Conversations

Conversations between the two siblings are getting more and more interesting. From incomprehensible (to us adults) chats between the two - interspersed with gestures and guffaws, in the mode of intelligent adult conversations - we now hear sensible, coherent dialogues and an imitation of our life in general. The long-legged doll and a monkey function as 'their kids'; the duo gives them a bath, medicines and drops them in school with instruction not to cry, pee etc.
The language (Malayalam) is also evolving. From "Achacha kadiyum/adiyum", Mira has learnt to add a ka and make it kadikkum and adikkum. One of her recent favorite onliners is "Ee Ammede oru karyam parayanda" (= 'This mother's ways are unspeakable' meant to convey her exasperation with me). The other favorites are Oohh and sseddaa (which doesnt actually mean anything, just a harmless expletive that got popular with the kids this Xmas season). Most of these have been picked up from the maid, I guess.
I dont know how good their understanding of the English language is. From 'no', Ash has proceeded to the usage of 'stop' in English. These are excluding the words that are taught with the alphabets - a for apple, b for ball/balloon, c for cat/cake etc. Since the teachers speak to them only in English, I guess they can understand basic English. Had he been going to school regularly, Ash would have been able to speak to some extent in the country's and South India's official language.
Long-distance conversations over the telephone have also improved in quality. Both know who belongs to which house and which parent etc and enquires after people in style - from Bruno our lab to Moma, the tenant's daughter at Chry. I guess this is not much to brag about but these are lil kids who have had an unstable childhood - frequently changing nannies, some of whom have terrorised them and two parents who work long or erratic hours.