What is he searching for..

We had promised ourselves a one day trip to Big Sur, when we had visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns park last Christmas. This week we finally made it. It was also a little anniversary treat.

We were all having a good time, until...

The little one decided to walk a 0.3 mile steep trail by herself. She would insist on holding my hand, her mothers hand as well her blanket wedged between her shoulder and head and walk the trail at the same time. Talk about having your cake, eating it too, and more.

Any attempts to lift her and walk, would end up in a wail, falling on the floor head first, a rolling action of the torso, with her butt held high in the air and legs kicking, all at once. A motion so complicated, yet executed in such a fashion that spiders, centipedes and other organisms with complicated body structures would dedicate temples in her honor.

We were at the bottom of a waterfall view point, when this tantrum (which I call Combo #1) started. I picked the little one up and started running. San, Balaji and the few other hikers present, were trying to find out what I was searhing for. It was a weird sight with a guy running around with a screaming, fighting kid on his shoulder, looking at the ground.

I was literally searching for "ground"! Combo #1 starts with "falling on the floor". When you are on a steep trail with rocks and roots everywhere on the ground, the surface doesnt provide the adequate banging cushion for a 19 month old kid! These manouvers were perfected on carpeted floors and the little one is still learning the concept of relative hardness.

Granted, it was not as glamorous as a Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson trying to find some field in a foreign location, to land their bullet ridden plane with the tail in flames. But I was in effect trying to do the exact same thing. Safely land the little one on a flat surface so she can start banging her head on the floor and teach the wild life at Big Sur a thing or two about showing displeasure. I kept running and finally dropped her on a wooden bridge. She promptly bumped her head on the wood, put her butt high in the air, did the kicking and screaming routine.

By this time, everyone in our little travel group caught up with me. I was expecting a pat on the back for saving the little one's head. But they did not understand why I even dropped her on the ground in the first place and gave me the "how cruel?" look.

They did get to see Combo #1 in gory detail multiple times as we walked back and have probably forgiven me by now.

I am still working on a video blog of all the different tantrum combos. The compiled movie will hit your screens sometime before 4th of July!

Here is the bridge, and the little one crossing it before she entered her phase.

And in other news, got the new camera on Friday, :)
And in other other news, will get the lens only on Monday, :( !!!
So the photo and video you see were all the work of the old S30.

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Comments

[Kavi]

LOL ! How cruel. (The look that people gave you..i mean...)

thanks for the clarification on the camera !! Awaiting some results !

[Sundar Narayanan]

it is not funny to be reading a camera manual without the lens.

I can attest to that.

it is a good thing that there are no amazon stores and the whole thing is online! I am sooo mad!

:(

but all that will change tomorrow.

:)

[B o o]

Congrats on the Camera, Happy Anniversary and a very happy Fathers day!
And oh, I almost forgot - How cruel! ;)

[Anonymous]

'full house' was one of my favourite serials, so i go with stephanie's famous quote:

'how wooooood' (rude)

since you never answered my question about the video, i can probably safely assume that you have been using a camera for all the videos that you have put up here, eh?

- s.b.

[Sundar Narayanan]

s.b.

yep. the old camera it is.

and all those photos are getting grainy.

the new camera will not do videos (guess that kind of gives away the type of camera! it is).

so I am going to find that sony mini dv camcorder that I purchased two years ago and misplaced ! and start using it .. it can zoom to hell (or heaven) and even has night vision stuff.. just have to find it.. and yes, it is a bad idea to disclose misplacing 600$ camcorders to the wife in the comment section..

I may be forgiven today, it being fathers day and all, but there will be hell to pay tomorrow.