SHE REFUSED.

I have always wanted to write about my niece Kay.

Let me me do it today. Sometimes at a latter period when she will have come of age, I will show her this script, God willing if I see her blossom out into a young knowledgeable kid because she has shown signs that her IQ is quite pleasing and encouraging. She is the feisty kind of baby. She can be fiery, maybe this is another character of most children. However amid all these, she is quite an adorable baby.

Lets just say she is not yet past two. She cannot talk but she knows her cousin Lara whom I did show her a photo and she was able to identify. She calls her 'Yayaa.' Her mother is Majii for Mercy. She christened her doll 'TuTa'and the first few people she knew was her former nanny, Benta, who she used to call Beta.

She still suckles and knows that Majii is the person of nono. Nono is breastmilk. Which she has refused to cease taking even though children who are her age-mates with working ninas stopped long time ago. Tell Kay you are taking her to Majii and she will accept you with open arms, otherwise, if I am carrying her, the other people she trusts are her mum and dad. Obviously, she sees them daily and knows who they are. If you send her to bring anything to me she will do it. She knows me but never knows how to pronounce my name.

Oh! and she knows what belongs to everyone. If it is phone, she will take it to the owner. But what she loves most is applying make up to guys. She even applies make up on hier dad when she gets hold of her mum's beauty products stored in her handbag. Never mind that she knows where to apply lipstick but not skillfully on the lips, mascara for the eye lashes, and a comb is for the hair. She even applies hair food on the hair of a person. So in short, I am of the opinion that once a child is past a year, s/he becomes cognizant of the aura around her. Sometimes back, I thought children at this age are not intelligent. Not Kay.

All these procedures she learnt while she was her mum who is sometimes forced to carry her while applying make up. 

I remember there was a time she used to love removing my spectacles from my eyes. But also a couple of times, I got unlucky with her especially those times when I wanted to concentrate on my own work and she was hell-bent on ensuring I did nothing other than just tending to her. If I refused, trust you me. It was tantamount to messing up with the a beehive. 

What's worse is if you wrong her. Damn, the chic can cry not just cry but wail. The best way of expressing her emotions. This is the type of tot who knows what she wants. If it is the remote she wants, just own it. You never win with Kay. In fact, since most us use smartphones, she has grown up knowing that phones can only be swiped and placed on the ear. She despices Kabambe phones though. But her love for phones has seen her crack the screens of not just her mum's phone, but many other people including yours truly. So even if she cries her heart out, sometimes you have to deny her the right.

But again she is not the average kid. I saw a video of her causing her older cousin who was two years her senior quite some shivers. As a child, she is the aggressive type. There was this Ferrari car she had and her cousin wanted to play with it. You know kids, what amuses one they also want to join in the fun, she also wanted to play with the car. To avoid imminent confrontation, the boy took the car and ran away. 

She can be a bully. Yes, and I have been a victim.

While Kay is not the kid who uses her teeth to bite people or her claws to inflict harm, since she knows what she wants, she also goes for it. If it is a phone, don't give her a remote. Or even make the mistake of hiding it. When it comes to bullying, if she wants to be carried while standing, you have to do just that. If you try sitting. Mayooo. You will not have it easy. The moment she raises one of her arms ups and starts shaking it as if she wants to borrow something while equally pissed off. You know you are dealing with hell on earth.

But her bursts are rare, when you see her crying, it means she is actually suffering. Her worst odyssey when crying is when she is with her mum. As such, her mum has adopted ways she knows best of how to calm her.

Since I have stayed with her long enough, when she sees me enter the house, she stops what she is doing to come and welcome me. Which is carrying her up and playing games with her. She is an agile toddler and if you decide you are going to watch TV at the expense of giving her attention. Then you will not be friends. She usually wants maximum attention. She she is a diva.

Her favourite TV channel is baby TV. The Big Bugs Band especially captures her attention. The songs are what she loves. I don't know why she used to fear the hippo. When the Hippo came on TV, she would squirm and withdraw and even refuse to watch the TV. 

Because she is growing, once in a while I usually teach her things like giving me high five, closing the door, clapping her hands (which she knew at seven months because I usually placed her hands together while teaching her how to clap.) Once she had mastered how to clap, because most of us are music aficionados, she has devoloped a taste for fine music. In fact, if we want to determine whether the music is a hit, we use her as a standard of measurement.

