Bangalore has that ‘chill’ in the air again . And my mom’s
go the baby these fabulous socks of a couple of varieties –
·
the thick , furry kinds,
·
the pure cotton with cute embellishment kinds
·
the ‘ready to party’ kinds
As Vira jets about the house, it is important to keep her
feet warm . This is slated to being down the incidence of cold AND to reduce
the frequency of ‘su-su’ (errr , pee pee to the uninitiated)
With these noble objectives we put on a couple of them ..
and were very pleased to see the Vira move around with growing confidence
(initially she slipped about a bit ) .
Wow !! wonder grandmom and mom were
soooo proud of our achievements. I bragged about this success to all my friends
and foes with infants ..
A month later the tables turned . Miss Vira learnt that if
she tugged sufficiently hard or long at the toe of a sock, it came off !! She
decided that this was a great game .. tug off a sock and mum or grand-mum , or
Lakshmi aunty (the maid) would come running after her . What a great way to
grab some attention!!
Since then this has become an often played game . The
sequence of events is
- Baby takes a bath
- Dry her up , sprinkle lots of Johnson’s baby
powder all over, including on her toes
- Person 1 - distract the wriggling baby
- Person 2 - put socks on the baby’s feet
- Baby is happy to play .. for a while
- Baby tugs at a sock on one foot
- Sock comes loose
- Baby waves the sock around till someone (mum,
grand-mum, Lakshmi Aunty) notices
- Baby squeals and runs
- We shout and run
- Catch the baby
- Repeat activity no. 3 onwards
Phew!! The evening finds three exhausted women and 1
ecstatic baby .. Dihka diya na !!
Combat
techniques from the art of war –
a.
Love thy enemy (here – the baby)… once she is
asleep . Till then , prepare to chase !!