All about us ...

Summer Holidays are upon us and we have decided to just do "nothing". The boys are not going to summer school and I have grandiose plans of going to bed late, sleep till late in the morning, play all day, frequent library and swimming pool and eat out a lot - just get out of schedule without the guilt. And I also know how I will crave for schedule and some sanity just in a week into summer. These holidays last almost two and a half months. Survival is the key.

"We are going to have so much fun in the library with legos, bugs, books, snakes and movies" I said
"Angry snakes or happy snakes?" Arnav asked
"Happy if the snake got to capture its prey or else it will be angry" Manav confirmed.

These are Manav's last days in pre-school. So in are school parties, graduation parties and the likes. They are having dress rehearsals for the graduation. I cannot wait for the actual day so have been gleaning information from Manav as much as he would budge.
"We are singing 'When I grow up....I have a secret'....but its not actually a secret because we whisper but you can listen"
"We had skittles for dessert today during lunch as we did very good in our rehearsals" Manav said
"Iiiiiieeee didn't get any" Arnav whined
"You will also get next year when you graduate Arnav" I tried to contain the situation
"I will neyyyyver graduate. I want my skittles now." Arnav is such a baby at times but his words did scare me. I mean these kids have a choice when it comes to studies. They can actually drop out of high school, college and the likes? When did we as a students have that option? Anyways I am not sure whether to be glad or unhappy about this liberty.

Beta hamara aisa kaam karega

And liberty reminds me Arnav always keeps saying his 'Pledge of allegiance' at the drop of a hat.
"I pledge allegiance to the food I eat"
"I pledge allegiance to Ninjagos and Angry Bird" and so on.

The latest Ninjago Lego

The other day Caunteya mentioned we will watch the match between Nadal and Djokovic and said
"I will support Nadal"
"I will support Nadal too as Djokovic has 'witch' in his name and that is not good" Arnav said
"No, no, it is not the same witch" Manav said
"It is 'vic' not 'witch'" Caunteya offered.
"Well, Arnav sandwich has 'witch' but you still eat it" I started
"But sandwich is food. Humans cannot have witch in their name. That is not good" Arnav maintained his stand.

And today the name contention was repeated in the car.
"Listen Arnav there is a bird called Parakeet. Now do not cry or whine, just listen. When I showed the picture of a parakeet that day and asked you what bird is it, you said it is parrot but actually it is a parakeet"
"Noooo. It is a parrot. Keet is its last name. So thats why it is parrot keet - parakeet" Arnav reasoned.
"Now this may seem funny but it is very true. Birds dont have last names, only humans do" Manav was treading thin line here as we all are very wary of Arnav's wrath.
"No I think some birds have last names. Just like the parrot" Arnav insisted and we let it go for obvious reasons.

Arnav has become very vocal these days. He uses his words like pro.
"Hey Mommy can you ever guess what happened?"
"What" I was sleepily brushing my teeth this morning
"Three tomatoes turned red. Can you even imagine?" I wish I could record his voice for the effect. This guy needs to be in movies or in the circus at least.
"No way, Arnav" I played along
"Yes way, Mommy. You have to come look" Of course.

Last night Arnav was very cranky and I was even crankier. So I yelled at him.
"Mommy my lungs are hurting as you yelled at me" Arnav cried even louder pointing to his throat.
"I yelled, my lungs should hurt, not yours" I have no clue why I was reasoning with him at 8:30 PM at night with a splitting backache.
"Yes, you yelled at me so my lungs are hurting" Arnav sobbed.

And this morning he was very sure
"My teeth have rashes Mommy, look"

And the other day in the car when they were snacking on cantaloupe pieces.
"Hey how do you like your panta poop?" Arnav asked Manav
"Mommy, Arnav said a bad word" Manav immediately had to catch him
"But I was just rhyming" Arnav clarified, just the way he does for
"Hey I am saying the nice 'but' word not the one which is a part of the body and has two t's. That's a bad word" Yeah, right.

Dining table still remains the favorite spot to hang out and eat-less-talk-more and answer trivia. The other day I was doing the rapid-fire rounds
"What does caravan start with Arnav?"
"C"
"What does pencil start with Manav?"
"P"
and after a couple such
"What does knife start with Arnav?"
"N"
"No, K. Just like knee starts with K and phone starts with P" Manav was confusing Arnav, one could see that in Arnav's expression.

Just now Manav barged in and read everything on this screen and announced
"Hey this is all about us" I agreed.

This sure is all about the boys. I just cannot remember when everything else ceased and it became all about them. Each moment, awake or asleep; each heartbeat, relaxed or hammering; each breath, calm or strained; each gesture, loving or threatening; each meal, healthy or junk; each plan, well researched or just in time; each post, hurried or written at leisure is all about them. These two boys who started as single cells in my body have consumed me and my life to all possible extents. And wise as I am, I know, they will just like that leave me and my life all to myself and leave. And will I cherish that liberty? Well as I said earlier, am not sure whether I will be glad or unhappy about this liberty.
"This may sound funny, but is true" As Manav would say.

Space Station

"Manav Mommy wants to go back to work like Papa. How do you feel about that?"
"Great. I like that." Manav answered to my total disbelief. I sort of realized how much we expect a certain answer from a certain person and when we don't get that reply we are crestfallen. Beats the purpose of asking the question in the first place though.
"Mommy will be gone all day and evening, Manav" I tried again
"Yes, I know that. And I will have Papa" He explained.
"Oh, no no. Papa will also work. We both will be out" I heaved a sigh of relief and he, his sigh of disbelief.
"Weird. We all will be out of the house all day? We will be in school all day?" Manav was more curious than concerned.
"Yes, I guess so."
"And what if they close the school and you still don't come and pick us up? You know how Papa gets late some days? Then I will be trapped there all night" Speak of wild imaginations.
"No, that will not happen. They will make sure all kids are gone before they close the school"
"Ok. Arnav you will get to eat your evening snacks and play outside and color as much as you like." he started selling the idea to Arnav
"I eat my snack and play outside and color a lot already" Arnav was clear.
"Ok lets see, how much is thirteen plus six?" I changed the topic not knowing where this was going and how to handle it further. We will cross the bridge when we reach it. At least I broached the subject so it wont be a surprise. In a nutshell this is how a mother's mind works.

