Little Miss. Smarty-Pants.

Ashu strongly believes that one day Antu will catch up with her and they both can be twins and go to the same class, look alike, do the same things, etc... etc... And I totally understand where shes coming from because when I was a kid all I ever wanted to be was a twin. "Twins" was such a magical word. Ashu has a twin in her class this year and its a fascinating experience for her. Even though the other twin is in a different class, they all meet during recess and Ashu is always proudly declaring how she always know the difference but the boys always get confused. (they wear different dresses everyday, duh!)

I burst Ashus bubble and told her that Antu will always be younger than her. They can never be the same age. But she threw a googly at me and asked, "Amma! When I become big and you are dead, can Antu be my baby?" Sigh! I should learn to keep my mouth shut.

The other day she was being very difficult and I yelled at her. She got very upset and marched off to her room. I took some time to cool off too and then went to talk to her. But its like talking to a wall when shes upset. Nothing works. So I tell her, "Listen Ashu. You have a choice. Lets just hug each other, move on and make this day happy. Or you can keep on sulking and make this day sad. What are you going to do?" She looks at me and says, "I don't like both the choices." "OK. So what do you want to do?", I ask her. "I want to play some game with you", she says. Sigh. I wish my demands were so simple too.

Last week, she came home from school and told me, "Today we had to pick a non-fiction book from the library, Amma." And I was all, "What?" So she explains, "Non fiction books are not stories. You learn something. Like about animals or birds or people." Oh, OK. And how do you know if a book is fiction or non fiction, I asked. "I just look at the spine label, Amma, Its marked!" But of course!

Ashu also educated me on what is symmetry. "If we slice our body in two halves from top to bottom, everything on the right matches the left, Amma. So we are symmetrical" and also folded a paper in two halves, opened, sprayed some paint, closed and opened. and showed me the symmetry on both the sides. "Even this baby is symmetrical, Amma. Look at her eyebrows", she said pointing at Antu. Poor Antu. Reduced to a lab experiment by her older sis!

Today we had the parents teachers meeting at school and as always I was tearing up hearing the teachers sing her praises.( For the money we pay, they better! ) Ashus class has this class stuffed toy which is given to one child each day to take home and then write a report on what the child did with the toy at home. Its fun. The kids think that they get it only if they are very well behaved in class and make good choices. Ashu got it the first time in the third week of school and patiently waited until then. She asked me once when she will get it and I told her that she has to make good choices. And she replied, "But I always make good choices, Amma!" Since its coming from Ashu and not Antu, I believed it too!! And today her teacher told me, "If I could, I will send her home with that toy everyday. Shes such a good kid!" Now what more does a mom need, you tell me!