Terrific ....oh wait Terrible Twos

Its amazing to see Kulli grow so fast...the memory of holding her in just my palm is etched in my mind and is still so fresh that my mind is reluctant to believe that she is 2. Sigh. Kids do grow very fast.

On her birthday Kulli was sick with severe cough and cold. I had an important task to finish up at work and hence with a really heavy heart left Kulli in the daycare. I quickly finished work took the rest of the day off and reached Kulli as fast as I could. On reaching the school I realised she doesnt even know or understand that its her birthday and madam was all happy to be with her friends playing. I took her home and made pop corns for her (her favourite these days!). In an hour I felt her body go warm and she was heading for a fever. Thus, our plans of celebratng her birthday(just her, me and Shonapa) was cancelled. The only thing possible was going to the temple and doing an Archanai on her name.

Her birthday was on a weekday and so Shonapa and I planned to have her birthday party in the weekend. Kulli loves outdoors, she loves to run, slide, pull the grass, collect woodchips etc and hence we planned to have the party in a nearby park (also we had invited around 30 guests and couldnt have accomadated all of them at home). The party was to start at noon, I got up that day praying that Kulli feels better and that she enjoys the party (whats the fun if the kiddo isnt doing well and we have the party for the heck of it, uh?). Kulli was all happy and gay to see a lot of our friends at home and quite a lot of activities happening around. It got her all pumped up and excited. The day however started with rains and it was way too cold. That oneday I wished that it should stop raining and that the sun should shine nice and bright (you see I dont like it when its too hot and always keep wishing that it rains and pours.).

At noon, the sun was shining bright and it was an amazing weather. Wow, for once my wish had come true (may be it was because of Kulli's lucky stars :) ) and the day was just perfect. I did lose my temper a little when the brat didnt want to wear a beautiful dress(before you judge, the fabric was made of a very comfortable material mind you!) that my friend had got her for the occasion. She is more comfortable with a tee and a cotton pant. I took her to the park and she forgot all about the dress and was all glee when everyone around started giving her the attention. The party was an awesome fun, the kids had great fun running around in the open park, playing with the balloons, breaking the pinata, collecting the choclates. Kulli was having her own gala time going wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee on the slide. She must have played on the slide for like 60-80 times and without getting tired.

We cut the cake which was ordered to be made in the form of alphabet A, since Kulli loves the alphabets and that her name starts with this letter. She danced (visualise a tiny tot shaking her hips beating Kat's hip movement in Sheela ki Jawani ;)) and sang abcdefg...twinkle twinkle, she looked so cute. For me this was the highlight of the party and I was very glad all my friends attended the party to wish and bless the child.

There was one card that Kulli received from a friend of mine which I am sure to save had the below message:

"
Hi A,

When you are old enough to read this message, just remember that the day started with rains and it was all gloomy but when it was time the sun came out and it was warm and bright.

"

It was an amazing message with loads of meaning for Kulli.

Updates so far....

I know its been so long since I updated anything about Kulli. Call it a mom's laziness or a busy mom or a mom trying to be a supermom (i personally choose this one)...

Anyways the updates so far are:

-> Went on a road trip to Montreal, Canada in May with Kulli. Doesnt that sound like an achievement in itself? I was super skeptic about this trip but one that couldn't be avoided. I was paranoid as usual and started planning for the trip 3 weeks in advance. As a mom, the only planning was around Kulli, her food, her clothes, her diapers etc etc. Booked hotels with kitchen, stuffed the luggage with rice, moong dal. curd, goldfish crackers, 2 big cartons of bottled water, toys, books, loads of clothes for Kulli. I kept wondering if Kulli will do fine sitting tied to a car seat for 6-8 hours continuously. The trip started, we kept playing Kulli's favorite songs/rhymes and madam was all the more happy in her seat and went off to snooze-land for more than half the journey(I am so used to her rhymes that when I open my mouth to sing all I can think of is twinkle twinkle or now i know my ABCs or do you know the muffin man). She was amazing during the trip, loved the new places kept observing all the new people. The trip was awesome fun.

-> Started a proper daycare for Kulli in June, if you have read my previous experience about Kulli and daycare you should know that the over obsessive, over possessive mom in me appears from nowhere and creates havoc in the household. Well it sure was getting there before Kulli realized that daycare is a saner place to stay and play, than the mad mom in the house. She cried on and off the first day, loved her daycare and loved the teachers from the second day.  With that I bid farewell to the possessive mama in me and the saner/wiser mom appeared and I guess is still there around. This daycare i awesome, even though Kulli does not eat much there, she has loads of fun with quite a lot of activities. Her teachers tell me she is very smart (dancing on the cloud, common guys this is my first one don't I deserve a dance on the cloud for just a few seconds :)) and I very politely tell them that kids these days sure are.

