Five lessons that my kids taught me

The tag:
It’s been a while since us Mommybloggers came up with something to celebrate, well, mommyhood, so the lovely Monika and I came up with this. A tag that has us list out five lessons of life that Mommyhood has taught us, these could be sweet, bitter, funny, touching, whatever. These could be survival tips or cooking tips, or something as simple as the best thing to get puke smell out of hair.

So, the rules are simple. Put the badge up. Write out five lessons that Mommyhood taught you. And tag five mommybloggers.

I was tagged by Yasmeen Sait. And here go my five lessons:

1. Forgiving and forgetting is a lot easier than we adults make it out to be.

I battle with my two young monkeys every single day over sleeptimes, mealtimes, manners, discipline, you name it and we battle over it. But what I find most amazing is that no matter how bitter our fight or how loud my voice, they always forgive me instantly. They dont hold a grudge for even two minutes. One minute we are fighting, and the next minute it is all over and done with and life as usual resumes. If I had someone on my back like that all the time, I'd probably go insane. But all they need is an  "Are we friends now? Ok, so then lets kiss and make up!" and life is swell again. Hmmm, it's no wonder that Hitler did everything that he did. How can you blame him?? He had no kids!

2. Honesty is the best policy

"Aaaaaaaaaaaargggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!", I yelled the other day!!! "Who threw all this water out of  the bathtub?????? And my small chap, Aman, in all his 2 year old glory, said "IT WAS ME!!!!!!" "Why did you do that????" "Because the whale (his favourite bathtoy) didnt like the water." After an honest reply like that, I had but  no choice than to gulp down my frustration, along with a few curses right down my throat and proceed to mop up the place. So honesty, here, is not the best policy for some vague spiritual feelgood reason. It is the best policy because it allows you to get away with murder. There is very little arguing to be done with an honest answer!

3. No matter how crazy today was, tomorrow is another day

Somedays, my hubby finds many strands of my hair on the sofa or on my pillow. This is not because I suffer from hairloss, but rather because it has been one of those doys that I have pulled my hair out follicle by follicle. It is the day after which I have decided I can take it no more, have nothing more to give, no strength to go on. And it is because the kids have driven me UP THE WALL!! But when I wake up the next morning, I'll find Ayaan and Aman right next to my bed, saying sweet little things like" I woke up early today so I could snuggle up with you in your bed", or "Mummy, you look so nice in the morning." (a blatant lie, but whatever!!) and I know the day is going to be good. A lot better than yesterday. And I run my fingers through my hair (the ones that are spared for today at least!)

4.How to cook and feed without wheat, eggs, dairy, peanuts, soya, tomatoes and citrus fruit.

When I first heard that list from Ayaans pedriatician, I looked at him in absolute disbelief and said, "Well that's easy, we should just hit the beach and feed him sand and sea water then, shouldnt we??" But where there is a will, there is a way. And where there is a way, there are magical recipes on the internet and magician moms who conjur up these recipes for other moms like me to follow. And so we did it. We took out all the allergens in his diet to ease his eczema. I learnt how to cook rice in 2 dozen different ways, how to make oats tasty and interesting to a 3 year old child, how to convince him khichdi was the tastiest thing on the planet. And now a year and a half on, the eczema is almost gone, and so are most of the allergens. We DID it!! :)

5.Scientifically correct names of dinosaurs

Besides watching Jurassic Park like every other  person on the planet has done, I have (sorry, had) very little interest in dinosaurs. That changed ever since my four year old Ayaan took on an interest in them. Ever since then, he plays guessing games with me, giving my clues about dinosaurs and expects me to come up with their name, and no, T-rex just wont do, it has to be Tyrannosaurus Rex. I have recently found out about Brachiosuarus and Triceratops and some dino names that I cant yet spell properly (and of course Ayaan pronounces each one of them flawlessly!!) Shameful, I know! Well, for all my lessons, here's one for you today - did you know the common dragonfly of today existed even 650 million years ago?!?!?!? Aha!! I knew you didnt!" Now you, like me, can look at a dragonfly with newfound respect every time you see one - cool or what?!?!?!?

I tag Supriti Singh in this. She is my best friend and my co-conspirator mommy who also juggles her day and still manages to write in her blog. Over to you.