A Saturday Morning Conversation

 

I do not disagree with people who say that we must try our best to engage in conversations with our toddler kids. But let me give you a disclaimer : Sometimes, while doing that, you might find yourself at the far edge of sanity!

ONE SATURDAY MORNING...
I was running a list in my mind of things to be done that weekend.
Me : "Shall we book the flights tickets for December now?"
Hubby : "Yes. When should we go?"
Me : "Uh, I think..."
J : "Anita stays in Rainbow Towers!"
This out of the blue ‘interesting’ fact was not of any relevance at that moment. Still, both of us acknowledged it with a halfhearted smile. Apparently, that was not enough.
J : "Papaaaaa! I said that my friend, Anita, stays in Rainbow Towers!"
Hubby : "Uh, okay. I did not know that." (With an expression saying ‘what did I miss’!)
Me (gesturing him to attend to his oldest girl first!) : "I think 24th should be good. Their holidays begin then. Cheapest ones are early morning. I am thinking…."
R : "Yayy! Santa Clause!"
No, I was not thinking about Santa Clause! At least till then.
Me : "Where?"
R : "He is not here Mumma, silly! But he is going to come on Christmas. I still don't know what gift I want to ask from him this year!"
Me : "No problem. You still have a lot of time. Now, good children let their Mumma Papa talk. Santa is watching"
R : "Okay, okay.."
As if doing a favour to let me talk to the man I have known for six years more than she does. 
Me : "Yeah, so lets book it for 24th"
Hubby : "Already there. Now tell me early morning or afternoon?"
J : "Mummaaaaa, I want peach crayon to colour this picture!"
 Confused? Well, don’t be. All this is still part of the same, continuously interrupted conversation.
Me : "Check your crayon box"
I was so proud of my ability to discuss flights, Santa Clause and peach crayon altogether, just within three minutes!
J : “It is not there. Please find it with me” (read ‘for me’)
Me : "Wait for two minutes"
My grumbling mode was now force started.
J : "But I know Didi has hidden it!"
This was a trick to pull in more people to do the finding job for her.
Me : "R, just give it to her beta"
R : "Give her what?"
Me (almost shouting) : "Peach crayon!"
Overhearing conversations is totally selective for her! Strictly done only for areas of her interest.
R : "Oil pastel or plastic crayon?"
My goodness! We got through with a wax crayon box of six. What are we doing to our kids with all this consumerism!
Me : “The one which you have hidden!”
R (frustrated) : “But I have not!”
Me : “Ughh... J, just use pink instead”
J : “But how can I colour my fairy’s face pink? It has to be peach!”
I swear, I really did not mind even if she painted it purple. But the colour of my face was definitely by red then. I left the room to safeguard my sanity. I turned on my deaf ear mode and went back to the flight tickets. By now, hubby had comfortably unplugged himself from the complicated conversation we three girls were having, or so I thought.
Me : “Please book whichever ones you like. Do it today itself before the app senses our desperation and doubles the rates! We have been playing with this for three days now”
He could sense my frustration, but assumed that it was about the air fares (only!).
Hubby : “Alright, cool down. I thought you were still deciding on the dates”
People at my receiving end were constantly changing.
Me (snarling) : “Didn’t I say 24th ? Just before we had to urgently bookmark Anita’s address, decide about what to ask from Santa this Christmas and paint the fairy’s face pink!”
Hubby : “Uhh.. actually she is looking for peach”
REALLY?
Me : “So you have been listening all this while? I could have used some help out there”
Hubby : “But I thought you were already sorting it out! Anyway, will do the booking right away”
Quickly hiding himself behind the laptop screen to avoid my glares.
I was at my wit’s end by now and decided to carry on with my work. Interestingly, since I was no longer involved in any useful conversation with hubby, the little people around suddenly stopped having any information gathering or searching tasks or conflict resolution activities for me.
As I got back to my chores, I overheard their conversation.
Hubby : "J, you can still paint the fairy's face pink"
J : "Umm.. okay! Anyway, pink is my favorite!"
R: "Or if you want peach, here you go. I had kept it in my school bag" 
Me (to myself, dumbfounded!) : "SERIOUSLY?" 
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If you could relate with this; if this brought a smile; if this brought memory -
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PIC COURTESY : Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash