Discoveries of the almost two year old

My son,

As I read the last few posts, I realize I have not recorded your discoveries aka activities. So, here is the list of what you are upto these days.
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I used to sing a lot of rhymes both in English and Tamil with exaggerated actions just to keep your attention on me. It helped in improving sitting tolerance, eye contact, and concentration. Now we have come to the next stage where irrespective of whatever actions I make, you look only at my lips. This has been happening for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, as I left you alone with your toys, I heard you humming “hmm…hmm… hmm…hmm…hmmmm…hmmmm…..” in the same tune as the Tamil rhyme “amma inge va va…” I was all smiles the entire day!

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Kitchen has become your official play area, much to my despair. Pressure cooker and gas stove are your favorite toys, with mixie and grinder coming a close second. Every time I switch on the gas, you want me to carry you and see what I am cooking. Next step is you asking for the karandi (ladle / spatula). I normally say No to it. One time, when I was preparing dosa, mother’s love dominated the brain and I gave you the karandi. I am still repenting for it. Every time I make dosa, I will have to give you the karandi so that you can swap dosa’s sides. I just wish you have the same interest when you grow up. I will be more than happy to handover the kitchen to you. (Yeah, I have great foresight :))

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In continuation with previous point, at the close of the day when I clean all utensils, you want to put them in its proper place. Only problem in it is that you are interested only in the stand above the gas stove. You place the stand on the burner, take the gas lighter, and tap it on the burner. Thankfully, you still do not know that there is something called gas cylinder on the floor. I guess it’s a matter of time before I buy a lock for the kitchen door.

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I make you sit beside me whenever I do pooja. Before the readers think I am trying to make him spiritual, let me clarify it is more to ensure he is in my eyesight. You have seen me do the pooja every single day and now you think you have seen enough of it and want to do it yourself. For example, you want to light the diyas (thankfully you have not perfected the art of using matchbox), you want to light the agarbathis (thankfully they do not produce much light, so your interest has dwindled), and the last comes lighting the camphor and here is where the problem lies. Today, you held my hand near the camphor telling me to light it. I told you to wait. You asked again and my response was the same. You asked the third time and my response was the same. Then you took the camphor yourself and took it close to the diya. Thankfully, my brain acted fast enough to carry you away. It is getting tougher as each day passes.

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Daily walks with you are becoming tougher for me. On some days, you throw your smile at the vendors and they give you fruits or vegetables in return. I almost feel embarrassed to carry them in my hand. On other days, you want to go to all the brightly lit shops like jewellery shop. My son, let me tell you however broad you smile, no body will give you a single gram.

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Just because I travel with you mostly in auto does not mean we can go inside any auto at any time. The autowala gives me a hard look and I give him a very sheepish smile.

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Once I dress you up, which in itself is a tough job since you do not like applying powder or oil, you want to go out. It does not matter if I am not ready or I have to pack my bag. You just want to get out and keep on pulling my hand. If I ignore you, you follow me wherever I go until I open the gate. :)

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That’s it for now. Keep your discoveries coming. I am enjoying every single minute of it.

Quietly happy

I do not know if there is an expression like being quietly happy. But that is how I am today. In fact, I think today is the first day in 2012 wherein I am happy. ***A big kaala tikka ***

The day started as usual with household chores taking up most of my time. But something changed as I took my son for our morning walk. After the walk he came close to me a few times and smiled at me. Later, I made him do all the learning activity toys and though he was sleepy, he did all of them in a jiffy. Then, I made him sit on my lap and held his hand so that we could practice writing (more like teaching him how to grip). After writing for a few minutes, he turned and looked at me with such brightness in his eyes and a smile that made me go “aww…” and he continued writing. I was speechless for a few seconds.

In the evening, I took him to Bangalore central since it was drizzling outside and I wanted to get him used to crowd. He went inside and was extremely happy looking at the lights. In toys section, he was happy to touch the toys, ride the cycle, bike, horse and donkey (none of which I bought :) ). Anybody who looked at him or touched him was given such a brilliant smile clearly telling that he was happy.

Once he was back at home, we did the activity toys and then gave him a few puzzles. He solved them all much to my surprise. Until today, though he has seen the puzzles and has taken them apart, he has never fixed them and I actually did not teach him to fix either. I thought he was too young for puzzles. Clearly, I am proven wrong. His mind is truly alive and kicking. And he continued the pattern of coming close to me, keeping his face closer to mine, and smiling. The happiness was so contagious that my heart is smiling. Thank you my boy for the love and affection. What if you can not speak in terms of words, our hearts are able to communicate, and I am so happy that my mind was also peaceful to understand the message.

No one other than my own heart knows that I am happy. I have not shared this with anyone, not with my husband or my MIL or my parents because I think it’s a mother-son thing and I consider it absolutely personal. It is ironic that I am recording this in the blog, may be I want to revisit this day sometime in future or may be I just don’t differentiate between me and my blog. I really do not know.

First set won!

Its Wimbledon time. In the same lingo, we (me and my son) have won the first set today.

I started the infant stimulation therapy on Feb and it has taken my son four months to pretty much achieve all the goals such as interest in toys, sitting tolerance, eye contact, shaking hands with strangers, responding when his name is called. So, from now on the therapy will be three days a week to ensure he does not go backward again.

Group therapy is still a problem. He finds it difficult to sit with other kids and expects individual attention all the time. I guess this will be the goal for the next set.

Another important milestone today is that I have started my son on speech therapy. The therapist tells me that his facial muscles are weaker and hence though he wants to produce some sounds he is unable to do so. So, I will have to massage his mouth and cheeks everyday. I promise to work hard and help you speak as early as possible.

My son,

Good job so far. Doctors are pleased about your progress. 

I have just one request. Please do not cry the entire 45 minutes of therapy session. It’s difficult for me to pay a good sum from my purse and sit outside and hear you crying at the top of your voice all the time. May be you can take a five minutes break in between. Think about it.

Thanks.

Love you,

Mom.