Three, Three, Love a Parteee!

This is the last post I shall write this year and that makes me feel a little bit blue because it has been the most wonderful year- our first together as a foursome! But we won’t discuss fours just yet because first I must tell you about the magic number three!

Yes, I can count a little bit (at least up to three!).

Bro can count loads more and read some numbers too but then I’ve only just turned one, and being able to count at all, and walk wonderfully well (even up the stairs) and talk with such clarity is really advanced (according to many who are not Mom and Dad)! So I thought, as I can count up to three, let me write about the tremendous threes Syon and I have enjoyed this year, while he digs up some good photos for everyone to enjoy.

Let me start by telling you about the three perfect parties we’ve had this year.

First, there was my Annaprashan or First Rice ceremony (to read about Syon’s, please click here) in Kolkata which everyone helped make an enormous success! Didou did most of the organising with Mommy and Daddy doing their bit from across the seas. Ma-sheep flew in from Bangalore early to help with the prep. She blew up balloons, decorated the cake, and kept the guests entertained. Mommy says that blowing up balloons and entertaining guests might make Ma-sheep sound like a children’s party entertainer but she feels it her duty to point out to interested parents that she’s just a fun aunt!

Daddy did a lot of the decorating, whilst the cook served up a banquet. And Mommy, who had planned everything down to the last detail, was satisfied that she had thrown a party fit for a princess- their little princess, me!

Our long-time cook in Kolkata is excellent and the food was simply scrumptious, and the guests, our closest friends and family in India were as warm and wonderful and generous as ever, which meant that not only did I get the most beautiful array of traditional gifts of silver any tiny tot can hope for on their Annaprashan, but Syon wasn’t forgotten either and received lots of lovely loot too.

My parents and grandparents had also arranged for a big, yummy, chocolate cake with both our names on it and when this was brought out the guests simultaneously and without any pre-planning burst into song for Syon (though his birthday was months away) to very thoughtfully ensure that he didn’t feel left out and he told me later that it had worked a treat!

Of course, it was my party and I had my moment in the sun when, first, a pretty little silver bowl and spoon with which I was to taste my first rice was brought out, and then, a tray of significant objects from which I had to choose items that would foretell my future. None of this is, of course, taken seriously and applause and amusement in equal measure greeted my refusal to have even a spoonful of the milky rice from Dadu (I was only 3 months old after all)! I was far more obliging with the tray and picked out the objects which symbolised health and wealth.

In the summer, we had another splendid party, this time in England.

We don’t really do themed parties but we gave Bro’s very special second birthday a little bit of a secret agent spin with Connery-era James Bond posters for invites (with Syon’s face where Sean’s should have been)! His cake also carried on the theme with 002 candles and flashy, miniature cars sitting atop it. But most of all, my big brother was every bit as handsome as the dashing spy in his dapper, salmon and grey outfit.

He had a whale of a time, running about like a madcap with his English cousins and friends, stopping only to quaff cake and check out his great gifts- garages with swirly ramps for car-cars to whizz down and things to build with!

As always, Mommy and Daddy made sure that I wasn’t forgotten either, and so staged a mini Annaprashan for our English family and friends who couldn't (naturally) attend the main one in Kolkata. This time, I actually ate the rice that was spooned up for me by my Grandma and Great, Great Aunty Nellie, but I was quite a bit older by then- all of five and a half months!

The last but by no means the least important (nor the least fun!) party was just over a month ago- my very first birthday! We celebrated it alongside Diwali and had a rocketing time!

We invited guests to come in Indian attire and to help them look the part, we had a collection of bindis and bangles at the ready, but it turned out they didn’t need our help after all! We were tickled pink to see our English friends and family in their eye-catching Eastern best. Aunty Louise and Cousin Eleanor glittered in festive Kameezes they’d bought specially for the occasion. Both Grandmas looked regal in peacock blues and greens. I myself was resplendent (and a veritable Bollywood Babe) in a gorgeous rose and sea-green Ghagra with spaghetti string straps. And the men were not to be left behind either! Syon, Alex, Felix and Daddy were in smart Kurta-pyjama combos and even Uncle David wore his ‘Hum Hindustani’ t-shirt!

Daddy cooked the yummiest Indian spread ever for my party and my star-spangled, chocolate cake had a solitary, sparkly diya burning atop it to mark the completion of my first year. There were also tasty, wobbly, fruit jellies with both our names on them (just like at Bro's party).

