that we allowed her to do this at home and that was not a good idea.

Manipulating cry

C has learnt the art of the manipulative cry. She understands that her cries are answered quickly than that of other simple requests and has started doing this.

good girl at medical exam

Yesterday we went to do the medical exam for the green card. The room was full. C behaved herself very much.

Bayak 2

Yesterday there was 'scary movie' on the TV. C was very afraid of the guy in the mask. She came running and sat on my lap. But mustered enough courage to look at the TV again and started crying again. She kept looking at the tv and kept crying...
even though she was afraid she would not stop looking at the tv.

Bayakamma

The flights are getting quite noise sometimes. C showed her first signs of fear. Somehow she has learnt the word bayam. Whenever there is a roaring noise of the aircraft C comes running towards us and says "Bayakamma"
D has been teaching C to say bye bye to the planes to alleviate her fears. It works most of the time. However, she still comes running to us sometimes.

Airplance and pic

We have been pointing to the airplanes that fly about to C and C enjoys them whenever we are around. I also taught her "plane" Yesterday C was standing next to our computer and when a small airplane appeared on the screen pop up ads, C recognized it and pointed to me "Plane" This was quite surprising to me, to associate an actual plane that flies with a roaring noise to an image!

Vicks

D is very particular about C's skin. She still thinks C's color is because of her skin allergy. Everyday D applies skin cream moisture cream on C 2 or three times a day. Yesterday, C managed to find a full vicks bottle and applied it all over her body. It is very difficult to remove vicks from one's skin.. water does not work.

Killu

C also is becoming naughty day by day. Even if we repeatedly tell her not to do certain things, she does them anyway. I introduced the ancient technic of "killu" (pinching) the other day. She switched off the TV again and I killi vittain. However, C wont not let go and was also controlling tears. She would not cry. She would look here and there and they smile at my still angry face, thinking that she can change the topic. It is very hard to keep a stern face under these circumstances and I feel very bad for having killufied her. She also tried to literally change the topic by pointing to some other object (Ball) etc.

kakka with panty

C's potty training is improving very much. She has been quite good in coming and telling us before doing any damage. (Sometimes, because of our laziness, damage does happen in a split second.) Yesterday she was very nice. She didnt want to disturb lazy people, so whenever she had kakka, she went and sat on her potty herself. So far, so good, but she didnt not take off her panty and frock before doing so!

Onnukku

I am trying to teach her the difference between onnukku and kakka. She is doing fine. Sometimes she goes on the carpet itself and it is a mess. The old house had wooden floor and we never had a problem.

House without boundaries

The new house does not have any fence. Whenever the door is open, C just starts running out. She does not know the difference between road and sidewalk, etc and since all the houses on the street look the same, once she goes 3 houses down the lane, she may not be able to locate our house.
We have to be very careful. She also likes the outdoors very much and whenver we take her out, she does not want to come back and cries a lot.

Climbing down the stairs

The new house does not have the small staircase gate. The flight is steep and runs the whole floor height. But is carpeted. C is not very much afraid. She actually slides down the steps (instead of climbing down). Luckily somehow she knows to slide one step at a time and does it perfectly.

Oh Oh vamma

Along with Kakkavamma, C also adds "vamma" to many words. Whenever she hurts herself, she would come and show and tell us "ohohvamma".

Kakkavamma

C is very fond of the new house toilets. She wants to go whenever she sees them. There is no toilet in the ground floor and this is a problem because of C. Whenever she says "Kakkavamma" (instead of just saying Kakkamma, she says Kakkavamma. I guess, whenver we ask her, we say kakkavamma and she does not understand the difference between kakkamma and kakkavamma) we have to take her and run the stairs to the first floor.

Moving stay

We are moving to the new house tomorrow. We have not packed anything. We got boxes from Abraham and Ronald. In the morning D decided to leave C with Janet. They were very nice to take her and C behaved very well there.
When we went to pick her up, she was sleeping on the couch and they said she slept two or three times there.

Stay at Doctors'

AFter the signing, we went to pick up C. She was very happy and running around. Aunty said that she didnt miss us at all! She ate whenever she felt hungry. It seems she also raised false alarm of Kakka two times!
I think this is the first time we left her with others and C took it very well.

Leaving c with Doctor'

We are signing the papers for the new house today. We didnt know what to do with Chantel during this time. It typically takes around 2 hours and C cannot sit in one place during that time. We thought of leaving her with Jasmine, but it takes 35 mins to go to their house and then we thought of leaving them with Mohit but later decided to leave her with Doctor aunty and Felicia.

camping - chocolate

During the retreat:
Sneha told us the C has been eating chocolates and whether it was ok. C had a huge chocolate on her hand and was having a blast. It is a fault on our part, because whenever we go to this tamil gathering, somebody or other is taking care of C or C is playing with the other kids, and so, we dont go after her and watch her all the time. I think we have to change this.

camping - drive back crying

Last weekend we went for the Tamil Retreat. Chantel was quite new during the retreat. She was still afraid of the water.
During the past months, C does not cry while in the car at all. She thinks its fun and keeps looking outside the window and quite satisfied. However, On our way back from the retreat she started crying. We had to stop the vehicle on the way at Mcdonalds

First dress from amma

Today D stitched her first dress for C. Daph had adorned the frock with laces and frills. Chantel was quite happy running around carrying it. and she would not give it back. However, when daph told C that we would dress up C in the new dress, she promptly handed over the dress. The dress looked good and daph was very elated about it. After sometime tho, c started complaining the dress is "kuthi" because of the frill/edge treatment.

