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!