Sojha beta, varna Gabbar aa jayega

I have a maid helping me out with Vidur and other chores at home. My maid uses fear to try and ensure that Vidur listens to her. She says (in tamil) "Don't go there! There is a cat there. Shall I ask it to come and bite you?" or "Squeak! Squeak! Rat! Rat! Don't go there Vidur!" Haven't you heard similar instances before? Some age old fear mechanisms are:

• Will you eat or shall I call the policeman? He will take you away.
• Don't touch that else aunty/uncle will shout at/hit you!
• Don't touch that else I will never take you out/bring you here.
• Go to sleep now otherwise the monster/ghost will come and eat you!

Why do we use these fear mechanisms? Does simple, plain logic not work? I bet it doesn't! When children are being naughty, they typically know that they are not supposed to be doing it. You can see the mischievous look in their eyes. But I think a stern 'no' would work. Kids are very perceptive and pick up tones and facial expressions really early. I guess I will know soon if this technique will work better than the fear technique. Will share...

Busy Evening

Last evening, my hubby called to inform that he will be coming late. How this affects me (these days)? As soon as Rajeev comes home, Vidur is thrust into his arms. I call it bonding time (it is actually breathing space for me :) ). So, last evening Vidur was all mine. Hmmmm.....

He was is a very exploratory mood. He was toddling all over the place. We explored the kitchen, the pooja room, hall and dinning room and finally the bedroom. He stood holding on to the side table and was thrilled to see that the table was full of interesting things. He picked up the all out plug in and peered closely at it. He didn't think it was worth playing with and so, he threw it down with a determined thud. He then picked up the Parachute bottle and opened his mouth. He probably imagined putting it into his mouth, but decided it against it. The bottle joined the plug in on the floor. He then tried to reach for a jar of water. Thinking that he is going to throw this down anyway, I placed it on the floor. He then spotted a three way plug and an adapter. He realized that these items were more to his taste and he stated banging them on the table. Heaven knows how these boys automatically take to these items?

He then toddled towards the doormat. He realized that I knew what he was upto and increased his speed. But I am his mom (akhir main uski ma hoon), I got there first and removed the doormat. Never to be dejected, he used all his effort to stand by transferring his weight to the bathroom door. Very conveniently, he fell backwards expecting me to catch him. (BTW I did)

He then found his way to the fitted wardrobe. The door was left open. He dragged his pajamas (folded neatly and stacked together) out and dumped them on the floor. Then, he realized that he could open and close the door. He did this for what seemed like ages. Then, he tried to stand holding on to the door. When he stood, he realized he could reach another shelf. He dutifully pulled Pampers, shook the big packet vigorously, and dumped it.

Finally, he was sleepy. I rocked, I sang. Just when his eyelids closed shut, the doorbell rang and his eyelids sprang open. I wanted to cry. I stomped to the door, gave my tired hubby a dirty look and went back to try again. Same thing happened all over again. I was literally in tears. Finally, he was asleep!! I tucked him in. Saw his angelic face and forgot all that frustration.

Ain't I gud lukin?

My son loves his reflection. Seriously!!! We have a full length mirror in the bedroom. Ever so often, I find Vidur gazing at himself (and at me too; probably thrilled to see a mommy look-alike). There is an old TV stand in the guest bedroom. This stand has a glass door at the bottom. Vidur stops playing to go kiss himself on the glass. He sure does love himself! When I give some vessels to play (hoping he will allow me to cook), he sees himself there too!

My kitchen has a small step. Vidur tried very hard today and successfully climbed over it! He has been trying this for ages now. I was really curious to see what he wanted in the kitchen. As soon as you enter my kitchen, you see the side of the fridge (dark gray). This little one saw his reflection there and therefore, climbed over the step, reached the fridge and peered closely at himself and then at me. He was thrilled at his discovery. He then kissed himself a couple of times (this is probably his way of putting the fridge in his mouth).

My son sure is vain! :)

Will the real Vidur please stand up?

Vidur is now standing! He grabbed on to the cushion of the sofa and stood (while his maternal grandmother was watching him on webcam! He was actually making a desperate attempt to reach the laptop.) Now that he has learnt to stand holding on to something, all he does is practice this newly acquired skill.

