Life's Milestones - 2

It was a cakewalk really. The whole pregnancy and delivery thing second time around. Some friends asked me why I decided to go through the whole thing again, was one time not enough? The pain, the angst, the check-ups and the one that tops the list – the delivery. I did not want to give them the mushy answer of how the tiny person at the end of all that was worth it and how the first cries rejuvenates you to take whatever comes next head-on. But that was actually it. I cannot forget that scene – the husband, seated on the hospital chair and holding the new born in his arms with Skanda, curiously touching his little brother’s fingers. I even remember the smell of the hospital mingled with fresh flowers from a bouquet. It was picture perfect.


I used to miss being pregnant after my first son was born. I would miss the fresh smell of babies just bathed and whole lot of such things that came with new babies. I would even sit up most nights without complaining. I would not share these feelings with anyone lest they think I had gone mad! I always thought if I was born in another century or maybe even in another country, I would definitely have a gang of kids of my own! But practicalities are woven into our lives and there is no avenue of escape from them, isn’t it?


Time is known to fly at alarming speed. Yet, I am always amazed by it. So, my second son, Pranav, came kicking and screaming into this world three years back. It just seems like yesterday that I held him in my arms admiring the miracle that he was. He is a little person of his own now and his sunny personality is beginning to show. He is full of love and naughty to the core. He loves books and riding his bicycle with anna. The brothers have formed a strong bond of kinship which, I hope, will only strengthen with time. He loves dinosaurs too and rattles off names of the species! He has the cutest lisp - he cannot pronounce "s", "sh" and "r". He has the most adorable sulk when he is admonished and I have a whale of a time cajoling him out of his anger!


He insists he is only two years old because for him a birthday means cutting a cake, which we could not on his birthday. So I have promised him a cake this weekend and he has promised that he will turn three that day :).


Happy birthday, my dear child!

Pigeons and a dilemma

Last week, we found an egg on top of a suitcase in the attic of my bedroom. We also saw two pigeons flying in and out of the always-open bedroom window. The kids were excited but I was in a dilemma. I did not know what to do because I was concerned about the mess that would be created and that too in my bedroom!

The hubby and I did some research and found that the pigeons always lay a pair of eggs and they don’t empty the nest for around 50 days in total! Now that was a really long time for us to tolerate them inside the house. We decided that we would not allow the pigeons to start their family in our house but were very concerned about the kind of role models we were going to be for the kids due to this ‘barbaric’ act!

Deep inside, I was very sad about the whole thing. Again I took refuge in the internet and read many experiences where people made the same decision that we made and consoled myself that the birds would find some other place and it’s not a very big deal (well, it still makes me guilty). The kids were questioning incessantly about the whole event and we were not able to break it to them that we were about the throw the egg away.

So, now my husband comes up with a brilliant idea. He tells the kids that they were going to make a bird nest out of scratch and place the egg in it so that the pigeons find and start hatching it :-). The kids were obviously excited. So he took out his tools, wood, nails, hammer et al and the three of them started building this “hakki goodu”. I was quite surprised to see him go about the task with such dedication that I deduced that he was feeling as guilty as I was and had just not talked about it. The nest was ready and the egg was placed on top of carefully selected bits of twigs and cotton and this was hung on my terrace. The kids spent the evening waiting for the birds to magically know that their new nest was ready and to start using it. But alas, as we had guessed, no bird came. The kids were disappointed (and somewhere deep down we were too) but the thrill of building the nest kept them occupied and happy.

I want to assume that we have not really abandoned a family and we have done our best and have also tried to set a good example to the kids. Parenting is surely not an easy task!