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!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
To leave or not to leave
One of those days again at the childcare today morning. Praveen had to leave early so I took him around 8:45. All the babies were still in the toddlers' room. He refused to even move away from my body when I tried to put him down and clinged to my arms. One of the babies sitting on the floor was crying with his nose running. This prompted what seemed to be sympathetic crying from the one sitting next to him. Her nose was running too with tears dripping down the cheeks. I couldn't help notice that the girl in charge was making no attempt to calm them or wipe their noses. I wondered what would be worse: they not caring at all, or pretending to care at least in front of the parents so we can keep deluding ourselves that all is well when we are gone from the scene.
I put Pranav down meanwhile thinking how unwelcome it felt to leave him there. Another girl came up and wiped the running noses and attempted to calm them down. Pranav was hanging on to my legs and I tried to turn his attention to a puzzle on the nearby table. During his momentary change of attention, I slipped out of the room to put his bag away and continued watching him through the glass doors. He stood there watching his surroundings for a moment, looked around and knew that I had gone through the glass doors. He came up to the doors but couldn't see me, so he just sat there and cried looking through the glass doors. His expression showed clearly his sense of being left there. It was so pathetic to see him searching for me, trying to come through the door with tears welling up in his eyes. It felt like he already knew that I was gone. I turned away, put
his bag in its place, signed him in and walked out of the room. As I was walking past his room, I saw him in the arms of one of the girls who was showing him a porcupine-like, orange rubber ball. It was the same girl who didn't attend to the crying babies previously. He had stopped crying but I still am.
I put Pranav down meanwhile thinking how unwelcome it felt to leave him there. Another girl came up and wiped the running noses and attempted to calm them down. Pranav was hanging on to my legs and I tried to turn his attention to a puzzle on the nearby table. During his momentary change of attention, I slipped out of the room to put his bag away and continued watching him through the glass doors. He stood there watching his surroundings for a moment, looked around and knew that I had gone through the glass doors. He came up to the doors but couldn't see me, so he just sat there and cried looking through the glass doors. His expression showed clearly his sense of being left there. It was so pathetic to see him searching for me, trying to come through the door with tears welling up in his eyes. It felt like he already knew that I was gone. I turned away, put
his bag in its place, signed him in and walked out of the room. As I was walking past his room, I saw him in the arms of one of the girls who was showing him a porcupine-like, orange rubber ball. It was the same girl who didn't attend to the crying babies previously. He had stopped crying but I still am.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Year and 22 Days
He has been doing this for a while now, I didn't remember this until we saw him do it again the other day. We decorated his nursery with a Winnie the Pooh theme so there are felt cut-outs of Winnie, Tigger and Piglet on the facing wall of the room. As it happens, the Blue Tack I have used is apparently absolutely no good to hold up Winnie the Pooh felt cut-outs and I have heard this from more than one mother. So whenever Tigger or Piglet or Winnie finds themselves on the floor instead of the wall - which is quite often - my Mr.Little Fix-It here tries to stick them back on the wall! I have no clue how he figured out that they have to go on the wall, but he places them against the wall with one hand - sometimes their heads down - and hits them with the other. He does this a few times and finds that as soon as he takes his hand off they are back on the floor. He too has given up on Blue Tak. Praveen got some re-usable adhesive strips, hopefully they will keep our decoration up better.
I said before he gets off beds and sofas, he has now successfully applied the theory of getting off raised surfaces to the staircase. The plus part of this is we get to watch him crawl: he has completely stopped that since he discovered his feet, and the flip side is that Praveen is living on the staircase more than in any other part of the house what with having to watch him go up and down like it's no body's business. The cuteness factor here is that he crawls backwards which he never did even when he was learning to crawl. I have heard babies end up crawling backwards for a while when they first try to crawl. In his sixth month he commando-crawled for a fortnight and then just crawled on his knees straight away. What I found using yesterday was that even though there is a distance of about three or four feet from the bedroom door to the staircase going down from the retreat, as soon as he had reached the bedroom door he got down on his knees, crawled backwards to the top of the staircase (which he would previously walk to, stand there and yell out for someone to come and take him down the stairs) and neatly started climbing off. He saw me approach and tried to scramble down even quicker. We are worried about the place were the staircase turns to the left and has a couple of uneven width stairs which can cause him to loose his grip easily. I am so bad at keeping watch on him as it is. I tell myself I ought to be a little paranoid when it comes to his safety but can't get myself to practice it as much as I would like. Anyway, back to the subject of stairs, we seem to have a little inertia there too. He continued his backward crawl for a while after he had gotten pas the last stair until he realised it is taking him further into the living room and not further down the staircase.
