Amusing Akhi...

Until now, I have written a lot about S. There are tonnes of things about A that amuse me and C a lot....(when I say a lot, I really mean A LOT).

A and animals -
As time passed I learnt that when kids are taught with 3D figures rather than 2D, they learn a lot quicker and show more interest. For eg., when I go grocery shopping, its like a grocery class all the way in the store...And then that class continues at home when we arrange the stuff we bought. I extended that same concept to teaching them animals and insects. So, grandma sent them a bunch of figures from India and the boys just love the animals. More so, A loves animals. He can play with them all day long. His favorite animal is crocodile. He is just learning to speak and he calls it "cocodile" (with a stress on the d)  - Can you imagine a kid's favorite animal being a crocodile? :-)
One day as I had to stay at work late, C picked up the kids and gave them dinner at home. Now A is troublesome when it comes to meals. A just kept nibbling his food. C tried a lot and then admitted defeat. He just said to A "I am very hungry. So, I am eating my food.  I don't care what you do. Your mom will come home and take care of you." and let A go. C started to eat and then in like 10 minutes A came by with the crocodile in his hand. A climbed the dining table (using his toddler chair) and then started to eat his food using the crocodile's open mouth as a spoon (like he held the crocodile by the tail and scooped food from the cup with the crocodile's open mouth). I missed the sight, but C said that was hilarious. C and S burst out laughing. When they told me, I wondered how in the world could A get such an idea.  But thats what kids are all about - CREATIVITY...

A and his middle finger - 
A goes to Children's Montessori schools toddler program. The toddler program teaches them to be very independent. So he does a couple of things with minimal help from us - putting on pants, shoes and pull-ups and washing his hands (with plenty of soap).
Yesterday, while at school,  he was washing his hands in the sink (those small toddler sinks which little kids can reach). Then the next thing his teacher hears is a soft AAAAaaaaa which slowly turned into a loud cry.When she went over to help him, she found that he had stuck his middle finger into the sink hole as deep as the finger could go. And when he was trying to pull it out, it scraped the sides of his finger. His teacher was extremely scared, because not one kid has done such a thing in her 10 yrs in the school. So, she helped him pull his finger out. Once out, she put pressure on it and did some first aid to stop the bleeding. All this, his teacher did with another teacher - she said, she was too scared to do it alone. Then once he stopped crying, she called me and gave me the update. He was fine when I spoke to his teacher, but from what I heard he cried a lot. When I went to pick him up in the evening, his teacher said, she was baffled at how his curiosity/imagination works...And now, she puts an extra pair of eyes on him when he is near any such thing - sink, cabinets potty etc.
I told C in the evening when he was home (though I knew it as soon as the incident happened in the morning) and he is unable to get his mind off it. He is all fine now - the hurt is healing. But his thought of trying to put his finger through a sink hole still has me wondering. Once again, KIDS...

A and his nature -
The one thing me and C want A to continue to have with him even when he grows up is his current nature. I always wonder from  where he got it. Most of the times though, I think it is from his dad (the times I don't think so are when I had a fight with C - just kidding ! ).

#1 He was/is an extremely extremely relaxed baby/boy. You might have noticed how I stress on relaxed. And yes - that is so true. Since his birth, he has never cried if anybody snatched a toy from him. He would just go and find himself another toy to play with. Only when it goes to an extreme where his brother snatches every toy he brings, he will become physical and defend for himself. If that doesn't help, then he will cry. But most of the time, he will take it easy. It's like he gives a lot of chances to someone who is trying to irritate him. When that someone uses up all their chances, the repercussions are bad i.e., baby bad (pushing, hitting on the head, pulling hair etc)

#2 One thing for sure with him is A was/is an easy to satisfy baby/boy  - all he needs is a belly full of food that he likes (dairy, dairy and more dairy) and his little BIG brother (earlier that used to be his mommy :-( )

#3 A just finds his way to do the things he wants to - he tries the right way, if that does not work; he tries it his way. Sometimes A asks us in his baby language for something that is unreachable to him, like remotes, something on the kitchen countertop, S's paperback story books on a book shelf, puzzles for 3 yrs and up, lotion / cream etc. Like every parent we refuse, look him in the eye and say "No Akhi, you cannot have that thing." He just gives us a stare and leaves that spot. The next thing is he is drags one of his toddler chairs to the required spot, gets on it and reaches for that article that he asked us for. One day, he was ready pretty early and wanted to leave the house. I said "No Akhi, we got to wait for everybody in the house. So, you play till everyone is ready.OK?" The next thing I see is that he has a chair right in front of the front door and is opening the lock to get out. At such times in my house, it's like "Oh My God! Please help me..." We now have knob protectors, but S helps him remove those too. But both the kids got a very strict warning from me regarding the front door. So, that has stopped happening now for a while. But now that I have said it, let's just wait and see...


More about A in my next blog...Until then happy reading!!!