Baby Size Baby Books

2nd October was an eventful day.
We bought the Mini books of concepts for Ojas & tejas- Hardly 5 inch size boards put together in the form of a booklet. navneet Publishers- priced just Rs 30/-
They have been an instant hit with them. Bought fruits, vegetables, numbers and animals. Coincidentally we went to a fruit- veggie shop and it so happened that they took 2 of their booklets to the shop. Ojas happened to be holding the fruits book and Tejas the vegetables. I took the opportunity to keep them occupied showing them the picture and giving them each a fruit in their hand to compare, while Hubby shopped peacefully. For a while I did the fruits. tejas wtached on for a while and each time I showed a fruit he used to look at his book and see whether the photograph for there. Suddenly he threw his book away- I could almost hear him saying "Faaltu or Bekaar hai or Useless thing- nothing from my book is available in the shop". I remedied the situation by alternating with a few veggies and then he was fine. Fellow shoppers were discussing with each other- see they have brought the book here to show to the kids- some of them even followed our class with their kid. One commented whether they had exams the next day and that is why they were seriously revising. We came across a certain fruit called "paani phal/ singhada" in Bihar- it grows in ponds and heart shaped is purple/ green with a hard non edible cover and white & crisp inside. Almost no taste- if I were to describe it in flavour language but it is all about mouthfeel and crisp, crunchy experience- like a tender coconut cream has almost no taste or a pomegranate again cannot be replicated completely in flavour terms- it is the seediness and sweet juicy notes that combine to deliver the taste experience. It can even be boiled and salted but I don't like it that way. It is called water chestnut in english.
So the kids pointed at the water chestnut and I tried to check if the picture was there in the book. The guy nearby commented- that is out of syllabus- don't bother.
So we spent a longer time than necessary at the shop- hubby patiently waiting for me to finish the entire books and me trying to keep them occupied until hubby finished his shopping. Finally I told him I can't forever be teaching - finish your shopping- and he was like- I am done, I am waiting for you guys to finish the lessons.
Back home Ojas generously and craftily handed over the fruits & veggies book to Tejas and took the numbers and animals for himself. When Tejas slept off Ojas felt bad and tried waking him up saying "bookch, bookch".
Ojas slept with the books and 3.45 am he happened to wake up. By the little light that was streaming in, he was reading- phiss (fish), butterpie etc.
I am glad they like books. Infact every evening they ask me for their bookch which I keep in my cupboard as my cousins' wifes have given some expensive books that I dont' want mauled prematurely. These tiny books are more convenient to carry round and not easily destructable. While I was picking the books for them, the 2 and Daddy were playing on the slide at odyssey bookstore. They can climb the step ladder at home expertly but not the slide ladder. After a few rounds of hubby placing them on the top of the slide, he said i am not doing it anymore. The two of them discovered that they could climb the ladder and slide down the other side. What followed was half and hour of pure fun while Mom shopped in peace. Ojas even threatened a bigger boy as he tried to play on the slide. They were led up to the ground level for billing with the books acting as bait otherwise they refused to leave.
They even had their hair cut at Green Trends. They have a theme kid's hair dressing area- a jungle with a wicker gate and animal photos painted on the walls. Tejas' hair grows real fast and he doen't like being messed up for the hair cut. He screamed during the entire hair cutting session - we were attempting the mushroom cut. We gave him hell- 2 pairs of hands holding him and 1 pair doing the cutting. And to his credit he gave us back- hell with interest. How that tiny piece can manage to overpower 3 grown ups is a marvel. we had a tough time keeping an eye on Ojas who was deeply interested in the hair care products on display rack and hair cutting instruments. Thankfully Ojas gave no trouble during his hair cut, not that getting a hair cut makes much of a difference to him even though quantity wise it has improved from what it was when he was born.