No week can go by without some new talent displayed in the eating department, it seems. This is one of those I could do away with as soon as he possible but I have a feeling it is here to stay and be a dreaded phase. He has started to soak, marinate and ferment his food in his mouth. I say ferment because he actually had a mouthful of banana and yoghurt for a whole 20 minutes the other day! It lasted all through his play and his bath and only when I squeezed his cheeks together to try and wash his mouth out did he finally open it. In his attempt to swallow it, a little dribbled out into the tub and now he wants to pick it up and put it in his mouth! I mean, seriously, what school of cleanliness are you from? He clearly does this soaking business when he has lost interest in the food or when he completely doesn't care for its taste. He shuts his mouth so tight, there is nothing I can do to get him to swallow it short of closing his nostrils, which, believe me, I have done (which has sometimes ended in a few chokes and splutters from Pranav and a few dagger-looks from his father directed towards me, although, if you know Praveen, you know I have just exaggerated, but you get the idea). What is amazing is how he can retain the food in the mouth and still do all the crying and whining and laughing - even if he feels like laughing he will just make it a tight-lipped affair but will not swallow the food!
On the other end of this spectrum is how he stuffs his face with food when he likes it. Give him banana in his hand and he seems to think everything in his hand needs to transferred into the mouth cavity as soon as possible even though the cavity is not exactly being emptied at the same rate. The other day he finished his strawberry fruit bar in less than 5 minutes. I thought, "Wow! He really likes this!" I put him in the car soon after to go to the grocery store and I saw him making retching and gagging actions. I delve into his mouth and out comes the entire fruit bar- all 4 bitten-off, soaked pieces of it! He was trying to swallow all of them together I suspect. So much for me being excited that he can handle finger food now.
Poor guy wakes up around 7 or 7:30 each morning and amuses himself on the bed talking and gesticulating to himself(he chats a lot, and I mean a lot, these days). Praveen and I never won the early-rising competition, which means he is left to lie between us(of course he has ditched his cot during the early morning and settled down between us) until we wake up . After a while, the slapping of faces and rolling over our bodies and stamping and kicking all organs of our bodies, mostly, the faces, will start. This is the alarm clock we use these days - each other's groans. OK - I just exaggerated again, but hey, you get the idea.
He didn't cry when I picked him last two days. I am glad Polly has changed her shifts which means she will be with him everyday until I go in the evening. It's good to have a constant person that stays with him through out the day and whom you can talk to everyday instead of whoever is on shift. He seems to be getting to know Polly now. It's wonderful to see him walking towards me with a big grin and both arms open, raised above his shoulders in a welcoming gesture. This reminds of me of one of the evenings in his first month at childcare(he had just begun to crawl) when I watched one of the older boys run up to his dad who had come to pick him up, crying "Dad!" and jump up into his arms. It was such a satisfying thing to watch and I remember wondering about the time Pranav will do that to me. At that time it felt like I had a fair while to go for something like that. Although we aren't quite to the jumping into the arms crying "Mum!" bit, I think we are getting there soon enough. Oh! This motherhood is not so bad sometimes...
I said before he gets off beds and sofas, he has now successfully applied the theory of getting off raised surfaces to the staircase. The plus part of this is we get to watch him crawl: he has completely stopped that since he discovered his feet, and the flip side is that Praveen is living on the staircase more than in any other part of the house what with having to watch him go up and down like it's no body's business. The cuteness factor here is that he crawls backwards which he never did even when he was learning to crawl. I have heard babies end up crawling backwards for a while when they first try to crawl. In his sixth month he commando-crawled for a fortnight and then just crawled on his knees straight away. What I found using yesterday was that even though there is a distance of about three or four feet from the bedroom door to the staircase going down from the retreat, as soon as he had reached the bedroom door he got down on his knees, crawled backwards to the top of the staircase (which he would previously walk to, stand there and yell out for someone to come and take him down the stairs) and neatly started climbing off. He saw me approach and tried to scramble down even quicker. We are worried about the place were the staircase turns to the left and has a couple of uneven width stairs which can cause him to loose his grip easily. I am so bad at keeping watch on him as it is. I tell myself I ought to be a little paranoid when it comes to his safety but can't get myself to practice it as much as I would like. Anyway, back to the subject of stairs, we seem to have a little inertia there too. He continued his backward crawl for a while after he had gotten pas the last stair until he realised it is taking him further into the living room and not further down the staircase.
