Tooth-in - Tooth-out

 In the kg3 household, it is the life mission of one little person to consistently compete with the other person born before her.  Whatever good things happen to her sister, needs to happen to her as well, even if it’s a natural process. Unfortunately for me, the growth and fall of their teeth also comes under this category. While her sister has lost and re-grown more than 5 teeth, all of the little one’s teeth were intact. The fact that she was born 27 months after her sister doesn’t matter. All she wanted was a shaking tooth, and she’s been tirelessly checking her teeth for the past six months. 

Finally, her wish was granted last month. Whether the shaking tooth was natural or a result of her self-torture, we would never know. Once the shaking started, every morning, noon and night, the tooth would be re-visited in the mirror checking for the level of uproot. During all the times not spent before the mirror, the tooth would be subjected to the whims and fancies of her tongue. As the days progressed with no signs of the tooth falling, the patience level was running low. She was so eager to lose her teeth, that she was this close to pulling her tooth out of her mouth. Thankfully, on the auspicious day of Onam, as I was cooking, she duly bought her tooth in her hand and proudly displayed her ‘oota pallu’ which only she has the right to call so. To say that she was excited would be an understatement, and madam was all smiles the whole day. She could  hardly wait for the weekend to end, to go to school, and see, which one of her friends would be the first one to notice. The little joys of life!

Bed-time stories: Of old-ages and after-lives...

It was another one of our bed-time talks, when suddenly the topic of human evolution is raised by Swathi. After a vague explanation of the first man and woman, mankind coming from monkeys and all that stuff, the next question hits me “So, you mean to say...since we are your kids, when we have kids and they have kids, this house will be full of kids?” Oh.My.God! Whoever coined the term, “terrible twos”...sixth year is the worst, I tell you. These kids and their curiosities!!!

So, coming back to the question, as I was silently wondering as to how best to answer this...Smruthi jumps in and says (her exact words here)”No Swathi...It’s not like that...Let me explain (yeah, she said exactly that!) Humans are born from their mom’s tummies, grow up, get married, have kids (thank god, she has the order right), grow old and then die one day. If humans don’t die, there won’t be enough space on earth. So, they die, go to God and God makes them to be born again as a baby through some mother’s tummy”. Yes, she delivered this entire speech in a single flow. Without a moment’s pause.

As always, I was dumb-struck and speechless. Now, she turns towards me and says “Ma...next time also, will you be my mother?” Ok, now, I’m officially freaking out. I have seen and heard this “Adutha jenmam-nu onnu irundha...” dialogues so many times in movies, but this girl delivering the same dialogue, trust me, it didn’t sound one bit cheesy or filmy. Since I didn’t know what else to say, I nod and hug her and kiss her and then realise that this is one of those very rare moments when Swathi is being silent. No arguments, no interruptions, nothing! Just silent thinking! Then, she blurts out, “Aiyoo Amma, will my kids be calling you paati then?” Trust my little girl to come up with such an observation with such a timing. I don’t understand why, but the thought of some-one, some-day calling me “paati” sends her through a fit of giggles, and she laughs, not just some sarcastic laughter, but a non-stop, hugging-your-stomach and tears-in-the-eyes kind of laughter for the next five minutes, till I get annoyed. Never a dull moment in life, I tell you!