Last post of the year: Nidhi's first story

(Punctuation and sentence capitalization added by me. Spelling is all hers)

One day Carla and Nidhi went out for a walk. We loved it. It was a windy day. There was rain. The sun was shining. There was a rainbow in the sky.

(The above was written sometime in November, the rest of the story below was completed during the school break in December)

Me and Carla got lost. We was feeling lonly. We misst are (our) mums. Just then we saw are (our) mums. Hoora! Are mums took us home.

Ure (Our) mums wre upset. Ure (Our) mums said "Why did you get lost?"

"I didint get lost."

"Don't tell lies."

"I'm not telling lies. Plese don't get upset with me. Ok. Kill ure (our) mums."

"They fired and shooded ure (our) mums."

(This was the end of her story. When dad and mum protested at the violence in the story, Nidhi amended it to add the following bit:)

They did all sots of tings. They didind get killd but they were badly hurt. They were bleeding. At last we seid sorry to our mums.

Time and distance

Nidhi talking to one of her friends at school

Nidhi: Which shop did you buy those ear muffs from?

Roshni: QS in Redhill

Nidhi: Is it very far?

Roshni: Just 5 minutes

Nidhi: 5 minutes by what vehicle?

Roshni: I don't know

Her prayer today

Dear God..I love you so much. And I love my mummy, and I miss my daddy. And my birthday is in 67 days. And Carla's birthday is on Thursday and she has invited me to her party. And I have made two cards for Roshni and Carla. And help Carla to be good and after her birthday to still be my friend.

And, I am very happy that there is a baby in mummy's tummy. And I don't like her to rest but still I let her rest. Isn't that very nice? Hallelujah!....... (sings Hallelujah from her nativity play at school.)

Thinking about it

In the few days following the news of the baby, Nidhi was probably constantly thinking about the future arrival and how it is going to affect us all. Some notable remarks are below.

*****

Sitting in the bath, Nidhi is singing nativity songs that she has learnt at school. She adapts the words to our baby

A baby is going to be born

A baby is going to be born

In June, in June (original words 'Tonight Tonight')

In this big house (orig. 'In the bright starlight')

A baby is going to be born

A cot (stable) is where it will be

A cot (stable) is where it will be

In June, in June (original words 'Tonight Tonight')

In this big house (orig. 'In the bright starlight')

A cot (stable) is where it will be

*****

Using the toilet one day, she calls out to me "Mummy do we have a small potty?"

Me: Yes, somewhere in the loft I think, an old one you used

4yo: You have to get it out for the baby, because the baby cannot sit on the big potty, it will fall in.

*****

4yo: Will you get a cot for the baby?

Me: What do you think, should we get one?

4yo: Yes, and I will sleep in the same room as the cot. So if the baby wakes at night, I can tell you.

*****

4yo: We'll get a cot and the baby can sleep in it till he or she is 2 yrs old. Then we can get a bed for it. And the baby can sleep in it till it is dead.

Me: (a little shocked) Yes, but before that the baby might grow up and move to its own house and bed.

4yo: Yes, unless it has an accident and dies.

*****

WE're doing the Advent Calendar and are talking about the passage for the day (Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac). I tell Nidhi about how Isaac must have been so close to Abraham's heart because he was born after a long wait of many many years. And how things are more dear to us when we have waited a long time for them.

She says "Just like I waited five years for a baby brother or sister"

*****

Dec 10, 2011

Today Nidhi wonders if the baby inside thinks it is going to be the first baby because it doesn't know it has a big sister.

*****

Dec 15, 2011

We are playing and I pat Nidhi on the back. She complains that I hurt her when I did that, so I rub her back. I feel her shoulder blade and tell her how I could feel this bone when she was in my tummy. She asks me where I could feel it and I point to the part of my tummy. She says then that her back must have been facing my tummy.

She asks if I could feel her head. I said yes, because she used to keep moving about. She says, it isn't moving, because babies cant move on their own, it must have been floating around. And I say yes.

*****

Dec 16, 2011

4yo: Can we buy bunk beds for the baby and me when the baby is older?

Me: Yes, sure. Will you like bunk beds?

4yo: Yes, and we can ask the baby which bed he or she likes to sleep on - the higher one or the lower one.

Me: Which one would you like? You can choose what you like.

4yo: No, we'll ask the baby because it is younger.

Tooth fairy

Does the tooth fairy's teeth also fall off?

Breaking the news

Me: Tochi, look at this picture. Can you tell what it is?

Nidhi: No, what is it?

Me: Look, haven't I shown you another picture like this before, on my mobile phone.

Nidhi: Is it me in your tummy?

Me: Yes, that's the one on the phone. This is not you. This is another baby inside the tummy.

Nidhi: Ohhhh!

Me: Whose tummy is it, can you guess? See, the lady's name is on the picture.