No week can go by without some new talent displayed in the eating department, it seems. This is one of those I could do away with as soon as he possible but I have a feeling it is here to stay and be a dreaded phase. He has started to soak, marinate and ferment his food in his mouth. I say ferment because he actually had a mouthful of banana and yoghurt for a whole 20 minutes the other day! It lasted all through his play and his bath and only when I squeezed his cheeks together to try and wash his mouth out did he finally open it. In his attempt to swallow it, a little dribbled out into the tub and now he wants to pick it up and put it in his mouth! I mean, seriously, what school of cleanliness are you from? He clearly does this soaking business when he has lost interest in the food or when he completely doesn't care for its taste. He shuts his mouth so tight, there is nothing I can do to get him to swallow it short of closing his nostrils, which, believe me, I have done (which has sometimes ended in a few chokes and splutters from Pranav and a few dagger-looks from his father directed towards me, although, if you know Praveen, you know I have just exaggerated, but you get the idea). What is amazing is how he can retain the food in the mouth and still do all the crying and whining and laughing - even if he feels like laughing he will just make it a tight-lipped affair but will not swallow the food!
On the other end of this spectrum is how he stuffs his face with food when he likes it. Give him banana in his hand and he seems to think everything in his hand needs to transferred into the mouth cavity as soon as possible even though the cavity is not exactly being emptied at the same rate. The other day he finished his strawberry fruit bar in less than 5 minutes. I thought, "Wow! He really likes this!" I put him in the car soon after to go to the grocery store and I saw him making retching and gagging actions. I delve into his mouth and out comes the entire fruit bar- all 4 bitten-off, soaked pieces of it! He was trying to swallow all of them together I suspect. So much for me being excited that he can handle finger food now.
Poor guy wakes up around 7 or 7:30 each morning and amuses himself on the bed talking and gesticulating to himself(he chats a lot, and I mean a lot, these days). Praveen and I never won the early-rising competition, which means he is left to lie between us(of course he has ditched his cot during the early morning and settled down between us) until we wake up . After a while, the slapping of faces and rolling over our bodies and stamping and kicking all organs of our bodies, mostly, the faces, will start. This is the alarm clock we use these days - each other's groans. OK - I just exaggerated again, but hey, you get the idea.
He didn't cry when I picked him last two days. I am glad Polly has changed her shifts which means she will be with him everyday until I go in the evening. It's good to have a constant person that stays with him through out the day and whom you can talk to everyday instead of whoever is on shift. He seems to be getting to know Polly now. It's wonderful to see him walking towards me with a big grin and both arms open, raised above his shoulders in a welcoming gesture. This reminds of me of one of the evenings in his first month at childcare(he had just begun to crawl) when I watched one of the older boys run up to his dad who had come to pick him up, crying "Dad!" and jump up into his arms. It was such a satisfying thing to watch and I remember wondering about the time Pranav will do that to me. At that time it felt like I had a fair while to go for something like that. Although we aren't quite to the jumping into the arms crying "Mum!" bit, I think we are getting there soon enough. Oh! This motherhood is not so bad sometimes...
Saturday, September 15, 2007
My 12 month Progress Report
This is Pranav again!
I wanted to tell you all about my latest report card from the 12 month check up with the child health nurse so I asked mom to take a break. So there we were, all three of us in the nurse's office and the first question that comes up is about how much milk I am drinking. The nurse seemed to think I currently drink too much milk and I ought to cut it down because it could mean that I could become iron-deficient if I had too much milk and too little food. Now, these nurses, I really don't get them. The same people who insisted not so long ago that I drink milk and only milk now want something entirely different! I am glad mum decided to use her ears like a wind-pipe and let the advice out through her other ear. Anyway, even if she did reduce my milk it's not like I was going to start eating a lot more food. I do love my bottles.
