The Last Of Loius

Walking into Palm meadows....I'm going to miss this lifestyle....I mean being a babysitter was like my thing!
The way my face lights up when..turn corner...the moving vans are here..sigh..its really happening!
Till last week their house had no signs of packing and leaving...his toys were all over the place...the fridge was stocked...the cushions on the sofa were new....now the living room is full of cardboard boxes...
Angie and Louis are crunched up on the stairs...he's so excited to see me....I'm so hungry..
We make puzzles..find missing pieces..do math puzzles...sniffle...sneak mixture into my mouth...convince him he's hungry...but there's only bananas and orange wafers..the fridge is empty!
Their fridge is never empty! They always had juice, chocolate, cheese, sauce, beer, wine, yogurt, Californian grapes, strawberries and pasta..blessed pasta! The blessed God of pasta was born and brought up in that fridge! I never realised it was white on the inside..I broke a magnet once..Louis fixed it together..let it crack and said 'I'm joking!' :) Thats like his favourite phrase...everything I give in to and then he'll grin 'I'm only joking, Parnika, I'm joking' giggle!
aaww! sweetheart..no one can love you like I do
No one can love ME like you do!
I remember a day..THE day! Tired after coll...going thru shit with...whoever...I'm just thinking I need one thing, just one thing that will make me smile before I go to bed...Just one good thing...
We're eating cookies..he likes opening out every alternate one...
"I love you", he says "I love
you to the moon"
It breaks my heart..."I love you too, Louis, to the moon and back!"
"Hundred times round the moon and back!" Hug!
Nosy-nosy! who else will rub noses with me now!?
Who will love me to the stars?
He's five..he'll forget...
The rescue games, the towel tugs, dominoes with Jhenga blocks, the alphabet mat, the sand fights, the train tracks, the coloured balls, Uno...he's still the only one who can beat me at that game...
Sigh..he will be missed..I'll never forget...
He could hardly talk English when i first met him..he was in the 'why' phase...
"Why is water wet?"
"Why should we use soap?"
"Why can't we eat more cookies?"
Now thats developed into the more mature "How come?"
"Dyu know where I sleep now?"
"The hotel?"
"Dyu know where the hotel is?"
"Near the clubhouse?"
"No, its IN the clubhouse"
Oh what an idiot I am!
"And where do you eat?"
"Dyu know where I had breakfast today?"
"The clubhouse?"
"Yes, but where in the clubhouse?"
"The restaurant?"
"How come you know?"
"I'm clever, Louis"
"You're clever, you're SUPER CLEVER!"
Grin! first time since forth grade!
Running races to the playground, hiding multi-coloured socks in double knotted shoes...the toadstool game...drums..climbing up the sliding part of the slide and waiting for the wretched baby to slide down..
Today I felt like yelling out..."Hey, do any of you other super gossipy mothers need a really dedicated stand in?"
Cos I can do it you know
But I don't think I'll ever professionally babysit ever again..i was pretty spoilt with Angie
Lunch at the clubhouse on Fridays, gelatos after Tennis class, anything from that ever so glorious fridge...And I was always paid in round figures..I never once stopped to calculate how much she really owed me cos invariably I'd have 50 bucks over and above it.
Not to mention shoes, clothes and white things...bread once in a while..
And all I had to do was have fun, be a kid, jump around on pillows for an hour..
He wasn't even fussy!
The most well behaved kid in this generation!
Thank you without being reminded....flowers for my hair...treasure stones...I dint even have to ask for the chocolate icecream that gave him a brain freeze..
No seriously, he's been brought up really well...
I only wish he had a brother or sister so he would learn how to loose at games like Uno..
A brother actually..then he would have to stop making up rules for Guns and Grenades, his pizza game and the outdoor games where the goal is the..wherever he hits it!
I precisely remember a time I was locked out of the house because I dint throw the ball right onto his Tennis bat!
And when it comes to guns made outta one-sided paper or train tracks (the grenades are the stop signs and sometimes the coaches themselves) he's adamant
" No no No! This is the game. This is the game! You're in my house so you have to play with my rules..when I come to your house I'll play with your rules"
Somehow, he's never kept up the other side of that bargain...they cycled down once but he wouldn't come in..
I gave him the donkey book and I wrote a dragon story for him...
"Thats boring"
Wonder where he learnt that word from...he uses it for everything..even the things he enjoyed yesterday....especially the things he enjoyed just yesterday!
No wonder mom never taught it to me!
"Don't give up", he tells me in the middle of a rather challenging IQ game "If you say you can't then you can't but if you say 'I can I can' then you'll finish it"
Best advise ever!
And when I place the last piece correctly.. "See, I told you, you should say 'I can' all of the times."
"Let's do the super difficult level"
"What this means? Expert"
"Expert means you can do everything..you're the best"
He completes the last page of the toughest puzzle (which only adults are supposed to be able to do!)
"Now we're experts"

