abu? rabad?? read this to know more about them


Hungry and Sleepy

Posted on August 19th, 2008 in abu, imagination by navin

A couple of days back we were generally chatting in the evening.

“I am hungry,” said Rabad.

“And, I am sleeply,” said Abu.

Then, having thought about this information for a while, Abu presented his analysis.

“Rabad is hungry, and I am sleepy,” he said, “We both have feelings, you know.”

I blame it on TV.

¤   ¤   ¤

Today, Abu and I were alone at home. It was getting close to his bedtime and he hadn’t yet eaten.

“I am hungry, Dax,” he announced. For reasons beyond my understanding, he has taken to calling me Dax. Or Dados.

“I am hungry, and I am very sleepy. If hungry is red, and sleepy is blue, then I am purple.”

If blue is amused, and red is proud, I am purple.

Sweet dreams!!

Posted on July 30th, 2008 in aaaaawww, abu by navin

It’s 7:15am, and Abu needs to start getting ready for school by 7:30. He also likes to watch a little TV before that. And, if some day, he doesn’t wake up before 7:30, he gets a little grumpy because he didn’t get to watch TV.

So I go to his room and try to wake him.

“Abu, wake up, or you’ll miss TV.”

Abu stirs. Opens his eyes. Looks at me.

Frowns.

Then says, “I didn’t finish my dream!”

Short pause.

“I want to finish it.”

And goes back to sleep.

So here I am, thinking that I’ll let him sleep for as long as he wants.

The school bus comes every day. But, a dream that cannot wait, cannot wait…

tlc

Posted on July 24th, 2008 in aaaaawww, abu, rabad by meetu

contusion july 2008

that’s abu’s foot. this is a common occurrence in our household, so not to worry. we have a bone contusion which is not a fracture but deserves a plaster to be on the safer side.

so be it.

there’s more to this post than just “look, he hurt his foot.”

now, just because it’s a common occurrence doesn’t mean we deprive the children of our tender, loving care, ok? so, 4-5 hours in the last couple of nights have been spent listening to “ow, ow, ow it hurts” now, how it decides to hurt only at night, has always been a mystery.

how? the day before yesterday, abu, rabad and a couple of friends from the building, t-man and little-terror-a, were playing a game of “let’s break this huge, heavy loose tile into smaller pieces by throwing it on the floor” and one of the pointed pieces in t-man’s hands ended up on abu’s foot. of course, i tried to stop them, but a little too late.

anyhow, last evening i decided that i need to go for my walk and its high time (as the doctor recommends) that abu start walking around. i use my usual line, “i’m going down for a walk, you can join me or stay at home by yourself” usually this means, both of them come wagging behind and start playing with their friends when they reach down.

abu - ma you go, i will stay home alone…

rabad - i’ll stay with him, don’t worry. he’ll take care of me

me - uhhh…he needs to be taken care of, who’ll do that?

totally expecting an “aaaaawww” moment, i had a smile in my mind.

rabad - t-man! we’ve called him, he’s coming over in 5 minutes…

yep! the same t-man!!!

* * *
ps1. i think, they have set it in their mind, that older person takes care of younger, and t-man is few months older. outlook needs to change…

ps2. t-man was very, very apologetic immediately after he threw the tile and much later too.

jaya he jaya he jaya he

Posted on June 23rd, 2008 in aaaaawww, abu by meetu

i’ve mentioned earlier that many a time we go to a movie after the kids have gone off to sleep. so, we did it again last week. this time the movie was playing at inox. and inox theaters play the Indian national anthem before the screening begins.

we reached about 5 seconds before the anthem one sleeping baby in hand per adult. i rushed so i could keep abu on his seat before the anthem began to avoid standing with 15 kgs for another minute. aaaaaand succccess…!

Only for about 2 seconds that is…pride overtook relief.

abu was standing tall and straight for the national anthem. and went off to sleep after it was over.

tears of joy - not cliche anymore

Posted on May 5th, 2008 in aaaaawww, abu, rabad, why? by meetu

for the first time yesterday morning, abu tread water in the pool without any floats!!!! now, he is all excited about learning how to swim fast (translated to breathing, moving hands and legs in coordination, etc - because according to him he already knows how to swim, you see, he can be in water without drowning for over 5 years now).