As this subject died down, there was talk about the need to brush my teeth every night before bed. I tried to tell her that I do that every morning with mum's and dad's brushes after they are done with them but she seemed to think I needed to have a small brush of my own. I was hoping she will ask mum to use that yummy toothpaste whose tube I love to chew on, but no; apparently, I am too young and might swallow the paste. Surely, soemthing so yummy is for eating? Turns out no toothpaste for me until I turn three!
I think she was pretty impressed that I have been walking since I was 10 and a half months old. I know mum is very proud about it. Teh nurse was glad to know that I eat a lot of vegies and fruits and rice and pasta and meat. She also said I should eat some cheese and yoghurt everyday which I already do and love them too. Inspite of all this good beahviour mum found something to complain about: why do I absolutely refuse to eat sometimes? Hey, didn't I tell you why? It's because when I am teething, I don't like anything in my mouth, especially things that are hot and too chunky. Yes, thank you nurse. Now you know, mum. And beware, it will happen again from time to time as I teeth and when it happens you are supposed to just let me go like the nurse asked you to and not pester me to 'eat just a little bit', 'another little bit' and 'just a bit more'. And please don't use your ears like a wind-pipe with this advice.
Then came the embarrassing part: dad started stripping me off until I was only in my singlet and nappy! I mean, hello? Are we even allowed to do this outside of the house? Apparently, we babies are allowed. What's with these double standards? So, anyway, they laid me on my back against a scale and measured how tall I am and then measured how big my head is. Then the nappy came off too and this when I wanted to annoy them all by weeing on the scales for making me so uncomfortable but I had just done so in the nappy a while ago and it wouldn't come again! With the weighing done too I could get back into my clothes and shoes but I started protesting. You can't just dress and undress me as and when you like! Scream! Wriggle! Scream! But it was time go and I had to give in. Dad asked to wave bye to the nurse and I twirled both my hands and waved bye to her. And she said, "Good boy! He is a clever boy!" And when mum told Anna this when she dropped me off at the childcare later, guess what Anna said? "Oh, but we already knew that!" See, I told you I am too clever for my own good!
I wanted to tell you all about my latest report card from the 12 month check up with the child health nurse so I asked mom to take a break. So there we were, all three of us in the nurse's office and the first question that comes up is about how much milk I am drinking. The nurse seemed to think I currently drink too much milk and I ought to cut it down because it could mean that I could become iron-deficient if I had too much milk and too little food. Now, these nurses, I really don't get them. The same people who insisted not so long ago that I drink milk and only milk now want something entirely different! I am glad mum decided to use her ears like a wind-pipe and let the advice out through her other ear. Anyway, even if she did reduce my milk it's not like I was going to start eating a lot more food. I do love my bottles.
As this subject died down, there was talk about the need to brush my teeth every night before bed. I tried to tell her that I do that every morning with mum's and dad's brushes after they are done with them but she seemed to think I needed to have a small brush of my own. I was hoping she will ask mum to use that yummy toothpaste whose tube I love to chew on, but no; apparently, I am too young and might swallow the paste. Surely, soemthing so yummy is for eating? Turns out no toothpaste for me until I turn three!
I think she was pretty impressed that I have been walking since I was 10 and a half months old. I know mum is very proud about it. Teh nurse was glad to know that I eat a lot of vegies and fruits and rice and pasta and meat. She also said I should eat some cheese and yoghurt everyday which I already do and love them too. Inspite of all this good beahviour mum found something to complain about: why do I absolutely refuse to eat sometimes? Hey, didn't I tell you why? It's because when I am teething, I don't like anything in my mouth, especially things that are hot and too chunky. Yes, thank you nurse. Now you know, mum. And beware, it will happen again from time to time as I teeth and when it happens you are supposed to just let me go like the nurse asked you to and not pester me to 'eat just a little bit', 'another little bit' and 'just a bit more'. And please don't use your ears like a wind-pipe with this advice.
