The Loquacious Lass!
There is no doubt about it. My little girl has a limitless capacity for words. Sometimes they mean a lot, and other times they mean absolutely nothing. Sometimes I could listen to her in rapture, and other times I have to beg her to stop.
There are some things that she has said over the course of time that we still remember. Some move us to think, and some are just funny.
This Monday will be open house in her school. I told her so. She waited for her father to come, and as soon as he stepped in she declared, “Baba, there is open house in my school on Monday, and until then it is closed house!”
I was changing her into her nightgown, when out of a lot of thought she asked me, “Mamma, is helping others a good habit or a bad habit?” I said, “Of course darling, it’s a good habit. You should always help others.”
“Then why does my teacher say ‘Don’t help others, do your own work’?”
Stumped!
“Mom, what is the sound of G?” “Ga, sweetie.” “As in?” “Grapes, goat, grains…” “Then shouldn’t ‘Giraffe’ be spelt ‘Jiraffe’?”
Out of her whens, whys and hows sometimes come hilarious results. For example, she asked me once, “Why did grandpa go to heaven?”
“You see sweetie, grandpa was a bone doctor, and God had pain in his legs, so he called grandpa to treat him.”
“Mamma, God has toothache, when will you go?”
I used to watch a television show years ago, called ‘Kids say the darnedest things’. Little did I know that one day I’d be in the chair of Bing Cosby and my daughter would be the one giving the darned answers.
I had long hair, but I always wanted a short cut. My husband said they looked nice. I bought it. In marched my daughter proclaiming, “Ma, you look ugly!”
“Thanks sweetie!”
We were in a movie theatre watching a movie. This svelte actress came out of a water body wearing a two-piece string bikini. “Mom, she has forgotten her clothes!” declared my little girl.
My younger daughter is showing all signs of being talkative too. Barely seven months old, she is already babbling away. She puts one little finger in her mouth and demands, “Achhatata boi boi.” Then she gives me a quaint look, as though what she said was the most lucid thing in the world. Lucid or not, I know that the quality is germinating. It is hereditary, you see?
Naive as they are, her questions and statements make me realise that the world as we see it is far different from a little kid’s point of view. They are honest and call a spade a spade. As adults, we try to thwart their honesty for various reasons. Sometimes, we fear embarrassment. Other times, we call their behaviour rude. Yet, something in me tells me not to. Because everyday, when she comes to me, throws her hands around my neck, and proclaims, “Mommy, I love you more than everyone!” I know that there is truth in it.
Dr. Gauri Kekre is a clueless, 30-year-old woman, who still has to find her calling in life. A dental surgeon by education, she has almost given it up to be a mommy to her two beautiful girls. She loves to be a ‘jack of all trades’ and dabbles some in writing, cooking and her latest fad, sewing. She writes off and on for her cookery blog and you can find her as @drgaurikekre on twitter (although she seldom uses it). Amongst the things she loves are her mom, her husband, her daughters and people in general.