Caught in the act

What do you do if your mother locks the fridge with a key? Try opening it with a knife : practical advice from Lil' General. That's what LG decided to do yesterday after crying and beating his fists didn't work out. So much so that even his pointing an authoritative index finger with a frowning face didn't move his mom, he decided to take things in his own hand and reach for the first suitable object which turned out to be a blunt knife. I'm at a loss of words for what to call this action: presence of mind or desperation? But firstly, I'm just surprised how the brain of a barely 21-month-old works. I've secured the tool section of the cabinet with a lock so screw-drivers are out of his reach now, else his instinct would have been to fetch that. Ofcourse, the knife didn't result in a positive response because his mom took it away for one; next it didn't rotate the way he wanted it to. "Not amusing mom!", said his look.


And then this morning, he decided it was time for his mom to haul her a** and get some cleaning done around the house with Diwali less than a fortnight away. So what does the kid do? He piles up the masala dabbas from the cabinets on to the vessel strainer making it easy for me to wipe the shelves and re-arrange it again. In the evening, he was only too happy to hand me the curtain rings one by one as I hung back the washed curtains.

My toddler son was extra-delighted to create an emergency last evening. My husband frantically calls me to ask what happened. I have no clue what he was talking about. He goes on to say in one breath, "You called 4-5 times continuously." I reply in a casual tone, "Really? Oh!" It's not PMS time yet for me to act crazy! Then I ask him what number did the call come from. No sooner did he say land-line, I saw the sheepish grin on LG's face as I mentioned the word 'phone'. He had been fiddling with the instrument a few minutes ago; since we use it only as a backup for the cordless and it's a long process to dial an outgoing number, I didn't give much thought to it. Who would have thought "Redial" is the easiest way out to get through such hurdles and there he goes interrupting his dad in class! I try to keep the phone out of his reach but who is to prevent an excited toddler who goes to extremes of climbing a center table and another obstacle to reach for the phone.