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.