God, Part 3

We had one of Anjali’s little classmates over for a playdate Saturday night, and in their conversation, God came up.  What is it with God these days?!  The friend, in referring to God, said “He.”

Anjali: “God isn’t He or She.  God is God.” (That’s right…indoctrination starts young!)

Friend: “God is Jesus.”

Anjali: “Well, when we went to Chuck E. Cheese’s we just saw the mouse.  We didn”t see God.”

Friend: “….”

Me: “Hey…who wants dinner?!”

God, Part 2

Nik, looking curiously at my face: “Why did God make those, mom?”

Me: “make what, exactly?”

Nik: “Those things on top of your eyes.”

Me: “Eyebrows?”

Nik: “Yeah.  Eyebrows.”

Me, waggling my eyebrows up and down: “So we could do this!”

Nik, not very amused, but humoring me: “Why did he make toes?”

Me: “So we could keep our balance and not tip over when we walk?” {Not sure if this is right!}

Nik: “And hands, and fingers?”

And really, when you stop to think about it, like I was forced to, it really is a series of miracles, isn’t it, that all these parts that make up our whole, are fitted just so, precisely so, to do their given tasks, without which, the rest of our whole would falter.

The brain touches that thought, and then skitters away…

God

We were in the car, on our way home from school, and somehow we got onto the topic of Zameen (one of our greyhounds who died last year). We do not sugar coat death when talking to the kids, it just didn’t seem right.  (Nik went with Pete to take Zameen to the vet to be cremated.)

Anjali: “Zameen died Mommy.  He died on his bed.”

Me: :Yes, he died last year.”

Nik: “He died and now he is at God.”

Me: “Yes, he is with God.”

Anjali: “Where is God?”

Nik: “Up in the sky. In heaven.”

Me (being very careful): “Well…we believe, that is, I believe that God is everywhere.  All around us.  In everything that is alive.”

Nik: “Yeah.”

Anjali: “God is everywhere?”

Me: “Yes.”

Anjali: “And Zameen is with God?”

Me, seeing the inevitable coming: “Yes.”

Anjali, after a pause: “Then Zameen is everywhere?”

Me: “Well…”

Anjali, tripping over herself with an epiphany: “Maybe God is with his FAMILY!  And Zameen is with THEM!  On his bed.”

Me, trying not to cry: “Yes.  That sounds good, doesn’t it?”

Anjali: “Yes.  I think he’s happy.”

I think so too.

Handsome

Nik walks into Anjali’s bedroom as she is getting into her pajamas.  I ask him to turn off the light in his room and he says, “Just a minute, mom.”

Me: “Okaaaay…?”

He turns to Anjali with a knowing look on his face and then says, “Mom, I want to tell you something.”

Me: “Okaaaay…?”

Nik: “Anjali?  At school today, did you say that A______ was handsome?”

Me: !!!!!!!!

Anjali, with a tiny smile on her face: :Yeah?  Yes I did.”

Nik: “I remember you said that.”

Me: “Huh!”

Nik: “I’m going to turn the light off now, mom.”

Me: “Okay!”

Strangers – Part II

On our flight back home, I leave Anjali in her seat eating her snack while I take Nik to the toilet.  When we return, I see the flight attendant standing at our seats, talking to Anjali.  As I take my seat, the attendant asks me softly, with a smile, “What is your daughter’s name?”

I tell her.

Then she tells me that she had the following conversation with Anjali:

FA: “You are such a pretty girl!”

Anjali: “Thank you.”

FA: “How old are you?”

Anjali: “Thuwee.”

FA: “What’s your name?”

Anjali: “I won’t tell you.”

Then the FA told me, “You trained her well!”

Me: “Thanks.”

She should have see her at the airport.

Strangers – Part I

At O’Hare, waiting to pay for lunch, and Anjali strikes up a conversation with a businessman in line behind us.  He comments on her pretty dress, she shows him her nail polish, he enthuses over her nails, she preens, and twirls.

