The babbling brook

Today Sonal Gupta posted on this blog’s Facebook group. The post was a poem about her kids’ chattering: My kids talk and they talk a lot. And it brought back a flood of memories of my teenager’s childhood …  my own little babbling brook. So, here’s to sweet nostalgia …

Have you ever been driven up the wall by your child’s chatter that just wouldn’t end?

I certainly have — times out of mind, when my teenager was a toddler. So much so, that whenever I would talk to my mom on phone and she didn’t hear a constant stream of babble (excuse the mixed metaphor) in the background, she would automatically assume that the little one was sleeping, and adjure me to put the phone down and go, get some rest while I could!

And later, when her teachers would say of the same kid: “Your child is really quiet. Do encourage her to speak up a little more”, I would feel like tearing my hair out at the roots!

One incident stands out particularly in my memory as I look back at her childhood years. I had been feeling a little under the weather for the past few days and by the evening of the day in question, I had a raging headache. Hubby was touring and dinner was cooked, with a few hours to go till it needed to be served. Popping an analgesic and hoping to catch a quick nap, I settled myself in bed, when my two year old climbed in beside me with some of her stuffed toys and blocks and proceeded to babble her way right into my shattered nerves!

In too much pain to really register what she was saying, I could vaguely make out “Ki-ku” (a variant of King Kong, her huge ape), “Booty” (her favourite teddy), “Rosy” (doll) … “house” …

I finally requested her, with all the patience at my command: “Baby, could you PLEASE be quiet for some time? Mamma has a BAD headache and needs to sleep”.

Immediately a look of concern spread over her little face, and abandoning her toys, she dragged my head onto her chubby little lap. Two soft, dimpled baby hands proceeded to pet me and soothe my brow … and the chatter started once more:

“You have a headache? … I should keep quiet? … I should not say even one word? … It will make your headache bad? … I should be completely quiet? … You have a BAD headache? … Should I make it better? … Should I be quiet? ………. Shouldn’t I say anything at all? …………”