We got Arnav's head shaved (rather size 0 cut) as we had missed this when he was a baby. For Manav we had religiously gone to Pittsburgh Balaji temple and did all the puja etc for the head shaving when he was 9 months. Arnav is actually happy and loves the fact that he doesnt need to comb. He has been harping on that luxury so often that Manav wants his head shaved as well.

Here's how Manav looked

Before

After

And here is Arnav

Before

After



It has been nice weather all through and we have been having outdoor fun. The boys spend quite some time outdoors on their scooter and bikes. Last Saturday they were all excited that a tomato had turned red. We looked and looked and decided to pluck it later as I said it will get redder. Unfortunately, the rabbit ate away the tomato and next morning we only had the stalk to look at.

Check that out !!

Then they were playing in their tent outside. They have this weird game in which Arnav pretends to be the baby and Manav - the dad. They go on and on for hours, Arnav waking up and crying, Manav taking 'care of him', 'going for walks', checking on the 'house; and all that.

Daddy putting baby to bed

They love to play other pretend plays as well. The other day they were playing with the laundry baskets. The baskets were 'space helmets' as you can see



In this one, Manav proclaimed

"I am in my space station (the rectangular basket) and reading a sky-book on this (the round basket)"

Of course, am sure there is technology out there to project a book for an astronaut to read before going to bed, of course he cannot hold the book in his hand and all the while keep it from flying away in zero gravity.

We went out for a walk one evening and in front of each house Manav would say something

"I wish we had a driveway like this without the stairs. I could ride my bike from the front door into the street, without getting down"

"I wish we had this swing in our front yard"

"I wish we had this tree in our front yard"

Today we were discussing shapes on our way to school. I made the mistake of asking

"So how many sides does a hexagon have? Hint - think about a stop sign"

"A stop sign is a octagon Mommy" Arnav yelled

"Oh, and what is a hexagon?"

"Six sides Mommy. Octagon has eight" All this from Arnav surprised me a lot. I assumed it would be Manav with the answer.

While Manav effortlessly answered the 'next even number' , Arnav could answer the 'next number if you count by 10's' with as much ease. I have seen that Arnav is better and faster with numbers than Manav. Every other activity he lags behind and we have to be fair with the 15 months age gap. Two kids with the exact same parents (:-) are so different.

A picture filled write-up for a change. I know I am missing out so many interesting "conversations" but just dont have the time. Till the next one, here's something to ponder

"How does your space station look like?" and

"Don't you wish you had a sky-book to read too?"

Bad Words ...

Envision this - I am cooking (or laundering or dish washing or dropping/picking up kids - my usual daily chores) and I get that moment and conversation which I absolutely must blog. I just let Siri (on my iPhone 4s) know and take a dictation and directly send it to this blog and when I actually sit to write the collective rough draft is all ready. Need/Have an app for this - this same sentence must be being said right at this moment all over the world for different reasons. I don't know something, I just google and make sure all my grammar and spelling is good.

And now envision this - Manav wants to write, needs a notepad/diary, I couldn't fine any, gave him a longer version of a post-it pad and he sat down with his pencil. Got stuck on a spelling - 'Birthday', went to the drawer, fished out a birthday card, copied the spelling. Next one was 'Cheetos' , he went to the pantry, got the Cheetos bag and copied the spelling. And just like that he was done.

So while I am thinking of making my writing easier his is already easy, his 'google' is around him, in the pantry and drawers. Worst case even Arnav chips in
"You want to spell Birthday? Start with a 'B'"

We both did the same thing - write - but I call mine sophisticated and more complex while his is grassroots, just the beginning. And I would like to believe that both our writings provide the same level of reading satisfaction to our readers.
 
Samples of mine can be found in my blog while his is right below:

The boys are grappling with chigger bites, more so Arnav. So Arnav was crying a lot this morning after an absolute hell of a night tossing and turning and itching, hence Caunteya said

"Manav distract Arnav, keep him busy so that he doesn't cry"

"Arnav do you want to hear a joke?" Manav said in his sweet morning voice

"Yes" Arnav wiped his eyes and went and sat next to him

"What did the bug bite say to the medicine?"

"I don't know" Arnav's voice was still teary

" ' Hey you can't kill me' . He didnt hear a word as he was already dead" Manav got me in a circular reference issue in my brain. As it was early morning after a horrendous night as I explained. But the best part is Arnav laughed.

"What did the medicine say to the bug bite?" Manav asked again

" ' Hey you can't kill me' . He didnt hear a word as he was already dead" Arnav repeated verbatim

"No, he said " Hey I am going to kill you" but didnt hear a word as he was already dead" Manav sure got me thinking.

Arnav laughed again and I couldn't sleep on anymore. Had to get up and hug the angels, though one was a monster right before that second. Thus began this morning.

If I am lucky, sometimes these days I get to hear some real great backseat conversations especially when there is another kid in there.( As sometimes I pick up friend's kids).

"Do you know my mommy is taking my brother to the doctor so he can talk?" the kid mentions

"Oh, how will the doctor make him talk?" Manav asked

"He will put something in my brother's mouth and he will start talking" kid explains

"Babies don't talk when they are zero years" Manav tries

"No one is zero years" kid is perplexed

"Yes, you are zero years when you are in your Mommy's tummy or if you haven't had your first birthday" Manav is persistent

"Really?" kid has some food for thought

"Yes, I saw my Mommy's pictures when she had me in her tummy and she was very fat. But now she is not fat anymore as I am not zero years. I am five"

"My mommy's birthday is on Monday" kid switches the topic.

"Too bad, too sad you cannot go to her birthday party as it is a school day" Manav pointed out

"Nooo, I will go to her party " kid starts whining

"No, you can't" Manav goes on

and thats when everything goes haywire and I barely navigate a changing-lanes car. Swearing under my breath is not an option as Manav has ears for those words and those alone sometimes.

This eating, sleeping, talking like a perfect role-model is killing. You have to make sure your speech is perfect and not littered(or rather peppered) with 'bad words". That reminds me, a couple of weeks back a friend of mine was visiting and she has a 8 year old. Here's his conversation with Manav

"Weird is not a bad word" 8 year old corrects Manav

"Yes, it is, you cannot say - 'you're weird' to anyone" Manav says

"No, bad words are stupid, idiot and this" 8 year old shows the middle finger.

"That is not a word at all. How do you say it?" Manav is now curious

"Here, fold all your fingers, leave the middle one out. Yes, like this. This is a bad word, you know that?" 8 year old says

"This is not a word" Manav is still perplexed

"Yes, it is. Ask your mom" 8 year old has everything figured out

"Mommy, how can this be a bad word?" Manav has his middle finger up

"Manav, it is a bad gesture. As bad as a bad word" I had nothing else to say.

