Shaurya's Chronicles

I begin with an apology to Shaurya on this. I have been so very late in updating this blog this time that I guess there are no excuses left. True, that there has been a lot of running around for me to do and then I switched my job as well but I guess this post deserved to be posted earlier than this as it happens to be an account of Shaurya’s third birthday… I guess I shall make it upto you son by making a few posts in quick succession (I hope).

Shaurya turned 3 on January 8, 2010 and I celebrated the three joyful years of motherhood with him on his day. The plan was to have a cake cut with some sweets for the children at his play school and a party next day for the friends and elders in the family.

Now I must admit that though I have a management degree and planning out things and events almost comes naturally to me but thinking about how to go about making his day special took some extra bit of thinking. I really had to get all my grey matter together on the task and I spent hours at the local toy store picking up return gifts for his friends at school and wanted everything to be just perfect.

The party at the play school

Well, the party at school went on as I planned. Shuarya acted smart and pricey. I guess he reckoned that he was the star of the day and went along in a similar fashion.

I laid out the cake I had got and lit the candles and he sprung up and blew them as soon as they were lit up and so I had to light them again for everyone to sing the birthday song. Later, he was just not willing to give up his cake and wanted to have the entire thing alone. But, then his attention got diverted by the gifts he had to give away to his friends. I was surprised to see the way he was behaving.

He was made to sit on a table in the centre of the room by his teacher and then one by one everyone came to take their (return) gifts. To my amazement, he was all style and grace. He handed out the gifts and just threw a fleeting glance at who ever was coming, passed a smile and turned his face around to see who was coming in next.

I later, took him and one of his friends to a nearby play area to keep the fun thing going for him. We came home tired and I guess all in all he enjoyed the party and I enjoyed seeing every one having fun.

Dinner the next day

The next day we had a party for the family and we tried our level best to put him to sleep in the afternoon so that he could be fresh for the party in the evening. But, he was too busy with his new cycle which his ‘Da-Ma’ and ‘Chachu’ had brought him as a birthday present.

He actually exhausted himself a little too much and slept as soon as we sat in the car to head over to the venue. I guess the little nap did him some good because when we woke him up he was fresh again. However on sensing that all our guests were doling out presents and attention to him, he returned to his pricey self again.

I guess he just took a different route this time and started acting shy. He hid himself behind everyone on the couch and was acting funny closing his eyes and clinging to me or his dad. But then as soon as the cake was brought out, he was all active and willing to blow the candles. The party went great and he came home with loads of presents. It was fun watching him unwrap his presents. He was way too happy to receive a rock star kit with a guitar and a mike and a pair of roller blades.

He went crazy with the guitar and ultimately we had to hide it lest the neighbours called the police for causing a ruckus. The roller blades have become one of his favourite toys as of now. He has learnt to wear them on his own and stands holding the bed waiting for someone to help him move about.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I key this in, he continues to move around, calling me, seeking my attention, wanting me to get him his guitar, urging me to switch on the TV and asking me to give him his ‘Choco-latte’, all at the same time. 

I can’t help but think of the day he was born and was brought in my arms for the first time. He changes into a different person almost on a daily basis, learning things, picking up new tricks and comprehending complex emotions and coming up with different needs and set of wants.

Soon it would be his time to make other demands and maybe he shall tell me one day that he doesn’t want me to plan his birthday parties any more. Maybe he would just want to be out of the house celebrating his birthday with his friends and would want to leave his old parents behind… who, I am sure, by then, would have turned ‘not so cool’ to hang out with…Ah well, till that time, I guess I shall just continue planning his parties and baking him cakes and smile watching him at his eagerness to blow candles on his birthday cake.

Love you my angel and yes, a very Happy Birthday once again.

The following entry was lying in my drafts since some time now and finally sees the light of the day. I have been running one end to the other in recent times with Shaurya being a little unwell and was kept really busy. I shall write about the trauma of his sickness in another post maybe.

For now, read on and share your comments and feedback.

My sister and her daughter ‘Saanya', who happens to be Shaurya’s favorite cousin, are in India and visited us some time ago. Now Shaurya is extremely fond of Saanya and had a gala time with her.

The school was closed for a brief break and Shaurya had all the time to himself – no books, no coloring exercises, no work but cartoons and rhymes and playing with Saanya. Though their favorite pastime was picking up a fight with each other and taking each other full force, hands and bites and blows, they would not even sit apart and would rush to each other at the first chance. Some times I feel that they viewed fighting as just another game . Sis and I were kept on our toes running after our tots separating them from a tangle and our throats were all parched after all the scolding.

However, the fact is that both of them are just too fond of each other and I really feel that Saanya's company has worked wonders for Shaurya. His vocabulary has increased manifold and he has started framing his own sentences and which occasionally are in clear English. (Maybe I shall make another post on all the funny sentences Shaurya uses these days).

Coming back to their love hate relationship, I have a funny anecdote to narrate here. Couple of days ago we all went out for dinner. It so happened that on the way back Shaurya and Saanya had to sit separately in different cars. Shaurya for some reason deciphered that Saanya was going away and he kept chanting her name continuously and was in tears and howling by the time we got back. All my reasons and attempts to pacify him were rendered useless.

As soon as he got out of the car he rushed to the other car and kept calling out to his little cousin and in turn, she came running to him. Shaurya hugged her and said, "Saanu, I crying… I crying… gimmie kissie... “(Saanya, I'm crying, give me a kiss). Well, all this was so cute and funny that we stood there rooted to the ground in amazement for many a moments.

Looking back at all the posts I made earlier on this blog, this one perhaps is the first indication of Shaurya picking up complex emotions and learning to express himself.

