Table Licking - Good

“I am sure this is what all infants do but the joy of discovering the phenomenon with Riddhie has been simply delightful….”

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Dear Riddhie,

Let me give you a brief account into your new found fascination of reaching for things around you and showing them the door of your little mouth. Toys, spoons, newspaper, hand-towels, mobile phones and almost anything that gets forgotten around you is now a candidate to get a lick from you. You have been taking immense delight in discovering the sense of taste but strangely enough this is not as easily extended to baby food or mashed fruits that your mom so meticulously prepares for you as it is to oddly placed inanimate objects within your reach.

At times, as parents we have wondered if it would be easier to feed you if we just left the saucer of your food on the bed or table for you to pick it up on your own than coax, sing and plead with you to have a spoon or two.

In my previous attempts of feeding you, I have often experienced the pleasure of being sprayed with a milk fountain emerging out of your lips and being your face towel. You love rolling your brown puppy eyes and sending out your mouthful of milk in a well bodied spray right on my face and take an uncanny delight in wiping your mouth on my shirt specially when you are driveling ‘Cerelac’ or the creamy semolina that your mom prepares for you. But then to be honest, I love the way you do it so I am not really complaining. However, I am sure your mom would not really agree with me here as much.

Anyway, coming back to what I started off with - your newly acquired habit of reaching out for things and shoving them in your mouth. I remember a night about a month ago when we had dared ventured to eat out and took you along. Your mom and I were sitting at one of the food courts in a Gurgaon mall.

You wanted a slice of the pizza your mom was having and then kept reaching out for the chicken wing in my plate. When we pushed these away, you wanted a taste of the paper napkins on the table. I had barely taken them away from your fingers and you reached out for the glasses of water and nearly knocked one over all the food that was there. In an exasperated move, your mom hurriedly removed everything possible from the table. She had barely heaved a sigh of relief when you again lurched ahead and started licking the table itself.

I am sure this reads funnier than we thought it was, at the moment when it happened. We then had contemplated finding a rope or something to tether you to a chair (OK I made this part up, but then it was amazing the way you wanted everything in those few minutes that we sat there). We eventually ended up packing up the remaining food and having it one after the other sitting in our car in the parking lot.

All said and done, these short, funny incidents and stories of your childhood and our parenthood are the ones that we love being a part of. Just hope that I can keep a track of all that you learn and do and give words to your actions for you to read through when you grow up.

For now, I shall just sit back and look at the following few pics I took few days ago...

Love,

Dad.