Driven To The Edge

“The trouble with children is that they are not returnable !!!” - Fyodor Dostoyevski

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Dear Riddhie,

Let me begin by asserting that I do not completely share the sentiments of the quote above but nonetheless over this last week you have been testing our patience so much that I can very well understand what Mr. Fyodor would have gone through when he made the above statement.

I have spoken in detail in my last few letters about how you have been picking up new ‘skills’ and want tear every corner down as soon as you wake up in the morning, but these last couple of days have been really exceptional. I believe you are growing up to be a little brat and for once we as your parents are really clueless about how to contain you and restore some bit of sanity in our lives. 

To top that, your being a little unwell over the week and becoming exceptionally moody is not really helping the cause very much. Despite several reminders, snatching things from your hands and cleaning up the floor multiple times a day, you still manage to lay your hands on some sort of a confection to put in your mouth. It’s been a tiresome week altogether running after you trying to hold onto things that you love throwing to the ground and watching over you so that you don’t trip over something or hurt yourself while trying to slide from the bed or the sofa or anywhere else that you can climb on.

It is surprising as suddenly you are no longer interested in your toys and either want to play with the dishwasher or fiddle with the keyboards of our laptops or simply want to chew on the remote of the TV. Well, I am sure you would agree now that none of this is really an acceptable code of conduct and not something that we could have allowed you to get away with. However, as I key this in, you continue to share your disagreement with us on the subject and have been raising the pitch, frequency and decibels of your protest by varying your tone of shrieking, howling and crying.

Well, young lady I am sure we shall have our confrontations on other subjects (your choice of clothes and my assessment of your friends or pushing you to achieve better goals for yourself perhaps) in years to come and maybe I shall not always be as conceding and submissive as I am to your mischief now but let me tell you this, that I shall never allow you to turn complete rogue and being a total rebellion will never really work on me no matter how big or small our bone of contention might be.

Maybe for now, I concede my total submission to you and accept that I let you get away with all your hoodlum behavior passing it as a cute trick you picked up but you shall learn in days to come, that my sensibilities will press me to take a less softer stand on your antics and you will gradually have to learn to be a little less reckless and more disciplined.

However, as that happens I don’t want you to forget that I love you just as much and that you shall always be my little angel. Let this letter be a reminder to you for all those times when you would want to tell me to mind my own business and would hate me for pushing the limits on you. Till then, let me continue smiling at the way you have been holding onto the sheets and slinging down the bed often landing down on the carpet with a ‘thud’.

Love,

Dad.

38 Stories Re-Visited

“The best thing about future is that it comes one day at a time” - Abraham Lincoln

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Dear Riddhie,

Let me begin by wishing you a very Happy New Year 2012.

It is about 20 minutes to go before the date on the calendar changes in this part of the world and as I key this in, you are already asleep in your bed, tucked in comfortably after a relatively harder day for both you and us as your parents. 

This last day of 2011 began with you waking up in the wee hours of the morning with a not so pleasant health condition. Perhaps it was something that you picked up and stuffed in your mouth yesterday that possibly gave you a minor stomach infection or perhaps a plain seasonal thing but you had both your mom and me awake since 2 am this morning worrying and fretting about you until earlier in the day. We spent this entire day indoors spending time with you and seeing that you get back in shape hale and hearty to welcome the year ahead. I hope that the day tomorrow dawns upon us with your bright sunshine smile and continues in the same light.

As I look back upon the year that passed us by, I reflect upon the 38 different stories (not counting this one) I could key in during this year 2011. I did write an account of how I saw the year gone by from my perspective in a separate post on my blog (Read Here, if you feel like) but this one is just about summing it up for you.

If January was about me reveling in my re-discovering simple joys in life and basking in the glory of perpetual wonder that you are to me, it was also the month of you experiencing the first tremor of your life and while I could not account for much except for my love for bikes and you in the month of February, I kind of did well during the next few weeks when I wrote one of my finest letters to you. Over the course of next few days I wrote in an account of how you developed a tender fondness for your fingers and your first experience at the big fat Indian wedding as well as your first Holi. During this time I guess we, as your parents saw you with same wonder as you saw the world with your big brown eyes.

The next two months saw me make use of my spare time overseas to make short accounts of your special moments (when India won the World Cup) and your newly acquired likes and habits (Ek Onkaar, Table Licking, Getting Hands On). By June I was pining for you and waiting to be back from my overseas trip however, I had a heartbreak of sorts once I returned and saw you after a gap of five weeks. You had totally forgotten me and no matter how much I tried winning you back with your bouncing babbles, you just would not stop crying.

 

The month of July saw me make frantic efforts to get your passports and visas done and almost everything that I wrote during that month could be posted only by August which saw me record as many as nine stories from that period. We began with a nice evening dip in a water park and then there were accounts of your embassy adventure and your first trip overseas followed by your experiences here in the US.

As time moved along, we celebrated your first birthday in our own little way here. I got you your first birthday present and I guess this would be one thing that you would see as long as I live :) We also recorded you taking your first steps and saw you pick new habits and traits over time. There were changes in your sleeping pattern and then as you gained better control of your motor functions, the world became your playground and we began seeing an altogether different version of you. This new Riddhie as I know right now is a restless child unwilling to sit at one place and forever up to a mischief.

Well, needless to say but, I am loving every moment of fatherhood thus far and all your antics and tricks that you have picked up till date. I can safely say that 2011 overall had been a good year and I just hope that the coming year treats us just as good, if not better.

So, here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year 2012 again. Hope that we keep making strides forward together and you continue filling colors in my rainbows.

Love,

Dad.

PS: Collage below was done by your Mom :)