1. I have spent an entire early Spring evening in our backyard blowing soap bubbles with my 19 month old son Gogol. The evening started with me teaching Gogol how to pucker his lips and deliver an effective blow to release the soap film from the plastic ring to form a nice round bubble. My husband added a high-tech touch by bringing a motorized bubble-blowing machine that blew an impressive series of huge rainbow-colored bubbles nestling smaller bubbles within them. We managed to draw a few curious neighbors out on their decks.
2. I got the first speeding ticket of my life. My son is usually pretty casual when one of us drops him off at his daycare in the morning. But then there are days when he cries so hard that you feel horrible the entire way to work, and just don’t pay attention to the speed limit while driving.
3. I went to a comedy club in Washington DC, alone (my husband was watching the baby), to watch young mothers coming from all across America to perform stand-up acts live for a chance to get selected in a TV show, “The Funniest Mom in America”.
4. I have started writing blogs and published a short story in a Sunday magazine--things that were long on my agenda, but never got done. The sense of marvel that I felt after my baby was born was so strong, that it made me a ‘writer’, acclaimed or not. Since the floodgate had opened, I never had any problem coming up with topics to write about. Finding time to write them--now, that’s another story.
5. I have downloaded the nursery rhyme song “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from the internet when I realized that I don’t know the lyrics to help my son perform with the song--he was already curling his tiny fingers to emulate a spider and trying to sing the song himself, which I guess he learnt at his daycare.
6. I had to call the police when my son locked himself in my car by accidentally pressing the electronic lock button of the car key that he was playing with. I managed to stay calm somehow, making clown faces standing outside the car to entertain my crying baby locked inside, alone, more confused than scared. I can’t thank the police officer enough, who came within 20 minutes, and unlocked the car to rescue my baby as well as my sanity.
7. I have become unofficial post-partum counselor for a friend who really needed some pep talk, feeling overwhelmed with the new baby and tortured by the decision to stay at home.
8. I have become a ‘domestic employer’. We have finally given up on the attempt to maintain a reasonably clean household all by ourselves, and hired a maid. Let me tell you, the sound of vacuum cleaner feels like music to your ear when you realize that you are playing with your kid, and the house is still becoming tidy.
9. I have miraculously cured myself of hypothyroidism by constantly forgetting to take the prescribed medication. When I told my doctor that I have become negligent about taking the medication, she was disappointed. But when my lab results came back, she was all smiles. May be there was some permanent change (for the better) in hormonal balance in my body triggered by the pregnancy that fixed the hypothyroidism, she said. [Disclaimer: I don’t endorse this cure technique for others to try at home.] However, I have also learnt to peacefully co-exist with the added pounds that so fell in love with me during the course of pregnancy, that they refused to go away completely even when my baby grew up to be a chattering toddler.
10. I have moved to a room with a ‘view’ (of the bustling downtown Washington DC) at work. I guess necessity has taught me to become better at time management, so that I have been able to keep the boss happy despite my commitment to my family. I have become sort of a friendly career counselor for a number of juniors and peers who envision having a career and a kid in near future.

I thank my son everyday for making life more interesting, more hopeful, more enriched, and more ambitious.