Dry Aarav, Happy Aarav!

‘What makes your little one truly happy?’ This question from Pampers India actually got me curious about what makes kids happy. Since I have never really had much experience with ‘little ones’, so this question was a little tricky for me. I passed it on to the best person who could tackle this question with expertise – my mother. She has just returned from abroad after spending 3 fun months with her toddler grandson, Aarav. I was sure she will have a clear picture about what generally keeps babies happy.

'Mummy, what keeps Aarav happy?'
'But he's a happy baby...always happy and chirpy. Why do you ask?' she gave me a confused look.
Oh yes, from the photos that I have seen, I could recall that Aarav is almost always on his toes all the time - crawling around, sometimes making brave attempts at walking, toppling stuff, giggling and generally being a fun kid. 

'He is not a picky eater either and in fact quite enjoys Indian food...very fond of paranthas...,' mummy had slipped into flashback mode, trying to recall all of Aarav's big and small habits, his silly shenanigans, his happy frolicking, his riotous laughter and his fondness for upbeat music.

Ah, I realised I actually needed to rephrase my question to understand babies better. And of course all parents and grandparents would classify their 'aankhon ka taara' as a happy kid. No-one would want to describe their baby as a cribber or a howling expert notorious in their mohallas for his howling skill. Anyways, I digress here. Coming back to Aarav and his grandmother, since Mummy was singing paeans about how good natured Aarav was, I wondered what made this happy child upset.

'Mummy, what makes Aarav upset? What makes him cry?'
Oh, he only cries when he's hungry or needs a nappy change!' Bingo! Now this was quick. Though honestly I was expecting a more dramatic answer, like 'oh he cries when the pressure cooker whistles', 'he howls when the dog barks', 'he gets cranky when India loses a cricket match'. Okay, okay...I made the last one up, but you get the drift, right? :P

'At home, there are just two thumb-rules to keep in mind when looking after Aarav. He only cries when he's hungry or he is wet. So we made it a point to always keep him well fed and change his diaper at regular intervals,' mummy explained. 'And guess what he enjoys doing the most once his two important needs are sorted?' Of course I knew, for I had been getting updates over the months. Let me share the fun details with you too - once Aarav's tummy is full, and he is done with his shower and diaper change, his favourite past time is to observe his mother and grandmother cook in the kitchen. Yes, he is a new age kid. He insists to sit on the kitchen shelf and keeps a keen eye on everything that goes into the kadhaai! Though it's too early to say if we have another Vikas Khanna in the making! 

So yes, the bottom-line is that there are many things that keeps babies happy and beaming, but nothing makes them more comfortable than a happy tummy and happy bummy! And this video by Pampers puts this point across so beautifully!

This post is a part of Pampers India's Dry Baby, Happy Baby campaign, in association with Indiblogger.