Hurt

Whenever C gets hurt, she comes to us and tells us "kal". Either D or myself has to "thadavi vida vendum". She also expects a kiss sometimes on the hurt part. She still keeps sucking her lower lips. The lips has become too large that it cannot become any larger any more!
She is tall enough for her head to barely touch the bottom of the table. However, she has to duck under the edge of the table to come out. She somehow manages to get under it but does not know to come out. She tries once or twice and then starts crying for Daph to come and help her out.

climbing

C has started climbing on things, as if it were here lifetime goal. When we put her on the dining chair, she wants to climb on to the dining table and empty the salt/pepper shaker. If D leaves her on the potty for a minute, C would hold onto the potty water tank, and then climbs onto the washbasin and sits in it. She goes on to play with the water tap and water. We are concerned that she might slip off the sink when she climbs up. We try to keep the toilet door closed all the time.
She climbs up and down the stair without much problem. But does it one riser at a time. The new house stairs may not have a gate, but has carpet treads. However, the new stair is gonna be steep and higher...

Hug and High Five

I taught C the word Hug and High Five. She calls hug as ug. She does not come and hug us on her own, but whenever we say "Hug" she would spread both her arms really wide and then hug us. Quite interesting. Some time, especially when she is not very happy, she would not do this even after many requests! That goes for 'Kiss' too. The other day when I told her I would take her out only if she kissed me, she did it in an instant!
Nobody understood the highfive thing...but whenever we say high5 and lift our arm to her, she would slap our palm with hers...

Frock

C is learning new words day by day. The latest one is the "frock". She has not mastered the pronunciation of the word yet, but quite close (she omits the "r")
I am also trying to start teaching her some English sentences "What is your name?" "Chantel" along with Tamil equivalent "un pair enna?" "Yazhini". C is getting quite confused, and D is not happy either!
She says her name as "Chanta" and she proudly points to herself when saying that.

Lessons on Eating

Story per daph:
Yesterday it seems Chantel was asking for kadalai (lelaai) and daph her some. She asked for MMs and daph gave her too. C put that in a plate. and placed it on the dining table and then pulled up the chair, climbed and and sat on it. She ate the kadalais and the mms out of the plate, sitting on the dining chair, herself!!!
Good thing is that she is learning to do all these things herself...especially when we are not teaching her enough!

missing appa

Daph told me that C missed me very much yesterday. I dont know the reason but when I returned home from office, she came running "appa". But thats that. 1 minute after my arrival C went back to what she was doing.

Missing amma

Yesterday Daph went to groceries leaving C and myself at home. C was sleeping when Daph left and so was not aware of amma's absence when she woke up. Surprisingly she didnt cry. I started playing with her and later she played some music. She didnt show any signs of missing amma. However, when amma returned after an hour or so, C ran towards her calling "amma!", etc. That was nice.

Diaper

C has realized that whenever we make her wear a diaper (she says paper) she was about to go out. She would constantly ask us to put diaper, thinking that this will make us take her out. She also thinks "combing the hair" (thalaich) also has the same effect.
Another thing is the shoe. Yesterday when I reached home, i saw C's shoes lying on the stairs and Daph wanted me to pick and bring it up. However, C was standing at the top of the flight, and saw me coming towards her with her shoes. C got really elated thinking that I am gonna make her wear the shoe, and we were going out. However, D got the shoes and promptly put it away in C's closet and C started crying really hard.

Sun burn

May 12th we went to the bridgeton sports complex to see our office participating in the baseball tournament. We didnt get sunblock lotion, mat, nothing. The temperature was around 85 degrees. We must have been sitting on the sun for 30 minutes and both C's cheeks started showing sunburn signs. It looked bad. However, once we were out of the sun and back in the car, the reddishness went away and it was not a sunburn after all!!! May be there is something in the sky here in the US that makes this. While in India, we had not seen many baby's sunburnt in 30 minutes or may be they do now!

Tissue

C still has lot of runny nose after the fever. We use tissue paper to remove the phlegm once in a while. C also started taking the tissue and started wiping her nose by herself. She does not know to blow the nose yet. We tried to teach her in vain.
She also wants to use the tissue in the bath room. After every time she goes number one, she would ask for a tissue and would not get down the potty without that. She would use it to wipe it but would not let it go into the potty easily. We have to tell her so many times to "podu" and then she would do it unwillingly!

paci

Yesterday C went to daph and asked "Amma...paci...amma...paci" in a typical beggar tone...(I dont know why D would not give C anything to eat!!!!!!!!)
It is quite surprising because we didnt teach her this word and she has somehow picked it up. Thats nice.
She also understands the terms appa, amma properly now, and if we ask "appa engey?" she points me and says "Tho"...

Athai leaving

Athai left last Tuesday and we thought C will be crying a lot. Does not look like it. We dont know whether this is good or bad. However, D is quite upset.
C is missing being in the outside. Athai took her along to the garden and for small walks.
We have not yet made her listen to Athai over the phone. Last time in August, C started crying when she heard athai's voice.

Tri cycle

Athai got C a new tri cycle. It had to be assembled and while we were trying to do this, C was very excited and was walking around the various parts, and was trying to take away the screw driver or the hammer or the small nuts and bolts.
She would not let me complete the assembly but was trying to climb on the cycle. The cycle could be used in 3 ways (as a cycle; rocker; cart) but C was using it in the fourth way by pushing it with her legs...

new house toilet

Chantel and abigail were running together during Janet's baby shower. C was trying to follow Abi. AFter we returned home, when asked where Abi was, C pointed outside thro the window.
We went to take a look at a new house today. The toilets were neat and bigger than our current one. C got very excited with the toilet and whenever we went near it, she would say "Kakka" and would not come out of it!

kadalai

C likes to eat the honey roasted ground nuts. (not sure about the honey roasted...that is what we had at home) She is asking for "kalai" whenever D walks closeby the kadalai dapppa. She also likes to eat mixture and would run towards me dropping everything she has whenever I open the mixture container.

