Yes, you got to be jolly clean.

Brushing the teeth

Me : Gets the toothbrush ,squeezes a miniscule amount of toothpaste on, hands it over to Neil
Neil  : Eats the tooth paste  : Yummy !! more paste please
Me : NO
Neil: Chews the toothbrush , looks at me to see my reaction and continues to chew the toothbrush
Me: Neil ,it is my turn to brush your teeth
Neil:Cleans the washbasin with tooth brush
Me: Germs will eat away your teeth
Neil : Why ?
Me: They will big holes in your teeth
Neil: Wwwhy?
Me: There will be no story time
Neil : Hands me the tooth paste , mamma is my story time cut?

And he is two

And officialy graduated from my cuddly,huggable,mamma wanting baby to an independent, anti-cuddle,anti-hug,anti-kissing and kiss resisting little man.Where did my baby go? How did I,from being the center of the universe become Pluto? I know not.Two is an interesting age. I guess it is a liberating age in the baby life. They can tell us what is on their mind and not rely on us to guess them. It is the time when they move on from cries,to babble,to words,to sentences.That is exactly when he let me know how pathetic I was by idolizing and mimicking me in speech ,actions and words.When you hear something from the baby mouth and you get over the initial shock of where did that come from.You realize , you are kind of looking into a mirror and you see a miniature version of you.So better stop licking your finger clean after the meal.Now the pressure is on,from trying to be the ideal me.I know I will not be at it for long,because it is hard being me and to be the ideal me would be a himalayan task which the lazy me cannot keep up.So I try to be the best me possible for my son.When my son points to the 'lellow' bus at the 'singal' I realize that two is not that bad after all.I cling to my baby in those little ill formed words.Happy two years baby.Love mamma

I have come a long way..

I was chatting with my friend, when she slipped in a quick message “I am pregnant “.I was so excited , I called her up and we talked for a while, that got me thinking of my pregnancy and motherhood.
I enjoyed my pregnancy, except the initial hiccups of nausea, everything went great.I felt great, I was happy ,healthy ,pampered and to top it all was not losing a single strand of hair.
Contrary to that, motherhood didn’t come easy to me; I realized that my ideas of having a baby and a real screaming baby in my arms were not the same at all. Post partum recovery, sleepless nights, breastfeeding fiasco were hard and to handle.
From endless worrying about should the baby wear long sleeves to sleep ,will he feel hot at night , why is he crying now ,is he getting enough milk , should I feed him the infant formula, to sterilizing the sterilized milk bottles just to be sure ,to washing hands a thousand times for fear dreadful germs , to leaving him at day care , I have come a long way; my son has taught me a lot of things. I learnt that babies are strong, resilient little things .It doesnt matter if you have to feed them formula instead of breast milk they don’t love you less .All they care about is a full tummy, clean bottom and a constant dose of cuddles ,hugs ,kisses and love .They do forgive you for your mistakes , still love you and look up to you and run to you with open arms when you pick up them up from child care at the end of the day .I realize that I was never a mommy material but my son is teaching me how to be one. Wait a minute…seems like Wordswoth was right after all, I agree “The Child is the father of the man”

Fitting into the new shoes

is always hard for me, specially because of my big feet.Mommy shoes is definitely the toughest one I ever had on. The easiest one and the most fun is the sister shoes , it is all fun ,no responsibility and you get to irritate the hell out of your sibling. I digress .

Being a mommy is a tough job .It means sleepless nights,endless nappy changing,but it also means the toothless smiles,the sparkle in the eyes,the wobbly legs trying to walk,a cozy bundle to cuddle on chilly winter nights.

There is a new found respect for your parents ,like how the hell did they raise me ,sure they had a support system of grandma , uncles and aunt,but still.

You wake up in the middle of the night to the slightest whimper, to rock the baby back to sleep and wonder is this really you ,the same you who slept through a Tsunami ?

So many worries ,so many questions ,so much emotions filled the first year. I am glad and a little sad that my baby is officially a toddler now.No more the wrinkly little bundle whom I brought home a year ago.

In short, mommy shoes are stilettos, a little hard to squeeze the feet in, a little painful but definitely worth it. So here I go strutting ,bring on the year two.

ayoooooo....somebody there..give me a hand.

30 days..

You came 2 days late, looking very annoyed and screaming loud.

Angry at me for pushing you out ,angry at the harsh lights ,angry at strangers pricking and probing you.Later you came to me and stared at me and I didnt know what to say.That is how we started off,

You were quick ; you rolled over ,you crawled using your hands,then on knees,learned to sit,smiled your toothless smile ,learned new tricks ,clapped hands,danced to 'Hey Soul Sister'.

Now you read Mr Brown and is learning to walk and talk.

All I knew was ,I wanted a baby.You my darling is teaching me to be a mommy. Everyday you make me love you a little more ,if that was ever possible.

In another 4 weeks you will turn one,no longer mamma's little baby.Not fair at all ,the year flew by too fast.Happy 11 months little one.

A song for the moment

A few days back I was listening to "Dil Chah tha hai" and I was immediately back in college.
The day the movie released, the college was on strike (coincidence for what ?),the minute we heard about the strike we jumped the hostel gates and caught a bus to movie theatre .When we got in,it was like we were back inside our classroom ,with exception of select few all our classmates were there. The movie was good ,company great and songs amazing.The dialogues and songs remained on our lips for a long time.
I love this about the songs, certain songs takes us back , bringing back the smiles ,excitement and warmth.
The children's pancha tantra songs sung byYesudas and chitra were my favorites when I was a kid.I love those songs, it takes me to my grandma's house .After lunch, on rainy afternoons cherryamma would play the cassette for me. When my son was born, cherryamma asked me what she should get for him, I told her I wanted the songs and sure enough she got one for him , the only difference is,it came on a CD .
"Piya bole" is for Chennai days and GA girls , "Color Blind" is for love lorn self, "Cotton Eye Joe"and Dil se is for college romance and a crazy friend. Now when I open up the blog to write ,my mind goes blank and no songs come to me...I will have to catch them off guard and pen them down as when.

Can you feel the love tonight ?

It was midnight , my son perched on my hip and with 2 heavy bags hanging from my shoulder I was walking hastily towards the exit. The airport was crowded , thanksgiving holidays had started.
I noticed a couple walking past me, their eyes eagerly searching for someone in the crowd.Something made me stop ,I turned around trying to see where they were headed. That is when I saw a teenage boy walking towards them.He almost ran towards the couple and hugged them, both of them together.They stood like that for a while, no words ,just hugs and smiles.It was such a perfect moment , there was so much love in the air.It filled my heart ,brought a smile to my face.Just the sheer happiness of seeing the loved ones.I hoped there was someone to meet us at the airport too.
Whom I could run to and give a huge warm hug.