Kunju has acquired a status of being an “angel , quiet, calm or well behaved” by everyone with a positive approach in life and a status of being ” sticky, unfriendly, anti social or cold” by pessimists. Sometimes, the pessimists get a plastic smile from me, but ahem.. i just carry on with the fact that the world is full of interesting people and too bad for them if they see a three dimensional cone as a flat triangle.
It’s true that kunju becomes ultra quiet with people around.. even in her play school, she is generally very quiet. You will find her doing her physical activities but without saying much. At home, she can go on and on non stop saying hajaar (thousand) things and being extremely vocal about everything. Then why does she go so deep into a shell even with her extremely familiar building friends one might wonder. As soon as they leave, and she finds herself alone with me, she goes on jabbering. Why huhh?? Earlier, i used to think, she is taking her own time to get comfortable and i am not going to push her or expect her to be more social.. she should be able to do whatever she wants to do… in her own space and pace.. to hell with the world who are quick to label a teeny – weeny 2 yr old… i am not worried that maybe she is being pushed into doing things she doesn’t want and therefore retreating….if she is really not ok with something, she will definitely communicate to me… like she always has..even while she was barely 3 months old.. So i just let her be.. but off late i have discovered the real reason behind what comes as her withdrawn attitude. And i am quite stunned…happily stunned 
Here is the thing… i have figured that kunju is an extremely observant child ( i know most kids are, but i guess she likes to do one thing at a time, and do it well..ahhaha ) and seems to grasp every little nuance of EVERY body and EVERY thing… while she is busy appearing distant, unresponsive, sticky!! she is taking note of the WHOLE world, taking mental notes, storing it tight in her memory and she comes home and promptly replicates things that she had seen or heard in class or elsewhere. It’s unbelievable, some of the stuff she does. But check her out outside of home, in class or in the park, she is just quiet, with her big eyes open 2 inches wider… hajaar concentration.
So well.. when then the positive janta ( folks) call her calm… i get quick flashes of all the paint strewn around on the floor, splashed on the walls and the most horrible part- her body. i generally have to give her mini baths twice a day in an attempt to take off all the paint. Although, the paints are all high quality, non toxic, easily washable paints, its difficult you know, when it gets behind her ears, under her nails, on her eye lashes etc. And invariably when i take her out of home, i find traces of paint left over in some part of her. And what about all my drawers she empties out while she is continuously saying ” mummmmmyy… o many thins” ( mummy, so many things!!). Some might say i am spoiling her by letting her do ALL the things she wants to, but my point is, i let her do it and she doesn’t want it after 5 mins.. i quickly put the things back..of course WITH her help… ” put bakkk ” she says … if i don’t let her do it, i will end up trying to discipline her, killing her curiosity, making too many rules and restrictions… and basically expecting her to behave like a 20 yr , not 2 yr old. I think kids are MEANT to create havoc… a house with kids is not expected to look all tidy all the time…clean and hygienic yes, but not tidy.. not by killing the kids basic instincts for sure.. making strict rules and not letting the child explore the walls in order to keep it clean and maintain their home is like being penny wise pound foolish according to me… if i dont let her explore and express by randomly doodling on the walls, curbing that basic nature of EVERY child, what use is a clean wall to me that has just messed with my baby’s freedom and growth??
Does that mean, my home looks like pig sti? not at all.. i use all washable paint… even washable crayons from crayola that are just out of the world and it comes off very easily… Here are some pics of her zebra look where she happily got her face painted with face painting crayons.
This zebra suit was an old full night suit of hers which she had out grown. so i just cut off the socks from it and stitched it on to a black hair band to make ears… then i stitched a strip of white fur along the ears and tried painting bits of the fur to black…good fun it was..hahah… It was the end of a term which is usually a party and all from home are invited…unlike the normal class where only one parent can accompany… It was also her birthday that day and they were asked to be dressed like an animal for the party and so i matched her cake to the animal she became. ZEBRA!!
Amma & Appa were in town for her bday and so we made it even more exciting and special ..we were ALL dressed in Zebra colors.. To the left , you can see her thatha ( grand pa ) clapping, wearing a black and white striped shirt..taathi ( granny) wearing a trendy balck and white attire, ammuma ( granny -2) also clapping wearing black and white salwaar and below.. you can see bridge and me also in the zebra stripes.. soo.. we basically went in and partied as the zebra FAMILY!! 
Will put up more of the bday pics later.. in a separate post dedicated to her bday memories. For now, it was only meant to unveil ..my little devil
