Take a deep breath and count till four

Kids, in one little second, can turn a frown into a smile, a smile into a laughter. Here's how San did it to us:

At the dinner table, when I was about to take a second serving:

"Mommy, don't eat more!"
"Why, San?"
"You'll become fat!"
"Oh, and why don't you say that to your Daddy (who was already helping himself with the second one) too?"
"Because he is already fat."

San didn't like it when I broke into a laughter after hearing this. She thinks that we were making fun of her... oh boy!
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After dinner, during a light chit-chat with San:

"So what do you want to be when you grow up?", I asked San.
"Ummm, a doctor!"
"Great! And what would you do when you become a doctor?"
"Give medicines, give shots.... and bring babies!"
"Babies?"
"Yes, they'll be born in my hospital. Daddies and kids will come to visit Mommies. Mommies will stay for four days, and I'll take care of them."
"Wow!"

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When I was in a grumpy mood, and not talking to San:

"Umm... Mommy?"
"San, I don't wanna talk to you. Go to your room!"
"Mommy....."
"No, San."
"But Mommy, listen!
When you're really mad
And you wanna roar
Take a deep breath
And count till four"

Mommy forgot everything else and was all smiles!

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Slow and steady what?

Remember the story of a tortoise and a rabbit with the moral "Slow and steady wins the race"? I told San this story a couple of times during her mealtime, and she seemed to understand it well. Yesterday, I showed it to her in one of the Disney episodes. Her expressions changed every time the tortoise led the race, and the rabbit indulged in some time-pass stuff because he thought he'd win anyway. The tortoise won (he had to) and left San disappointed.

"Why did the tortoise win, Mommy?"
"Because he was steady and kept running!"
"What is steady? Tortoise is slow. Rabbit is fast!"
"Steady means that he kept walking and did not stop. The rabbit slept, thinking that he'll win because he's fast."
"But the rabbit was faster!! He should have won. Why did he not win? I don't like the tortoise!" Hmph.

I gave up. I couldn't explain her the meaning of being slow and steady. Maybe, some other time!

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People always told me (and I always told myself) that the Terrible Twos are here to stay, always waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback. And here they are, in the form of my whiny little three and a half year old! She loves to whine, and I'm almost tearing my hair and losing the last few drops of my patience over it.

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And in these whiny times, we do have some light moments with San's wonderful vocabulary. :)

"Mommy, stop feeting my foot!" (while San was enjoying a siesta with me by her side, my feet happened to touch hers and I couldn't help tickling her)

"I'm gonna grow up, become a doctor, and check everyone with my telescope." (you would know what she actually meant!)

A getaway, some tan, and an ambition

The summer heat has made me lazier. How difficult it is to type a few words and write a new post? Very.

We spent the last weekend in and around Las Vegas. San was super-excited, in spite of the dry, hot weather that couldn't take a toll on us. The only things she wanted to avoid was the sun and food. Tough, isn't it? :-)

Yes, LV isn't the place to be with kids. A walk through the casinos can result in you explaining them why the place isn't meant for them and why they can't play the 'video games'. If you are with kids, you need to devote some time to the kid-friendly places. For us, it was the hotels with wonderful fountains, gardens, restaurants, and of course, the kids's favorite, M&M World. San could have spent her life there, among the loads of M&Ms and goodies.

We also spent a day at the Grand Canyon, which she called the Big Mountain. That's because we didn't explain her what a canyon is! Do not miss her green binoculars in the picture below. She picked them up (literally) from a souvenir shop, and almost walked away with it, until we told her that we need to 'buy' them first. Phew!

And the next favorite place she wanted to be, after she was done with her other favorites, was our hotel room. She loved her cozy bed there, and we had a hard time pulling her away from it the morning we had to leave!

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San and sun don't go well together. Her face gets redder and the skin darker. She already got a bad bad tan from our beach trip two weeks back. The LV trip enhanced it further. I showed her her shades in the mirror. She was amused!

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San has started her summer session in school after a week's break. She's moved on to the 4-year old's class and adores her new teacher. Also, she has developed a strange interest in the tools, the ones that Bob the Builder, Handy Manny, and Daddy use. So her favorite place in her class is where the toolbox is.

And what does she want to be when she grows up? A Firefighter, like Fireman Sam, to rescue people, and an Animal Rescuer, just like Diego! And when she is not rescuing people and animals, she'd fix stuff for them!

The Key to Happiness

Kids are funny. They are happy, content. Content with what they have at that very moment. Content with the little train of blocks they built, with the pancakes they ate for breakfast, with a trip to the park, with a candy, with popcorn, with any little happy thing that means a world to them. They don't pretend. They can't. And that is because they are full of innocence, of truth. They have no fear (apart from the fear of getting a timeout). They don't understand the social issues and concerns. They just be what they are and do what they want to do, happily. They don't whine about the past and worry about the future. They live in the present, in the moment.

They have THE key to happiness.

How easy or difficult it is to be a kid, be content, and be happy? Easy for them, difficult for us. I wish I could be like San, not all the time, but at times, when I need to.