911 sisters

Sirens, fire engine and men marching with boxes - this scared me when ammA called 911 for medical attention for Madhura a couple of weeks back. On 27th Feb 2012, I went to school as usual and around 2:30 p.m. I was climbing the ladder towards the slide. I missed a step and fell through the gap hitting my chin hard and biting my tongue badly. I screamed and bled profusely. My teachers immediately called ammA and also called 911 to stop the bleeding. Once again I heard the siren and saw men marching towards me. When ammA came to school with Madhura, I went to her crying. The paramedics and teachers were all praise for how brave I was and the only complaint that I had was that I could not go out and play again.

After the doctor checked me at the urgent care, she recommended ammA to take me to emergency room @ El Camino Hospital. I was sedated and a plastic surgeon sutured my split tongue with 20 stitches (yeah, it was that bad!). The pain, long waits, multiple consultations with doctors, shots, oxygen mask, sutures made it a long grueling day :( It was past mid night when I came back home.

After a day of silence and a couple of days of slurred speech , I am trying to be my normal self hoping that the stitches will dissolve soon.

Just like sisters get matching stuff, we did something uniquely matching. We just became the 911 sisters :)

Birthday Week

Birthdays are exciting and fun. I did not know this before. For several weeks it was - "Amma, When is my birthday?" "In a few more days". I knew my special day (that's how I call it) was a Monday (Feb 20th) Never have I been so excited about a Monday. Seeing my parents prepare cake, snacks, fudge, goody bags, I felt dizzy in excitement. To top it off my parents humored me starting Saturday. Before I slept on Sunday night, I said to my ammA " kaarthala nee, appa, madhura 'happy birthday' paadi enna ezhupavai ila? " (Won't you, appA and madhura sing happy birthday to wake me up in the morning?) Had to make sure that my birthday started off the way I dreamed. Monday started with "Happy Birthday" song, kisses, hugs, phone calls and new dresses. We were off to Color Me Mine to celebrate my birthday painting with my dear friends. My birthday pictures speak better of the fun we had and the memorable birthday I celebrated.

my birthday celebration

On Tuesday when I woke up I asked "Inniki ennoda birthday kadaiyadhu la?" (Today is not my birthday right?) Seeing me in a bit of low spirit, my parents declared the week as my special week.

I sure learnt that I can change one special day into a special week. Now how about we think of a special month/year? :)

(Pictures) January 2012

click here for more pictures

Let's get the ground rules right

My little sis is 7 months old and I think it's time I make things clear to her and lay down the rules. This is the incident that triggered this thought in me

While I was playing, madhurA grabbed a toy from me. I took it back (ammA, note that I took it back gently) and she started shouting. Yes... shouting and not crying. I could not hear any words. Just "dha..dha..dha..dhaa.." I told her to be quiet but she responded loudly with more "dha..dha..dha..dhaa.."

This is what I said to make things clear -

"appA-um, ammA-um dhaan enna thittalaam. nee kutti paappaa. nee enna thitta kudaadhu. ok? (Only dad and mom can scold me. You are a small baby. You should not scold me ok?)

That's rule number 1 for you madhurA. I will keep the rules coming from now on.

The Obedience Currency

Appa and I just went to the store to buy some stuff to take to India.

I spotted the cookies aisle and started begging for chocolate chip cookies, and was as usual not surprised to hear "No", "Not now", "Paaduka, please, can you stop bugging?". Appa did not want to budge even when some other shoppers seemed to look approvingly at me.

Hmm.. So, I decided to play his game.

I: Appa, naa nicchayaama sonnapadi keppen (I will surely listen to what you say).

Appa: Hmm.. enna sonnapadi keppai? (What will you obey?)

I: nee saapuDu-naa, naa saapuDuven. (If you ask me to eat, I will)

nee moochaa po naa, naa poven... (If you ask me to go potty, I will)

sure-aa nee Angry Birds viLayaaDu naa naa viLayaaDuven (If you ask me to play Angry Birds I will)

nee chocolate chip cookie saapuDunaa saapuDuven (If you ask me to eat chocolate chip cookies, I will)

Appa laughs aloud and gets me a big back of chocolate chip cookies.

Today, the only currency to buy my parents' support is my Obedience.

(Pictures) October 2011

more here

My Rani Lakshmi Bai avatar

I know it is a little early to experience bullying at this age but I guess kids start early these days. I went to "Pump it Up" (Aug 2011) with ammA, and was climbing up and down the inflated slide and was having a good time. A group of kids came along to play on the slide. I tried to join the group to have fun. Suddenly a little boy who came behind me on the slide started shouting "hey see here, pirate girl". I did not know if he was talking about me or what it meant. I continued to play while this kid continued to call me "pirate girl.. pirate girl, you are slow, you suck.. move move.." Other kids in the group joined to tease me more. ammA called me aside and asked me to go to a different place to play. I did not budge. I slowly understood that the kids were making fun of me. Every time I climbed in front of the boy who started calling me "pirate girl" and slowed him down and shouted "Don't say pirate girl. My name is pAdukA". After a while, ammA forcefully pulled me away from the play area and took me else where to play. ammA was surprised with my behavior and reported this to appA . Surprise... appA was happy that I stood up against the bullies and said "good job".

yay... Rani Lakshmi Bai indeed...