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.
Flowers and Breezes 