Friday, December 13, 2013

18 months

18 months. At the cost of repeating myself, I say, how time flies!

This is the undoubtedly the best age for a parent until now. I am no longer unsure of myself as a parent and my baby can express herself quite well – with words and gestures, she somehow communicates the message across. The other day, I was making an excel sheet of all the words she can speak and I listed around 120, and these are the words that she actually understands, apart from other words that she just repeats.
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Its delightful to watch her form small sentences like “Give me water” and “Mamma come” and other grammatically incorrect sentences.
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The biggest update is Angel has started sleeping through the night since 2nd Nov. At times, she gets up at night but then goes back to sleep with little or no help from me, so I am one happy momma.
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She still remains a little fussy eater, but let me not go there.
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She is hyperactive. She does not, or rather, can not sit at one place and not do anything for a couple of seconds. She is always on a move, doing something or the other.
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She understands everything. For things which we don’t want her to understand, me and J* have started using English, but somehow she understand that as well, I think we shall soon resort to spellings.
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These days she has started deciding which shoes she’ll put on while going for our evening walks. I thought I had a baby, but I have a tiny decision-maker at hand.
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She simply loves books. She brings a book, hand it over to me, settles on my lap, and wait for me to start reading to her. She indicates or she identifies the object either by name (kaa for car, bat, bed) or by making sounds (bow wow for dog, baa baa for sheep) or by hand movement (moves her hand in air for aeroplane, rotates her index finger for fan, moves backward and forward for camel)

The other day, she held her grandpa’s hand, pulled him and went to room, insisted that he switch on the light, took out a book, brought him back to the hall and made him sit at the sofa, all this while still holding his hand and demanded that he read that book to her. It was hilarious.

On our good days, we sail through the meal times because of books since we are still going strong with our “No TV Rule”.
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She identifies almost all her body parts now.
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The little devil also tests my reactions when she is doing anything forbidden, like putting something into her mouth. She brings it close to her mouth, keep it there and looks at me and laughs with delight when I tell her not to and repeats it again and again. How on earth do people discipline kids?
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She goes outdoor twice a day. Once, in the morning when my father-in-law takes her on her tricycle and again in the evening with either me or J* or both of us. In the evening there are a bunch of kids of her age and they have a great time playing together.
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She recognizes the symbol of heart and now she spots it everywhere, be it on clothes, toys or bottles, which make me realize that the world is so full of love and we adults are just too busy to notice it. It’s fascinating to see the world through a toddler’s eyes.

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This has been a pretty long update,  oh wait, did I tell you that she loves babies. Also, she can watch and enact this n number of times. Okay, I better stop here, and if you are reading till now, then either you are family, or someone who is really interested in Angel, in which case, thank-you J


ETA (18, December, 2013) – Today at 6 am when Angel was sleeping away to glory, me and J* cut her hair. She was half awake by the time we were half done, but she let us finish our work. When she got up completely, I showed her reflection in the mirror and told her that we have cut her hair.  She let this information sink in. While she was roaming and playing in her room, she came to me and indicated that her hair is small now and said – “Poto”, i.e. she demanded to be clicked and happily posed J

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Angel in One-derland!!

Yes, my baby turned 1 year old on 14th June, 2013. She is not even a baby anymore, she has graduated to become a toddler! How time flies!

Now when I see her new-born snaps, I wonder how I must have handled her. It feels strange to think that last year, I didn’t know her properly and 1 day before that, I had not even seen her. A LOT has changed in this one year. She has become very vocal with her choices. I watch her point to things she wants, and vigorously nodding her head in denial, if that is not what she is asking for. I watch her wave and smile cheerfully at everyone when we go for our walk in the evenings. The other day, a lady came to us, greeted Angel and told me, "So you are Angel's mother." Apparently, she had met her during Angel's morning walks to which my father in law takes her. So my one year old already has a social life of her own, which I am not a part of. **Shudder** I watch her eat with her tiny hands, insisting that she will feed herself. I watch her and think that I love her with all my heart and my heart expands a little more to accommodate that much more love!

I want to write about her first birthday in great detail, as this is the only birthday where she had no say in anything and won't remember anything about it, yet is a very important milestone.

So once she got up, after her morning routine, we took her down for planting a tree in the garden of our apartment complex. We I look fondly at it every day. I then marked her height in the height chart. After having her breakfast, she slept off. We took her hand prints and foot prints while she was asleep. We did havan after that. She got up just in time when the havan was about to end. We then got busy in lunch and other preparations, tried to make her sleep in between but in vain. She slept at around 4:30 pm for an hour and got up at 5:30 pm which was precisely the time of our party.

My parents and brother had come to join her on this special day. We were planning for this party since more than a month. The party was held in the club house of our apartment as we thought it would be convenient and close to her comfort zone if she felt uneasy. The theme of the party was "Dora the Explorer". So the invitation cards, e-invites, decor, caps and cake were of Dora. I dressed her up in her pink frock with matching shoes, sandals and clip. She was looking real cute. Excuse the mother in me, I find her cute even when she is not wearing anything ;) She got unwell - had fever and cold since 12th June, but was almost okay till 14th. So she was enjoying all the attention and was enjoying her party. She even cut her cake and tasted it eagerly. She didn’t cry much and we were so proud of her. The game host kept the audience engaged for a good 1.5-2 hours. There were around 120 people who included our friends, colleagues, apartment people and a few relatives. I had ordered 2 collages one which depicted her journey for the first 6 months and the other one from 6 months to 1 year and pasted them in the party hall. We had also pasted a chart paper for everyone to write their wishes for Angel. I will show it to her once she grows up. The cake, decor and food were liked by all. After everyone left, came the task of transferring the heap of gifts to our apartment which was accomplished by everyone's help and were unwrapped later the next day. Angel was tired after a long day and slept off in no time.

And thus went her 1st birthday! Happy Birthday Baby. 

May this be the first of many many more beautiful birthdays to come!
                     




Thursday, May 9, 2013

A Perfect Breakfast

A consecutive food post from my end. Shocking, I know, but gradually I have started enjoying cooking so you can expect more of these.

I love "sooji ke dhokle" . It is a Gujarat dish made by soaking semolina or sooji in curd and its steamed followed by tempering of musturd seeds, seseme seeds, curry leaves and green chillies. Its served with pudina chutney. Its tasty and healthy too, so it has found its way to our breakfast menu once in a week. I tried to make it healthier by adding vegetables like beet root(I don't cannot eat it in raw/boiled form as salad and like this you don't even realize its taste :)), carrot and onions. And boy, I was mighty pleased with the results. Check out the pic.





We can even add spinach juice to it and get green colured dhoklas, beet root juice for red ones and plain white ones and decorate the three together. The color co-ordinated dhoklas look lovely. No pic for that as of now, will definitely click it the next time I make it. Do try it and leave a comment telling me how it came out, if you haven't already!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Baking

Recently, I discovered that I love baking. And I have been on a baking spree for a while. I have baked a number of different cakes and I realized that I am good at it. Well the main advantage of baking is that its easy and it gives you a lot of credit ;) I am not patient enough to click pics after every step so here are some pics of the final products for visual pleasure. The finishing is raw but come on, I am still learning. I will definitely learn cake decoration. It is in my to-do list. 


Chocolate Sponge Cake. I baked this for Angel's 7th month birthday. Yes, its 7 and not L :P


Pineapple Upside Down Cake


Date, Walnut and Banana Cake. A very healthy cake made from wheat flour


White Forest


Black Forest


Ragi Cake- for Angel's 9th month. Again a very healthy cake


Tried my hands at cupcakes as well!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Parlour Woes


I HATE going to the parlours. No, I am not talking about the ice cream or the Internet parlours, I am talking about the beauty parlours. I think this is one of the things that makes me unfit for the typical gender stereotypes. I always procrastinate my parlour visits until I can procrastinate it no more.

When I was young, parlour visits meant only the haircuts.  Did I ever mention that I had blunt cut , i.e. very short hair until I was in 9th standard. Ah, the good old days! Mom used to take me to the friendly-neighbourhood-parlour-didi.

After a few years, the number of visits increased and so did the questions accusations from the no-longer-friendly-parlour-didi. Sample this: Your hair is so unruly. Which shampoo do you apply? Why don’t you use the shampoo which I gave you? Look at your skin. Why don’t you use the products which I give you and the list goes on while I looked sheepishly as she was right. I never applied the shampoo/creams which she gave me.  