"Hey do you have a father?" Manav asks 8 year old

"Yes, why won't I have a father? Everyone has a father" 8 year old has his facts straight

"Then why didnt he come?" Manav pointed out

"Because he is at work. He travels a lot. That is why he couldn't come." that satisfies Manav.

"Mommy when Arnav is 4 years old he can come sleep on the top of the bunk bed and I will go sleep somewhere higher, near the ceiling and little baby can sleep in the bottom" Manav told me when I was kissing him goodnight the other day.

"Which little baby?" I asked

"The new baby, which we all will have" Manav says

"Manav, Papa and I decided there will be no more babies."

"Why?" Manav is crestfallen

"As we are happy with you boys" I explain

"So then who will sleep in the bottom bunk?"

"I and Papa will sleep there" I try to joke.

"And we will have 2 guest bedrooms, as your bedroom will become a guest bedroom" and with that note we were all ready to part when

"But your heads will hurt on this back of the bed" Arnav made a valid observation so for now, we have kept our sleeping arrangements unchanged.

My chatter boxes keep me entertained and if there is a third kid in the mix it becomes even more hilarious. I have secret wishes of eavesdropping on my kids' sleepover conversations and am sure there already is or there will be an app for that when this happens. Till then keep your eyes open, coz sometimes bad words are not heard they are seen.

They force me to be nice always ...

Dreamer

Manav turned five and my heart is still doing the five feet deep dives imagining him 15 and 25 and beyond. Seems like yesterday when I wanted the boys to grow up fast so that I can get a little breather from this hectic life, while now all I want is to slow down. Years are passing by like moments and before I have a chance to recover from a blink, things have changed. I am forever panting to catch up, this rapidity in everything is killing and making me feel old in every sense of the word. Yes, be very careful what you wish for.

We started the birthday preparations and Manav painstakingly wrote the 23 personalized thank you cards for the return gifts. Arnav helped by putting stickers on the cards and envelopes.

Here they are spread on his Birthday Cake Box.

On friday, i.e 20th April we started the official birthday celebration by stopping by for doughnuts at Dunkin Donuts on our way to school. Manav chose the "rainbow sprinkles" doughnuts for his friends at school. Back in the car, Manav said
"Mommy did you see the pink doughnuts there?"
"No. Did you want those?" I was concerned for more than the obvious reason.
"No, they are for girls. I saw them on the top shelf. Maybe that is why you missed them" Manav put my concerns to rest.
"Girls bring pink cupcakes with Hello Kitty rings on them" Arnav volunteered important information.

Saturday, the actual birthday date, we started with all of us singing the birthday song on our bed while Manav was still asleep. I remember him coming to our bed in the wee hours of the morning and saying to Caunteya
"Hey Papa, remember you wanted to sleep with me. Well here I am"
Then I made his favorite pancakes and decorated it for his birthday breakfast.

Then we went for his last soccer match for the season. We had cupcakes and drinks. In the evening we had a birthday party in a neighborhood park. We played games - spoon and marbles where both Manav and Arnav had issues. Arnav said
"This is a bad game. The marble always falls off"
Manav tried twice and gave up. He cried some and hid behind the trash can. He still has to learn how to accept failure graciously. Then we played bingo (housie, tambola whatever you call it) and this time Manav won the 'full house' and surprised us all. The win didn't come without the throes of not getting favorable numbers called out and whining about it.

Pizza, watermelon and grapes later the kids gathered for the cake cutting. It went fine till the cake was cut, after which the Arnav started wailing as he wanted the transformer decal from the cake, while Manav reminded Arnav that it was his birthday, in vain.

The angry birds are happy

The cake and the offending transformers

Thus we had a great evening with the weather behaving and the kids not so behaving. Amidst smiles and cries we completed a day of outdoor birthday fun.

Next morning I reminded Manav that it was his cousin's birthday in India. I said

"Manav I just spoke to Ma and she said that Ghontu has torn his birthday dhoti"

"What is dhoti?" Manav asked

"It is a traditional dress worn in the bottom with a kurta" I made an attempt to explain.

"Oh, an underwear." Manav smiled

"No it is like a pajama" I settled for that

"So his two-three teared?" Manav said

I was perplexed as to what that meant when Caunteya explained

"Because he says/hears dhoti like do-teen that is why he is saying two-three" and when that finally made sense to me I just couldnt stop laughing. The kids and their accented Hindi is full time entertainment.

The other day they were playing some game in the car when Manav complained

"Mommy, Arnav says M + N = 4 when it is 7"

"Oh, you cannot add alphabets Manav" I smiled

"You can add alphabets. You just have to add the number of lines there are in a letter" Manav said

"But some letters dont have lines, like S" I was flummoxed.

"Yes, it has. It has one squiggly line. So it is 1." Manav explained.

There and then it came to me. These kids are clean slates, they don't have pre-conceived notions. For a moment I did think maybe he was coding alphabets like A=1 etc. but then missed the fact that there are other ways of doing it. And for me lines are always straight lines, while Manav has a whole arsenal of various shaped lines. While I am static and inflexible, Manav and Arnav are so full of possibilities, I sometimes get dizzy as I struggle to fathom the enormity.

Another incident like the above exposed me to a kids unadulterated mode of thinking. We were playing 'tricky questions' and I asked

"The sun is setting. What is it going to be - day or night?"

"Night" pat came the reply from Manav

"Depends" said Arnav " If it is Ma-Dadu it will be day, but for us it will be night" Ma-Dadu are my parents and they live in India. Of course, how could I miss that?

Manav continues to amaze us with his imagination. He has taken to drawing and writing and does a decent job of it. He draws outer space, rocket launchers, family and imaginary video games complete with levels by joining sheets of paper with tape. His current craze is Legos and keeps building them till cows come home. But he looks for "gun wielding" Finn McMissile, affirming that his earlier craze of Disney Cars is still very alive.

Holding on to the recent past and craving for new. Will not not settle for anything less than winning. If something is interesting has to be done and completed right now. Tomorrow is too late.

"Yesterday night, first dream was scary but the next one was very good Mommy."

That about sums up my five year old - Dreamer.

How I wish...

Suddenly my days are jam packed. There is absolutely no me time. The weather is great and lots of things are happening and I am actually liking it. Amidst all this I have this constant fluttering heart and butterflies in my tummy feeling, just thinking about Manav starting school this fall. Already the registration is underway and he is kind of set to go to school. Just that I am not.