Nidhi (reading 'Bini'): So, is it your tummy?

Me: Yes

Nidhi: So, is there a baby inside your tummy?

Me (smiling): Yes

Nidhi: So, are you pregnant!

Me: Yes!

Nidhi: So you are pregnant. But you don't have to get married, because you are already married.

Heaven and hell

4yo: Mummy, when you die do you want to go to heaven or hell?

Me: Heaven

4yo: Why don't you want to go to hell?

Me: Because God isn't there in hell.

4yo: But how is that possible because God is everywhere!?

Beware when your child begins to read

I am reading a Jodi Picoult novel, and Nidhi standing next to me on the sofa is reading over my shoulder.

Suddenly she asks, "What's virgittiny?" (she pronounces 'g' as in 'girl')

I say, "What?"

She asks again, "What's virgittiny? Why did she lose her virgittiny?"

I close the book, turn towards her and say, "Err... because she wasn't looking after it properly!"

She cares for me

Today I was sitting in the armchair and Nidhi was on my lap. I wanted a glass of water but was feeling too tired to get up, as I had only just sat down. I sighed and said "Ah, Tochuten, when will you be old enough to get me a glass of water?!".

"I can get it now," she said, "if there is a glass not too high that I can reach."

She jumped down from my lap and ran to the kitchen.

"Yes, I can see one." she says, "It's near the sink".

She'll need a small chair to reach it though, so she comes to get it from the usual place near her desk. I am resting my feet on the chair, so I lift them up.

She hesitates and then looks around for the other chair (they are a pair). When she spots it she says "You can use this one, I'll take my timeout chair". The other chair had been moved to the corner of the room for her timeout not very long ago.

She carries it into the kitchen, gets the glass, fills it with water from the tap, and brings it carefully back to me.

I say, "Thank you Tochuten!"

She says "See I am old enough to do it for you now!"

And then she gets me another glass of water.

Last month Nidhi used to go cycling nearly every day after school. The town we live in is very hilly, so the roads are all slopes. Nidhi usually needs help when riding uphill. One day she rode to the park. I didn't play much with her as I was feeling tired and told her that. When we were riding back, she stopped when we reached the usual place that I help her ride uphill. She got off the bike and said "I am not going to make you push the bike because you are tired. I will walk with it uphill." And then she proceeded to do just that.

Odd and even

Rohan has taught Nidhi to identify odd and even numbers based on what they end with. So 0,2,4,6,8=even and the rest are odd.

I have recently been trying to teach her the concept that, while even numbers divide equally into 2, with odd numbers you are left with an 'odd' 1.

She easily identifies odd and even numbers based on the knowledge that daddy has taught. So daddy was asking her large numbers (>100) and she was getting them all right. And she was reasoning it on the ending digit.

When faced with the number 20, she said 'even' and then thought a bit and said "Because two tens make 20, so you can divide it between 2"

Numeracy

Nidhi loves sums and is always asking to do them. Yesterday she wanted to do them when she was getting in for a bath. So I asked her an easy one, "What is 6 and 4?"

Nidhi: "Noooo, give me a difficult maths. Give me the most difficult maths you know."

Me (thinking I'll end it with one question): "What is 65 and 35?"

Nidhi: "65 and 10 is 75, 75 and 10 is 85, 85 and 10 is 95." (pause) "So, 95 and 5 is 100. It's 100."

And we did this several times over ending with 43 and 37 = 80.

She's a genius!

Things they say

Oct 2, 2011

4yo: Mummy, when I grow up and get a husband I will not fight with him, like you.

Me: (thinking in my mind.. uh..oh!) No?

4yo: No, I will tell my husband that when I was a child I decided that I will not fight and argue with him.

Oct 11, 2011

4yo: Why did you tickle me?

Me: Because.... you looked like someone who needs to be tickled

4yo: Then next time I will kick you because you look like someone who needs to be kicked

October 18, 2011

Did God do Plan, Do, Review?

Her prayers

2011, Sep 27

Me: Is there anything you want to ask God?

N: Yes, I want God to give me a kiss, right now.

Tit for tat

Nidhi is very upset that I have taken away her computer using privileges. She cries back:

4yo: Noooo...., because you gave me punishment you are not going to use the computer for the rest of your life.

Me: Why is that?

4yo: In the Bible Jesus said " Do to others what you want you to do to them"

Emails to Amma

2011, Sep 13

i like you. my sunflower has grown so tall. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Misc

I am explaining something to Nidhi and she keeps asking more questions. Finally she says:

"Give me a reason that I can understand."

When we got back home from India it was night time. The garden was overgrown and looked scary to Nidhi. A few days later when she found out that daddy was coming home, she asked whether it would be night when he arrived. I said yes. She thought a bit and said:

"Nothing is scary when daddy is here in the night"

Things they say

4yo: Do you like me?

