My daily dose of entertainment...

... and it doesn't come from the television. It's my little girl, my entertainment channel. In rapt attention she picks up dance moves from the umpteen nursery rhymes she watches and soon we're witness to her cute baby moves. 


It all started with 'chikni chameli'. You know how all babies have a favourite song to which they're attracted, to the extent that they forget anything and everything else. Well, for aanya, 'chikni chameli' was that magical number. She could barely sit back then when the song released, but she had her moves right. She would shake her baby hands up and down and believe me, all in tune! Till today, she can be distracted with the song. It's just that now she's come up with some better moves. She sways her body, does a little twirl, moves up and down and claps while at it!!! 


The funniest was, MMW and i were following the comedy-mystery series called 'psych' on the laptop. And it has a very catchy credits tune. So one of those days, after aanya had slept off, we were doing the same. It had been more than 40 mins since she was fast asleep and as soon as the credits started rolling, we saw to our bewildered amusement, madam was shaking her bums up and down in tune!!! What a sight! We were in splits till we were holding our stomachs. 


I've been showing her the 'gigglebellies' nursery rhymes during her meals. And now she's addicted to them. So much so, that when i bring her bowl out, she points out to the laptop demanding the hear 'her' rhymes. There's one called 'Raindrops and gum drops'. 


If all the little raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops
Oh what a rain it would be
I would stand outside with my mouth open wide
Ah-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-Aaaah
And so on... 


The 'Ah-a-a' part is what caught aanya's fancy. Yesterday, while i was busy with something, i suddenly heard her sing 'Ah-a-a' while following the rhyme and prancing around. My little baby sure is growing up. 


The tech savvy baby that she is, aanya loves to talk to Tom. Now tom is 'tom cat' or 'talking tom' as many people know him. She brings me my phone and says 'Hie Taa' which corresponds to 'Hi Tom'. And of course, i have to show her tom or else there'll be mayhem.     She brings the remote to me when she wants to watch 'baby tv' and knows exactly when to say hi when someone calls on skype. 


Funny as it may sound, aanya can say 'mumma', 'tah-tah', 'hie-ta', but not 'papa' and her papa has literally been after her from the time she was born to call him that. She has her own version of 'tah-tah' which refers to her father. And whether he likes it or not, he HAS TO respond to her when she calls out to him. 


Tishi taught her to show her tongue, Girija (aunty) taught her 'high five', tah-tah showed her her nose, she was caught on camera giving her first flying kissie to mash, all her stuffed toys have been named and the party trick is to ask her to show us 'huggie bear' or 'minnie mouse'.  As soon as she wakes up in the morning she says hi to 'nighty' her sleeping buddy. She's learnt 'namaste' and 'jai hind', 'clap your hands, stamp your feet and jump up high'; she brings the 'big red ball' when asked for and can throw the ball. She makes a moo sound when asked what the cow says, and she always nods her head vigorously when asked "who's the goo girl in the house". 'Tagbak-tagbak' means rocking her favourite wooden horse and "tuki"(bengali version of peekaboo) is her all time favourite game. 

She knows exactly where her shoosies are kept and shoosies means going out. And nothing else brings her more happiness (already). The excitement on her face to see her shoosies is boundless. To be able to sit on the cycle or in the stroller wearing shoosies is ultimate happiness!


I know most children cross these milestones by her age, but i guess being a proud mother means being able to recognise and appreciate each and every little act of your child. And this doesn't mean she's the best, most well behaved child you've seen. She can be quite difficult and stubborn. But the vices i leave for another post.