Six quiet dogs

Swimming still his favourite activity

Whenever Raghav is upset and crying, he goes on this random call of pointing to the computer and saying "didi, dadaji, chacha, niti, nani"... the list is quite endless. It's like he will only be calmed when he speaks to any of these people whom he will complain to about us, and who will entertain him in return. He doesn't even speak so often to "didi" (Tanvi), yet she's one of the prominent influences on him when he's upset. I think he truly had a great time with her when we were in Delhi.

He sits perfectly "gentleman"-like on the dining table now, and behaves very well when we go out for meals. Most of the time some food item catches his fancy and he busies himself with it throughout the time that we eat. He can also entertain himself for quite a while with dumping, scooping and counting (in his own language) sugar sachets (at least till the time he starts throwing them about, and then that becomes the game).


Since he joined school he has had a renewed interest in his toys. I had kept them all away because he had stopped playing with them, and would only like to climb tables and sofas and chairs and do monkeyness; but now again he can sit and entertain himself for several minutes, playing with Lego blocks and reading his books.

Eats like a gentleman

He identifies many things in his books; like in this doggie book that he has, every time I say "One dog", he goes "woof!" because that's how he's heard me read it for months to him. Also, at "six quiet dogs" he puts his finger on his lips and says "shhhh" (although currently that finger rests more at the side of his mouth and near his nose.)

New love

He also brings his tiger book (Tiger Who Came To Tea) saying "teya", and the Goldilocks book saying "fin" because he knows that Goldilocks eats all the porridge and that it's finished. He brings the Cave Baby book saying "baby", and finds it hilarious when I read to him the lines "a cracken in the bracken, a hyena's laughing there" in my loudest and most threatening voice.

He likes his Teacher Nana at playschool, and gets worried when he doesn't find her when I leave him. He also goes and puts his head on her knee while sucking his thumb -- which is his way of showing that he likes that person.

He now rushes into his class when I go to drop him, and doesn't look back as I leave. I go in to say bye, and sometimes get a kiss from him when I ask. (He's adjusted well to playschool.)

I took him to Ikea the other day (just on my own) and he started a chant of "icy" as soon as we got out of the cashier section. I had bought him a hotdog, which he did not touch. All the while that I ate my hotdog and cold drink, he continued his chant of "icy", and then uttered squeals of excitement when he finally saw me getting the ice-cream. He holds it and eats it on his own and screams every time we try to take a lick.

Learning new things at school

He likes to sit in the sink and take a little bath, which he calls "nahne". I think in his head when he sits in the tub and has a bath it's called "bath", and when he sits in the sink and has a bath it's called "nahne". So every time I tell him let's go nahne, he's expecting to be put in the sink, and gets very upset if I start filling the tub. (I think this has happened because I used to always say "bath" for bath, and only recently did I start saying it in Hindi for him.)

He has started saying a lot many words, like "wash" for when his hands are dirty and he wants them to be washed. He knows quite a few body parts -- eyes, ears, nose, teeth, cheeks (although he doesn't point this one out every time), feet, hands (these he learnt at school) and belly button. He also makes several animal noises -- bow wow for dog, meaow for cat, raises his hand like an elephant's trunk for elephant, hoo hoo for owl, sometimes mooo for cow.