The very first book Ashu got as a gift at the ripe young age of 5 months was "Noddy's squeaky shoes". (Excluding the tonnes of book my sis got for her, that is!) We would have read it to her at least a million times. And I think her first TV show was "Make way for Noddy" too. At least thats what she liked the most to watch on TV. So much so that my mom got her a huge stuffed Noddy toy for her 1st birthday. She got a Noddy cake too. And when we left for Zurich when she was 20 months old, I bought a couple of Noddy CDs and about a dozen Noddy books. Which she has watched/been read to a couple of more million times. She has poured through each and every picture in each page, well... a million times. Rinse and repeat for Antu too. Now after all that Noddy overdose for SIX long years, Ashu picked up the "A Bike for Big-Ears" today and declared that she can read the whole book all by herself! I was all ears, of course! ;) But she stumbled on the second page. And on a very simple world - "He".
"Big-Ears is a BOY?", she asked with her eyes as wide as saucers! Silly me thought at first that shes asking if he were a man or a boy. So I said No. Then she said, "But it says "He" here. She is a He? He is a She?" Since I had watched Mrs. Doubtfire very recently, I burst out laughing!
"Of course Big-Ears is boy. Hes a man actually! Did you really think he was a woman all this time?"
"Yes, Amma! Look at the long hair!"
"Thats not his hair, Ashu! Thats his beard!"
"Really? Wow!
I could see her whole Noddy world crashing down inside her head. She literally shook her head and continued reading and finished the book. It was a bittersweet feeling for me. One one hand, I was thrilled that she could read on her own. But on the other, it was upsetting that she ll be concentrating on the words more than the pictures. Power of the word, huh?
8 comments:
Aww...
She is growing up!
Paavam Noddy. The sisters don't like him anymore
:-)
He is a she? She sis a he?..konjam crazy mohan effects :D
sigh this must be their "Syrian lesbian blogger turns out to be a 40 year old married American man" It hurts Ashu, it hurts.
Aww! I felt the same way for some strange reason when I discovered at the ripe age of 10 that Enid Blyton was a woman and not a man :)Of course my world didnt come crashing down or anything..but I always felt the books were written by a man! weird na!
noddy and thomas tank engine are great hits here too:) has she come to terms with the 'change' now ?:) vyas was slightly disillusioned when he realised enid blyton was a woman (he says same pinch to you R's mom:))
YY - Yes, she is! sigh.
TPL - Nah! Hes still their favorite. Only confused about the genders! ;)
Meera - LOL! yes.
Aneela - ROTFLOL! It never ends, huh? The nasty surprises?
R's Mom - Let me join the club. I think I realized even later that Enid was a girls name!
Vidya - Shes still in denial about the change! ;)
Got inspired to blog this:
http://tamizhachchi.blogspot.com/2011/06/uncle-bad-girl-toddler-gender.html
after reading yours! :)
I have felt surprised several times discovering the gender of authors even after growing up!!!.
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