Profound Words

Some of the things the little one says these days make my jaw drop. I mean we have NEVER ever used such words ourselves so it makes me wonder where she picks up these things.

Like this past weekend, I was annoyed at her for not letting me talk to one of my friends who had called from the US. N was constantly around me asking me for chips, chocolate, this and that while I was trying to have a sane conversation. Finally I had to hang up in a hurry and was upset with N for making me do that. But I didn't yell or do anything about it. I just sulked. So after a while she noticed that I was not in a good mood and was propped on the couch with hubby and watching TV. She chooses this moment to announce the following:

N: "I don't want to live in this house. No one smiles at me here."

Whoa!!! We were shocked!!!

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Another cute incident. She comes home with one of our friends B who picks up her son A and my lil N after school. So one day on her way home she somehow realized that their teacher has put her napkin in her friend A's school bag by mistake. So she tells B auntie:

N: "Auntie, A has my napkin. Please give it back to me nahin to (or else) I will cry and have big big tears in my eyes in front of my mamma and papa!"

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Now please tell me where on earth do they pick up such thoughts and words from???? I mean she is still a 3 year old isn't she?

Heartache

N's grandparents (grandpa, grandma and aunt) left for Bombay 4 days ago (on Sunday, Jan 2) after staying with us for 3 weeks during N's Christmas break. She has been missing them soooo much since then. The night before they were leaving, she went to each one of them saying "I don't want you to go :(" It was tough explaining to her that they have to go for now but will come back soon.

They were leaving very early on Sunday morning and I made sure I woke her up early morning at around 4am when they were leaving so that she can say goodbye. Or else she would wake up to a rude surprise to find them gone and be very unhappy. So I remind her about how she said bye to them each time she asks for them. Luckily for her, Sunday was relatively easy since 2 of my cousins (lil N's P mama and R maasi with her 2 boys) came to visit us. So she had company around to distract her. But after that she has been asking me when will Nana and Nani (my mom and dad) come. Sigh!

The next day (Monday) she woke up and her first words were "where are my amma, aabu and bua?" I reminded her again and since school was reopening, got her ready and packed her off to school. I knew it would really hit her hard when she got back and did not find anyone (including her mom and dad) at home unlike the last few weeks and we had been on vacation too along with her grandparents. So sure enough she came back from school and looked for them in every room at home and then asked her didi (our maid) when are her amma, aabu and bua coming back.

After 4 days have passed, she has come back to her routine of school and stuff but still misses them. She does seem to have come to terms with what we've been telling her though - that they sat in an aeroplane and went to their Bombay home. They will come back again in a few months.

I feel sad for her and have been going home a little earlier than usual from work so that she does not feel too lonely. She does seem to be okay now and is mostly back to her normal routine. But she sure seems to have made up her mind for the next time. Here is what she plans:

A snippet of our conversation last night while putting N to sleep:

N: Mummy, when will my Aabu, Amma and Bua come again?

Me: Hmmm...(thinking of a suitable number of weeks to be given to her)

N: When they come back again, I want to tie them and not let them go back!

Me (smiling and not so surprised at her plan): Okay sweetie, I will help you tie them okay?

N: Yes, we will tie them in our drawing room. Okay mamma?

Me: Okay sweetie, now go to sleep.

Sigh! Come back again Amma, Aabu and Bua - your lil N misses you so!

More cute conversations

N came back from school today and her nanny (our maid) had cooked fish for her after ages. We usually do not cook fish at home since we are not big fans of fish but the maid is Bengali so she craves it once in a while. Today she went and bought it and cooked it for herself and li'l N.

Now when I called home to check how N was doing, I could hear my lil N saying in the background "Mien aapki shikayat karoongi mamma se" (I will complaint about you to mamma). So I wanted to humor her and asked our maid to hand her the phone.

N comes on the phone and says: "Mamma aap didi ko daant lagana kyonki didi ne ghich pich kiya meri plate mien" (Ghich pich kiya in our house is a kiddish way of saying made a mess)

Me: "Ghich pich kiya? Kya ghich pich kiya?"

N: "Poori dal meri plate mien dal di aur katori gira di."

Me: "Oh...ok. Mien daant lagaungi ok?"

N: "Aur aap mujhe fish nahin dete ho. Didi deti hai. Lekin aap daant lagana. Fish mien dandi tha."

