Scene 1:
'D' is sitting on the couch watching the Andy Murray-Djokovic Wimbledon final on TV...Raya comes up and tries to squeeze herself between 'D' and the edge of the couch...
When she is unable to make space for herself she first points to 'D' and then to the couch and says,"Baba push...baba push" (read Baba "move")...LOL
Scene 2:
I am driving Raya back from day care and just out of the blue,I ask her..."What is your name"...She immediately says "Yaya"(She still can't pronounce her R's)...I tell her "Raya Das"...
I come back home, ask her again "What is your name?"...Pop comes the answer, "Yaya Das"...You know how excited mothers tend to get at such "achievements" ...lol...so I try a third time...
"What is your name?"...She stares back at me, with an annoyed look that says, "Didn't I just tell you that? Stop asking me the same question"...Lesson learnt...no repetitive questioning...the only way to make her learn and remember is to keep it spontaneous...the same question asked every once in a while still evokes the right answer as long as the question is not repeated again and again within a short period of time...otherwise you will get a puzzled, annoyed glare instead of a response...LOL
Scene 3:
Raya is sitting on her high chair...watching her favorite Mickey Mouse and Goofy on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. Something in the show makes her burst out giggling...She can't stop giggling...and after a few seconds of unstoppable giggles, she says "Mamma...Mamma..Yaya fuunny...Yaya funnny.." ...and continues laughing...
Scene 4:
I am busy reading a book...'D' is busy on his laptop....Raya plays around with her crayons and paper for like 15 mins on her own...then out of the blue, we hear her say, "Mamma...Yaya boo boo...Baba...Yaya...boo boo"...Of course, not having noticed anything that may have caused a "boo boo", I ask her..."Raya where did you get a boo boo?". She looks at me for a second, puzzled...turns and looks at 'D' for another moment...pauses for a moment and then raises her fingers and says, " Mamma...Yaya...boo boo fingaars"..."Mamma...Yaya..boo boo fingaars"...'D' and I just burst out laughing...Pop comes another Raya giggle...and with that, "Mamma...Yaya funny"..."Mamma...Yaya fuuunny"......Btw..."Yaya...boo..boo" is the new attention seeking tactic...and the "boo boo" is always on her "fingaars" :)
Scene 5:
I smell poop and take Raya up to her room, lay her down on her changing mat and while she plays around with her blankie, I deal with the big mess in the diaper...madam Raya , in the meanwhile is
oblivious to how hard mommy has to work and continues with her constant chatter, "Mamma...eewww..eewwww...diauper dorty...diauper dorty" ...oh well of course...diaper is dirty :)!!!
Scene 6:
Raya and I are sitting in front of the laptop...skyping with my parents, Raya's "Koka" and "Ma"... Raya is sitting on my lap and sipping water...she drops water on her shirt and drenches it..
then says,"Kaapur Titi...Kaapur Titi"..."Kaapur" in Assamese(my mother tongue) means clothes and "Titise" means wet...for obvious reasons, the grandparents couldn't help grinning from ear to ear...:)
Scene 7:
So Raya's loyalties keep shifting between 'D' and 'I'...on some days and weeks, she is an absolute Daddy's girl...on other days and weeks , she is an absolute Mamma's girl!!
A couple of months back, she was a complete Daddy's girl. However since DD went on his one and half week long India trip without us, Raya has been and continues to be a "Mamma's girl". Sometimes that works in my favor, specially when it comes to getting cuddles, hugs and kisses...At other times it doesn't, specially when she wants only me to do all her chores, feeding her, changing her clothes, diapers, putting her to sleep..etc.etc...Oh well...So the other day, we came back from a family dinner...'D' was getting ready to put Raya to sleep...Raya began throwing a tantrum...and came running to me..."Mamma...Mamma..Mamma ...Yaya...chinge...Yaya...sleep"...essentially she wanted me to change her into her night dress and put her to sleep...I tried my hand at playing the little one's trick on her...I told her,"Raya...mamma is tired. Mamma got a boo boo"....She immediately stopped crying, stared at me for a second and without a further tear dropped, she let 'D' put her to sleep...'D' says she asked for me once thereafter,...but he told her again, "Mamma got a boo boo"...and that was it...no more trouble...Raya's baba did not have to deal with any more tantrums.While I had said, "Mamma got a boo boo" in jest, this incident kind of gave me goose bumps...Jokes apart, does this mean that Raya is beginning to feel "empathy"? It may have been a freak incident...or it may have been an actual sensing of "empathy" incident for little Raya...Either way, we have a tough job in hand, as parents...and it scares me...how do we inculcate or nurture feelings of empathy, notions of good and bad, right and wrong in a child? It's tough, scary and another challenging aspect of parenting...for if we mess it up now...all these abstract/fuzzy notions may be messed up forever in her mind:(...So wish us luck please :)
Then of course, she has her own names for songs she loves....
- Shakira's Waka Waka in Raya'ingo' is "Waka moo"
- Remember the Ketchup Song of the late 90's...that in Raya'ingo' is " Eeeh...Aah..Eeeh..Aah"...
- Gangnam Style in Raya'ingo' is "Taaah",,,and she says that with a stomp of her feet...
- Badtameez Dil from Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani in Raya'ingo' is "Baads..my..aaah"
- Sun Rahan Hain na tu from Aashiqui2 in Raya'ingo' is "new song"
- Jeevan ke din chhote sahin from Bade Dilwale in Raya'ingo' is " lla lla lla..."
She does crack me up with her chosen lingo for identifying favorite songs :)
Other than that...Raya turns two in September...but she is already beginning to get into the defiant/tantrum throwing mode (the terrible twos mode, probably?!)...whenever the cause of a tantrum is completely illogical or incomprehnsible, 'D' and I have realized, the best thing to do is ignore....she generally cries it out for 5 minutes and then comes on her own to us with , "Baba...uggie...Mamma...uggie", urging us to give her hugs:)
Let's see how long this "ignoring the tantrum" method works. Otherwise though, in general, she pays more heed to what 'D' says than to what I do...if 'D' asks her not to do something vs I telling
her the same...she listens to 'D', she does tend to shove my "Don't do that"'s aside with a smirk...
Oh well...we are learning...we are learning...and Raya is teaching us more than a lesson or two!!! :)