Seems like the other day we brought him home and the first feeling I had was if only we had extra insurance then we could have stayed in the hospital a little longer. We had absolutely no idea what to do with Manav. He seemed so fragile and every task was an effort. We have kind of come a full circle as he turns 5 on 21st April and his emotions are so fragile and every task with him is an effort. He is questioning things which I dared not ask my parents, even now.

"So if that drink is not good for kids, how can adults drink that?"
" I eat, Papa eats, I sleep, Papa sleeps, I play, Papa plays, so if he can copy me why can't I copy him? If he can say "None of your business", why can't I?"
"I never cry or say I am upset when you use 'such words' with me, why do you have to get upset when I say the same words?"
"Why do adults act like kids and tell on them. When I do something you tell Papa. When Arnav hits me I don't complain or cry, I try to be brave and not tell on him. Why can't you be brave?"
"Don't tell me you are angry when you do that. I am VERY angry now"

I am censoring my explanation of these paradox, as even when I was answering, I felt I was not doing justice. He has a point but I am the parent and that is what I drove across. Anyways all I am reminded when I type this is
"Main karun to saala character dheela hai"  ooops bad word.

Last Tuesday when we were supposed to drive to Florida for our vacation, there were deadly tornadoes in Dallas. The kids were stuck at school and we had the scariest time ever. When I finally got them back I asked
"Manav were you scared when the tornadoes came?"
"No, there was no tornado. We had another of those drills. We went to the hallway, they switched off the lights and we ducked our head in our hands. But no tornado came"
What a bliss to have no concerns amongst raging mayhem. Aaah childhood.

We had a great drive back home from Florida especially if we compare it with the drive to Florida, amidst the raging thunderstorms. The boys loved the fact that we crossed Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and then reached Florida. They are learning about the states in school so they could relate with the welcome posters at each state line.
"Now we should be entering Georgia" Manav said when we were in Alabama.
Caunteya explained we will directly drive into Florida, so no Georgia.

On our way to Florida we stopped at a hotel to sleep for the night. In the morning I was taking the kids for breakfast when we met a lady in the elevator. She came in while the door was almost closing and said
"I tricked you"
"We are going to India" Arnav smiled and said
"Oh that's so great" she exclaimed
"Nooo we are going to Florida" Manav corrected
"Thats even better" she said
"I tricked you" said Arnav and we all started laughing.

We were jiving to the tune of desi boys in the condo we rented in Florida. My friend has two daughters and the older one was leading the dance floor and others were happily following. Then Arnav came up to Caunteya and said
"Papa we don't have only desi boys we have desi girls too" and burst out laughing. This kiddo is fast becoming an entertainer now that his slur is disappearing. But he still has issues with 'r' and he admits the same. The other day someone asked his name
"I cant say my name. It has a 'r' in it" was his answer.
Arnav pouts and complains
"Why did you put a 'r' in my name? Manav doesn't have any?" if only I had known baby !
And I started thinking, that is one of the many things we don't have control on - our name. We are just plain lucky or doomed depending on what went through our parents' mind when they named us.

We are planning Manav's birthday party. I asked him
"Do you want an angry bird cake or lion king cake" these are his current favorites
"I want a lion king cake as I already have the angry bird t-shirts." Manav said and immediately I regretted asking that question. How can I have mismatched birthday theme for my baby? But then I thought maybe thats what will be great, a bunch of mismatched characters, sort of "these are my favorite things", lets see how that develops as the list is ever changing.

With thunderstorms and rains comes rainbow. And that is another topic they are learning at school. Arnav said
"Mommy for a rainbow to happen there has to be rain and sun. As there is no rain today, the rainbow will not happen. Maybe it will happen, but without the color indigo. And as there is some wind, maybe the rainbow will have more orange" and his imagination ran wild as he painted his own rainbow from the available elements of nature.

Beautiful blue water, sugar white beaches and abundant sunshine marked our vacation. Manav summed it all - "We should live in Florida Mommy" How I wish.
When I was getting Arnav in his swim clothes for his swim class day before, he asked
"Are we going to the beach or Lifetime Fitness?" How I wish.

Sand Castles in the making

The Dolphin Cruise, we spotted bottle nosed dolphins.

"The stick tastes like ice cream too" and they licked on..

Mr Smart Pants, kept sitting there and made everyone else work at pouring water (refer first picture)

Just begun ..

Ok, disclaimers first, this is going to be a sentimental post, could be because it is that time of the month for me, or maybe I have these feelings genuinely, or maybe its the ides of March. Whatever the reason I have this intense urge to pour my heart out, but I know this is a media for the boys - by them , of them and for them. But then I can argue that I am the ....well for a second I thought of writing 'creator', of course not, am embarrassed and humbled by this thought at the same time. Anyways, whatever it is let me attempt to make sense of my feelings and align them to 'conversations'....hmm tough task. Bring it on.

The major change that will take place in the Parekh household this fall, i.e in August 2012 is - Manav C Parekh will start school. He will turn 5 on April 21st and will go for his Kindergarten in one of the Public Schools in Plano. This is a big change for me and am sure will be for him as well, for entirely different reasons.

I will have to let go, he will want to hold on. We have come a long way from the day Manav was born. An infant with 100% dependence on me, it was an overwhelming task to cater to his needs, my needs and our needs. We were blended into one being. Our days and nights ceased to be days and nights but one long seemingly endless periods of nurturing, caring, cleaning, feeding, sleeping and many more ings....gradually we sort of woke up from this schedule, and one fine morning Manav noticed us and smiled and we smiled back. That moment brought in liberation and a tiny pang as we realised Manav is not 100% dependant on me any more. He could amuse himself with the crib toy, or stare at the ceiling fan or nibble at his toes for a minute at least, without whimpering for me. Thus began the gradual decrease in dependence and increase in Independence. Over the milestones conquered with cries, sweat, pain, happiness, gurgling, pees and poops we have reached that stage where I would say he has reached that over 50%Independence mark. I would never be certain of the exactness of his need for us but I am certain that it will never reach the 0% mark. A boy will always want his mamma (and papa of course), however old he his. With his starting school, there will a huge rise in this independence and I will have to let go. He will want to show he is enjoying this independence but deep in those vulnerable moments when he dozes off to sleep he would want to be that little boy, still want to sleep with Papa and never let go.