I have a three seater and two single seaters. He stands holding on to one and then scans the sofa for remotes, camera, paper, toys. If there is nothing on the sofa, he quickly sits and tries another sofa. This continues over and over again. I try moving him near the dining area. He then tries to reach the tablecloth with the intention of standing. He tries to hold on to the chair, but the chair moves away so he decides against this option. When I put him in the kitchen, he tries to stand by transferring his weight on the fridge! He tries climbing holding the wall, the door, pillow.... guess, when he wants to master a skill, he really tries everything.

PS: Title inspired by Eminem's Will the real slim shady please stand up

Twinkle, twinkle little star

I typically sing all my favorite songs when I take on the challenge of trying to make Vidur sleep. When Vidur was five months, I realized that twinkle, twinkle little star was my key to blissful sleep. This tune helped me pacify him, make him eat (he used to fuss when I first introduced solids) and make him sleep. Around this time, my sister visited me. While feeding Nestum, I was singing twinkle, twinkle... By then, my sister was sick of hearing this tune. She suggested that I try Do, re, me fa, 'lukh chup lukh chup jao na' or 'lakdi ki kati' (anything but twinkle, twinkle). Just to prove a point, I sang do, re, me, fa and Vidur started howling again. I quickly switched back to twinkle, twinkle and he got back to eating his meal!

My sis was rocking the baby to sleep. Thinking that she could make a difference, she started to sing a really melodious hindi number. Predictably, Vidur wailed out his protest. She finally gave up and resorted to twinkle, twinkle. Whenever we went out, I used to sing it quietly in his ear to ensure that he does not scream out. First I noticed that my hubby was also using this tune to sing Vidur to sleep. One by one i realized that my mother, my mother in law and so on all resorted to this tune to console this kid.

Unfortunately, he has now outgrown this. Twinkle, twinkle no longer works. 'Kabhi, Kabhi Aditi' grabs his attention for a few minutes before he remembers that he was crying. He probably thinks that if I show interest in this song, mom will learn the whole song and sing it all the time! I am still testing the waters... hope to find another magic tune soon!

Crouching Tiger

Baby aged 7 months is playing with his toys. Something catches his attention. It is a housefly that is perched on his toy. He freezes and stares at this creature. The fly moves from one toy to another. Baby is still frozen with a keen eye on his prey. He carefully lifts his hand to grab the fly. But alas the fly is much faster. Baby gets back to playing with his toys. Instinct makes babies like animals:

• Do not move else the creature will escape.
  
• Anything that moves must be stopped.
  
• Explore the texture by tasting it.
  

He sees a black spot on the wall (mosquito squashed to death). He toddles on the bed till he reaches the spot, goes on his knees to experiment. He continues to scratch the wall thinking the next time he will be able to catch it.

Vidur reminds me of my doggie! :)

Obsession with Dirt!

Why do children (I hope this is a common thing that all mothers experience) love dirty things? My son is now toddling all over the place. The other day he was busy playing with his toys. One minute he was chewing on his rattle and the next he was very seriously tasting the bathroom doormat! I snatched this away and decided that he takes after his father (for his sense of hygiene and not because his dad chews on doormats). My son then very determinedly made his way for the dustbin. God knows what he would have done with that if I had not picked him up!

I left him in the hall and went to check something (I guess I ask for it!). When I came back, I see that he was busy checking out his father's shoe (I know! I know! My fault for not keeping it back into the shoe rack). He also loves my chappals, which is bright pink. When he spots this, he rushes to it hoping he can get there before I do. When there is nothing around, he decides to taste the floor.

So ensure that dirty stuff is not lying around... Hopefully, he will get rid of his obsession.

Smart Kid!

The affordance of my entertainment unit is really high. What is affordance? According to Wikipedia, "An affordance is a quality of an object, or an environment, that allows an individual to perform an action." How do you know whether you need to unscrew the lid or push the lid shut? How do you know whether the door needs to be pushed or pulled?

Now, getting back to how I figured that the affordance of my entertainment unit is high. My seven month old son holds the handle and pulls the draw open and then closes it. He does this for all the three handles that he can reach. Even a baby knows that the draw can be pulled open and pushed close!

(Sorry for the title, you must know how all mothers are proud if their son even if they do nothing at all!)