Year and 29 Days

It's official. Of all the words in the Telugu language he could have learned first, he has chosen to pick up "Idugo", which effectively means "Here you go, take this". I obviously say a lot of "idugo" when I hand him things like his milk, toys or just generally catching his attention. He has been saying a rough form of it for the past 2 weeks and he has perfected it now. We are still trying to get him to say "amma" and "nanna" but no joy yet.

It appears he is teething again as he has been refusing food on and off. I don't know what is worse: not opening his mouth at all or taking it in and sending it right back out. Yogurt rice is a boon at times like this: that always seems to go down and stay there. He also has a bad cold again which means he has cylinders of bogeys through both his nostrils all the time. Praveen and I are constantly saying "Mukku, mukku" (nose) to each other, which is our way to get the other person to wipe his nose. Talking of wiping the nose, he sometimes takes the tissues out of the box and puts it against his face and throws it away mimicking our way of wiping him. If we don't take the tissue box away, it will be empty in no time. Niru says, "Wait until he starts to stuff them all back in and tries to have a very apologetic expression on his face!"

His latest dance move is to move each shoulder up and down alternately while tilting his head to the appropriate side. He was playing the radio today, increasing and decreasing the volume and enjoyed himself dancing and swaying his hands clamped together. Another recent way of enjoying his music is to press the appropriate button, turn around himself until it stops and repeat the process. He has figured out the right buttons to press on his Fisher Price puppy that Vijay got him(This one sings in a very strong US accent unlike Meera's which has an Australian accent and Rohan's is in the UK accent).

Sometimes when he is tired, he lies down on a cushion or the sofa with his bum in the air and his face to the side. He usually goes to sleep in my lap, sometimes while drinking his bottle. I have a habit of cradling his face in the hook of my left arm as he sleeps(a remnant of the breastfeeding days as it means he stays close to my body). I didn't realise it is a habit with him too until I noticed recently when I didn't do that and he lifted his head and did a stomach-crunch kind of movement trying to move closer to my left arm. If I stop rocking him and he hasn't fallen asleep yet, he has also taken to moving and shaking his body as a way of asking me to continue rocking.

When he ends up in our bed and wakes in the middle of the night, he tosses and turns around so much that it gets really annoying. He tries so many different positions, tries to put his arms under the pillows and sweeps the covers as though trying to smooth them, or digs underneath our bodies with the arms, even roll over both of us, all with his eyes closed and apparently trying to go back to sleep. At times like that he seems to prefer one position: he lies against me facing away from me, puts his head on my face and rests his cheek on one of my cheeks. Don't ask me how he manages to get into that position; he just does. That seems to settle him and there I am stuck in that position unable to move as he has fallen asleep!