Cowgirl and other Mumma Stories

Some six months ago I bought a 2014 calendar that featured beautiful paintings (some looked like pictures) of horses. 

October featured a beautiful painting of a cowgirl next to her horse (just gotten off or about to ride the horse).

When Miss Haana saw that picture she declared "Mummaa".

I have to admit - I was super pleased.

Just sifting through the calendar today I  was reminded of it. 

On another note, yesterday for dinner we were at the dinner table. The little girl was in her high chair. On the other side of the room we have some open shelves and on the top one I had kept the canvas that was recently painted - fall trees in the sunshine. Miss Haana looked at it in the middle of dinner and said "Oh very nice painting Mumma!" Pleasantly surprised!

Yesterday when I reached the school to pick up my baby, the class room was brimming with noise. All the kids were shouting and running around as the teacher was trying to calm them down. My little girl was sitting in the center and quietly sifting through a book. After we had our warm reunion( deep hugs and loads of kisses - that's the one time when the little girl doesn't resist my flood of kisses; I make the most of my window of opportunity!) she took me to her book. It was Dora and the Crystal Kingdom. I asked her if she had read it. 

Then, I sat down and started reading it to her- Miss Haana on my lap. Soon all the other kids in the class came up to us to hear the story. And in no time it was story time! We were a small tight circle of kids, helping Dora find the missing crystals! And no one was running or shouting anymore. I had fun and so did everyone else. As soon as the story finished some of the kids quickly became cats or puppies (that's their regular game as well, they come over to me to be petted!) The little girl and I headed home.

15 Seconds

This is a typical 15 second conversation (albeit somewhat one sided) these days:

"(If on the high chair) I want to go down. (If tried to help) No, I want to go up. I want yogurt. I want paani( water). I want coloring. I want to sit on Mumma lap. I want cold paani. I want blue paani (water in a blue glass). Nooo, I want to do all by myself. I want to go out. I want to ride bicycle. I want to read fairy book. I want pink horsie. Guys, what not talking?"

:)

Blue Horse

Behold the blue horse!

Last night the little girl was fast asleep. Suddenly she turned and said "BLUE HORSE" and went back to sleep.

Someone has been visiting her in her dreams. I'm actually glad it's this cute thing.

The Ranch

It was such a beautiful spring day outside today. We spent the afternoon the best way there was to spend the afternoon - outside, at a ranch. There were horses, cows, goats, a pig and several dogs.

I was amazed and impressed that Suhaana was not intimidated by the sheer size of the horses. She was walking around them, like they were farm fixtures, like the tractor and the arena fence. She would point to it, and call out "horsh"! We nodded and cried out "Yesss! Horse!" in sheer delight and helplessness of not being able to hug her, crush her! She is not one to be hugged or picked up or told where to go when she's out on a ranch. Such blatant encroachment of her independence is not dealt with lightly. Displeasure is immediately notified and there's nothing discrete about it either.

But perhaps who she liked the best were the ranch dog. There were at least 4. But she liked the big shaggy sheep dog, almost twice her height, the best. The laid back, calm dog was minding his own business when, to his surprise, there came this funny looking two legged thing, with pink pants and pink multicolored jacket with a hood on- the hood ending in a dark pink flock of threads flying around in the wind. It looked amusing, till this little thing came by and tried to lick or kiss his snout! The dog was stunned. Why is this little thing jumping on him? Why is she trying to climb on him? Did she come here for horse riding lessons and mistook him for a miniature horse? Why? Oh why?
Whatever happened to being ignored all day long in the laid back silence of coexisting farm animals! The poor dog ran away in a hurry, the little girl in tow, trying to find his own peaceful haven, free from crowds and toddler children!

Hidalgo The Beautiful Horse

I saw the movie Hidalgo yesterday- a friend of mine privy to my ardent appreciation of Mr. Vigo Mortensen and also of horses was nice enough to lend the DVD.

I liked the movie. The details about the actual race were okay. But I loved the horse. I loved the part where in the end, the cowboy comes back and buys all the Indian's horses and frees them all. There's something about an unbridled wild horse that to me embodies the spirit of freedom (both mental and physical), and beauty. Maybe it represents a life I want to have but don't. Maybe it's just a myth and none of us really live a life of truly being free of our demons, vices, inhibitions and fears. And then I see these beautiful animals running free - mostly on screen but once in real - and that's what they represents to me. That something that beautiful actually exists.

While watching the movie it brought to mind two things -
One being my agenda of having Suhaana learn horse riding maybe when she's three (have to check minimum required age). This is the part where I thrust all my unfulfilled aspirations on Suhaana. And I need to do that before she's old enough I have a voice and say no! Well, she is already there in some ways. But I actually think she'll enjoy it as well. She loves the outdoors. She likes the animals she's known so far - dogs, ducks, cats. She was curious about the giraffe we saw at zoo last week. So I'm hopeful she'll like it.

The other thought was a moving target. I started wondering how do we want to bring up Suhaana. Should she grow up closer to nature than to TV. Should she grow up closer to amenities and interactions or some place more serene and slower - so she has time to know herself before getting on any group bandwagon. But what are the skills she needs to have to live in the world today and or tomorrow. Is it love of nature or is it the ability to network in an ever inter-connected web of social life? I wonder..