Happy Valemtime's day....

On left is Arnav's "Love Bug" and the other one is Manav's "Love card". Arnav's "Love Bug" keeps flitting in the air, kissing us intermittently mid-flight. Taking a look at Manav's card Arnav said

"Why is Mommy's heart so small?"  (If you blow up the picture you will see 4 hearts - two big ones - green and red belonging to Manav and Papa respectively while two smaller ones - purple and blue - Arnav's and Mommy's respectively....am sure you won't miss the batman)

"There was no space, that is why" Manav said

I marvelled that Arnav noticed. I always feel Arnav has this special feeling for me, you know kind of a notch above his feelings for Manav and Papa.

"Happy Valemtime's Day" he gurgled to all and we smiled sharing glances. We knew it better than correct Arnav. Sometimes even Manav finds Arnav's baby talks so cute. For the record Manav never quite indulged in baby talk, he sort of always had that "adult" pronunciation, though he still lisps on "t" and "d".

Manav recited this poem from the inside of his card, of course all memorized

"If apples were pears,

And peaches were plums,

And the rose had a different name;

If tigers were bears,

And fingers were thumbs

I'd love you just the same !"

So all the hoopla about Valentine's day came to an end yesterday with bags full of cute valentines and candies. We had a small dinner talk about the real role of heart in our body complete with comparing the heart to a king (in chess of course) and the brain to the queen and how arteries and veins carry blood, delivering oxygen to all organs and all the blah. Manav soaked everything in and I am not sure how much Arnav grasped as he was more focused on the food.

The other night Manav came to our room at 3 AM

"Mommy can you please put some water on my eyes?"

I just lead him back to his bed. He climbed up and said again

"Can you please put water in my eyes?"

"Why Manav? You need to sleep now." I mumbled

"I dont want to close them. I want to keep my eyes open"

"Manav you need to close your eyes to sleep so that your body can mend itself"

"I don't want to dream Mommy" that's when I gathered his nightmares were bothering him again.

Next morning I asked Manav what he dreams usually. He said

"There are police and they take you to cages and bomb you"

"Why cage? And why would a police do that? You didn't do anything wrong"

"It is a dream Mommy. Dreams are not true. And remember police put you in jail? The cages are the jails."

That is when I thought of telling the boys my story of how I dealt with nightmares.

"Listen, I also used to have the same dream every night, when I was a kid. My father said dreams happen so that you get disturbed and remove your hand from the heart so that the heart can pump blood in peace. So if you sleep with your hands by your side and not put them on your chest, there will be no dreams. So I used to sleep with hands below my back, under the pillows or tuck them under the mattress but that didn't help. So dadu (my father) said - while asleep your hands come on the chest and then dreams have to happen. As you cannot control your hands lets try this, when you are dreaming just try to say aloud - 'This is a dream'. And I really tried that and though words wouldn't come out of my mouth when I was dreaming but at least I would wake up."

"So Manav you can say 'Hey that's a flower, not a bomb' when the policeman throws the bomb at you" Caunteya made it even more creative.

and Manav was so tickled, he practised on and on saying the same.

Last night he came to our room saying

"Mommy did you call me?"

"No"

"I heard you calling, so I came here"

"OK" and I felt him climbing in between us. Now, my father didn't tell me anything about handling kids trying to outsmart you. But then Manav really might have though he heard me calling or maybe I did call him in my sleep. Whatever.

Last year when we moved into this house I was complaining of the increased distance to and from the kids' school. Now I wish the distance was longer. I think I had mentioned this before, but car drives are excellent conversation zones. This morning when I was dropping the kids, we started our usual story telling. Arnav came up with this and I can attest this story to be an original. I am not sharing Manav's story here as it was the usual cheetah, python and food web and kind of paled against Arnav's. So here it goes :

"There was a lion, a bird, an elephant and a hummingbird. The elephant and the lion fought and the lion died. The bird was a peacock and he came and poked the elephant on the back. The lion said...."

"But the lion is dead Arnav" I chipped in, listening intently

"Mommy, don't interrupt, please listen. The lion said " I tricked you elephant" he was not actually dead and then ate the elephant for meat. The lion then went to the zoo but it was written there 'No lions' So he w-e-n-t  i-n-t-o a .......(long pause) ......C-A-R !!!!!. "

He had our full attention with his verbalisation and pauses and we started laughing.

"Then did he push Mommy out Arnav? " Manav asked

"Nooo. The lion ate the trees in the car and then started driving. Then there was a red light and he didnt stop and the police caught him. The end"

"What did the humming bird do Arnav?" I asked

"Oh I forgot. The humming bird irritated everyone with his humming" Of course.

"Good job Arnav" And we clapped for him.

Once in their classrooms they just get so wrapped up that they don't even notice me. I have to just fall short of begging them for a goodbye hug. They oblige but with their body turned at an angle towards the other children in the class, eager for me to let go. After the discomfort of being left out I linger a bit more trying to figure out what is there in the class that surpasses me. Thats when it strikes me that it is a futile venture. There is nothing there. It is just that they love the class, their teacher, the friends and the promise of learning and fun filled day. They also love the fact that at the end of the day Mommy will be there to pick them up with a snack in the car and a promise of warm home and more play and learning till they retire for the day with their not so welcome dreams.

Then one fine day (rather not so fine for me) my valentines will spread their wings and fly away and I hope they will stop by mid flight to kiss me intermittently and exchange "I Love you" once in a while. No flowers, surprise dinners, gifts and cards can work the wonders that these words do. Wink Wink !!