Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Fun with Grandma

Hooty is getting quite attached to Aththamma. Of course there are bouts of rude behaviour towards her whenever Hubby and I are around, but she is generally having a thorough time having fun with Aththamma.

I can’t imagine the amount of energy my mom-in-law seems to have. She can come down to the level of a three year old and play for hours without getting tired. I guess this is generally the case with grandmas and grandpas, as they don’t have any other things to distract them, unlike parents who have housework, jobs and various other responsibilities to juggle with.

Aththamma and Hooty would play for hours being a princess and a gypsy girl! Hooty of course being the princess and Aththamma being the gypsy girl [I have no idea how this came about ;o)]. Hooty would wear one of my night -dresses and Aththamma would wear all sorts of paraphernalia (including cloth pegs!) on her hair and ears.

Another game they’ve come up with is: Aththamma would play various musical toys while Hooty would dance till she drops. And all this is done on the common corridor of our flats. (Lord knows what the neighbours must be thinking!)

Yesterday, Hooty even refused to come home with me, but preferred to stay with Aththamma in the park, which shows the remarkable improvement on their relationship.

I really wish Hooty could have more time with both her sets of grandparents and I am counting the days that we could let her have her fill of fun with them once we go back to Sri Lanka.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Surprises!

Hub’s birthday is coming up. So, me with my big ideas, decided to surprise him. Last Thursday, I got Hooty all exited and got her to draw a couple of birthday cards for daddy boy. And I told her, “Let's surprise Thaaththi on his birthday,” and we hid the cards. Mind you, I explained as best as I could that they will be kept hidden until the actual birthday and that she can surprise Thaaththi then.

And what happened?

Hubby got back from work. Barely managed to open the door, only to be jumped on by a whirlwind of a Hooty  shouting, “Surprise Thaaththi!! I made cards for you for your Birthday!!”

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Well, that was the end of that surprise!

And you thought I’d give up?

Oh No! With hope still in my heart that I might be able to still salvage it, I went to the stationary shop down the road and bought two cards. One for me, and Hooty selected her own card. When Hubby came home, there was no mention of any card and I sighed in relief.

However, Hubby had to go down to bring bread in the evening, and he took Hooty with him. After they came home, and after the usual bedtime procedures, while lying in bed, my hubby says, “So, you bought two cards for me for my birthday as a surprise ha?” While laughing, he said this is how the conversation went;

Hooty : “Thaaththi your birthday is coming soon!”
Hubs: “Nope.” (Hubby says he just said this to avoid a "cake converstion" which he thought would take place if he said 'yes'.)
Hooty : "It is! It is coming soon. That's why Ammi got birthday cards for you. Ammi got one card and I also got one card."
Hubs: “Wow! Really? How nice!!! From where did you get the cards darling?”
Hooty : "From that shop...."

Gaaaaaaaaaaaah! How was I to know they’d end up in the same store!!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Welcoming Grandma

Hubby’s Mom is here with us for about a month. Hooty had not seen her “Aththamma” for about a year now. We however tried to keep her memory alive by showing pictures or playing question-answer games which went something like;

Us: “Who is Thaaththi’s Mummy?”

And Hooty would shout out “Aththamma!

“Who is Ammi’s Thaaththi?”, and she would go “Kiri Aththa!”, and so on and on.

Before Aththamma arrived we got Hooty exited by reminding her everyday by exclaiming, “Guess who is coming soon! It’s going to be so much fun when Aththamma come”, etc.

So, by the time the actual day of Aththama’s arrival came, Hooty  was quite exited and looking forward to welcoming her.

Hubs and Hooty went to pick her up from the air-port and Hubby told me that Hooty ran to Aththamma and gave her a big hug (which by the way, she had been practicing for a couple of days).

And when I called to see how it had gone I heard Hooty chatting non-stop over the phone and even when she got home, she was really exited and was talking non-stop.

It’s been two days since Aththamma has been with us, and Hooty is quite pally with her. Of course, there are bouts of jealousy when Aththamma gets too chatty with me, and Hooty becomes rude.

I think I’ll have loads of Aththamma stories in the days to come. So stay tuned folks ;o)

Friday, July 6, 2007

Hooty, Hooty Quite Contrary

Hooty has this habit of disagreeing with us when ever possible:

When offered a packet of milk from the fridge – “I want hot milky”
When we offer to give her warm milk – “No! I want cold milky”

When a pyjama is given – “I want a nighty”
When a pyjama with stripes is given – “No! I want the one with spots!”

When I offer to wash her – “I want Thaaththi to wash me”
When Hubby offers to dress her – “No! I want Ammi to dress me”

When an Apple is offered – “I want an Orange”
When an Orange is offered – “I want Orange Juice!”

When blue sandals are given to wear (if it matches what she is wearing) – “I want the pink shoes!”
When asked to tie her hair – “No! I don’t want to!”

Oooooooooh the list goes on and on and on and on and………

Now do you see how tantrums are a part of our lives. It’s all about control. Hooty hates to loose control of a situation. She always wants it her way, and when it doesn’t happen…..heaven help us!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Perspective

Hooty is used to travelling on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) in Singapore, which is similar to the tube in London and the Subway in USA. Basically it's a train ;o)

Singapore also has a LRT (Light Rapid Transit) which is a single train-car which is a localised rail system from neighbourhoods that act as feeder services to the MRT. Hooty is not too familiar with the LRT as we don't have a station close to where we live.

Last week, while on our way to a friends place, we saw a LRT and quickly pointed it out to Hooty saying, "Look, look, there's a train".

She took one look at the single car and gravely informed us that "No. It's not a train. It's just a broken piece!".