In return for the zippy, toy auto-rickshaws I awarded to the best-dressed (for the occasion), I received a heap of wonderful toys and books and gorgeous clothes! Syon got some fun gifts too which he was very pleased with.

My very special evening ended with a bang! We all trooped out into the (slightly nippy) lamp-lit garden to enjoy the bright sparklers and glow-in-the dark hoops Mommy and Daddy had got for all of us kids. I loved every moment of it and was sad it had to end, but I am reliably informed by someone in the know (someone who’s had quite a few parties organised by Mommy and Daddy) that they’ll do their best to make my second birthday extra-special too!

And because all good things, like parties and wonderful first years, must come to an end, so must this post, and I didn’t even get around to wrapping up the year like I promised Bro I would.

Oh well, he’s the eldest and I leave the ‘burden’ of writing that one last post for 2010, with stirring tales of travellers and a magical Christmas, upon his manly, broad shoulders...

P.S. For those of you who've missed my birthday slideshow, you'll be pleased to know that it will be coming soon to a blog near you (notably this one)!

One,Two, Visit the zoo...

I am counting better and better all the time! If there’s ever a number I can’t pronounce properly, I just say ‘more’ so I’m often to be heard counting objects like this- One, Two, Three, Four, More, Six, More...!

I not only know numbers and letters but can read a few too. This is really handy for a boy who likes to impose order on his (very elaborate) imaginary world (except when I’m asked to tidy up; I favour the bombed-out look when it comes to houses)! I do like order when I’m playing though which is why Sis-sis is not the best playmate at the moment as she likes wading into my organised toy world like a galumphing Godzilla!

My burgeoning counting and reading skills really come in handy everyday when I build and animate whole towns and cities made up of the many different but unrelated toys I have amassed.

Lots of interesting things happen in my toy cities- planes take off from the top of the petrol station (as I don’t have an airport and the garage has the flattest roof), the train chugs into town to pick up the day-tripping animals of the wooden ark. The crocodile drives the fire engine to the burning barn and puts it out. Postman Pat and his Doppelganger zip around town in their red van having complex conversations about the parcels they can’t find.

All this does have a rationale of its own (My parents agree that the last scenario is particularly realistic)! But when my sister joins in, the really bizarre take over- Toy Town is suddenly afflicted by hail storms of large plastic fruit or houses levitating- or worse still everything gets crushed under her mighty Godzilla feet (Mommy says that actually Sis has the tiniest of feet as they could not find walking shoes small enough to fit her and had to settle for cruising shoes although she’s been walking six weeks or more now).

Anyway, I digress! I wanted to demonstrate my excellent numerical skills and so I shall, by counting all the fun Sis-sis and I have had this year.

One: One is for how old my baby sister is now and for the number of wonderful years we’ve been together!

One is also the number of trips we’ve made to the zoo together.

We had an absolutely fabulous time at Twycross Zoo with our cousins Alex and Eleanor; running from cage to cage to look at the monkeys, being hoisted up on my Da’s shoulders to see the giraffes close-up, watching the zoo’s new baby elephant have a mud bath (wish I could have baths like that!) and pretending to go on a safari with my cousin Eleanor on the sturdy stone shoulders of a Silverback Gorilla!

Two: Two is for how old I am and for the huge number of fun things that came in twos that I’ve experienced this year!

I’ve been on two trips to the seaside.

The first one with Grandma and Grandad and Cousin Eleanor (therefore, two is also the number of high-spirited kids my grandparents had to manage on that trip)!

I absolutely love the beach, building sand castles, splashing about and collecting rocks and seaweed and such (funny that Mommy doesn’t seem too keen on some of the collections I bring home).

Two is also the number of donkeys that my grandparents got for us to ride on the beach. That was very exciting, I’ve had piggyback rides on Mommy, Daddy and my grandparents before but they can't compare to the real thing!

The other trip to the seaside was the wonderful week Mommy, Daddy, Sis-sis and I spent in a cottage in Cornwall.

We got to know the farm animals (two is the two horses or ‘neighs’ as I prefer to call ‘em, which grazed in the field next to our cottage), had loads of yummy creamy Cornish ice cream, swam in the wonderful pool in the cottage complex, built sand castles and rock pooled with Da on the beach (while Sis and Mom found a sunny spot to bask in).

