There was a time when Pihu could barely keep her eyes open
for an hour straight. Then came a time when she could cross the length of the
living room crawling on all fours. At age one, she was busy swinging to
‘Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan’ lounging on her rocker. At over two, her music preferences
now include bits and pieces of everything- lullabies, pre-school poems,
Rihanna, Justin Bieber,
As a pre-schooler, Pihu has her schedule down pat- get up,
throw tantrum, get ready and go to school, come back, have meal and bath, play,
take nap, get up, colour or doodle, watch TV till dinner time and then tuck us
in. Didn’t get the last part? Well, she does and you read that right- she tucks
us in! As a 2.5 year old, Pihu is more observant, caring and fastidious than
most adults I know!
So she will remember if I haven’t removed my slippers before
entering the bathroom. She will remind me to wear an overcoat if we are headed
outside on a wintry evening because too much wind can give Mom a cold. She
likes to straighten the wrinkles on my leggings or trousers if they are looking
askew. She also likes to pick up a brush and mop the cupboards clean off dust
whenever she can. She has made a habit of taking my empty dinner plate to the kitchen once I
am done and insists I go wash my hands if I am. And when it’s time to go to
bed, she first makes sure she removes her socks and shoes and then demands that
I take off mine too before asking me to lie down next to her with the quilt
pulled right up to the head.
We have these conversations which go very deep sometimes. It
starts with probing the whereabouts of everyone she knows or remembers among
her close relations. Then she goes on to analyse how one of them laughed or
behaved on some occasion. She also likes recalling some fond memories on a
recent holiday, naming people who she enjoyed that moment with. She likes
reciting the names of her friends in school and her current equation with them.
So a guy who was her supposed brother one day is no longer worthy of the same
status the next. A friend who danced with her at a school party may deserve a
kiss while another is only good enough for a hand shake or a push, if required.
She is not your regular social butterfly though and may even
turn away when she meets you. Only people she feels secure and happy with may
get close and that too, after she has approved of them. An outdoorsy person,
Pihu is always up for an outing. This tiny tot has already covered seven cities
last year including Sydney, Queenstown, Lucknow, Mumbai, Goa, Bhubaneshwar and
Nainital and is sure exhibiting signs of an insatiable wanderlust.
She sometimes addresses me by first name when she wants my
attention and it makes me wonder if she doesn’t feel like she is an adult already.
Wanting to be part of adult conversations, trying to pore in to a newspaper to
read what we all do and make sense of it, sorting vegetables at a local market
like a pro, asking questions by the dozen at every given opportunity, pointing
out every object or place she is familiar with, eating meals like a dainty
grown-up...there is very little that escapes this girl, almost a clueless
toddler to curious teenager in the making.
One day she wanted to know what I was wearing. So I told
her, “This is my old college jersey. You will get one when you go to college.
You want to go to college, don’t you?” She was quick to retort, “Yes, after I
have changed my diaper.” That’s profound and punctilious rolled in to one! J
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