March 24, 2010

Alubululu...abluluu...kalabluu...alakala....

I may call it Gibberish, but it's the sweetest language I've ever heard and I long to hear them over and over again. Amma was the first clear word you said, though it initially started as 'Ammi' and somewhere along turned to Amma. Then came kaaka (crow), your favourite bird. A liking, I believe, more because it was the only creature you saw (apart from humans) from the balcony of our 9th floor apartment. The cows, goats, cats..all came later as you spotted them on the roads and empty plots near your grandma's house.
Coming back to your first attempts at speaking....you were always 'the man of little words'. You believed in action rather than words and there you would be crawling, then walking all over the house getting your things done. Somewhere during those days you surprised us with a full 1-minute uninterrupted speech which went something like 'amma....alubululu...abluluu...kalabluu...alakala....' and so it went. You had a strange sense of satisfaction after delivering this rather exhausting line, and here we were trying hard to recover from our laughter. We tried to get you to repeat it but then 'golden words aren't repeated'. These conversations continued, though mostly in bits.
Amma, kaakka were the 2 most-used words. I tried to get you to say 'achan' mainly so that your dad didn't get a feeling that since he wasn't around all day, you weren't too excited about him. Despite my regular efforts, you never even attempted to say achan. As you got more observant ad started going out more often (with dad, grandparents and of course Jocy), you started picking favourites and would attempt to say their names. You also did pick up a few words to get your things done. So there you were with an improved vocabulary: Bella (water), Ballaaa (ball), Palleee (lizard), Maeeww (cat), Boh boh (dog), Poo-pa & Chucha (for you bathroom trips), To to (tomato), Pepaa (paper, pen), Laalaa (lorry), aatoo (auto), Bykaa (bike), tyka (cycle), ka-ka (specs), Maanna (mango), Kodhoo (mosquito), Gadhuuu (goat), aannaa (elephant), Paam (pram), pais (money)...and still learning. Of course the tata and buh-byess are there too. Everytime the phone rings, you're the first squeak out a cute 'Hallooo' which sounds so adorably cute. Will try to records a few of these, and you'd know just how cute you sound.
Now for the favourite people in your life. You've mastered Amma and call it aloud clearly and a 100 every day. Love you for that sweets! After many many trials you settled for 'Abba' as the name for your dad. Amma and Abba it is for you. I find it quite cute though your Ammumma tries to get you to say 'Achan'. She's not been lucky so far. You have 2 sets of grandparents: one here in Kochi, and the other at Ramapuram. Here you have your 'Muthashan & Muthashi' and in Ramapuram you have your 'Ammumma & Muthashan'. Muthashan & Muthashi became 'Muchi' for you...and a few days later you changed it to Bechi. All Muthashans & Muthashis (irrespective of gender) are called Bechi. You next favourite is, of course, Jocy. We insist you call him Jocy chettan, considering there is a small age difference of around 40 years between the two of you. But Jo-chi it is for you and it remains so. At home here, we have Jisha to help amma and to take care of you. Initially you didn't have any particular name or sign or sound to identify Jisha. You would just go up to her and hit her when you wanted her attention. (She's been here since you were 6 months). One day, as she walked in, you ran to her screaming Jish...Jishh... It was sooo cute my munchy. At times when you really want to bribe her into doing something, you call out a very sweet mushy Jishyyy.
Adzy baby...how easily you have us in smiles with your little doings... love you sweetie-pie.

3 comments:

The Ketchup Girl said...

ooh how sweeeet :)).

Unknown said...

Hey, Daatha should find a spot on that list! :)

And yes, I have finally succeeded in posting a comment here. Hurray!

The Coffee Cup said...

Yes there will be another dedicated to Aashu and his friends...and of course Daatha will top the list.