Play areas and schools

A few months back Kavitha (my cousin) called and suggested we take the kids out. My hubby was in Madurai conducting training and both Vidur and I were equally bored. I therefore, jumped at the idea of taking the kids to a place where they can play. Kavitha took us (Aarav, Vidur, and me) to a play school called Hanzel and Gratel. This place has a five rooms:
1. One had 4-5 mini cars and a see-saw
2. A toy house which allows the kids to play inside it; this room also has several toys
3. A box full of colorful balls and small play pen
4. A desk, coloring books, crayons, storybooks
5. A screen to view cartoons and animations

My husband reflected that it is sad that we need to take our children to places such as this and that they don't play in the streets as he used to as a child. This is true. In our apartments, there are no kids of Vidur's age. Most people are retired. Who will Vidur play with? I hope we have an oppurtunity to move into a complex full of young families with children, next time around. Till then, we have to make do with such places. I am grateful that there are play areas such as these that give my child an option to play with other children. No wonder mothers put their children in play schools very early these days. I can sense the restless energy in Vidur and he must be terribly bored playing with adults all the time. I also feel that children pick things up really quickly when they go to play schools.

Similarly, I had taken to Magic Hats (in Sathyam Complex). Here, you can leave your child while you watch a movie. They have a huge slide, an area full of color balls, several toys, computer games, and a huge screen to watch cartoons. The ladies there are trained to take care of children (really young children also). They also give the children buscuits, juice, and bread. I am not ready to let go of my boy, therefore, while Rajeev watched a movie with his friends, I stayed with Vidur in the play area. Vidur did not have company as most other children were older than him. I must say older children are very mean to younger children (my sis says I was pretty mean to her too! :/). I guess most of them are too grown up to play with a 1+ child. They only want to play with children their own age or older. Anyway, Vidur had a great time and that's what matters.

Last weekend, we took him to Fun City (in Citi Center). They have a small play area for smaller children and a parent is allowed to accompany their child. Vidur was very clingy that evening and he refused to go to my sister. Then he noticed that Deepa was entering the play area and he immediately jumped to her. He thoroughly enjoyed himself. He went down the slide and climbed up the slide, threw a few balls out and then collected them and put them in again, moved the huge blocks out of the toy house, played on the see saw... my mom, sis, and I, enjoyed watching him play.

What holds Vidur's attention?

I am feeling very guilty about not blogging. It has been a long time. Work, my sister's marriage preparations, and Vidur kept me busy. I have been dying to share the list of things that fascinate Vidur. Here they are:

Animals
Firstly, he loves dogs (I love dogs too and therefore, I am secretly proud of this!) He stops to talk to a stray dog and enjoys watching Micky (my parent's dog) on the Webcam. He loves his stuffed doggie. He gives it a hug very often and carries it around. He also feeds it whatever he is eating. He insists that the doggie open its mouth and so, he keeps saying 'aaaa, aaaa'. They make a cute picture. He is also fascinated by other animals. He loves watching the goats eat garbage from the balcony. During his evening walks, he stops and stares at the cow (with huge, colourful horns) that is tied to a pole. He thoroughly enjoyed his time at the Doha zoo. Vandalur zoo was a big disappointment for him. (will not go into the details here; it was my fault after all. All the animals were in their den and we were under the hot, merciless sun hoping for a glimse!)

Escalators
Vidur loves escalators. He insists on standing on it as it takes him up. When it is over, he demands that he be taken on it again. We had taken him to Citi Center last weekend. There are four pairs of escalators in this mall. He loved every minute of it. He is yet to understand that escalators are unidirectional and kept insisting that we go back to the one we left. So, rather than have him run around the mall pulling stackes of clothing with him, we prefer accompanying Vidur on the escalator over and over again.

Beach
A huge gang - My parents, sister, grandmother, sister's future in-laws, hubby, vidur and I - visited the beach two weeks back. It was a pleasant evening. Vidur enjoyed playing with the sand. He took a fistful of sand and threw it around. He was not too keen about the water and the waves. He refused to stand in the water. :) He played football with other kids (for about a minute). His dad promptly bought him a ball. But Vidur was through playing football. He wanted to now cover the plastic stools near the bhaji stall with sand. His grandfather made him sit in a merry-go-round. He looked majestic sitting in a red car. He was very reluctant to leave it.

Electrical Machines
He has to be around when we switch on the TV, microwave, blender, grinder, or open the fridge. He has learnt to switch the TV on/off using the big round button on the TV. We are having a really diffciult time getting him to stop. The naugty boy watches the ads and switches it off when my program begins!

Ads
Vidur is facinated by commercial advertisements. Regardless of whether it is a fairness cream or a Harpic ad, he loves it. He stares at the screen in awe. My cousin's son, Aarav and Rishabh, also love ads. So it must be the catchy tone, the attention grabbing incidents that capture their interest.

Music
He hears a tune and he starts dancing. He dances when our neighbor plays music, when a car with a musical tune reverses, anything that sings. It is a pleasure to watch him enjoy the music.