Hooty at the Movies

We took Hooty to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday. She has never been to a movie before and we thought she’ll be all excited about it but for her the highlight of the whole experience was undoubtedly the popcorn!

Because she is scared of loud noises (though Hooty is known to generate more noise pollution than most four year olds!), there were instances where she whimpered, “I want to go home..”, especially during fight scenes.

I heard her explaining the whole thing to my mother on the phone as, “It’s a big, giant and very noisy TV.”

Oh well, I guess kids nowadays are so used to all kinds of media, that it really doesn’t impress them anymore. I remember how trilled we were to go to a movie when we were young. We considered it a treat. But maybe, Hooty is too small to really appreciate a big screen and surround sound ;o)

Art Attack

Some of Hooty's wonderful drawings on the white board.

Flowers

Luggage

Plane - where all the luggage would go

Family - From left to right; Thaaththi, Hooty, Ammi, Nanna, Puncha, Muffy and Kitty (the two little blobs), Muththa, Kiri amma, and Kiri aththa. Note that all women have long hair (not affected by gravity ;o) and.....

...Aththamma - at the far right

Here We Go Again

Today in the morning Hubby called me and said that he had a talk with Teacher Vivien about Hooty. The teacher has said that Hooty no longer pinches her friends, but she is still very bossy and rude to them if they don’t do as she pleases.

Oh dear! So we decided that we will praise for the not-pinching part and reward her in some way for it, but make sure to have a talk with her about being bossy and rude. We did ask her several times about how she is doing a few days back
and she always said she doesn't pinch anymore and we did praise her for it. and since the issue seemed settled, we forgot all about it.

Not an hour went by before my hubby calls me again to say that teacher Vivien had called again to say that Hooty’s friend Esther just told her that she pinched her face yesterday!

Poof! So there goes the tiny relieved feeling I had about the not-pinching thing! Back to the drawing board I guess. But apart from us handling this, I don’t think the way the teacher is going about this thing is too great. I feel that she should be able to take control of the whole situation and handle Hooty better.

Maybe Hooty misses having a sibling to vent out all her frustrations at ;o)

Shameful

After having her bedtime wash, Hooty ran over stark naked to the living room where the windows were open and exclaimed, “Ammi! Close the window. I am shameful!!”

Miss Pinch-A-Lot

Yesterday when I went to pick Hooty up from school, her teacher told me, “Hooty has started pinching her friends. When she can’t get them to follow her, she pinches them to get her way. When they complain, she immediately says ‘sorry’. So I told her saying sorry means that you should not do it again, but she does.”

So, on our way back home, I asked her about it, and my cheeky monkey says, ‘But I say ‘sorry’ all the time!”, as if that would rectify her hurting her friends! So I explained that that’s not the case and made sure she understood that it’s wrong. All the while she was glaring at me with her arms crossed. Only when I told her that I am ashamed of her and that it made me very sad did her tough stance break and she began to cry. And she promised that she won’t do it again.

She usually doesn’t break her promises so I am hoping this is the last I hear of Miss Pinch-a-lot.

Repeat After Me!

I am sure most of you who are mothers (or fathers) go through this—having your mother come out of your mouth!

I find this happening more often now that Hooty’s no longer a ‘baby’ and tend to do things that make me…um…mad. And oh boy! There goes me scolding her in the exact same words my mother used that it scares me, because I remember thinking that no way am I going to say these things to my child when I have a baby of my own.

Just last week I found myself saying all of the following: (they are in our native language, Singhala – I’ve tried to translate as closely as possible.)

“Ayyo! Dahasarayak kiyanna epa me lamayata ahanna.” (Oh No! I have to say something ten times for this child to listen to me.)

“Ke sarayak kiyanna oneda oyata?” (Just how many times do I have to tell you?)

“Kochchara kiwwath ahannane. Epa kiyana eka karalamai nawathinne.” (No matter how much I say not to do something, she will end up doing it.)

And it makes me understand what my poor mother went through, the frustration of trying to get your child to listen to you. But it makes me smile too when I think that indeed what goes around comes around ;o)

And I am sure Hooty too will repeat the same things to her kids...and I plan to look on and thoroughly enjoy my self at her expense!!

Ammi is Sick

Groaaaaaaan, moaaaaaaaaaan..caugh caugh caugh....

Yep folks...I am sick. I don't know how the hell I got it but been having pneumonia!

So, will post something more interesting than me being sick once I am fit and able.