Yuhaan Mhadesh Vanchanchan or sometimes Van-chavan-chavan. Shakespeare would have been so proud of you. You firmly do believe in 'What's in a name'. But, this is not for all names. You can pronounce Pooja, Shubha Aatu, Piya (Priya), Sannah, but have problems with your own, mine and Chhappa's name. More than Shakespeare saying 'What's in a name', 'Haanta' (hansa) saying 'What's your name' a 100 times is very irritating.
What a sea change last 3 months has brought in your speech abilities. From absolutely nothing to some gibberish to some sporadic words here and there, your speech was mostly about screaming to the top of your voice. But, nowadays you sound like a 5th standard english medium marathi balbharti book. It had sentences like 'kamal, paani aan', 'chagan, khau kha'. Yours are no different. 2 worders like 'dadda utthu', 'kkkhhali buss', 'ubha matti'to more complex 3 worders like 'aai aat ye', 'mau paa de', 'aai AB laav'. Ofcourse there are times when you speak the old gibberish with yourself, but you are not far from adding grammar to your sentences. While going out, u always want to go to either 'D-maalt' or 'Jen-Daaldan' on our 'Bhrmm-Bhrmm'. When hungry your demands are restricted to 'Pav-bhaji', 'Pijja', 'Momo' 'Bhaat', 'Laassi'. Relations are your strong point. Aai, Dadda, Mau, Aaba, Aaji, Aajoba, Aatu, Taya, Di, Tai, Dada, everyone is called perfectly. Even the occassional Dudu Kaka, Kava kaka, Kabu find the right mention. Bhrmm-Bhrmm (scooter), Pum-pum (Car), Babbag (Truck/Tempo), Tlain, Buss seem to be your favourite vehicles. Accent in your 'Rs' and 'Ls' make Apple and Ball sound like exotic words. You can make us keep our mobiles aside by saying 'dadda, phone bupp' and shut down our singing by saying 'aai, tond bupp' You have started saying 'yes papa' and ' no papa' in response to 'Johny Johny'. You know your Humpty Dumpty as well and have started singing 'Dum Dum Diya Diya, Mausam Biya Biya with the most adorable Allah ever heard.
If your speaking abilities are in the 2nd gear, your other activities are in the 4th. Your sleeping patterns have drastically changed since last month. You sleep till 9, then at around 3.30 -6.00 in the afternoon and then are wide awake even beyond 12 in the night. Your hunger has reduced a bit, ,maybe due to drinking lots of water due to the heat outside. But, you are not yet a complete nuisance regarding food although can be a headache sometimes. You do not wake up in the middle of the night anymore for milk and have completely forgotten bottles. 'cuppat dudu with bikki' is what you like now instead of 'batlit dudu'. We have a hard time from stopping Aaba from giving you 'gems' or 'amul cool', but he does find ways to spoil you somehow.
You are rediscovering your old toys, but have special liking to some cars and all ABCD games. Even on Youtube, to your Aai's dislike, you have forgotten Jingle Toons song and choose ABCD, Phonics, 1234 songs, besides watching your favourite 'Dhutt-Train'. (Last few weeks you have taken a special liking to Jhanvi Kapoor's song 'Nadiyon paar'). Your performance on '5 liitle monkeys' brings a smile to our faces and the way you and your aai sing the last part of 'nakavarchya ragala aushad kay' is a treat to watch. You know all the alphabets and numbers from 1to 20 (ononon is what you call 11). You can recognize all colours and many shapes. At home, your games are 'Ubba Matti, Pathi Udya, Brave boy, Ek paay-don paay'. You always want to go outside, be it at Aaba's place or Aatu's. The long walk at IC road where you now have started running is keeping your aai at tenterhooks. The garden though is your favourite. The swing, seesaw, duck come second best to the slide. It is difficult to take you off it.
Corona's 2nd wave is here and cases are increasing again. Butti kaka, Tungare aaji, Pradnya aatu and nimit kaka and many others have tested positive. Taya is in our building nowadays for her studies and has her meals with us and you do not let her go back. There are talks about lockdown or atleast more restrictions. I hope it gets over soon. I want you to join a playgroup from June. It is heart wrenching to see you knocking on the bedroom door when aai is taking a lecture inside. (You now can turn doorknobs with ease). I will love to drop you, your bag and your water bottle to school everyday on our Bhrmm-Bhrmm. When i will sit behind you on your bike, it will remind me of these days when you stand in front of me on my scooter counting the bus and trains, watching the kabus and 'MOOON'.
As you grow to a boy learning languages in school and a man impressing
people with your articulate speech, i will be still see in you the
little 'Haan' saying the most endearing version of 'Nay Nay No No' and
'Solly'.
