SWASHBUCKLING SAM! #BLOGCHATTERA2ZCHALLENGE
There is this little guy who has a strong hold on all our
hearts, and stays there – our very own swashbuckling Sam. He is all of five going
on six and a curious blend of ‘the life and soul of the party’ and ‘a bull in a
china shop’, but he does make his presence felt.
Vecteezy
The other day we were all having a conversation in the
car when he responded to something I said with “I am sarcastic!” I was
flabbergasted that he even knew the word. When I asked him the meaning, he stumped
me further by replying – “It means to say something and mean something else.”
That’s Sam for you. We take him swimming with Zo and for
the entire forty-five minutes he is in the water, a smile lingers on his face. You
can see it even when he is under water, much akin to the Cheshire cat’s grin.
When he is not in water, he is jumping off couches, clambering
up monkey ladders and grappling his way across heights. He falls on his knees, makes
a bit of a fuss, and then propels himself off to his next adventure.
Zo and he enjoy a love-hate relationship, laughing at one
point, and in tears in the next. However, P and V have made it clear that they must
stand up for and protect each other. In fact, for Raksha Bandhan, P makes them
tie ‘rakhis’ on each other. “Why should only brothers protect sisters? Why can’t
it also be the other way round?” is her pertinent question. After all, gone are
those days when women were looked upon as delicate creepers, only able to grow under
the protection of strong trees. Now they are the protectors, and often
vociferous ones as well.
Bigstock
One should watch Sam, the charmer, at work. Affectionate to
the core, he believes in doling out hugs and kisses galore. I remember when P,
V and the kids had come down to Thrissur for a holiday, Sam’s first ever trip to
India in five years. P had trained them both for the moment when they met their
great-grandmothers as also the countless relatives who were lining up to meet
them.
As we walked into our apartment building, our security
lady was sitting there. When she smiled, Sam promptly went to her and gave her
a huge hug even though he had no idea who she was. She was overcome, and hugged
him back, and it was a sweet moment.
Zo is a little more reticent, but she too has hugs to
share. Sam follows her lead to the point where he then takes over, growing more
boisterous every moment. He has the most pointed little chin which he digs into
your collar bone when he feels extra affectionate.
We are a hugger family. Zo and Sam have imbibed those
genes with a bit of nudging from P, who is herself not much of a hugger, but knows
the significance of those genes. Of course, it was tough during Covid times,
when one could not even be around people, let alone hug anyone.
Sam’s greatest joy in life is snacking. The snack
cupboard at home overflows and Sam makes inroads into it with amazing dexterity.
Chips, cookies, candies, chocolates, spicy stuff – everything goes. When the junk
snacking goes overboard, P points both her offspring towards fruits – bananas,
apples, grapes and oranges.
Dreamstime.com
Last week, Sam developed a tummy ache. Was it after all
the bouncing he did at Bounce, or was it just a case of indigestion? We were at
sea and P decided to put him on a no-junk food diet for a few days. These were tough
days for our little man. His bottom lip hit the floor and for a change, his
smile disappeared, only to reappear when the extra hot Dorito chips made an
appearance.
Even as a two-year-old, Sam loved doing homework along
with Zo. When she was busy with English and Math, he would sit along and copy
words in a diary. He could spend hours doing so. Zo was also good with him, and
she still is, helping him to learn new words and asking him questions to widen
his knowledge base and his vocabulary.
The love of music runs in both families, and V and P play
a lot of music for the children. They have the knack of recognising songs from
the first note onwards. Nowadays they love listening to Queen, which is so
mind-boggling, given their ages. Till recently, their favourite song was ‘Hotel
California’. Ed Sheeran is another favourite. In fact, there are so many songs
in their playlist that I have no idea of, and it makes me feel music-ignorant
at times. Yesterday, ‘Dancing Queen’ came on and Sam remarked seriously to me, “Mooma,
you’re the Dancing Queen!” which left me and everyone else in splits.
The other day as we were driving along, Zo turned to me
and said, “Mooma, here are your favourite songs!” She went on to play ‘Abhi Na
Jao Chod Kar’ and ‘Lag Ja Gale’, much to my astonishment.
How many moments do we treasure deep within our minds?
How many hugs do we savour? Those seconds when we are walking in the malls, and
I have these little hands in my grasp, even when they are sweaty. The times
when they want to sit on my lap in the car, and in my heart for ever! When they
spontaneously go and hug Nana who is also immensely proud of them, especially
when Zo sprints with those long legs of hers or does the backstroke in the
pool. Or when Sam dribbles his basketball perfectly, sometimes even a hundred
times.
Freebiehive
Luckily, the heart is an ever-expanding muscle and has enough space to hold all the love in the world. We store these moments over sixty days, like camels store food and water, for we know that for the next ten months, these memories are all that we have to hang on to.
I am participating in the #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge2025.
https://deepties.blogspot.com/2025/04/swashbuckling-sam-blogchattera2zchallen.html
Sam sounds like an absolute firecracker with a heart of gold! That “I am sarcastic!” moment had me grinning—kids really do say the most unexpectedly brilliant things. "Luckily, the heart is an ever-expanding muscle and has enough space to hold all the love in the world."
ReplyDelete— such a beautifully tender way to wrap it all up.
I love all your blogs full of energy and spice.
ReplyDelete