Twisted

Dear Power-above-of-all-things-ankles,

2013 I will remember, for you and mostly only you. First one friend and then another,  at work, had major ankle issues and surgeries this year. While I was just about realizing how difficult these injuries are, you ensured I really did understand. In the same week a dear dear blog friend, Paa and I hurt our ankles. The degree of severity were different but suffered we all did.

It is true that we don’t realize the importance of any part of our body till we hurt it and hence can’t use it. While doctors advised me to stay off my feet and reduce my activity level to bare minimum, I hobbled behind kids and went about my day to day life. I still pay the price of that excess activity but it can’t be helped.

I have not cribbed much, I can not cursed a whole lot, but I really could have done without this latest curve ball that you threw our way. A happy, smiling, active kid, doing exactly what kids do – ran, stopped, turned and feel down in pain. A trip to the store where she was excited about the new bedding we were buying for her, ended in tears and an ER visit.

Do I thank you that it only turned out to be a twisted ankle and not a broken bone? Or do I tell you about a child’s inability to deal with extreme pain? Or do I talk about the child who is so brave that even though she dreads the icing sessions because they hurt so much she goes ahead with them because they will make it all better? Or do I talk about a super active kid who sits in one place smiles and asks for books as we go around doing things? Or do I tell you about the child who woke up crying in the middle of the night saying she was scared? Or do I tell you about how she wanted to go to school because her friends would be there and smiled through all the pain to get there, only to burst out in tears when she could not practice for her winter performance with her friends, which she has been looking forward to for a while now?

I know it is part of life and part of growing up but can we be done with all this now? We have had enough of you and I would not wish you on anyone but can you please move on? Or better still with the festival season and the new year around the corner, can you please go on a long, extended vacation? I promise we will not miss you.

Thank you much,
-An angry mom

My Baby?

The last couple of birthday parties we have been to, Bugz has received toy baby as return gift. Bugz who currently is majorly into the pretend play stage of life, puts the babies to sleep, feeds them, makes them sit on her toilet seat with firm instructions, ‘Baby poo’. Every new baby that comes is greeted with, ‘Me baby!’ and the rest are delegated to others in the house.

As she sat and played, she picked one baby up, handed it over to her nanny and said,

Aunty baby!

She then picked the next baby, gave it to Buzz and said,

Didi baby!

The newest one she held tight and kept chanting,

Me baby! Me baby!

No more babies left, I pulled a long face and asked her,

Mumma baby kahaan hei?

She looked around at everyone holding their babies, looked down at her own, looked up at my sad face. Eyes worried, hand on her chest

Me mumma baby!

Yup, you are Mumma’s baby and Mumma can’t ask for anything more!

Joy of unexpected

Mumma Bugz mujhe copy kyoin karti hei?

she asked me.

Just like you try and do things I do, Bugz looks up to you and tries doing things you can do. She wants to grow and learn and that is what she is doing

I answered back. Satisfied, she ran back to where Bugz was and said,

Bugz jump!

Bugz of course followed.

Bugz spin around!

Bugz stopped only after a couple of spins.

Bugz jump and spin!

Bugz managed even that.

Bugz airplane!

Hands out she ran towards Bugz, but Bugz did not follow. She came to a sudden halt in front of Bugz, hands straight to her side, said,

Bugz wings out!

Bugz looked up, leaned a little way forward and gave her Didi a hug. Didi’s hands dropped to return the hug, game forgotten. As for me, I smiled a smile, gathered the unexpected, unguarded moment and held it close.

Action are louder than words

Bugz took her own time to talk. There was no forcing her, no hurrying her. Any request to say something was met with only one word, ‘no’ (yes, that one she learned very early). Then randomly she would say something and it would be near perfect pronunciation. There was no made up words Buzz style. This is not to say she did not have her quirks.

Give her something and ask her, ‘what do you say Bugz?’

‘Wacome’, was her reply.

The day she actually said, ‘Thankoo’, my heart broke a little.

She has a lot of words now. She talks constantly in-fact, trying out new words and stringing them in sentences. But there are some things where actions are still more appropriate.

Bugz and I were at her doctor’s office. While we waited in the room for the doctor to come we heard a baby crying in the room next to ours. Bugz looked up from her game and said,

Baby aaaiii wain aaaiii wain *actual crying noise*

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While out in the park we saw a mother struggle with her toddler kid. The mother wanted to leave, the kid wanted to continue playing. Bugz looked on with a lot of interest and then turned to me,

Baby wain wain..Mumma daant *tapping her hand on her cheek*

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Bugz in my lap just after I came back home in the evening, I asked her what she did all day

Me Anyan (the boy next door) car brr brr brr drive *all the while pretending to hold the steering wheel in her hand*

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‘What are you doing Bugz’, I ask her as I see her playing in her crib.

Bhoo bhoo nini *pushing a blanket on her stuffed dog*
Baby nini *pushing a blanket on her doll*
Me nini *pulling the blanket on herself and shutting her eyes tight*

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Mumma Mumma didi..

she shouted as she comes to find me. ‘What happened to didi’, I ask in a worried voice

Didi *pretends to pick up water and pour it over her head*

‘Aah didi nahie nahie’, I ask her. A nod, a huge smile and she walks away to play in the water while didi takes her bath.

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The garage door opens and she runs downstairs.

Papa mumma …… me no … phoo phoo

‘Mumma is making roti. Bugz no touch. Very hot’, comes D’s voice and a laughing sound from the little one

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‘Bugz what did you do over the weekend’, asked her nanny on Monday.

Aunty me light..phutak phutak.. *using her hands to show all around her*

‘You burst crackers for Diwali?’, aunty asks. She nods, smiles and says,

HaaappyDiaai Aunty

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