Maya and I have always had a morning ritual. We toss around a little bit till we’re awake enough to tumble out of bed. These past two weeks, we’ve been feeding her her first bottle of milk in bed itself, giving us a little more time to sleep. After she’s done feeding, she gets out of bed and picks up my glasses and opening them, hands them to me. That’s my sign to get out of bed. If it’s a weekday, Shanthala has usually left for work. If it’s a weekend, she tends to sleep in a little longer.

I carry Maya down and start my coffee. While the coffee is brewing, I power up the music system. Maya has the ritual very precisely recorded. The moment I start the coffee machine, she starts gesticulating towards the music system. Maya has always been particular about what music she hears at what time of the day. She has a very clear idea of music that is enjoyed only in the morning, songs such as Gordon Lightfoot’s Minstrel of the Dawn, Beatles Here Comes The Sun, Mark Knopfler’s soundtracks to Cal and Local Hero and Call Of The Valley. I’ve burnt a CD of such songs and I usually start playing that. For an hour or so after she wakes up, she’s still a little sleepy and likes to be held. So, I savor my morning coffee, holding her, listening to the music together. After I finish drinking my two cups of coffee, I usually check email and look at the morning news. By this time, Maya is more awake and she’s off running around the house.

In the past two weeks, we’ve added a new ritual. Maya helps me unload the dishwasher. Initially, she’d just toss out the spoons any which way, making it impossible to unload the dishwasher while she was around. But after a while, she began to respond to my calls to place the spoon in my hand. And then, one day I decided to seek her help in unloading the entire dishwasher and was successful. Here she is, just past 16 months, already a help around the house.

Related posts:

1. Squealing Her Way Past Four
2. Maya is Born
3. Tumbling Past Six
4. Tempting Fate
5. Maya: Half Past Three