I went to a different city for my graduation, but still I continued going to her whenever I could, as a known devil is better than an unknown one. I again relocated to another city for work after my graduation which forced me to look beyond the neighbourhood-parlour-didi. After marriage I moved to Bangalore and in last 3 years, I have changed 3 houses and hence 3 areas, thus I am yet to find a consistent parlour to visit. So these parlours offer a number of different things. Top few being:

1.  Waxing: This is sheer torture. What else will you call the pouring to hot wax over your skin and hair is removed from the roots?

2. Getting your eyebrows shaped: I am yet to meet a girl who does not visit the parlour for this. They pluck your eyebrows using a thread (and hence the name threading) to shape the eyebrows. Although the after-effect is great and instant,  I wish there was a less painful option for this.

3. Facial/Clean up: There are a number of these available in the market like Shehnaz, Fruit, Gold, Bridal and the list goes on. The more exotic the name, the more money they charge. It includes a number of steps :
a.       They apply a number of sweet smelling lotions and massage your face as if kneading the dough. Sometimes it also includes a neck and back massages which is very relaxing though.
b.      Your face is subjected to hot steam for about a minute or two and which seems like ages
c.       A needle is plucked repeatedly on the pretext of removing black heads. I always tell them to skip this part. I love myself to the extent of not minding a few black heads. And I don’t even want to start on the sterilization of those needles
d.      A cooling pack is applied on your face and eyes are covered with wet cotton or cucumber slices and you lie down and ponder on the meaning of life or people like me think about their next blog post and no points for guessing where did the idea of this blog post came from.
e.      After this, the pack is removed, some more fragrant lotions are applied and you are released.
         
             4. Pedicure: I love it. This is my favourite. They massage and rub your feet and put your feet in warm water in the vibrator thingy which feels heavenly and you are treated like a princess.  You are then presented with a number of nail colours and they apply your chosen colour on your toe nails with utmost concentration

I have  also ventured into hair rebonding. Well it’s just a fancy name for permanent hair straightening.  Since the time I can remember, I always loved straight hair and hence the decision and I don’t regret it as it resulted into the kind of hair I always wanted – straight and silky which lasted for a full 1.5 years. Mine are unruly and rough.  Although the process is long and time consuming, I loved the outcome.

One of my friends says that, the parlour visits relax her. Well, to each her own. The idea of getting my eyebrows plucked or the application of burning wax over my tender skin does NOT relax me. Well, not unless I am going for a pedicure. The last time it happened was during my pregnancy. Haven’t got a chance after that. Sigh.

So I have accepted these visits as necessary evils. Although after going through this ordeal, when I go back home expecting some compliments, J* greets me saying “What happened? Was the parlour closed?” :/

Thursday, March 14, 2013

9 months


I realized that this is the exact time Angel was inside me. The 9 months that she was inside me seemed like 9 years. The 9 months that she is outside flew like 9 seconds. Did I tell you that she was born in the hospital named Cloud 9 and was born at 12:24pm which adds upto 9.

Anyways, after this rambling, a few Angel updates:

-She stands a lot now, sits reluctantly and hates to lie down so nappy change is turning into a nightmare

-She is a very friendly baby. Smiles and interacts with everyone but the moment anyone tries to hold her, she starts bawling. I hope she follows this “no strangers” policy throughout her babyhood.

-No crawling yet and I think she won’t crawl as she is not even trying. She is more interested in standing. As such J* and his siblings never crawled, so I think its his genes. Here as well.

-Everyone is still commenting that she is the Xerox copy of J* and nothing like me L

-She loves her evening strolls.

-When I strap her to her pram, she watches with rapt attention. I think she is registering it in her mind and will catch me off guard by unstrapping herself some day. So I have started taking the refuge of my palms while doing so.

-She is extremely independent indicating her likes and dislikes very clearly. Be it in food-she will not eat if she doesn’t like anything. She points to the door when she wants to go out. The other day, she made me take her to the swings when we were passing them. Its heart warming to see that how she is so dependent on me and yet so independent in her own ways.

-She has now started playing with her toys along with gnawing at them. Previously it was just gnawing.

- I had read over the Internet that babies of this age love to empty and refill the containers with toys and other objects and this will keep them engaged for a while. So I decided to try it with her. She emptied the container in one go and proceeded to do what she likes the most.. errm.. she started nibbling the container! Have a look at the video. And no, its not a fluke since the video is a repeat telecast.

