Life With Two Kids

Many people ask me, “Howz life with two kids?” Well, it’s difficult to give a straight answer. So, let me put it down today.

Having a pre-schooler and an infant at home is a lot more work than I have ever imagined. Just when I take out all the ingredients needed for cooking breakfast/lunch, my little one, we call her Sweety, wakes up. So, I leave the kitchen and attend to Sweety. I feed her millk, change her diaper – takes 30 minutes. Janu gets up just in time to disturb me, but, fortunately, Pradeep looks after her needs. So, after the 30min break, I start cooking. After a few minutes, Janu dives into the kitchen asking for something. She is followed by Sweety who is about to touch something hot. I almost trip myself while trying to prevent her. I then notice that her clothes are wet. So I go to change her clothes and if I forget to put the stove on simmer, the cooking goes for a toss. By the time I finish changing her clothes, Janu falls down while trying to mount onto the cradle, and comes crying to me. I pacify her, and Pradeep comes to my rescue here.

I head to the kitchen once again to see how far the cooking has come, when my phone rings. I again leave the things half-finished to check who the caller is. Nobody from my family dares to call me up at this moment. Turns out to be a call from the service provider! Arghh! I again march into the kitchen while Pradeep babysits both kids, preventing Janu from pouncing onto Sweety, and preventing Sweety from holding the burning Agarbatti. How tiresome! Do adults play with kids or do kids play with adults?

Finally I manage to leave for office at 10 when Pradeep puts Sweety to bed. Yup, she sleeps for 4-5 times a day, and each time, it takes 20-30 minutes to put her to sleep. Kids feel as if they are missing a great deal by sleeping. They want all the 24 hours to play. My MIL pitches in now after finishing her pooja, and has continuous work till 3pm – feeding both of them, bathing both of them, putting Sweety to bed, feeding both of them again, and putting both of them to bed again. Phew! Trust me, it’s not that simple, each task takes 30-45min.

I come back home, sweep the house, wash my face, do pooja, feed both the kids, arrange the kitchen, and oops! Time to join the meeting. Ya, I have meetings after 7pm almost all working days. After an hour, I start cooking for dinner again, feed Sweety, while MIL/Pradeep feeds Janu. I spread out dinner for all of us, put everything back, play with the kids, put Sweety to bed (toughest job in the entire day), and doze off in a second. Phew!

Parenthood is the most underrated job on earth, isn’t it?