Children have an innate ability to understand expression. Even when he was very young he understood not just sounds of different moods but also facial expressions. Recently he has started reacting to expressions, even when not vocalized.
"Ashir turn off the TV, enough of Max and Ruby" - I said.
"Ok, one last, please" (Standard negotiating tactics)
I frowned but knew that since he is going to do some letter recognition practice, it may not be the best time for confrontation.
"OK last one, after that we will do letters"
"OK..remove those lines" - he said smiling
"What lines?"
He came to me and touched my forehead
"These lines"
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Wired Generation
Mommy gave Ashir some grapes in a bowl. Some of the grapes still had pieces of stem attached to them.
He is finicky about food and usually doesn't want to work on his food more than chewing.
Came to me with the bowl and said -
"Papa unplug these grapes"
"What?" I didn't get it.
"Unplug the grapes from the wires"
He is finicky about food and usually doesn't want to work on his food more than chewing.
Came to me with the bowl and said -
"Papa unplug these grapes"
"What?" I didn't get it.
"Unplug the grapes from the wires"
Which Dad?
My cousins Rajan and Ramin are twins and are remarkably similar. Ramin has three daughters and Rajan is single. Many times we see them together in family functions. One day they had visited us and just when they had left, we were cleaning up and Ashir found something, I don't recall what it was now, perhaps a cap or a glove.
He asked - "Whose is it?"
I said - "This must be Ramin Uncle's, you know Maya's Daddy"
"Which one?" - there came a puzzled look on his face.
"What do you mean?"
"Which one? Maya has two Daddy's"
He asked - "Whose is it?"
I said - "This must be Ramin Uncle's, you know Maya's Daddy"
"Which one?" - there came a puzzled look on his face.
"What do you mean?"
"Which one? Maya has two Daddy's"
Rules of engagement
"Papa let us play cherry game"
"But you have already broken the dial of the game, how will we play"
"No not that game, in this game let us collect as many cherries as we can and load them up in freight cars"
Cherries are small red plastic balls that came with the game and are some 30 or so of them.
I start to collect cherries strewn around the floor and so did he and we loaded them up in our toy freight cars. After we finished collecting, we counted, he is learning counting and found that he had 11 and I had the rest.
"OK Ashir so I won"
"No no wait a midet (minute) ..the game is - whoever has lesser cherries wins"
"But you have already broken the dial of the game, how will we play"
"No not that game, in this game let us collect as many cherries as we can and load them up in freight cars"
Cherries are small red plastic balls that came with the game and are some 30 or so of them.
I start to collect cherries strewn around the floor and so did he and we loaded them up in our toy freight cars. After we finished collecting, we counted, he is learning counting and found that he had 11 and I had the rest.
"OK Ashir so I won"
"No no wait a midet (minute) ..the game is - whoever has lesser cherries wins"
What is Dead
We were in LA recently and went to see the Mummies exhibition at the California Science Center. We didn't think much until we bought the tickets and were in the line - Ashir asked -
"But Papa - what are mummies?"
"Mummies are...." I paused, I was going to say dead but he didn't know dead yet
"Mummies are bodies of people or animals from very old times"
"Why?" (Standard follow on question for everything)
"We will see once we get in"
The first exhibit, presumably to awe people, was that of an Egyptian boy, very well preserved for a mummy but grotesque for a 3 year old to watch. It had its teeth intact, shirvelled leathery skin and some hair..
"What is this?"
"Hmmm this is a mummy of a boy.....when people died in old times they made mummies of their bodies" I had thought of something by then.
"What is dead?"
"Dead means that people can't move any more. Like when you squished the bug the other day.. it died. Same thing happens to people"
Surprisingly, he didn't ask any more questions on dead, kept looking at exhibits, asked other questions but not about dead.
Several days later back at home while playing with his trains he was speaking out a story aloud. This is how he plays alone, just making up new stories and speaking out loud. I was working on the computer and between thoughts looked up at him narrating the story -
"Gordon was going so fast that he could not apply brakes in time, round the bend he slipped and bumped hard into Thomas who was taking a washdown by Tidmouth sheds... he hit him so hard that he fell down and did not move.. he was dead"
"But Papa - what are mummies?"
"Mummies are...." I paused, I was going to say dead but he didn't know dead yet
"Mummies are bodies of people or animals from very old times"
"Why?" (Standard follow on question for everything)
"We will see once we get in"
The first exhibit, presumably to awe people, was that of an Egyptian boy, very well preserved for a mummy but grotesque for a 3 year old to watch. It had its teeth intact, shirvelled leathery skin and some hair..
"What is this?"
"Hmmm this is a mummy of a boy.....when people died in old times they made mummies of their bodies" I had thought of something by then.
"What is dead?"
"Dead means that people can't move any more. Like when you squished the bug the other day.. it died. Same thing happens to people"
Surprisingly, he didn't ask any more questions on dead, kept looking at exhibits, asked other questions but not about dead.
Several days later back at home while playing with his trains he was speaking out a story aloud. This is how he plays alone, just making up new stories and speaking out loud. I was working on the computer and between thoughts looked up at him narrating the story -
"Gordon was going so fast that he could not apply brakes in time, round the bend he slipped and bumped hard into Thomas who was taking a washdown by Tidmouth sheds... he hit him so hard that he fell down and did not move.. he was dead"
Sure or not sure
I am not sure he understands what is "sure" - I mean what sure means but he gets the drift.
In this act he is playing with his toys and it is close to his bedtime.
"Ashir"
"Yes Mommy"
"We are ready to go to bed, clean up.."
"OK in five midets" (minutes)
...after 5 minutes.....
"Now we are done, Ashir, do you want to go pee?"
"No" (Standard answer for anything that takes him away from his toys)
"Are you sure?"
"Hmmm if I am sure?"
"Then you may not pee"
"If I am not sure?"
"Then you will have to go to the bathroom"
"Then I am sure"
In this act he is playing with his toys and it is close to his bedtime.
"Ashir"
"Yes Mommy"
"We are ready to go to bed, clean up.."
"OK in five midets" (minutes)
...after 5 minutes.....
"Now we are done, Ashir, do you want to go pee?"
"No" (Standard answer for anything that takes him away from his toys)
"Are you sure?"
"Hmmm if I am sure?"
"Then you may not pee"
"If I am not sure?"
"Then you will have to go to the bathroom"
"Then I am sure"
Why the blog
My son is growing and changing. A few days ago we met someone whom we had not seen in a couple of years, they exclaimed - "He has grown so much and look how he talks ! ".
Of course we have pictures, thousands of them and also videos, not so many, but quite a few thanks to ubiquitous movie camera in DSCs in Phones etc. However, countless moments of his growing years are lost forever. We don't notice subtle changes in him, words that he learns, new sentence formation and most importantly reasoning that he is developing... no picture or video can capture that. So this is my attempt at chronicling some of those times.
I am hoping that we will be regular in scribing and when he grows up into a man, he will read this and not just look at pictures the way we reflect upon our childhood.
Of course we have pictures, thousands of them and also videos, not so many, but quite a few thanks to ubiquitous movie camera in DSCs in Phones etc. However, countless moments of his growing years are lost forever. We don't notice subtle changes in him, words that he learns, new sentence formation and most importantly reasoning that he is developing... no picture or video can capture that. So this is my attempt at chronicling some of those times.
I am hoping that we will be regular in scribing and when he grows up into a man, he will read this and not just look at pictures the way we reflect upon our childhood.
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