30th months letter

Hello Shreya,

A little over two and a half years ago, I lay in a hospital bed, a fetal monitor strapped to my belly, ultrasound gel oozing out from underneath, cold and irritating me like hell, while I wait for my delivery. Your heartbeat accelerated and decelerated, sending the needle of the monitor dancing -- up, then down and then up again. Next day morning, the doctor held the print-out in her hands and shook her head smiling: "This one is going to be a handful."

Shreya, you're much more than a handful now, 2.5 years old and full of fire.


My favorite time of the day are the mornings when you climb into bed near me and snuggle and giggle and tell stories and generally wallow. This is the best part of my vacation morning and I can't trade this for anything. Today morning while we were in our mushy-mushy mode, I squeezed you hard and asked you "Shreya ki boro na choto baby?" ("Are you a baby or a big girl?"),  just as I do every time. "Bolo (baby language for 'Boro') and kutimuti baby" ("Big girl and small baby") you assured me. And I ponder over it throughout the day and realized how right you are.

Every day, it seems, your body stretches out. Curves and baby fats are almost gone and your cheeks are narrowing. Your legs honed by continuous running and jumping have grown longer and you as a whole look much longer for a normal 2 years old. Your curly locks still remain to be the highlight of you and as usual refuses to be tamed by ordinary brush.


You assert yourself more and more and for once I wish you would shut up and listen. While I mostly like answering your questions or simply listening to your thought process, I wish you would also listen a little more. I am still trying to teach you the concept of “pause and listen”.


I love that you love music. It is a source of joy for your Pappa and I hope you’d be able to share that with him as years go by. I am proud of the sincerity with which you practice a new song – without any prodding by us. I really believe that kids will excel in things that they love doing if not pressurized all the time and you proved us right yet again by learning couple of Rabindra Sangeet and our prayer song. It was surely a-proud-moment for your Pappa. I just wish music continue to baffle you and you discover your-type-of-music pretty early in your life.


You are loving your new school and so am I. Its amazing how easily and happily you adjust to new environments. In a group of toddlers and infants, I was pleasantly surprised to see you being the least aggressive and not bullying the younger ones. Once when the baby had put the lego in his mouth and you came running to me to help you out, I told you to take it easy and let me know after the baby leaves it so that I can wash it for you. And I was pleasantly surprised seeing that you following the same when the incident repeated. I am proud of you baby because I know it is not easy for a toddler to see her favourite airplane or Lego become a baby’s teether.

Manners are going pretty strong and thankfully 'thank you', 'welcome' and 'sorry' comes without prompting. Your meltdowns have gone down drastically if not completely and we are working to improvise it further. Books still remains to be your best-friend and your Mimme-Pappa is trying hard to keep that love alive. Apart from school library which itself has huge collection, we just got our Toronto Public library card done and more than books, I am in love with their other programs (story-telling, story-telling without words, rhymes sessions, Friday children film show) which we are enjoying equally.

Never knew that your Pappa is such a great story-teller and in this past one month, I have seen your interest in story has grown by leaps and bounds. You can now tell 'The thirsty crow', 'The fox and the goat', 'The 3 little pigs', 'Gossie and her red boots', 'Miss wishy-washy', 'Lion and the mouse' pretty much in your ways. Thumbs-up to your Pappa for that.

Another great achievement in this last one month has been the progress in terms of potty training. The minor job was stuck off long time back and this month I can safely say that we stuck off the major job too from our list. So the potty thing is almost an independent activity for you now but we will keep a tab on it for a while before we mark this milestone off from our list.

For the first time in this two and a half years, you have retired your Mimme from the task of putting you to sleep at night. This joyous occasion was possible because your Pappa was your sleep-mate during our jet-lag phase and gradually you allowed him to take the honour of telling you bed-time stories and putting you to sleep, which for some reason you have not allowed anyone other than Mimme till date. Pappa is enjoying this attention and so am I as I get my extended me-time post dinner.

Your Pappa is leaving no stone unturned to compensate for the last eight months of separation from you and trying to pitch in into every single activity which was once ruled by Mimme. While I am not complaining but it is strange to see that you are enjoying every bit of it and in turn helping him too. 

Much to my annoyance, you have formed this mutual admiration society with closed membership. I have caught you two staring at each other, reading and dancing together, talking secrets and laughing for no sane reason. You also stop mid-sentence(?) when I enter the room or don't even notice me. Both are equally annoying. The moment he comes back from office you bury your nose in his shirt, climb over him and both of you look so content and peaceful that sometimes I am filled with that strange, strange love for both of you. I compensate for this momentary lapse by yelling at you two shortly thereafter ;)

Shreya, you turned 2.5 years old last month and for some reason both me and your Pappa have been feeling really sentimental over this. I always wish I could freeze time – even for a few minutes. It’s hard to keep up with the antics and enjoy them because, blink, and it’s all gone – replaced with something else. I still say lellow (for yellow) but you look at me like I have no idea how to talk. You still constantly push my limits but has started peppering them with hugs and kisses and I love yous (You call it "aa blu you"). I’ve been told that it’s an age thing – the girls favoring the mom – and that it’ll soon pass and you will be you dad’s girl forever. So I hold on to these moments, live my thousand lives in this moments, enjoy the attention and hug you as much as I can. 

Have fun sweetheart!!!

Love,

Mimme