Ro wanted to ride his little red trike around the block in the evening last night. It was cold and he needed to dress up to go outside. So I asked him:

me: What do you need to do to go outside?

Ro: Jacket!

me: Right, what else?

Ro: Socks and shoes!

me: Right, what else?

Ro: Brush my teeth!

me: <huh?>

Ro: There are flies outside, and when my mouth is open my teeth get dirty!!

This is a somewhat unsatisfying post, as to it doesn’t have a conclusion, because Ro continued to struggle with the past time concept.

Ro <pointing to Kuttu’s eye>: Daddy, how did Kuttu get this bubu?

Me: Charlie bit him, because Kuttu made a bad choice – he stole Charlie’s food.

Ro: Biting is bad. Did Charlie get a timeout?

Me: Yes, he did. We don’t bite .We use our words, or bark.

Ro: Was Charlie having his timeout there? <pointing to the wall where Ro usually gets his timeouts>

At this point I had to get creative, because this whole incident happened in our previous house, where Ro has never been because he wasn’t born yet. So I moved the story to our house…

Me: No, Charlie had his time out in the breakfast area.

Ro: At the green wall?

Me: No, the wall was white. We had not painted it yet.

<Ooops, I should have left out that detail.>

Ro: White? Why is the wall green now?

Me: Because mommy likes colors. She made it green.

<Phew, dodged that detail.>

Ro: Was Charlie good in his time-out?

Me: Yes, he was very good.

Ro: Was he three?

Me: No he was five and Kuttu was three.

Ro: Was I three?

Me: No you weren’t born yet.

Ro: <blank stare>

Me: … you weren’t here yet. Not even in mommy’s belly.

Ro: was I zero?

Me: <Impressed> yes, you weren’t here yet, like zero, nil, zilch.

Ro: No, I mean not one, – zero

Me: Ahhh! – No, you weren’t born yet, not just younger than one. You weren’t    c o n c e i v e d. <big smile on my face>

Ro: < blank stare>

Me: Never mind. Charlie was good in his time out. Do you want to play with the silver car?

Ro: Yes, the silver car is my *favorite*!

From there we left the time before he was born alone…

This morning there was thick fog while driving to day care.

Me: Ro, can you see all the white fog around us?

Ro: Yes, we’re flying in a cloud!

Note his use of the word “flying” while moving in a car, since that’s where he’s seen this phenomenon before.

About a month ago, when we were driving to day care in the morning, I had forgotten to pack Ro’s beloved Pluto stuffed toy. Pluto is his special toy and goes everywhere with him. Thinking of it, he’s probably the most traveled stuffed toy on the planet with multiple trips to India, Germany and around the US :).

So I had to come up with a strategy to explain, why it’s OK to drive without Pluto that day, so I didn’t have to turn around. I noticed that U2’s “With or without You” song was playing on the radio, so I explained that sometimes you can do things (here: going to day care) with or without someone (read: Pluto). After explaining this a couple of times to him, Ro was happy and was humming along with the tune – problem solved.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, when we were driving again to day care -without Pluto.

Ro: Daddy, can we listen to the Pluto song?

It took me a moment to decipher his logic, but then remembered and played U2 on the radio for him. That made him smile.

Paati: Ro, when I went to do groceries, I saw the strawberries and I was thinking of you that you would like them.

Ro: You were thinking of yumm-meee!!!