Bad Mummy

There are just about a few words and even sentences that I can make out when Lila speaks these days. For certain, she is braver than Aga and knows how to deal with delicate situations.

There is never any problem with feeding Aga; he finishes everything and usually does not complain if the food is to his liking or not. Lila on the other hand has strong preferences and she will make sure you understand them. It is impossible for you to feed Lila food she does not like. Mummy is of course aware of this and she found out Lila indeed can be bribed when it comes to matters such as these.

You can , for example, never succeed in giving her a spoon of something she does not like (force feeding never works with her) but you can bribe her with pieces of potato crisps on the side. You danlge a crisp with your left and just when she is about to grab it from you, you feed her a spoon of the other stuff she hates with a vengance.

One day Monica tried to mess with Lila. Monica decided she will resist as much as possible from bribing Lila. Lila was crying her bum off and making all sorts of threathening noises. Lila was certain Mummy knew what she was looking for; the crisp was no where to be seen.

Lila gave up. She yelled "Bad Mummy" !!! Monica and I cracked up instantly.

These days, Lila speaks many words and may be even sentences but I can only figure out a handful of those.

She says "Wake up Daddy" when I am sleeping.

She says "Where is Aga?". "Look Mummy, There he is". "Look mummy".

But none of these are as precious as "Bad Mummy".

If I am angry with Aga, he moves to a corner quietly and waits for the situation to simmer. Then after about 10 minutes he will join back the mainstream of activities. But, Lila, she is not afraid of me. If I am corss with her, she will walk "straight" towards me and "whisper" to me; "daddy, blah blah blah blah". I have no idea what she says, but I am certain she is doing one of (a) telling me hat I should not be cross with her (b) explain what she was doing in the first place (c) threatening me in return.

When Spring feels like Summer

It is 07:45am. You are on your way to work, surprisingly by foot, and you feel it is the middle of summer. It is surely a dream, of course, unless you come to senses quickly and appreciate you are in Australia. Yes people: Summer is here. Do not bother asking a local as they will contend even Spring has not started.

Agastya is below par since we arrived from Semarang. He had a cough to start with which intensified before it came to a lull. Since last night he has been throwing up and not been able to keep anything down, not even water. He is almost dehydrated. We feed him electrolytes by the spoon. It take less than a minute for him to heave everything he takes in and he seems to be conscious that is exactly what will happen if he happens to take in anymore. Due to this [let us call it presumption] he declines to drink or eat . We are vexed a bit; Optimistically, from this evening, he will be able to keep at least half of all the electrolytes he takes in. That would keep his energy stay at modest levels and give his body the basis to fight this stomach flu / virus.

We went to the Healesville sanctuary yesterday with Aga. It was a much better outing than the one we had in Jan 2006 to the Melbourne Zoo. Aga is old enough to distinguish the fluffy creatures and acknowledge them. He rode a bronze Emu, stomped on the testicles of a Bronze Kangaroo; hunted a few stupid looking [Ibis] flightless birds. He started having conversations with Kangaroos and they even stopped to listen to what this little devil had to say. He didn't care much for Koalas excepting a oversized, stuffed replica at the entrance.

Cadbury's Caramel Koala made a guest appearance that day and Aga received a hug and a Caramel bar. Monica refused to stay or listen to the lecture on Snakes and Venoms. The reptile area was my favourite in the Zoo but neither Aga nor Monica had any of it. If the animals did not have legs, Monica can't be bothered. Aga loved the Pelicans so much that he wanted to cross the barrier and grab one. There was a Tasmanian Devil which was doing the rounds and Aga wanted to get into the fray of things. So, all in all, it was a good Saturday with the Sun high up shining at approximately 22 degrees.