For That Sweet Smile!

I spent a few years of my initial life in a village in eastern UP, with hand pumps for water, no toilets and no electricity, only plenty of fun with a lot of village kids who would play hide and seek with me in and around cattle sheds and farm equipment.

One of the many vivid memories is how my mother tried to keep me well groomed and how I always ruined her efforts by playing with tractor grease.

I clearly remember how she took time off from her busy schedule, made me sit on a peedha (low wooden seat) near the hand pump and brushed my teeth with a simple kids' toothbrush and Colgate tooth powder. That made relatives make faces at us, mommy and me, for spoiling me silly. They would smirk and taunt 'There's one more of this kind, in my brother's house, a spoilt little brat whose mother brushes her teeth like this. Huh, so much Seva (service) for a Beti (Daughter).' (My mother did a lot for me, but I remember her brushing my teeth from my early childhood because of such comments from visiting relatives.)

Why am I saying all this? Because Coco has got his first toothbrush and toothpaste that look more like toys than toiletries. First of all we did not know that babies' toothpaste is different from adults'.Also, never before had my husband and I imagined that a toothpaste tube could have a cap that looks like a rooster! Welcome to the joys of parenthood, y'all! 

All that, and we keep them in the kitchen because Coco uses RO water, since he does not know how to spit and gulps down all the water that goes into his mouth to rinse it and we are worried  that the bathroom tap water might just not be right for him. 

Every time I make him sit on the kitchen slab near sink and brush his teeth, I cannot stop smiling...not only do I love doing it, I also remember the above story and my mom. Son or daughter, every child requires mommy's help. Coco, mommy at your service...happily always!