Snappy

The boy has been cranking since last evening, snappy at Aa and Ah. Today he woke up with a cough and cold, threw a big tantrum when I went out to buy soup for him. We did not send him to school.

Over the past week, he has been whining a lot during the nights. Mostly to go to Ah house or sometimes to paint. Initially we talked to him out of it, but it wouldn’t work. Best way was to ignore it or distract him. Off late he wants to do exactly what we don’t want him to do.

The boy has learnt to remove the diaper on his own in the morning - pulls own his pants, unstraps the diaper, hands it over to me or the wife and pulls up his pants again.

Dumbo!

“I want to go to in the bike” was an early morning statement. And when I offered to drop him to school on the motorcycle, he refused.

When his back itches he starts off, “Scratch my back, it is paining”. 

“So funny, no?”. “Dumbo”, “Dumbo Ah”, “Bad Amma”, “Bad Didi” are some of his current words. Not a good choice, he typically prefixes “Bad” to the person’s name he does not like.

The boy has learned to open the front door and let people in.

With an engagement in the family, it was full house with the MIL, SIL and the wife’s uncle dropping in. The boy had a good time and he was social. He did get bored at the engagement ceremony  and I had to carry him out. Once they left for their respective homes, he asked for them. Initially he cried and then forgot about it.

The boy loves eating pomegranates and papaya. When he went to our regular grocery shop, he insisted on buying a pomegranate and carrying it all the way home. On the walk back, while cupping it with both hands, the pomegranate fell down and rolled on the road. The boy ran after it, caught it and continued walking. The next time it fell down and he ran after it, he fell down and bruised his knees. Too proud to cry, he held back his tears, picked up the pomegranate and continued walking home, determined not to let go off it.

He got 2 bottles of bubble baths - Personal Care Raspberry Vanilla Revitalizing Bubble Bath, Childs Farm Bubble Bath and some fancy twisted straws, one of which he broke.

Bus ride

The boy’s first bus ride. I had to drop the car from the service center and test drive cars with AT options. So off we went and on the way back got into the big “Red” bus as the boy called it. He was in awe and looked around in wonder. As usual, some time into the journey, he fell asleep. The next day, he was awake. It was a challenge to cross the road. Total apathy from the motorists. 

Back home and in Ah house, the boy saw that crayons and paper were strewn on the floor. “What is the mess?” he asked mimicking B (Ah’s mother). He has become a parrot, repeating whatever the grown ups say. 

Some improvement in the use of his tricycle - he has learnt to pedal backwards freely. He struggles to pedal it forward.

Routine

The typical routine for the boy now is get up > milk > brush teeth > get dressed > school by 9 > home by 11:15 > bath > lunch > sleep > milk at 4 > play area > Aa/Ah house, depending on mood he may eat dinner there > home > change into pajamas > sleep by 9.

Last night, the boy woke up crying saying he wanted to go Ah house. The only thing that works in such cases is to ignore him, pat his back and let him fall asleep. He later lay on me for some time and slept.

The boy woke up with the biggest tantrum – no school. We didn’t send him to school.

Long drive with the boy

The wife was attending a baking class and I had the whole day with the boy. I decided to drive down to Hosur to meet my parents. The boy was thrilled with the thought of a long drive and meeting my parents. I was slightly apprehensive as it is my first long drive with only him. If he becomes too much to handle, I decided to turn around and come back home. Since the car seat was at my parent’s place, I strapped him in the front seat and pushed the car seat back. He sat wide eyed, being so close to the controls. 15 minutes into the drive, his eyes started rolling. He insisted on staying awake, couldn’t fight the sleep any longer. His head was rolling, so I pulled over, reclined the passenger seat and he slept. The parents were thrilled to see him and fed him well. They gave him 3 chocolates and he refused to let go of it till we got home. The drive back home was a breeze.

Dr love

The boy complained of stomach pain and started crying. It was not severe as he stopped crying when we distracted him. In the evening he went to Ah’s house to play and he completed forgot about it.

Ah had fever and was taking medicines. Touching Ah’s cheek the boy asked him, “You have headache?”. Today morning he told me “Ah ate marunnu”. Since Aa and Ah went to see the doc, he also insists that he is not well and want to see the doc (He does not like Dr S).

The boy has his school annual day coming up and he is practicing for the "Lungi Dance" song at school. His reactions are mixed. Sometime he shows us the dance steps and at other times his chanting starts - "I don’t want to dance. I don’t want to go to the school."

I don’t want to go to the school!

The chants of “I don’t want to go to the school” has started. Holiday blues?
It has been 2 days in a row that the boy has gone without an afternoon nap. Not a good thing for the wife.
“Accidentally” is his new buzz word. “I accidentally did susu in the jetty”.  “I accidentally did susu in the floor”
I picked up the phone to call my mother and his questions started – “Who are you calling to?”, “What are you calling?”

Year end

The year-end break and time to travel. This time we covered Palghat, Ernakulam and Chennai. I had a school reunion after 26 years in Ernakulam. I could not take him to see my school. The boy behaved well during this road trip. We did not take the car seat as he wanted to lie down. Thankfully he had people and things to keep him occupied at each place. The boy also surprised us by being awake till late in the night on some days. There were few chants of “I want to go to Ah house” but he got over it. During this he learnt to somersault and recite the days of the week. We were back home on 1st evening.

On 2nd we went to Cubbon Park with Ah and Aa. The boy had a good time.

I thought he was settled in. I had gone out with D (who was staying over) after we got back, when I got a call from the wife - “Come back home”. The boy was creating a ruckus. We rushed back, I went to the shop nearby home carrying him and he calmed down. I hope he get used to fact that I may have to step out of home on holidays, soon. 

As I reflect on the year that passed, the boy started walking and talking a lot - 2 things the close family was wondering when he will start doing. I also got insights into how they think and the fact that they observe a lot - what we do, what we say.