Shruti - 3 years

Children become more naughtier each passing year, and also learn new things. Parents also learn a lot during the child's learning process. Shruti has now crossed 3 years.

Language differentiation:
She is able to tell some of the words in whatever language (currently 4 - English, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi) we ask. Children can learn lot of languages at this age!

Count Numbers:
She can count numbers, chocolates, pictures from 1 to 20. She has attained perfection in this. She can show the numbers using her fingers. She was trying with her fingers earlier and was difficult to maintain the particular set of fingers and now she can manage. Very cute! and you would want to ask her to show more numbers with her fingers.

Alphabets:
Thorough on her capital letters. Not so good with the small letters. Learning.

Household work:
She wants to help me in all the household work, whether it is cooking or cleaning. Yesterday she tried rolling a chapathi and actually did pretty well. But it doesn't stop till that. Playing more with that, and finally brought it back to the original ball shape :-(. She wants to do everything, clean the floor, clean vegetables, dry clothes. Hope she maintains this interest when she grows big so that I can share my work.

Memory Games:
I started playing games with cards, in identifying similar pairs when I was in second or third standard. I have seen my mother teaching Shruti the games with cards in identifying the pairs, when the cards are turned upside down. I didn't know she understood the concept. There is a similar game in laptop - purble place. Two days back, noticed that she could easily complete the beginner level on her own (5x5). She is yet to try the intermediate and the expert level. She can also easily navigate using the laptop touch pad.

Looks like i didn't learn much when I was three??!!

Shruti's Pronunciation and Story Telling @ 2 yrs and 2 months

I must write about Shruti's pronunciation of certain words. She says 'Mickey Mouse' as ' Kimmey Pouf', 'Pig' as 'Gip', 'Frog' as 'Gof', 'Monkey' as 'Kumkey', 'Dog' as 'Gog'. I was thinking, if this is going to be a problem, but she can speak other words properly. Everybody likes these words of hers and asks her to repeat.. It's fun!

Next her story telling and rhymes - She can give the hints for us to develop the story.
For eg.'
'The thirsty Crow' - Kakka (Crow) - kal (Stones)- panai (Pot) - Thanni (water)- mela (top) - Num Num Num (Drink)
'Money and Cap seller' - Kumkey (Monkey) - Tree - Cap - Aiya (Cap seller) - all others in action (throwing caps)

For rhymes, you have to hear the tune and actions to find out the rhymes:
Teddy bear, Teddy bear turn around - She will turn around, bend down to touch the ground and polish her shoes, and put her hands on the shoulders to take the bag to school
Ringa Ringa Roses - She will go around, say words like 'Hush', 'Busha', and 'Down' and sit down

You can hear more stories and rhymes from her. She can even remember small things which happened some months back and tell you about it.. Amazing kids!

Shruti: 1 year and 8 months - shape identification

Shruti was able to identify images for quite sometime, she cannot tell, but can identify whatever you ask her from a picture book. I was astonished to see her identifying 'A' from the car number board, a week back. Now, she can also identify M, O, S. She also know that 'S' signifies Shruti. If you ask her, 'Where is S- Shruti?', she can show the letter 'S'. All credit goes to my Mother.

However I draw a crow, fan, cycle, mixie, auto, car, moon, star, feeding bottle, flower, chair, table, elephant, she identifies. Moment to feel good about my drawing skills.

Inside a car, she can point out where the gear, steering, mirror, AC, lock, seat, horn.

This is the time to teach them everything. Good Grasping power.

Dresses I designed for Shruti

Shruti - 1 year and 8 months

Now, Shruti has started to talk, over the last one week. Don't remember exactly how and when she started, but it just happened! Some of her first few words after amma - kaakka (crow), paapa (baby), thatha (grandfather), Daddy (finally, her father is happy to hear this), vaava (come), .....thi (Shruti), .....kka (sister), ....nna (brother) and trying out more. Very nice to hear their first speech!

Shruti's first ride on a scooty: I never thought Shruti could stand in front and travel on the Scooty. She was crying when I took my scooty over the weekend. So I gave took her on the vehicle with some doubts. But she could stand properly and she thoroughly enjoyed the small rounds we made. When she became confident standing, she started turning around, which was little scary and I had to manage.

