Grandmoms are moms with a lot of practice...

Milosh and his daadi share a very special bond - they are inseparable from each other when together. Milosh's dada and daadi were due to arrive for summer vacation. In his words "I am so excited, I can't believe we will all be in one house, all 4 of us, no 5." For a week before their arrival, he asked everyday if they would be coming today. He would ask to talk to them at random hours (given the time-zone difference).

Anyway, just before the day they were going to arrive, we totally took advantage of him and told him to do what we wished - so he would get to go to the airport to pick up dada dadi. Before sleeping he told me he loves nobody more than dada dadi. I was very happy to hear it - but I also knew that for the rest of summer, he and I would not be the same - I asked him if he will come sleep next to me some times, he said no - he will sleep with dadi. Disappointed, I told him, I will miss you - to which he replied - "I know".

In the morning, he was so excited, he got dressed up and wrote "Dadi I love you" in a cute card we found - that aptly says "Grandmoms are moms with a lot of practice". I was not at the airport, but I do know that his dadi was thoughtful enough to keep a new toy for him in her hand-bag - so the toy-crazy Milosh gets his hands on something immediately! The moment they entered home, he did not even let them sit down and made them open all the luggage - to get all his presents. His dadi knows exactly what he likes  and which things he does not own already. If I was randomly asked what type of toy vehicle Milosh does not have, I would be stumped (because he has soooo many) - but his dadi actually managed to find tow trucks, special scooters etc - which he absolutely loves!

Anyway, he let his dadi relax after that. But only for a brief period. His jet lagged dadi would beg him to let her sleep and he would simply not let her. We sometimes have to trick him or engage him in something else. On multiple occasions he has physically opened the eyes of his dadi so he can continue to talk to her. The next day, I told Milosh don't open dadi's eyes, she needs rest. Milosh completely followed instructions - woke up dadi and told her to keep her eyes closed while listening to his stories. :)

His dadi has bottomless patience for him, gives him undisturbed attention for hours, can play with him endlessly, talk to him without getting tired, listen to his stories, never ever judgmental or harsh on him. Her presence reveals a different side of him - potentially reflecting her qualities of patience and even being calm and caring in a different way. Dadi is one person who is completely his, has no expectations from him and really lets him be! He is sure to have a memorable summer.

Will you guys send me to jail?

As much as we would not want to, we all "threaten" our kids - primarily to improve our convenience factor in day to day living. E.g. "Don't take off your seatbelt or the police might take you away from us". "If you throw things at us and behave like a monkey,  we might have to ask the bear to take you to the monkeys." The list goes on :)

Remember how we had hidden half of his birthday toys - we did it for a lot of reasons - 1. We can stagger and give him new toys later (because he needs a never-ending supply of toys, new toys to be more precise) 2. We can re-gift the things we got multiple pieces of 3. There is fewer things for us to clean and manage. Quite smart - you would think! Except that we hid the toys right in his playroom on the floor - just hoping that obscurity will be security. And it was not.

After a 30 min of peace and quiet - which I was absolutely loving - and trying to push away all thoughts of what must he be doing - I dared to go into his room - and oh my God! He had ripped open all the toys. Scores of tiny lego pieces, puzzle pieces, books, cars - you name it - all on the floor. Totally drove me mad - and I called Anuj asking why he had hid the toys over here. And that lead to a fight between us - and we were all shouting and mad! Anuj was hurriedly hiding the few that were not ripped open yet. Poor Milosh, he got scared and understood that this was more than a time out type of situation. He started crying and asked me "Will you guys send me to jail?"

Lol - that made me feel pity and laughter all at the same time - and I hugged him and confirmed that he was not going to jail for this and that we would never send him to jail. When we were all cool later , he asked me questions about why it was a big deal to open those toys. I thought it was nice of him to attempt and understand it - and its also interesting that we might shout our hearts out at kids - and all they get out of it is that my parents are mad, and I have probably done something wrong. They usually have no idea - even though we tell ourselves that we are being mad at them to "teach them a lesson". I think our being mad at kids is just an ability to vent out our frustrations, also because we can vent it on them so much more easily than on a spouse, a colleague, the weather, the government, our lives or ourselves.

Anyway, I explained to him that these were toys for other kids when we go to their birthday parties. And he understood it. He even chuckled and said I know where the other toys are hidden :)