P43: My Son is a Drum

My son is a drum!

Yeah, that is not a typo. You read it right. He is a drum.

At 13 months, my son has expanded his onomatopoeic repertoire. Sometimes he is a kettle drum roll as he emits a low sound with his tongue and hard palette. Suddenly, he turns on the high hats and splashes while amply spluttering saliva over anything in a 3 feet radius. And did I mention his kick? An 80’s drummer would be proud of him, as he puckers his lips to utter ‘TEH’. That was particularly difficult to write, as the auto-correct option would change it to THE!

Is it because he is on a diet of Michael Jackson grunts and acappella music? He enjoys a Who Is It and They Don’t Really Care About Us!

Whatever be the answer to that, am overjoyed to see my son, experiment with sound. It is far more exciting for me to see him respond to a ‘TEH’ as opposed to “show me your nose”!

P35: Shopping with the Son

Last weekend, I went grocery shopping with my 9 month old son.

It was out first outing to the local grocery without the missus. I was a tad worried if he demanded to be with his mother. However, the entire outing was very exciting and fun!

We drove to the store, listening to our favourite tunes. At the store, he sat snugly in his sling, facing outwards, so he could see the colourful product-lined walls. He sat with wondrous eyes, reaching out for things that caught his ‘goldfish’ fancy. He loved the veggies section. He was introduced to bunches of herbs, caressed some spinach, grabbed a small handful of mint and then finally settled on a yellow bell-pepper. He loves yellow. We went pottering about with him holding the yellow capsicum. Shopping done, we spent time watching doves and mynahs outside the supermarket.

Then, we were back home.

I felt like a victorious warrior. And the missus did indulge me for 5 minutes.

P28: Butler Butler Burning Bright

My baby boy is now 13 weeks i.e. 3 months and a week old. Since I was meeting him after a long month, I noticed a few changes about him.

He has developed stronger muscles to hoist himself up when rested on his tummy. He looks all happy as he shows off his new strength to me, looking like a pocket body-builder. Do remember though, that the child will tire out easily.

His neck has become stronger, as a result of which, he is a lot more comfortable turning his head from side to side.

He also has become, what I call, a Human Hammer Head. He uses his head to butt around when he is held. The last I saw anything like that were the shy giraffes at Nairobi as they jostled for food at the feeding ‘machan’. It is funny when he does that but, however it is a test of reflexes.

I do have a nagging fear that he likes watching TV, especially the soppy soaps that gets aired in afternoons. I am not sure who to blame for that! 😉

Here are a few other observations I made:

The mother’s role has increased manifold – the child understands that food, comfort, succour and sleep all come from the same source. My wife jokes that she is more of a commodity than mother to the child!

What this development basically means that the father is reduced to being a butler. But being a useful butler is a great help. So pay your respects to Nestor and do what is the calling of the hour. The butler needs to be handy with the following:

• Nappy
• Feeding bottle
• Top up feed (helpful for growth spurts)
• Bib to wipe that drool after a feed.
• And anything else that the wife might need (from a hair clip to handing her mobile to her)

It is easy to be logged out as a father here, but I make sure I make myself useful by calming the child, or lulling him to sleep. This gives my wife the necessary down time that she needs. Imagine being at the beck and call of a wriggling three-month old, at all times! Feeding him; getting him to sleep – now multiply that into 24 hours. So that is pretty much what my wife is doing.

Statutory warning: you might find more of a mother and less of a wife. Please do not panic. That is the sign of an involved mother. I try to spend as much time as I can with her. When my cub sleeps, we talk to each other, thereby utilising some time that we get to ourselves. Those are moments when we go back to being friends and husband-wife!

The other thing to do is to introduce the child into your lifestyle. In other words, a quick trip to your favourite diner or breakfast with family is a good idea. We have been careful not to expose the child to areas with a lot of noise – and so his shopping mall debut is still pending.

And his trip to Carrefour is not going to happen soon!

Cheerio!

 

P27: Meeting My Cubby-Cat

I have been quiet for sometime. The reason was a forced vacation from being a father. watching your child grow via photos is not really ‘being daddy’. But then, all those pathetic days and nights were erased in a swipe when my cub looked at me and gave me a huge smile as I called out to him. I took him in my arms and kissed his cheeks.

His familiar smell, his breathing and his clutching my tee-shirt calmed me no end. He probably understood my heartbeat next to his and my voice as I called out to him incessantly just to see him smile.

Bliss!

P18: His Father’s Voice

I have already narrated 2 stories to my newborn baby son!

As I sit down to write this, he is about to turn 6 days old, in a few hours. And having gobbled up two stories of unprecedented yarn in 6 days, I think he has a good appetite himself! What also surprised me was my ability to spin yarn on demand. Till I did not see him lull into a comfortable sleep, I kept my story running. Maybe years of watching Hindi (Bollywood) films is finally paying off.

In case, a deranged screenplay writer is going to read this, my first was the story of three ducks and a bear. Obvious inspiration from Kung-Fu Panda. I have been told umpteen times that I am a ‘human’ prototype of Po! And since my son squeals like a duck, this does sound like a Po-ish film.

My second was a short. It was the story of a crocodile in the Dubai creek waters who liked eating ducks till he met my ‘sonny duck’ and decided to make friends instead. The story met a decisive and quick end, when he wailed out in hunger and slept off after his fill.

From Dad To Son

Fun bit aside, truth is that days of ‘talking to the womb’ is paying off. Be it reading a book or just plain, simple calling out to him, my child is reacting to my voice. He heard this voice when he was a foetus and now again as I cuddled him. It fills me up emotionally when I see him making eye-contact with me all the while as I talk to him. He understands zilch of what I say (and I’d rather he doesn’t comprehend all that yarn), but his reaction shows his familiarity with it.

The little joys of being a father!

P17: The 22nd Day of July 2012

This is the day when my life changed forever.

From this blurred flurry of medical blue jerseys and glistening tools, I came face to face with my son!

Those 9 long months have now come to fruition. Those moments of staring into black and white scan photographs trying to match that Jerry mouse nose with mine were over. My little cub is here. I don’t quite remember what I was thinking at the exact moment when he came out. But I had long-imagined him. Just that I was too overwhelmed to put words to my emotions when I saw him open his mouth wide and let out a bird-like cry. He sprung forth from my wife and he looked like all other babies do. Yet somehow, he seemed mine! Life just seemed like a Nat-Geo documentary.  That new face, curious of his surroundings and traumatised at being taken out form the happy confines of his mother’s womb, is my son.

In 2 minutes flat, he was out and handed over to two dedicated doctors who ran their checks and cleaned him up. Swaddled in a powder blue blanket, he was thrust into my hands. Puffy eyes, sweet mouth and cheeks that looked as identical as mine, I looked into the eyes of my son!

I followed the nurse out to where she kept him. There, I watched him closely. Small wrinkly fingers with nails on them, wispy hair on his head and blowing goldfish kisses. I was more misty-eyed than an out-of-focus camera lens.

So, on this 22nd day of July 2012, after a prolonged labour, my wife and I become proud parents to this funny young man, who I call Poppins. Why Poppins? Because  we still haven’t shortlisted a name for the baby!