Last night before sleeping I told myself I have to wash Reya’s shoes tomorrow because they had become quite dirty. It’s been on my to do list a while but lazy me just never got down doing it.
So, today after all the morning drama I emptied her shoe drawer. Reya looked at me and then looked at her shoes. And then she looked at me again with a huge question mark on her head.
She promptly said “Shoesssss”. I said “YES!”, Shoes do nahai nahai (bath time).
She followed me with all her shoes to the bathroom. She was very excited! We both filled a bucket of water and added some soap and soaked the shoes. I brought another stool and brush for the highness since she insisted that she just had to be a part of the shoe adventure.
We both sat down and I started cleaning her shoes one by one. As I finished I kept passing her the clean ones. She noticed what I was doing and how I was cleaning the shoe and she tried her best and did exactly what as I did. I told her to make a pile of the shoes that she had finished cleaning. And she did.
As I kept washing each shoe and putting it down she also finished washing the shoes in her hand and she put it down. It was very engaging and entertaining because it was like I had a little me along with me doing the exact same thing as me. LOL!
Now came time where we had to rinse all the shoes. Reya was already wet obviously! So one by one we both rinsed each shoe and placed it a bucket. After that I cleaned Reya up and made her wear a fresh change of clothes.She then assisted me to the balcony where the shoes were meticulously placed in pairs in the sun to dry.
After few minutes, Kaira woke up from her nap. Reya took her little sister to the window and showed her what she had been upto. Reya insisted that she has to go outside again to give Kaira a view from up close.
Reya told Kaira “see Kaira shoes sookh rahe hai”. (the shoes are drying).“Shoes did nahai nahai”. (shoes had a bath).
Kaira had a lost look on her face. She looked at the shoes and grunted. As she got out of her sleep mode phase she started grunting happily and acknowledging what Reya had done.
You don’t always have to make your toddlers play with toys or do drawing and things like that. Engage them in your routine. They will learn more and grow up to be more independent. They will eventually learn how to do things themselves. Plus it’s a great way to keep them busy.
Toddlers copy almost everything the elder ones do around them like she did with the shoes.
Reya would stand in front of the dressing table mirror and comb her hair. She would then tell me to join her. She even handed me a hairbrush and made me stand next to her so we brush our hair together. It’s hilarious.
Yesterday, I noticed Reya had a scrunchie on her wrist. I told Nishant, see she’s done exactly what I do. I also usually have a scrunchie around my wrist. Enjoy and cherish each day with them while being a tad bit careful of the things you say or do in front of them. Like we know….they do pick up things fast. And so does life whizz by really fast!!
You got this!