Lip sucking

C has this irritating habit of sucking her lower lip. There is not way we could make her stop doing this. If we "chundu"fy her lips, she starts crying and then after some times does it again. Her lip has become little bulged (or atleast that is what we think...)
Daph bought a liquid that we could apply on her lips to discourage her from doing this. we warn her by saying "Thaichiruvom". She got half the word and says "thaich" etc., but still would not stop the habit. We dont know what do do. We have to call the doctors and find out if there is any way.

After the sickness

Chantel had become little tired and thin after her sickness. She is getting her strength back and starter her naughty antics...

Smile again

Today morning C seemed to be back to herself again. She is visibly tired and has lost most of her energy but atleast she started moving around the house and started kicking the ball. It looks like she might need a couple of days to get back to normal. We have not regularized her diet yet.
Today we put some nail polish on her toe nails and C went around asking us "Ni?" (for "nice?")

Stir crazy

Whole day C took only liquids and she has not vomitted at all. In the evening we went to the stir crazy chinese restaurant to meet the probable guy for daph's cousin. I had some stomach upset too. C smelt the chinese food and wanted to have it. Even before we placed the order, C wanted to go the the kitchen and start eating. C also cried to get the food from our neighbor's plate. When we got our food, C would not eat any uncooked vegetable like beans, or baby corns but wanted to eat the spicy noodles. When we tried to give her some of the Kanji we had brought from home, she pushed it away. Later C started taking the noodle from athai's plate and started eating it. Luckily nothing happened and C got away with eating lot of noodles.

Stomach flu

Daph took C to the doctor. He says that she could have stomach flu and there is nothing we could do much. Either we can give her fluids every ten minutes or admit her in the hospital.
Daph and athai started giving C water / pedialyte and syrup liquid etc. The doctor didnt give any medicine. C didnt vomit whole day.
At night, D made dosas and C very much wanted to eat dosas and we gave a small piece. After 5 mins, C vomitted again. Since then C only took liquids but didnt like it, she wanted to have kadalai, etc.

Stomach upset

C had a stomach upset today. It looks like she has some stomach ache and also running fever. She stopped smiling and keeps crying all the time. She started vomitting everything, including water.

going out

Yesterday C started crying since she woke up. It seems, she wanted to go out. It was quite cold outside (32 F). In the afternoon, Daph and Athai, however, took C out to Walmart. But the moment C realized that she was about to be taken *inside* another building, she started crying. It seems, she wanted to go to a house like Sunday (Dr Rathnaraj) and play with other kids like she did Sunday.
C has discovered the game of spinning round and round (by herself). She turns around and around, for 5 times, and then stops to feel her head spinning and laughs when she is about to fall. I am not sure whether she can do this at her age and we are planning not to allow her to do this again.

Easter

There was a tamil Easter gettogether at Dr Ratnaraj's house yesterday. We were supposed to reach there by 5 am but arrived only at 6:15.
C was quite well behaved and mingled well with the other kids. She has learnt dance steps from them. She demonstrated a swordsman stance during one of her dance moves at night for us, and we still dont know what it is supposed to mean.
She has got too many dresses from athai and everybody appreciated C's Easter dress. C also participated in the Egg hunt (i didnt see this, so dont know what happened) and got a basket full of easter eggs. She liked them so much. She would pick them up and give it to others and would take some eggs from other's baskets. Then she found out the eggs contained chocolates and started eating them. Whenever others wanted to hold C, she would not go to them, and they would give her the easter eggs and she would go to them and eat more chocolates. HEr stomach was so full of chocolates, she refused to eat any food.
At dinner time, C was too reluctant to eat the rice biriyani, but wanted chocolates or chis (chips)...

Eating

Athai and Daph have been trying to teach C the art of eating from a bowl by herself. C has been doing that well for sometime, but yesterday when Athai gave her Chapathi pieces in a bowl, C promptly took the chapathi pieces and threw it on the floor. After this, C went to get Daph's chapathi too!
Athai took control of the situation, and started giving chapathi to C directly in her mouth.

Bus

Yesterday night C had a bit of cold and daph had given her some cold medicine. We also had vicks for children.
Around 10 pm, C wanted to play and i showed her the fridge magnets. I showed the one Daph had brought from London (of the London double decker bus, which is attached to the magnet with a spring and moves) I taught C the word "Bus" and C was very elated. She started pushing the spring bus and laughed hysterically at the magnet. She kept on playing with the magnet and laughed at it for more than 15 minutes!

Animals

C has a small book that has pictures of various animals - bear, dogs, cats etc - and usually pesters us to tell a story about them and mimic their sounds for her. She also tries to mimic the sounds, and whenever we say doggy, she would says "grr" etc. (not lol, lol, yet)
Somehow she has *realized* babies cry or otherwise make noise *all* the time, and so whenever, we point a baby to C, she would make a roaring sound!!! Also, whenver we say baby, she would try to point to her photo on the wall, and repeat "baby!" We dont know whether she knows the photo is hers!!!
Daph is been trying to teach C to make a laughing sound whenver we say "baby" and C is been saying "ha ha ha" in the past two days.

kick

C has learnt well to kick the ball and also says "kick" whenever she does that. She also says "poeta" (podattuma?) before throwing away the ball. The other day she was trying to sit on the ball and was laughing heavily. All three of us were watching her do it, and D thought it was appropriate for us to laugh together and made us laugh by keechamuti.

