"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.
"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.
Super-like! Oh, what a stress buster read :)After reading each of your blogs, I cant stop thinking about how different (and simple) the kid's world is! Wish we could be like that too.. Life would have been a bed of roses if we never grew up :) Given the pace at which the boys are growing up, the day doesn't appear to be distant when Arnav would be able to "handle dinner as well" ;) I'm still laughing imagining how embarrassed the smoking guy would have been on Manav's remark .. may be he'd think of Manav each time he'd light a cigarette now LOL!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sheetal. The other day Manav said "Arnav if you smoke, before you can say I'm Sorry, you will die....do you know that?"...Pata nahin kahan se itney anti-smoking khayal aatey hai isko:-)
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