Of Snow White and Cinderella

Beckett now understands numbers, has become better at empathizing, is obsessed with poop, and has started grasping the concept of death.

My apologies for having gone away for such a long time.

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On a recent visit to a relative's house, when a Maasi jokingly told her

'We kids have just one job. Eating and Sleeping!'

Beckett snapped back with immediate elan, 

'That's not correct!'

We were all expectantly waiting to hear playing, listening to stories, pooping, and taking care of Cinderella being added to the list.

But she had other ideas.

'That's not one job, that's Two!' (એ એક કામ નહીં, બે કામ કેહવાય.) 

The whole room burst out laughing. 

She also told the cleaning lady to come later than her usual time. When asked why, she smilingly said, 'So that I'm awake when you come and I can meet you.' (હું સુઈ ગયી હઉ ને, તો તને મળાય નહીં ને, એટલે ! )

She's funny without trying to be.

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On another day during my trip back home, at the playground, I tried to teach Beckett how to do a reverse flip. I held her hands, asked her to climb on to my legs and thighs, and then turn reverse turtle to land on her feet.

In my adventurous mind, I was being the cool, Bezosian dad who was encouraging his kid to try new things. In her paranoid mind, Missus was freaking out that I was going to cause permanent bodily harm to Beckett. In Beckett's trusting mind, she wanted to try the new thing that Pappa told her would be fun.

Unfortunately for all three of us, the back flip didn't go as planned. The end result was a struggling Beckett hung upside down. It took us some time to get her feet back safely on the ground. Missus glared at me, Beckett went back to playing after telling me 'I thought I was going to fall down', and I was crestfallen, my grand olympic plan having not materialized.

A day later, I asked Beckett if she got hurt during the acrobatic misadventure. She nodded in the positive. It completely broke my heart. I told her to always tell, create a ruckus if needed, if she was getting hurt, else we may not know. 

That's when she showed me her empathetic side. 'My hand got strained a bit, but I hadn't said No. I wanted to try the flip (મારે ગુલાટીયું ખાવું હતું ). You should not worry about me (તું મારી ચિંતા ન કર).'

I didn't know what to say.

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Beckett is obsessed with Poop. She has to announce to the entire house when she is in the act. She also has to ensure that her toy Cinderella does it on a daily basis, and she has to announce that to the entire house as well, the whole thing being make believe notwithstanding.

One of her favourite things is to get me to lift her by her legs and then hang upside down (મને ઉંધી લટકાવ) like a bat. One day she asked me to lift her upside down after lunch. I politely refused saying that she will vomit the food she just ate and that it will go inside her head. She understood and agreed. But after a few seconds, she quipped - 'You should lift me upside down when the food gets turned to poop and it has reached the poop place. Then it won't go inside my head.' 

I cringed and laughed, both at the same time.      

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A few days later, Missus was reading out Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to her. When they reached the part where Snow White apparently dies after eating the poisonous apple, Beckett started crying. And then asked Missus the dreaded questions - 'Why did she die?' and 'What happens after she dies?'

Pappa is going to have a tough time answering Beckett's questions. Lots more leveling up to be done to keep pace with the questions.