Many moons ago, inspired by Rajesh’s posts on letters to his little one, I wrote you a long letter and sealed it in an envelope for you to open when you grow up.  That was about leaving you my message, should I not live to see the day when you are a teenager.  But today, I start a new series of posts, one for each year (hopefully!), to chronicle some of the major developments in your life as you grow from one birthday to the next.  I will do the same for Tiger when he reaches the age of five.

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Dear Pumpkin,

You are now five years old, which is an important milestone in any one’s life.  If the last few months are any indication, you’ve already started behaving like a “little adult”, understanding so much more about Life around you, than you did  just a few months ago.

As much as we think we’ll remember all the big and small things in Life that we consider memorable, there are many things we can’t recall years down the line.  And, I wanted you to have a record of your formative years.  So, each year, I will write you a brief post on it, beginning with this one.

The months preceding your 5th birthday have been among the most eventful we’ve ever seen.  For one, you graduated from playschool to the “big school”, joining the Junior KG class of Bombay Scottish.  It was such a thrill to see you all dressed up in your school uniform, waiting to take the school bus each morning!  You looked all grown up and ready to face the world!  We’d chosen Bombay Scottish for its balanced approach of academic and activities, and you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the class activities, especially Miss Christina’s music sessions.  Every other day, you would entertain us with a new song you’ve learned in school or show us one of the many works of art you created in class.

Your best friend – Amini- was also in the same school, though in a different division.  And each day, after school, the two of you would spend almost all your waking hours with each other!  The two of you were inseparable.  This was also the year she was to eventually move out to another building close to our society, and we were worried how you two would cope with the absence of each other.  But you’ve managed just fine, and made some new friends along the way.  You also try your best to find Amini in combined sports activities in school, as you keep telling us enthusiastically.

By the way, the year’s theme is Barbie and you want every thing to be pink and Barbie-like!  On your birthday, you wanted all the family members to get you Barbie gifts, so that’s what we did.  And you got some more from your friends in the building.  But each time, when you see someone else having a Barbie pencil or lunch box or any thing you don’t already have, you still ask us to get it for you.  To think that just a few months ago, your favourite colour was blue!

Your baby brother – Tiger – completed one year in Oct 2008.  He’s now able to interact with you and express what he wants (and does not want) to do!  That has made your playtime with him more engaging and eventful.  He always seems to want what you want, including playing with your friends when they come over to play with you!  But you’ve managed well, so far.  And it’s heartening to see you play the ‘big sister’ (didi) role that you do so well.

On the home front, the year has been unpleasant with failed marriages affecting some of our extended family members.  Your dadi also suffered a massive cardiac arrest a few months ago, and has been in and out of the hospital on several occassions, this past year.  On a lighter note, this year was the first time that BossLady and I went for a short holiday (Goa) without the two of you!  That was quite a momentous experience for us, and we were delighted to return home and find you and Tiger greet us so warmly.  Frankly, in the days prior to our trip, we were as concerned about how we would cope up without the two of you, as we were about you two managing in our absence.

A few months ago, the two of you crossed another important milestone – that of sleeping in the “kids’ room” without your parents!  Our first big challenge was to get Tiger to sleep every night without his darling mama stuck next to him.  It took me a couple of weeks to train him, but I did it.  Then, we moved him to the kids’ room, with our full-time maid sleeping next to him, for company.  Then, one day, we made it a rule that “all kids will sleep in the kids’ room each night”, and you started sleeping there too.  Every once in a while, you still grumble about why I had to call the carpenter and make a bunk bed and a kids’ room, but you enjoy sleeping there and even refuse to wake up on school days… (You’re still at an age when you don’t question new rules announced in the house, but that’s going to change very soon!)

Aunty Natasha had got you a gleaming red bicycle on your birthday and, after colouring & painting, your favourite pastime is riding the bicycle in the building!  The trainer wheels are still on, but you thoroughly enjoy your time on the cycle, needing a lot of cajoling before you’re ready to retire for the night.  On many occassions, you also enjoy taking a small tiffin box and some water when you go cycling, so that you can stop and have a snack break when you’re tired… almost like a picnic!

One last thing : I got myself a touchscreen smartphone recently, and each day you simply must borrow it from me to do “some touchscreen stuff”!  In spite of my hardly spending any time on showing you how it’s done, you’ve mastered quite a few of its functionalities (even more than your mother has) and enjoy using its Drawing, Calculator and Camera features.  You’re always eager to shoot some photographs, no matter how small or big the camera is.  And I do my best to encourage your interest in photography as much as I can.

One can go on and on about these things, so let me end now.  Hope you enjoy reading these one day, as much as I’ve enjoyed writing these.

Love,
Papa

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