Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Pick Up
A few weeks ago, Summy, Pranav and I drove to the airport to pick up a cousin. I explained to Pranav that we were going to pick up "Atta" (Aunt) at the airport, and then go back home.
He waited patiently and quietly while we found the terminal that she was waiting at, and while she got into the car. On the way back home, he broke his silence and said, "We forgot to pick up Atta.".
"We did pick her up at the airport. She is right here", I pointed. "See?"
"We did not pick her up.", he said. "She got into the car all by herself!"
He waited patiently and quietly while we found the terminal that she was waiting at, and while she got into the car. On the way back home, he broke his silence and said, "We forgot to pick up Atta.".
"We did pick her up at the airport. She is right here", I pointed. "See?"
"We did not pick her up.", he said. "She got into the car all by herself!"
Counting in Spanish
Dinky has been watching "Go, Diego, Go" on TV everyday. Diego is a little boy who speaks Spanish and English, so Pranav has been learning to count in Spanish.
"Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve", he said while I was driving with him in the backseat yesterday. "What comes next, Amma?"
"Diez.", I said.
"Diez. What comes next?"
"Once."
"Once. What comes next?"
"Doce."
"Doce. What comes next?"
"Trece."
"Trece. What comes next?"
"Catorce."
"Catorce. What comes next?"
"Quince", I said, quietly, because I had reached the limits of my knowledge of Spanish numbers and I knew that I couldn't answer his next question.
"Quince. What comes next?"
"Um, I don't know."
He smiled because he thought it was funny that Amma didn't know her numbers either. So I told him that I would find out the answer for him once we got home.
Of course I forgot to find out once I got home. And Pranav is not the kind who forgets.
So today we had another conversation in the car. He said, ,"Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, what comes next, Amma?" I winced a little because I could see what was coming.
"Diez."
"Right. Diez, Once, Doce, Trece, Catorce, Quince (he really doesn't forget - he remembered the numbers from yesterday). What next?", he said with a mischievous smile.
"I don't know.", I had to say again.
So today, I had to get on the computer and learn some more Spanish numbers. At some point, I am going to be stumped by my children, but I don't want to be stumped before they turn three.
"Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve", he said while I was driving with him in the backseat yesterday. "What comes next, Amma?"
"Diez.", I said.
"Diez. What comes next?"
"Once."
"Once. What comes next?"
"Doce."
"Doce. What comes next?"
"Trece."
"Trece. What comes next?"
"Catorce."
"Catorce. What comes next?"
"Quince", I said, quietly, because I had reached the limits of my knowledge of Spanish numbers and I knew that I couldn't answer his next question.
"Quince. What comes next?"
"Um, I don't know."
He smiled because he thought it was funny that Amma didn't know her numbers either. So I told him that I would find out the answer for him once we got home.
Of course I forgot to find out once I got home. And Pranav is not the kind who forgets.
So today we had another conversation in the car. He said, ,"Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, what comes next, Amma?" I winced a little because I could see what was coming.
"Diez."
"Right. Diez, Once, Doce, Trece, Catorce, Quince (he really doesn't forget - he remembered the numbers from yesterday). What next?", he said with a mischievous smile.
"I don't know.", I had to say again.
So today, I had to get on the computer and learn some more Spanish numbers. At some point, I am going to be stumped by my children, but I don't want to be stumped before they turn three.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The Fast Lane
One move and more than six months after my last post:
The last five years have been filled with moving and changing and adapting. We have lived in many hotels and temporary homes. Mostly the children have adapted and settled in happily and quickly to wherever we were. Pranav, especially, seems to take it in stride as we have moved across the globe twice after he was born, the first time when he was four months old. His idea of "home" is not a fixed place, but wherever we happen to be living at that time - "hotel home", "apartment home", "Bangalore home", "Hyderabad home" :)
Pranav has gone from saying "I am a small boy", to absolutely refusing to have his name appear in a sentence including the word "small". For example, if somebody says that he is Summy's little brother, he says, "No, I am a big brother! I am not little.". Occasionally he pushes the truth a little and tries to tell me that he is "grown up" already, while stretching himself to his full height of almost three feet. He equates "cute" with "little", so now I cannot call him my cutie-pie anymore, not without offending him.
He cannot stand admitting that technically, he is still two years old (until January of 2013). He doesn't like "almost three years old" much better either. He has taken to measuring himself by hand and claiming that he is 11 years old because he measured 11 hand-widths. I happened to say to him that he is two but acts like a big boy, and he has latched on to that, and so now this is how old he is: "I am two years old, but I act like a big boy!"
And he does act like a big boy. I think I know him, but every few days he says or does something that catches me by surprise (Summy also still does this to me). Like the other day. He was sitting in his toddler carseat in the backseat of my car, holding his small red toy car in his hand and pretending to drive it around, "Vroom Vroom". Then he said (verbatim): "How old do I have to be before I can drive a real car?"
The last five years have been filled with moving and changing and adapting. We have lived in many hotels and temporary homes. Mostly the children have adapted and settled in happily and quickly to wherever we were. Pranav, especially, seems to take it in stride as we have moved across the globe twice after he was born, the first time when he was four months old. His idea of "home" is not a fixed place, but wherever we happen to be living at that time - "hotel home", "apartment home", "Bangalore home", "Hyderabad home" :)
Pranav has gone from saying "I am a small boy", to absolutely refusing to have his name appear in a sentence including the word "small". For example, if somebody says that he is Summy's little brother, he says, "No, I am a big brother! I am not little.". Occasionally he pushes the truth a little and tries to tell me that he is "grown up" already, while stretching himself to his full height of almost three feet. He equates "cute" with "little", so now I cannot call him my cutie-pie anymore, not without offending him.
He cannot stand admitting that technically, he is still two years old (until January of 2013). He doesn't like "almost three years old" much better either. He has taken to measuring himself by hand and claiming that he is 11 years old because he measured 11 hand-widths. I happened to say to him that he is two but acts like a big boy, and he has latched on to that, and so now this is how old he is: "I am two years old, but I act like a big boy!"
And he does act like a big boy. I think I know him, but every few days he says or does something that catches me by surprise (Summy also still does this to me). Like the other day. He was sitting in his toddler carseat in the backseat of my car, holding his small red toy car in his hand and pretending to drive it around, "Vroom Vroom". Then he said (verbatim): "How old do I have to be before I can drive a real car?"
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