Boss

This happened a few weeks back.

It was a tiring work day for me. After picking up Diya from her daycare, as soon as we reached home, I thought of quickly getting done with the home-duties (kid's bath, kid's dinner, etc.) and retire early.  I asked Diya to quickly go and take a bath. 

Diya decided not to listen to me. I asked her again to take her shower.

Diya refused once again remarked, "You are not the boss!"

I lost my patience. I said, "Yes, I am! At home, Mamma and Baba are the bosses, so now you better listen to me!" In my mind I was thinking - where the hell did she get the concept about 'a boss'! I thought I will ask her another time. Anyway, after some parental manipulations, she finally gave in and went for her bath.

After that, things were going pretty smooth, and I even got Diya to finish her dinner without much hassle.  I was looking at the clock and thinking of the next parental manipulation I need to use to get Diya to her bedroom, when she asked "Baba, you know there are three kinds of bosses!"

I was a bit amused, and asked her "Really? Who are they?" 

I thought that she counted my boss at work, and then Ankur and me at home and arrived at the number three. Which is not bad at all! I started feeling proud at my parental skills in teaching her math.

Diya said, "First there is the boss at work. Then there is Mamma and Baba at home."

Exactly as I predicted, I thought. I got up from my chair and was about to take Diya to her bedroom when she remarked, "And the third one is called Boss-Ton!! It's where Golu-Mamu lives!"

Checklist

This happened when I was driving Diya and Aadi to their daycares (they do to different daycares) this morning.

I was just backing out of our garage, when Diya suddenly shouted, "Baba! You forgot you coffee!!" I assured her that I didn't forget today and thanked her for reminding me. Then she decided to go through a checklist to make sure that I took all my stuff before going to work. The sequence went as follows: Wallet? Cell phone? Medicine? Laptop? ... . After a while she was convinced and happy that we didn't miss anything.

After about 15-20 minutes (by that time we have already dropped off Aadi) when she exclaimed, "Baba, I know what you forgot! You forgot your lunch!!" 

She was partially right this time - I didn't pack lunch from home since I decided to eat at the office canteen. The following conversation made my day!

Diya: "Baba, do they give you yummy food at office?"
Suvo: "No, not really."
Diya: "Why?" 
Suvo: "Well, sometimes we get good food, and sometimes we don't. Actually, I don't really like eating at the canteen."
Diya: "Is it because they give you lots and lots of vegetables"?
Suvo (controlling his laughter): "No, you get all kinds of food items. You know, vegetables are good for health."

Then I gave her a short lecture on different food groups and why we need to eat vegetables.

She was silent for 2-3 min. 

I thought we were finally off the topic. We almost reached our destination when she asked her final question for the morning: "Baba, who cooks the food? Do the bosses cook the food for everyone?"

Quesadilla

This happened last Thursday. Ankur was on travel that day, so the onus was upon me to pick up the kids from their respective daycares, bathe and feed them, etc. till she returned.

Now, from our past experience, we have figured out that it's imperative that whoever is picking up Diya needs to carry some snacks for her to eat as soon as she gets in the car. Else, by the time she reaches home, usually hell breaks loose!

Well, as Murphy's law rules our lives, I simply forgot to carry a snack for Diya that day. And, as soon as I picked up Diya from her daycare (after picking up Aadi), she asked, "Baba, what did you get for me to eat?"

I realized that I goofed up, but I quickly recovered saying that, "I have some delicious quesadilla (pronounced as kay-si-di-aa) at home (leftover from my lunch at Chillies). They are yummy, and you can eat them as soon as we reach home. It's a little bet messy to eat, so I didn't bring those in the car!"

Hearing that Diya asked me, "Baba, do I have to guess that?"

I couldn't make sense of what she was saying, and so I asked, "Why do you think you need to guess that? I already told you it's quesadilla."

Diya nonchalantly remarked, "But Baba, didn't you say it is 'Guess-It-Diya' ? So, now I have to guess it before eating!"

I held my breath for 30 sec so that I didn't burst into laughter! :)

Daydreaming

I woke up from my afternoon siesta (couldn't help it after the hectic morning with the kids, followed by a long shower, and eating loads of rice and chicken curry - Indian style) and was daydreaming when I heard the giggling sounds coming from Diya's room. I was feeling energetic after sleeping for an hour or so. So I decided to venture into her room. In fact, it is supposed to be my turn to take care of the kids now.

It was quite a scene when I opened the door. The door of Diya's little book cabinet (we call it the Library) was wide open and almost all (say about 50-60) of the books were lying on the carpet, obviously not in any orderly manner. Aadi was screaming with delight and was going round and round the room with a torn page in his hand. Ankur was trying her best to ignore the commotion and rush through the best part of her novel.

Diya remarked that Aadi had torn her favorite book, but she did not seem to be super agitated about it. In fact, she reported that very calmly, without any hint of complain. Now that's quite unnatural!

Anyway, before I could react to the incident report, Diya mentioned, "Baba, do you know that I am dreaming of real dinosaurs?" And then she repeated the same sentence 3-4 times.  I was a bit put off by the level of commotion in the room, topped with Diya's iterative monologues, and decided to get back in a mock angry tone, "So, you have started to dream with your eyes open?!"

She said, "Yes," without even looking up. In fact, she seemed a bit aloof (which, as you know, is very unlike herself). She continued, "Do you know what it is called?"

I couldn't think of anything witty, so I said, "No!"

She looked up and said, "It's called THINKING!"

2 + 2 = ... ?

It happened this morning when I was driving Diya and Aadi to the Ridgedale Mall Play Area. We left Ankur behind at home (she desperately needed a break). The weather was pleasant outside - just the perfect combination of sunshine and breeze. I was enjoying the drive, despite the constant chattering coming from the backseat.

Diya asked, "Baba, do you know what is one hundred plus one hundred?". Before I could say anything, she reminded me that I am supposed to pretend that I don't know the answers. I decided to play along and said, "No". She promptly said, "Two hundred!" I have to say I was a little bit impressed considering the fact that 2-3 weeks back she was still making mistakes adding two single-digit numbers.

I decided to test her with a few more (two hundred plus two hundred, one hundred plus three hundred, etc.) and she immediately answered all of those, all correctly. Then she remarked, "You know Baba, I have decided to be good in Math. So I am counting the numbers now, and I have stopped guessing".

I was still thinking about when did she learn the trick of adding hundreds, when she asked her final question on the topic, "Baba, do you know what is infinity plus infinity?" When I remained silent, a bit stunned by her question (when did she learn about infinity?), she remarked, "It's two infinity! Just like the hundreds."

I didn't have the heart to correct her 'indisputable deduction', and decided to relish the moment without adding anything further to the conversation (anyway, by then she already moved on to her next topic!).

I did remember later that I told her about infinity a few days back when she asked me what is the largest number. At that time, she laughed and remarked, "Is that even a number? I have never heard of it!"

A Night Story (Part 1) ...