Three for Tings

Tingu’s deep, dark eyes can tell you a story without ever opening his mouth.

This kid bravely wears his heart on his sleeve where it often gets scuffed and bruised.

The oily, emotion-laden depths of his eyes belie the highly efficient and logical manner by which he conducts himself.

At 3 Tingu is happy, contemplative, conscientious, highly observant and detail-orientated. One minute he sings about being ‘Coco for Hunie-puffs, Coco for Coco puffs’ (which, as far as I am aware, he has never had in his life) and the next he will launch into professor mode contrasting the meaning of Pingu in Mandarin to his adored Swiss cartoon.

Like most Moms, I am amazed at my firstborn’s milestones.

By 1, he identified with the concept of ‘self’ and knowing he is Tingu. By 2 he was aware of brand marketing and wanted only the raisins with the lady on them. At 2 ½, he was able to comprehend humor as the unexpected. When his aunt joked and called him the wrong name, he thought a moment and then called her the name of his other Aunt and smiled triumphantly. At 3, he utilized the’ knowledge is power’ rational: He occasionally misspoke when using plurals, referring to a flock of geese as gooses. When B corrected him, Tingu insisted he was right, noting that is what you call geese in Gujrati (knowing full well B’s Gujrati is far from fluent).

Yesterday, he not only climbed but pushed his brother to the top of the big slide at McDonald’s. Heralding the event like a conquest of Mt Everest, when he reached the pinnacle, he excitedly told Hunie that ‘it is a beautiful view from up here’ as their two little faces peered out of the plastic dome. A far cry from earlier this year when he couldn’t climb over the steps by himself.  

 

At nearly 4, I can longer attribute Tingu’s milestones to him alone. The Hunie factor has played a major role for the last year. In fact, watching the relationship grow between them and seeing how they influence each other has been the most interesting aspect of all. Tingu is learning how to defend his toydom from his beloved brother’s chubby fingers…sometimes skillfully, often not. He continues to expand his role as Hunie’s ‘teacher’ – though this is very much a two way street. For now, big cats have replaced sharks & dinosaurs, and like me, Africa, still remains a place of his dreams. Tingu has turned into a little boy this summer.

And if it wasn’t for that darn paci that I think he will gladly suck on till he is 12, all remnants of my toddler would be gone.

The milestones I look forward to now are much more subtle and exponentially more fascinating. I feel very lucky to have such wonderful family, friends and community to witness and influence this growth. While I desperately try to enjoy the here and now, I can’t wait to see what is coming.