Life with a child is an everlasting gobstopper.
Gobstopper is a kind of lolly pop consisting of many layers . A different flavor hits you with every layer. And the gobstoppers last 
a long while compared to the average lolly pop. That’s why they are called everlasting Gobstoppers !
That’s how life is with a child .Every moment is a discovery. And every discovery is a joy. I love that moment when A’s eyes shine with the excitement of spotting something new . Excitement at seeing the white and brown mushrooms that popped out in the gardens after the rains . Excitement at seeing an escargatoire of snails. Excitement at seeing the flowers of bougainvillea in a motley of colors ; Pink , White , Yellow , Red , Purple ..Excitement at seeing the bright yellow festoons of the amaltas .Excitement at seeing water spout out of a fountain .Excitement at seeing a bird egg fallen out of its nest .Excitement at jumping into a puddle of rain water . Excitement (and fear) at stepping into a pond with the tiny fish swimming right upto his toes. Excitement at spotting a caterpillar on a half-eaten leaf . Excitement at spotting a moth and mistaking it for a butterfly .Excitement at spotting a milkweed-filament lazily floating away (called “Appupanthadi” in Malayalam). I revel in these moments of new discoveries with A.
I don’t remember the last time I was carefree enough to roll up my jeans and jump into a puddle of water but I do remember laughing away with gay abandon when A did !
Every day in the morning , while we wait for the bus to come and my son goes foraging for new mushrooms that would have sprouted , or pull down a rain-drenched low-hanging bough with his tiny arms , I find myself wishing for the moment to last a little longer . Wishing for time to slow down a little . For the joy of discoveries to last a little longer .
Every day I try to find new things to point out to him. A solitary sun-bird , the pristine white frangipani , a hurrying centipede , a colony of ants from an ant-hill , a hollow in the bark of a tree , a fallen bird nest ..These moments with him are moments of discoveries for me too. Who would have thought that there could be such sublime joy in rediscovering?
Photo by Bojan Savnik on Unsplash
