Ek dui teen

A new routine Henry and I have begun is going on a walk when I get home.  This started early last week when Henry kept saying "go" and pointing to his stroller when I got home and Shipli Didi (Didi means older sister and is a respectful term), our nanny, was leaving.  I was happy to go on a walk at the time but didn't realize that quickly Henry would end up actually climbing into his stroller waiting for the walk. No ifs ands or buts. Anyway, today we walked over to the Club where I thought we would swing for a few minutes and go back home.  Henry had a different plan. The second he saw a basket ball he ran to it and then continued to run back and forth on the little court area chasing after the ball and saying "me basket" and "pick up please" so that I would pick him up towards the basket ball hoop.  Since he can't really throw the ball up he'd throw it out or down and then run after it again.  This continued for a solid 15 minutes until I decided we were both a bit too sweaty for comfort and it was time to go eat dinner.  Luckily there was a stray tennis ball that he found to keep him company on the way home.

Henry likes going on these walks because he hopes to see a "meow". There is one area on our street where a few cats hang out and where we'll linger for a little bit if we see one.  When we saw one today I heard him say "ek" which means one in Bangla but I wasn't sure if that was really what he said.  Then when he looked and saw that we were still walking with Shilpi and Shobita and even Meena Didi who works across the hall from us, Henry said again ek and then a little while later said "dui" which means two in Bangla.  Fast forward to bath time when I was slowing counting/singing to 20.  When I said eight, Henry said "nine"!  He didn't say any of the other numbers though. I think that he knows nine because he has nine little blocks that he likes to stack and we always count up to and down from nine when we're playing with them.  Then fast forward to when we were chilling before he went to bed.  He crawled up on the couch and started saying "ek dui tin chhhh"  which means one, two, three, and the beginnings of four (char) in Bangla. I have no idea if he knows what he's saying but it seems like he does given that he'll say one two or ek dui when we see the cats on the street.  Time will tell if he actually knows his numbers....

More photos from my visit to the project site last week:
An interviewer measuring the mid-upper arm circumference of a 24 month old:

The interviewer conducting an interview in the woman's home:

 The neighborhood following us back to our car and a boy fishing