I will have to respect his opinions and he will wish we were more knowledgeable. Even now I can feel Manav getting frustrated that I am not sure whether a pigeon is a raptor or not ( Let me confess, the other day I asked them the 'one-of-these-doesnt-belong' question with a pigeon, eagle and robin, thinking the answer would be robin as it is not a raptor, little did I realise that pigeon aint one too) and God forbid the time when he criss-crosses me off his list of 'ask-later'.

I have to respect the fact that he is growing and needs more time and space for himself and phrases like 'right-now' and 'right-here' will be impasse. I will have to understand his sudden shyness around girls (or will it be boys?) and wait for him to acknowledge the same. The 'your dress is so beautiful' for anything I wear will be replaced with 'Hmm, this looks very printy and bright' (He said this last evening when I tried on my new Macy's dress). I have to control my temper when his questions change from 'Why is Papa always on calls?" to "Why do I always have to keep quiet in this house?". I will maintain my distance yet be so near he can reach me when he needs to. I will in short have to be patient, very patient. I am now dealing with an individual, a five year old of the 21st century who can be compared with a teenager of the 20th century. Yes, there is age related inflation too. I believe it.

How do I do this? I have no clue. But as it has happened all these years since the boys were born, I am sure I will have that divine intervention right when I need it which I will yet again label as parental intuition. The end.

Jumping right into conversations, I have been dropping the boys to school quite frequently of late as that ensures my gym time. So we have started doing songs as well as a variation of stories. Manav makes up these lovely songs, tunes them to known songs and sings with a great deal of dedication complete with chorus and ending falsetto. On day he sang the following to the tune of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'

Sparkly sparkly flashy diamond
You are always golden bright
Why do only girls wear you?
Why do boys have to be handsome too?
Now show me you can be handsome
And turn into beautiful also

or something like that, I don't remember the exact words.

Arnav sang the real twinkle twinkle and I sang 'Do Naina'. So this morning Manav said I must sing an English song. I said
"Mujhey koi English song nahin aata. Seriously"
"You said 'seriously', thats an English word. You know English song, please sing English song" Manav is destined to be a lawyer.
So I sang my old school song 'Gods Love is so wonderful' and they almost tried a standing ovation or whatever they could being tied in their car seats.
Manav sang a tree song, in the same twinkle tune something like

Trees, Trees, O Trees
Why are you so green?
Oh because you have chlorophyll
And you grow to fill our stomachs
But if you grow too much
Sorry we have to cut you down
And make houses and all that stuff
But always remember
That I love you
as you are my best friend.

Arnav chose to say the story of the lion, rhino and 12 birds. In his story these animals make an entry "Then a lion came .." in a sequence and you are supposed to exclaim "Oh really? and then?"

Did I mention that we also play the 'Who can keep quiet for the longest' game in the car too? But that doesn't last long.

Arnav has this daily routine of climbing up the stairs of the bunk bed and wishing Manav good night and then coming down to sleep on his bed underneath. Manav doesnt like this and always scolds him and discourages him from climbing up the stairs. So I told him a story. And I was surprised that the next day when Arnav forgot to wish him goodnight Manav said
"Hey Arnav. You must wish me goodnight. Remember Mommy's brother never said good night to her when they were kids and now he really wants to say good night to her but is so far away that he can't."
Arnav happily climbed up and said "Good Nite Manaf" and I strongly suspect his happiness lies in climbing the stairs more than wishing his brother.

The other day we stopped for doughnuts on our way back from school. The place was empty and Manav remarked
"Mommy looks like no one eats doughnuts any more."
"No, Manav, its just that it happens to be afternoon and people come in for doughnuts and coffee in the morning mostly"
The next morning when were were driving by Dunkin Donuts, he said
"Look Mommy, you were right. There are so many people in Dunkin Donuts. But donuts is not a good breakfast. These people will have no energy when they reach school. They will have frosting in their brains."
"They will have sprinkles in their brain" Arnav joined in
"They will have chocolate in their brain" Manav continued and so did the game laced with laughter.

Soon the banter will be gone from the car, soon I will be left in peace to listen to the radio and news

But till then I pray,
Let it be miles away...
Many more journeys to come
and many more conversations;
Coz I believe we've just begun.

Double Digit...

"Mommy look he is smoking. He will die" yelled Manav animatedly pointing at a man smoking in front of Walmart. The guy turned and looked at him and I died of embarrassment and bent down to whisper in Manav's ear
"Manav you have to keep your voice low, especially if you are talking about someone else. It is not polite to point and say something about someone."
"But Mommy.....he will die" Manav whispered back with flailing arms.
I just escorted him hurriedly inside the store only to encounter a different scenario. There was this lady with stuff piled high in her cart. Manav said
"Mommy why is she buying so much? Do you think she needs all this energy drink?" pointing to the 2, 12 pack Gatorade bottles in her cart. Before I could answer, he self explained
"Maybe she has kids at home who need the drinks."
"Exactly Manav. We don't know what people need, so we cannot say whether it is too much or not"
"But Mommy....that is really a lot" Manav always has to have the last word, while I steered him to a quiet corner with less people around, a rarity in Walmart, that too on a weekend.

The other day we were driving to a friend's place for dinner. It was a long drive and Manav and Arnav were playing "Q& A" in the backseat, where each one asks a question to the other and you have to reply. Arnav asked
"I am thinking about a state in America. Which one is it?"
"Utah? Arizona? California? Indiana? ...." Manav keeps naming the states and Arnav shakes his head for each one. Even me and Caunteya join in for adding to Manav's arsenal of states. I am sure we would have rattled more than 50 states as we weren't sure if they were states or cities, challenged by our limited American geography, but still get the 1 pound head-shake everytime. Finally,
"I bet you yourself don't know which state you are looking for Arnav" Caunteya said
"Yeees......it is a secret" Arnav replied mischievously.
"Aaaahhhh" sighs Manav noisily.

The other night when we were returning from a swim class, Arnav said conspiratorially
"Mommy do you know what I just saw?"
"What?" I was seriously intrigued.
"A house had Christmas lighting. Christmas is coming. There will be snow" Arnav's voice was pregnant with elation only to be aborted by my
"Arnav, Christmas is in December. It is March now"
Yes, winter went by in Dallas without a hint of snow and the boys are still hoping.