Rebel

C is also potty trained quite a bit now. Whenever she has no 1 or 2, she would come and say 'kakka'. She has started doing this whenever she needs attention too.
The other day both daph and athai were making fish fry in the patio. They could not let C out and so had left her inside the house and latched the glass door. I was sitting inside with C. C was not satisfied and was knocking on the door requesting them to open it. After some time, she did no 1 without telling anyone just next to the door.
We cleaned everything and gave a shouting to C. After 3 minutes, C did it again. I dont know where she gets the liquid from, but she did it in the same spot!!! Hmm...

Expressions

C has started expressing herself these days. she would bring a shoe and make us put it on her. Or ask her for 'nanni' If we still dont give her water, she would take us to the fridge and show us the water filter where we get drinking water from.
She has learnt to say no and mostly uses against us to forbid certain things, like taking the cell phone from her, etc. She also says it sternly with the same tone, we use for her.

walking on sand

Yesterday we went to the creve couer park. Daph and Athai had prepared picnic dinner. There was a volleyball court in the park. We thought C would like the sand and would play in it. However, C was very afraid of the sand and was standing still and would not move. I guess, she thought the sand was unsteady and she could not walk on it or something!
After sometime, C got used to it, but still would not walk freely but would play with the sand and threw it all over her.

Potty Training - Part 2

C has been helping us to potty train her by "saying" kakka whenever she wants to go for 1 or 2. She also used it to manipulate us sometimes. Yesterday, we had the her red potty in the living room. C for the first time, went and sat on it herself, (without telling us kakka or anything) and went number 1 without any problem. That was really good on her part. Only thing is she forgot to take off her panty and dress before going number one!!!!

Kick

Sometime back we bought a play ball bigger than C. She calls is "BAA" and plays with it often. Yesterday I taught her to kick, and C is all into it now. For such a small baby she kicks it well. She even understands that she could loose her balance while kicking and so picks up the ball, takes it closer to our dining table, places it and then holds on to the dining table in one hand and then kicks the ball!!!

Yard work

C enjoys doing the yard work with daph and Athai. She likes to be outdoors, runs here and there and tries to eat the leaves, flowers and small stones.

Amen

Athai and Daph have taught C to say Amen especially before a meal. They say grace and C says amen at the end and gets ready for the food.
The other day C wanted to drink some water while I was having some. She was crying and I asked her whether she wanted water. She kept crying. So I told her, "Only if you say 'yes' (aamaam) I would give you some water". C didnt blink for a moment but hurriedly said "Amen".

Mazhalai

C is on a mazhalai phase. she can say "appidiya" but I guess does not understand it. She still cannot say "appa" but says "dada" or "daghi". She also calls Daph like that. Daph is trying to tell her not to call her by name.
She walks around the house in Daph's chappals. She also wants to wear chappals at home and hopes that she would be taken out. After returning home, she would come and try to remove my shoe (phoo per C) and tries to remove her shoe too.
She looks like learning a lot of new words from Athai these days.

Spring cleaning

Athai and Daph started spring cleaning during the weekend. C was very elated to be outside and she was even let free. She was running around the backyard and getting in D, Athai and my way. She was very happy and didnt eat too much of dirt!
After some time, Daph and Athai continued to work and I came indoors. C tried to close the door and took a misstep and fell down the 3 rises and cried a lot for some time.
In the evening, to celebrate Daph's and Athai's work on raking the leaves, we went to Ted Drewes ice creams. C was hungry and didnt like to eat ice creams!

Potty training

After Athai's arrival, Potty Training has been on full swing for C. She learnt to say kakka. The trouble is whenever we take her out, she is on diapers and she does not want to go in diapers, (because we would shout at her later) and wants to go only in the potty but 'her' potty is not available every where (in Home Depot, for eg.)
At home most of the times, she indicates by saying Kakka, but some times, it seems, that she is doing it for fun too!
Some times she tells us after the incident and gets a full earload from Athai!!! C listens very seriously what athai has to say and makes a very sullen face, etc. Athai also bought here a new attachment (that can be carried around) that goes on top of a regular potty. It seems, C likes to go in that new attachment because the falling water (liquid!) makes dripping sounds!!!

Locking herself

C has been locking herself in the bedroom. D has been telling C not to do it but C is not listening yet. Luckily C cannot latch herself but still it looks bad. The other day she shut the door and didnt make any noise for sometime. When I opened to check what she is doing, she was coolly playing inside the room without worrying about the outside!!!

Sharing

Ritu and Mohit visited today along with Kush. Athai gave both, C and Kush, toys to play with. But C would keep taking back the toys from him. Looks like C has not learnt to share and was very particular of all the toys. Even though she may not usually play with it, she was bent upon taking it from Kush! She also kept calling him 'baby'.

Waking Kakka

Chantel came and sat with me while watching the movie Rent. She was doing her own thing and after some time came and lied down on my lap. And in two minutes, promptly went to sleep.
I like it when she sleeps on my lap. 1 hour later, C got up, and was still sleepy, and was rubbing her eyes, and told me "kakka". I took her and put her on the potty. She promptly 'went' (while half asleep). After that I carried her off the potty and left her with amma.
That was really nice of her to wake up and say 'kakka' rather than wetting the leather couch and my lap!!! Athai also said in the morning, that she didnt wet the diaper at all the whole night but went in the potty in the morning!
Way to go C! (Researcher Dr Daphne concludes that C is 90% potty trained!!! I dont know where D got her numbers from though.)

