Balavihar 2009 - 2010
Jun 06: It was a very fun class and everyone enjoyed chit chatting with each other. (We do not get to do that very often amidst our busy schedules in the class :). Hence, there were lots of snippets...
May 16: During the story of 'The goose that laid the golden egg', aunty said, 'how will he get eggs if the goose is hurt?' Our toddler replies 'I get eggs from 'Stop and Shop'!' Now, why didn't the farmer think of that option :-).
May 09: 1. During shloka time, aunty applauded all the kids for their participation last week in the geeta chanting. Aunty asked 'do you know who told bhagavadgeeta?'. One of our toddler lifts his hand up indicating that he did! Ofcourse, he did - last week!! But after rephrasing the question as to 'who bhagavadgeeta came from originally?', only then did we get the answer 'Krishna'!
2. During the story time, aunty was trying to establish a point and she said, 'do you think someone would volunteer to be eaten by a Lion?' with her hand raised. Suddenly a very concerned toddler said, 'then we will have nobody to tell us stories!'. How thoughtful!! Don't worry, aunty is going nowhere. She will come back with another story next week :-).
Apr 25: During the story when the cap seller was selling the caps, calling out 'buy my caps, buy my caps', one of our smart shoppers said, '2 at the price of 1'! Boy do we have a pack of smart kids (buyers) or what :-)
Apr 18: Aunty held up a monkey mask while telling the story. Immediately one of our toddlers pointed out that it was a 'girl monkey'! Because, the mask had a bow on one of it's ears :). Accepted. We have to be 'technically correct' when we say anything to our smart toddlers :)
Apr 11: In the story, aunty said, 'the wood cutter's axe fell into the water... He sat on the bank of the river with a sad face because he lost his axe...'. Our toddler says, 'I go to swimming classes...!' Dah! why didn't the wood cutter think of that. If he took swim lessons, he could have procured his axe himself :-).
Mar 21: After the story, aunty said - 'I will keep saying - eat the food, eat the food - but just sit in front of the plate, or, I will say - don't run on the street, don't run on the street - even as I am running across the street, can I?' The kids laugh hysterically and say, 'No you can't. That doesn't work!' - Isn't it as simple as that!!
Mar 14: During the bhajans, aunty said that the next one is for both Lord Krishna and Rama together. Our toddler says, 'Ravana is a bad guy, we will not sing song for him!' Obviously! Who sings the glories of the bad guys!! Simple words, great thoughts - that is what we get from our toddlers.
Mar 07: During yoga time, to sit in vajraasana, the instruction was 'sit on the knees'. One of our toddlers starts looking for his mommy's knees! Then we had to correct the instruction and say 'find and sit on your own knees' :).
Feb 28: After the story, aunty was testing the kids. She asked, is it nice to say to a friend, 'I've more toys, better toys. My red car is better than yours, etc.' Our toddler immediately says, 'No! That is not nice to say.... Every one has nice cars!' Such a beautiful thought and so simply put, too!!
Feb 21: 1. The kids chant shlokas so well, aunties and uncle applaud them with - 'Good job!' every now and then. When that did not come right after a shloka ended, one of our littlest ones, very sweetly claps and says 'good job!'
2. During yoga time, uncle was showing 'vajraasana', facing the children. In order for the children to see the way his legs were, he turned back. One of our sweet toddlers thinks that is a part of the 'aasana' and he too, turns backwards, facing the wall :).
Jan 31: During the story of 'gaNesha and the moon', aunty said, 'moon laughed at gaNesha's big belly, long nose, small mouse, etc....'. Then she asked the class 'do you think it is a good idea to laugh like that?' All the children immediately reply 'No..!' One toddler quietly says 'but if somebody tickles you, then you can laugh!' Now, how can we help ourselves and not laugh at such a comment! Aunty had to rectify her sentence to be politically correct and say 'you can laugh at a joke or when someone tickles you. But it is not nice to laugh at someone, right'. Only then did we get a unanimous 'ye..s'!!
