Airplanes and Ammamma

In August of 2012 (27/8/12 to 02/09/12), we went on our second family trip to California. Though we visited Lego Land (San Diego) and Disney Land (Anaheim), our pit stop was my aunt’s (my mom’s younger sister) residence. My aunt (i.e., mom’s younger sister) is S’s Ammamma (the Telugu word for grandma). And I call my aunt Pinni (the Telugu word for mom’s younger sister). So S combined the two words and started to call her ‘Pinni Ammamma’ just so he could differentiate between my mom (his ammamma) and my mom’s sister (his pinni ammamma). I thought that it was wonderful logic for a 3yrs old’s brain… But C feels that I feel proud and happy for the boys’ every tiny word, action and thought. I just think that is a characteristic all moms, worldwide, share and are proud of…:-P

By the end of our trip to CA, S was hooked on to airplanes and ammamma.

Then when we went online with my parents (08- Sep-2012), he had the following conversation with my parents –

S: Ammamma, why don’t you come here and live with us?

Ammamma: Why don’t you come here and live with me and Tata for a while? It’s a warmer climate and I will play whole day with you. There will not be any school here too.

S (to me): Amma, can I go to Ammamma’s house and live with her?

Mom: Then Akhil will be alone. He will feel sad and will miss you.

S (to me): Ohh, that is OK. I can take Akhil along with me.

Mom: But, you need to go to Ammamma’s in an aero plane.

S (to his Dad): Nana, can you buy me an aero plane. Akhi and I want to go to Ammamma’s place in India.

Dad: Siddhu, we need lots and lots and lots of money to buy an aero plane and we do not have that much of money. So, let’s wait and see. In the meantime, Ammamma can come here and live with us for a while. How about that?

S: No, I want to go to India in an aero plane. I will talk to the airplane uncle and ask him to lend me one. I know he will, because he is a nice uncle and I am a good little boy.

Mom: OK. But even though the aero plane uncle lends you an airplane; you cannot drive it since you are small. You need to be tall like Nana.

S: Then here is the thing – I will become big like Nana. I will drive myself and my brother in the airplane to Ammamma’s. When I reach Ammamma’s it will become night and I will become small again. When I am small, I cannot drive my plane. So, I will park the airplane behind Ammamma’s house. Akhi and I will sleep and enjoy our time at Ammamma’s. Once it becomes day, I will again become a big boy. And then I will drive my plane back to our house. I will become a small boy and go to school. And then again after school, I will become a big boy and will drive my plane back to Ammamma’s. And then again when I reach Ammamma’s it will become night and I will become small again…….(the same sequence of events continued for about 20 minutes).

Anybody who tried to interrupt with any question was getting an answer only in the following terminology; airplane – becoming big and small by the wink of an eye – travelling back and forth between India and the US in a matter of seconds etc etc. No amount of diversion worked. S only spoke about airplanes and visiting Ammamma. Then finally giving up,

Grandparents: Siddhu, We are very sleepy. Can we go to bed?

S: Tata, you can go to bed. But Ammamma, you stay awake and talk to me. Though, you may lie down and talk, you don’t have to sit up like that. See me, how I am lying down – you do the same, OK? (By this time, S was lying down on his belly and cupped his chin in his hands and was staring at the laptop screen. And then once grandma came into the position S was in, it was again all about airplanes and ammamma…)

...S chatted with his grandma for a whole half hour after that – all on his own. Also, he did not want any of us in the room. If C or I entered, he said “Amma, I am talking some secrets to Ammamma. Please can I be alone when I talk to her.” So, we just left and closed the door behind us. But when we eavesdropped, we understood the conversation was all about AIRPLANES AND AMMAMMA. Such was(and still is) his fascination for the same…

Mom is very tired.

Couple of weeks back, just while we were thinking aloud on who should take the kids to bed – C or I.

S (to his Dad): Amma is very very tired. So, you can clear up the kitchen, clean the dishes, clear up the living room and make our lunch boxes for tomorrow ready. And Amma, Akhi and I will sleep.

Dad: Siddhu, I am very very tired too. So, can I too sleep with you guys.

S (to his Dad): If you too sleep, who will do all the work?

Dad: Amma.

S: Amma is more tired than you are. She works a lot. You don’t work that much. So you can do one of two things – sleep with us, wake up after the three of us sleep and then finish the house work OR finish the house work now and then sleep by us. It’s up to you. Right, Amma?

Mom (Diplomatically avoiding both, C and S) : Come on, boys. Let's go. It's bed time. 

