Are you my friend?

A curious thing happened today. We were invited to a fall fest at Little Bear's school. The event was in the school playground- there was music, food, lots of games for kids and we had the opportunity of witnessing the kids interact with each other.
Little Bear is definitely opening up and getting 'socialised". It was a pleasure seeing him play with other kids and occasionally come up to me and point and tell me (introduce) that so and so was in his class.

One thing is clear. The boy gravitates towards girls..he follows them around... All the kids he pointed to (aka introduced) were girls..At one point he positioned himself at the top of the slide and proceeded to question each kid (girls) as they waited to go down the slide -' Are you my friend?" If you answered with a "Yes/No", you were let through and allowed to slide down. If you did not reply, he blocked their way and asked you again ..I thought it was sweet and some of the parents watching this also thought it was hilarious!

One of the girls in his class, a 4 year old said "No, you are not my friend". He let her through but she came up again and he asked her again. This must have happened atleast half-a dozen times. It probably bothered Little Bear because he asked me why she said she was not his friend. Sadly, I really did not know what to say to him.

I was deep in conversation with another parent when a beaming Little Bear came to me and said "Amma, she said yes. She IS my friend". Persistence had paid....

When I tucked him into bed tonight, I reminded him of the wonderful time he had had at school today. "Amma, why did that girl say that she was not my friend?' asked Little Bear. "Not everyone needs to be your friend", I explained. "Its ok if some one is not your friend. You have so many friends." I hope this was the "right" answer to his dilemma. What I really want to tell him is that this is a lesson life will teach him through experiences, some good and some not so good.

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.