I pay, get the food, and take the kids over to our gate to wait for boarding.  As I pass out slices of pizza, Anjali says, “He’s a nice man.  He yiked my nail polish!”

me: “But he was a stranger.  What are our rules about strangers?”

Anjali, extremely offended: “But he was WHITE!  And he didn’t have a MEAN HOUSE!”

Me: “..!!..!!..!!..!!..”

Me: “Anjali!  I did not know that man.  If I don’t know him, he is a STRANGER!”

Anjali, furious: “BUT HE WAS WHITE!”

Oh. My. God.

Me: “Anjali.  He can be white. black. blue. yellow. green.  I did not know him.  So. He. is. a. Stranger.”

Anjali: “Hmpf!”

And turns away from me.  And eats her pizza.

And I look up to see a black man across the aisle, and a white lady behind Anjali, both looking at me, both smiling, both giving me approving nods.

She definitely needs some more instruction in stranger-danger!

What’s normal?

We were visiting my sister in Virginia and on day 4 of the trip, my patience was running very thin.  Nik was at the kitchen table, making odd noises and I lost it and said: “NIK! Can you please stop making those noises…can you please act normal?!”

Nik: “What’s normal?”

then, “I don’t want to be normal.  I don’t like normal.”

Boy…he told me!

Nik: 1, mom: 0.

necessities

We are running through the list of things the kids want to put in their backpacks to take on our trip. 

Nik: “My little transformer book, my bumblebee, ALL my Star Wars Clone Wars people…”

Anjali: “Dwawing paypuh, mahkers, gum.  Can I take gum?”

Me: “Sure!  What movies do you want to watch on the plane?”

Nik: “Transformers!  And Star Wars!”

Anjali: “Cinduhwewwa, Sweeping Beudy…”

Nik: “Cinderella.  Yeah, Cinderella.  And ALL the Harry Potter movies.  And the one with the dragons.  And Jackson’s game?”

Me: “Yes, you can take Jackson’s game [a Nintendo ds loaner from a friend]“

It gets quiet in the back of the car, then,

Anjali: “Mommy, can you take a bwanket for me in case I get tiy-uhd?  Coz I might get tiy-uhd on the pwane and then I need a bwanket.”

How does she even know these things…the forethought, the planning…an old soul in a little body.

Aiwopwanes

Anjali is getting so excited about our upcoming trip.  Giggling excitedly, she asks: “Are we going to sit INSIDE the aiwopwane?”

Me: “Yup!”

Anjali: “How are we going to get IN there?”

Me: “We’ll just walk right in and sit down in our seats.”

Anjali: “Where do the aiwopwanes LIVE?”

Me: “In the airport.”

Anjali: “How are we going to GET there?”

Me: “Daddy is going to drive us there in our car, and then he’ll drop us off at the airport.  Then we go in and find our airplane.”

Anjali, giggling again: “And then we will fly UP and UP and UP!”

Me, feeling like I’ve deprived my child of the joy of flying: “Yes honey, and then when we look out the windows, we’ll see clouds.”

And then her little mind is completely blown.

I choose

Anjali, out of the blue: “Amber didn’t give me rice last night for dinner, mom!”

me: “Did you ask her for the rice?”

Anjali: “No…? But I wanted rice.”

me: “Well, she can’t read your mind, so if you wanted rice, you should have asked her for it.”

Anjali: “I AST HER!  Her couldn’t find it!”

me: “I showed you where it was in the fridge, did you show it to her?”

Anjali: “No…? But her couldn’t find it.”

me, exhausted: “Okay, Anju, what did Amber give you for dinner then?”

Anjali: “Hambuhguh!”

me: “Oh.  Did you eat it?”

Anjali: “Well…?  I didn’t choose hambuhguh… Amber said that was my choice…but my choice is rice, so I choose to not eat.”

Okay then.