Sigh..now that game is boring for the rest of the week..
Trains used to be his passion..Thomas and his friends..He had the books, the tracks, the engines, the cds, the Tshirt and shorts, the blanket..
Then one fine day trains weren't his thing anymore. Santa Claus gave him a Hot wheels set for Christmas..so speeding cars are all the rave now...the super fast one, Mr slowpokey, Fatso and openings (the yellow Bumble Bee reminiscent one with an opening engine)
Then of course the super fast one has to get lost...
The evil flying train has to destroy the rest, the bubble blower is the rescue..it can repair anything! He counts to ten to complete a night in trainyears.
The bubble blower put to good use..
We never played hide and seek that much. His favourite was treasure hunt. Little pots of paint, spare car wheels..I had to hide them and then write a 'clue'
1. Behind something blue
2. Under the bed
3. Inside the striped box
4. Near the books
And woe betide you if they happened to be on top of the books instead of NEAR them!
He was very particular, very cautious, he dint like going fast on the swing or the merry-go-round, none of that nonsense!
He knew his limits. Except when it came to food. Vegetables were always left out. Su spirit I think.
Anyway, Brocilli, not so bad, thats where I learnt..
Also, Strawberries and Nuttella...mmmm...
Also don't forget the long hours of house sitting...he's fast asleep..I get double the pay..dropped home by cute, semi-drunk husband/father..
Long internet conversations on their laptop..Devil wears Prada, boring Jen An movie, half of the Graduate....
In the mornings its always Tom and Jerry...the one where they're skating on ice is my fav..the one with the 'How To Catch A Mouse' book is his.
Ya thats another thing..this little fellow has grown up without cable television!
tragedy? or greatest boon to his brain!
No video games, no Tv, limited child appropriate dvds, half an hour sessions only once a day, computer games and funny ads too occasionally.
Oh that reminds me of this time we watched one of his moms cds..baba Ramdev..yoga..breathing exercises...
He did then along with the extremely hairy chested guru...his stomach going in and out...pulls up his shirt to show me..fast, slow, wrong, right, replay!
He knows his remotes..like I know my serials...
Poor kid..doesn't know Spiderman(he has the mask tho), Popeye (wonder how his parents feed him spinach), Powerpuff girls, Spongebob squarepants..he must be lost in school..all these other high funda kids probably have it all on their PCs or whatever..
Thats one thing..this kid is not spoilt..I mean he has what he needs but I've never seen her fussing over him unnecessarily..very commendable..
He knows what a mobile phone is..will probably own one soon enough but he's content watching me play tennis on mine till then...not that I can do much else..he deleted the other good game..again said 'sorry' without being asked to...
He taught me how to do that throat gargling sound..very French!
I remember this day when he wanted me to read a Chinese book..
"But I can't read Chinese Louis"
"Thats ok, we can read the pictures"
So simple!
Now he reads French books for me...he's so perfect!
He should have had a really old older brother or smt..but then they wouldn't need me..
He has other babysitters..who teach him about war and other ghastly things...
One day he's sitting in his bathtub with his hands on either sidebar...
"See, this is war. France is angry with America" One hand is France and the other America..
"then France needs help so they ask India"
"How come ppl fight wars?"
"Is it a bad thing?"
Difficult to answer..I din't know this stuff till seventh std when we did the Mughal Invasion...
Bathroom pictures..
In his moms bathroom..his heater stopped working..I think this is when he picked up his dads razor..
"My dad says I can hold it"
That probably means he said the exact opposite!
I fixed the blade while he hid in the clothes basket..when I was supposed to have my eyes closed..usual pre-bath game...


He has grown taller..his nose is not as flat as it used to be and his eyes not as Chinky..hopefully he'll grow out of his Chineseness...French boy..he he...he may even forget his Chinese..tho I doubt Angie will let all those flash cards made of tissue paper boxes go to waste..

Monkey faces...he he...He's as agile as his age allows..keeping up with him on the pillow to couch game can be quite a game...
Monster! The first time I called him that he almost cried...last time we hid his face in the sand and then pretended there was a monster coming out on the count of three..he laughed and threw sand on me..
Thats him in the playground..
This was his Chistmas Tree..ingenious!
I've got videos too..but Blogger sucks!
And anyway..

He's telling me to stop!
PS: Don't try to read his palm!
He has a bright future and I know it! He once said while making clay snakes that he wanted to be a mosquito man (the guy who smokes the place at 7pm)
Then his ambition grew to the more refined submarine man..until he realised you could get eaten by a shark!
I think Firefighter has visited that list..so did engine driver and mechanic..
Whatever he does end up doing..he'll be excellent..I'm sure!
Best of Luck my darling! I love you so!
Keep the eyes chinky, the hair golden, the smile naughty, the pants falling off, the hands dexterous, the feet small, the heart loving..
Keep the India alive in you! The India that gave you Amoebic dysentery, made washing hands compulsory, fast and slow melting icecream, Palm Meadows, Coffee Day, medical shops ..
And the Indians who eat with their fingers, prefer rice to Pasta and will always always sigh and aww when they think of you! Hugs! Kisses! Nosy-Nosies!