Emperor's clothes

C does not want to wear any clothes at all. She has learnt to dupe us by saying "Kakka" and after all of us panic and take her panty off, she would just sit on the potty for some seconds, just to while away some time, and then take off. She thinks she can run around this small house and escape from Athai!
Also, in the morning, after C's been cleaned up and "anointed", she run away and would refuse to wear anything at all. I typically am afraid, during those times, that her dry skin cream would stick to my 'office' clothes! In the end, one person has to hold C and the other forcibly slide her dress over her...

Looks

Yazhini looks cute sometimes and not so cute some other times. WE still cannot figure this out. Whenever Daph trims C's hair, she looks lovely. Daph says that C looks great all the time and one should not say to C that she does not look great some times. I was wondering if we can figure out why she does not look great, may be we can change certain things and make her look great all the time.
Daph says there are other things that influence C's looks. Dry skin eczema, light conditions, etc are some of them.

Yazhini vocab

These are some of the words she uses:
baby = baby
mummy = carry me; carry me fast
bye bye = take me outside; bye bye;
kakka = remove my dress; i want to sit on a potty; "let me see how panicky you get"
amma = amma
bappa = herself; or occasionally "dad";
thatha = any male voice over the phone;
dou = shoe
thoa = hide n seek punch word
poppy

Imitating

C has started imitating other and seems to enjoy it. Yesterday, it seems, C was imitating Athai yawning and was doing it again and again.
Day before yesterday she was vaccinated and C was very sleepy and sluggish. It seems at the doctors office, she understood that she was going to be 'injected' and was trying to escape this by going to athai and then to daph and then to athai. In the end, both of them abandoned C and the nurse stuck the syringe into C. C became active again around late night.

Visiting friends

Last Saturday some friends had invited us for dinner. C was quite shy in the beginning. They had a small baby girl and C went over to the baby and was quite friendly.
During dinner C got quite excited and wanted to go and play with the Baby's swing. I thought she wanted to get into the small swing herself!
After dinner, C was in full swing - running here and there and examining the trash, shoes, CDs, etc. It was difficult to make her understand. She almost toppled over their Valentine roses!!!

Running away

Chantel used to understand the word "kiss" and would wet all our face whenever we asked her to kiss. During the last tamil meeting, she was accosting the twins to kiss them!
However, she has is quite nonchalant about any requests from me and she does not even bother. Begging and pinching her does not work. I am not sure who taught her this attitude!
These days she picks up the remote and brings back and hand it over to us politely. Sometimes she has something in her hand, which she does not want to give us. If said "Tha" to her, she would come closer to us and extend her arm, but would not give it away. Then she would start running. Atleast that is what she thinks! Her center of gravity is still not perfect, and she has to sway left and right to run, but she runs, hoping that she could escape from us.

Poodles of water

Yesterday night C indicated amma that her diaper was wet by saying "Kakka". After D cleaner her up, she let C run around without diapers. But in the next 2 mintues, C wetted again in the drawing room. Athai got angry and gave a scolding to C. C realized that she was in trouble, and looked sadly at the pool for sometime. You would think she would have learnt her lesson.
Today morning I was getting ready to office. C came around and stood close to me and gave a funny look. This funny look has been quite a trademark for her, whenever she is 'going'. But at this particular point in time, since I was more interested in my breakfast cereal, I didnt connect it. By then C had created two pools. This time though, when I indicted about the incident (and may have snapped her a bit) she started crying loudly and Athai came and took her away.

Athai arrival

Athai arrived Tuesday night. As usual we left home in the nick of the time to receive her, and missed the exit for the airport parking and then parked on the roof, but reached the baggage retrieval on time.
C didnt recognize her. Later at home, Athai started opening her suitcases and C had a field day. She was pulling and pushing things and didn't know what to leave and what to play with. She was running around and very busy.
Athai said that C looked small at the airport (may be because of C's oversize sweater?) but later at home said that C looked ok size wise but felt bad that C had become darker. D feels it is because of the dry skin.

Touch and go.

C has this habit of switching off the TV or the computers while people are watching / using it. Somehow she has figured out the on / off switch, and she keeps pressing it. Repeated request to not fiddle with the button has not given any results.
Yesterday she switched on the TV again and we gave her stern warnings and I even tapped her fingers. She looked at her wrist and must have felt the pain a bit, but cannot fathom that her appa would be doing this intentionally and so didnt show any emotion for 3 seconds. After 3 seconds tho, she thought I was playing with her and started smiling and yelling "Dho!" Both myself and Daph were trying hard to keep our stern faces so that she learned her lesson.
Later Daph was working on the laptop and C cried a lot to be picked up and placed on the sofa, so that she could access the keyboard of the laptop. We both guarded the laptop from her quite successfully but C kept trying to atleast touch the laptop by extending her arms, or by giving a flying kick or something. She would sit as if she were not interested int he laptop for sometime, but suddenly flay her arms towards it to touch it.
Granma is coming today and I hope C learns a lot from her.

Home town buffet

Yesterday we went to the hometown buffet after church. Food was different but nice. Chantel was not. She kept crying most of the time and was climbing onto the table to get a hold of the salt and pepper shaker or the spoon, etc. Daph was saying that C was behaving like that because she didnt sleep properly or something. Once we left the restaurant C became calm and went to sleep. We bought her a booster seat at the babiesrus store and she was asleep all the time.

Gaga

Ever since C learnt the word Kakka, she has been using it whenever she wanted to change the diaper, or whenever she wanted to take a leak. There have been many a times, she would utter the word, and we would carry her to the bathroom, and she would not do anything. But some other times she would actually do it. Also, sometimes, we would ignore her "kakka" warning (especially after a warning 5 minutes before) to find out that she has dirtied her diaper. C is also using the word to let us know that she needs to change the diaper.

