Hello MumMum,
How are you doing? I heard my last letter to you was very
much loved by your ‘big-people’ friends (please note, any individual above the
age of 5 will be referred to as ‘big-people’).
Well, just like last time, I will come straight to the point, as now I
have even less time. Growing up is not easy, you see. Last time when I wrote to
you, I was just 10 months old, and what I said was merely babbling baby-talks.
But I have grown up now, I am 21 months old and I have my responsibilities.
Ohh, yes I do. Don’t look so bewildered MumMum.
My foremost responsibility is to let you and other
big-people know that we babies have a life which is much bigger than eating broccoli, being potty-trained or knowing our ‘first 100’ words. We have
millions of stars to be stared at, thousands of fireflies to chase and a whole
new world to explore. And this we want to do our way....the fun, messy, crazy
way!
Talking about crazy, I know my latest, “I point, you tell’
game is turning you crazy MumMum. But I don’t understand why you are having so
much trouble with it really. It is a very simple game. Whenever I feel like
(which is all my waking hours), I will point at some things around the house,
in a book, or on the road (if we are travelling), and you simply will have to
name the things I’m pointing at. See, it’s super fun! Yes, I agree sometimes I
point at several things at a time. I do that just to mess around with your
head. But even you hide broccoli and paneer (cottage cheese) pieces in my food
(yuukkk!). So, we are even now.
But you are not the only person I want to be even with
MumMum. DaDa tops my list actually. Well, he continues to manhandle me, and
seems like with each passing day he is getting better at it. You know, how he
keeps telling you that he loves playing ball with me. Well, he misses out the
most important point here, I guess. He doesn’t kick the ball with
me, he kicks it at me. Ohh great, now you are laughing. I thought the mother is
always supposed to be on her boy’s side, but you seem to be teaming up with the
wrong boy here. You know, in some countries this might be considered as child
abuse.
Okay enough complaining. I guess I just need to be the
bigger person here and forgive you guys. I just need to think of my happy
memories. And my one most happy memory is of DaDa tucking me in for the night.
Every night just before putting me to sleep, he holds me gently with both hands
and says, “When I first saw you, you were so small you hardly reached to my
elbow, and look at you now”. Seriously, you can ask him to say something new
now.
I want to tell you something MumMum. I love you! You say
this to me some hundred times in a day, and I know you’re dying to hear it from
my lips. Since I cannot say it out loud, yet, I’m going to say it here. I love
you to the moon, sun, stars and back. Whenever you are around, my world seems
perfect. Whenever you are playing with me, I feel the happiest. Every time you
pick me up, I feel like I’m on cloud nine. Every time you read to me, I feel
loved. The sound of your voice soothes me. Now now, please do not cry MumMum, I
hate to see you crying. Crying in front of a toddler is really not a good idea,
as it might lead me to jump to conclusions and believe that I am the reason why
you are upset. What? Do not look at me like that, it is what Google says! But Google
knows nothing about us little people. So take it from me MumMum, cry, laugh,
kiss, sing, hug and dance in front of me. Only when you do all that will I learn
to accept them as natural part of life.
MumMum I know sometimes you get upset with me. Sometimes when
I spill food or drink on the floor, or when I smuggle your spice jars from the
kitchen cabinet, or when I splash water at you during bath times, or when I
throw the trash cans upside down. From where you stand MumMum I might be wrong,
but if you just slip into my booties and see for a moment, you will know I do
all this (and much more)because I love you. Only when I spill something on the
floor do you bring your washcloth and bend on the floor to clean, and that is
exactly when I get to come and hug you from behind and get a piggyback ride. Ohh
MumMum I love our piggyback rides...they are precious. Now about the spice
jars. Sometimes when you are busy in the kitchen and you don’t play with me, I
feel lonely. So i bring your spice jars and hide them in my toys. Because I
know after a while you will come looking for them and spend some time with me.
Ohh and the water splashing during bath time is my absolute favourite one. I
know you secretly love that too, you just pretend to be angry at me. And that leaves us with the trash cans. Well,
that I just do to annoy you. Sorry.
It’s almost my nap-time MumMum, so I will be quick. This thing
that I’m about to say is something that all my friends want you big-people to
know. We little ones are supposed to learn the ropes of life from you, and we
do. We laugh, walk, talk and eat like you. We look at you and we want to be
like you.But there are certain things that big-people should be learning from
us too. The first thing is to laugh. I have seen many big-people laugh, but
something always seems to be missing from your laugh. It is like, your lips are
laughing, but your eyes are not. Look at us babies, we laugh with our lips,
eyes, tummy, ears and sometimes even our toes! Why can’t big-people laugh like
that? The second thing that you can learn from us is to listen. We babies see
and hear EVERYTHING. We listen to the things that you tell us, and listen more
keenly to things you do not want to tell us. But as per my observation, big-people do not
seem to listen a lot. They always seem to be in a hurry. MumMum even you seem
to be in rush sometimes, and it seems like you are here, but not really here.
And I do not like those days. I like the days when we are quiet, and we are
here. Like the days we spend time gardening. I love the way you tend to the
flowers, talk to the plants, and listen to the buds in bloom. I love being with
you on those days, digging the soil with you and watering the plants.
MumMum, I’m very sleepy now (stifles a long yawn). Good night. I might write to you soon, or not. Till then
you laugh more, sing more, dream more, cuddle me more and worry less.
I love you,
The son
**************
*In 2017 I wrote a blog post, The son speaks. The above blog is an extension of the same.
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