பேசும் பொற்சித்திரமே !!! - 17

Vocabulary building has been in full swing for the 3rd grader this past few weeks with writer's workshop and what not. In spite of that, sometimes words stump the young mind of hers. Not one to be let down easily by words, she has, of late, gotten creative. On a particular evening, she was operating the TV remote and her mom wanted her to rewind the movie a bit and hence asked her to go back. With the remote not co-operating much, she let out a frustrated reply "I am trying to do 'back forwarding', Amma". A fews days from that, her brother came home after a long due haircut. Always the dutiful sister that she is when it comes to getting on his nerves, she let out a gleeful "Anna's height has gone down by a milli-centimeter" (apparently a fraction of length in her etymology). 

When it comes to sarcasm though, the elder one teenager, takes the cake. His 3rd grader sister was going through a phase of having bowel movement only every other day. As we were getting concerned, I used to check with her on this daily. One such day, she happily replied, "I went poopy today, yesterday and also day before that". I joined in her glee, feeling myself relived mentally. The teenager watching this wondered out loud, "I wish I had set expectations about me this low like she has done. All she does is poops three days in a row and everyone is happy".  If only he knew this when he was young...

This post's pic is a hand-made craftwork of a class room made by her during the year's navarathri celebrations at home.

பேசும் பொற்சித்திரமே !!! - 16

Cafe Mac is Apple's in-facility cafeteria. The one in our facility had a nice ice cream section. One Friday evening during their summer break, I took the kids to Apple's cafeteria for a cup of ice cream. They thoroughly enjoyed the variety of ice creams, combos, fruits, snacks etc. For the 8yr old's intellect, something doesn't seem right about the items for sale there. Later on, when we are back home, she asked, "Why were they selling oranges in Apple's cafeteria ?". Tell me about mixing Apples and Oranges !!! Her ice cream from the Cafe Mac is this blog's pic. On a related note, accompanying that is a screenshot below from her brother's iPhone screen reminding him that his mom "owes" him an ice cream !! 

On a particular day, the family's living room discussion ended up on how "twins" are born. My 8yr old daughter had a friend who has a twin brother. Her friend was born a few minutes earlier than her twin brother. The 8yr old's brain was curious why, in spite of being twins, they were not born at the same time. My wife, without going into too much details, cursorily mentioned that the doctor will take one baby from the mom's tummy and then the other one. She did not like the idea of the doctor coming in the way of how twins are born. "Why don't they have another doctor there so that they can take both babies out at the same time ?" - Sounds like the all-too-familiar IT industry technique of throwing resources at a problem to solve it/hasten it. May be our move to the Silicon Valley is finally rubbing on to her I guess. 

Whose Line Is It Anyway #28

There are moments in every parents' life that makes them suddenly aware that the kids are no longer young and innocent toddlers or elementary kids but they are growing up - pretty fast at that - with their own personalities and thought process. It kinds of hits you in an unexpected sometimes vulnerable moment. Once such moment for me arrived today.

Saturday morning breakfast, my pre-teen and his 8yr old sibling were having an argument. In my usual parental instinct I wanted to steer that argument away from being caustic, I wondered out loud - "Are any of you making anybody happy or feel valued by your arguments ?".  The first ambush for me came from unexpected quarters when the 8yr old quipped "I am making myself happy...". In an attempt to regain my composure, I managed "Doesn't that only make you selfish ?".  The 8yr old still didn't miss a beat "Well, he is also behaving the same way" a direct reference at her brother. I thought I had regained some control hence replied "Well that just makes two selfish people. How's that any better".. When I was about to breath a sigh of victory, the decisive blow to me came from my so-far-quiet but  sharp-tongued pre-teen, "Well, by both of us being selfish, we make each other feel not bad about being selfish ourselves..." I couldn't muster a comeback to be honest. I wasn't sure if I should feel good about their debating prowess or feel bad about left with no ammunition myself. Regardless, when it comes to confronting either me or their mother, these two youngsters quickly form a coalition for sure.

