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Let there be light !

This happened a few weeks ago. We were planning to have a backyard concert – an annual event where we invite all our friends to gather in our backyard for some music and food; improvising our deck as a stage and asking every invitee to perform something.

It is always challenging to schedule this event in advance as Minnesota summers are known for the thunderstorms that materialize out of nowhere and ruin any outdoor evening plans. Yet, all participants needed much advance notice so they could prepare & practice their performances. There is also quite a bit of organization and arrangement that goes along to convert the deck into the stage, getting all the music instruments & PA system out, decorating, planning the food etc. In short, it was not possible to do this party impromptu. So we set a date tentatively and started tracking the weather for many days leading up to it. We did not realize but Diya got a hang of the concept.

The weekend before the party some of our friends had gathered for a practice session and the conversation inevitably turned to the weather and whether the weather would cooperate. The more optimistic people (like me, proclaimed confidently that everything will be fine) and the more pessimistic folks (like Suvo, prophesized doom and gloom as ever). Trying to avoid domestic meltdown some of our friends intervened and suggested we take shelter in science – lets looks at the forecast! So we pulled up the ‘wunderground’ report for the next several days. It did not help us much as the forecast showed rain and shine alternately for the next several days – really meaning that it was going to be a flip of a coin, not really helping the somber mood that was threatening to descend on all of us. But Diya suddenly noticed the screen, and never wasting a chance to participate, said something that left us all laughing (except her ofcourse!). I will type it verbatim, as I can never quite wordsmith as well as she can –

Diya - “Mamma is this showing the weather”
Me – Yes, shona.

Diya – “It is going to be rainy tonight!”
Me – hmmm …

Diya – “Is this next picture for tomorrow?”
Me- yes tomorrow morning, (and anticipating the next 5 questions, I continued to say) and the one after is for tomorrow night, and the one after is for day after tomorrow morning ...

Diya – “Oh … tomorrow is going to be cloudy” … she paused for effect and not getting any response from us she continued …. “and then in the night it is going to be “moony!!”)
Me – I opened my mouth to correct her but could only laugh at her irrefutable logic – if it can be sunny, rainy and cloudy then why can’t it be moony??

The real kicker came the next day when I was driving her back from the daycare. She had inevitably picked up our anxiety around weather and somehow wanted to help. She was uncharacteristically quite and soon said very thoughtfully – “Mamma, I want to be a weather girl when I grow up”. I was suddenly alert – where did this come from, we spent a lot of time drilling in her head that she should be a doctor or an engineer. So I gently asked, why do you want to be a weather girl? She said without hesitation – “So I can make it sunny everyday !!” :)

Diya With Mom's Camera

Diya decided it is high time that she starts taking things (like mummy's camera) into her own hand :-)

What Comes First - Tune or Lyrics?

Rock Star - Aadi!

Scientific Vs Ad Hoc Techniques

We deal with this at work everyday but yesterday I encountered this situation at home. Aadi’s new sport is to sweep the house with a broom – ours looks like a wide brush with a long handle. He has been at it since this weekend and now starting to gain some proficiency. Yesterday, I saw him trying hard to sweep away a small piece of potato chip on the floor. I was amazed to see him apply a very scientific approach to this mundane task. He first squatted down and closely examined the chip and assessed he did not want to eat it (for once!). He then placed it precisely aligned (to what only he knows). I saw him fiddling with it for some time until he was satisfied. He then stood up and very deliberately starting moving his broom back and forth to sweep it away. Needless to say he missed it every time. So he squatted down again moved the chip half an inch to get closer to where he thought his broom with make contact, got up readjusted his stance and started doing sweeping motion again. I could almost see the ‘design of experiments’ unfolding in his little brain. He missed again, tried again after the third attempt managed to sweep is off. He was thrilled! He looked around to see if anyone noticed his triumph and was very pleased to see me watching.

I was so excited, I called Suvo to show him what was going on. I found the piece of chip, which had moved no more that 2 feet away and showed it to Aadi. Aadi was surprised and somewhat upset to see it! He tried to scold it for some time showing his displeasure at the impertinence the piece of chip showed in reappearing again after he had taken such pains to sweep it the first time. Nevertheless, he attempted to sweep it away again but this time got frustrated pretty soon and gave up. That’s when the master (rather mistress) of ‘ad hoc’ cleaning appeared – Maple! She was watching the show from sidelines and as soon as she found this opening, she swept in and licked the cheeky potato chip up. Mission accomplished!

Alligator Apple-Eater

Diya came up with the caption for this picture! 

She painted the picture and then marked the borders with a black Uniball pen, to replicate the effects of Chinese ink!

The date is supposed to be 8th of August, 2010, but she decided to write it as 8/9/10 :).

Color

It was very late yesterday (at least for the kids) ... about 10:00 pm. Diya was begging me to read her new book called "The Human Body". It is a very well designed book --- designed in the sense that the pages were layered, and every time you turn the page, you see a different system of the human body, starting from the dermal system, skeletal system, digestive system ... to the nervous system.

I was quite sleepy, so I decided to take a short-cut. I browsed through the pages quickly, telling Diya just the names of the different systems of the human body. Well, she soon figured out that a lot of things are written in the book, so she asked me to start reading again from page one.

Reluctantly, I started reading the first page. It talked about different kinds of cells --- red blood cells, skin cells, bone cells, white blood cells, etc.

As soon as I uttered the word 'white blood cells', Diya asked "Where are the white blood cells?". I answered, "Well, they are mixed with the red blood cells, that's why you cannot see those".

Diya asked me, "Do the white blood cells mix with the red blood cells, and make the blood PINK in color?!"

Clouds

Yesterday, Ankur got some new books for Diya. One of those is a non-fiction book which introduces the concept of weather to 4-5 year olds, or may be even to older kids. It's from the 'The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library Series', and is actually quite entertaining to read! (You may recall Dr. Seuss' bestsellers like The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham ...)

In the evening, I was reading that book to Diya. She was trying her best to show that she was paying attention, but her real focus was to turn each page as soon as I reach the end of the page.  :)

Anyway ... we reached the page which talks about clouds. As soon as I read the first line which goes as "There are all kinds of clouds," she exclaimed, "I know! I learnt it in our daycare!" She continued, "There are three kinds of clouds. One of them is called Cirrus", and she points to the right picture. "Then there is the Cumulus, which are the big white ones", she again points to the right picture.

Then finishes her monologue with the following: "There is one more, which is black and makes the rain, but I forgot name of it."

It took me a few attempts to read and pronounce the name of the third kind. It's called 'Cumulonimbus'!

Not a bad performance for a 4 & 1/2 year old (who can barely read a 3 or 4 lettered word). What do you say? ;)