Oh Baby Baby!

I guess you all know that I have a tiny tot who pretty much ensures my days are packed with giggles, wails, potty, flying food and more. How exciting isn’t it?

I for one always believed that I would never stop working. That whenever I had a baby (we call him Toothless, after Night Fury, in the movie – How to train your dragon), I would return to work 6 months down, yet here I am, on his 1 year birthday, and with no signs of a job; atleast for some more time.

So, the other day my husband and I were joking about the career oriented Snehal that was; and thought it funny to do my (delayed) appraisal.

Basically, what has Toothless taught me in these 12 months. Well! here goes:

Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di, toh phir main khudki bhi nahi sunta (Once I commit, then I don’t even listen to myself)

I love the determination Toothless shows when he is emptying a shelf or a table. Main objective being – a clean countertop with a messy floor. No bias whatsoever. Totally reminded me of the Dabangg dialogue. How much ever you try to distract him from his goal, he will indulge you a bit, and then get right back at it.

Although quite exasperating I love the little devil’s sheer perseverance towards a task. I can only imagine how much I would have achieved in life, if I would have shown this kind of commitment to my job or studies!

Yoga poses that can put Ramdev Baba to shame

For the last 3 weeks I have been trying to touch my nose to the floor in a butterfly pose. And just when I finally managed it and was rejoicing, Toothless decided to do it just to lick something off the floor. Show off!! Doesn’t even allow his mother to bask in her glory for 2 minutes. It’s honestly insane where all this flexibility disappears as we grow up. They are born acrobats and gymnasts. The one thing he loves doing is eating his toe like how we chew our nails.

But watching him I do get a lot of motivation! I mean if he can, I, as an adult, surely can, right? Right… right…

It’s in the little things!

I simply love how happy he gets in the small things – when you make funny faces, or a silly dance move, when you blow bubbles, or play hide and seek. We always seek happiness in the bigger things like diamonds, parties, shopping etc and are just so busy that simple pleasures can pretty much road roll over us and we wouldn’t notice them. I love this quote that I read recently ‘Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.’

Practice, practice, practice

These little guys have insane amount of patience and a never give up attitude. The number of times they fall down and get up to try again is crazy! They have no limit in their mind. Honestly it is humbling to see their little minds and bodies. Trying to perfect a crawl or a step. I mean people write books on becoming masters of something. Malcom Gladwell spoke of 10,000 hours (which is now being rubbished). Just seeing Toothless gives me the motivation to keep at it, no matter how difficult.  

Experiment and have no fear:

Its something to learn from kids, how to always try new things. They don’t understand the concept of fear, which in some ways is scary and yet amazing! Imagine, if you did not have any fears, what would you do – take a sabbatical and travel the worlds, or sky-dive, or write a book? If you give him a toy, he will peer at it and try to figure it out. It’s like he loves being pushed out of his comfort zone – comfort zone is boring! And we all enjoy the little one’s antics. We encourage him to try more. Isn’t that how babies and actually all of us learn -by experimenting?

No-matter-what love

Last but not the least, I never in my wildest dreams would have understood this sort of love, till I had my baby. We attach so many terms and conditions to our love that when you see something so pure, it’s kind of nerve wracking. We have boundaries set with everyone, our spouses, even ourselves where we compare ourselves to our past or others. But these guys, love you no matter what. To them you are their world! And there is nothing more precious than that. Nothing!            

In spirituality it is said that children choose their parents. and I have so much gratitude to the Universe for making Toothless choose me as a mum.

I hope I make you proud baby, just as you make me happy every single day!