Just Like That........Surprise

A TV commercial of a leading jewellers shows a couple where the man teases the woman who is getting ready by saying her neck is bit crooked and then gifts a beautiful necklace as surprise gift!!! Did someone noticed that the matching ear-rings of that surprise gift are already dangling on the woman's ear from the start of the commercial! What a surprise!!!!

Ek Se Bhale Do….!!!!!!

Today, all the news channels showing the news of world population reaching the mark of 7 Billion gave me food for thought.  The situation is really alarming. Few weird way-outs flashed my mind viz, compulsory sterilization after two children, rewarding people who has limited their number of kids to one or two. Then this sudden thought also came to my mind that the policy of China “One kid per couple” should be made mandatory in India as well.

But then my thought drifted from this global issue to another social situation that whether second kid should be planned or not.  (Disclaimer: writing post on this topic does not imply that I am thinking of having another baby soon.)

Being a part of urban strata of society, I had discussion on this topic with many of my friends which gave me a chance to look the coin from both the sides. I am trying jot down whatever I heard from people.

For:

The balanced upbringing of single kid is very difficult as parents have to take care of not being too pampering and protective. The small values of sharing, caring and sense of responsibility generally takes a back seat for single kid. Even heard a story of my friend’s cousin who felt had issues in sharing his room with spouse after marriage as he was only child of his parents and was used to of getting everything in his platter only for himself.

Only child are very lonely as the relation shared by siblings has no replacement. Gone are the days when the extended family used to fill the gap. As a teenager, this loneliness sometimes encourages the only child to look out for support and company outside the family in a wrong way. (OMG!! how boring it would have been if I was not able to share all my gossips, thoughts and POV with my sister…still remember how we used to get scolding from my mom for chatting or rather whispering after midnight in bed).

Also heard this one liner from someone: First kid is brought in this world for parents and second kid for the first one!!

Against:

With one kid you can provide him/her the best of everything be it your quality time or financial support.

The world population clock is ticking like anything so this much can having one kid can be sure shot help to the situation.

Some women (already mom of a kid) were horrified to go through that pain and turbulence again.

Personally, I still have a mixed opinion for the scenario. But heard a wonderful option from one of my colleague that have a kid of your own and then adopt the second child…….Good Thought, must say!!!

Ye haath mujhe de de Thakur……

Hands and fingers are the new found interest of Mishti. She blissfully plays with her own hands, or rather tries to have a fist-fight between her right and left hand!! We found a new activity to keep her engaged: give her hands the grip of her toes and she would exercise all her stamina from both ways, hands trying to hold more and toes trying to release themselves.

Her count of activities includes:

Stuffing all fingers in her mouth and then make funny faces to make people believe that they are indeed tasteless and she is just doing it for timepass!!!

When in mood, she would talk (obviously in her own language) endlessly by varying her pitch and tone. If you respond her in same way, she increases her volume and adds more special effects to her conversation by screeching and sighing sounds.

 She makes bubbles with her saliva, and if founds someone noticing her then would increase the activity with more vigour.

Rolling over and sleeping on her tummy only (sometimes bums on air). She is doing this since was 2.5 months old.

She gives biiiiiiiiggggggg toothless smile to all those whom she finds eligible (Please don’t ask me the eligibility criteria, unknown to me).

She has developed a firm grip now and applies her strength on everything without any discrimination. Her favourites are still her mashu’s hair, our fingers and strings of her cotton nappies.

Trying to taste everything in sight be it her toys, her t-shirts or frocks, fingers (be it hers or of anyone else’s), newspaper (yeah…one day she even tried that)!

This month she enjoyed her first Durga-puja and also we got her Annaprashan( ceremony for first morsel of solid food taken by an infant) done from Kali-temple.

She is becoming a constant attention seeker (look who is talking…J) now making it quite a challenge for me to cook , do any other household chores, or do anything which does not involves her while she is awake.

As per all the parenting sites. Books & forums, I try to tell stories to Mishti which she listens for few minutes and then shows no interest. I started with the story of tortoise & rabbit and another self –scripted one with Mishti and her toys as various characters. Also, I am refreshing my knowledge of nursery rhymes now (honestly, I even googled some!!!). But it’s real fun rhyming for her my favourite poems from Sukumar Roy’s Abol-tabol …I feel so nostalgic!!!!

A square peg in round hole…!!!!!!

So many things have changed in last few months. It has been four months since Mishti was born. During this period I oscillated from being a terrible to terrific mom to her. I sailed through so many changes and I know that it’s not over!!

Starting with the feeling the “baby blues” to the Stay- At- home experience…..the quake tremors are still on.

I took one of the toughest decision of my life…leaving the job. I know many would say that why I am creating much “hoo-hah” over it, so many ladies left their job to be a stay-at-home Mom. I don’t know, but still I am not able to identify myself with this frame of reference! I had the option of keeping a maid for Mishti but pinning to this decision became a complete no-no whenever I saw her broad toothless smile. Nobody believed that a workaholic or to be precise officeaholic person like me can take such a decision. But still every glimpse of Mishti reminds me that “She needs me”.

Sometimes I do think that am I a bad Mom or lack the motherly feeling as I feel the void and peculiar emptiness in my life now. Every night while going to sleep, I think as if another uneventful or rather useless day went away. Although now the workload is far more taxing than my previous worklife routine but still at the end of the day I feel I had done nothing substantial or just wasted my day.

Also my good health is now behaving like my first-born who is jealous and upset after Mishti is born and is not willing to come near me….. :-(   I was far more active and healthy during my pregnancy when I balanced my work, home & pregnancy very successfully. Now-days, I am so busy the whole day applying time management & prioritizing chores at home that I don’t get any appropriate time to chat or call my friends.

Ohh yes…Mishti has been successfully hitting all the development milestones like rolling on her tummy, recognizing family members, producing crackling laugh sounds, showing lotz n lotz of expressions and trying to hold her bottle herself.

Superb expression of Mishti to restrain me from applying body-lotion after bath!!!

P.S. Would surely try to be more light hearted in my next blog. This whining and cribbing just don’t suits me!!!!..:-)