Game of the Day

How do you get a ball out that's under the cot? If you are tiny and as flexible as Lil' General is, then you can just crawl underneath and take it out. But what do you do if you are a fatso and as flexible as a stick like I am, then you use a prop like a broom with minimal effort and 100% success. That was just an exaggeration; I don't weigh a 100 pounds if that's what you are imagining right now. I can't quite recollect the last time I used a broom or any such object to get something out. So it was totally mind-blowing to see LG get a broom from the utility area to get the ball from the under the bed. There was a folded mattress that got in his way preventing him from crawling underneath so he goes gets the broom; positions it but wasn't able to movie it sideways to motion the ball. With a little prompting and help from me, he was all excited to have ACHIEVED something for real, for once.

This was a few days back. So what does he do yesterday morning. Bored and ran out of games/toys to keep himself entertained, he decides to take out the parts of the Center Table. Yes, it was not the kind of day Center Table would look forward to much in the future. With its side rods mangled out of the holes, and totally satisfied with his undoing, he started fixing it back when one of the rods slid under the table. Totally calm and composed without throwing a tantrum or reaching for his subordinates (read: me, his grandpa) for help, he walks to the utility, opens the door, gets the broom and pushes the rod out with the broom from one side - goes to the other side and comes back with this huge grin which meant I am supposed to APPLAUD. Which I did. Now this praise from mom can;t be a one-time activity, can it? So he does it over and over again until totally satisfied.

Today, he found happiness in grating a cucumber salad for lunch unaided. A grown up person who knows it all and all that? You know who it works with an independent toddler two-months away from turning two, don't you? I'd rather not go into the details of the grating process' outcome. Let's just say, the cucumber went into the bin and it kept LG's mom occupied with scrubbing of the floor, cleaning for the following 15 minutes. There we go - with yet another game.