Me: Sometimes

4yo: Is now one of the times?

***

Going to bed one day, with her rag doll Piccolo, Nidhi says "I want a real person to sleep with me"

What's not ours

Rohan has been hard-trimming the overgrown hedge. When completed, he looks proudly at it and seeks Nidhi appreciation.

4yo (obligingly): Look Mummy, daddy has made the hedge look so neat!

Me: Yeah, and we have more space now!

4yo: How?

Rohan: Because the hedge was taking up a lot of space in the garden, so now we have more space in the garden.

4yo: Is that Doris's space? (Doris being the neighbour with whom we share the hedge)

Nuts!

At breakfast Nidhi is picking out various nuts from her muesli and asking me to identify them for her.

4yo: Which nut is this?

Me: That's an almond

4yo: And this one?

Me: That's hazelnut

4yo (stares ahead thoughtfully): Do the Indian squirrels eat coconuts?

The art of negotiation

I am downstairs when Nidhi wakes up in the morning and calls for me.

Me (entering her bedroom): Time to wake up!

4yo: Sleep with me for some time. Sleep with me for 3 minutes.

Me (hoping to negotiate): 1 minute

4yo: No, 3 minutes. (Pause). Because you said 1 minute, I am going to make it 4 minutes.

You can't win.

What parents are for

Rohan is away doing a sailing course on the weekend. Nidhi is talking to me while I am washing up.

4yo: Daddy has gone to the coast to learn sailing because you know Mummy, if daddy goes on the boat he must know how to sail. Or if he falls from the boat he will drown. And if he drowns then who will work and earn money for us?

Then you will have to work for us mummy.

But then who will cook for me?

You will have to work and do the cooking.

Yeah, she has it all figured out at 4!!

******

Nidhi has a very unemotional view of death as you can see above. Today she is contemplating about my death.

4yo: Mummy, will you be dead before I am dead?

Me: Yes, I think so

4yo: But that's ok. May be, when I am in the middle of 20 years then you will be dead, because then I don't need you.

Friendship

I like Carla a lot. But I am not going to marry her because a boy should marry her. Even though I like her so much as to marry her. (?!)

Room on the broom

Me and Rohan are sharing a hug when Nidhi appears around our legs, keen to be included. We are purposefully ignoring her.

Nidhi: I am a girl as good as can be. Is there room in the hug for a girl like me?

(adapting lines from one of her story books called Room on the broom)

More on God

Nidhi: Mummy, WHY did God want Jesus to die?

Me: As a punishment for all our sins

Nidhi: But then, why do you still give me time out?

***

Nidhi: Mummy, there are so many people in the world. Is there a God for everybody?

Mummy: God is very big, he can look after everybody in the world.

***

Nidhi: Daddy, can God do anything?

Daddy: Yes

Nidhi: Then can he make other Gods? Then there will be enough Gods to look after everybody in the world.

Thrice times

Nidhi is plucking blossoms from a tree in the garden.

4yo: Here, I got one for you

Me: Thank you

4yo: And I got one for myself and one for daddy

Me: That's good

After some time

4yo: Can I pluck some more

Me:Sure, you can get 2 for each of us. So how many will that be?

4yo: 6

Me: And if you get 3 for each of us, how many will that be (thinking this will be difficult)

4yo: 9

Me (impressed): And if you get 4 for each of us, then how many will that be? (certain that this will stump her)

4yo (without hesitation): 12

I don't know how she does it!

Getting married and other things

Nidhi: If I marry a man having a child then?

Me: That's ok, you can marry a man who has a child. As long as he doesn't have a wife already.

4yo: If I marry a man with a child then he will have two children.

Me: How is that ?

4yo: Because one child will be inside my tummy.

****

Daddy: Nidhi, before you go upstairs can you draw the curtains?

4yo: No, because I don't have white colour (referring to the colour of the curtains)

****

Nidhi was waiting for me to finish cooking, and take her out to ride her bike. We had been counting down every 5 mins from 50 mins. When I said for the second time, that she had to wait for 5 mins more, she protested saying:

4yo: But it has already been some minutes after 5 mins

Me: Ok, then 4 and a half minutes more

She was very quiet for a while, so I went to check. She was sitting, with her hands in front of her, like she was counting.

Me: What are you doing?

4yo: I'm counting two 120s and 30

Me: What? (not understanding the calculation)

4yo (repeats): Two 120s and 30

About God

Nidhi one day: When God was a little child did he go to school?

*****

I've just read the bible story about Jesus raising Jairus's daughter from the dead to Nidhi. She contemplates this for a while and then says:

"I want to be like Jesus. When I die and go to heaven will I be able to do all the things that God can do?"

How old?