Then came the embarrassing part: dad started stripping me off until I was only in my singlet and nappy! I mean, hello? Are we even allowed to do this outside of the house? Apparently, we babies are allowed. What's with these double standards? So, anyway, they laid me on my back against a scale and measured how tall I am and then measured how big my head is. Then the nappy came off too and this when I wanted to annoy them all by weeing on the scales for making me so uncomfortable but I had just done so in the nappy a while ago and it wouldn't come again! With the weighing done too I could get back into my clothes and shoes but I started protesting. You can't just dress and undress me as and when you like! Scream! Wriggle! Scream! But it was time go and I had to give in. Dad asked to wave bye to the nurse and I twirled both my hands and waved bye to her. And she said, "Good boy! He is a clever boy!" And when mum told Anna this when she dropped me off at the childcare later, guess what Anna said? "Oh, but we already knew that!" See, I told you I am too clever for my own good!
Year and 15 days
I taught him to push blocks through a hole and then clap. Now it's a habit with him. He follows the pushing immediately with the clapping and sometimes he is so keen that he merely places the block somewhere near the hole and starts clapping. He can do a round block quite easily but can't quite tell the different shapes apart yet. I figured out that he remembers the location of the hole that he last pushed through because when I had turned it around, he was still trying to push it through the hole in the bottom right hand corner which wasn't round any more. He sometimes gets annoyed when he is not able to do something and just comes into my lap with a very irritated cry.
He can get off the bed and sofa with relative ease now. We taught him to face away from the edge and slide himself down slowly (which I am sure is what everyone does). Ofcourse, it's the 'slowly' part that has taken him so long to master. I can tell you the initial few trys on his own ended with him tumbling down the edge as his legs couldn't quite reach the bottom. The other day he was drinking his milk on the bed as I changed his nappy and I went to the bathroom for literally a minute to wash my hands. When I got back he wasn't on the bed! He had chucked his bottle aside, got off the bed and gone up to the bedside drawers and was fiddling with the contents. The bedside drawers are his current fascination. Any thing that has a knob that can be pulled open, actually. I think we have a Kramer in the making: he opens the bathroom vanity door with an alacrity and vigour that would have forced Kramer to rethink his door-opening style. He is only as tall as the vanity and if his face were to ever come in the way of the opening door...well, let's not go there.
Meera and he officially fought for the same toy yesterday. They both wanted the blocks. This guy didn't relent until Meera decided to be the good older sister and shared one of them with him. I can only hope she will continue to find her noble side or we are all going to be spending a lot of time pulling these two out of each other's hair.
His recent talent is to close the lid on anything that comes with a lid. He doesn't let me make take the formula out of its container, doesn't let me take yoghurt out of the tub, doesn't let me fill his sipper with water. He insists on putting the lid on before I am finished with them.
He has also taken to conducting the music that comes out of his toys. He has a toy aeroplane with a button that when pressed alternates with a song, some beeps, and a welcome note. He presses the button until the song plays and pauses to wave and twirl his hands to the music rythmically and walks off. When he realises the music stopped, he comes back from whatever he is doing and starts pressing the button again. He has always had a thing for music; or may be all kids are like this and I am just being hopelessly vain about mine.
Today is Vinayaka Chavithi and he is wearing his embroidered lalchi with a bottom that looks like a panchi. Looks a million dollars. We figured out that we can use the remote control of the camcorder and take lots of family pictures so we had a bit of fun with that in the afternoon. Lunch with bisibelebath and undrallu are for the evening which unfortunately have turned out a little more than mush.
He can get off the bed and sofa with relative ease now. We taught him to face away from the edge and slide himself down slowly (which I am sure is what everyone does). Ofcourse, it's the 'slowly' part that has taken him so long to master. I can tell you the initial few trys on his own ended with him tumbling down the edge as his legs couldn't quite reach the bottom. The other day he was drinking his milk on the bed as I changed his nappy and I went to the bathroom for literally a minute to wash my hands. When I got back he wasn't on the bed! He had chucked his bottle aside, got off the bed and gone up to the bedside drawers and was fiddling with the contents. The bedside drawers are his current fascination. Any thing that has a knob that can be pulled open, actually. I think we have a Kramer in the making: he opens the bathroom vanity door with an alacrity and vigour that would have forced Kramer to rethink his door-opening style. He is only as tall as the vanity and if his face were to ever come in the way of the opening door...well, let's not go there.