I also enjoyed the bustling fishing towns we visited because they had lots of boats and birds and doggies too! Mommy enjoyed the sun (except one day when it was pelting down) and Daddy bought lots of great fresh food and cooked up a delicious storm for us.

We also visited some pointless ruins which I would’ve hated altogether but there was usually a dog or a bird or something to distract (or a toy pirate ship in one instance) so the rubble-rambles (as I like to think of them) which Mommy loves weren’t a complete washout for me and Sis-sis (and anyway, who can complain when you get as many compliments as we did from total strangers while out and about in Cornwall!).

The high point of our Cornwall trip tho’ was a morning spent at a toy train centre where we not only got to watch perfect little miniature trains (one of them looked just like my Thomas, only bigger!) chugging ‘round the tracks but actually got to ride a little steam engine right up front with the driver- TWICE!!

Two is also the number of terrific trips abroad we’ve made this year.

In the summer, we travelled to Switzerland where my Bilky Mashi lives.

This was a splendid sun-drenched holiday where despite having two old fogies along (Mommy and Daddy) we managed to see a lot of lovely places like the perfectly preserved medieval town of Stein am Rhein.

We also went on a big boat to Zurich where I sat in the sun and ate chips and ice cream! Two is also the number of times I’ve been on big boats (please click here if you’re interested in my first big boat ride).

But the best part of the Swiss trip for me and Sis-sis was getting to spend time with family, sampling Bilky-Mashi’s delicious cooking and most of all (for a little boy like me) splashing about in the kiddie pools and fountains of Horgen’s lakeside park!

Mommy and Daddy had been to Switzerland before but enjoyed it in a completely different way this time because they found it a really family-friendly country with total strangers taking a lot of interest in us and constant compliments on how cute we are (which always makes Mommy’s day)! One old man actually stopped us on the streets of Stein to shake Mommy and Daddy’s hand on a job well done in having such beautiful children (I think he should've shaken Sis-sis and me by the hand but who knows how grown-ups think)!!

The second foreign trip this year was in fact, the first in the year, the first ever with Sis-sis and also the first in importance because of all the family members we got to spend time with- Didou, Dadu, Budida, Ma-sheep and Pishi Dida to name a few.

I suppose it’s not a foreign trip at all because we are half-Indian and are just visiting our other home and we do this every year, but it is a heck of a long journey and a gruelling one. Mommy and Daddy seem to find it especially hard but I am a strong lad and I don’t mind all the walking, the piggyback riding and interesting hustle and bustle at the airports. I should make it clear that it's the 24 hour journey that's difficult and not the stay which is, in fact, just the opposite- usually the most relaxed 3 weeks in the whole year!

I had started writing about it in an earlier post and then realised that there was too much to write about at one go! I did mention all the wonderful people we met, all the shopping and non-stop chattering Mommy did, and all the fantastic food we have there.

What I didn’t get around to telling you about was Sis-sis’ magical Annaprashan and that really deserves more time than I have left today. It’s lunchtime and my tum's crying out for some Bob the Builder pasta (or is that Mommy calling me?)!

In the next post, however, I plan to recount the terrific threes we’ve experienced this year- especially the three tremendous parties we’ve had (including the Annaprashan), the three wise women who came to visit us from the East, and much more!

But that's another day, another blog post...

It’s bye for now and do watch this space for more counting fun!

Super Trooper

I just wanted to share our delight over my baby sister's walking prowess with our family and friends. Although she has been taking a few unassisted, wobbly steps from her 11th month, she has only started taking longer walks in the last two weeks since her 1st birthday and tonight she finally allowed the paparazzi (that's Daddy and Mommy when we're at home!) a chance to capture it on celluloid for the whole world to see!

Here she is walking across the room with the remote control firmly in her grasp in an attempt to stop Daddy from changing the channel. She's an intrepid little trooper who'll walk across the room and back with an incandescent smile on her face. Her confidence has grown in such leaps and bounds in the last fortnight that she's not just walking from room to room or across the expanse (vast, for a baby!) of our living room now but also trying to fetch and carry whilst on her jaunts! So, please put your hands together for Ayana's lovely toddle, I know she'll be happy to show you how well she does it come Christmas (or for those in India, 2011)!