"So what did you do in school today?" Arnav replied to this question
"Ms Foley tested me. She couldn't follow me in some questions"
"Oh, she couldn't follow you? You were again mixed up in your 'R's?" I blurted as Ms Foley had just told me that Arnav tested very well though his speech is still slurred and difficult to understand at times.
"Noooo.....Ms Foley couldn't FOOL me." Arnav replied and though I couldn't see as I was driving, am sure would have had the "rolled-eyes" look.
"Oh, I see." I laughed.
"But I couldn't answer some questions" Arnav confessed.
"Which ones? Do you remember?"
"Yeah....those numbers like 98, 24 like that..I didn't know those." he said
I mused over Ms Foley's exact words
"If Arnav doesn't know something, he will not guess or fake it. Even if he has a hint of doubt he will not say the answer. I used to think he lacks confidence but now I know he cares a lot for the right answer. And that is important. The rest will follow"
and am still musing. What does that mean??

Over a bedtime story Caunteya was asking word meanings to Manav.
"What does bask mean?"
"Standing in the sun and getting warm" I turn my head to Manav's succinct reply and couldn't help but wonder that 'bask' had come way later in my vocabulary.
"What does habitat mean?"
"Habitat is a place where animals and plants get their food and live"
"What does extinct mean?"
"Hmm....maybe opposite of instinct?" Manav offered and we all laughed. Manav does know about extinction, as they study dinosaurs all the time, so I wasn't sure whether he just forgot or was being in the "just kidding" mode, that he dons all the time nowadays. He was talking about "application" and "diagnostics" the other day and I was pleasantly surprised but now thinking about it, guess English is their first language, almost, so they will pick up words that seem difficult for us.

Yesterday, while driving to school, Manav said
"So where are you having a birthday party?"
"Nowhere Manav. Adults dont have birthday parties, kids do" I said and the conversation progressed thorough a labyrinth of 'why's' and 'how's' and 'who's' and the likes. But in the evening some of my friends threw a surprise birthday party and trust Manav to come up with
"But you said adults don't have parties?" while I cleared that paradox, Arnav asked
"Mommy why did you have only 1 candle on the cake? You are not 1 year old."
"That is called a guess candle, you can assign any age to it." I said something like that worrying about dinner et al.
"But then someone will think you are 1 year old." Arnav was perplexed
"Arnav do you think that is possible?" I was rambling at that point
"How old are you Mommy? " Manav asked and I answered (for all of you it is 3X. )
"Oh I know." Arnav started with the cute intonation as if the answer hit him just then.
"1 is a single digit and 3X is double digit so no-one will think you are 1 year old" Of course, that is THE distinguishing factor between a 1 year old and 3X year old, how could I not think of that? Instead of fretting about adding one more year in my ever increasing arsenal of age, I could just have enjoyed it as another double digit age and maybe till it becomes triple digit I have nothing to worry about. Thanks Arnav for putting things in perspective. Wish you could handle the dinner as well.

Now that the weather is looking up and spring is in the air, we are spending a lot of time outdoors. Over the weekend we indulged in gardening and planted petunias, marigolds and tomatoes. The boys were messy and happy. We were laughing and admiring the outcome of our effort. And I remember the exact moment when I thanked God for the way our lives have changed since the boys came along, for better, though sometimes there aren't worse moments possible. At those times, thankfully, the number of children we have is single digit.

Vibrationous ...

"Mommy do you know what that sign says?" Arnav pointed to the red 'exit' on his school door.
"No, what does it say?" I of course wanted to hear his view.
"It says Exit, that means 'Get Out' " Arnav explained excitedly. I smothered a smile and 'got out' of the school.

Arnav is now a chatterbox and we call him the "entertainer" in our family. Whenever we feel bored we get Arnav to talk. He sure can pep up spirits and even Manav eggs him on. His sentences bring in endless laughter even in the most serious situations. The other day tension was mounting at the dinner table as the boys were picking on their food and not eating at all despite umpteen reminders. At that instant Arnav chose to walk away from the table. Caunteya asked
"Where do you think you are going Arnav?"
"To the bathroom" Arnav replied with a "where else" shrug
"Is that the way to the bathroom?" Caunteya hollered as Arnav was taking the roundabout way rather than the direct way to the bathroom.
"Yaayyys, you go that way, then that way and then that and then you are there, the bathroom" Arnav said shaking his hands and shoulders for maximum effect.
We tried checking our laughter but ended up breaking into smiles. Just have to mention that after a while Caunteya found Arnav in the toy room instead of the bathroom and after that what happened to Arnav is anybody's guess. Some nerve that little boy has.

They have been learning about American Presidents as it was President's day. Arnav insists Martin Luther King was the President as is "Bawack Obama". He was singing this song
"Georgie Washington (2)
Chopped the cherry tree (3)
And didn't tell his maid"
which prompted me to google it. Did find the cherry tree story about the first President but couldn't find this song. Have to cross check at school.

While discussing the boys' classwork, we pointed out to a sheet where Arnav had scribbled a couple of number 2.
"What is this Arnav?"
"It is supposed to be a 2, but it doesn't look like 2 to me" Arnav is a very honest critic of his own work.

These days in spite of telling him that the past tense of 'sit' is 'sat' and for 'set' it remains 'set' Arnav insists
"Mommy the sun sat"

Sometimes, I serve dinner to the boys and keep munching right out of the serving platter. This happens when Caunteya comes home late and I reserve a plate for myself to eat with him. So I try to make it work in my favor enticing the boys
"Ummmm, this is so good, I just can't stop eating"
until one day Manav said
"Mommy you say that for everything everyday. You just like eating"
And I stopped mid bite, judged the veracity of the sentence, smiled and started munching again.

The other morning, I was very sad to see stark white underpants in the Childrens' Place bag while I had picked up nice character ones for the boys. Looks like the lady at the counter mixed it up. I just didnt have the luxury of another trip to the store so got Manav to use them.
"Mommieee....did YOU bring these for me?" His surprise and glee was evident.
"Yes" I was surprised.
"Thank you so much. They look like Papa's and I love to copy Papa." There you go, now he survives on that lone pack of three white underpants till I get more. No hurry there, laundry once in three days always happens anyways.

Earlier this week Manav missed a couple of days of school as he was sick. We spent quite some quality time together. Read books, went for walks to park, talked, snuggled and took naps. Manav biked to the park one day. He stopped every minute to admire and touch the small flowers peeking at us from the grass.
"Mommy come see the blue bonnets. And these are violets. And there are the sunflowers." Of course none of them were what he claimed but he did identify the birds all right - Blue Jays, Cardinals and Robins. He collected the acorns and put the covers back on them and made them "Men with hat". On the ride back he rested his head on the bike's handle bar and I remarked
"Does that feel nice Manav?"
"Yes, it is very vibrationous" Manav said. Trust him to make up stuff and he does that so unabashedly though he knows there is no such word.

