Consequences

Once I did not permit to play with his friends since he hadn't yet finished his homework.

"I am sorry, Sahil. You can't go out or watch TV as you have not finished your homework." Then I added, "These are not punishments, these are consequences."

Trying to understand the new word, Sahil said...

"I hate consequences. They are worse than punishments."

Striking question

Once I was telling Sahil about my first bowling experience. When I told him that it was a long time ago, he asked me if I was married at the time. When I said 'no', he had to know more.

"Then", he asked, "who decided to go for bowling?"

One would hope

During conversation I mentioned to Sahil that I had participated in a singing contest when I was a kid. So he asked me to sing that song for him. When I started, he stopped me and asked…

"Is that how you sang it?" and then added to clarify his question. "Or was it much better?"

What am I supposed to do, again?

We had Upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony) for Sahil. During the ceremony the Guruji told him that he now needs to do everything his Dad tells him. More amused than confused, Sahil asked the Guruji…

"And what if he tells me to float in the air?"

Father’s day

When the kids woke up on the Father’s day, I asked them

"Sahil, Sanjana, it’s morning. Is there anything you want to say to your Dad?"

Without missing a beat, Sanjana replied…

"Cock-a-doodle-do"

Division of labor

“I am going to buckle myself up”, Sanjana declared one day while getting in the van.

“If you are going to buckle yourself up”, I asked, “what should I do?”

She didn’t even blink. She said…

“Baba, I will buckle myself up and you can be proud of me”.

Traveling makes one smart

After a trip to India, Sanjana had to share her newly acquired knowledge with me.

“Some people have different countries, but all of them have the same world.”

Art Critic

"This picture is painted so well, I can tell it's a flower pot."

- Sanjana, after looking at a few abstract paintings.

Twenty fifth anniversary

I was telling Sahil about the upcoming anniversary of my sister. To make sure that he knows that it’s a big event, I told him that it’s the twenty fifth anniversary.

He was not impressed.

“So what’s the big deal?” he said. “They already had twenty four others like this.”

Ready with a plan

“Baba,” Sanjana asked one day, “how does one earn money?”.

“Well,” I answered, “you have to be good at what you do.”

“And what if I am good at everything?” Sanjana continued.

“Then,” I responded, “you will make so much money that you won’t know what to do with it.”

“Don’t be silly Baba,” She countered. “I know what to do with it. I will just put it in my piggy bank.”

Science fiction

Sahil once told me the following time travel story:

A man goes into the future and looks for himself. He asks his friends, now much older, about his whereabouts. The friends say, "we don’t know; he just disappeared one day". The man realizes what had happened and does some of the usual time travel trickery. Then he announces, "there I am". And, sure enough, there he was!

I enjoyed the story. After a moment of hesitation, he added with a chuckle

“Baba, I'm really glad that you didn’t ask me ‘how?’ when I said ‘a man goes into future’.”

And she is just learning

One day I was teaching Sanjana phonics. I would sound out the letters and she would blend it together to sound the word.

After trying a few words, she started to give me suggestions about which words I should try. She wanted me to try a word that starts with certain letter. So she said –

“Baba, now try the F-word.”

Accurate description

“I can’t eat this cheese macaroni any more,” Sanjana said.

“Why?” I asked. “You said you love cheese macaroni”.

“Because, Baba,” she said, “I am so full of it.”

On her way to literacy

“I don’t know how to read. I just remember the words and say them out loud when I see them.”

Party Girl

Sanjana was very excited about the neighborhood kids’ party. However once the party started, she was back in fifteen minutes. She complained –

“That is the most boring party ever. All they are doing is eating and talking.”

Let's get to the root of this

After the Daylight Savings time change, Sahil noticed that it was still sunny after his swimming class. When he asked, I started explaining how the time was changed to get the most of the daylight. He listened for a while and then said, in his best spare-me-the-unimportant-details voice

"Just tell me whose mistake it was"

Learning the facts of the life

After attending a couple of baby-showers in a row, Sanjana asked

“Does your tummy have to be fat for a baby-shower?“

Just demoted, or fired?

After learning recently that Pluto is no longer a planet, Sanjana asked me

“Baba, is Pluto still in the sky?”

Can’t live with him…

Generally Sanjana keeps complaining that Sahil bothers her a lot. So once after picking up her from her school, I declared that I am not going to pick Sahil up. I argued that since he bothers Sanjana so much, she should be happy that he was going to be stuck at the day care center for the whole weekend. Sanjana didn’t like the idea and she protested.

So I said, “Sanjana, I will pick him up only if you tell me that you like him”.

After hesitating for a long time she finally admitted, in a very feeble voice “I like him a little bit”.

I know exactly what I need

"Baba, can you give me an umbrella or a comb?"

So cold

Sanjana was describing a painting depicting a winter scene.

“It was so cold, even the snowman was freezing.”