Watching Mitsu grow up is a pleasure. However, at the same time, I miss the passing time. His transition from a baby to a little boy so far has my heart filled with many memories along with the photos and videos of him. I can slowly see the transition from a little baby who was solely dependent on his caregivers to a little boy who is constantly influenced by the world around him.
Often I feel like saying to him - look child this whole growing up is a trap. Keeping yourself as a child with eyes filled with dreams, wild imagination, and curiosity is the real challenge. But then I hold myself back. He has to do his own learning and unlearning. All I can do is mentor him and facilitate him with opportunities to my best abilities. Meanwhile, the other way that I am cherishing these parenting years is by journaling those little emotions and memories that even if captured in a photograph or video are incomplete. Sharing a few of those below.
Mitsu's stacking rings. Now he is about 4 years and nine months, has grown out of it and it is already gifted to other children. This journal page was made when he was two and he was not using them for stacking them anymore. Mitsu was never a stacking kind of kid. he never plays with his toys the way they are meant to be played. He always imagines them to be something else. Like this stacking rings became a cake. He stacked them together as a cake. I often admire his imagination and think how we grown-ups lose it with time in the name of facing reality. Genius are those who can keep it alive all throughout their life.
Mitsu's clogs when he was two looked extremely cute. I wonder how the cuteness of things that the child uses fades away with time. I don't find his clogs cute anymore. They are like a little boy's size now and is soon changing. But these little clogs where extremely cute with their tiny boxy proportions. Mitsu's father taught him to wear them correctly and also to wear them whenever he has to go out. He learnt it. He would wear these shoes and run to the balcony of our house, which was his only outing during the lockdown days of the pandemic. These little cute memories have really made big footprints in my heart.
Yet another memory where Mitsu learned about the excitement of giving surprises or surprise gifts. He called them "surprise eggs" when he was two. He picked up the word from ChuChu TV, a popular kids channel on YTkids. So this little one wanted to give me a gift for no occasion. He was kind of pretending to give me a gift. So he filled up a carton of Amazon with his clogs, markers, and toys and gifted it to me with a burst of laughter. He kept laughing as I opened the box and took out each thing from the box. What a beautiful gesture and what a beautiful memory! He still loves to give me surprises two and a half years later. I am glad he does so.
I just wish along with his growing up, this kid keeps his child-like imagination and curiosity alive amidst the madness and realities of this world. Although like any other parent, I also get trapped in the expectations of the world around me and try to teach Mitsu the same, still deep down in my heart, all I wish to say to him is "Don't Grow up. It's a trap".