Weekday Morning routine

He usually serves as our alarm clock, irrespective of what time he wakes up, which is usually anywhere between 7 and 8 am. He needs to warm up for a good 15 minutes while holding his brush with the paste on it if he is to brush on his own. Since 15 minutes is an ill-afforded luxury at 7:30 in the morning, brushing is usually an ordeal, involving one of my arms around his neck holding his face in position and the other trying to reach all areas of his mouth through his screaming. I tell him that he doesn't realise his screaming with his mouth wide open only makes my job of brushing easier about. These days he takes his revenge on me by neatly swallowing the entire foamy spit and eyeing me vindictively. I, in turn, have taken to cleaning his mouth before he has a chance to swallow to by absorbing it all with a tissue. Cleaning his tongue proves a bit more challenging, which I mostly fail at, as he simply won't open his mouth for that part. Forcing an object like a tongue-cleaner on a two-year old, is, I am sure not highly recommended, so I give up there. Who's the boss now, I hear him say.

This neatly sets the stage for the next operation of having a shower at which point he refuses to part with his night-suit. Sometimes Praveen pretending to jump in the shower before he does, tends to do the trick. Most other times the crying will continue until about half-way through the shower. He will insist on soaping his tummy and few other choice parts of the anatomy during this. The crying will resume when the time comes to switch off the taps and get out of the tub. If I thought at first leaving him to enjoy the running water for a little while will get him out without a fuss, I had another think coming. Even 30 minutes won't do it. Praveen's trick for this is to surrepticiously reduce the flow of the hot water and then accusing him of finishing off all the hot water and leaving nothing for amma and nanna. Works like a charm, everytime. My improvisation on this is to run the hot water from the other outlet at the wash-basin. Aah, the joys of a two year old's innocence and our taking advantage of them!

He will sometimes insist on going back into his night-suit after the shower. If I can appease that with a promise of a Tigger trouser or a Pooh-bear shirt, he is all set to happily drink milk and play around leaving us to dress in peace. If I can manage to get through the first 30 minutes of his morning with a cleaned and dressed Pranav at the end of them, without loosing my temper, it's a good start to the day.