Yog

Cheema Tutu

ButterfliesYog has been a late bloomer in terms of speech. This in no way means that he was not able to express himself till now. His deep black eyes can speak volumes, just by holding your gaze for a split second. In addition, he is blessed with two  super active hands. Using the combination of his eyes and hands, he has been managing quite well thus far.

While most kids his age are now making sentences and expressing themselves well, Yog is discovering two letter words now. We have waited close to two years to converse with him using words, so each word that he speaks sounds like Beethoven to our ears. His all time favorites are “Ee Amma, Ee Akka” (This is Amma, This is Akka). Then he has “Amma Da” (Amma come), broom broom, bow wow, in his vocabulary too. He recently got hurt and didn’t want anyone to touch him. That started, “No Touch!”.

Today, when we stepped out to play on the street in the evening, Yog spotted an ant busily going back to its home. He was fascinated by the ant, and bent down low to watch it for a while. He then tried to catch it in his pincer grasp but his baby fingers could not manipulate the ant. Thinking what to do next, he stood up quickly and stamped the ant with his shoe. Toyna and me were both watching him intently till now, gasped at his action. We never thought Yog was capable of such cruelty. We shook our heads in disapproval and tried to tell him that it was not good to hurt anyone. He realized he had done something wrong and lifted his foot to check out on the poor ant. The ant by now had been crushed into a small ball resembling a tiny spider. Yog was upset on seeing this. He reached out and held my hand. With his other hand, he pointed at the dead ant and said, “Cheema Tutu” (“Ant broke”). In spite of the gravity of the situation, Toyna and me burst out laughing. I had to hug Yog and console him for a while. As we went back home, he kept shaking his head from side to side and repeating, “Cheema Tutu”.

As his vocabulary expands each day, I am sure the whole house is in for many more laughter sessions. I guess, the more we had to wait for him to speak, the more we will enjoy the little conversations that he makes using his words.

P.S. – Cheema means Ant in the Telugu language. Tutu means Broke in baby language (because it is difficult to say “Toot Gaya” in full scale Hindi). Yes, Yog uses all Hindi, Telugu and English in his conversation. So if you wish to speak to him, any time soon, you need to know all three languages. 🙂

 

I am an ex-Management Consultant and a successful entrepreneur having close to twenty years of corporate experience. I am currently focusing full time on being a homeschooling parent while researching on the future of education and alternate methods of education. I am also a Vedic Math Trainer, an Operations Manager at a business run by her children and a philanthropist working with tens of other under privileged children. I bring all my past and current experiences together in the form of writing blogs. Using these blogs I wish to create awareness in parents, caregivers and educators about parenting, education and holistic living.