Kissing others

Tamil meeting happened Saturday. C was running after other kids. Somehow she likes the twins and was trying to kiss them. But the twins were afraid and ran away!

Stroller

C does not typically like to sit in the stroller. But recently she has evinced lot of interest in this mode of travel. Sometime back we went to Galleria and Daph felt it would be nice to take the stroller along.
We could not put C on the stroller outside the building because of this cold weather. So, I carried C and placed Daph's hand bag and a secondary sweater on the stroller. After we entered the mall, I let C on the floor, so that I could remove the stuff on the stroller and put her instead. By this time, C got restless, and starting throwing away the stuff that was occupying her "seat" and started climbing onto the stroller. In fact, she would not let me gather the stuff she had thrown away before setting her up on the stroller.
It also looks like she likes the small stroller than the big one. She also tries to push the stroller around (even though the stroller itself is way taller than her!)

kakka

Baptism of the twins was held today (coming Sunday). As usual, we arrived late to the function and the baptism was already over and people were about to leave.
We had taught C the word "Kakka" in the hope that she would tell us before going potty on her diaper. It seems, she flaunted her newly gained knowledge to others at the party today.
Back at home, around 7 pm, she said 'kakka' and I took her to the bathroom to make her go in the potty. But she would not.
Again around 8 pm, C uttered kakka and was twisting and turning and Daph took her to the bathroom, and voila, in fact C was going kakka. That worked out almost pretty good and we hope she learns to say it in the future at the appropriate time!

New teeth

C has a lot of teeth these days. We were expecting that she would grow only the top 2 and bottom 2 teeth. But Daph noticed that C had a teeth sprouting way back. Daph tried to show that to me, unsuccessfully, because C would not open her mouth!
However, now she has around 8 or 9 teeth, including some kadavai pal.

Pissing game

Today morning C got up early along with us. While I was reading the newspaper on the computer , Daph tried unsuccessfully to make C go back to sleep. When I came up, C was still bubbly. There is typically an aura of smell around C everyday in the morning, because of the heavy diaper. Luckily NOT number 2, tho'! The diaper collects stuff from 10 pm to 6 am! Unfortunately (or fortunately) I am the only person able to smell this smell. Today it was not so bad.
However Daph, as usual, changed C's diaper in the morning and tried to make C 'go' in potty for sometime. C refused to go. Insead of changing C into another diaper, D said that C likes to go around without diapers, and is very happy about it, etc, and we took a chance. C was happy alright, running around, etc. But after 5 mins, we saw a pool of water around her! D got upset but would not spank her, because "C would not know what she did wrong" or something. However, I told C in stern voice that whatever she did was not fair, especially when amma had just showed her the potty. C listened to it with a sullen face.
After some time, C tripped while running around, and fell on the floor and hurt herself and started crying uncontrollably. Since D was preparing lunch for me, I carried C and tried to console her. I realized only after sometime, that C's dress was still wet (or she went pissing again!!!) and she had successfully transported some of that stuff to my office dress. I thought about changing the shirt for an instance but changed my mind. Incidentally, the trouser I was wearing also had been anointed by C two days back.
I told Daph, seriously, "What would people think of me, for instance, if someone comes and sniffs my trousers at office...?"
Daph resolved the issue quickly by asking, "Why would anyone come and SNIFF your trousers at office!!?"
I left home, in the pissed on dress, but thinking happily that the issue was solved! At that moment, it dawned on me that other parents might also be coming to office in 'this' condition, or may be worse, and it is not a good idea to shake hands / sit on chairs / etc of anyone that has kids at office. Hmm...I hope the situation is not exasperated by the closed air conditioned office environment...where we sometimes breath in the same air again and again and again.
So, may be, "konja onnukku kaanja pochu" (based on "Kondra paavam thindral pochu") philosophy does not work, after all.
:(

Kissing

These days C understands the meaning of the word kiss. Whenever I tell her "appakku kiss kudumma" she comes towards and touches her mouth with my cheek. And whenever she does that, Daph and I say "Chantel, good girl!" This prompts C to clap hands. C thinks, whenever she is a good girl, she has to be acknowledged with clapping!
She still has not learnt the flying kiss thing. May be thats a better thing to teach her. Daph has also been trying to teach eye blinking (?!!!), pointing the nose, etc to C. C seems to understand it but forgets it after sometime. Daph also taught her Twinkle, twinkle little star, with full actions, and all. C managed to do the last action (wonder) for the song. C also has a very good full laugh at us, whenever we complete the song with action.
D also bought her a small baby book with animal pictures in it. D also made a 'mistake' of telling stories from the book and making lot of funny sounds. (chick, chick, chick sound for the page that contained three chickens) C really likes the book and the sounds, and laugh uncontrollably at the end of the last chick sound. She would often search for the book, open it to the chicken page and bring to us and make us do the chick sound. Again and again. Hmm...I thought, kids would do / make all these sounds, and we can sit back and relax and enjoy. Looks like we have to do all the hard work, and she would sit and clap hands and enjoy!

walking down the aisle

Yesterday we went to the Grace church. It was really cold yesterday 20 deg F (must be around minus 10 degree centrigrade) C cannot recognize me when I have my cooling glass + head band (for the chilly weather) on. She looks strangely at me, until I life the sunglasses to show her my eyes. They she becomes very fascinated with the head band / hood, sunglasses, etc.
C was unusually quiet and well behaved. She didnt want to go down the aisle, didnt have any offering envelopes to throw around, didnt start crying, etc.
At the end of the service, we thought of letting C walk, rather than carrying her. C does not like to hold hands yet, and wants to break away running. But we did hold her hand firmly. The sight of a small girl walking step by step, in her nice traditional indian dress, seemed to be too cute for these American ladies to handle, and so they started remarking "ooh" and "aah" and started saying "so cute" etc. C made more than 10 people to notice and comment on her before she walked out of the hall. Once outside the hall, she started wiggling off from our grip and started running towards the stairs, etc. At that point we had to carry her back to the car.

normal again

C has become normal again. Daph says C is very hungry and wants to eat lots of stuff.

