RiKara OS: My Cranky Baby Boy- 3

It was a warm summer night, and the heat of Mumbai had been quite severe. Omkara couldn't even imagine turning the AC off, but for some reason, he couldn't fall asleep despite the cold temperature in the room. After tossing and turning, he opened his eyes and saw the reason for his sound sleep was missing. Gauri. The space next to him on the bed was empty, and he did not have to guess where she was. Kicking the sheets away, he dragged himself out of bed at three in the morning, only to find a droopy-eyed Gauri standing in the kitchen, heating up a glass of milk.

"Gauri?" he called out in a croaky voice, and she looked up at him, worried. "Omkara ji? Did you get disturbed? Did I wake you up?" she asked worriedly, the lines on her forehead more pronounced. "No, and yes." He said, walking up to the kitchen counter where she stood, saying, "No I did not get disturbed, but yes, you woke me up. You know I can't fall asleep without you, right?" Gauri smiled, and he could see that she was sleepy too. Her tired eyes and the puffiness around it made it quite evident. "Let me guess... Som?" he asked, and she nodded with a pout. Omkara rolled his eyes. His three year old boy was hungry in the middle of the night, despite a heavy dinner.

"This is what happens when you leave him a lot with Rudy! He's being influenced a lot by Rudy's eating schedule." Omkara said and Gauri glared at him, "Don't blame Rudy bhaiyya unnecessarily. Som has always been a hungry baby!" Gauri said, defending her adorable brother-in-law. Omkara shook his head, "And that's because during your pregnancy, Rudy made it a habit to make you eat midnight snacks, convincing you that the baby was hungry!" She frowned as she turned the stove off; she may not have liked it, but Omkara was right. Until he was a year old, Gauri had to wake up every night, twice, to feed her little boy. After that, he hadn't let gone of drinking his mother's milk that easily, and had fussed a lot when his food was substituted with the formula. Gauri felt her tiredness coming back with a vengeance as she recalled those sleepless times.

"By the way, where is he?" Omkara asked, and Gauri said, "He's in the play room, seated amidst all his toys. He's made a mess in the room, and now he refuses to sleep. I'm so tired already!" Omkara silently leaned against the counter, watching her cool the milk off, and add a spoon of apple puree, just the way her little boy liked it. "You know," Omkara said with a nostalgic smile, "I used to love apple puree when I was a kid!" Gauri grinned despite feeling tired; initially, she always wondered how adorable baby-Omkie would've looked when he was little. Now that she had Som, she knew. For Som was a ditto copy of Omkara, as Jhanvi, Pinky and Daadi would exclaim.

"I know... Maaji had told me." Omkara raised a brow, "Did she now? What else has she told you?" Gauri pursed her lips into a straight line, and shook her head, to which Omkara frowned. "Gauri?" he asked her in a warning tone, and she broke into a small chuckle, "Maaji also told me how you hated baths and whenever she tried to bathe you, you used to run around the room, without clothes!" Omkara turned pink; okay, now that was something which his wife needn't have known. "And Som, thankfully hasn't got that from you..." At that, Omkara smiled, "Yea, Som loves water. He refuses to leave the tub. One time, I tried being strict when he threw a tantrum, and in response, he threw his rubber ducky at my head." Both of them shared a chuckle, and by then, Gauri had finished cooling the milk-and-puree mixture, and had strained it into his favourite sipper.

"Omkara ji, you go and sleep. I don't think Som will sleep for another hour, and you will have to stay awake for no reason." Omkara shook his head, "You too are awake; is it for no reason? Som is as much my son as yours. You don't have to stay awake, alone, for him." Knowing it was pointless to argue with him, besides being sleepy and tired, she nodded her head, and they both proceeded to the play room.

Som beamed when he saw his Mumma entering the room, while Papa stood at the threshold. "Mummaaa... Appooo..." Som said, pointing at his big blue stuffed elephant named Appu which was placed on the top most shelf. "We'll play later, Som. First, drink this." She said. Som shook his head, and pointed at the toy again, "Want... Som want Appu." Gauri frowned; her lack of sleep and now Som's stubbornness was irking her. "Som... I said later." "No! Now. Som want Appooo" he said in a challenging frown. "And I said, later. No arguments!" Gauri said, glaring at him.

Omkara who watched the scene from afar was mildly amused looking at these two minions at loggerheads. "Will you just keep smiling or will you say something?" Gauri said dryly, and Omkara knew he had to now don the hat of a strict parent. "Som. Drink that milk now. Or else, no ice cream from tomorrow, and no I will eat all of those Swiss chocolates that Bade Papa brought for you." Som lips curled as he threatened to cry. Omkara's heart was on the verge of melting when Gauri said, "I won't fall for that, Som; I know that drama very well!" The minute Gauri said that, his pout disappeared and a frown appeared on his forehead. Gauri looked at Om, who was shocked at his son's fine acting skills. "I am his mother, Omkara ji; he has to get some of my traits!" she said, looking at her husband's expression. Then looking at Som, she handed him the sipper and said, "Now, quietly finish this off." Som looked at her with puppy eyes, "Appooo want." He said in a sulking manner. Gauri nodded, "First, milk. Then, Appu. No milk, no Appu." Som didn't have any valid counter argument, and so, with a frown, he drank it all.

