So it has been a long break, and not the kind I like. Work kept me super busy till mid April, then we had our much needed vacation last week- to visit my brother’s family in Chicago. My brother was not there, he is on official work to India, but my sis-in-law, her mother and my adorable nephew were there.
A quick recap, on the last 2 months, my mom has been with me since January of this year. Finally after a long time I got her to stay with me for that long. Dad joined us last week of March and it has been fun. Though I barely spent time with them due to heavy work schedule, the one person who enjoyed it all is the hero of the blog, my little one, Yuvi!!!!
He thoroughly enjoyed bother their company, especially grandma since she has been here longer. I still ‘tried’ to send him to day care 3 days a week, it ended up two days, either because grandma wanted him home, or Yuvi used all of his charm to stay at home.Days were spent at home with Yuvi, instructing Thatha and Paati all day long to do as he wishes, and they did nothing short of serving him in a gold platter. All requests accepted and heeded, parents were told not to interfere with the little ones wishes, emotions played against one and another, he sought refuge with Paati if thatha said no and vice versa…Like they say, however, all good things….
So the day came for them to leave. Now Yuvi has a stunning listening capacity and any reasonable explanation will work with him. I weaned him almost entirely by just talking with him about it. So like any other situation we tried that, but it led to tears and angers, so the subject was closed temporarily. Then, we all made the trip to Chicago last week.
Chicago is a ultra beautiful city and I love it. Either because, that was the place I spent most of my early 20’s or just the calmness of the place, I don’t know it makes me fall in love with it all the time.
We reached Thursday night, after 2 flights from where we live and a 1.5 hour drive to my brother’s place, as we took the flight into a nearby airport, as it was half the priceJ. Yuvi fell asleep the first flight and slept through the second, and only woke up as we were getting off the second flight and proudly announced..”THE END”J. Air travel is tiring even when sleeping I guess.
He was up all the way during the car drive home, but fell asleep as soon as we reached. Friday was spent mostly at home, tackling the two, two year olds. My brother’s son T, is 6 months younger to Yuvi. They are as opposite as opposites can be. Yuvi is soft, into books, very empathetic, very vocal, talks a lot…T is quiet, into cars, active, jumps up and down, climbs on things and loves music. After some initial hitting episodes, Yuvi promptly decided that T is a baby and that is why he was hitting him, and tried these following phrases in efforts to correct Mr. T.
Yuvi, after being hit on the head, “ T don’t hit me, you will get a time out”. He tried this couple of times and realized that T did not care and then Yuvi started hitting backJ
When T touched and banged the TV ‘T you will break the TV, DO NOT hit it, you will get a timeout”.
The funny thing is Yuvi never gets timeout on a regular basis, yet he thinks it is the worst form of punishment. Surprising what sticks to the little brains.
Saturday we ventured to take the kids to Shedd Aquarium, since the weather was a bit dodgy we did not get the tickets beforehand, BIG mistake. By time we got out tickets and the second batch of people came, the kids were already tired. Yuvi, has a pretty bad allergy breakout so did not enjoy as much as I would have liked him too. However, we did see DORA cartoon in 4D which he loved. He enjoyed those special glasses and kept reaching out his small hands to touch everything. Then we saw a Dolphin show and the guy at the Dolphin show just talked too much, at one stage it prompted Yuvi to say, “ I just want the Dolphins to jump”. Me too my sweety, me too.
We took the Metra train back home and Yuvi loved that, he kept saying ‘the train is Vroooomming”.
Evening my uncle’s family visited us and pretty much we spent time at home the rest of the trip. As the day to our departure neared it was very emotional for me. Every time my parents left I always knew when they were coming back. That way I have always been very lucky. I stayed with my parents till I got married, and even after that visits have been frequent as they stayed in the USA too. This year they are officially moving back to India and I am feeling the pangs. Just to tip the scale further, this happened…
My uncle from India was talking with us on Skype and Yuvi was playing with Paati , lying down on her and playing. Here is how the conversation went…
P (Paati); ‘Avy, I am going to India in 10 days”
Yuvi: “ No paati, come with me to Avy home. Do not go to India”
P: “Illa da kanna, I have to go, sonnen illa”
Yuvi (after few seconds of deep pondering): “Will you miss me paati?”
Tears just started flowing for my mom and me. What Avy felt at that moment I cannot describe, but to hear a 2 year old ask such a question was hard to digest. That night as Paati was making him sleep, I believe he told her “Amma and Appa love me a lot, they hug me and kiss me every day before and after work”. More waterworks.
He has always been the adjusting type, no matter what he has or who he has, he does okay. He does not ask for things not around him as long as either mommy or daddy is there. Every time grandparents come and go, he changes his schedule to suit to them. After that conversation in Chicago he has not asked about them going to India again. If we talk about them, he says they are going to India, and moves on to the next thing. It hurts.
He has now started asking questions about his allergies, like “What is allergy? Who gave Avy allergy? Allergy hurts, my eyes hurt, Will Mannu (medicine) make allergies go away?”…I try to answer and still searching for more…
Every morning he used to get up and Thatha-Paati were here, he would say “ I don’t want to go see friends, I will be with paati”.
For the past two days as soon as he wakes up he says ‘I want to go see friends, they are fun”.
No one teaches him any of this, he says it all. I have a big boy in a small package with empathy beyond his years and it makes me emotional. Maybe I can learn a bit from him!!!
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