Happiness is ...

I was pleasantly surprised 2 weeks back when I returned home from work and discovered that SP could clap his hands. Before I became a parent, this would have been a strange statement for me. It's like urr, why should anyone be surprised? What's the big deal? But as a parent who has observed how her baby has developed his motor skills from day 1, when the bundle seems totally unaware of his digits, to discovering his fingers, learning to control his grasp, passing object from one hand to the other - each is a milestone and in all, a delightful journey of learning/discovery. I digressed.

Back to clapping. Initially, I thought the maid taught him. Afterall, my maid is superbly patient and has taught my elder son a couple of things - mastering shape sorting toys, numbers, songs. I was surprised (again) that he picked it up from watching a video with nursery rhymes and songs, in particular - When you're happy and you know it ... And he sure enjoys the song "Old McDonald" with all the animal sounds. It's a joy to watch how he interacts with the video - sometimes waving his hands, at other times rocking his body and even laughing. I remembered how we were religiously following kid experts' advice against exposing young children (less than 2) to TV/video watching when we were raising Peanut, making sure that he kept to 15mins at most in one session (and I believe that was when he was 15 m.o or so). The experts believe that TV/video watching kind of slow the mind and deprives the child of learning through human interactions/play. I suppose that is a general observation which does not apply to Sweet Potato. At the end, every child is unique. Oh, need I state the obvious? We are a lot more relaxed with the 2nd child.