Me thoroughly amused by now at the endearing racket these 2 were creating at home. But also being my cautious mommy self now and instructing the maid to make sure she cleans the bones before feeding the child (choking hazard and what not).

Sigh...when did my lil N grow up so much! She went from speaking pure English to a lot of Hindi now and can even translate between the 2 skillfully. She speaks to us in English and if she wants to convey the same thing to her maid or her grandparents, she turns to them and translates for them in Hindi :-) And she never really likes to have proper conversations on the phone except for days like today. Just these small snippets of talks with her on the phone make my working day go by a lot easier at times.

Some weekend conversations with N

We had a hectic Saturday this past weekend - spent most of it outdoors so wanted to take it easy on Sunday. I decided to clean N's toys this Sunday morning to sort out old unused stuff into items for donation, discarding and keeping and empty out a cabinet to organize her toys better. Spent a good 2 hours on that, found toys that she hadn't played with in ages and N had a blast rediscovering the joys of silly things such as plastic monster's teeth, screeching bean ball, basket ball (with its lost hoop that I put up again for her), a new swinging and pull up bar that we put up for her as well, etc. After all that fun, we crashed on the bed in the afternoon hoping that all 3 of us would enjoy a nice afternoon siesta. But she usually gets very playful when we get horizontal even if it is late at night. Infact her daily bedtime routine that she really looks forward to is a good playful wrestle with her daddy after which mommy has to wind her down with a story and what not.

So back to this Sunday afternoon...while some of her wrestling and rolling around and jumping on our backs got a little rough, I said to her:

Me: Beta...don't hurt papa so much, he will get boo.

N (sulking): I don't like No! You are not a nice mamma!

Me (quite amused at her reaction): I am not a nice mamma? Ok so what should we do?

N: No! You are not a nice mamma! I want a new mamma!

Me: Oh really? Tell your papa to get a new mamma!

N: Papa - I want a new mamma!

Papa: (just enjoying a good chukle)

Me: Okay tell me - who do you want as your mamma? B auntie or A auntie or G auntie? (naming a few of my close friends whose kids and my lil N hang out almost every day).

N: B auntie.

Me (Just amused and awed to see her clarity in preferences and thoughts): Really? Not G auntie or A auntie?

N: No - I want B auntie as my mamma.

Sigh! I guess this is what I get when I threaten her to take T as my baby when my lil N is not listening to me (T is G auntie's daughter).

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Normally when N wakes up every morning, she is just like me - cranky, not a very happy person, needs a warm beverage (milk in her case, tea in mine) to enter her system before she finally smiles and stretches and really wakes up. This morning though, she woke up and instead of wailing or crying for mommy, she stretched, was all fresh and when she saw me enter the room, she said:

N: Mamma, when I was sleeping at night, you forgot to help me wear a full pant and a full shirt.

Me (surprised): Oh...did you feel cold at night N?

N: Yes. And you forgot my jacket also.

Me: Sorry bebu.

N: Ok...when it is night again, you help me wear full pant and full shirt ok?

Me: Yes my baby.

Thinking: No wonder I saw her sit up sometime late at night, pull the blanket on top of her and go back to sleep at night. Which is very very unlike my daughter. She is normally the one who has never liked to be under a blanket at night however cold it is. I remember she used to even wiggle out of her swaddle (when she was less than a month old) that most other babies seemed to enjoy when they were infants. Note to self : She has been running a cold since Friday though. Maybe that's why.

New Gen Kids

Kids say the funniest things. Listen to a conversation between 2 three-year-olds in our apartment complex. Let me quickly give you the context. The center of this incident is the little girl S (she is 3 years old) whose parents are friends of ours and who, like us, have moved back from the US a couple of years ago. S's daddy has traveled to the US for work a few times since moving back to India.

S (to her mom) : I want that stroller that baby A has (referring to a toy stroller with lights on the wheels)

Mom: I don't know where you get it S. Ask your friend A where she got it.

S (toA): Where did you get this baby stroller with lights?

A: I think Poona.

S (looking very disappointed): Oh. Do you get this in America?

A: I don't know, you may get it. Why?

S: No...if you get it in America, my daddy can buy it for me. Poona...I don't know.

ROFL!!! I was so amazed and amused at the same time when S's mom narrated this to me! See how our kids are turning out? To them, US seems more approachable from Bangalore than Poona :-)