My daily dose of counting

Remember how our mothers used to start counting to 10 when we were not prompt enough to finish the work in hand? We used to get angry but excited as well, and I don't remember any incident when this counting technique failed on me. May be it is the same for you.

Now I am a mum and I use this age old technique a lot, well as I always say, I am not that perfect like my mother and therefore  my counting system works, well  mostly, but some times back fires too.

Lets see how it goes.

At 8 a.m. in the morning

I: 'J' it is 8 a.m. already, now it is high time for you to get up otherwise we will reach late to school, come on get up I am counting to 5.

'J': Umm, I want to sleep little more.

I: Okay I am counting till 10 and really slowly so you can open up one eye and then the other, then you can see the bright light outside and get up.

It is 8.45 a.m, 'J' is dilly-dallying (lutur-putur in Bengali) with her school shoes and I need to start counting again, up to 5, works this time.

6.p.m.

We are coming back from office/school, 'J' touches all the leaves of the trees on the way back, she jumps from all the stones on the footpath, she looks at all the flowers, and I steal a view to one villa on the way which has a room full of books. I tell 'J' that when I will grow old I would like to have a room like that,  I will sit on an easy chair, and will look/read/gaze through different books for many hours. 'J' looks at me and smiles, this is the only moment in the whole day when we don't bother about time and we take a good 20-30 minutes for a 10 minutes walk.

7.30 p.m.

'J' is taking shower, it is quite challenging to take her out from the bathroom.

So I say: 'J' I am starting to count now.

Mostly this the point when she asks me about my intentions if she does not listen to the counting, I always respond back that she will get a big surprise if she listen to it instead, and it works. Surprises are mostly a big hug, kiss, a well done sticker, one chocolate or one bonus bedtime story and I don't want to indulge her anymore (already she has grown a good knack for materials).

8.30-9.30 p.m.

'J' is done with her day, she is yawning but haven't yet stopped talking, I listen to her carefully for a while and then give her a kiss and say 'J' now close your eyes, see the sleep fairy is waiting near the window to bring you nice dreams. 

She smiles, kisses me back, tugs herself inside the duvet and closes her eyes.

And Boomerang!

After a long week of lots of counting, today is Sunday and there is no alarm on the clock and I want to sleep as long as possible.

'J' is wide awake for the first time in the whole weak: Mamma, get up it is 9 a.m. already.

I: Oh 'J' I want to sleep today.

'J': come on, wakey wakey, I am counting to 10 and you can get up slowly.

And our life continues.