Nidhi's previous key worker was very impressed when, early in September, after Nidhi started pre-school, one day she counted upto 30 unaided. Further, when the key worker (Dana) said that that was how old she was, Nidhi told her that her mummy was 32 years old and that her daddy was 33. I din't find this remarkable until this week.

This week is school half term and Nidhi has been very socially active. She's been having playdates with friends from pre-school every day. The pre-school mom who came on Monday was clearly impressed when Nidhi counted upto 100, to take turns for playing with the same toy. Her son wouldn't count upto 20 without making mistakes.

Then yesterday another girl from pre-school was playing with Nidhi and they were talking about their ages. The girl asked how old I was and Nidhi said I was 33years old and so was her father. Then Nidhi asked the girl how old her dad was. The girl said 15. Nidhi turned around and gave me a funny look. Today she said, "Her dad cannot be 15 because then he will be a child."

Given any two random numbers between 1 and 100, Nidhi can correctly say which is the bigger of the two.

Literacy and numeracy appear to be her strengths. When Nidhi started pre-school I was pretty certain she would be the brightest child in her class. I have been in to preschool to help several times in the last term and a half. As a result, I have had the opportunity to observe all the children. I have to say, I no longer consider Nidhi the brightest child in the class. They are all unique and all have their talents. Some are great at making friends, others are great at looking after each other, some have very good communication, some are very confident and assertive, some are just very funny the way they are, and the things they say.

They are at this lovely age when it's wonderful to watch them learn and develop. It would be silly really to try to compare or pit them against each other.

Taste of Bollywood

By choice, we have no TV. Nidhi has not watched any Bollywood movies or songs till date. Today I was humming an old Hindi song all morning. Wanting to get more of the lyrics I searched for the video and played it on youtube.

After a couple of lines of the song have played, Nidhi appears interested and watches the screen.

4yo: I like this singing. I like the song.

Me: :-)

4yo: But I can't sing it because the words are very different from what I know.

Me: :-)

After watching some more

4yo: Are they trying to get married?

Just for the record, it was a harmless song: Aisa sama na hota, from Zameen Asmaan, a 1980s movie.

Twice times

I'm reading a book to Nidhi and notice that she is playing with her fingers instead of following the story. I'm just about to show my irritation when she says "Four twos are nine". I look at her a little doubtfully and shake my head "Unh..unh". She looks at her fingers again and says"It's eight. Four twos are eight"

I'm amazed but say nothing. She did this a few weeks back when I was putting her to bed and she was playing with her fingers and said "Three twos is six". At that time I din't pay much attention as I thought it was purely guesswork or chance.

I don't know why she's even thinking on these lines (ie times tables). We have never touched the subject as far as I can remember.

I had a general chat with Liz, her key worker at pre-school earlier today. I did not talk about any of Nidhi's numeracy skills but Liz mentioned that numbers seems to be Nidhi's strength/talent. She plans to work further with Nidhi on numbers in the next half term. Will be interesting to see how that goes.

You can't win

Nidhi loves her fried egg sunny side up. Not surprisingly she loves runny egg yolk. I'm thinking of a quick dinner tonight since we were late getting back from the dentist.

Me: Would you like fried egg or fish fingers?

4yo: Fried egg. But don't give me 4 pieces of bread, just give me 2.

Me: Why?

4yo: Because by the time I eat 2 pieces, it gets over.

Me: What gets over?

4yo: The dip (she means the runny yolk into which she dips the bread)

Me: Well, you've got to eat the white part then. You can't just eat the yolk and leave the rest. I'm not going to make a fried egg. I'm making an omelette.

4yo: Ok, I'll have fish fingers.

No longer 3yo

4yo: Can God carry the world?

Me: Yes, he can do anything

4yo: Can he carry you, and me and daddy, and all the 6 billion people in the world?

Me: Yes, he can

4yo: Can Samson carry that?

Me: Hmmm... no I don't think so

4yo: But he was very strong. Can Samson carry 10 people?

Me: Ya, may be, but not the whole world.

4yo: Can God carry himself?

Me: (sigh!) Yes, I think so, since he can do anything

4yo: Even though that is impossible?!

Me: Uh..uh..

After life

3yo: Can we use toilets in heaven?

Me: Yes, I guess so. Why do you want to know?

3yo: Because daddy said we'll live in heaven for ever and ever.

Story teller

A story Nidhi made up during lunch one day

Once there were two girls. One was named Cherry and the other was named Chocolate. One day Cherry and Chocolate went to school. Their teacher said, "Cherry and Chocolate, both your names begin with 'Ch', so you both stand up."

But Cherry and Chocolate did not know their letter sounds. So they ran away.

About God

3yo: Did God make poor people and robbers too?

Cheeky Monkey

Me: Mummy loves you Tochutaen

3yo: Me too

(pause..)

3yo: I love myself too