Loose talk

C is doing fine as of today. Yesterday she had loose motion and D was very much worried. She called the doctor. The nurse said that if C eats and drinks regularly, we didnt have to worry. Surprisingly, C became normal after the motion, and was playing, etc. The nurse also said that if C has more than 4 loose motions in 6 hours, then we have to bring her to the ER. Looks like kind of too much for me. But luckily, yesterday night C was fine and today too. My stomach is also upset, both yesterday and today and milk gives me nausea. Milk has been stopped for C.
C got up early again today, but didnt cry too much. She was playing with herself. But when I woke up and got up, she wanted me to pick her up, come with me to make coffee, etc.
These days, in the evenings, she comes running to the stairgate whenever I come home from office. She waves and makes sound when she sees me down the stairs. But the moment I actually climb up the stairs and open the gate, she turns back nonchalantly, and goes about doing her business. Previously she would beg to be picked and would not leave my 'madi' for atleast half an hour (while I was scared about her wetting my 'office' outfits or make them dirty by rubbing all the stuff she has been eating or by applying the dirt she picked up from the dish washing machine (or recently, vomitting!!!) !!! (Incidentally D says that 'mothers' dont bother about these stuff at all and their 'thaai paasam' is too much for these ephemeral things like vomit, dirt, 'echam', urine, etc.) Office outfits need to be pressed (ironed) and it not dirtied, I can wear them 2 days!!!)
Anyway, when I come home, she does not come running towards me anymore, but if I go after her and pick her up, she condescends to sit with me for sometime, which I think is a very good thing.

Doctor and vomitting

C vomited yesterday night too. It seems D also had some stomach mantham yesterday but preferred not to tell me lest I'd be worried. I had nausea today morning after breakfast. And D called the doctor today morning. The nurse said that the reason could be a virus and since C is eager to eat, playful and drinks enough liquid, it is not an alarming prospect and added that the virus would work itself out of the system in a couple of days.
Looks like C does not like milk or oily food for the time being. The Sunday she was fine the whole day. We gave her milk around 7:30 pm and she was alright but at 8, sitting on my lap, she opened her mouth to pour out one glass of pinky milk on me. I tried to collect it with my cupped palm, but the cup overflowed. Some splashed on the tshirt and some on my trousers and a lot on the sofa. In some of the previous times, C would start crying whenever she vomited, quite understandably so. But this time, she did it in a "matter-of-fact" way like spitting something that she didnt like. Daph came and took C away, while I carefully transported the cupped palm remains to the wash basin. After the incident, C seemed to be alright and went about her way of laughing, and pulling things down...

Vomitting food

Last weekend D made biriyani. C had lots to eat and was ok when she went to bed on Saturday night. But she vomitted once at night. D got quite alarmed. On Sunday we restricted D to liquids and bread and she seemed to be fine.
Sunday evening C started asking for Milk and D gave her some milk in strawberry flavour. C drank it fine, but after sometime vomitted the whole milk. C didnt seem to be affected by the vomitting and started playing and laughing. D gave her some orange juice etc and C seems to be doing fine.

Invisibility and Crying

These days C gets up in the morning around 4 am and does not want to go back to sleep. Yesterday around 4 am, D gave her a full glass of milk (with Nestle strawberry flavour). C was very happy about it and went back to sleep promptly.
Today though, C started rolling and standing around 4 am and she even climbed out of the bed and sat next to the AC duct registers and was playing with the hot air that came out of it. I put her back into the bed. I managed to wiggle out around 5:30. Brushed my teeth and came out of the bathroom only to see C coming running towards me in the darkness. I gave her a glass of milk. She drank it but would not go back to sleep. Again I put her back into the bed and waited for another 30 minutes to escape to get my cup of coffee. C came back again (getting a little help from her mother). When I tried to close the stair gate behind me, C started crying loudly with full open mouth.
I had installed thermocol coreboard on the stair gate so that C did not try to squeeze herself through the 4" openings in the gate. The board also made it impossible for C to throw stuff (like toys, shoes, clothes) thro the gate opening. On this cold winter morning, I found another amazing use of this boarded gate!
Back to the story. C was crying with her mouth wide open and I was standing on the other side of the gate. I tried to direct her to go to the bed room. I told her "amma", "po". But C was too much in love with me, and would not want to go there at all!! She waved her hand to indicate "NO" and shook her head and increased the decibel value. I pointed again to the bedroom. When she took her eye off me for a split second, I ducked behind the board and C could not see me anymore. Surprisingly, she also stopped crying at once. I thought that she would cry for some more time and then go whining to her mom. But she stopped crying instantly, waited for 10 seconds, then happily started walking towards the bedroom. (where D played some music and made her sleep for some more time!)

Tchsk

C has learnt to say tchsk - kind of a achachcho sound without opening the mouth. We didnt teach her that and she must have learnt it accidentally. She was gleefully showing off her newly acquired skill yesterday night.
I also noticed yesterday that she has grown quite a bit. She is too tall to walk under our dining table anymore and she would bang her head onto the dangerously cantilevered TV, if she is not careful.
C also likes to precariously lie down on the hand rest of the sofa. She uses the handrest as her head rest and orukalichi lies on it.

