Indian girl ...

Scene: Mother Bear trimming Little Bear's nails
Mother Bear latest endeavor is to turn the most mundane everyday things into opportunities to learn. So, in the spirit of the aforementioned passion, I proceeded to explain the names of each finger.
"this is your pinky"
"And this one is the ring finger. Its called so because you can wear a ring on it
"Oh yes! I am going to get married and wear a ring one day. Oh yes! Oh yes!" (
"And I'm going to marry an Indian girl "
An Indian girl! A pretend gasp followed. Actually this is music to my ears.
Why? An Indian girl?
because..because ..She has a red fire engine and is very nice and will let me ride it
Little Bear when you are no longer little and become a big bear you can bet we will remind you about this.

Where is He?

Its Ganesh Chaturthi and we made modaks to offer to Ganpathi Bappa. Here is a side conversation after the puja

Little Bear: Amma, where is God? Is he really going to eat the modaks?
Amma: God is everywhere. He is in your heart ….
Little Bear (looking at me with a quizzical expression): Amma, but how did he get into my heart?
By now, Little Bear has removed his shirt and run to the closest mirror to look at his chest and see if he can spot ‘God’
But Amma, I can’t see him. Where is he?

Amma: You can’t see him. He’s just there…
Little Bear: Then how will he get out of my heart to eat the modaks?

Amma: here, why don’t you eat the modak and share it with God..
Little Bear: Ok…

Money, Money

Little Bear: Amma, did you sleep in a crib when you were a little child?
Amma: No, I slept with my Amma and Appa. And curious to see his reaction, I blurted out …’We did not have a big house and money to buy a crib’
Little Bear (laughing): What, money?
Amma: You know - money to buy a crib, money for a big house with a large bed room to keep the crib. (By this time, I’m clearly rambling) A crib costs money. Everything costs money
Little Bear: All mothers and fathers have lots of money. Yes, they have lots and lots of money. Why you say …your Amma, Appa did not have money
Amma: shocked and speechless

No Tree hugger

Little Bear loves to 'play' with the toilet paper rolls when he is using the bathroom..Its his favorite pastime as he sits on the potty...He unrolls the toilet paper, then attempts to roll it and then proceeds to tear it and litter the floor with the pieces. As a result there is plenty of ' Don't do that'...'Don't make a mess'....and so on that ensues everytime he uses the potty. On one such occasion in an attempt to discourage this, I resorted to appealing to his logic and this is what followed:
Me: "Lets not waste toilet paper. You know where we get toilet paper from?"
Little Bear: "Where do we get it from? Amma.."
Me (pleased to have his attenton): "from trees. Trees get sad when you waste toilet paper" (Now, I also have the dad's attention)
Little Bear: "How do we get it from trees"
Me: "the wood from the tree is used to make wood pulp and then paper. So, if you waste paper you have to cut more trees"
Little Bear: "But.Why do we need trees?"
Me: (I was not prepared for this part and digressed): "If we don't have trees we wont have oxygen to breathe"
Little Bear: "We don't need oxygen from trees. We can use it from oxygen tanks like firefighters use"
Me: shocked and speechless.

I'm still working on refining my "tree" story.

What is that called?

Little Bear is in that toddler stage where he questions what everything is.
He points at random things or people and asks 'What is that called?'.
So it goes like this ..
Scene - we are driving down a suburban road
Little Bear: 'What is that called?' (pointing out the window)
Me (thinking he means the dump truck because I'm driving and don't have eyes at the back of my head): Thats a dump truck ..
...silence for 1 second. We have passed the dump truck ..then ..
Little Bear: 'What is that called?'
Me (guessing): thats a car..
Little Bear: what is that called?
Me (clearly I have no idea what he means): thats a car ...
Little Bear: what is that called?
Me: no response
Little Bear.frustration in voice ..what is that uncle called?
Me: Oh! the uncle? I don't know his name ..Its just uncle..
And so it goes ....

DH says he is intellectually curious. The pessimist in me thinks its a little early to say that.