My cousin, Pia, left today for Bangalore and she will leave for the States on Saturday with her husband and son Zefan. Zefan is such a darling!! One of the cutest babies any of us has ever seen and, of course, the apple of our eyes. He looks alot like his grandfather. He has the sweetest laugh.
He learns different things from various aunts. Susan ( Pia's sister) and I are there to teach him all the naughty stuff- climb trees, monkey faces, dancing when he should actually be sleeping. Then there's Neha, another mischievous aunt. She was staying over once and decided to sleep in Pia's room with the baby. Everytime Zefan woke up, Pia would try to make him go back to sleep, and there was Neha who felt she had an obligation to greet him everytime and when she did, he decided it was playtime rather than beddybyes.
He also associates different actions with different people. For example: My aunt has a maid called Vani who does kitchen work and looks after Zefan. Zefan now associates food and eating with Vani and calls her "num mmm..." when he sees her. He has also learnt the one word most mothers dread to hear- "NO". He doesn't just say it once, he says it multiple times, "No no no no".
We all have nicknames for Zefan- Zef, Kutta P, Kuttapen ( which someone heard as Peter Pan). And then there's Vanis mother who can't say Zefan, so she calls him "Japan".