Time to rethink my strategy.

பேசும் பொற்சித்திரமே !!! - 15

Father's day this year meant some beautiful gifts from my daughter - a mug with graffitti, a story board for the father's day gift story etc. Then there was a maze-drawing showing my qualities - listed in each triangle maze. Among other things, one quality listed there was being "brave". My wife raised  a doubt about "bravery" being one of the qualities I possess. My little one - not one to let her father down that too on father's day - immediately came to my defense with an emphatic - "Appa kills MOSQUITOES". If only the entire life was this simpler...

Summer involves trying many things - a jump rope caught her attention. She starting trying it out. Initially it didn't go well. But after a few hours of on and off trials, she got the hang of it. Not one to give out inaccurate information, she proclaimed satisfactorily - " I can do exactly 11.5 times". None

of us wanted to ask how she got the half jump figured out.

One particular "philosophical" evening, discussion about the "chakras" in our body was happening at our place and how couple of them exist outside our physical body. My daughter was intently listening to this trying to grasp as much as she can. In the end, she raised her hand "How can I feel something outside my body?".  I tried my best at a reply - saying - one has to meditate for long like a Rishi. She knows that such meditation means sitting and focussing for long hours. She immediately bailed out - "I can't do that. I will get gas within the end of the day" - acknowledging her sensitive digestive tract that acts up when empty for long. 

This blog photo features the "Junior Ranger" exploring Silversword plant "ahinahina" at the crater summit in Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii.

பேசும் பொற்சித்திரமே !!! - 14

The disarming quality in a child is not just its innocence but also the nature to shoot straight and tell your mind out. The mind/intellect, un-touched by stereotypical "conventional" wisdom throws creative outbursts at will. My 7 yr old is in such a phase. Some samples to relish - 

• We were on our way to temple, discussing our religion, our Gods etc. Out of nowhere, she shot an arrow. "We have lot of God. But why do they build the Church so big. They have only one God anyways" :-)
• During the course of her grandparents visit, she was coming to grasp with the vagaries of life that comes with age. Her big-brother cited a mountain example - as he and his sister are in the bottom of the "life mountain" starting to climb and apparently we are at the top in our middle age and their grandparents on the other side of bottom having traversed life's length. The little one's brain immediately grasped this analogy and she also added her previous observations of how the grandparents grappled with many current technology trends. Out came the difference between the two generations in the bottom of the life mountain.  Adding to her brother's statement "But thatha and patti are clueless and we are CLUEFUL". Take that Oxford Dictionary!!
• One evening's routine school-round-up involved something they did in science class. In course of her narration she said - "... a dead rat that used to be real..".  Suppressing our laughter, we feigned innocence and asked what doest that mean. Without missing a beat, she clarified.., "... you know, it used to be alive.." How can you refute that ?
• From the unpolluted mind, sometimes deep life philosophies get sprinkled effortlessly. While feeling sorry for how her friend's vacation trip got cut short as her dad had to return to emergency at work, she wondered - "that's what I hate about work. You waste so much time in that".  TELL ME about it...
• With our elder one growing up fast, talks about college are becoming common in our house.    During one such discussion, the little one also joined the group with her own concern - "Is Bachelors' Degree only for boys ? or is it for girls too ?". Well put. A feminist in-training folks, to change, mankind - sorry womankind - whatever.

This last one is actually from our elder one. While explaining how present day parents obsess and torture kids by asking to pose umpteen times for photos, he declared - "we will anyways have five copies of every photo - first one has a bird sticking its beak, second one that bird has blinked, third one a bug in the leaf behind us has blinked, fourth one Amma thinks that she looks fat in it, fifth one is okay..." True, my generation has a real problem with cameras/photos ....

Yellow rose is from this year's spring bloom at our front yard ...