Meera and he officially fought for the same toy yesterday. They both wanted the blocks. This guy didn't relent until Meera decided to be the good older sister and shared one of them with him. I can only hope she will continue to find her noble side or we are all going to be spending a lot of time pulling these two out of each other's hair.
His recent talent is to close the lid on anything that comes with a lid. He doesn't let me make take the formula out of its container, doesn't let me take yoghurt out of the tub, doesn't let me fill his sipper with water. He insists on putting the lid on before I am finished with them.
He has also taken to conducting the music that comes out of his toys. He has a toy aeroplane with a button that when pressed alternates with a song, some beeps, and a welcome note. He presses the button until the song plays and pauses to wave and twirl his hands to the music rythmically and walks off. When he realises the music stopped, he comes back from whatever he is doing and starts pressing the button again. He has always had a thing for music; or may be all kids are like this and I am just being hopelessly vain about mine.
Today is Vinayaka Chavithi and he is wearing his embroidered lalchi with a bottom that looks like a panchi. Looks a million dollars. We figured out that we can use the remote control of the camcorder and take lots of family pictures so we had a bit of fun with that in the afternoon. Lunch with bisibelebath and undrallu are for the evening which unfortunately have turned out a little more than mush.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Year and 13 days
He just got out of another bout of gastro. I hate that thing because it means I have to take him off his milk and give him ganji neellu (rice broth) in his bottles instead because, apparently, lactose tends to aggravate gastro and I still need to keep his fluid intake up. This prompts Praveen to call him "Mr. Ganji Neellu" from time to time. This time, the new GP we took him to recommended I use a lactose-free formula instead of the regular formula for a week. So no more ganji neellu.
He has started to cry at the child care again when I pick him up in the evenings. Anna leaves sometime during his afternoon nap these days and I think he misses the presence of someone he bonds to when he wakes up. He cries with a sad face when he sees me in the evening like he used to when he was adjusting to the child care.
On the growing up side, he has started his tantrum phase it seems. Apparently, it is never too early for that phase according to Niru and seems true enough. He cries insistently when we take something away from him. Our choice method to deal with his tantrums at the moment: ignore him. He has also learned to do a phony, pitiful kind of "abba abba abba" cry with his face all screwed up into a I-am-in-distress-here expression. It is cute, really cute and hilarious. Wonder how long that will last.
I may have uncovered a big weapon in our fight against his occasional hunger strikes. He likes anything flavoured with spicy gravies. All the child experts out there are probably up in arms but hey, if it gets him to eat, I am going to use it. The other day I made him a mild vegetable pilaf which he was not keen on until I added a little chicken chettinad gravy to it which made him open his mouth widest and finish the bowl in under 15 minutes. So, there you go. Again, wonder how long this will last. I have strong reason to will this particular phase to last as long as possible.
It turns out he is an outdoor person. I am sure he gets that from Praveen. During the party, he refused to come back inside to cut the cake. He is happy to play around in the garden on his own. Anna also commented about the same thing the other day, that he enjoys his play outside and watching the other kids playing. This is only going to mean sand-filled shoes and clothes, not to mention the house!
Twelfth Month
I love walking around holding my shoes, one in each hand. I don't understand any form of "No", "Don't" and "Can't", though. I do say a lot of things of my own but no one seems to get me. Oh, well! I can wave bye-bye, put a phone to my ear when someone says "hello", clap when asked, play peekabo with mum using my towel and with dad by hiding behind the sofa, can "kick" and "throw" a ball, hand things over when asked "Ta" and a lot more! Wow, I am all grown up and I am ONE!!!
Eleventh Month
Yay! I am walking now! Car keys are my favourite toy along with mobile phones, laptops and wires. I change mum's laptop settings and she can never figure out how to change them back. I am still quite the mummy's boy. I need her especially if I wake up in the middle of the night. I ignore dad completely such times even though I am OK with him bathing and feeding me and playing with me. If it's bedtime, it's mummy time.
Tenth Month
I can stand up on my own for a short while now. The first time I did it mum was so excited that she yelled loudly; I was so freaked out and started crying! I enjoy music quite a lot; I bounce on the spot or shake my bum or body rythmically to any up beat music. My favorite one is the title music of Sex and the City. I also have a lot more teeth now both on the lower and upper jaws.
