Stories from the Past

This evening little Miss Haana noticed a couple of pictures stuck on the side of the fridge. They were taken when the little girl was just a little baby - 4 months old. A giggly little baby.


I tried to use the new found interest in herself as a little baby to my advantage. "The little baby Gugu used to always finish her food! She was such a terrific eater". Miss Smarty instantly poked holes in my theory by retorting that the baby didn't have any teeth, so couldn't possibly have eaten much food. I had to explain by "food" I meant milk, and the little baby used to be very good about finishing her milk!


Meanwhile, the conversation drifted to stories from when she was a baby. I had heard earlier about how little kids really like to hear sensational stories from when they were younger; but I had no idea how they hang on to each and every single word!


I started with oft repeated familiar anecdotes - how little she was as a baby; how she was smaller than a boppy pillow. Then other anecdotes from the past - about how she used to sleep with both her hands up like a yoga pose (touch-down position)! And about how when she was born and her grandparents were here, grandpa used to get so flustered when she would cry! Even as a little baby Miss Haana had a big big voice, and once upset would not be shy to use it.


Then I was telling her how we visited several places for her first birthday; one of them was the Cinderella castle (Neuschwanstein castle in southern Germany), and Momma dressed her up as a ladybug (the costume was so soft and cute; I just could not resist making her wear it multiple times). And while we were clicking pictures of the castle, several people came up to me to comment on how cute my little girl is; and to ask if it's okay with me if they take pictures of my little girl who was hanging around on the cobbled stones! It was hilarious how we were clicking photos of the castle and everyone else coming around and clicking photos of this tiny cute ladybug!

Case of the Missing Hairpin

Now that my little girls' hair are growing longer and curlier, hair pins are a big thing for me. I had bought a large consignment (in a shipping trailer!) of all kinds of hair pins mostly pinks and purples for all days and dresses. I did a good thing because these things practically come with shoes on them- they run around and vanish into thin air in no time at all. And then there are times when they pull on the little girls hair or generally fall out of luck and are just removed by tiny hands and handed to me- while I'm in the middle of driving, running in the park, going to ring the doorbell at a friends' place- anytime at all.

The other day little Miss Haana and I were on a trip to the mall (which commenced after I threatened her with "If u don't want to put a pin in your hair then you can be at home, Mumma is going out"). Somewhere during that mall trip we thought we had an accident (bathroom accident). I wasn't happy. I left what we were doing and we headed in the direction of the restrooms. It was at this time that the little girl began peeling her hair clip out of her hair. I gave her a don't-even-think-about-it look. It usually doesn't work but this time it did. 

For a little bit. I did not notice but the hair clip soon vanished from her hair. I did not notice because instead of handing it to me she got rid of evidence by putting it inside her boots. Things stayed quiet for sometime. The accident wasn't really an accident- so I was relieved. 

A little later while walking the little girl complained that her shoes were bothering her. "Are these shoes too tight for you" I asked. "No they have my hairpin". "What? Hairpin?". I took and shook it out. Nothin. And then two tiny, knowing, expert hands went inside the boots and came back victorious with a pink flower hairpin!!!

The mystery of the missing hairpin for once was solved. For now.

Bad Girl

This incident happened sometime early last week at the little girl's Montessori. Teachers who could barely stop laughing themselves, related the incident to me, and ever since, the reference has come up at home several times.

There were a string of accidents over a two day period at school last week. While accidents are not uncommon in little kids, what followed was this:

One of the teachers at Miss Haana's school who loves to chat with her, asked her - "Oh, did you have an accident again?!" Little girl pondered, and responded with a solemn "Yes, I did".
They had run out of change of clothes for her at school, so the teacher said "I don't have a change of clothes for you in school, I'll ask your Mom to get one real soon. Till then, I'll give you spare pants from someone else". The little girl asked, "Are you going to call Rangoli?"

Mildly amused that she referred to her Mom by her name, the teacher laughed, "Yes, I'll call Rangoli. Why did you have an accident today?" The little girl said "Mmm I don't really know. I think my pee-pee is a bad girl!"

On hearing the last sentence, the teacher could not stop laughing till she shared this exchange with me, and we both laughed till our sides hurt! Luckily, since then, the pee-pee has not gone rogue and has been on excellent good girl behavior!

ASPCA

Day before yesterday Miss Haana were watching a movie - this holiday season I saw Tangled a record number of times! This time we were watching 101 Dalmatians on TV. And in the middle of the movie there were ads. One of the ads were of sad, abandoned animals needing our help - sponsored by ASPCA. The animals looked really sad and lonely. I felt even more heartbroken when I looked over to the little girl and she had tears in her eyes. She turned to me and asked , "Momma, why are they (the animals) alone? Why are they alone Momma? I'm worried (about them)".


I was amazed at her tears and compassion and promised myself to donate to ASPCA. I do need to do a little more research about them. I do see an adopted pet in my future. I'm still in denial that it would not be in my near future!