And the mean mom award goes to …

Conversation drifted to loving family members the other evening when Ashwin said to me that he loves me sometimes. Some other times, he does not love me.

When don’t you love me? I asked him.

Sometimes… Like when you are mean to me. He replied.

When am I mean to you? I enquired

When you make me do things I don’t want to…

Like what? I persisted.

Like put on my clothes…

Mean mommy me!

Cheeky monkey!

This happened a while ago now, but it’s too good to go undocumented.

Little miss was sitting on the kitchen floor eating yogurt from a tub and she flung the cover on the floor next to her.

Divya, pick it up and pop it in the bin, I said.

No. You. She replied.

It was a teaching moment, so I grasped it and said, Divya, can you say, please amma, can you pop this in the bin for me?

So she said, Please amma, you pop this in the bin for me.. (just as I was beginning to feel the glow from acing a parenting moment), otherwise, you go naughty corner!

The response!

Divya was talking to Jayaraman Thatha on Skype the other day when he said,

Divya, I love you!

No! She replied emphatically.. Amma loves me!

Sibling love

Divya has settled well into daycare here in Perth. She loves everything about it except that we will leave her there and go. Every morning, she is filled with anxiety – But you will leave me in daycare and go! Ashwin decided to take matters into his own hands.

Divya, he said, I will stay right behind you in daycare. You can’t see me, but I will be right behind you. Sometimes I will go to another room, but I will come back and stand right behind you.

Oh! Was her response. Anna will stand yight behind me amma! She said with great cheer!

Since then, every morning she asks him, you stand yight behind me anna, and he always replies yes.

I hope that this budder and sister are always there for each other…

On leaving home

When I picked up Ashwin after school yesterday, I told him that I had enrolled him for year1 for next year. He seemed a bit worried.

Amma, do you know that when I go to very big school, I will be LIVING in my school?

Why? I asked him. Because that’s what you did!

When I could stop laughing, I told him that he had a good 12 years to go for that. And by then, it won’t be such a bad thing.

But I love you and Divya a lot, he replied. I want to live with you forever.

I assured him that after 12 years, if he still felt that way, he could live with me, or perhaps I could also live with him in school if he prefers. He seemed pensive for a while and then said:

Can I think about it and tell you after 12 years?

Our last day in Karratha

and Ashwin woke up singing,

"yeah yeah, I am leaving! La la la la la"

What does this boy smoke and where can I get some??!

Playing show

Ashwin is playing shows in his room just now and this is what I heard:

Ladies and gentlemen. Please wait because all the show people are going to be loaded into the curtains!

A novel reason to cry

Last night, Raghu was putting Divya to bed and she just wouldn't settle. She was making whimpering noises until Raghu told her to stop crying and go to sleep.

She came to me crying.

"Why are you crying", I asked her.

"Because", she replied when she could pause her crying, "because appa not let me do crying"

The stick

"I'm going to push the stick down".

This is a sentence that is heard in my house atleast 20 times a day. It is the ultimate negotiation tool.

I want to choose the first yogurt.

I want to choose first

No, me.

No MEEEEEEEEE (from identical yogurt tubs btw.)

OK, then I'm going to push the stick down.

OK anna, you can choose first.

Divya, help me tidy up.

No.

OK, then I'm going to push the stick down.

OK anna, i help you.

I want to take doggie to sleep.

I want doggie.

OK, then I'm going to push the stick down.

Anna, you take doggie, I take pooh bear.

And on and on and on.

So what is this stick, you wonder? The stick with super powers to resolve sibling conflicts? The stick that lets Anna have his way?

well....

One of the sprinklers in the yard that pops up for retic and doesn't go back down. The battle at home is who pushes this sprinkler back.

KIDS!

More Teasing. And Sharing

Divya likes to call Ashwin her boy. A typical conversation with her would go like this:

Divya: Where's that boy?

Me: Which boy?

Divya: My boy.

So, I decided to tease her. Mum has to have fun after all.

I told her that Ashwin was not her boy, he was my boy. She kept her cool and said, Noo... Ashwin is my boy. We kept up this volley of my boy, my boy for sometime until she won the game and match with:

"Ashwin is your boy and my friend. Share. with. me. amma!"