Apra enters a new Phase of Life: the talkative one!

It has been quite a long time that I have not written about our daughter Apra. I just wanted to write ‘baby girl’ but with her three years and nearly two months, she is definitely no baby anymore! It actually seems that she has entered a completely new phase now – and we love it!

When we were on our short holiday trip in December, we were trying to teach Apra that she should greet strangers, say ‘Good Morning’ when she sees them and ‘Thank you’ when they give her candy or anything else. Mostly, Apra got very shy and suddenly didn’t speak a word when she should. She even handed back candy when we told her she had to say thank you to keep them.

Even whenever Govind, my childhood friend, came by, she preferred going into another room because she was shy. She was alright after a while with guests at the Ashram for example and didn’t stay overly shy – but there was always an initial shyness which kept her from interacting with visitors who only came for a day.

Now however, things have changed! We went to the hospital with Monika for a checkup a few days ago. While Monika’s dressing was changed, I took Apra to the cafeteria where she likes to drink juice and eat sweet corn. I put her on a chair at a table and asked her to wait while I ordered.

I had my eyes on her and was surprised about what I got to see: she started talking with a woman and a man who were sitting at the same table. When I came back, the woman asked me how old my daughter was. When I told her that she was three years old, she was surprised and said ‘She is very talkative for three years, isn’t she?’

After a while, another woman sat down and started asking Apra for her name, her age and where she lived. She answered the questions for her name and age and for the place, she answered: ‘In the Ashram.’ When the lady asked ‘Where is the Ashram?’ Apra answered ‘In India!’ We had to laugh and I told her that the Ashram was in a city called Vrindavan and Vrindavan was in the country India.

When a friend came to the Ashram the other day, I was surprised – Apra talked the whole day with him, had photo sessions, enjoyed and had fun!

When my friend Govind came by yesterday, it was also wonderful: she didn’t show any signs of shyness! She told him about going to school, counted as far as she could and was just a talkative little princess!

It really seems like a new phase has started and I have to say that I cannot complain about that!