Friday, August 31, 2007

Am at my wits end!

Amma and I are learning numbers. And Boy! is she one confused Amma!

Last week, she taught me eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen...
We were progressing ok, going on with sixteen, seventeen... when she stopped. And looked at me enquiringly. I looked right back at her. Now what, I wondered.
She asked me, "After seven, what?"
This one I knew.
"Eight," I replied promptly.
"Yes, good!" Beaming.
" So, after seventeen, comes eighteen!"Smiles at me.
I smile back. Sometimes it takes very little to make her happy. "Eighteen"
"So Sonny boy, after ten, you just have to add 'teen' to the numbers to come up with the sequence. Fine?"

I think Amma thinks I'm dimwitted, the way she asks me whether I understand anything so obvious.
"Fine," I say. And we continue.
"Eighteen, nineteen..

"Enough. Now start again, after ten....?" Encouraging look.
As easy as cake, this one. "One-teen, two-teen..."

She said, "Nooooo...!" Looked at me. And then broke up laughing!
Apparently that is not correct.

I wish she'd make up her mind. On two accounts. First, the actual sequence of numbers after ten, and then, whether she going to be mad at me for saying the wrong number, or whether she's going to laugh.
Just yesterday, she was SHOUTING at me for saying something not correct, today she laughs! I was zapped. These Ammas, I tell you... ! They sure have their moodswings. (btw, my Amma looks so much nicer when she's laughing than when she's snarling.)
Finally we mastered those elevens and twelves and thirteens.



Well, that was last week.
This week, we moved on from those confusing teens to the easy twenties.
Amma told me all I had to do was add twenty before the one-two-threes I already knew well.
As easy as pie, this one.
"Twenty one, twenty two... correct, Amma?
"Correct, Sonny boy. Go on..." Smiles.
... twenty eight, twenty nine, twenty ten!"

That look again. Now what, I thought in my mind. you never know WHAT gets these Ammas upset. But no, she was at her moodswings again. Laughing ruefully,

"Oh, Sonny boy! you are so cute, do you know that?" Hugs me tight.

Hmmmph! Big deal for my Amma to find me cute. And right in the middle of my numbers! She tells me umpteen times to concentrate and then she goes wandering.
By the way, I wish she'd make up her mind again. On those numbers. Apparently its not twenty ten, but something like thirteen, again.
Oops, not thirteen, its supposed to be thirty.
Why they have to make things as easy as pie and then add a twist in it, is beyond my understanding. And it seems this is going to go on till hundred! Bah!

I would much rather play with Thomas and Percy and Fergus!

11 comments:

Natarajan Sundaram said...

hey i feel jealousy man. my Amma didn't teach me like this!!

lucky u!!!!

WhatsInAName said...

Oh Sonny Boy!
Dont worry. Your Mommy will be fine soon ;) She is still learning na! Give her sometime, baby!
:P

Swati said...

Ohh..Poor little boy ...Mumma does not know counting ..there should be some logic right ?

Squiggles Mom said...

Sonny boy... maybe you should teach Amma instead :)

Maggie said...

You're right, sweetie - life in the grown up world is illogical. Your world is far better!

Sunita Venkatachalam said...

Go sonny boy, teach your amma some counting. I've also always wondered why it's so complicated !

Something to Say said...

o dear... sonny boy. wait till she starts teaching you english words...then you're going to really know what's complicated...

Just Like That said...

I-am-the-legend: So is yours better or is mine?

WIN: Every day I pray to God for patience, but these Ammas can try the patience of a saint!

Swati, Squiggles'Mom, Poppins: I'm just waiting for me to grow a little bigger, so I can teach her what's what.

Moppet's Mom: At last, an Amma with sense! Moppet is blessed!

STS: You mean to say there's worse to come..? Brrr!

Usha said...

So cute.Sonny boy, you should blog more often and tell us these weird things momma does.
JLT, imagine if he took french and came across quatre-vingts and soixante-dix and what follows- it is almost like having to do multiplication every time.

Just Like That said...

Usha: She does them every day, but them I try to be magnanimous.

Usha, C'est mind-boggling!! JLT

Anusha said...

LOL! am just catching up...so cute, and I have to agree with Sonny Boy. logic rules over counting.
and @ Usha's comment - oh yea, I remember getting quatre-vingt and vingt-quatre confused ALL the time!!