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.

I came, I heard, I ignored

I scold her. She ignores. I make noises. She ignores. I call out. She ignores. I tell her to eat. She ignores. I tell her to eat fast. She ignores. When confronted with a WHY, she gives a silly reason, a perfect one that puts a full-stop on any further argument. Okay, we can't argue with her. We can only TELL her, firm and straight. She understands, yes. But she happily repeats it whenever she feels like. Is there an end to it? Dunno. Maybe, no.

Then I wonder, why? Because they're growing up? Getting more independent? Maybe, they think they're big enough to take a few decisions themselves, like when not to listen to Mommy, when not to eat, when to embarrass Mommy with a surprise tantrum, etc.

How to you deal with it? With patience, of course! Patience, which I'm always short of.

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They have the Teachers' Appreciation Week at school next week, and San (Mommy) needs to write why Miss L is a star. I asked San, why. This is what she told me:

Because Miss L is a girl, and I'm a girl too.
Because Miss L lets me sleep.
Because Miss L helps me make crafts.
Because Miss L is my friend.

Miss L is gonna be very happy! :-)

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A little update on her gymnastics class: San's picking up fast and getting over her shyness, gradually, although  she still goes into little bouts of distractions and dreaminess!

I'd never imagined myself doing a handstand, until San motivated me, and even taught me how. It felt like an achievement! :-D