Talking in Tamil
Chula: Mom, Dad, look at that car.
Me: Chula, dhayavu seidhu Tamil-le pesen. (Meaning: Please talk in Tamil)
Chula: Amaa, Appa, look at that car.

Drawing
She makes me draw hippo, giraffe, antelope, cockatoo…etc. I consider my self an artist and I have a few Tanjore paintings under my belt, but come on, all these on a doodle board? How can I show difference between antelope and gazelle on a doodle board.
(Chula looks at my drawing and shakes her head disapprovingly.)
Chula: Ammmmaaaa, I said giraffe.
Me: Chuuuuula, this is a giraffe.
Chula: Are you sure?

Barney
She asks me to put Barney and the times I oblige, I like to limit it to one episode. Even if it is a back to back video recording I stop after one episode. All this assuming that she does not know the difference between telecast and recording.
(Me switching on Barney)
Me: Chula, remember one Barney, okay?
Chula(pointing to VCR): Amma, you put this, this has 1,2,3,4 Barney.

DirectionsHer sense of directionis improving! If I turn right from our street, she asks me, ‘Amma, kovil(Meaning: temple)’. If I turn left sh asks, ‘Amma Target?’. So if I say that we are going to target and make an U-turn for a quick stop at the library she starts water works and wails, ‘Amma, no go home. Go only Target.’

My hood
While driving I pointed out to the buildings around our house and told the kids, ‘See, this is a fire station, this is a post office, this is a library, this is Target, this is bus stop. We have all these in our neighborhood. We also have parks, hospitals and temple in our neighborhood.’ I happened to be in the intersection in front of the library at that time. So every time we drive by the library, she screams at the top of her voice, ‘Amma, look this is my neibohud’.

Every thing has a name
She plays with the closet door in our bedroom and the sliding door just hangs from the railings on top. Hooks that are used to hang the door on the railing are kind of tricky. They come of easily and the doors are heavy. So every time she goes close, I warn her, ‘Kannamma, that is dangerous. No’. The other day, she was playing with the night bulb and I told her ‘Kannamma, that is dangerous. No’. She said, ‘No Amma. (Pointing to closet door) This is dangerous’. So we have a closet door called dangerous!

Okay and Too
She has picked up Okay from me. If I ask her to do something she says, ‘Amma, I chew, chew swallow bread and then drink waadel(water). Okay?’ Every sentence ends with ‘okay’ or ‘too’. ‘I go to market too. S aunty come to my house too.’

Rubber duckie and donut
This is what she calls her right and left butt cheeks repectively! Ha! Ha! Ha!. She was pointing to her nose and was calling it her head and goofing around. When she pointed to her ear, I teasingly said, ‘Yeah, that is a donut’, she said, ‘No amma. (Pointing to bottom) This is my donut and this is rubber duckie. Okay?’

Helping me socialize
When I come to pick her up from school, she screams to all the other kids in the sand pit, ‘My mammy come. My mammy come. Brendan this is MY mammy, Reese this is MY mammy, Victolila(Victoria) this is MY mammy, Skylar this is MY mammy….’ If the kids are busy playing, she walks to them, taps them on their shoulder says, ‘Excuussee mee, I said this is my mammy. My mammy come. I go home with baby sister. Her name is Mieja.’ Then she come to me and says, ‘Mammy say bye bye to babies’. I can’t say a common bye, I have to call each kid by name and say bye, if they are busy playing, she expects me to walk to them, say excuse me (this is very important, she is very particular about my manners) and say bye. Also I have to say, ‘Bye Bye, Oreo, I love you.’, to the school’s pet rabbit.