So much to say...

A really long time since our last post, and it's become so common now.At least two posts a week was what we started with, but now, with so many changes happening, a post in two months looks more like it.Should try and get better.Moving to a new house in India,and moving to London within two months, the intial settling down and stuff, couldn't make time for a post, and even if we could, may be, laziness got the better of us.
So, here I am, trying to put my thoughts down.I can only make an attempt and a very weak attempt at that.Things are moving so fast , can hardly be recorded.
Moved to London again.Murali landed first and me and Ananya came a lil later.We were excited we'd be here for summer .But you can't take the summer here for granted.Always on the guard against rain and cold.But atleast you can hope to see the sun some days a week and when you do, the bright, sunny day with the fresh breeze can only be so rejuvenating and enlivening.But very soon, the odds of seeing the sun will slide down from four in seven to two in seven to one in seven to none in seven.
This stay in London is going to be very different.The last time we were here, Ananya was an infant and we didn't have much to do outdoors.Now I take her to the toddler groups in the vicinity, for playtime and rhymetime.
And now, Ananya. Well, what can I say.We are so overwhelmed with the lil Personality with a Capital 'P' and the new dimensions that add to it everyday, we are at a loss of words to describe it.
Madame Ananya , fiercely independent, extremely communicative, surprisingly expressive,tiringly oppressive(only to mummy and dada :-), knows very well , the ways to get things done.The lil commander will not take no for an answer.
She has a collection of about 20 DVDs and she chooses the movie to be screened each time."Mummy, play winnie the pooh',"Dada, play ice age","Play happy feet","Play oswald" she goes.There isn't a movie in her library that she cannot name or describe to us.And , when we say "no, not now, later",she immediately asks,"What are you playing now"?
She throws a volley of questions and will not let you sit silent for a second.And when, very rarely, busy in something else, I don't answer her question, she cups my face in her tiny hands, and says,"Mummy, look at me ".
Her wide eyed wonder amazes me all the time.She explains everything she does and doesn't spare things she doesn't know.She was swinging in the park the other day.She started her sentence,"Mummy, I'm...er..mm "She wanted to confirm what the name of the thing was..she asked "Mummy, what's this?"I said "that's a swing" and she immediately completed her sentence,"I'm swinging".She points to things, the names of which she doesn't know, and asks,"What's this?".She takes your answer with great interest and says,"Oh, this is a ...!".This always gives me goosepimples.
She's growing up to be a naughty, lil girl.Scattering my groceries all over the floor, opening the door of the fridge a hundred times everyday and bringing out all its contents, breaking the keys of the computer,not letting us hold her hand when we go out for a walk and then running away,standing on a folded laptop,putting balloons in the washing machine,ejecting the CD/DVD drive a dozen times and then pounding it.....oh, can go on.
Our food battles continue.Activity always at the peak and intake always at the bottom.I'm more worried and more agonised each day.She just wouldn't budge. Food is always a lottery game for us.Try each meal with hope and a new trick.Most of the times,she manages to win and my trick bites the dust.
She takes her 'dolly' for a stroll in the stroller and she tells her,'dolly, sit properly, let's go for a walk".She gives the frogs and 'duckies' a bath under the tap and then tells me,"Duckie's cold.Get a towel". She can now sing up to ten nursery rhymes.
Terrible two's, they say, May be, I know what they're like.But, does it stop at that ?Or, does it continue into terrible three's and terrible four's and so on?Hahaha.
Their growing need for independence can be frustrating at times, especially when you know they are going to hurt themselves and still can do nothing about it.You want to brush their teeth , they wanna do it on their own, you want them to eat, they don't want to, you want them to hold your hand, they want you to let go, you say yes, they say no..........but , that's the way to grow up.
I have, at different times, felt happy to see her laugh and play, felt sad to see her avoid food, felt proud to see her learn so much, felt annoyed when she got stubborn, felt complete when she hugged me, felt frustrated when she didn't listen to me, felt horrible when she said 'no' to everything, felt ecstatic when she said "I love you Mummy...um..mmma".
But one thing that I felt underneath, irrespective of the mood, was that....
I am so blessed to have her....The cutest lil angel called Ananya.