Fifteen minutes full of life

I can hear the kid playing with closet door. "Babu, door se mat khelo, bau ho jayega". Have you heard philosophers wonder about things like - your ears hear things, but what is it that actually makes you listen and then go ummm... consciousness. Had they all had kids, they would have figured, a timeout threat helps humans listen very well. Anyways, doors aren't life threatening enough to yell out, so ignore.

Minute later comes the expected SOS - "mamma.. mamma.. atak gaya" Aparently, he is inside the closet, the door isnt opening. I rescue him and figure its really time to install all those kid-safe door knobs that the alert parent in me had brought over an year ago - atleast in the restrooms so that he doesnt lock himself in for a water play time (yuck!). So, I head off to the garage to dig the locks out. After a minor archaeological venture, I find them and return, ofcourse, to find that he has locked me out. Voila! This time, I have the house keys with me. I haven't raised him for nothing for the past two years... I carry my keys when he is on the other side of any door with a lock. Don't ask!

So I come in to see that he has all the DVDs out of their boxes and is trying to get his favorite on in the DVD player. Not his fault this time - I left him unsupervised for whole four minutes. Anyways, its a cheapo DVD player. After two players rendered useless in two months, shopping for DVD players is simple, goto Walmart and pick the cheapest one on display. I'd buy them on wholesale if I could.

I decide to use his DVD fiddling to go install the locks, should be a two minute job. Wait a sec, I can't hear him anymore. That means trouble. So, I head back. The DVDs venture has been aborted, he hasn't come finding me, isnt banging anything... disaster somewhere! I rush around the house, he is in the kitchen - skiing on the tea powder he has emptied on floor. Well, well. Now the question is to yell or not to yell. Deciding thet yelling now is just going to add to the entertainment value of the situation I pick him and try to vacuum all the tea off the floor.

Now, he loves vacuum. But if he runs hard enough, he can just run by and get the dryer started. So, job done. Dryer is running. But it can wait, tea powder all over kitchen is high priority. He is standing by waiting so that he can coil the cord around. The floor is vacuumed, just needs a wipe down. So while he does the cord, I wet a towel and start on the kitchen floor. And turn just in time to see him emptying the vacuum bag on the carpet. I wonder about my fuse rating.

Pick the dirty imp and put him in the bathtub with a bucket of water. Oh yes, he is going to spill water all over the bathroom. And is going to remain bone dry in that puddle till I pick my way through the mess to bathe him. But having to dry up a bathroom is a small price for ten minutes of peace. Ofcourse, there are the door knobs to install, dvds to sort back, kitchen floor to wipe, vacuum mess to clean and yes, the bathroom is splashing. But first the last fifteen minutes have earned me a bit of dark chocolate... let me enjoy it.