Nemo's Dad Was Right!

Of course the notion that am modeling myself or identifying with a cartoon character speaks volumes about my MQ (madness quotient) but there's no escaping it...am Nemo's dad through and through. I keep worrying about MLM's safety, other's safety when he's in full swing and also about what would happen if I were to look away for some time.

This evening Red and I took MLM to a play area nearby where the kiddy play site was actually overrun by the bigger kids. Am talking of the 8 years old and above. MLM'll be 4 soon but in the meanwhile he's quite naive. He's protected in school quite a bit..there's a good amount of segregation between the playgroup and nursery kids whereas in a play area open for all, there's a no-holds barred kind of unspoken rule.

Now I admire the fact that my child seems to know no fear. But it scares the crap out of me. He goes and stands in front of other kids swinging fast and high and thinks just the sight of him will make them stop. What he fails to realize is that he's going to get knocked straight off his feet and have boo-boos all over for a good amount to time and be wailing to the Heavens above when someone's foot connects with his face or head or any other part of his anatomy.

Also, the play area (which is nicely done up and basically is as kid-friendly as possible) has these tall posts on top of which are perched a rather large and colorful caterpillar, flowers et al. Now after a few days of going gaga over the swings and the slides et al, MLM suddenly decided that he wanted to conquer the Mt.Butterfly and Mt. Flowers to which there are actually no direct routes.
So he climbs atop the tunnel casing, slipping and losing his footing most of the times and then tries to be Spiderman and jump from one segment of the play area to the other so he can reach the structures on top.

So there I am flitting from pillar to post watching him do everything other kids are not and trying to be this human cushion as and when he falls. And I realize that it's not quite so much him and his curious nature. It's me and my problems with lack of control over situations and a fear of seeing him hurt.

Red was far more pragmatic about all this and said let him learn his boundaries...he'll fall, he'll get hurt and he'll learn. But it seems kinda mean to do that to a child who still doesn't know enough consequences and lives life mainly on the pleasure principle and through avid curiosity. As a parent I should know better...wouldn't it be great if he never had a scraped knee. I've had plenty. Even as an adult but I could understand it better then. As a child it never felt good. Or reasonable to have one.
Shouldn't childhood just be about giggles, good times and a total unawareness of every boo-boo that's awaiting you in the world out there?

The mother in me says so. The adult in me is still fighting it out with the mother.

Talk about growing pains! For us both!

Turning a Proverb on It's Head...

Throughout my school days the proverb of "an empty mind being the devil's workshop" has been echoed by teachers, principals, students in charge of the noticeboard duty and other bored, uninspired people.

But what happens when the mind isn't empty but brimming over with ideas? I'd say that qualifies for a barrel full of devils..imagine Lucifer, Beelzebub and Mephistopheles in a heady cocktail mix. Gives one pause?

I have a very strong feeling that little children, aged 2 years and above have so many thoughts running through their minds, so many things stimulating them, inciting their curiosity that that their resulting actions often bring out the imp in them.
And who better to take as an example than my own offspring?

He's been fascinated with this-

 for a very, very long time. The locking mechanism is what drew him ironically and the texture interested him enough to have him seek it out from it's various hiding places. And with the patience of a lion hunting its prey, he waited and watched and with bated breath found a window of opportunity when I was busy and got it in his grasp.

I'm not sure *how* he managed it, but I guess he stood on his scooter for leverage and managed to inch it closer to himself using a pencil I'd seen him handling earlier in the day but had forgotten to keep out of his reach.

I was a bit busier than usual with some kitchen remodeling work and thought MLM safely and entirely engrossed in his Chhota Bheem cartoon. By the time I was done and went to tousle the hair of my hitherto fairly still child, I found him covered head to toe in my hand&foot cream. He'd eaten some, liberally applied the rest on his clothes, hands, legs and let's not forget the sofa!

He was so creamed up that he had become slippery.

We trekked to the bathroom where he sat patiently enough and let me hose him off; now that his objective was accomplished. And soon after that he kept asking for more cream, " Give kleem". Yeah right! Like I need my walls smelling of aloe vera as well.

But that's the kissa kream ka. Oh and he ran away with the veggie peeler, the screwdriver and broke a glass vessel also. All within the span of an hour.

All in a day's work for a preschooler I'd say.

Right about now I'd like to test out that hypothesis about the empty minds...it simply CANNOT be any worse than his filled-to-the-brim noggin, can it?

Ma da laadla...

YES! am indeed keeping in tune with Bollywood and using song titles for my blogs. Only I doubt I'll go the E.K way and make it (K(Ma) with the K silent :p

And while on the topic of the aforementioned...let me state what territories have been explored recently (kindly understand to mean random acts of violence perpetuated against household objects that cannot fight back)-

1. The antennae of the land-line broken and kind of droopy and loose. I doubt the manufacturers intended the phone to be dragged along by the antennae in the first place. Just goes to show how important a role children play in the quality testing of objects.
2. The screen, sound, camera of my Nokia have been so affectionately attacked that the saliva in the phone has become a reservoir. The sound of the people over the phone seems to be as if originating underwater. A gross exaggeration I admit but you get the picture. The camera's been hazy and grainy after the last contact with the floor.
3. The frame of my glasses are chipped and loose. It really has become a one size fits all :( And I thought that applied to tube socks alone.

It's not that my kid is destructive mind you. Not at all! The cardinal sin that he suffers from is curiosity. What is kept so high up? Let's go explore. Why does the microwave light up and have a rotating object inside...let's touch it and see? What happens if I press that button...and the list goes on.

And there's his wish to hear how things sound ergo throwing them becomes the next logical act.

The way I see it, he'll discover something BIG one day...an explosion at the very least will not surprise his father and I one iota!

As for how to assuage his undying thirst for knowledge...well, as long as there are things for him to list, climb on and taste in this house the skirmishes between him and I are guaranteed. I guess his scurrying around is still preferable to him turning into a zombie tater tot in front of the telly. But commercials have never been more of a lifesaver for me. Especially those of fair maidens getting fairer.

Here's to all the manufacturers of fairness creams. You are the chief reason my son halts in his tracks atleast a few times in the day. May you keep preying on the mindsets of the fairness-obsessed people and keeping hiring geisha-faced girls to help out mothers like myself!

Here endeth the rant. For now :-)