Surprisingly, he was less-crankier after drinking all of his milk. His hunger that made him crankier and stubborn had now subsided. As promised, Appu was handed over to Som, who played with it for mere five minutes, before yawning. "Mumma, huggy..." he said in a soft, sleepy tone, and Gauri pulled him into a cuddly-hug. And almost immediately, Som dosed off to sleep on her shoulder. "Let him sleep with us tonight..." Omkara whispered, and Gauri looked at him doubtfully, "Are you sure? Don't complain that he kicks." Omkara nodded with a laugh as the three of them walked to the bedroom.

Much later, Omkara woke up as he felt a sharp pain at his abdomen. With droopy eyes, he saw the alarm clock flashing 4:45 AM. He opened his eyes and switched on the bed lamp, only to see Som sleeping between Gauri and him. His little baby was busy mumbling in his sleep, with a frown, and kicking the space around him, probably dreaming about Spiderman's antics, and his Papa happened to be a victim to one of his kicks. He brushed his hand on his innocent face and kissed his forehead, "Som, sleep, baby..." Som calmed down immediately and fell back into deep sleep again.

Omkara looked at Gauri who slept like an log. Only now did he know what she meant when she often used to tell him that "the baby is kicking so hard" when pregnant with Som. Omkara, smiling to himself, rose up and went around, sat near Gauri's side of the bed. He took her delicate fingers in his hands and kissed her palm. His stubble must have poked her soft skin and she woke up, surprised to see him sitting next to her. Sitting up straight, Gauri asked in a soft tone, "What happened?" He looked at Som, and then back to Gauri. "Our baby kicked me" he said with a straight face, and Gauri looked at him, half-amused, saying, "Now you know how it feels!"

Omkara hugged her tight and she hugged him back. Just then he felt a tight slap on his arm, and soft fingers dig into his hands, trying to pull him apart from Gauri, with a babyish voice saying "My Mumma!!!" Omkara parted from Gauri and smiled at Som, who pounced at the chance of sitting on Gauri's lap and hugging her. "Mamma..." he babbled and placed a sloppy kiss on Gauri's cheek. Gauri too cuddled him and placed several kisses on his face.

"No kissy for Daddy?" Omkara asked Som, pretending to be sad about the lack of kisses, as he held him and made him sit in his lap. "No" came the reply from the boy, leaving Omkara a bit surprised. Som patted Omkara's cheek, then patted his own cheek and said, "Daddy no kissy. Som hurt." Omkara laughed as realization dawned on him that his beard pricked Som's soft cheeks when he kissed him. He looked up at Gauri and said to her, "Like mother, like son." And Gauri smiled shyly; she used to complain to Omkara all the time about his prickly stubble when he used to kiss her.

Omkara kissed his own palm and kept it on Som's cheek. "This kissy won't hurt you" Om said. Som seemed to get the hint and he too kissed his own hand and plastered his tiny palm on Omkara's cheek, busy giggling as he did it again to his daddy's other cheek. Omkara smiled at the pure innocence of the boy. Om leaned forward to kiss Gauri's cheek and yet again Som rushed to Gauri's lap. "Mumma Papa no kissy. Mamma kissy only Som. Mamma mine." he said as he stuck out his little index finger against his daddy's chest with warning. Omkara rolled his eyes at Gauri who seemed to enjoy the moment. "Mumma's boy has got all his antics of being a drama-queen from his Mumma only..." Om said. Gauri stuck her tongue out at him, and when Som saw her doing that, he too stuck his tongue out at Papa. Omkara glared at her, whispering, "That's it. He's going to be sleeping with Mom from tomorrow. She'll deal with his cranky behaviour, just the way she dealt with mine." to which Gauri only giggled as she hugged her baby boy.

Sighing, Omkara got up and went to his side of the bed. Covering himself with the sheet, he looked at the mother-son duo, as they faced each other and hugged tightly. Gauri grinned at Omkara, and he couldn't help but smile, as his heart warmed up to see such a cute sight. Gauri, while hugging Som, blew a soft kiss at her husband, who mouthed an "I love you" to her, at which she blushed. He reached out to tuck the strand of hair behind her ear, and Som turned to push his hand away, "Mumma mine. Only mine..." Gauri giggled and told him, "Not surprising that he's so possessive. He's got it all from his Papa", at which Omkara chuckled. Pulling both of them in his arms, Om threw the sheets on them and dosed off to sleep.

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