Like mother, like son

Everyone tends to remember and recall certain things, childhood memories, important days or events; though it works differently for everyone.

I am weak in recalling numbers, I can store about 4 phone numbers – the first phone number that we got (not in use today), it was mainly a source of pride that we finally had a phone and did not have to rely on neighbors to call home or call someone. It was akin to having a new expensive in-demand toy. Our current phone numbers though even those I tend to jumble up once in a while. On the other hand, my colleague is so good at numbers, that I can just ask her instead of checking Outlook.

I can tell you what grocery I bought yesterday, but probably could not tell you how much I paid for it, I would trust the handy credit card statement for that.

I can tell you where to find the nearest stores or parks are by way of landmarks but not by street names, I would trust Google Maps for that. I still get confused on highways on whether to take the south exit or north, often relying on a phone call to husband or my own memory from the landscape surrounding the exits.

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On our way back from daycare, we need to essentially merge into the main street and then cross over three lanes to make a U-turn to head on home. Usually there is very high traffic on the main street, so getting across the lanes is a challenge. So far I always have managed to do it before the first intersection to make the U-Turn, though yesterday the car on the left-most lane would not give me way and as I was closing in to the intersection, I had to make a decision to stay on my line and cross the intersection and hope that I could make the U-turn at the next light. The moment I crossed off, I hear a cry “I want to go home!” Unsure, at this sudden outburst, I tell Kochunni that of course we are going home. He continued to cry and as I looked at him through the mirror, I realized that he was trying to look back and figured out what happened. I explained to him that because there is so much traffic I had to move ahead, but we are definitely on our way home.

Later when I told the story to husband, he told me a similar incident that occurred when he picked up Kochunni a week ago. At that time, my often-forgetful husband, instead of merging onto the highway continued on the ramp, and a familiar voice in the back said “Namal yengada pogune” (where are we going?) in a matter-of-fact way. In that instant, husband realized his mistake and jumped back onto the highway.

Seems like Kochunni is emulating a similar memory pattern like me, and I am totally in awe that this little guy seems to know his way home!