Just hope that he remains as affectionate and grows up to be a sensible, sensitive and emotionally intelligent man.

A Short One

Last night, my Hero had a craving for Maggi (Instant noodles) and repeatedly started asking for it. It was late in the night and I thought it was proper if he had his milk than have some noodles at that hour. After failing to reason it out with him I had to finally tell him, ‘Shaurya, mujhe gussa mat dilao’ (Shaurya, don’t make me mad) and to my surprise he retorted with, ‘Mujhe bhi gussa aa raha hai’ (I am beginning to get angry too). I was shell shocked at his prompt answer. Had he repeated the entire sentence the way I had said then, I would have taken it very lightly, but here, he had added words on his own and I was spell bound. I stood there looking at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. He ran after me as if to hit me as he felt humiliated. I would have disapproved of his behaviour otherwise, but then this was exceptional and I just could not stop myself from picking him up and giving him a nice bear hug.

And, yes for the records, he still did not get his Maggi and had to have his milk instead.

Somehow, I had always underestimated the power of nursery rhymes and the part they played in a child’s creative development. I always believed that they were more like an instrument to keep a child busy by engaging him in a song and movement routine.

However, my perception has changed ever since Shaurya has started attending his play school. Of all things, it seems that he is most interested in his rhymes and songs that he learns in his school. Even though he is not able to understand all the words and then tends to mumble later, still he keeps singing them, day in and day out.

He sings these rhymes even while he’s busy bathing, playing, sitting in the car or even watching TV. The funniest part is that even when there is some song being played on the TV, Shaurya can be heard singing one of his rhymes at the top of his voice as if holding a competition with the TV. It does get annoying at times but recently my little superman has started associating words with moving visuals on the TV. He watches his cartoon shows and picks up a bird or the fish in a visual and sings a rhyme associated with a bird or fish.

Since my childhood remained confined to the spectrum of DD and National network and there were hardly any educational cartoon shows around, watching Shaurya use the streaming visuals and aligning them with the learning from his school is an experience of sorts for me.

At times I really wish that we had as many helping aids (Media, Internet and toys to learn) in our times too. But then I am sure the simplicity that we enjoyed in those times can never be restored now. Personally, I just hope that Shaurya picks up and inculcates some reading habits too as he grows up and does not confine himself to songs and music and the idiot box alone.

Patience is one virtue that motherhood has inculcated within me. But, I guess this is still one thing I have to pass on to Shaurya. My little brat has still not learnt the art of waiting.

So, if he gets onto something, he wants it to be done right away. And then there is his own choice of phrases to be used to communicate his persistence and urge. He begins by saying ‘kara diyo’ (let me do it) or ‘Denaa’ (Give it to me) and if not heard would keep chanting ‘Mamma, Mamma’ till the time his wish is fulfilled or he is indulged with whatever he has been asking for.

It happened so that I was driving with Shaurya and he got that sudden urge for colouring. He started off saying ‘Colouring karna hai’ (I want to colour) and kept repeating his request on and on. This got distracting after a bit and I had to pull over and tell him in my stern voice ‘Colouring karenge, ghar jaake, theek hai’

(We shall do the colouring once we reach home. Alright).

Really don’t know whether he kind of understood that his demand was unreasonable considering that we were still in the car or he just took note of the demeanour of my tone, but he settled in quietly after that. However, my little hero had by then already picked up a few words from what I said and he now fits them wherever he feels like. So, almost everything ends up with a ‘thik hai’ (theek hai) and everything now has to be done ‘ghar jaake’. So now even if he is at home playing and he wants something he usually ends up with a sentence like ‘Mamma ball dena..thik hai’ or ‘Chocolate dena..ghar jaake’.

His cheeky innocence gets me in splits of laughter at the same time it swells my heart to see his vocabulary grow to form meaningful sentences compared to the days when he used to just utter monosyllables.

I know that someday he would be out in the big bad world and shall even pick up words and phrases that I would not otherwise want him to use. Maybe at that time I shall get him to read this entry here and remind him that speech is a gift and that his Mamma always wants him to use his words carefully and judiciously so as not be rude or offensive to anyone.

Hmmm.. I guess for now I shall just sit back and enjoy what ever little he has to say on a daily basis. Maybe I shall capture some sound bytes on my voice recorder and post them here to share and savour them from time to time.

I know this has been the longest break that I ever took from making a post. I guess I have just become too occupied with other things happening at the moment. Shaurya’s 'Masi' has flown down from US and there have been some recent developments on my job front as well in addition to my being down with flu and a bad throat for some time now.

Anyway, all excuses given, I am making this post with intent of making up for all the lost time and hence hope that my readers shall get back to me with lot of comments and feedback and urge me to post a couple more in quick time now.

In my earlier posts I have expressed my wonder on Shaurya picking up words and phrases and formulating his language. Well, my little champ is one little bag of surprises and he keeps pulling a new trick every passing day.

Couple of weeks ago he would just drop his toys and come over to me seeking my attention. I, on such occasions would ask him, ‘What happened, Shaurya?’ He would then smile and run back to his toys or just stand there without giving me an answer. However, few days ago he picked up this phrase and started asking me in return ‘What happened, Mamma?’ and then would climb up the bed and pat my cheek. I would then smile and answer, ‘Nothing happened, Shaurya’.

And now he has kind of memorized this question and now if I ever ask him ‘What happened, Shaurya?’ He promptly replies ‘Nothing happened, Mamma’. He would then turn around and give me a smile and looks up as if to seek my approval at his answer.

Often this becomes a little game in itself and he would repeat his answer multiple times. The only thing I can do at this is smile lovingly and cuddle him. It gives me a sense of pride that he’s learning things fast and even tries his best to use whatever he’s been learning.