New Dad

When S was 2 and a half years old (in the summer of 2011), C tried to discipline S on something that happened (I don’t remember what though). Immediately, S came to my side of the bed and said “Amma, Come on. Let’s go and get a new dad. We’ll return this dad to Walmart and buy a new one.” 

Mom (thinking) - If it were that easy, Siddhu...:-P

Actually, I was wondering what a brat he was at just 2 and a half years.None the less, I always love you a lot, my dear Siddhu...

Honesty - Can it get any better?

One day S told me, “Amma, don’t cook pasta for me. If you want me to eat pasta, you take me to the pasta hotel (he meant Olive Garden) and I will eat all my pasta all by myself. Also, I will not need constant nudging from you if you take me to the hotel. You don’t make good pasta – I like the one the hotel makes a lot. I love it.”

Now, can honesty get any better? I learnt my lesson and stopped making in-house pasta recipes. Now, I look at the recipe on the box and scale it down. Or search for time tested pasta recipes in the internet and follow the same. 

P.S.: I would never agree to anything like this coming from C. But when it is from a 3 yr old, I know that it is TRUE. (Usually S never says anything that can hurt me or is against me.) 

Siddhu and his softer side - # 2

One day at the dinner table, I sighed with pain as my feet were hurting real bad (from the plantar fasciitis).  And I was totally oblivion to the fact that S was observing me all the while. Suddenly S asked me if I took any medication. I replied in the negative. Immediately he said, “Amma, just wait till I am 10. I will be 4 in coming November and then I will be 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 – all in just 10 days after my birthday. Once I am 10, I will go in my car and get you 4 medicines – one each for morning, afternoon, evening and night. And then you will not have leg pain anymore.”

P.S :- This was in early September 2012. (@ 3yrs of age)

Family photo shoot - July 27th, 2012

After a nice long vacation in India, the boys and I returned from India in May of 2011. Thinking about the summer here at Wisconsin, I just got the boys' heads shaved off at Puttaparthy, India. Then once their hair started to grow, it was BIG DECISION TIME. Should I get them a hair cut or not? After some thinking, we decided to get S his hair cut (because he anyways wore it really long and curly during his baby days). But for A, we decided the opposite. He was still a baby and I really wanted to see him with long baby hair. He had wonderful hair - I fell in love with his hair over and over again. It grew really long and curly. So, we decided that we cut his hair after his 2nd birthday. (Though in May 2012, I cut his hair in the front to make some bangs just to prevent the front hair from falling into his eyes). But we reverted our decision based on the extremely harsh summer this year and we got A his first hair cut at the Aveda Salon and Spa near our house. Just for memory sake, we had a family photo shoot with long hair Akhi (and Sailatha). Below are the pics from the same. We totally totally enjoyed the shoot - the boys were all over the place, running, posing, pulling each other and what not. It was one of our most memorable family days.  As the famous quote goes "A picture is worth a thousand words..."....

Why did you say "You love me"?

On March 19th, 2012, we celebrated Akhi's 18th month birthday by having a  FAMILY DAY OUT. We started our day with a smash cake, a small nice ice cream cake from ColdStone Creamery. The boys smashed it, stomped on it, applied the frosting/ice cream to themselves and each other.  I would say, they abused the cake so bad, that the cake went straight to the trash can and the boys were carried straight to the bath tub.

After we all got ready, we headed out to Panera Bread and enjoyed a hearty brunch - Mac&Cheese with tomato soup for the boys (that is their regular order at Panera). Then we went to the North East Wisconsin Zoo (a.k.a NEW Zoo). It is a huge zoo, in the sense that there is more walking to do than animals to see. But there were a lion and it's lioness, all the farm animals, 2 giraffes, turkey, monkeys, otters, seals etc etc. We were exhausted by the time we were done with it.  S started to act up just now when we came out of the zoo. C said, "Siddhu, I will leave you near the lion if you continue to act up." For that, S replied "Then in the morning, why did you tell me that you love me. If you leave me near the lion, the lion will roar and scare me. That means you don't love me. " 
Of course, following this set of dialogues was the routine parent/child conversation like "I do not love you when you misbehave etc etc..." S used what his dad said (earlier in the day) to him and in turn questioned his dad about the same - this was what left me totally puzzled. With him growing up, it just puzzles me more and more each day.  Sometimes, I am like "Did I ask my mom/dad these kind of questions???" I am sure I never did, but I 'll confirm on that one of these days - you never know :-P...