***
yesterday evening -

we were listening to some song (can’t remember which one) which the kids had seen on TV
rabad - mamma, is she sad?
me - no, she is actually very happy
rabad - then why was she crying in TV?
me - sometimes when we are very very happy, tears come out of our eyes. they are called happy tears.

abu - just like i was very happy this morning when i swam without floats and pappa said, “i am very proud of you, baby”, a tear came out of my eye…


ps. abu went on to clarify that the tear was not from swimming, but was a real tear

stars up in the sky and down here too

Posted on April 21st, 2008 in abu, philosophy, what? by meetu

so, i’m in this phase of telling abu and rabad that songs are not just sounds but have actual words that mean things also. pat comes the question…
abu - what does ‘taare zameen par‘ mean?
me - it actually means “you”…children…aamir khan uncle is saying that all the children in the world are stars on the ground.

* * *

a few days later -

abu - mamma, what does god do to the people who die?
me - don’t know baby, I really haven’t met anyone who has died
(i love having tongue-in-cheek conversations with abu-rabad! what a huge role i have in developing their sense of humor)
abu - your grandfather died, na?
me - yeah but i didn’t meet him after he went to god. but, i think he must be treated well, because god is a good person, you know.
(wondering if it’s time for me to decide on my take on reincarnation, just in case it comes up in a conversation soon)
abu - hmmm…ok

2 minutes later -
abu - mamma, we are stars on the ground, na?
me - huh?
abu - you had said, children are stars on the ground…
me - oh that, yeah, that’s right…

* * *

wondering how he jumped from that conversation to this?

this is my take - some teacher/relative/friend/hubby dear/me must have mentioned that people become stars when they die and go to god. and there’s aamir khan uncle saying children are stars on earth…is abu wondering whether these are the same stars? has he started wondering about reincarnation already? did i just have my first philosophical discussion with my son? or am i reading a little too much between the lines? i’d like to think not…

a long, long time ago

Posted on April 15th, 2008 in abu, imagination by meetu

a papa tyrannosaurus watched his baby tyrannosaurus come out of an egg by cracking it open. after the egg cracked the pieces of the shell fell all around the baby dinosaur.

the birth of a dinosaur

a family of diplodocus’ killed a tyrannosaurus with their tails. it dies a bloody death.

the dinosaur family

stories as drawn by abu

letter from a son to his mother

Posted on April 15th, 2008 in aaaaawww, abu by meetu

abu - “mamma, did you check the mail box today? there’s something in there for you”

letter

it reads - dear mum I have given you a letter

unzipped

Posted on February 11th, 2008 in abu, just for fun by meetu

sort-of breaking my promise not to write anything here that can embarrass the kids when they are older *ahem*…

so, abu’s zip was open this afternoon.

me - abu, your zip is open…

abu - hehehe…chain khuli ki main khuli

* * *

p.s. 1 - zips are also called chains (in India), “khuli” means open in hindi

p.s. 2 - “chen kuli ki main kuli” was a chant in a very popular hindi movie from the 80’s, Satte pe Satta

p.s. 3 - i am pretty sure abu was not referring to the chant mentioned above, but was referring to this song from Masti

a mighty heart

Posted on January 30th, 2008 in abu, meetu, movies by meetu

we usually watch violent movies or movies that are too serious for the kids, when the kids are sleeping. so, it turns out that the movies that we’d like to catch in the theater are seen with two seats reserved for the two sleeping babies. and most times they sleep through the movie

one morning, abu saw some used movie ticket stubs outside my purse, “maa, which movie are these for?”

me - “a mighty heart, you slept when we were watching it yesterday”

abu - “what was it about?”

me - “about an aunty who lost her husband and she was looking for him”

abu - “did she sing a sad song?”

yeah-yeah-yeah, it is time to introduce the kids to non-hindi movies.