Reaching to my 2 year old self

I'll make a confession and I do not want to be judged for it. I never thought I would like kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike kids but I just never had an opportunity to really just hang out with a toddler. At least not one whose language I could not understand. I was a wary woman with jittery fingers. That was until hopper came along. Now that he's here, it's hard to imagine life without him. I kid you not, your own flesh and blood, that you can't deny. When you see your eyes on someone else, that's some *ish right there.

Now grasshopper(pictured above) was the first baby I actually held in my arms. My first real live hand held human. The first realisation that I could have maternal instincts if I was in the right frame of mind. If any of you have ever hang out with a 2 year old boylong enough, you realise that is when the evil genius in anyone fully matures. His mind is a place where an evil genius lives. In fact I think if you're not a genius at that age......sijui niseme. (loose translation: I don't know I say what)

Now that the anty-nal instincts have been awakened (anty-nal instincts are maternal instincts for aunties) I have learnt to grow with him. I now know that you learn more from a child than from fully grown adults. Children don't hide behind maturity and education and pain. Surely, anyone who can walk around with their poop hugging their butt for hours doesn't have too much to hide. :-).

He finds adventure in everything. Every nook and cranny (I have always wanted to use that phrase..hihi!) So he finds adventure in every nook and cranny (there I go again). Coming over is an adventure. Here hie's allowed to touch everything, enter every cupboard, climb every chair and bookshelf. He can slide up and down the stairs for hours (he lives in a bungalow where he allows his parents occasional peace).I remember we did that on the ramps at the hospital (yes, we!!) when his baby brother was being born. For 2 hours we ran up to the 3rd floor, then I'd watch as he tumbled down 2 floors. Then up and down again. So yesterday he discovered the connection between the hand rail and the wall. A little metal thing that he could hang on like a monkey. Now he has discovered a new game. Who knows what he'll discover tomorrow. So after watching him, I have learnt life is a little adventure. Get it where you can. Of course you may have me to look over you and make sure you don't hurt yourself so you have to be adventurous carefully. Life may not be amazing race but it's not meant to be a dreary, sad place either.

I wonder how this thing works
(Lesson no. 2) When you do something wrong, open your eyes wide and slowly edge backwards before anyone notices and then turn around and run like hell. I don't know where I lost my ability to sneak out stealthily. Its all in the eyes and the movement. Of course it would help if you're only 1 foot tall but the concept is still the same. If anything falls, breaks or gets lost......eyes wide, walk back quietly and pretend nothing happened. Best thing I ever learnt. It's all in the eyes.....in case your movement is not as stealthy as it should be.

Guess who else is learning this life saving habit....his brother.
(Lesson no. 3) Goodbye is goodbye. This was one of the first words he ever learnt. Amazingly he can't even say it properly to date. But he has learnt various variations "see you" "peace" "night" and his favorite "go". If there's one thing I have complete inability to do, it is how to leave anything or anywhere gracefully. I am one of those hover crafts who say goodbye and then are still there half an hour later hoping someone will have the guts to push me out the door. It happens at meeting, on phone conversations, at dinners, with clients and the worst, with boys I like. Sometimes I think it's a medical condition. One the lucky child does not suffer from. "Go" means go and "goodbye" well, it may come with a fist bump, a high five or a wave but it remains as such, "goodbye".

(Lesson no. 4) Sharing is caring. And so is hugging, wet pecks, showering, laughing loudly at your mishaps, dragging and following you to every single meaningless event in both your lives (bathrooms are not exempt.)His big on sharing. His food, his games, his hugs etc etc. He's also big on taking. He has all my model cars (they were not toys.), my powdered juice, my blankets etc etc. He has made our small community more accepting to the transfer of goods. He is also very free with his own version of kisses. His poor kid bro gets the bulk of them. The rest of us get hugs and mashed fruits which is quite ok! Not being a touchy-feely human myself, I have come to appreciate the value of sharing an caring. It doesn't eek me out as much as before. Come one, come all. Get my brand new hugs while they last.

That child may talk more than my mother and sleep more than his father, but he's the best of all of us. He has no worries and tomorrow is just another concept he wouldn't be bothered to understand. I hope he never loses that. Because if he does then I'll need to find another kid to hang out with. If only so that the 2 year old he awakened in me.

So class what have we learnt today.

1:Don't lose your sense of adventure.
2:You're ability to get away with your sins is pegged on your ability to fake innocence (train your eyes today!)
3:Learn to say goodbye and walk away. Leave the hovering to us professionals.
4:Sharing is caring. Although too much may be mistaken for sexual abuse.

Good stuff. Bye, Later, Cheers, ok, now go!