Her time-pass with dhal

Shruti 1 year and 6 months - full of actions

What does a one and a half year kid does? Lot of sites actually gives good information on that. Most of the activities matches except for speaking. People say that children at this age speak at least 10 to 20 words. But Shruti is slow.. learnt only 2 - Ma (for everyone) and Idhu? (This? - asks us to identify on all she sees).
She can tell everything by actions. When she
sees a tooth brush - finger on her teeth and brushing movements
sees a comb - on her head
sees a hair dryer  - sound (sssss) with hand movements on her head
bindhi, hair oil, soap, food - everything in action
"No" - Strong head movements especially for food!
She imitates everything we do. Recently, paati (Grandmother) got fracture in her ankles, operated and now on rest. One day, she saw her limping on her legs to move and from  then on, imitating her.
Sounds of animals :
elephant - aaaaah
crow -kkkccaaaaa
horse - toku toku
gotat - aaaaaah
Actually, good to see their learning phase. Kids understand everything we speak to them at this age.

Shruti's Navrathri

Navrathri kolu used to be a grand celebration at my parent's home every year! But from the time when me and my brother moved out of home for work, the celebration level came down! From 9 steps of dolls and the floor space also containing parks, zoos, city, temples, etc. to 3 steps for past 2 years. This year, shruti  was in vellore with my appa and amma. They couldn't arrange all, but managed to arrange 3 steps. The morning, Shruti woke up, she was very thrilled to see lot of dolls arranged together. The first reaction from her was to keep her hands together and pray! I couldn't believe when i heard from my mother.. She never demanded for any of the dolls from the steps. Our neighbours visited us. Our kolu dolls which had provided entertainment for all these years must have felt little disappointed this time! Because it was Shruti who was the centre of attraction this year. Shruti visited many kolus this year in Vellore and our neighbouring temple, which had every day a new decoration for the Amman deity. She got lot of gifts, a small plastic tiffin box, plastic bowls, bangles, clips this Navrathri. She may not remember this when she grows up!

Shruti @ 13 months

Shruti is learning new things everyday! She could now stack shapes with holes on a small pole. She can now patiently look at books, pictures and identify things. Earlier papers were only for tearing and throwing it around the house. She can point to things she wants and reject what she doesn't like. She laughs and dances when kids laugh and dance on TV. She loves kids of her age. She can understand when  we are angry and she'll come and try to bring us to the happy mood. She finally got 4 teeth 3 weeks back. Most kids of her age got very early. She can bite bananas, sweets and also mummy, daddy, granny with her 4 teeth. :-)

My 1 year kid

My kid has turned one year and she is growing naughty day by day. She can walk and run around. She likes to play hide and seek and will invite anyone to the play. Actually she started walking at the end of 10 months. It is so wonderful to see kids learn and do small things day by day. We do not know what we did when we were a kid. What will I do next? I've sent her with my parents since she has to undergo the hectic schedule of working parents. I will miss her small small learnings which she does every day. I'll go and visit her on weekends - my consoling thing. Will she miss me? She was crying when she left from home in the car.. My parents were carrying her and she was expecting me also to get into the car, but i didn't. I could see a sense of disappointment in her face followed by a cry. But then my parents told me she enjoyed the drive and was playing when they reached home. That made me feel OK. 5 more days and I'll go to see her :-)

With my 9 month baby

Each day is a new experience with my baby.. i always ask my Mom, 'did i behave like her when i was a kid' and the answer i get is that she doesn't remember! i wanted to tell my daughter that she did all this when she was a kid.. she would read this blog when she grows big, when she becomes a mother..

After her 7 month, i was expecting when she'll sit by herself, when will she crawl? I was browsing through the net to see when will my kid do all this.. suddenly, one day at the end of eighth month, she started to sit by herself and started to crawl, with one knee on the ground and she would lift the other knee.. that was a great day.. to see her doing all this.. :-)

Ninth month, she started standing with support! she could move holding the sofa, from one end to the other.. now waiting to see when she'll walk..

Got work to do, before she wakes up.. want to write what she did from the day she was born till now..