Crying for milk

On Saturday we didn't sleep much because of the cricket match (which India won against the West Indies). So yesterday afternoon both myself and D thought of taking a nap. C also joined and was fine for some time. Then she started restless, and started crying. She seemed to want milk but was not apparently hungry. Daph was about to feed her but I said that she should not during the day and so, we let C cry. She cried for sometime and then took a brief rest. She started again and I took her. She seemed to stop for a bit and then started again. Altogether she was crying on and off for 30 mins. I carried her to the other room, and she forgot all about milk and started playing with her toys. This proved that C was not hungry but just wanted to drink Milk because D was lying down on the bed!
Lets see how this goes.

Learning to talk

C's talking has improved quite a bit. Still she does not say appa or amma properly or whenever we want her to. But she says them whenever she feels like it.
She also says really serious sentences of 5 to 6 words. Sometimes she says 2 such sentences continuously. During this elocution, her face is also very serious, as if she is saying something very important to us. Only thing is that we dont understand a single word. Typically we dont know whether to respond to her in 'her' language or in Tamil.
She says pappy (for paal for milk) and but yesterday when I offered milk to her when she said that she didnt want to drink.

learning to point things

She has learnt to point things too. This comes in handy for her. She points to the kitchen door and then to the fridge and then to the water to get water. She also points to the cookie jar, but does not succeed in getting the cookies all the time. D has this idea that a baby should not eat too much cookies. Yesterday she pointed an orange in the fruit basket. I thought she wanted to eat it and so, painstakingly peeled it off, took all the chaff and gave a bitesize to her. She took one bite but was not too interested. Looks like she pointed at the orange, so that she could play with it. But appa had already but it and demolished it!
D says that C even points to the stair gate, and then to the basement and then to the garage door indicating that she wants to go out. I have not seen it yet. But looks interesting.
We also bought a ball from Target. The ball is half her size. C has to stretch out both her arms to get a hold of the ball but still manages to carry that ball around. Her favorite game is to bring the ball to me, and take two steps backward, so that I can throw away the ball, so that she could go after the ball, pick it and bring it back. She it looked like she had more fun with the ball at the Target store before we even bought the ball than at home.

Blowing Air

Whenever we gave hot food to C, Daph made it a point to blow on the food (Oothuthal) to bring down the temperature. C has learnt this technic and tries to oothufy whenver we bring hot food close to her. She still does not understand the temperature thing. She blows for two or three times, and expects the food to be cold enough and tried to grab it. Then she realizes the food the hot and makes funny faces in a really angry sense.
C also enjoys blowing air into her drinks to make noisy bubbles thro a straw.

StairGate

Yesterday C completed her first descend on the stair from the first to the ground floor at our house. C was playing with me in the drawing room and D was taking bath. After sometime, C heard D coming out the bathroom, C started walking towards the toilet leaving me in the drawing room. I didnt realize the gate to the stairs was unlocked. C didnt go to the toilet looking for mom. Instead she, it seems, started walking down the stairs and started playing downstairs with the shoes. D heard "laughing noises" from the downstairs and went down to see C playing all alone!!!
Yesterday night C didnt sleep properly and didnt let Daph sleep too. At night, she was jumping here and there, and wanted to play. Morning too, she got up early and was very energetic. Daph was very tired due to lack of sleep, and was sleeping in the sofa. I got ready and was about to leave to office. C came around and looked at me sadly as I was about to leave. I stayed around for some more time to play with C. By then D also came and joined us.

Shopping cart

Yesterday we went to Schnucks. C does not typically sit on the cart for a long time. She would like to be held after 2 minutes. But yesterday, during the full shopping time, she was sitting in the cart itself. I guess, she has started to understand, it was more fun to sit on a moving cart rather than being moved around in somebody's arms. The other day at St Louis mills, C actually opted to sit in the stroller.
I sent C's picture taken during Christmas to some office people. All of them used the word "Cute" in their reply email. Some commented about C's big eyes. D says that C's eye color is the same as hers.

elaki

C can say "elaki" whenever I asked her "You like it, eh?" She does not understand the meaning, but keep repeating the word.

throwing stuff

Chantel has learnt to 'let go' stuff. Whenever we played ball with her, she could not let go of the ball but have to come to us and hand us the ball.
We also have a toy (from HP) which is like a ball and if we hit the ball (or dropped) the ball lights up and looks cool to see. C could never "drop" the ball and had to smash it onto the computer CPU (or any other hard surface) to light it up. Nowadays, she understands throwing and can drop the ball and laugh at the rolling lighted ball.
(Even though this 'sense of throwing' is new to her, she NEVER had any problems chucking (pushing / pulling) stuff from the cabinet / table and flooring it perfectly!!

Uh-oh

C somehow started using the phrase "uh-oh". She typically uses it whenever she falls down or whenever she drops something by mistake. Since, this was in line with the general use of "uh-oh" we were quite excited and we started using it on her, whenever she fell down and was about to cry. She thought uh-oh was a fun word, and should not cry whenever it was uttered and would control her pain / tears. Or so we thought.
She also has this habit of chucking things down the stairs whenever she got a chance. Daph feels that this is C's way of calling my attention when I work downstairs on the comp. I feel C is doing it just for the fun or the sound the objects make when they fall / roll down the steps.
Today she was playing with daph's nail polish bottles and was getting ready to throw it down the stairs. We both said no. C prefers not to understand the word NO sometimes and proceeded to throw the first bottle. It rolled down all the way. While we both were shouting, "no", she chucked the second one. And then said "Uh-oh"!