My marshmallow

Puddi has a really interesting personality, and now the she is becoming increasingly communicative, her personality is really shining through. So far, thankfully there are no signs of terrible twos and given she's nearly three, I think we can stop waiting for the tantrums. Most of the time she has a sunshiny temperament and is happy to amuse herself by playing pretend games or clambering up and down furniture, running like a mad creature from one corner of the house to another. She has a really feminine side to her – she loves preening and any time she finds a scarf or dupatta of mine, she'll ask to wear a sari or she'll drape the fabric around her face, with the most amazing bride-like expression of confidence mixed with coyness on her face. She loves jangling her bangles and transferring them from one hand to the other. Her big complaint while changing clothes is that no one should even accidentally take any of the bangles off. She has decided to start selecting what to wear herself, something that even Chubbocks still has to start doing, and particularly for a party is very conscious of wanting to be 'dressed up'.

But she's also a feisty little thing. Whenever Chubbocks teases her or roughhouses, she'll give it right back to him. When she had just learnt to start speaking, she used to tell Chubbocks, "Stop shouting!" She's keen on doing the same things as he, physically, and is fearless whether she's climbing the monkey gym, swinging higher or trying to scarper up our cupboards. She loves physical activity and charges around all day. A real little Krishna, when she was younger, she used to steal butter and dahi out of the fridge. She'd open the fridge door, quietly dip her hand into either item and start eating, feeling shielded from discovery by the door. Nowadays she steals candy, or grapes and strawberries, and she loves 'chandra' ( santra/ orange). She has a real sense of fun and humour and keeps trying to make jokes and reacts to fun situations with a broad grin if not an outright laugh. Quite the loon, we rarely get photographs of her with a normal expression, she's so busy pulling faces.

But she also has this meltingly soft side to her. Every day when I come home from work, she buries her head in my knees and says, "I love you mama". Before going up to bed, or even several times a day, she'll come up to Bojjandi and rub her soft cheek against his downy head and tell us, "I looove him". She freely hands out hugs and kisses to A and Chubbocks all day long, and never has to be told to share stuff. Last night, Chubbocks got scolded for something by A. He was upset for ages, while their nightly bedtime story reading was going on. A carried on reading but Puddi was mighty distracted and spent her time looking over at Chubbocks. By the time two of the three stories were over, she couldn't stand it anymore. "Abba, I want to love Chubbocks", she said and sidled out of bed to give her brother a long hug and kiss and make things right for him.