Lego Cake and Skittles Mat

Not at all the post I want. But things have piled up and I must offload. If I wait another day there will be chronological issues. One thing is for sure, there will be no weekend post henceforth. Just not possible, too many things to take care of (read Manav's soccer match and our house hunt). This weekend it was my birthday. Woke up to the kids singing 'Happy Birthday' for me in bed. The entire song with sound effects. Then they went to 'build' my present. Came up with a Lego block cake

"Mommy your cake is getting differenter and differenter"

"Why Manav?"

"Because we are still building"

So every 5 minutes or so I would have to go check what my dynamic cake looks like.

The I helped myself to a slice of cake ( a block) and had to remark how mouth watering tasty it was.

"What is the baby jaguar doing on my cake Manav?" I enquired

"Just like Saachi's cake had the princess in it, your cake has jaguar" Manav clarified

Of course, I had forgotten how much I like animal themed cakes.

Arnav announced

"I have skittles for you on the cake" and pointed to imaginary skittles on it.

They got me so hooked I had to bake my own cranberry walnut bread for the birthday. Thankfully a couple of my girlfriends got me cupcakes in the evening and officially I could boast of a cake. I had to satisfy myself with wikipedia 'Birthday cake' search and as expected it turned up western culture links.

Saturday morning it was me and Arnav in the living room while Manav and Caunteya stole those special early morning minutes of sleep. We heard the unmistakable beep of a phone. I playfully asked Arnav

"Is that Mommy's or Papa's phone?"

"Papa's phone. Mommy's phone it is calls and Papa's phone it is email. " I now have this craving  for a smartphone. The birthdays and simple cellphones make me feel so old and bygone.

 

That is Manav's penchant for order and color coordination in anything and everything. "Group by" is another name for Manav. So he gets these Skittles on one condition that he will share with his brother 'after' breakfast. I divided the 15 skittles of course unequally - 7 for Arnav and 8 for Manav hoping they will never find out. But I needn't have worried as somehow Manav managed to take 12 of them as he insisted he needed all the colors to co-ordinate with the new mat that Mommy has on the dining table. The extra 3 reds colored ones were doled out to Arnav. That is when I learned Arnav has no concept of numbers and quantity. He happily had three while Manav devoured the 12 after breakfast. No questions asked.

Manav was still behaving so I asked

"Manav you are good sometimes but most of the times you are bad, why is that?"

"Because I like to be like that"

Then he comes running to us crying

"He almost broke my bone here, when he hit me" pointing alternately to Arnav and his bone on the forehead.

Even in extreme pain Manav never ceases to be dramatic. Drama is in his genes. Just like today when we were at the library checking out books and puppets, Kylie stepped in.

" I love cars, can I have one please?"

"Hey, I play soccer. You have to hit the ball into other team's goals. See." Chipped Manav, showing off his soccer book

"Yes, I play soccer too. It is so much fun" Kylie continued

After that they were inseparable. He followed her everywhere to the extent of both sitting with her grandpa and reading books for a while. Her grandpa remarked

"Are you aware that your son is very sharp? "

I was at a loss to appropriately answer this, so just smiled.

I have yet to figure out what attracts Manav - a new friend, the girl factor or that fact that she is white or all of the above or none of the above?  This has happened  quite often, hence my curiosity - in playgrounds, stores, school and now library too.

They have so much energy and in contrast I am going southwards. We are both growing up but are in the opposite sides of the sine curve of energy. I try wearing them out with long walks, long talks, runs in the fields, endless up and downs in the play area but while I am done, they've just begun. Now I see sense in my mother's wisdom in having babies when you are young. Though I still maintain that I had a helluva 7 years of non-baby marriage. Would not change that.

Over and out.