It takes a day to buy beans and potatototo

As an adult, I understood the meaning of the word "innocence" through my two-year-old. How easy it is to make them believe anything despite all the perceived smartness of kids these days!

So the story goes that a fortnight back my dad was here to meet LG to wish him Happy Birthday well in advance because he was traveling before the 18th and couldn't come down to met his grandson even if he wished to. Destiny had other plans with my grandpa passing away a week back and Dad is still in the country. Anyways, while dad was here for two days Li'l General and his grandpa bonded a lot over two days listening to music, playing the park, going for a drive in the car, an auto ride, a trip to the mall, making weird sounds, and most important of all playing with the camera that I never allow. As Dad was leaving and kissed his grandson goodbye from the auto, LG's face changed color and the smile was gone. Soon, he was sobbing and within a minute started wailing "thatha, thatha". Dad had not gone too far - maybe a hundred meters by then. An otherwise openly inexpressive person, he couldn't hold back his emotions and asked the auto guy to stop for a minute. He came back and comforted his grandson close. Both of them felt miserable and having Kleenex would have been handy. It took a lot of me to stop LG crying that night and put him to bed. He was so mad that he refused to talk to his thatha the next day over phone for leaving him and going.

I learned one big lesson that night. That goodbyes are for those who are grown up and can understand what it means. My son is barely two now and there's ample time for him in life to understand separation and the pain of seeing someone one. Reality can wait. Last night, his paternal grandfather who he calls "dadu" left to meet his thatha for a day to offer his condolences. LG was seated on his high chair having dinner when his dadu left. He saw the bag and asked where dadu was going. I had the presence of mind to tell him he was going to get "Potatototo" (his favorite word of late and yes, the "to" doesn't stop). That got him excited and he chipped in with, "Dadu beans callot." There you go, the boy has my veggie list ready for me. This morning he woke up as usual and after looking for his dadu said, "Mama, dadu beans." I nodded in agreement. A while later when he asked me once more I said, "Dadu has gone to get beans from thatha." So he promptly called up his granny and asked for thatha and beans so that his dadu can return home early. Surprisingly, he was teeny bit anxious about his absence but not cranky or sad. Heartbreak avoided and There goes the story of how it takes a day to get beans.

His dadu would return tomorrow morning in time for LG's birthday with beans, carrot and potatoto.