The Last Word

As much as I'd hate to admit, DD is seriously changing loyalties. She is gravitating toward the other parent and there's little I can do about it. 

The two play a lot of games, have meaningful in-depth discussions, share a lot of laughter. It is amazing to see the two of them in action. I am there too, just somewhere in the background and fondly remembered when she is hungry or sleepy. 

Recently, the two of them played 'In a  Pickle'. It's not an easy game to explain in a short blog post, but basically it's whoever has a higher value card - word wise, wins.  Example, mountain is bigger than building (generally speaking), so the person who played 'mountain' wins. 

At one particular point, DD played 'Love' and Ady played 'Life'. 

They called me to judge. "Which one's bigger Mamma?"

"Explain yourselves" I said giving them each an opportunity to present their case. 

DD started. "You can be a very small person, but you can love beyond your life. I am small, but I love you, and you are very big. Even after a person dies, their love can stay. So love is bigger than life." she concluded. 

"Ok, you win!" Ady conceded, without even trying to prove his card was better. He was flooded with tears, he was so moved by what his daughter had to say.

"And love moves people" I added, glaring at him. 

The tears flowed freely for a good 5 minutes and DD felt compelled to talk more about love, and her love for her father. She knew it was her moment, and was thoroughly milking it.

"Stop it already!" I told Ady. 

"These are tears of happiness, Mamma" DD said. "Papa is happy."

"I am not crying..." Ady said. 

"Yeah, you're just welling up" I said. "My word wins." I didn't want to be the only one who didn't play the game. 

Photo credit: Pixabay

Vision Auto Correction: 20/20

DD woke us up at 2 in the morning a couple of days ago.I couldn't sleep after that. So I wandered around the house, saw some Friends reruns and ended up being groggy and exhausted the rest of the day. 

My head was splitting and my eyes were burning. So after DD went to school, I thought I'd rest a bit before getting back to work. 

I just couldn't. My eyes were hurting me way too much. I obviously attributed this to my lack of sleep and resting time. But try as I may, I couldn't lie down and shut my eyes peacefully. 

Later that evening, I realized that maybe my glasses weren't nestled on my nose, and my eyes were acting up because they were missing their beloved friend. But everything was very hazy, as soon as I put my glasses on. I still braved it and wore my glasses, as I went about my job. 

At work, I couldn't see clearly. But I noticed that I could, when I got rid of the glasses. I was shocked. Had my vision auto corrected? Did finally waking up at odd hours to accommodate the little one lead to a happy incident? I was ecstatic. 

I started testing my new improved vision on everything - the poster on the wall - a hundred feet away, the bus a mile away, the cat poster which explained why it was superior to humans, I could read everything. 

I started reassessing my diet. Was my mother-in-law's food good to me? Was it the reason I could see without an aid?

When I reached home, and shared the happy news, DD was ecstatic. My mother-in-law however, asked me to be cautious. "vision correction on its own, could mean cataract", she warned. "Get yourself tested." This was like an anti climax to my merriment. Just when I was considering myself a human miracle, she gave me a warning I'd never thought I'd hear. 

So I did the best thing I could. I searched the internet to get as much information about vision auto correction and cataract. I didn't find any strong correlation, so I just went back to initial conclusion-  that I was just a miracle. 

When Ady came home, he and I had a vision test. Of course I won. He couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. "It's God's miracle!" said the iconoclast.

My mother-in-law quietly asked me, "Are you sure, you're not wearing your lenses?"

"Ofcourse not!" I said, unable to believe why anybody would not acknowledge my powers. I put my finger into my eye, just to prove my point. 

Well, now that explains everything. I recoiled back to my room, never to be visible to any other human eye. 

Image courtesy: Hebi Fot/Pixabay

A Lesson Backfired

A few months ago, DD had started this habit of chewing on her hair. Nothing we said or did made her stop the habit. It was just too delicious to drop. 

Now this great habit, led to an upset stomach, a case of diarrhea. Well that at least was our immediate conclusion when DD fell sick. 

So I booked an appointment with - the hair stylist, yeah, I felt like I knew the cause of the problem to even consider consulting a doctor. So I took her to the parlor and got her a nice short haircut. 

Turns out, like most things in life, I was not right about the cause of her diarrhea. Her class had a pet tortoise. That tortoise ended up with diarrhea and infected the whole class. 
"See Mamma, it was not the hair. Now I look like a boy!" she cried.
I saw this as another teaching moment.
I apologized to her for my mistake, acknowledging that I had been hasty, and said that even girls could have short hair. 

DD being DD quoted Rapunzel, Snow White and Cinderella, the clear representatives of the female world. "They don't have short hair."
"No, normal people, those that don't come in stories." I persisted. 
"Well, you don't have short hair."
I was the only normal person she could think of. Normal. 
"Ok fine. I said."

That evening, at pickup, I had said goodbye to my long tresses. I was feeling confident. I hated my haircut, but I was feeling confident in my decision. 
"Hello young man!", my friend greeted me at pickup. 
"It's bad, isn't it?" I acknowledged. "But it's a teaching moment."
"What about the next few months that follow this moment? You going to use a hat?"
DD did notice my hair, and felt happy that her hair cut was better than mine. I was the best example for a woman with real short hair and a great example of why you should not sleep when somebody is cutting your hair, even if it's very soothing on the head. 

Now, DD's hair has grown back pretty well. Mine - it's growing out. It's like it has a mind of its own and it feels liberated to grow in any direction. My right side is screaming porcupine, my left is flowing downstream. I can't get another haircut because there IS no hair to cut!

But, point proven, I guess.

(Image credit: Pixabay)