Giving Thanks

It was the day before Thanks Giving. Kids had come home early after their TG feast at school. Little s was wearing a chain they made at school with three leaflets, each one listing something they were thankful for (The teachers fill it out after asking the child to list the three things). The chain was basically left unattended on the counter top until I came back home. P casually mentioned about the chain, S and I grabbed it and settled down on the couch to read it.
First one said, " I am thankful for my mom". A good start...
Second one said, "I am thankful for my dad". A natural progression...
S eagerly turned over to the third one somewhat knowing what is coming...
Third one read, "I am thankful for the STAPLER"... What?, we read it again in disbelief.
I could see it coming... S is very sensitive about these things. She was clearly disappointed and her eyes were swelling with tears. "s loves the stapler more than she loves me..." she burst out between sobs. I was consoling her, wondering what to say and feeling somewhat helpless.

In little s's defense ( Not a strong one) here is the story about the stapler...Rewinding to Sunday afternoon...
Little s had the doll project which was due the next day (For folks on twitter this is the one I was complaining about). School had sent out an outline cutout of a kid which we were supposed to dress up as our child in traditional clothes, in celebration of the multicultural mix in their class. I had done some prep work like shopping for the doll eyes, hair and of course an Indian material before my trip, but the hard part of putting it all together still remained. I had picked up a small sewing machine for the dress. I was visibly struggling with the sewing machine and with a lot of difficulty managed to complete the skirt. The blouse was a whole lot harder and I didn't think the sewing machine with my limited dexterity was going to get the job done. S then came up with a brilliant idea, "Amma how about we just cut out a square for the blouse and cut out some rectangles for the sleeves and be done...". "Yes, that would work..." I thought. "Okay S...that sounds good, I can even get a stapler and just staple it all in place ", I said aloud. So I sent the kids to get the stapler. They went and they looked & looked but they just couldn't find the stapler. I was losing my patience, family room was a mess with glue sticks, threads , needles, glitter glue, scraps of cloth all scattered around...s was just hurrying behind S, bossing her around, looking all busy and feeling very important that it was her project that was due. Finally, I asked S to call Arke's residence in desperation. Luckily they were home and M said she had a stapler we could borrow. s ordered P to go on this emergency mission and there were loud cheers when he pulled it out of his pocket. Next few minutes were spent stapling away the blouse. The pins were covered with glitter glue and the doll was taking shape quite well.

So I could totally see why s felt thankful for the stapler and may be she could really sense the tension in the air that day to be able to report it like that to her teacher. Sahana's sobs brought me to reality and I was still looking for some damage control. I decided to take a chance called for s and just laid it out..."s, do you like the stapler more than S ? ", I was holding my breath hoping she wouldn't do further damage. "No...Of course I like S more", came back the response and she has somewhat of a disgusted look in her face wondering why I would ask such a stupid question. Clearly she had no idea what the teacher wrote in that chain, probably didn't even remember the teacher asking about those things and her answers. "I love you soooooo much S", she added, giving S a big hug and a squeeze. S was smiling ear to ear, clearly it takes so little to please this child.

I was just thankful that there was peace again...at least for now !!