From Ba ba ba to Blah blah blah... !!!

"Mammmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaa" he reprimands !!! "TIME OUT!!" with his voice escalating!!
"No shouting"!!! ... All because I yelled at his bhaiya for something trivial!!

That didn't take very long I must say ...to go from bababa to blah blah blah!!!

I recollect it was just a few months ago I heard him saying .. ba ba .. ( I think he meant bhaiya ..!!) He would call me mamma but not consistently. I remember complaining to the doctor at his 12 month checkup that he does not call me mamma relevantly.. He said quite a few words by then "gog <=> dog" ,"baba <=> bhaiya", "daydantay <=> dragon tales" etc.. Three days after his 12 month checkup .. he had a vocabulary explosion ... he started addressing me as mamma fittingly and a plethora of other words and even tough ones like "strawberry" "balcony" and such.
I was obviously thrilled to bits... !!

Last week .. he started making full sentences. He even wished the bank clerk "Happy Birthday" when he saw a huge balloon bouquet on her desk. The first complete sentence I heard him make was
"bubu, mamma gave me ducky" , he was telling his dad that I bought him a ducky... I was plainly put super ecstatic ...

He had been stringing words together for a while now...and it is such a joy hearing him say things with such funny pronunciations ... some listed below:

"Branini" for Biryani
"Yayyaan" for Rayaan
"I No talking me" for "not talking to you"
"I wuvvv oooo" for "I love you"
"top it" for "stop it "
"luckkyy kakka" for "yucky kaka" ( when he has had a dirty diaper)
"brokyn" for "broken" anything that does not work according to expectations

The other day I was nursing him in the wee hours of the morning just because I was plain lazy to get out of bed and bring him a bottle of milk. He nursed for a few seconds and then announced "mamma ..its brokyn" :) I was stumped and burst out laughing, chasing away all my sleep...!!

Some words he utters almost border in the zip code of expletives(if you mentally change the language ;) )
"Kaandi" for candy
"Maaki" for Monkey

It's a great relief and a soothing balm for a mother's heart.
Ask a mother who has a late talker how stressful it is. I know how it feels because my older son was not even stringing words together by 2 years. I was at my wit's end. I researched all over the world wide web for information about speech delays. The results would scare me beyond hope. "Autism", "SBS","Hearing loss" ... the causes were endless. I would go to the doctor and express my concerns and he/she would tell me there was nothing to worry about. He had met or exceeded every single milestone except this "speech milestone". It brings tears to my eyes even today when I think about all my fears and the sense of a impending doom that accompanied my thoughts.
Eventually by about 2 and 1/2 years .. he started making sentences. It was such a relief. It took me a speech evaluation from a speech pathologist to finally quell my fears. Now big brother corrects his little brother and says " not like that Rayaan .. say like this .. like bhaiya" :)

So in contrast when Rayaan started talking and expressing himself at such an early age I feel so assuaged. It's like as if god knows how heavy your burden can be and gives you just a tad bit more than you can actually carry. I celebrate every word he utters and every thing he says. Sometimes people find it ridiculous how I go all gaga over a silly new word he uttered. But that really does not stop me from even exaggerating the moment and bringing it to everyone's attention. Well, somehow this is something that I cannot give enough kudos for :)

Check this video out

From Movies

Here's another video of the two brothers dancing and prancing about. (Don't ask me why Ishaan is wearing Rayaan's clothes ... :) it was entirely his choice).

From Exported Videos

An older video .. in Goa with his dear dear masi

From GoaTrip2010

When the cat is away the Picassos go to play

Stunned, Shocked and Infuriated I glared at the walls!!! I didn’t know where to start or how two little boys could lash out their tiny crayons all over the walls. When did this happen and How did this escape my hawk-like eyes? The bedroom wall was covered with orange paint from end to end. The paint abruptly stopped right at their height. Maybe that was just one instance that I was thankful that I didn’t have tall kids. Maybe that was one day my kids saw what a terrible monster their mother could be.

Frankly, I didn’t have the energy or the enthusiasm to wipe out all the crayon marks from the wall. To top it all, we had a home inspection and our rental management agent highlighted that in the ten years of their experience she had never seen the walls that bad … And that literally drove me up the WALL.

This morning I was generally browsing and came across a “howcast” on “How To Clean Crayon Marks Off Of Painted Walls”.

How To Clean Crayon Marks Off Of Painted Walls on Howcast

I didn’t have all the ingredients for success but today I had the main one … the resolve to exonerate my bedroom walls of all the dishonor. And besides there couldn’t be a better time to do this, the perpetrator is on a mid-winter break from school (even though the weather does not spell winter in any direction). So off we went, with 2 sponges and a big bowl of hot water and soap and a few baby-wipes.

Mission “Erase Picasso’s traces” began.

The two brats were excited out of their wits about playing with soap and water. There was bubbles galore and giggling and squealing all along. I let them enjoy their activity. We started off with the smaller wall stains and once we perfected the stain removal process. We went over to the ginormaous wall painting that adorned our bedroom wall.

This was one painting that took more time to destroy than to create. I thought I must let the culprits feel the pain and understand the consequence of their actions. So we scrubbed away till the walls were weeping orange tears ..!!

Finally we have brand new looking wall!!! What peace!!

Happy Birthday Bubu

Bubu is a word that Ishaan coined when he was just little baby. His dad wanted to be called "Abbu". But now he's just stuck with "bubu" because now little Rayaan the little copycat has followed suit too. I think "bubu" has come to love his name too.

The three men have formed their own team now. I have completely been singled out. It neither fair nor funny ... yet it's cute in it's own sort of way. I love the way their eyes twinkle and their little bodies runneth over with joy when they hear the door open in the evening. They love their bubu with all their hearts, after all, it's bubu who rescues them from the wrath of their mother. Bubu never yells at the boys without reason and Bubu always has a calm way when he takes care of them. Bubu almost always gives them anything they ask for even though it mostly ends up with me expressing severe displeasure over candy handed out right before sleep time or cookies or milk given right before mealtimes. If bubu wants to refuse something he always can say "ask mamma" and ofcourse Ishaan has learnt to say "bubu I want you to do it for me". They catch up fast.

Bubu truly has a very unique way of dealing with the boys. He doesn't lose his temper around the kids and he believes in teaching by example. He is kind and gentle and at the same time strong and assuring. Bubu has earned his special place in their lives slowly , quietly but surely.

Today is Bubu's birthday. The boys have made him cards

Ishaan has painted a little froggie ... why a frog?? well because that was the only thing his mother could do a decent job at. But he has painted it quite well.

Rayaan has scribbled out quite a good looking modern art. He quite enjoyed unleashing the inner painter in him.

Both are cards cum wall art.

We also made him a digital card ... I drew the silly looking train and Ishaan painted it. The steam coming out of it is Rayaan's contribution. I had him paint it in a separate page.. then i cut and pasted it on Ishaan's train.

We also made him a little video.

Happy Birthday Salman ...

I don't say it enough ... but you know that you mean the world to me and the kids!!