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MY ALONE

A few days ago, my daughter walked off to a birthday party saying "I will go my alone." MY ALONE was her new English phrase for the week meaning 'all by myself'. Not just 'myself', "ALL BY MYSELF"! And as I watched her walk down the hallway to the neighbour's house, I felt a funny feeling in the pit of my tummy. Of all the funny-feelings-in-tummy motherhood brings you, this one was new.

WAS MY BABY GROWING UP? You see, mothers are usually programmed to be blind to any of these so-called hints of growing up. So obviously it surprised me that I was thinking this at all!

Growing up in Mommy language usually refers to other things like:

1. Baby Being toilet trained after months of cleaning up and mopping up and coercing and making sssss sounds while the bored baby sits on the Potty.

2. Baby Being able to chew food -accompanied by a lot of "CHEW CHEW CHEW" and nudging the food stuck in the cheek.

3. Baby Giving up the feeding bottle (after a few months of unsuccessful attempts and then one day throwing one in the dustbin in front of the baby or giving the bottles away to the lion).

4.Baby Saying "I want..... I want.... I want" for just about anything, like aftershave lotion or sarees or Jeeps (the real ones).

5. Baby bawling when you slip out for a quick walk on a rather irritable evening (making you cancel any walk plans)

6. Baby insisting on wearing winter clothes in April.

7. Baby learning that her left leg is actually her right leg and right leg is left and then confidently telling you that her right hand is her left! (Actually I do that sometimes too- Never ask me for directions!)

8. Baby eating fries for dinner at that pricey restaurant and then coming home and asking for some real food. ("But I didn't eat any rice in the hotel. I want to eat now!"- The day you eat out cos neither of you wanted to cook).

9. Baby holding your finger and swinging by the arms in a crowded mall - when you are in a hurry to get out of there.

10. Baby saying "Running race?" to her friends while already running down a steep curve.

...and other such things. We are not programmed to understand words like MY ALONE, especially when Baby means it.





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