The pisaasu at our home...

Ottu pisaasu is his new nick name. Nikki is a born clinger. Actually clinger is not the word, I am at a loss of words to explain his behavior. Guess his new nick name does justice. He absolutely needs to paste himself onto amma/paati always. At least they have to be sitting close to him for him to act normally. He will explore the world only if it is within his arm’s reach. I wouldn’t call him lazy, he is not idle. He just doesn’t show interest in moving. If he is bored, or if he is not able to reach something, he starts wailing. Unless there is something extremely tempting, like a cellphone, remote or a laptop he wouldn’t crawl. He is content playing with his toys, chewing amma’s / paati’s or his own dress and babbling NON-STOP. He would pull himself upto a stand holding onto amma/paati rather than a piece of furniture. If manipulated to stand holding to a couch he will make a few steps, then look back to see if amma is within his reach. If she is not, he would take his hands off the couch and somebody would come running to catch him before his precious skull hits the floor.

These days he reminds me of a old tamil song. It is actually a song sung under tragic circumstances

“Silar azhuvaar
Silar sirippar
Naan azhuthu konde sirikkindren”

“Some people cry
Some people laugh
But I am doing both simultaneously”

And this is why.

Nikki is sitting up playing with his toys. Amma is playing with him. He is happy, smiling, giggling, babbling, exploring(read chewing,banging,poking) his toys. Suddenly he looks up and amma is nowhere to be seen. He lets out a loud wail like somebody is strangling him. Initially the poor amma used to drop whatever she was doing(even attending to nature’s calls) and rush to his rescue. After a few days, instead of rushing, she started watching him. The moment he sees no-one close to him, he gets angry, throws the toy and lets out his characterestic wail. Amma responds with her voice assuring him that she is around and she will come soon. The pitch increases steadily and if there is no amma in sight yet, tears start flowing down. Amma talks to him yet again telling him all good things. Asking him not to cry, he should not cling to mom, he should be on his own , if he wants amma, he should TRY coming to her. He turns to the direction of the sound, but he wouldn’t try to crawl in that direction. The cry now reaches feverish pitch and amma cannot hear it any longer. She comes within his view and that is when this happens. The wail immediately becomes a cry interspersed with signs of laughter. As she comes closer to him, he will laugh and cry simultaneously. Amma comes close to him, but refuses to pick him up. He starts flailing his hands if he is sitting. If he is on his back on the floor, both arms and legs will be flailing and legs will be banged onto the floor with big thuds. The moment mom stretches her arms towards him as if she is going to pick him up, the wail stops, and gasping starts. The moment amma touches him, the giggling starts and when he is wrapped in her embrace, laughter erupts. Amma’s hair is pulled in all directions, she is given sloppy kisses and loving hugs as expression of happiness. Amma just melts in his embrace.

PS: For those who noticed the change from “Duddu” to “Nikki” in the blog header, the name “Duddu” has become obsolete in our household. Since the nick names keep changing, I opted for “Nikki” that is coined from his real name.