My little Pumpkin is 33 months old now, and such a treat!<\/p>\n
As a father, I continue to be amazed at how her verbal and cognitive skills have developed, over the past year or so.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she was about two, she used to say \u201ckweet<\/i>\u201d instead of \u201ccute\u201d, and \u201ckeem<\/i>\u201d instead of \u201ccream\u201d!\u00a0 She also couldn\u2019t pronounce any word that started with an \u2018s\u2019.\u00a0 So, \u201cschool\u201d became \u201ccool<\/i>\u201d, and \u201cstand\u201d became \u201ctand<\/i>\u201d!\u00a0 That was also the time when a healthy mix of Hindi and English also started to emerge at home: \u201cListen my baat<\/i>\u201d was an oft-heard phrase, and so was \u201cI\u2019ll sit akili<\/i>\u201d (alone)!<\/p>\n
After her first week at playschool, when we asked her what her teacher\u2019s name was, her nonchalant reply was, \u201cMa\u2019am<\/i>\u201d!\u00a0 \u00a0Soon, she started adding new forms of verbs to her vocabulary, a good example of which was \u201cI just do-ed it<\/i>\u201d.\u00a0 And, a sense of future started to develop: \u201cNext time, I want to go there only<\/i>\u201d, and \u201cWhen I become a big girl, I want that lipstick – the red one<\/i>\u201d!<\/p>\n
When she was about two and a half years old, she also made up an imaginary friend – the fluffy chaddar bhoot<\/i>! (chaddar = bedsheet and bhoot = ghost) – her own version of Casper the Friendly Ghost!\u00a0 Soon after, she made up another one who was simply called the plain bhoot <\/i>– only, this one wasn\u2019t so friendly and would come to see if she\u2019s being naughty!\u00a0 These days, full-fledged conversations with both \u201cbhoots<\/i>\u201d are the norm, except that she\u2019s not so friendly with the plain bhoot<\/i>!<\/p>\n
Soon, her fertile imagination also started coming up with intriguing names for her soft toys (and her self)!\u00a0 Until then, papa and mama had suggested names for all her toys, ranging from \u201cGeoff the Giraffe\u201d to \u201cChintu the Chick\u201d.\u00a0 Now, she insisted her new camel be called \u201cDoby-Doby<\/i>\u201d, and that she be called \u201cScovy The Dovy<\/i>\u201d in a specific, sing-song manner!<\/p>\n
A few months ago, when I\u2019d wear something nice, she would remark: \u201cPapa, you look so pretty!<\/i>\u201d.\u00a0 Today, that\u2019s evolved to \u201cPapa, you look so handsome!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just trivial things; there\u2019s so much care and concern in her mind for her loved ones\u2026 If we\u2019re out on a drive, and she sees an obstruction on the road, she\u2019ll instinctively say, \u201cPapa, be careful<\/i>\u201d!<\/p>\n
Many parents wish their children never grow up, and complain about how fast they actually do!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Me?\u00a0 I\u2019m happy to be a part of this fascinating journey, every step of the way\u2026 It\u2019s been a happy journey.<\/p>\n
P.S. For the longest time, Pumpkin\u2019s name for plain old \u201csugar\u201d was \u201chappy journey\u201d!\u00a0 The practice has its roots in my mom\u2019s superstitious habit of giving us a little sugar for good luck, and wishing us a Happy Journey, whenever we leave town. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My little Pumpkin is 33 months old now, and such a treat! As a father, I continue to be amazed at how her verbal and cognitive skills have developed, over the past year or so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-wonder-years"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/beingdad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}