Lazy Days...

Amma, see me now. How do I look?

Oh! hmm... I'd say you look all sparkly.

Yes, but I look pretty, Amma! These are my India clothes. I am all set for India.

Oh, yeah? But, we just got back from India, little girl. You have to get ready for school next week.

I know. That's why I am trying out all my clothes... Can I wear these to school?

Sure, I don't see why not...

Take a picture of me, Amma. I want Appa to see it.

Okay... Freeze. Click! All done.

I am a plum and a blueberry, see? I have purple shirt and blue skirt. Scoop me up and eat me now, Amma!

Ump, ump, chomp. That's enough for me. You are too sweet, I can't have anymore...

Silly, Amma!

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I am going to get more plums so you can make more plum jam, Amma.

Oh, thank you, Ana, I do need a few more plums.

But first, I need to put on my costume.

(disappears into her room, emerges wearing nothing but panties and her black Halloween mask)

What happened to your clothes?

I am wearing a costume, see? It is too hot, so, I am wearing Jack-O-Lantern panties and pumpkin mask. Mask is my sunglasses. I can't find my other sunglasses...

(grabs a wicker basket from the kitchen and absconds to the backyard for a good 10 minutes and returns)

Did you find more plums for me?

No... because there were ants eating the ones on the ground and the nice ones were too high for me.
(sucking in breath with a worried expression) I saw some aphids on the tomato leaves! I need to put on my ladybug costume now and tell aphids to leave our tomatoes alone.

Ok. Come back and tell me when the aphids are all inside your tummy, my little ladybug!

Amma! I am only pretending to be a ladybug. I am not really a ladybug. I am a kid. Kids don't eat bugs! Ewwww!

(Smiling to myself at the marriage of theoretical knowledge from The Grouchy Ladybug and practical experience from exploring the backyard...)

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Amma, look-it! I drew some aliens!

Oh yeah?! They look interesting... What do your aliens like to do?

Um... they like to make alien babies.

(itching to explore this further, but, backing off for now)

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(sung to the versatile and ever-popular Frère Jacques tune)

I want breakfast, I want breakfast
for my tummy, for my tummy,
Oatmeal sounds delicious, Oatmeal is what I-like
Please give me some, please give me some.

I want bubbles, more&more bubbles,
For my bath, for my bath,
Can you please make meeee some? Can you please make more bubbles
So I can play, so I can play...

Yep, she has taken to singing her needs through out the day, and we make it a game so I respond in kind... Usually it is one of the more popular nursery rhyme tunes, but, thanks to recent India visit, Chota Bheem, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Krishna theme songs feature on and off as well...

(sung to M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme)

Where-did the-lid go now? I-can't find-it here
I-am loo-king for it, Help-me find-it now.

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Amma, I am pretending to go to Hogwarts.

Oh, why?

Because Harry is there. Harry is not in our world.

Oh. If Harry were in our world, what would you do?

I would ask him to play with me in my room. Enid Paapaa can be Hermione and Horsie can be Ron.

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What are you doing, Ana?

Finding a movie I want to watch so I won't come and bother you when you are working

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They grow up too fast for my comfort! I can't believe my niece, born a year after I met D, is already a sweet and stunningly lovely 9-year-old! Wish I had permission to share her pictures here... (Mom, let me know if your daughter will allow it - I know, I could ask her, but am too shy!).

Of course, that just means this Fall it'd be a decade since D and I first made googly-eyes at each other in a not-so-corny way...

The inevitable getting-back-to-work looms large on the horizon... then, it'd be back to the Eternal Rush routine dropping kids off in the morning, working all day, picking them up in the evening, having dinner, bathing and getting in bed exhausted only to start the cycle all over again 8 hours later on a good day.

Meanwhile, my heart sends out sincere thanks to the Powers That Be that tuned in to my strained vibrations and arranged this little magical spell so Sanity can re-establish its reign once the System Recharge is complete.