Guest post by Adita Divecha, Karan’s mother

Karan has an extra tooth which has come up on his palate next to a molar on the right side. An appointment had already been taken with the dentist, who happens to be my husband Rajiv’s cousin, for the day after we arrived.We arrived at the clinic in time and were made to sit in the waiting room. Karan was very quiet and kept looking around fearfully as I guess he could sense we were at a doctors clinic. It always smells different in a clinic and he always seems to know when we’re at a hospital or clinic.

Finally, we were ushered in. One look at the chair and he refused to sit on it. There was no whining though. He shook hands with his uncle ,the dentist, and gave him a big smile. He opened his mouth slowly after being coaxed a few times, all the while standing and holding one of my hands tightly. This had to be done a few times but Karan did it without whining. This was a great relief. Anyway, the doctor said that as the extra tooth was not hurting him in any way there was no need to remove it .There were no other problems like cavities so no cause for worry. Only his teeth are too sharp so as a preventive measure they should be rounded or blunted. This will have to be done in the next few days under anaesthesia.

Rajiv’s cousin sister Kaajal who lives in the US has also come down to Mumbai with her husband and two kids. They came over to meet us at our home. Karan just waved at them when told to look and say hi and went and sat on the sofa playing with his ball.That evening all of us went over to Rajiv’s sister Madhavi’s home for dinner. She has a dog, a beagle, called Toto. When Karan heard him barking he was a little taken aback and kept staring at him. Toto started jumping and licking my hand while I petted him. Karan had gone and sat on the sofa and suddenly Toto jumped on him and started licking his face. All of us kept looking at Karan anxiously but there was no need for concern. Karan was laughing loudly and letting Toto lick him. Then he started petting him, pulling his ears and touching his tail, putting his hand in Toto’s mouth, clearly unafraid. And Toto was letting him do this without growling. It was quite amazing. And then Toto just sits next to Karan at times and Karan just touches his back and at times they both ignore each other. But Karan is not afraid of Toto and neither is Toto afraid of Karan. It is really amazing how animals understand children like Karan.