Jan 24: On one of the shlokas, when the volume was going down a little bit, aunty asked 'What happened...? No gas?' Everyone laughed. But that's not the real snippet of the week. During story time, aunty said the crow had been flying for a looong time. Then aunty said, 'do you know what happened?' and our toddler goes, 'No gas...' instantaneously!! That caused a bigger uproar :) Isn't it amazing when toddlers pick up lines and apply it in their tone.
Jan 10: We were learning colors with flash cards and more new colors were being introduced. Aunty was holding the cards and the children were trying to name the color. Aunty, in an attempt at tricking the kids, held up a plain card thinking that they would say 'it is empty'. But, our toddlers almost always come up with very spontaneous and hilarious, at the same time, very cute answers. One toddler instantaneously goes 'white-aH'! He sure observed that a lot of words in Sanskrit end with an '-aH' sound! Very impressive...
Dec 13: The question during the shloka time was 'what instrument does Lord Krishna hold in his hand'. The children replied 'a flute'. The follow up question was 'what does it do - play music or make noise'. One of the parents replied 'depends!' (on who is playing it :)
Dec 06: After the story, aunty said "Oh, my brain makes me smart, it helps me think. But my hands can't think. Maybe I'll leave them at home today..." They squealed with laughter and replied, "then you can't eat!" Then, aunty tried saying "I have pretty eyes, but I don't like my nose. May be it should be cut off..." Our smartie pies said, "then you can't smell!" So we concluded saying that - there are so many people in the world who may not be bestowed with all senses, hence we should not be proud, but very thankful to God for what we have been blessed with, which is - A LOT!
Nov 22: The question was 'Who said Bhagavadgeeta?'. Instantaneously, the children pointed towards aunty who helps them learn Geeta, with full fledged enthusiasm! (Some time ago, one child even thought aunty's name was 'Geeta' and had very cheerfully replied 'Geeta aunty', pointing to 'Rashmi aunty' :)
Nov 15: During shloka time, we were talking about Hanuman. The question asked was 'what does Hanuman give us?' The prompt answer from our toddler was 'Mountain'. Well the logic behind that, probably, was - one can only give what one has... and, fortunately or unfortunately, He has a mountain in his hand!
Oct 25: During shloka time, aunty asked 'which shloka do we chant next'. The clue was, 'It is for someone who holds a veena in her hands'. Toddler says - 'Me!' Unfortunately, we couldn't come up with a shloka on our toddler. We had to settle for the one we knew on Goddess Saraswati :).
Oct 18: Our toddler dialogues seem to come during story time generally. (And rightfully so, that's the time they have a say regarding their opinions :-). The question was - do we help our parents at home. The chorus of course says 'Yes, I help my mom/dad!'. The follow-up question was - 'How do you help?' Our toddler promptly says 'Make her cook!'... How generous :-).
Oct 11: During bhajans, after learning the Ganesha bhajan and moving on to Subrahmanya bhajan, the question was - who is Subrahmanya's brother. Promptly got the answer from one toddler - 'Ganesha'. Then when asked what does Subrahmanya sit on, another toddler very cheerfully repeated - 'Ganesha'!
Oct 04: In the Story of the 'Clever Lion', the rabbit thinks that the sky is falling on his head. Of course our toddler has a line to say - 'No, the sky can't fall. The sky is up in the sky!' - in a matter-of-factly manner.
Sept 20: When Ganesha was sharing the mango with his brother Subrahmanya, the lesson learnt was that we have to share with our brothers, sisters and friends also. Our toddler said "sometimes..., we can share with mommy and daddy also"! How thoughtful :). Well, the catch phrase being 'sometimes' ;)
Sept 13: During the ant and the pigeon story - 'the ant bit the hunter's leg to save its friend, the pigeon'. "oh, oh! Biting is not a good thing to do..." said one of the toddlers very sweetly. (Din't it take Lord Krishna the whole 18 chapters (of Geeta) to explain this to Arjuna :)