-She is very happy seeing her grandfather whenever he is back from work and he happily carries her around. The first thing she does is take out the pen from his pocket. She HAS to do it. Every single time.

-I believe that she understands everything I tell her as she reacts accordingly or maybe she just copies my reaction.

-She know how to do clap-clap, bye-bye, hello, namaste, dance – she does this funny little step of raising both her hands, fists closed and moving them vehemently. I call it the Sunny Deol step.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Learning Curve


I have learnt a lot of things in these 6 months, a few being:

-pacifying a baby – considering the fact that I had never held a baby that small for more than 2 minutes, 

-decoding her cries – yes there is difference when she means ‘I am hungry’, ‘I want to be held’, or simply ‘I am bored’

-sleeping anywhere and anytime of the day,

-swallowing meals – they are no longer eaten,

-loo breaks do not depend upon nature’s call but on baby’s call,

-quick showers not lasting more that 5 minutes - having a long, relaxing bath is a luxury

-getting ready in 5 minutes Рno matter what the clich̩ about women and dressing up is, the moms of infants know how to dress up in 5.

On a more serious note, I have rediscovered myself. With Angel I am a bundle of patience, which I never knew existed. But, its just with her. With others I am plain old impatient me. Or maybe even more impatient to balance out the patience levels, you see. I have met a more loving, caring, sensitive and responsible me.  Incidents of robbery, abuse and rape affect me like never before and I wonder if we have done the correct thing by bringing a new life in this unsafe world, but soon the optimist in me awakens and lists all the positive things and I realize that world is not such a bad place after all. There are so many beautiful places to see and so many things to do that one lifetime is just not enough.

I value my relationships much more now. Most important being my mother.  I think you realize the importance of your parents much more after you become parents. Now when I get up at 3 am for Angel’s feeds, I realize that my mother would have done the same for me. She is a working mom who led a very busy life with three of us and at a time when not many amenities were available. Yet, I can count on my fingertips, the number of times she had lost patience with me. (Maybe because I was not a difficult child. Or so I believe. Anyways, I am digressing.)  She is always very encouraging and very patient, strict just where needed. Next comes my father. Although his involvement in raising us, as in spending time with us was considerably less as compared to my mother, but he was always there for us,  just like a rock, providing steadiness. He was always available in the evenings, giving my mother some breathing time. He balanced his work and family life perfectly. I remember we used to patiently wait for him to come back in the evening and he used to give me and KayCee a ride around the colony on his scooter, every single day. He then used to take us for a walk, sometimes to a park, sometimes to a temple or airport, telling us stories or talking to us all the way. I believe that even if I do half of what they have done for us, I will be raising a very beautiful individual.  Just when I thought I knew him in and out, I discovered a completely new side of J* too. He is a wonderful father and its such a pleasure to watch both of them. They adore each other and completely enjoy each other’s company. And thus he gives me a much needed breathing space after he comes back from work. At that time, I just watch TV, read a book, surf the Internet or simply watch both of them, from a distance, of course, lest her mood changes and she wants to come back to me.

This turned out to be a pretty long post, longer than I intended too, but then, Angel is sleeping longer than she usually does!


Sunday, January 6, 2013

De-tress


Happy New Year All. I am writing this indicates that the world didn't end after all. So here is to another year full of joy, laughter, happiness and success.


Angel had her first hair cut. Over these months she had developed beautiful curls which sadly irritated her to no end. So I reluctantly thought better to cut them off. Reluctant because I thought that it will take away her 'newness'. If you know what I mean. Thankfully MIL agreed for it, although the tradition being, no hair cut before mundan ceremony wherein you go completely bald. We have planned for her mundan after her first birthday. I don't want her to scold me all her life that she was a baldie on her very 1st birthday.

I have made friends with a German girl who is visiting an ashram and staying with someone in our appartment. She is a hairdresser by profession and when I told her about it, she volunteered to cut Angel's hair and I readily agreed. It meant hair cut in Angel's comfort zone. So with fingers crossed, I called her when the little one was sleeping. In the middle of the hair cut, she HAD to wake up, being the baby of principles. But she sat through it without any fuss. Now she looks so different. Un-irritated, but different. She looks like a boy. A very handsome boy at that :)


I hope her curls come back before her birthday! 

I will try to be regular here and will post more as and when time Angel permits.