As you like it

Funny, at an age where your opinions are already formed and you dare to call yourself rational, you find yourself helplessly giving in to your toddler's whims and fancies.

Scene 1: Amma: (Having a meal plate with rotis and sabzi, trying to feed R)

R: iddu *pointing to the sabzi*.

I try to reason with him and say that rotis and sabzis have to be eaten together. Distract him with a story and feed him a morsel of roti and sabzi.
R promptly spits it out. Insists iddu to the sabzi.

Amma: *resignedly feeds him what is asked*.

Rinse, repeat for rotis after a while. As long as whatever is on the plate goes in, I am not too bothered. But I am on the edge till the plate is at least 3/4th empty for you never know when these whimsical toddlers might change their minds.

The above scene can be played in many ways and in any situation.

Scene 2:  At the play area
I usually let R decide what he wants to do as long as he does not come in the way of the older kids playing or the ones cycling.
R: anga..pointing to the slide
After 30 seconds, he would say, anga, pointing to the see-saw
A minute later, it is  "anga", this time towards the swing.
The swing is his favourite. Till the time, I insist on him getting down, he would keep swinging.

Scene 3:  Bath-time or any other time when I have to keep him occupied and entertained.

Amma: ok, I'll sing you the ABC song.
A, B, C, D....(at which juncture R interrupts)
R: iddu...Niya Niya oduva
Amma: ok, Nila Nila odi va, nillamal odi va..(interrupted again)
R: vea paatu, poo paatu, tinku, tinku...and so on...


It sometimes feels like a radio gone awry with mixed frequency signals. Couldn't help remembering this scene from the film Coolie:




6 comments:

  1. the title - is so apt! really, we literally dance to their tunes whether we like it or not! and their attention span is so less...Whew! Tough keeping up with them...

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  2. "you find yourself helplessly giving in to your toddler's whims and fancies"
    you definitely enjoy all that... don't you??? your world revolves around your little kid who keeps occupied all the time.. yet you somehow manage to capture his growing years in your posts..!! nice post again :)

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  3. Hahaha !!! Uma, I'm glad that I'm not the only one! I've "adjusted" to so many things with S, even as compared to D whom I now feel i was quite strict with.

    Starting with wanting to sleep with his gun or sword under his pillow, to speed-colouring where I turn my back and the entire book's done ;) !! D used to listen when I said please colour only a couple of pages at a time, so you can do it nicely. With S, he'll look thoughtful when you tell him something, and then do exactly what he wants anyway!

    Love how you capture these moments, I always think I should put them down, and hardly remember when I actually get to the blog.

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  4. RS: hehe..isn't it? Its so annoying at times when they insist on doing exactly what we don't want them to do. Sigh!

    Radhika: err..not sure if I enjoy at that point, coz am all worked up and all I want to do is whack the tantrum-throwing kid. But I am making an effort to write down all I remember so that in hindsight when R grows up, I can laugh reminiscing about it.
    Thanks! :-)

    Aparna: LOL @ "wanting to sleep with his gun or sword under his pillow, to speed-colouring where I turn my back and the entire book's done".
    and also totally relate to "he'll look thoughtful when you tell him something, and then do exactly what he wants anyway!"..know what, these days, R just keeps smiling impishly when I tell him not to do something. As though to test me!
    Thanks Aparna! I know, we tend to forget, hence making an extra attempt to put it down here.
    And thekkady sounds awesome. I had been there with friends before marriage. Lovely place! enjoy!

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  5. ha ha! tinku tinku is twinkle twinkle? And talk about feeding the toddlers!! shabbaaa!am still laughing 'radio gone awry' comparison!!

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  6. Vidya: spot on! good comparison, no? LOL!

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