Thursday, January 31, 2013

The inside tody

Have you ever had a toddler bring you a story book and listen with rapt attention, eyes wide open, as you flip through the pages and read the exciting story to her?

No?

Me neither. :/

This is how our typical story-telling sessions go these days.

Xena (hands me a book) - "Witch... Tody!"

The book is actually called 'The Flower Princess' but she prefers to call it "Witch Tody".

Me (pointing to the witch on the page) - "So there was once a witch..."

Xena - "TOPI!!!"

Me - "That's right, the witch was wearing a topi, a hat."

Xena (pointing to the witch's fingernails) - "BADE BADE!"

Me - "Yes, she had bade bade pointy fingernails... Let's continue... So the witch saw a princess..."

Xena - "PITTY PITTY!"

Me - "Yes, the princess was very pretty. So the witch saw her..."

Xena - "BLUE!"

Me - "Correct. The princess was wearing a blue dress..."

Xena - "WALK!"

Me - "Yes, she was taking a walk in the woods. The witch saw her and...

Xena - "FALOUTH!"

Me - "Flower! Yes, the witch turned her into a flower."

Xena - "BLUE!"

Me - "A blue flower... Yes. Later, the prince came to look for his princess..."

Xena - "NEIGH!!!! NEIGH!!!!"

Me - "Yes, he came riding on a horse."

Xena - "Abhijeet??" (She says "Abhijeet" for 'elephant', 'octopus' and 'Angry birds'. Don't ask.)

Me - "No, no elephant. Just a horse ok? The prince was very sad because he could not find his princess..."

Xena (pointing to the prince's eyes) - "EYES!"

Me - "Erm, yes, the prince has eyes. So he asked the witch where his princess was. She told him the princess was a flower. Every night, she would turn into a princess, but she would stay with the witch. If he could pick the right flower, he could take her home and she would turn into a princess again."

Xena - "CHIRP CHIRP!"

Me - "Huh?? Chirp chirp? Where??"

Xena (flips to the front cover and shows me the publisher's logo, which is a robin) - "CHIRP CHIRP!"

Me - "Oh yes, that's a bird. Instead of 'chirp chirp', can you say 'bird'? BIRD?"

Xena - "Abhijeet??"

Me - "Erm... No baby, that's not an angry bird. That's a regular, non-angry bird. Let's get back to the story. The prince did not know which flower his princess was. One day, he met a kind fairy..."

Xena - "AUNTY!"

Me - "Ok, yes, fairy aunty. He met a kind fairy aunty. She..."

Xena - "PINK!"

Me - "Yes, she was wearing a pink dress. She gave the prince an idea. The next day he went back to the woods and looked at the flowers. He picked one and brought it home. At night the flower turned into the princess!"

Xena (excitedly pointing at the princess' hair) - "KIP! KIP!"

Me - "Yes, her hairclip is blue. She asked the prince how he found her among all the flowers..."

Xena - "Nemo??"

Me - "Huh?? Nemo?! Nemo is not in this story, baby."

Xena (wanders off to find her Nemo stuffed toy) - "Nemo!"

Me (closing the book) - "Uh... ok. End of tody."

[For those who are curious about the story, the fairy told the prince to look for a flower without any dew on it. Because the princess was not a flower at night, she would not have any dew on her. And oh, when explaining this to the princess, the dhakkan prince conveniently omitted the part about fairy aunty and took all the credit himself. Hmmmph!]



15 comments:

Sri said...

Hahaha..so cute!!

I have a huge smile on my face after reading this post!!:)

--Sunrise-- said...

I mean, come on, this post should REALLY have been accompanied by a LOT of photos!! :P It took me a while to work out what exactly 'tody' was... ha.

Argentyne said...

I had to stifle my laughs for fear of waking up my 6 mo. old! Xena, you had me at Abhijeet. SerIously, how did that happen?!

Abhishek Upadhyay said...

My god.
What a blogger you are!!

I am reading your blog since the times of Chatur Char when you were not married.......And now you got married and have a cute daughter
I visit your blog when I get opportunity ....even till today fun in your posts have remained intact :)

t said...

Aww so cute! Made me laugh and want to hug her! Hug her from me Sayesha!

Divya said...

Simply awesome mother daughter duo...end of tody!!

Anonymous said...

LOL all this while I was thinking Tody is the name of the witch (Trudy or something :P) Yeah, I know, the 2-yr-old is brighter than I am :-/

Arun said...

What a 'tody! with your blog I can picture the little one's triumphant joy at providing each of the punch lines of the 'tody.

Whatsup said...

Toddlers dont have that much patience to sit through a story. They would have to be atleast 3+ to sit through like 2 pages.

Sayesha said...

Sri,
Thank you. :)

Sunrise,
Hahaha I wish! But it's hard to hold a book and a kid and a camera at once. :P

Argentyne,
Hahaha I seriously have no idea. When I first introduced the word 'elephant' to her, she said 'abertant', which along the way became 'aberteet' and finally 'Abhijeet'. :P

Abhishek,
Welcome back! So nice to see purana bewdas still frequenting the bar. :D

t,
Thanks! :D Will pass on the hug. :D

Divya,
Thanks! :)

diatriblog,
LOL at Trudy the witch! Hahaha! :D

Arun,
Yep, it was hilarious. :D

Whatsup,
Actually she is quite patient and sits through most books. Just that she provides a lot of 'input' before we reach the end. :P

Sandhya said...

Ha ha..too good! You bet, the 'tody' sessions require moms to be so patient. But an enjoyable experience. Just cherish these beautiful moments. Kids grow up very fast!!!

Thisisme said...

My Niece Calls an elephant elekele...a butterfly..buttatey..:)

Anonymous said...

Awww... She is so so adorable and so intelligent!
ROFL at "Abhijeet"
I just loved the "kip" and "Nemo" best!!

Sudeep said...

:)
Koi Abhijeet naam ka bewda hai bar mein? Usko ab hum elephant kahenge :D

I HEARD YOU said...

*lyk* *lyk*