Creativity to compensate

If you read the previous post on the almost forgotten Tamil, tonight promised more fun.

I ask Jr. "What is the Tamil word for Squirrel?"

She goes into thinking mode, taps her finger to her lips a few times and goes 

"Is it Mara Eli?" 

Burst out laughing. Maram is tree in Tamil. Eli is rat. She called it a Tree Rat. Do not know how she gets this.

The sad thing is that the little one knew the answer to be "Anil" for squirrel.

That answer made me sad first but made me smile a second later.

Sad because Apple : English :: Anil : Tamil

In Tamil you teach the vowels first and it goes a, aa, e, ee.. and the first picture in every Tamil book ? 

A is for Anil ! So the fact that it escaped Jr. is sad.

But my sadness gave way to a smile because it takes a very imaginative kid to go all the way and connect the words for tree and rat and make a creative name for another "rodent?" that climbs trees.. So the imaginative streak make me feel very proud! 

I could not have thought of a Squirrel as a Tree Rat in a million years!

We play a new gave now at bedtime. Anything that anyone has to say to the other two people has to be said in Tamil.. It was hilarious. They actually made an effort and were really good at it too getting creative on using their imagination to compensate for their vocabulary!

Next thing we know.. we will be back to bear and animal stories.. (you have to watch the last few seconds of the first video on this old post to get the reference!)

They never cease to amaze!