Happy Birthday Giggles.

At the risk of a new reader assuming this is a Mommy blog (which it isn't), I have been waiting for the celebrations to die down to write this post.

My son Giggles turned one last week. Yes, 12 months.

Physically, the last 12 months have endowed him with four really sharp teeth complete with a gap toothed smile. He can now not only walk, but run away from chores. He can squat, kneel, turn over and fall; a routine he practises a few hundred times a day. He can flex his fingers, pick up peas and debris and shovel them into his mouth. He picks his favourite book and lets us know he would like us to read it by dropping the book in our lap and saying, "This". He uses his feet to kick when a person he doesn't recognise picks him up. And he knows to kick where it hurts them the most.

Emotionally, he can meet my eyes and smile from across the room and then run and bury his face in my lap. When he wakes up in the morning he holds onto me tight and nuzzles his face into my neck for a few extra minutes before we face the day. He knows he can say, "Dada" and make Chuckles stop whatever he was doing and play with him. He knows how to win over Clou so that he can use him as a cushion when he watches television. He knows the right way to splash water so that I get wet, but not a single drop goes into his eyes. When he hurts me by mistake, he knows looking into my eyes and then hugging me will make the pain go away.

He teaches us daily that walking is a skill we should never take for granted. It takes babies a million falls and a hundred cuts and bruises to get it right. He teaches us patience is the only tool we need when you want someone to do something for you. From a one-year old we learnt that a few morsels of food every day will cure a dog of his jealousy and make him a friend for life. It is because of his insistence that we now relive the simplicity of bubbles and the feel of grass through our fingers. We take a few minutes every evening to look up at the sky to see the birds flying back home for the night. We now know to be curious to the point of looking under every rock and behind every door. He has taught us a fever can be overcome by sleeping and a bad day can be forgotten by playing with blocks. We learn that anything can be a toy - a phone, a magazine, pots and pans, sometimes even an extra diaper. With every smile, clap, tantrum and wail he runs our lives and decides our schedule and makes us say, "Our son...".

My son Giggles turned one last week. Yes, 12 months. 

Breadwinner

In my short eight-year long employed life, I have had many jobs, worn many hats, including one that said couch potato.

I started out in 2005 at a private news channel in India as rookie reporter also known as scum. I did everything from vacating a chair when a more seasoned reporter needed to sit, to holding a reporter's bag while she fixed her make up for a live report. But none of that deterred me. I persevered.

A few years down the line, I had a beat, had reported on a few bomb blasts, broken a story or two and had taken a couple of rookie reporters around to show them how its done! I retired from that career as Principal Correspondent a short four years later.

I was so tired from that job, I took a break. I caught up on television shows, learnt how to cook and bake, traveled, read and spent a lot of time thinking. That lasted a year.

After a quick change of scene I landed another job in the journalism field. Wrote for some online publications and worked for a month as a Page Designer for a local, Indian newspaper. And then I gave up that charmed life and became a student again. That was fun!

Then I found my way to being a quasi-folklorist.

Then I became a Mom.

Then I became a stay-at-home Mom.

Then a work-from-home Mom.

and now, I am a trying-to-work Mom. If only Clou will let me.

That Red and Pink Holiday

Valentine's Day. Means different things to different people. For some it is an excuse to go all out and lay the mush on thick. For others to be thankful for the people they have in their life and then there are those who are still waiting, patiently, as the holiday passes them by and reminds them gently that they need to find someone with whom they can spend this consumerist holiday.

At Casa Chuckles and me, this year was slightly different. Chuckles and I have shared a common hatred for this red and pink holiday and over the years have managed to not contribute to the insanity. We don't buy each other gifts, or go out for dinner or even dress up in red. For us, it is just another day. Nope, no Valentine's show here folks, move it along.

