Play School or no school......my gal's a rockstar!

Well, today Aisha turns 1 & a half! :-) and as any parent would start to think M mentioned "we haven't started discussing Aisha's play school & other little details you know".


That one question took me straight to a conversation I had with a lady I bumped into during a visit to Aisha's doc. This lady with her 2 year & some months old little boy who were standing in a queue outside the doctor's room asks me, "how old is your daughter" & I proudly reply, "she's 14 months old".
The lady then asked if Aisha went to play school? to which I replied,"Ofcourse No!" Me reaffirming, "She's just 14 months old you see!!!" The lady was shocked!!! "Oh!What you saying, haven't you heard of Mother Toddler, I took my son there when he was 7 months old!!!!????" She gave me a look like as if I'd come from a planet which she never knew existed!
I said,"Yes! I do but I didn't want Aisha t0 go through something like that so soon, I'd rather have her join the play group after she's two", to which the lady gave me a bewildered look & exclaimed." OMG! You've missed so much!!! Had you joined the Mothertoddler group your daughter would have recited numerous nursery rhymes by now!!! Moreover you will lose out on much more if you wait for her to turn two!!!" I maintained my calm & said," I don't think so" and that was the end of it. Well I was'nt rude.....but to the lady i had certainly lost it. Maybe she went on to discuss with her other friends & family how irrational & careless mothers today can be!!!


Well, the "You've missed so much!!!" certainly irritated me, but by virtue that the lady's son was the only kid sweet enough to reciprocate Aisha's fondness by hugging her right back when she went to hug him helped me hold back my urge to snap back.


That discussion has stayed with me till date and led me to analyse whether my little princess has lost out on anything from the absence of an early play school exposure.
Aisha identifies all the fruits and all the objects from her books.........she also religiously sits herself down with her book & pencil to do her "ABC". She recites a few rhymes, Hickory Dickory,Twinkle Twinkle, Ringa-Ringa, and Machli Jal ki Raani hain. She's picked up three languages at a time & doesn't get confused once by mixing up her languages with the wrong people! I mean, she converses in tulu with her Ajja, & with her maushi in marathi & with me in English! All of this at 1& a half!
In all this yes! maybe where Aisha would have recited 6 rhymes she recites three, where she'd know objects & shapes she instead identifies plates, spoons, dabbas, kachala (Kachra), curtains, muqutooos (Mosquitoes). She can also tell the difference between a TV remote & a cell phone. How??? Well the TV remote is held aptly in front of the TV & a cell phone to her tiny Ear into which she cooes her sweet, "haaloooo"


What's there to miss??? Infact Aisha has gained much more, the care & love of her grand parents, a fascination to the household chores (she loves dusting the chairs & wiping the floor),  she spends hours  listening & repeating each new word she comes accross.......check out her vocab.....she's brilliant! She loves identifying the pictures & objects in her books, she loves listening to music, "Do the hokey-pokey" is her favorite to dance to & "Give me some sunshine" is her favorite to sing along. She does the nananananana bit with super enthu! Play school or no school......My girl is a ROCKSTAR!!!!!