Her favourite song while still shy of one year was was Oskido's Candy "Tsa Mandebele Kids" where she learnt how to dance seeing other children dancing as they were raising there hands and dancing to the song. Every time you went on YouTube and played the music. She has grown to love songs as such. But songs done in mother tongue are not her specialty because they take too long and they are sometimes drab and bland for a Nairobi-born kid like her. 

Her current favorite song is Uhuru's 'Y Tjukutja'. It seems like South African songs make her go gaga. She even knows how to say 'huua y jukucha'. But of course she says it like a baby. Another of her favourites is Big Bugs Band's 'Samba' song. I bet this songs have the requisite cathartic beats that create symphony for a toddler in terms of the melody, rhythm and harmony.

Trust you me, Kay has this addiction and craving for the song such that it can be played for a day while on YouTube Repeater because YouTube does not offer the replay mode for a song. And you may think she does not understand the song she wants. You are damn wrong. Sometimes we have to play 'Y Tjukutja' a whole day without her getting bored. Obviously we usually get bored but if you try change the song,she will be on your legs until you replay it.

Initially when we had not discovered YouTube Repeater, one had to wake up to go and replay the music on literally because most of the time, we use YouTube.  

There are some songs you will see her shaking her head and raising her hand up. She knew how to dance well before she even knew how to walk. It however took her long to start walking because she is the kind who is sometimes afraid about what she is not sure. During her first birthday, it was that time that she had started walking and could not let people see her do that.

This is why Kay can be mousy. Especially around guests who look strange. Those with "uso ndimu" who cannot approach you or are struggling to blend. Those are the kind of people she avoids. Anyway, a tot should not be very comfortable among strangers. Why? There are mother who usually say they children are too friendly they only admonish of the day they will be kidnapped or abducted by a paedophile which used to be a skill mustered by Deya's wife up until she was unearthed by the media after women started complaining of the scam of miracle babies.

What amazes me is that she learnt to use the stairs in the house on her own without assistance but still no one is confident enough to let her use them on her own. Since the bedrooms are upstairs, when she gets bord watching TV in the sitting room and realizes that someone is upstairs, she usually wants to go there especially if it is Majii.

I love it when she smiles with me. She has got used to me to a point where even if i make scary faces she laughs at me instead of even feigning being scared. I know the right buttons to tough to make her happy even if it is smiling for a few seconds. She has this tu big cheks which are chubby and they are not only infectious, they also give her a pretty look.

''Wa wa wa wa!'' is her favourite sigh when she has done something wrong or whenshe has fallen down and no you dont want to see her cry, you say those words.

That she has grown is not a lie. Soetimes back when she was learning how to wean, we would give her ugali in soup and sometimes raw ugali and she would eat it. She loved ugali so much I thought that would be her favourite food. When she was prepared her own food, she normally refused eating it. 

Times have changes and guess what, she spits ugali if you do not lace o spice it up with something meaty. Her favourite foo has changed from ugali to meat. If she sees the two, she knows what she wants. Her taste buds are very specific and able to distinguish when the food she is eating is palatable or not. I swear, if you give her weetabix with nothing in it, trust Kay not to eat.

Infact, I had no intention of writing about her but resorted to it a a measure of last resort because she came on my laps and refused to let me write about the teaching job that I have. 

One thing she amazed us with is when she decided to pick the Zuku phone when no one was interested in picking it and only said hallo before keeping quiet. In fact,she looked at the phone for some few seconds before stretching her had and picking it. This is a genius in the making, no she is not a genius, she is a digital girl. There are some guys who fear picking up a phone and that Kay did it. It is is a sign she is growing up into a child who is not afraid to learn.

And on that note, I am changing from "SITUONANE" TO "HASTA LA VISTA." My colleague, Bonuor, who teaches Spanish told me this when I inquired what it meant and apparently, "SITUONANE" And "HASTA LA VISTA" are one but the same thing. 

Even though change is inevitable, it come with a sacrifice I have to make lake changing what I am used to.

"HASTA LA VISTA, BABY"

[Photo Source: Pixabay]