My leftover ice-cream

It’s so easy when children are young. Like it’s very easy when they are newborn. It’s still easier when they are still learning to walk. It remains easy when they are just learning to talk. And then, all at once, it gets harder when they start to remember things, when they start to demand things, when they start to have preferences of what they should do and what you should do. You start to realize all of your moves have to be pre-planned because of the dire consequences it may have.

When my son turned two and a few months more, he learnt that running is an amazing experience so much that the moment the doors are opened, he throws himself across the grass and the air. He doesn’t really care if I am behind him. That’s just the way toddlers are. They don’t care. But this can’t be entirely true. Even when my toddler gets to his highest degree tantrums, there are times when flings himself across my neck into a tight hug. He melts inside me, making me wonder if life could forever be filled with such wonderful moments.

All good things considered, there are still moments when I just can’t stand my toddler. A toddler has, in his full capacity, to drive an adult go crazy to any extent. Anyway, the point is, my son has learnt to remember things. So, he remembers where I place candies, what the freezer contains, what the section below the freezer contains, what the shelves contain and where the chocolates are mostly hidden. At first, I didn’t think much about this but when it got really bothersome, I tried switching places.

At one point, it got really worrying because he remembered exactly the new places where I kept all the unhealthy stuff.  I told myself that I had to do the right thing – get rid of all the candies, ice creams and chocolates. Of course, it’s hard but that’s what parenting is all about anyway. It’s always the hard ways.

After being completely snack free, I realized that I deserved a little treat for being the good parent. So, one afternoon, I decided to indulge myself for a stick of ice-cream hurriedly because my toddler would wake up any moment. Just as assumed, I was only halfway through the bar of ice-cream when I heard his cries. And I thought to myself – “How do you do this every single time to mommy?” That’s just the way it is.

So, here I am, a few minutes later carrying a half-sleeping toddler, resting on my shoulder while I hideously gobble my leftover ice-cream (so that he doesn’t get to see it). The last time I had to hide and eat an ice-cream was twenty years ago.

And it begins all over again.