Cherry on top!

There are days, and there are days.

R begins his 'final exams' at his playschool today. I detested the term as a child, and I detest it as a mother. At playgroup level, 'testing' is of no vital importance to me, though feedback certainly is. They had a neatly printed 'portion' sheet, a lot of which, with due respect, amused me no end. Months of the year, numbers 1-20, all alphabets, 6-10 rhymes, vegetables, fruits, flowers, birds, animals, conversation and story-telling. Whew. Each one sounds more daunting than the former. Was my two and a half year old going to get his head around any of it? The only bit I could cheer about was colouring, though I wonder if the theme for that - summer - would ring any bells for R. He is already behind his peers in the speech department. So most of his testing would seem to me to be, shall we say, pointless. Or so he would have you think.

Yesterday, just before we trotted off to 'sool' in the morning, R decided to dig out his ABC, rhymes and picture books, looking as thrilled as if meeting old friends. With my typical adult tendency of cynicism, I assumed we would be done with the books soon, both of us frustrated with each other's non-compliance. But the Gods were smiling benevolently upon us, and as A progressed into B, C and went all the way to Z, I could swear the tyke was trying to show off and have his mother fall flat on her face. There were glitches I would readily gloss over - he can't say B/ P as an isolated sound, F, L, R sound like Swahili alphabets, and W is an adorable, but wrong, 'bow-zoo'. I decided to test my luck and move on to the numbers page, which he can usually identify to 10 but won't say anything except 'two' and 'three'. As I goaded him into saying 'One', lo and behold, out came two, three, four..... , (a distant cousin of) five, and six! Be still, my heart.

I tentatively turned to the fruits page, all of which are usually 'appu', i.e. apple. Today, we had a chickoo, a pear (not clear but similar sounding), identified a handful others right away and just when I ignored the rest, the chap points and says, "Aai, Cherry!" .............What?!?! He hasn't even seen a cherry in real life! <Jaw drop> Riding on that wave came some of the birds (owl, crow, cock, eagle) and animals. I wanted to say nothing in fear of jinxing it all, but oh, how I wanted to cheer! Whether or not it was flash in the pan, it's always pleasant to be surprised thus!

And then, to put it all in perspective, when we reached school, R's pretty little classmate replied to my greeting in crisp, clear words, 'Good morning, aunty'. Sigh, there's some way to go yet, but oh well, at least I got the cherry on top ;)  

Baby read, Mommy read

R is a big lover of books (Glory to God!)- usually the board book variety, stuff that can withstand his show of love (read mauling, smooching, hugging, folding) and repeated thumbing through. We keep adding to his bookshelf from time to time, based on suggestions from friends, things we stumble upon browsing at the bookstore, or out of just plain fancy - his mommy's, obviously;) .

Now toddlers obviously don't seem to consider repetition a boring concept. So though R has been steadily populating his list of favorites, we keep returning to a few books that have stood the test of time, repetition and rough handling.

R's first ever book was a Noddy title that I picked while pregnant and read to my baby bump, in the process feeling good about myself ;) R's daddy also read to him, mostly because he would not know how to talk to his unborn baby without feeling foolish. The story was hardly award-winning, but I hoped it would soothe the little one inside and familiarize him to his parents' voices. The first book he ever 'read' was an off-the-shelf buy, 'Who's hiding, Pooh?', with colorful illustrations of Winnie the Pooh and his band of friends. It has a lovely 3 line rhyme about each character that allows the reading to be musical and fun. His eternal and total favorite, though, remains Goodnight Moon. When I first asked my mother to bring me back this book from her trip to the US, I was excited reading the reviews on Amazon and the like, but hardly knew what to expect. All I wanted was a set of good baby books to get R started.

After close to 2 years of owning it now, I find there is more to it than just a story about a bunny going to bed. I look back at how the book and its illustrations and words keep throwing up new meanings for R. It started as a bedtime ritual, became a picture haven and has now become a veritable treasure chest of words for R, given his struggle for words. He keeps discovering new elements in the pictures - I never noticed that the mouse ate the mush (mum-mum or bhaat for us)! I use it a lot to sneak in related sounds and words. Add to that the benefit of it keeping the guy occupied when I need some time-out! Love the book, and don't judge this one by the cover - the illustrations might not always appeal to an adult eye, but they seem to work their magic on the untrained toddler mind :)

The other one that almost parallels Goodnight Moon for R is 'Guess How Much I Love You'. It's the most adorable story of a little hare asking his daddy how much he loves him. And it never fails to bring a smile. Here again, apart from some obvious concepts like near and far, big and small, up and down, there is so much I find toddlers picking up on. We have mastered the concept of 'stretching out your arms as wide as they could go' to show how much, of anything! He learned early on how to gesture 'Too sleepy to think anymore' by rubbing his eyes, all thanks to Little Nutbrown Hare. I also find that in the Indian cultural context, parents are not always accustomed to saying the occasional 'I love you' to their tiny tots. This would be a good starting point for those of us who aren't saying it enough already :) Though R certainly is not overcome by emotion if I were to say it to him, he probably knows its important to me - his tone immediately changes as if to return the strange adult emotion, to a softer, lilting 'Aaa-iiii'. ;) Works for me! And I can steal a hug because the story demands it ;)

Apart from these two golden treasures, we love 'I Love You Through and Through' - a great one for simple, well-depicted reading, 'Good Morning, Good Night' - our favourite touch and feel book, 'Dr.Seuss's Mr.Brown Can Moo', and 'Spot Goes to the Farm'. There are some that have fallen out of favour to make place for others, only to return a few weeks later. Some that we have never taken a liking to, reasons unfathomable. But for R, his bookshelf, all neatly arranged, has pride of place. Let's pray it continues to be so!

After a couple years of reading mostly picture books and toddler stories - leave aside the occasional Cosmo - I decided it was time for me to graduate to something more meaty, shall we say? I had my eye on 'The Immortals of Meluha', book 1 of the Shiva Trilogy by Amish. I'm a great lover of mythology, especially when an old story is written from a new perspective. And after a long, long while, I finally found a book I would only describe as 'unputdownable'. Its everything a good read should be, per me - dramatic, racy, thrilling and with an element of reality and romance, and leave you contemplating. Amish's descriptions of the cities, its people, their clothing is so detailed, it springs to life as you read. I haven't bought a book in a while, but absolutely had to rush to get the sequel - The Secret of the Nagas. Must say this one too lived up to its predecessor. The last part of the trilogy is due to be out at the end of 2012 - too long a wait! I could pay Amish a couple million to get my hands on the story, right now! Or maybe he could trade it for a few board books? :P