Two This-Morning's-Incidents

To stop myself from thinking about today and getting all hysterical and operatic (although I guess it would help me get into character ;p), I thought I'd relax with some good music and good blogs. Forgot about two screaming brats on summer holiday, but hey! At least the mission of not working myself into a bundle of nerves is working!

The EO, my son, my teeny-weeny bundle of baby-blue joy is well and truly a big boy! He's actually sitting here, here, right in front of me, and reading! On his own! With no help! The book? Well, absolutely one of the best early readers written for children all over the world...Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham". It's silly, it's easy, it choc-a-bloc full of rhyming words, it's got action and it's down-right fun! It's a must-have in every house with a child. But, the EO is reading! On his own and his face is just glowing with triumph!
Well done my little genius, my star, my heart's delight! You've made this book-worm Mamma of yours so happy she can do cartwheels! But since I never really could and I can't chance a hip-replacement surgery today of all days, please settle for the next best thing...my heart doing the cartwheels and me recording this for posterity in the bloggosphere!
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Both my boys were sitting on DaddyDearest's lap this morning, listening to a record (yes, my parents still listen to those old things, and I quite love 'em too). The record happened to be my all-time childhood favourite and the EO has already succumbed to its magic while the YO is slowly but surely getting drawn in as well. "Hingshuti Doittyo" or "The Selfish Giant".

Now, as I mentioned, it was a childhood favourite and the record jacket has a beautiful artwork, with all the lyrics and the entire script, written on its back. Now both, the record jacket as well as the picture have seen better, better, much better days. My two boys were fighting over it and it really is in no state to be manhandled, or in this case, brathandled, since it already carries bandages of cello tape bearing witness to fights of another eon ago, when this Mamma was a girl and she'd have to sit on her younger brother to get it out of his icky, sweaty hands. So my dad just removed it from the vicinity and put it somewhere where it couldn't be torn to shreds in a split second.

This gesture invited my YO's wrath and he started pummeling DaddyDearest's arms with his tiny little fists. The EO, outraged and horrified, got out of the cosy haven of my father's lap, took his younger brother by the arm and made him face the wall. He then scolded him for being a naughty boy and came up to me to seriously tell me that I should call him only when I thought he had been punished enough.

When my mom came in on the scene, she took one look at my dad and me trying to stifle our laughter and asked the EO what happened and the EO very seriously said, "O daduku key dhoraa maaraa korchchilo, tai aami okey punishment diyechchi. Okey stand in the corner kore diyechchi". (He was hitting Naanu, so I've punished him. I've made him stand in the corner.)

I then told him to go and get his little brother. He went, took him by the arm, made him stand in front of my DaddyDearest and said, "Daduku key sorry bollo" (Say sorry to Naanu). The little tyke's quivering, lower lip was enough for a grandfather's heart and that was the end of that saga.

The YO, sufficiently hurt at his elder brother's authoritarian behaviour, decided to avoid him for as long as possible.

But, five minutes later, I hear the sound of laughter and what do I see? My EO lying flat on his back on the couch, the YO lying down on top of him and the two of them pulling each other's cheeks and making up all sorts of funny endearments to call each other!

Sigh! If that ain't brotherly love, then I don't know what is!