When these kids are separated, they are really nice people to be around. Full of normal fun, well behaved, no irritating silly talk or jumping/running without motive. Its a breeze in the store as it is elsewhere. When they are together they feed on each other's mischiefs and things go exponentially downhill from then on. But then I know the grass is always greener on the other side. I know that they spend endless time together, talking, playing, keeping each other company while sleeping in their room. (While I write this Manav is coloring and Arnav is feeding Manav and himself Maggi)  Making us insane just comes with it and I am not complaining. With these jokers around we never forget to laugh. Why do I have this feeling that the boys feel the same, I mean they too think "With these jokers around we never forget to laugh". Ha Ha Ha...

Happy Valemtime's day....

On left is Arnav's "Love Bug" and the other one is Manav's "Love card". Arnav's "Love Bug" keeps flitting in the air, kissing us intermittently mid-flight. Taking a look at Manav's card Arnav said

"Why is Mommy's heart so small?"  (If you blow up the picture you will see 4 hearts - two big ones - green and red belonging to Manav and Papa respectively while two smaller ones - purple and blue - Arnav's and Mommy's respectively....am sure you won't miss the batman)

"There was no space, that is why" Manav said

I marvelled that Arnav noticed. I always feel Arnav has this special feeling for me, you know kind of a notch above his feelings for Manav and Papa.

"Happy Valemtime's Day" he gurgled to all and we smiled sharing glances. We knew it better than correct Arnav. Sometimes even Manav finds Arnav's baby talks so cute. For the record Manav never quite indulged in baby talk, he sort of always had that "adult" pronunciation, though he still lisps on "t" and "d".

Manav recited this poem from the inside of his card, of course all memorized

"If apples were pears,

And peaches were plums,

And the rose had a different name;

If tigers were bears,

And fingers were thumbs

I'd love you just the same !"

So all the hoopla about Valentine's day came to an end yesterday with bags full of cute valentines and candies. We had a small dinner talk about the real role of heart in our body complete with comparing the heart to a king (in chess of course) and the brain to the queen and how arteries and veins carry blood, delivering oxygen to all organs and all the blah. Manav soaked everything in and I am not sure how much Arnav grasped as he was more focused on the food.

The other night Manav came to our room at 3 AM

"Mommy can you please put some water on my eyes?"

I just lead him back to his bed. He climbed up and said again

"Can you please put water in my eyes?"

"Why Manav? You need to sleep now." I mumbled

"I dont want to close them. I want to keep my eyes open"

"Manav you need to close your eyes to sleep so that your body can mend itself"

"I don't want to dream Mommy" that's when I gathered his nightmares were bothering him again.

Next morning I asked Manav what he dreams usually. He said

"There are police and they take you to cages and bomb you"

"Why cage? And why would a police do that? You didn't do anything wrong"

"It is a dream Mommy. Dreams are not true. And remember police put you in jail? The cages are the jails."

That is when I thought of telling the boys my story of how I dealt with nightmares.

"Listen, I also used to have the same dream every night, when I was a kid. My father said dreams happen so that you get disturbed and remove your hand from the heart so that the heart can pump blood in peace. So if you sleep with your hands by your side and not put them on your chest, there will be no dreams. So I used to sleep with hands below my back, under the pillows or tuck them under the mattress but that didn't help. So dadu (my father) said - while asleep your hands come on the chest and then dreams have to happen. As you cannot control your hands lets try this, when you are dreaming just try to say aloud - 'This is a dream'. And I really tried that and though words wouldn't come out of my mouth when I was dreaming but at least I would wake up."

"So Manav you can say 'Hey that's a flower, not a bomb' when the policeman throws the bomb at you" Caunteya made it even more creative.

and Manav was so tickled, he practised on and on saying the same.

Last night he came to our room saying

"Mommy did you call me?"

"No"

"I heard you calling, so I came here"

"OK" and I felt him climbing in between us. Now, my father didn't tell me anything about handling kids trying to outsmart you. But then Manav really might have though he heard me calling or maybe I did call him in my sleep. Whatever.

Last year when we moved into this house I was complaining of the increased distance to and from the kids' school. Now I wish the distance was longer. I think I had mentioned this before, but car drives are excellent conversation zones. This morning when I was dropping the kids, we started our usual story telling. Arnav came up with this and I can attest this story to be an original. I am not sharing Manav's story here as it was the usual cheetah, python and food web and kind of paled against Arnav's. So here it goes :

"There was a lion, a bird, an elephant and a hummingbird. The elephant and the lion fought and the lion died. The bird was a peacock and he came and poked the elephant on the back. The lion said...."

"But the lion is dead Arnav" I chipped in, listening intently

"Mommy, don't interrupt, please listen. The lion said " I tricked you elephant" he was not actually dead and then ate the elephant for meat. The lion then went to the zoo but it was written there 'No lions' So he w-e-n-t  i-n-t-o a .......(long pause) ......C-A-R !!!!!. "

He had our full attention with his verbalisation and pauses and we started laughing.

"Then did he push Mommy out Arnav? " Manav asked

"Nooo. The lion ate the trees in the car and then started driving. Then there was a red light and he didnt stop and the police caught him. The end"

"What did the humming bird do Arnav?" I asked

"Oh I forgot. The humming bird irritated everyone with his humming" Of course.

"Good job Arnav" And we clapped for him.

Once in their classrooms they just get so wrapped up that they don't even notice me. I have to just fall short of begging them for a goodbye hug. They oblige but with their body turned at an angle towards the other children in the class, eager for me to let go. After the discomfort of being left out I linger a bit more trying to figure out what is there in the class that surpasses me. Thats when it strikes me that it is a futile venture. There is nothing there. It is just that they love the class, their teacher, the friends and the promise of learning and fun filled day. They also love the fact that at the end of the day Mommy will be there to pick them up with a snack in the car and a promise of warm home and more play and learning till they retire for the day with their not so welcome dreams.

Then one fine day (rather not so fine for me) my valentines will spread their wings and fly away and I hope they will stop by mid flight to kiss me intermittently and exchange "I Love you" once in a while. No flowers, surprise dinners, gifts and cards can work the wonders that these words do. Wink Wink !!

