This is pretty much a summary of what Mieja is doing at 15 months.

Wants me to be exclusive – Mieja was always side lined because when there is an older child in the house that tends to happen. But this one is no shrinking violet. She knows her way around things. She knows how to get the things she wants and when to pick her battles. If she wants to be carried, she will first scan the room to see what I am doing. If it looks like it is hard to get my attention, she will look who else is around, then analyze who is more likely to lift her, will run to them, wrap her little arms around their knees, lift her heels from the ground and say “Ummm”. By no means it is a request, the “Ummm” is a command. If I am the only adult at home and I am doing something with Chula, she will wait till I am done with Chula and will come running to me and sit in my lap/ask to be carried. At that time if Chula comes back to sit next to me or even stand with in three feet of me, Mieja gets mad. She will point her chubby fingers at Chula and will complain. The next step will be pulling Chula’s hair or pushing her away. Finally if nothing works, if I try to convince her that both of them can sit in my lap, Mieja gets up and walks away. Sometimes she engages herself in something, but at times she is REALLY mad, she would plop down against a wall and give me a cold stare. *Shudder*.

Action – She actions for a bunch of nursery rhymes. She can recognize Wheels on the bus tune anywhere. If she hears Barney tunes some where, she squeals with laughter. If she catches me picking up the remote, she drops whatever she is doing, runs to the TV and jumps up and down – of course with both feet planted firmly to the ground, because she thinks I ma going to switch on Barney. Chula has taught her to say ‘Barney’(Oh it was cute. I was sitting at a tire shop to replace the hopelessly damaged tire of my Honda Odessy. Mieja was on my lap and Chula was standing with ‘Family Fun’ magazine. She picked Mieja’s right pointer and placed it on Barney’s picture and said, “Mieja yidhu Barney. Sollu Barney.” And Mieja repeated “Baayee”. Aww I smacked myself for not carrying a camera 24X7. )

Dance – The last CD I burnt at home was Ghajini. Usually it is some nursery rhymes or Hindi varnamala or Kadri’s sax that plays in my car and I am so lazy that I would rather listen to the same CD for months together than invest 30 seconds in to changing it. I tried catching up on Shivaji songs and it is a huge hit with Mieja. Especially ‘thee thee’. She stood by the laptop looking at it intently, shaking just her butt, till the song got over.

The happy helper – If I open the dishwasher, she will come running to help me unload it. There must be no time lag between she handing over the dish and me picking it up. If she senses a millionth of second delay, then she licks the dish. Every time she hands me something or I give her something she says ‘Thenth thoo’. The dishwasher was a trip down nostalgia lane. Chula used to do the exact same.

Words – Few other words she says, amma(ofcourse), appppaaa, thaaath(thatha for grandpa), thaapi(patti for grandmother) and aththa(akka for elder sister).

Hi – If she is looking for me, after she find me, she smiles a wide smile waves her left hand and says a soft ‘hiiiii’.

Misc – Last Tuesday the sisters had a huge falling out over a container of moisturizing cream. Mieja butted in and started snatching the cream and Chula started screaming. I got tired of explaining sharing and I bribed Chula with chapathi dough and roller. I was curious what Mieja wanted to do with the cream. She put it on the center table, pumped a small bit in to her left plam(!), rubbed both the hands together and massaged it in to her head. That she repeated for a zillion times. Then walked around with the nozzle in her mouth, holding both her hands behind her back. After 20 minutes of this she decided to come and snatch the chapathi dough from Chula. I separated the fighting siblings and gave Mieja another ball of dough and asked her to roll it and Mieja said “RRRrrrrr”, apparently she is a bit confused with hr Rs and Ls. She thought I asked her to roar. So she held the dough in her left hand and “RRRrrrrr”ed it every time I said roll.

This one wants to eat by herself, sleep by herself, walk by herself. May be soon she would want to drive by herself!

If she sees me with a diaper bag, she religiously drops whatever she is doing, opens the shoe closet, grabs her shoes and sit down on the entry way with her feet stretched and shoes to her chest. Once I put her shoes on and open the door, she is the first one to run out and on the way to the car she sabotages all our plants.