Vocal Mama

The other day we took our 2 year old (referred as Y, hereafter) to the society park for outdoor play. He was enjoying himself until an unknown 1.5 year old came and hugged him out of the blue. Y got intimidated by this overwhelming gesture and pulled the li'l boy away but the li'l boy did not give up and the event ended up with Y crying out loud. My mother was looking at all this drama as she had accompanied us to the park. When Y started crying, she said, "arre, why are u scared of such a small baby. He is just hugging you. Come on, don't be so shy". Just so that you know, Y is usually very clingy. He hugs and kisses us all the time. Now, I am not a parenting expert and I love and respect my mother a lot but my child is not someone to be judged. He must have the freedom to express. If he was intimidated by that hug, he had right to oppose and react in whatever way he wanted to. Y is 2 years old, thats how the 2 year olds are. Y is learning to handle and express h...

Disclaimer: this post is about my papa's death and how I dealt-dealing with it. I have only written it because writing helps me feel better, I feel relieved when I write my thoughts. Also, I want to remember all of this and hence, I have posted it here. This is also my way to thank my friends-family who have stood by us during these tough times. You really don't need to read further if you are faint hearted.  Dealing with Loss Never imagined that I would ever go through this. One night I got a call from my papa's closest friend. He was crying on the other end. He said papa was unwell and I must leave for the hometown immediately. I could feel my heart pounding at that moment. I knew that my beloved father was no more. I did not cry though, all I kept thinking was about my mother. How helpless she must have been feeling at that moment. Being an only child and living 400 kms far away from them made all of this worst. I gathered all my courage and left in the midnight to see m...

After 16 long days of quarantine, today I tested negative for COVID-19. The night before when the report was expected, I was as nervous as I was before my board exam results. These days of quarantine taught me a lot about patience, courage, and selflessness. Keeping Y away for so long was the toughest but he is healthy and that's something which matter the most to me as a mother.   When Y first saw me, he was shocked. I am sure his baby-brain does not understand the concept of time, he must have not known how long I was away from him. After initial seconds of shock, he came and hugged me. I could not contain my tears. I cried my heart out. Y was still unsure what was happening. He just kept hugging me and touching me again and again. For some time, he denied to leave my lap and go to someone else. His eyes were twinkling and he was elated. I am sure that Y will forget this moment once he grows up but me, I might never forget this moment. After Y's birth, this was the most prec...

I was the most finicky person for entire 2020. I did not get out of my house. Washed and sanitized everything multiple times before using. Missed out on my family functions, my dearest brother's wedding, meeting my own parents for a complete year because of COVID. But things started to look better around March and we as a family started living again (selectively); still with a lot of caution. Few days ago, I developed a fever. I had an upset stomach since 4-5 days but that seemed to be because of some thing I ate. The only reason why I was so afraid of corona and never wanted to get it; was Yuvaan. I never wanted to not be able to see and hold him for half a month. But I had fever so I got quarantined and tested. Yuvi kept banging on my door from time to time. He kept crying his lungs out every now and then but I thought it's a matter of couple of days as I will soon test negative and life will be back to normal. Guess what; I tested positive. People are literally taking trips,...

With newborns come a lot of responsibilities and a long list of vaccinations top it. Y's vaccinations started when he was 1 day old. I had just been operated and was on bed rest so his grandmother accompanied him to the vaccination unit that day. My first memory of his vaccination is when he was around 4 weeks. To my surprise, he did not cry much. During further vaccination visits too, he barely used to cry. We always used to distract his attention somehow. Vaccination visits had started to seem like a piece of cake until our little brave boy grew up. On his 12th month vaccination visit, he cried unconsolably. Our distraction method failed misreably. He even tried to catch hold of doctor's hand but to our surprise, that was only a glimpse of his rebellious attitude. On his 15th month vaccination visit, he started clenching and hugging me while entering the clinic's building. He refused to get into the clinic. He now had complete sense of what was about to happen. His sweet ...

Y's naanu-naani stay approximately 500 kms away from us. Due to corona chaos, Y met them last when he was 8 months old. Now when corona started to fade a little bit, we decided to visit his other set of grandparents for the first time after his birth. We decided to take a long road trip since taking public transport still did not seem safe. The trip started at 9 in the morning, Y had just woken up but was thrilled to be put in the moving-car right away. He happily sat on his car seat and started glaring out of window. He was very calm and supportive for the first half of journey. Then, we took a halt and got down to have tea. Once taken out, he hated being back in the moving car. He started throwing fits and banging car door, the act lasted for 15-20 mins and ended with him asleep. The second half of trip after he woke up was rough. He was tired and cranky and just wanted to get out of the damn car. Anyhow, we reached at our destination by 5 in the evening. Now, Y refused to get in...

Have you and your toddler ever fallen sick together? No? Yes? Well, I recently fell sick and was successfully able to pass my sickness to Y. It all started when we decided to take a stroll in the neibhourhood park and the winter wind hit us hard. We came home and next day I was down with cold and sinus pains. I tried to keep Y away from me but all in vein. The same night he had running nose. Before this, Y had cold only once when he was 9 months old and trust me it was tough to manage a baby with blocked nose but this time I realized that it's 10x tougher to manage a sick toddler. The first night was exhausting, I had blocked nose-headache-faceache-toothache (basically all sinus induced pains) and Y had visibly blocked nose, he might have had other issues which he could not complain about. We tried to give him some steam but he was not cooperative. We put some saline water in his nose and tried to put him to sleep. He slept but refused to get out of my lap. His grand mother and pap...