Naan nalla ikken

I'm learning to talk on the phone. This is how my imaginary phone conversations go when I force Appa or Amma to hold the remote control to their ear and talk as if they're on the phone.
Appa/Amma: Hello
Me: Allo
Appa/Amma: Yaaru pesardhu? (Who is this talking?)
Me: Jaagithi (my name!!)
Appa/Amma: Nee yeppadi irukke? (How are you?)
Me: Naan nalla ikken (I'm fine!)
Appa/Amma: Ohho, appdiya (Is it?)
Me: Appikaaaaaaaaaa (saying appdiya)
Appa/Amma: Ok, paakalam (See you)
Me: Paakum
Appa/Amma: Ok, bye!
Me: Baaai

So as you can see, I've picked up lots of words. When I feel bored and if I see that everyone is watching the TV, I take my books to them and say "Pomaaaaa", something which I picked up from Madras Thatha. All I'm asking them to do is to stop watching TV and spend some time with me! I have a few books which Mahesh mama bought for me. They have pictures of various animals, alphabets and other things. So I can identify "A for Aapul", "O for aainj" (orange), "D for daagu" etc. I love sitting in cramped, small corner places, for e.g. just beside the steel almirah or on the edge of Appa's book shelf. I suppose that is because my bum, and I can point to it if you ask 'Bum yenge?', is so small!

When I want to be taken to the balcony, I say "Baanki pomaaa" or "Baanku ki pomaaa" and to explain why I want to go there, I wave my hands and say "Kaathu", meaning I need some fresh air. When I want to be lifted, I just spread my arms and say "Tooku". If there is no response, then I try to impress the person by pleading "Tooku, papa" (please lift me up, I am a baby!) If I want to go out of the house, I go and tap at the cupboard containing my squeeking shoes and keep saying 'bu bye' until my plea is listened to. Sometimes I even tell them that I prefer going on a long bike ride by saying "baik". A lot of the time, I do get disappointed when Appa or Amma say "apparama" or "saaingalam" or "nalaikku" (later, evening, tomorrow) and I repeat what they said. Maybe I should start keeping track of how often they actually listen to me!

Since I'm now over a year old and have six teeth in all, I sit down with everyone when they have food. I have a small plate on which everyone puts in items which are okay for me and I use just two fingers to pick them up and eat them. I eat quite fast, so by the time the others start eating, I'm already waiting for more, saying "Mum mum, mmmaaaaa" (meaning Mum mum saapadalama - Can I have more?!). I like appalam, dosai, idly etc. Strangely enough, I don't eat the idly Amma makes for me, but I am quite ok with forcing Appa and Amma into sharing their food with me! I am Amma's official reminder service as far as her medicines are concerned. After she has her food, if I'm awake, I start saying 'mandhu, mandhu' (marundhu for medicines). So she ultimately has to give in and take the medicines!

I can also identify parts of my body by saying "kannu", "pallu", "naaku", "kaanu" (leg!) etc. I keep doing it every now and then, especially after I wake up from my sleep. I have to keep checking if I still remember them, just in case sleeping reduces my memory power! I know that the bathoom is where people bathe and they use ampoo and thoap to clean themselves. I have now started to enjoy bathing. I love making a splash in the water, playing with my duck friends, sliding on the bathroom floor etc. Once I'm done, I start saying 'thundu' (towel) and point to my ear since getting my ear cleaned after a bath is a very important activity as far as I am concerned!

When I find a piece of cloth lying around, I start saying 'keen' and immediately start cleaning the floor and other parts of the house with it. Amma tells everyone that Trichy thatha will be very proud of me, because he keeps doing it as well.

Soon after we came back from Madras after Sriram chitappa and Kripa athai's wedding, Ganesh uncle and Radha aunty visited us at Bangalore and they obviously brought Siddharth along. I was very interested in what he was doing. He kept smiling at everyone and insisted on being carried outside the house. Hey! Even though I smile rarely, I keep asking to go buh bye. So we are similar after all, even though he is six months younger and I'm a lot skinnier than him! After a while, he became agitated, hungry and sleepy and started crying. Ever since I saw that, I've associated papa-s with crying, and in fact for a few days, whenever there was a picture of a photo, I was reminded of him and used to say "Papa, mmmm mmmm", imitating the way he cried. I'm sure the next time I meet him, he won't cry so much.

We all went to Trichy recently to meet Ganesh mama, Carol mami and Sharan anna who had come there on vacation. Sharan anna really seemed to enjoy my company and every now and then he'd come up to me and rub my cheeks and play with me.

Madras Thatha, Paati and Satish pappappa (thats how I say chitappa) were here for a few days. I taught them my language and they seemed very impressed. I actually ended up behaving quite well when we all went to a restuarant. I just slept through their meal! I think everyone was quite relieved that I let them eat in peace but at the same time, since they couldn't play with me, they were sad about it as well!

My long hair will be gone soon. I will be having my first mottai ten days later. So the next time you see me, I will have a lot less hair than I have had for the last fourteen months! You can all call me a mottai mandai then!

Photos from last month, taken at Bangalore and Trichy.