Patient....

The battery in the garage remote is weak and takes me several iterations to make it work. Most of the time I am running against time so its very frustrating wasting almost a minute trying to close the garage door, the precious minute I hadn't factored in my calculations. Returning and trying to open the garage door is a shade less frustrating......well we are home.

So yesterday when I was backing out of the garage and simultaneously trying to close the door, I hit the remote multiple times on the dashboard to "reactivate" the battery.
"Your windows or whatever it is will go bad Mommy" Arnav said
"What?" I was confused and the door still wouldn't budge.
"You are hitting the remote on the hard window and it will damage the window and remote" Arnav clarified. He meant the dashboard of course.
" Have you heard of the word "patient"? Manav spoke at last. He is not known to be silent for more than a minute at a time.
"What are you saying Manav?" I was still tinkering with the remote, trying all positions and finally the door started down only to go back up as I had hit the remote again too fast. This is not working at all and I had two preachers in the back seat. I took a deep breath and with a little prayer on my lips hit the remote, this time a little bit more purposefully and slowly. It worked.
"It means waiting for things to happen" Manav continued.
"What? " I had lost the context and was recalculating based off the lost minutes.
"Patient means waiting for things to happen. You should not hit the remote on the dashboard. It is hard. You should wait for it to work after you press it. If it doesnt then you should hit it on your hand or pants, not on the dashboard. The remote will get damaged on the hard surface and all battery will come out and it will not work." Manav rambled on.
"Oh, ok. Thanks Manav. I will try to be patient"
"Good" they both said

Then we drove on and I was more relaxed having finally done my math and made sure I wont be late for gym.
"Why dont we tell stories today? Arnav you start" I said
"OK. Duck and his friends went to the park to play baseball." Arnav started
"Where did they go?" I asked as Arnav's park sounded "Pawk"
"Pawk, pawk. Where kids go to play. There are slides, monkey bars, do you know that?" Arnav clarified.
"Oh, park. OK continue" I smiled.
"The baseball got stuck in the tree. Duck threw the bat to get the ball. The bat went too high. Then duck threw the glove to get the ball. The glove went too low."
"Oh, so the ball was in between the bat and glove on the tree?" Manav asked
"No, the bat was on top, then the ball and then the glove. Then all three of them fell off the tree. Then duck and his friends played baseball. The end" Arnav completed.
"How did the things fall Arnav?" I asked
"Have you heard of the word "gravity" ?" Manav just cannot wait for his turn. This started a "Mommieee I wanted to answer" cry from Arnav and we wasted a couple of minutes gaining status quo.
"OK, Manav's turn to tell a story" I was now getting a bit worked up with the school zone and people driving at less than 20 as there were cops all over.
"There was a person and he wanted to be the queen. "Do you want to be a queen bee or a queen in chess?" "Queen Bee". So he became the queen bee. There was a person who wanted to become a King. "Do you want to be a king bee or a king in chess?" "King bee" So he became the worker as there is no king bee. There was a baby who wanted to be a baby bee. So he became a baby worker as there cannot be a baby queen. Now there were dinosaurs everywhere. The tall brontosaurus thought a little bee cannot do anything to me. He came too near and was stinged by the bee. And all animals were stinged by the bee. So they stayed away from the bees. The end"
"Very good. " and we all clapped. I had made it a point to verify from Ms Foley (Arnav's teacher) if they had been reading about duck playing baseball but haven't yet. It seems too good to be a made up story and I am sure Manav made up his.

The other day Manav was with me on the back seat and unusually quiet. I thought he fell asleep and turned back to check.
"Why are you so quiet?" I asked seeing him wide awake.
"If I talk you cannot drive safely. So I am not talking. We don't want to get in an accident, remember?" he said
That was the only time he was quiet and I didnt ask him why at all other times he chose to make it dangerous for me to drive.

Last morning Arnav woke up with his blue and black batman in his hands. He always goes to bed clutching something. He asked me
" Who do you want to win? Blue batman with sword or black batman?"
"Blue batman" I managed with mouth full of toothpaste.
"Ok, blue batman won" Arnav declared after hitting them against each other, and we both celebrated.
"Arnav, have you forgotten that the blue batman sucks up power with his sword? So he is the good choice and he will always win" Manav said from his bed
Then he asked for the batmen and showed us how blue batman sucks up power using the small hole in his sword. I couldn't help but think how similar this was to my yoga instructor telling us that energy (or prana) is not just inside our body but all around us and we need to understand that. All the energy talk made us hungry and we scampered to the kitchen for some breakfast.

This morning Arnav and I came out in the garage to get in the car while Manav was in the house trying to get something.
"Bye Manav." Arnav said
"Why, he will also come with us to school" I said
"No, we will go. Manav will be leftover" Arnav smiled.
"Left out you mean Arnav" I instinctively corrected and realised he wasn't listening, instead poring over a dead worm which must have come out during the showers last night. They mess up the tenses (always add 'ed' to past tense, hope you didn't miss the 'stinged' earlier in the post) and say weird words. Its fascinating to see how they pick up a language and apply some logic in making up new words which might not be legitimate and instantly pick up the corrected word as well. Arnav continues to struggle with his 'r' but has a good size vocabulary now while Manav continues to ace with his language and math. Or so I think.

A few days back, while driving to school, I said
"Boys you need to keep quiet. Lets all listen to the news today" I have to have innovative ways to minimize or guide backseat chatter. Lest you start oohing and aahing on my innovation prowess, let me add that oftentimes the innovation is as blunt as "Please keep your mouth shut".
"OK" they said
Gene and Julie at 103.7 FM were talking about how a TSA agent was arrested at the DFW airport as he was caught stealing passengers' iPads. After listening a bit,
"Thank God our iPad is at home and not at the airport. It would have been stolen as well and we cannot play chess or fruit game anymore " Manav concluded and made me wonder whether he really believes what he said. Are things really that simple for a kid, an almost 5 year old?

So when do things start to get complicated? When will he start applying the logic that even if the iPad was at the airport it stood a chance of not being stolen and if it is at home it still stood a chance of being stolen? When do their short simple "subject-predicate" sentences start getting heavy with adverbs, adjectives, gerunds, conjunctions and other parts of speech? Just as their life will change from the primary shades of black and white to different shades of gray but I hope they will continue to see the world in its beautiful colors and marvel at its creations. Enjoy its simplicity and respect the complications.

Have you heard of the word "patient"?