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| on 7th February, 2011 |
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| at Cubbon Park, 19th Feb, 2011 |
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| At Sapphire Toys, koramangala |
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| with her friend Yashu didi in 2011 |
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| with her friend Yashu didi in 2010 |
Jenicca stayed after Arjun’s seemantham and within a day she adjusted to the new environment and in 2 days she was free enough to move with thatha.[ grand father ]
She never addresses herself in first person and it’s always ‘Chikku’.
Chikku wants this or it’s chikku’s. She is very fluent in Gujarati and her use of English words is commendable, she picks up fast and applies the vocabulary to the context. Her very common statement is [Chikku na ghee aapo’] give chikku ghee while eating, she loves ghee if it’s given in a small cup with spoon and she would eat anything offered to her along with the ghee.
Her favorite for Idly dosa is ‘ogapodi’ [ idly chilly powder ] Her dialogues are, 'Chikku is sweeping', 'dog is sleeping', 'mosquito do not bite chikku', 'Dress' or 'socks is very tight' , 'Anjana keep the news paper aside' –this is because she is not being attended to. etc.
[koks for socks]
['chikku jhadu maare che',
'Guggu thaachi kare che',
'machhar chikku na bite na karis',
'Bahut tight che',
'Anjana newspaper muki de',
'varsaad pade che',
'atlu badhu rice'!
Once she wanted to listen to nursery rhymes and I played the VCD and suddenly the music stopped, and her immediate response was that the battery is low. ‘Battery low thayigu’, She was told this reason everytime she wanted music to be played on the mobile and she would keep quiet.
I would like to work on the PC in my leisure time and with her around I had to be careful otherwise my leisure time wud invariably bcum rhyme time. If she sees me working on the PC, she would say, Patti "ABCD mukone", she wants to watch the nursery rhymes CD and likes to sing along with that.
I open ‘you tube’ and play her favorite rhymes 'hickory', 'jingle bells', 'humpty', 'twinkle', 'baa' etc. I do shut down and tell her that the computer is not working , she would "understand" and keep quiet and wud not ask for it. By mistake if I switch it on, she would say, Patti, computer 'bagadigayu’ [Computer is not working.]
On pressing numbers in the calculator,when the screen becomes full, she with her tiny hands says with action, ‘go back, go back’. I was just taken aback , I never thought that to press more numbers she understood that the screen should be blank!
When it's bedtime, we start placing all the mattresses and pillows etc on the floor, she herself says, ‘move’ and goes and stands in one corner so that we wud be free to move the mattresses.. I taught her to use, ’excuse me’ so she would come in the middle and say, ’ekus me', and another thing is to ask Arjun, ‘Arjun mama, may I come in? ’ After knocking at his door, once she hid behind the door and asked the same question, we had to explain to her when to use the question.
On her own she would say, ‘lie down’ after her bed is ready, ‘and close your eyes’.
I gave her a big plate ,a bowl and some dry Kabuli Chana to play with, made her put them in a plastic bottle with a wide mouth and gave her the stacking plastic glasses to use for shifting them from the bowl to the plate and the bottle.
She enjoyed the sound and by chance two peanuts got mixed up with them, and without anyone telling her took these odd ones and kept separately. I noticed it and without her knowledge just mixed it with the Chana, every time she picked and separated them.
I was happy that she could differentiate between things without being prompted to.
Next was a magic show. I took a small gooseberry size ping pong ball and asked her to watch, ‘’Chikku, see, where the ball is’. By taking three stacking glasses, I covered the ball with one glass and the rest I left as it is. Then I just kept on juggling their positions distracting her and asked ‘where is the ball?’ Immediately she picked the correct one where the ball was hidden and I clapped and she also joined me. She always needs the assurance that once she performs something she should get claps appreciating her.
Anjana took out alu chips to eat which fell on the floor . Anjana picked it up and put it in her mouth and at once Chikku said," do not eat, put it in the ‘dustin’[ her word for dustbin] " but Anjana kept it and she came rushing to the kitchen to tell me ‘Patti, mamma is picking up and eating the dirty chips, remove them’. [Anjana gandu kadhu’, moda mathi bahar kaad’
Once Arjun did not respond to her questions, she said, ‘arjun mama kaam ma bahut thaachi kare ‘ i.e. Arjun sleeps a lot at work!!!!!!!!!!
If she sees any papers or anything littered on the floor, she asks " kone gandhu karyu? " who has littered, and collects and puts in the dustbin, she enjoys doing this because the dustbin is foot operated to open.
Anyone in the bathroom, she would ask, ’how long? [Kitli vaar che?]
When the neighbourhood girl comes to accompany her to the playground, she wud rush to her and tell , " Yashu didi, ek minute ready ", that is she wud be ready in a minute.
She likes to hold books and if anyone reads from her book she would come and take it by saying, ‘aa chikkunu che’, this belongs to chikku and she identifies the character in NODDY by pointing to Goblin, Mr. Big ears, Noddy ,Mr Plod, rainbow, cycle, sun, etc..
She can make the sounds of animals . If she does not like anyone touching her, she says,’ don’t touch’.
She speaks good Gujarati and clear full sentences and no short sentences or mono syllables.
I have seen many kids who cry soon after waking up, she is the one who never cries and smilingly says ‘good morning’. At the age of two [by April 19], she can say when she wants to use the wash room, alerts people around and once she finishes her job says, ‘khatham’.
Her toilet training is also perfectly done from the age of one. After coming from outside soon after entering the house she removes her shoes and takes them as pair in her hands places them under the sofa and says ‘hand wash karis’.
Next is sitting in one place and eating snacks, lunch and dinner. We planned to go to Forum Mall to have lunch as well make her play in the kids play section. We gave her lunch at home and left around 1 at noon. As soon as we entered the basement car park, she said, we have come to a hotel for lunch. She could relate the car parking system to connect to a hotel.
We had our lunch with an assortment of food lying on our table, she never asked for any food item from any one except her water and she refused to our offer also. It’s something which one does not see with kids of her age, it was surprising to us and we should appreciate her upbringing by her parents, she is given food according to her timings and nothing in between which is good for her health.
We took her to the different rides like train, horse, car and ambulance etc and she never made a fuss or created a racket to remain there.
Quite frequently we took her to the toyshop - Sapphire where she loves to sit on the car, bike and loves to touch the things which are displayed at the bottom racks but never forces to buy them. She loves to move around freely in the malls and shops.
Even in the park she does not mix with others, she likes to be ‘by herself’ she just enjoys running around in the vast open space most of the time with her bat and ball.
There are a lot of dogs in NGV campus and whenever they bark together, she gets scared. So she has been told by her dada and papa and mamma that they are playing and saying ‘hello’ to each others. It has been absorbed in her memory so she says the same when they bark. It’s a good way to get rid of the fear in the kids. If they bark at nite, then the dogs are saying ''gudnit to Chikku,'' if morning , are saying ''gudmorning'', or ''asking her if she is having breakfast / lunch etc''.
She answers some GK questions like, the captain of Indian cricket team, who is the master blaster, Gujarat Chief Minister, Cong President, PM‘s names, and acts out like sushmita sen ,manoj kumar, aishwarya rai,Salman Khan, Aamir khan.
I can keep on writing but some where I should end it, will continue later when she comes during summer vacation.
lucky u get 2 meet her!!
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