The Babies on my Lap

Maryam

My granddaughter Maryam’s favorite pastime is to make me sit on a stool, and gather all her babies onto my lap. She is a toddler, one year, and four months old. She still doesn’t speak, except for saying Baba (her father), Mama, Lala ( her brother), and Da (which is me).

The babies are her soft toys. Most of the time they lie scattered all over our sitting area, and upstairs in the lounge. As soon as she sees me emerge from my room, she wants my undivided attention. She will pick her toys one by one, making a crying sound, then hugging, and then they are deposited onto my lap.

I dare not remove them from my lap, because they are going to cry( crying sounds made by Maryam). They again occupy their earlier perch. One other thing the babies do is to jump on my knee, one by one to the song of one little monkey, fox, koala bear, lion, leopard, tiger, elephant, dinosaur jumping on the bed (which is of course my knee). Let’s not forget the shark. It also jumps on her tail.

Another game we play is to chase her round the house. She runs, while I pretend to catch her. She shrieks with joy, looking backwards to see whether I’m following her, or not.

Come nighttime, and I become redundant. She waves to me, and follows her mother upstairs.

Smell you Later

  

Have you ever smelled babies?  I don’t mean their potty smell. Oh God! It’s awful. When TJ (my daughter’s son) was a baby, the girls M1, M2, and M3 would rush out of the room as soon as they would realize that TJ had done something. They would leave me to deal with the diaper changing when their mother was not at home. 

I asked them (my late husband, and I were on a visit) that when I wasn’t there what did they do? The youngest’s answer was, ” ignoring the needful till their mother was back”.

Babies have a smell of talcum powder, and their mothers’ milk on them. It’s always enticing. You would like a cuddle, or two with holding them, and kissing their cherubic faces. 

Once babies start solid food besides having their mother’s milk, their dodoos (the aftermath in the diaper) smell badly. When they are only having their mothers’ milk the dodoos only have a sour kind of smell to them–there isn’t any stinking odor.

And I got to meet TJ when he was onto solid foods, so you can imagine the horror of it.

I like holding babies, but please don’t ask me to change their diapers. I now gag at the thought of it.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/smell-you-later/

Smell You Later

Humans have very strong scent memory. Tell us about a smell that transports you.

Time Changes

Time passes so quickly. Babies you saw in their mothers’ arms suddenly are adults somehow. Last October, my sister came for condolences from US. She couldn’t make it to the funeral of my husband. While making the rounds of shops (she wanted some dresses) I caught sight of myself in a mirror. A haggard old person looked back at me. I was startled at myself while looking at the apparition. Few months had passed, but for a person who had looked years younger now looked years older.

What a change!