->Kulli has grown taller and thinner (isnt it weird when she is given all the fat food and yet she grows thinner while all I eat is fat free food and run around her all the time and yet my waistline just keeps increasing.?.sigh...). she is obsessed with ipad, iphone to the extent where I think she dreams of these electronics and wakes up screaming at 2 in the night asking for a phone or an ipad...(I love steve jobs...but didnt really think that my love for him will be transferred to an obsession in my child ).

-> Her vocab is growing everyday and she now forms 2-3 word sentences.
to record a few here:
Take a look
What is this?
Amma poduma (Amma thats enough for milk)

-> Kulli loves to mock-fight with Shonapa. This is their everynight routine. I put her to sleep and when she is half way there, shonapa comes running and pulls her leg, she immediately runs back to me, hugs me tightly and hides under the comforter. He pulls her back and she hits him...the effort in putting her to sleep goes down the drain here..although I must admit its great fun to see the two fight :)

Marriage Proposal Gone wild in youtube

Wow..I loved it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5_v7QrIW0zY

Look at the support he got from all his family and friends...amazing

Random things about Kulli

Kulli is a big talkative...she loves to keep blabbering all the time. She has started forming  2-word sentences like

Amma yengi (wheres amma?)

cipp yengi, cipp edu (wheres the clip? take out the clip)

appa killi (appa pinched me)

amma saavi kuduuuuuu (amma give me the key)

amma phone

amma emote(amma remote)

amma saacket (for chocolate)

Amma eyeceam (for icecream)

Amma keeyons tha (Amma give Crayons)

Amma kannu (if something goes into her eyes)

She says:

A for aapi

B for Baaalu

C for Cat

D for Dog

E for Elephant

F for Fisss

G for Gollellaa (Gorilla) my fav

H for hat

I for Iggaloo (Igloo)

J for juich (Juice)

K for kannanu (Kangaroo) my fav

L for ayan (Lion)

M for monkey

N for Nose

O for Octtaapuss (Octapus) 

P for Pig

Q for qwason (Question) my fav

R for aabbit (Rabbit)

S for Sun

T for Umbella (if I say thats not right she immediately says tain for train)

U for Umbella

V for Van

W for Watch

X for Box

Y for ello (yellow)

Z for Zeeby (Zebra)

She can recognize alphabets thanks to her dad for getting the Mellisa & Doug Wooden Alphabet toy

She can say 1 to 20 and recognize the number 1 to 10 due to the same toy as above for numbers

she looks at her panda (that she calls deddy (for teddy)) and goes "I michchu  schoo massh" and "no cying (for no crying) or dont cy (dont cry)"

In the playground madam, loves to slide, swing but above all she loves to play with the mud, sand, stones. Loves to pick sand in her hands and drop it in someplace safe.

She loves to dance for all the songs with beats (do I see Vidya Balan in the making :)).

She loves to read and loves more when being read to.

She loves Straberries, Apples, Grapes, Pears for fruits and Biscuits, Chips, Cherios, Roasted Channa dal (Putani) for snacks.

She stands in front of the fan and goes "issa haa issu haa"

Finally she says amma aayi (stools), I say appo mukka (force it out) and she goes mmmmmmmmmmmm :)

Drrrrrrrrrrrrr Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

This morning I was in a hurry and hence made Kulli stand in the Car below the car seat instead of putting her on her car seat and buckling her while dropping her at the home daycare (ok before you judge me, the homedaycare is 4 buildings away from mine and within the community, also i was driving at maybe 2mph).

Kulli climbs up on the carseat, hits me on the shoulder, holds the steering wheel and goes Drrrrrrrrrrrrrr Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Should I start driving lessons for her?

I can sing too...

This morning in our household.....

Amma sings : You are my chamak challo oho...

Appa sings: Chikani Chameli....

Kulli Sings: A B C D E F G.....

19 months and already independent

I remember my sister working really hard to teach my nephew when he was 19 months old to do quite a lot of stuff on his own like
--> eating on his own from his plate
-->potty training
-->playing on his own with the toys and give her some time off.

I kept thinking for a long time that I should start training Kulli too now that she is old enough. But guess what? Kulli has started doing almost everything on her own (except the potty training part)

--> she loves to eat on her own (ofcourse with more than half the food on the floor)
--> loves to play on her own with the toys
-->loves to play games on the phone
--> loves to run alone when we are outside and she continues to run even if she does not find me anywhere near her

As much as am glad that she is trying to be independent am also sad that she is growing up too soon, its true that girls grow up really fast. But hey she still holds my shawl or shirts when I am not around or she keeps saying "amma office". She hasnt grown that big and independent afterall :)