Dora the Babysitter

Tyke loves Dora the Explorer, has loved her for nearly a year now, it was the only show that had him completely engrossed such that even my announcements that we are heading out went unheeded, we would make a grand acoustic show of keying open the main doors, slamming it shut to signal we had left without him…and he would not budge from in front of the telly. The daily 10minutes show on E-Junior wasn’t enough for him so I downloaded and made a dvd for him, he has since gotten another two dvd’s in his own collection.

Our morning routine now starts with toilet-time and then change in fresh clothes and readying for breakfast. This always means that I put on Dora, he will hand me the ‘mote’ and tell me to put it on, expectantly swiveling towards the telly, smile at the ready as stars start dancing as a cue to Dora jumping in the frame. Then we have Dora on ALL THE DAY. He will play around, jump on sofa, throw his breakfast down his high-chair, spill water, throw a tantrum or two, have me run after him to coax some food in his mouth, paint the walls with ‘shirkaals’ with his ‘kayyon,’ throw cushions down on the floor, take out his toys and make a nice obstacle course in the living room among other things…all with Dora in the background, occasionally he will glance at the screen to confirm his beloved is continuing her adventures.

Much as I held a child’s telly watching in uttermost disdain, I am now forced to bear with Dora through my days. It makes my life somewhat easier as I have since realized that she can be something of a babysitter for Saif as I work in the kitchen. And she also teaches things. All trees are ‘jungun’ so says Tyke, after he saw Dora and Boots navigate the mixed up jungle…then there are ‘muddy mountains’ ‘Balloonos’ and ‘Shwipee’ and ‘I Sheem’ as well. And the counting…uno dous tres.

Tyke can identify numbers from one to nine (we haven’t graduated to two digits yet, he is only two years after all)…in order, at random; he will be talking him out for a walk and he would go ‘aaitt’…when in mood he also counts the lift’s descent to the ground floor on our return to the apartment. However I did not realize Dora’s efficacy as a babysitter till we got him an abacus from Ikea (it was a bribe, I confess, to keep him busy and help us browse around in some peace)…he sat in the shopping cart and started counting…in Spanish…Kuno, dos, twais, kaatro,sinko, sies!

All said and done though, Dora can only contain a pre-schoolers energy levels this much. Today as I left Tyke in Dora and Boots’ care and did the dishes, I heard him shouting ‘fooono’ came in the living room to find my cell ringing and Tyke climbing atop the tv cabinet, on tip toes, reaching for our fancy shmancy wall clock! I brought him down and looked him in the eye (no more chockate eyes) and told it was not to be done. Then I went back to the kitchen and returned as I heard an ominous thud…he had climbed up again, brought down the clock and in the eight seconds it took me to come running from the kitchen, set himself on the floor to dismember the clock!

Guess Dora will have to be fired.

Amma, chockate eyes

Z and I have been married for more than three years.

I am 25 years and 92 months old.

My eye color is brown; plain old, indescriptive brown, or so I thought. Z has never made much of a fuss about them either...after all he has hazel eyes, a one-up on my ordinariness.

Tyke is two years and three months old. The other day I was trying to reason with him and tried to hold his gaze as I drilled some sense into him...he looked me in the eye and said..."Amma, chockate eyes!"

:-D

I peered into the mirror...my eyes are indeed a rich, chocolaty brown...and it took me all these years to realise that!

And of course I forgot whatever it was I wanted to teach my little adorable son.

He is charm itself and boy o boy has he started young!

hai re imagination!

Z blames television for Daanu's behaviour; his mum blames daddy and everyone else? Oh, they just think he is so cute.

I never knew, nor had I ever heard, that 30month olds had such an active imagination. It all started a month or so ago, when one fine afternoon, while I tried (quite vainly) to clean my bedroom, that the little guy came to the room and then suddenly fell to the ground clutching his throat and gasping for air. I was horrified. He started to push himself around the room on his back and then into the hall, all the while screaming, 'gow me!' (i later found out that that meant 'got me') .
He then gets up, grins at me and then, goes back to his play area to play something else. That is when I realise, that that was supposed to be a joke? He was playing 'make believe.' Duh!

That was episode one. Then came Mr. Maestro standing on the chair and waving his balloon stick; then there was the time he wrapped his blanket around his neck and said he was 'super' and then made a cloak of it and acted like royalty. Then two nights ago, at bedtime we weren't allowed to step off the bed because the bed was supposed to be a ship and anyone who got off it would drown. I was trying to get our-little-Nunu to sleep and she wanted me to walk her while her brother kept screaming that i'd get in the water 'gande'! His imagination drives us into a very tight corner sometimes.

It is amazing how fast the kids grow up and how fast I can forget. If it weren't for the blogs and the little notes scribbled here and there or the movies, i think i'd never recall anything!

Our-little-Nunu, on the other hand is that little underweight baby who beats up her giant brother, scratches him, snatches his toys, his feeder bottle and his books. Not that bhai is meek... He gives her the 10min patience rule and then bangs on her. She pulls his hair or grabs his collar and since she hasn't hair, she is at an advantage! The full fledged hammering and screaming entails almost everything. I am so afraid of her to start crawling. Mashaallah at the kids but God protect us, always.

The circus

BabyD is now 2 years old... He has a 2 month old sister and mommy now juggles like a pro. We have our very own circus now. Daddy is the ring master, mommy is the clown, D is the naughty chimp and the new baby- Nunu, is the spectator. Sometimes she cheers and mostly she boos.
Life in the circus is hard... We all try to keep each other motivated... We must entertain at all costs!