Okay, my not yet 2.75 year old Puttachi has turned into a think machine. She thinks through everything, she analyzes and dissects events of the future, she discusses eventualities - and strikes me dumb. She's such a thoughtful little thing.
Yesterday, as we were leaving for her school, she noticed a bag in my hand.
Amma, what is the bag for?
I have to buy vegetables, Puttachi.
Great, can I help you pick them out?
Oh but I'm going to drop you at school and then go to the vegetable shop.
Ohh, I thought I was going too. Ok, Amma.
[Thinks for a while. ]
Amma, what will you make for lunch?
Radish huLi.
Oh yay yay! I like radish huLi!
I know you do!
Do you like radish huLi, amma?
I do.
Do you like it very very much?
Not very very much, but I like it.
A little bit?
Yes a little bit.
I like it very very much, Amma.
Good!
Amma, some people don't like radish, do they?
That's right, dear.
Why not?
Different people have different tastes, and they like different things.
But I like radish.
I know, mari.
Amma, are you making radish for me because I like it?
Yes, baby.
She thinks for a while.
Amma?
Yes?
What if there are no radishes in the shop?
[I confess it took me a while to understand this, because I found it so difficult to believe it.]
What, Puttachi?
If you go to the shop, and if there are no radishes there, then what?
Oh but Puttachi, there are radishes at home! I've already cut and cooked them in the morning!
Oh! I thought you were going to buy the radishes at the shop after you dropped me at school, and then cook them!
[I laugh.]
Then what will you buy in the shop, Amma?
Soppu, ginger, garlic, lemons.
Oh okay!
And in case this conversation looked too grown up, you will not believe that the last sentence, for example, was said, "Oh Othay!" She is still a baby.
That is not all. When I went to pick her up, she remembered.
Amma, did you go the shop and buy.. umm... soppu, ginger, garlic and lemons?
Yes, I did.
Oh othay!
She is besotted with traffic lights and exclaims with horror if S~ jumps, as she thinks, a signal.
Ayyooooo!! But it was red!!
Didn't you see the green left arrow blinking, Puttachi? We were allowed to go left.
Oh othay!
She wonders why there are no traffic lights in sidelanes, and listens seriously to all explanations, and retains them too, and uses it back on us next time.
When we give her a piece of news, she wants to know everything, perhaps imagines the whole thing ahead.
Puttachi, we are going to X's house.
Who will be there? Why? Does he have a playroom? Will he share his things with me? What if he doesn't? Will we have lunch there? On what will we sit? Do they have a small chair in their house? Then where will I sit? Will his father be there? Is there a park near their house? Then where shall we go in the evening?
or
Puttachi, Y is coming to our place today.
Who is bringing her? What about her father? How are they coming? Who will drive the car? Is Y big enough to sit on the seat? Will she sit in the car seat? Or will she sit on her mother's lap? Can she walk? Can she talk? Can she play with me? What will you give them? Can Y eat anything? Then what will Y eat? Can Y do susu on her own? Then where will she do it? What if Y is asleep when she comes here?
No way has she got this from me. It must be S~'s genes.
