In your Montessori school they have started teaching you “addition” and “subtraction” the Abacus way. You are almost 5 now and I should say you have mastered it. But we came a long way to get here
When your teacher (Ms.Najiah, a pakistani teacher in your Primary level @ Pflugerville Montessori School, Texas) started this with you, she wanted me to help by making you practice it at home too. You call this stamp game in Montessori school and the Montessori toys includes stamps (in plastics) for units, tens, hundreds and thousands to use it for counting. To teach you at home, what do I do for those stamps?
Mummy wrote down lots of 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s in paper and cut into small squares that we used as stamps. That’s how we practiced Abacus way of addition and subtraction at home. Many times you tested my patience in sorting and arranging these units. Then you have to do the math. Ufff!
You call addition as “adding together” and subtraction as “take away”. If I ask you to solve one problem in each, you will say…hmmm, I want to do only one. Always “take away” i.e. minus has been your preference. I had to bribe you with icepops (kuchi ice) or fruit roll-ups to get you do both
I had been a very strict teacher with you…rolling my eyes, screaming, pinching and kuttu too many times when you used to do it wrong. Sorry kanna, but it was all to make you learn.
You started writing 1 to 100 when you’re almost 4 1/2 years old. You are in Pflugerville Montessori doing your Primary level at this time. You seem to have a liking for numbers, counting…in general math. But you prefer counting orally than writing. “Writing is too hard mummy” is what you say whenever I ask you to write. However, I am not letting you go without writing.
Here’s one sample of how you wrote 1 to 100. Look at your 5’s and 6’s. You are always confused as to which side would 5 face – right or left! Similarly with 6 too!!
I am sure you are going to laugh when you grow up to see this – how you learnt to write numbers.
You rolled over today Mommy called me at work around 11am and told me about it. When I reached home, your sister was all ecstatic about it. We had a skype call with your grandparents and we told them about this. It’s a big milestone for all of us!
Since the time Kathir is born, I drop and pick you up from School. During these two short 10 minute rides, we either sing together or have a dialogue.
Today, on the way back, out of the blue
You : Daddy, is all the money you make is for me?
Me : Yes, Kavya. It is.
You : Really?
Me : Well, for both you and Kathir
You : Ohh. I thought it is all for me?
Me : If you take all the Money, Kathir will not have any and he will be poor.
You : Alright, he can have half of it.
My eldest is not even five years old. But, all my wealth is already spoken for.
Dad
Kavya & Kathir - Loves to play together!
P.S – During these rides, sometimes I get lost in my work thoughts and we ride in silence. I feel guilty after wards for missing the opportunity to have a conversation with you. But you are such a sweet kid that when I am lost in my thoughts, you won’t bother me. You would quietly look outside or think about something on you own. Parenting you is such a pleasure Kavya.
Since you have reflex, you sleep only for very short intervals. On top of that, you are a very light sleeper. You get up from sleep with the smallest of sounds – the closing of the microwave door, placing a cup down, cooker sound, main door opening & closing etc. Any one who makes small sounds in the house would be subject to the torturous yelling and screaming of your mom!
That is when I remembered about this character “Tyke” in the Tom & Jerry Cartoon. Spike tries to put him to sleep and Tom & Jerry keeps waking Tyke up to the total dismay of Spike.
Imagine Mom=Spike, Dad=Tom, Kavya=Jerry and you will see a perfect scene of our house re-created here :
Posted in Uncategorized on 09/26/2010 09:33 pm by Jey
Kathir,
Mom and Dad named you Kathir. Hope you grow up to like it.
Here was our criteria
1) Should Rhyme with Kavya
2) Lord Murugan’s Name
3) Short
4) Unmistakably Tamil
Our initial list..
Kathir (this was the name your mom came up first)
Shakthi (your sister LOVED this name as there was a kid in her class by this name!)
Shathivel
Shakthi Saravanan (your mom liked this name a lot)
Vallab (A short form of Vallabhai Patel – Dad’s favorite Leader. I loved his determination, pragmatism and his belief in the market system)
Kandan
Kanagavel (looked very old fashioned)
Satya
Kabilan
Guhan
Arya
Kawin
Muhil
Finalists were..
1) Kathir
2) Guhan
How we decided.. Your sister was a great proponent of Guhan, even though she didn’t dislike Kathir. Both your Athai’s, Periamma, aachi all liked Kathir. Mom was indiferent between both. She wanted to make sure I named you. The deal between both of us was that she gets to name the first child and I get to name the second child. Dad’s mind bounced back and forth between these two names. Dad chose Kathir because of its meaning – a ray of light. Except the fact that Guhan is a character in Ramayana, it didn’t have a meaning as such.
As parents, we spend a lot of time thinking about an attractive name. But in the end, it is what you become that makes the name attractive to people. On that count, both of us are going to leave no stones unturned..
Kavya paapa, today Apr 7th, 2009, we had to take a chest x-ray for you, since you were coughing really bad. Though I was feeling sad that you were sick, I was extremely proud seeing how well you co-operated with the lab person for taking the x-ray, inspite of it being your 1st x-ray.
You did not fuzz or cry (like any normal kid might do), though you were curious seeing those lights from that huge machine. The usual of Kavya . The lab person asked you to put your hands on your head and turn by your sides to take a side x-ray of your chest. Even it was difficult for me to understand her accent, but you just simply followed her instructions, my sweetie pie!
I know I am blessed to have such a low maintenance kid.
When I was on the car hearing the Austin’s local radio station (KUT), there was an ad that caught my attention. It said “Cornucopia. We sell 45 different flavors of popcorn!”. 45 different flavors of popcorn? Intrigued, I wanted to get there some time.
On Friday, 20th Feb, I came home and we didn’t have anything to do. The weather was also good. So, I told Malathy that we will go to this place that sells 45 different varieties of popcorn. Cornucopia is in Guadalupe Street, which is also a busy street that has UT Austin. We walked up and down the street, bought 4 different varieties of popcorn at Cornucopia, had dinner at a Thai place in the same street and came home. Sometimes, the spontaneous plans end up being more enjoyable than the well planned ones with lots of expectation.
