Kidspeak

Some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking conversations I have had is with my about-to-be-four-year-old kids. It is so disarming the way they love unconditionally, and the way their mind works with the very limited exposure they have. As Penelope Leach says, they use about 25,000 words a day, when they have a total vocabulary of about 500 words! So while it is tiresome to listen to the repeated words, and exhausting to reply to hundreds of questions and demands (most of the time all three kids talk at once and I can't even make out what each one is saying), it is still enjoyable if I listen close. They go like this...

Daughter's first attempt at poetry..when Raman's(his real name is Suryanarayanan) turn at the swing was over I called Kutty for her turn. She says..'Raman poyi, Kutty vannu; Suryan poyi, nilaavu vannu' (Raman left, Kutty arrived- The Sun left, Moonshine arrived!)

Obviously my kids need a little more imagination..yesterday a spider bit me. I showed them the small swelling and with big drama told them 'amma will become spiderman tonight and go to save the world'..Then I turned in a flying action.. For a moment they looked wide eyed, i was satisfied and then Kutty turned and said matter-of-factly, 'amma won't become spiderman, if spider bit, amma will have to go to hospital..'

Balu's latest favourite hero is Zorro. So in a surge of affection he hugged me saying 'Amma oru bhayankara Zero aan!!' 

frown emoticon
gasp emoticon

Kutty: When is daddy going to come tonight?

Me: He will be quite late. After you sleep.

Kutty: Oh I ll see him before you do tonight.

Me: And how is that?

Kutty: He will come in my dreams.

Me: Are you listening to too many film songs?:(

I don't know where he got the name from..but today when I asked the name of the king who married Shakuntala, Raman says indifferently-"Sasi!" 

We have kept our data CDs separate from cartoon CDs, in paper cases of different colours. As they are on the top shelf kids cannot reach them, they can just see the coloured cases and they often ask for a green CD or a red one which they are not given. So yesterday we had quite a few guests including relatives, and Kutty was proudly talking about her cartoon CD collection to them. Then she animatedly said..'...apart from all these amma has a lot of blue CDs..' 

God, the number of dirty looks I got! 

As soon as we stepped inside the packed elevator in the mall, Kutty said,'Amma acha,i have a doubt'..Amma and acha instantly turned away as if we have no idea who the little girl is, because, well, the doubt could be anything.. Needless to say, the whole elevator got curious. Unfazed, Kutty fired-'Amma ente randanamma aano?'(Are you our stepmother?) Oops. Ok, so I scold her and threaten to beat sometimes, but am I like the legendary stepmother who mistreats kids? Everyone in the lift looked around to see who this monster was who mistreats the little angel, and their collective dirty look was on me as they guessed I was the amma. Then Balu explained-'Kutty second kutty aya kond amma randaan amma, balu third kutty, appo amma moonnaan amma'..(Since Kutty is the second child, you are her second mother-stepmother, Since Balu is third baby, you are my third mother!)

Phew!'

Adi thettiyaal aana yum veezhum' enna proverb n kutty ude addition- 'Adi kittiyaal aana yum nannaavum!' 

Children can really shut you up with their logic. Today Balu was saying a centipede when grows becomes a snake. I tried correcting him saying that only a small snake can grow into a big snake, a little centipede becomes only an adult centipede. Thats when he asks with his limited vocabulary,"Then why does a worm grows to become a butterfly?" 

On differentiating between binoculars,telescope,microscope,magnifying glass etc., I tell the kids-'Binoculars can make far away things seem closeby, we can see things clearly from a distance'. Then Balu asks me-'Oh,if buy binoculars will I see Ernakulam from here?'