In the days leading up to this great holiday, Giggles got his first Valentine from his playgroup. These being his early impressionable years, he was allowed to pick one that he liked from a basket. He picked Thing 1 and Thing 2 out of sheer recognition from his bed time book. What kind of love/lifestyle preference is that for a child? I chose not to go down that road. But his Valentine had Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the cover and inside the card was the play group leaders name with "Be my Valentine" under it. After admiring it for a grand two minutes, Giggles proceeded to sit down and eat it. Note to self: Remember to tell this story when Giggles brings home his girlfriend. Ooh! Maybe even show them this picture.

Last year, Valentine's day was as any other.Chuckles was travelling on business and I chose to spend the evening at home with some ice cream and a television show. Just like any other day. This year, things were slightly different. Perhaps it was our way of trying to induce some romance  in a life filled with a baby and a dog, or maybe it was our sub-conscious finally succumbing to a Valentine's Day sensory onslaught that begins from mid January in this country. Whatever the reason, this year Chuckles decided to postpone a business trip to the day after Valentines day, just so he could spend it at home with his family. He also came home in the evening with a big bunch of lilies and a box of chocolates. I on the other hand,  went full literary and gave him Love Poems by Pablo Neruda, a personal favourite.

So love poems, flowers, chocolates, Thing 1 and Thing 2. Not so bad for a random day on the calendar right?

The Art Of Doing Nothing

Have you noticed how all our conversations hover around the topic of just how busy our lives have become? Small talk used to be about the weather and sports but nowadays it is all about the chores that need to be done, the classes we ferry our children to, new records of multitasking and not to forget oneupmanship when it comes to all the things one can get done in a day.

The same thing happened at a party we attended last weekend. The women were all talking about their week and how it was bursting at its seams with unnecessary demands from work. All that with kids being so demanding and starved for attention. Needless to say we were all very tired.

Before I start casting stones, I have been known on many occasions to work right through a weekend only to realize it is Monday morning and my god given day of Sabbath was spent scrubbing the toilet. The gospel according to me reads - Weekends are for finishing things that I couldn't get to in the week. But as with everything else, as regular readers of this blog would vouch for, Chuckles is just the opposite. That man can relax and that too in style.

So with Houston being washed out today and Chuckles out earning to put food on the table, I have Giggles and Clou down for a nap and with a hot beverage in hand I am ready to do nothing.

Let's see how this pans out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Tarpon Springs Ln,Houston,United States

Four Years

Over the past few weeks I have been witnessing a strange phenomenon on social networking sites. With Valentines Day around the corner and a hint of romance in the air it probably isn't unusual to feel amorous. Is that cause enough for what I have been reading? Friends gushing about their better halves, writing paeans of love prose, dedicating songs when they have already dedicated their lives and while stopping to wipe a tear, praying they are together for all eternity.

I am not one to let a trend fall by the wayside. So with our fourth anniversary coming up in less than a week, I decided to tell Chuckles about what I had seen. Now with a baby and a puppy -- one at my hip and the other at my ankle -- it has been romantically challenging around the home and I knew this would be a great opportunity to rekindle the romance. So last night just before we went to bed, I waited for Chuckles to complete his long, uninterruptible dental routine and decided I would ask for the impossible, a romantic gesture to commemorate our fourth anniversary.

Now anyone who has ever met the Chuckles' knows that we are the living embodiment of the phrase, opposites attract. It has been four years and Chuckles and I are yet to find a single thing we have in common. Over time we have realised while I like going out and meeting people he likes staying at home and well, not meeting anyone. I believe in the goodness of people while he is always wary. He dismisses most of the things that human beings like doing as too conventional while I like keeping up with pop culture bromides. Different people. You get the picture.

So after my long speech about romantic plans for the anniversary, a week later my plan was to go for dinner. The week had been hard so there was no gift, no big romantic gesture, not even a fancy outfit to wear for dinner. But the man I married thought differently. He remembered what I had said, minutes before he drifted off to sleep and brought it. A beautiful card, gifts that I could use and a big romantic gesture.

Guess you can never truly know the person you are married to. Happy 4th Chuckles, I love being surprised.