Dudu

I was away gymming and you wanted dudu. And you wanted Baba to give it to you. So, he acted crazy and offered his nipple to you. And you bit him so hard, he almost cried. I find it strangely hilarious!

Anu

You tell your name with a clear enunciation, "Shaurya". But so far Aai's name was Aai and Baba's name was Baba. But yesterday when I taught you that Baba's name is Anu, you curled your lips and said "Onu". Like you say, "noi".

Sundar sundar

You know how to sign 'beautiful'. And while I was feeding you, you liked the tondlyachi bhaji and signed "sundar sundar". Couldn't have a better appreciation for my food.

Bum

Your naughty Anaya maushi taught you the most important part of the body-the bum!
And ever since, you have been pointing to your butt and saying "bum"
You also sing it in a song, " bum bum bum bum bum"

Cake (kekkuh)

It was one of the food items whose name you learnt to say. And now, when anyone asks you what you ate, you just say kekkuh.

Chaanmama

You are crazy about the moon. And when you see it, you shout, "Chaanmama!"
And sometimes you just keep saying, "chaanmama, chaanmamama, chanama " or something gibberish like that.

Pipi

Our cook Preeti babysits you while I work, every morning. And such a good babysitter she is. And a teacher. You are learning to talk very fast, with her. She has taught you the names of colors, animals and various nuances like how you cry, how I scold you and how I love you. She has also taught you to say "katti". So much so that every time you are not given something you like, you say " Kitts" and show us your displeasure. You love her so much, sometimes you wake up from your noon nap and go running into the living room searching for her, crying " Peepeeee..."

Elevator ride

Whenever we go downstairs by the elevator, you insist on sitting on the floor all through the ride

Aai

"Aai!", you shout for me. "Aai ga!", if I am not paying attention. That is the first word you said, when you were just five days old. When you were tired and hungry, and I took a bit longer than usual to come to you and offer you milk, "aai!"came out of your lips, and made my heart rend and rush to you.

Now you call everybody aai. Everybody, who you think is close to you and is of use to you. Anybody who will do stuff at your bidding. That is your dad, grandparents, maushi, our cook, Ashu, her mother. All except mama. He only, is your mama.

Metro

We took you to Rasika mama's house, from whose window, you could see the metro running every ten minutes. And Pampya mama taught you how the metro runs. Same action as we did for a steam engine. But from your point of view it is the other way round, which has become your symbol for metro. So youbcome to me, your fresh diaper in hand, put it on your foot, telling me to help you wear it, and sign metro, to take you out for a ride. And how excited you become when webare going out into the metro!

Mad about Mama

You have taken an infinite liking for Onkar mama. You go crazy with joy when he comes home, you blush to look at him, and we can make you do anything on the promise that doing it will get you to see mama. You wake upnfrom your naps and as soon as you have had your fill of dudu, you want mama. Or mau. Or show me a bau. 

Shaurya

Today, I want to tell you, how you got your name.
When I was carrying you, we were going crazy trying to think of a modern, yet traditional and Indian name for you. As we did not know your sex, we should have been thinking of both girl and boy names. But as it was, we would end up talking about only boy names. And none of them made it to our shortlist, till your 7th month, even.
Then one lazy Sunday, we wanted to go haunt our favorite eatery at the Inorbit Mall, for a brunch and when we were riding back from the place, entirely sated by the cheese and tomato-filled good stuff, we saw that the galli we usually took on our way back, lead us straight into a jam! And while your Papa was doing his best to maneuver through that un-budging group of bikes and cars, I felt a jolt from the wheel getting bumped on a pothole. And Papa was apologetic as ever, you know how he is with you, that nothing should ever trouble you, and I felt scared too, because the bump was big, and then I thought, my kid is super strong, he is of a warrior-like nature, fighter, brave, courageous, Shaurya!
And that's when I knew it was your name.

P.S. There is another part to the story of your name. All my life I have been looking for answers, to the questions of life, and one of them being what makes the difference. And here I tell you, son, what differentiates the men from boys, or from those who make it and those who fail. It is Shaurya! Courage, Valor separates the men from the boys. Those who make it have nothing more but the courage to go where the heart trembles but victory beckons. 

Lolampatti

You just get tired from all the running and decide to lie down right there!

Mau-mau

I took out the pink bear Shreya gave you for your birthday and you hugged it and named it "Mau-mau"

Colors

You played with colors I made for you out of edible stuff. And when I asked you to look at me for a pic, you ran to me for the camera!

Jump

You jumped by yourself,a whole few cms above the ground! You are the cutest kid ever!

Ouch

You bit me so hard my skin not only turned black and blue like it does, the bite was on a finger joint, so there was blood and swelling. Don't know how to make you stop biting. Scolding or thappad won't make any difference, you are so small that you won't understand and I don't want to teach you violence. Sigh!

Mamma

You called me "Mamma" today. You knew the word but you had never called me before. We were playing bat-ball and I took a wee bit more time to get the ball back, and you shouted, "Mamma!" , to call me back. It was a word more beautiful than any I have heard before.

Pat

While you were playing with your toys, you suddenly ran to me and hugged me. When I patted you on the back hugging you, you patted me back :-* 

Trike

Your Papa and I got you your tricycle, and you wouldn't sit down on it. You just wanted to ride it standing, like a hero!