Last Saturday, I asked my son to refill the food and water for the chooks. I saw him carrying the chook food in the gunny sack to to the coop. since the job involved taking the feeder out, washing it and then filling it, I thought he would be able to handle that. I had a busy day and in between doing my chores, I did notice that there were lot more birds in the backyard. My grandmother used to say that birds only come to those houses where good people live and I thought how true that is.. after all I am nothing but good. But this was the first time, I saw birds occupying the entire fence and squawking away to glory. In the evening, I went to collect the eggs ( my son will not touch eggs because the presence of chook shit makes it dirty !!!) and there near the chook cage was the reason for all the birds visiting my home. I offered a full buffet. My wonderful son got distracted while taking the feeder out and went to play with the chooks..leaving a full gunny sack of feed open on the ground..The birds were surely thrilled, but not me. Surely the task was simple and he could have played with the chooks after finishing what he was supposed to do.
Even after threatening him with dire consequences, he still comes to me at 6.59 AM ( he has to leave home exactly at 7 to catch the 7.02 bus), often with a scrap piece of paper ( because he can’t find the original permission form and chose to scribble his name and I, his mother gives permission on any available paper) asking me to sign.
I charge 1 $ fine, if he doesn’t keep his lunch container in the sink when he comes back from school. He weeps most days when he hands me the 1 $ and tells me that I am really mean. He knows the full periodic table, atomic weight blah blah, but taking his lunch container out of his school bag every day is something he just can’t remember to do.
He still does all his homework.assignment the very last hour ( yes, he inherited that from me).
His idea of social life is to be on facebook 24/7 ( just so he could talk to his friends in Canada as well) ! He hates doing exercise. So, I told him each day he is allowed one hour on FB. If he needs more time, he has to buy credits at half an hour blocks.. every half an hour equals one round of jogging around the block ( 1.5 km). Yes, he said a million times again that I am a really mean mother and no, he hasn’t asked for extra time..he is pretty happy with the 1 hour he gets currently.
He thinks the best part of becoming a teenager is that he can now watch all the M rated movies. He is eagerly waiting to watch the latest die hard movie..
Sometimes, I still see my little boy..like when we play monopoly and he gives himself extra 200 each time he passes go because he is the banker and by the time his mother and sisters have calculated and figured the only reason he is so flush with money is because of the extra, extra 200 he gives himself, the game would have been long over. Or when he steals my tea and then tell me that he was just checking to make sure that the tea was sweet enough for his sweet mother.
He has dimples and still asks me to sing “painkili, nintey dimple nte kumbilil oru pimple”..and I have been singing that to him from the time he was a little baby.
His room is a mess, his work is done the very last second, he never completes any chores.. but he never forgets to give me a goodnight kiss..
The joys of being a mother..is the little things..