Ninth Month
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Mum and dad were very worried when I had high fever for the first time. Turns out my tonsils are inflammed and I had to take antibiotics. I did feel very sick and I missed Meera's birthday party too! I can walk around the edges holding on to things now. My first tooth appeared on the lower left side. Not a tooth-less grin anymore!
Eigth Month
May be the childcare is not so bad after all. I do love Anna and it's only two days of the week when mum goes to work. I still cry when mum leaves and picks me up, though. I know it makes mum feel very guilty but it is so sad to leave her. I can't wait to drink milk from my bottles these days; I get very frantic as soon as I see one in mum's hands! I can stand up holding on to things on my own. It's a lot of fun playing with dad too. We play in the evenings after dinner time. I can also climb stairs with ease, especially if dad is not watchful enough.
Seventh Month
We are back home in Melbourne and there is some new person at home with us. Never met him before. Oh, wait, it could be the person who went sleepless for the first couple of months with me. Yeah - I think this is dad. I still prefer being with mum though. I can crawl all on fours now. My foods now include fruit purees and lentil soup and I enjoy them. Mum has started taking me to this strange place where there are a lot of other kids and someone else is trying to feed me and play with me. I am not so sure that this child care thing is a good idea, mum! And what's with these bottles you are tring to feed me milk in? They are disgusting, you know?
Sixth Month
Mum gives me Farex twice a day now but I am still troubling her with milk because I tend to gag and throw up quite easily. I think she is distressed these days. On the bright side, I can commando crawl now and this is simply great! I can get hold of anything I want with a little effort. I can also sit up unsupported for a short length of time.
Fifth Month
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I rolled over on the 1st of January! Mum and dad are absolutely thrilled! Now that I can do it I don't like staying on my back any more. I had my first plane ride to Sydney and don't think I enjoyed that too much. I am a Farex baby now and this makes a good change from milk. Mum and I are in India for a few months now and turns out I have a huge fan following here! I am getting oil massages everyday from my Great GrandMa too. I have found my biggest fan in the world in Uncle Vivek! He is always trying to cuddle and kiss me even when I am asleep. Grandma and he reckon I am too cute and adorable to be mum's son. I like bath times in my little tub too. I don't stay in the place I have been put anymore. When someone helps me stand holding my hands I like jumping and hopping on my feet. Talking of feet, people say I have big feet. Hmmm...
Fourth Month
Uncle Vijay is here to see me from the US and he is the best! I sometimes tell him off in loud noises when he doesn't pick me up and then he tells me stories of tennis stars and race cars. I love playing in my play gym and kick the hell out of it sometimes. I like having people around all the time if I can manage it and I seem to do that quite well. I am also holding up my head well now.
Third Month
I have been a good boy so far so I think it's time I start troubling mum with feeding. Don't really like the milk so much these days. How come I have to drink only milk all the time? Mum insists on putting me on my tummy for play but I don't like it one bit! I can reach for toys when somebody hands them out to me, though. I have also gotten quite good at sleeping during the night and I think mum and like me a lot better now.
Second Month
GrandMa is here from India! And she already thinks I am the cutest thing she ever laid eyes on. Dad's gone back to work and mum is being pampered by GrandMa so I have plenty of attention from mum because now she doesn't have to worry about things around the house. I can already tell when I am in mum's arms because I stop crying as soon as she picks me up. I smiled at mum for the first time when I was exactly 6 weeks old and she cried. Mums! You never know what's going on with them! I have started cooing too and we have made new friends in the Mum's group.
First Month
Mum and dad have absolutely no clue what's going on with me. I try to tell them all I need is lots of milk and plenty of sleep(I do love my cradle) and even more change of nappies. I have lost all my birth hair on my head and my skin is still dry and flaky. Getting loads of oil in my bath. Talking of bath time, I hate it with a passion. I think it looks like mum and dad are not getting any food and sleep at all.
Birth
I arrived at 8:09AM on Friday after having stayed 2 days beyond the date mum and dad were told I would come. I didn't want to share mum's birthday, you see; I wanted my own and so turned out to be a spring baby arriving on the 1st of September. I weighed 3325 gms and was exactly 50 cm long.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Naught to Twelve: The best and worst
Pranav is a year and 3 days old today and this is how the journey of the past twelve months took place. Apparently he has excellent linguistic skills so I will let him narrate his story in his own words
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