Bunny Spotters

I did mention there will be no weekend posts but little did I realise that weekdays will be a toughie as well. Just got a whole lot in my plate right now. We are house hunting, I have been busy sewing, reading some awesome books, having great time outdoors with the boys now that spring (break)  is official in Dallas, to mention a few. A zero dollar Kohls bill this month is proof enough. Many other things have been going on as well. Manav has this hectic soccer schedule with practice on Thursdays and Saturday morning matches. Caunteya is doing his year end madness at work ( read as working long hours) and I am really looking forward to becoming a regular in writing this blog. If wishes were horses.

Arnav has been talking a lot lately. He asks what seems like million of questions.

"Who is this?" pointing to a car in the picture

"A car Arnav"

"I know it is a car, but who is this?" he repeats patiently pointing to the same car. That is when it dawns to me he is actually asking "Whose car is this?"

and when I appropriately answer that question he gives me a satisfied

"Oh"

And this "I know it is X, but my real question is Y" has been going on for a while. We are finally beginning to understand the 'Y', still a long way off though.

One afternoon we ( me and the kids) decided to clean up the house. I have been very negligent in this aspect, sewing whenever I get a chance. Manav volunteered to clean the toy/guest room (I have a strong hunch this was so that he could play there) and Arnav and I took the boy's bedroom. We decided to hang the piles of clothes in hangers. Arnav got into one of those zones where he wants to do an activity, lacks the skills to do it and would not accept any external help to get it done.  

"There is some problem with this t-shirt" said Arnav amidst inconsolable sobs

"Oh, yes you are right. This t-shirt has collar, maybe you should try the Thomas one" I offered

"Yes, lets try again. Thomas is fine. He can hang on the hanger...chug chug chugga chugga" with teary laughter.

The incessant frustrated crying dominated most of the t-shirts. Some which he managed to hang precariously on the hangers came loose when finally hung in the closet starting a fresh round of crying and "There is some problem with this t-shirt" but finally we had all of them in the closet ( I should have got a picture of the awkwardly hung t-shirts)

One evening I was very cold and sat curled on the couch.

"Why are you like this Mommy?"Manav asked me

"Mommy is cold. We should light a fire beside her to keep her warm" said Caunteya

"No papa, fire is dangerous, she will burn" Manav shuddered

"We will put water in the fire" Arnav offered a solution

"Why Arnav, what would water do?" I was happy that Arnav was becoming worldly wise

"Water will clean the fire. And we will all say good job and have jelly beans" beamed Arnav.

I treasure the white curtains that are the only items I have splurged in the otherwise sparsely furnished living room. But Manav makes it a point to gather them in his hands and walk with them when he passes that area of the room or just cover himself up with them and feel the soft silk texture. This in spite of my long lectures to make him understand the danger that looms if the rods fell down due to his tugging at the curtains. On one such occasion I chided him

"Manav not the curtains. You will hurt yourself"

"Mommy these are not curtains. They are fluffy clouds from Mount Fuji" Manav walked away with this profound statement ( of course lifted from one of the library books where they were selling mashed potatoes for the Mt Fuji clouds so that kids would eat it).

Yesterday Manav scored a goal for his team 'Little Shooters'. This was an achievement as he has his own ideas about soccer. First of all he doesn't remember which side he should score and second he generally like running in the fringes around the mass of players and doesn't really do anything. When Caunteya demonstrated with a ball

"You need to take the ball from the other team and continue to the other side like this"

"Hey, Papa, if I took the ball from you, how would you feel"? Manav's question was genuine.

"This is a game Manav, you have to score to win" and some other long winded explanations which didn't seem to make sense to him. He is still in that stage where he is awed by the game, more by the soccer gear and behaves as if to be a part of the game itself is a big thing, playing it better will come later.

Getting ready to start the game

" Papa how can I kick the ball? "

So here was this game where "snatching" and "kicking" were legitimate and didn't warrant a timeout. I can see it has been very confusing. Still waiting for that "click" to happen in that little brain.

Watching the game

Yesterday Papa and the kids went out bunny hunting post dinner. The rabbits get out in bunches and munch on grass and the kids have a blast looking at these fearless creatures up close. They came back bubbling with news for me

"There was a baby bunny. Choto (small) bunny eating grass. Papa bunny and Mommy bunny were there but far away, baby bunny didn't run away" Arnav gushed

"There was a dog barking, I said shhh but still the bunny did not run away" he continues

"I said to the dog, stop barking or you will be in trouble, lot of trouble" Arnav declared

and then the climax

"But there is pink bunny on Lord Ganesh" and began giggling uncontrollably.

Actually on one of their while going to school trips Arnav insisted on taking this pink bunny (which grows when put in water) to school and Caunteya in desperation hung that bunny on the Ganesh picture on way out saying

"Lord Ganesh will take care of the bunny when you are at school"

and I showed Manav the mouse that always accompanied Lord Ganesh

"That is a honey badger Mommy, not a mouse" declared Manav

Today during our house hunting trip Manav was particularly whiny and just would not listen to us. He cried the whole way back in the car yelling

"I don't want to go home. Take me on a drive"

We got home and had him work on some joining-the-dots to distract him but in vain. Then suddenly he said

"Hey Mommy, guess what?"

"What? " I asked

"I have calmed down. I am not crying anymore." and sure thing he had

and one evening when he was crying a lot as I didn't allow him to wear his shin guards during a walk to the mailbox he said

"Can I stop crying now? Have I calmed down?"

The joining dots with an onlooker

Today during lunch he just wouldn't finish his last bit of rice and dal. He said

"Hey Papa, I will eat this much and you eat the rest" separating the rice into two parts

"No, I have finished my food, you have to finish yours" Caunteya replied

"Let us share Papa, you eat some and I will eat some" he made another effort.

Daylight savings has robbed us of an hour today and it is now tomorrow already. The boys will wake up fresh as a daisy while I will be a wilted dandelion to say the least.