One-one and one to one

This is month 11 for M and at the beginning of it she was one month away from being one year old. Howzzat for some math, huh?? :D I have been meaning to write since a long time but either I don't have the time or I don't have anything to write. I know many friends of mine will go "Wha?? You have a baby and you don't have anything to write about?" Well really, I am not the kind of parent to write about every single thing my daughter does. I just ain't. Though I would love to do that but when I sit down to write baby updates, my mind goes blank. Like it has now - why else do you think I am rambling? :)

Last week, M said her first "conscious" word that she picked up from us. I was brushing my teeth in the morning and Ms. M came cruising into the bathroom. She pulled herself up against the bathtub and then after looking in for a little while went "Na Na Na". Short for "nahai nahai" - which is baby speak for (roughly) "take a bath". So there! She spent almost all weekend singing "mama, mama" in a strong voice. When I try to get her to say "mama" she smiles and goes "papa papa". This one already knows how to push my buttons! She sings too - "la la la la la la la". And when I sing "la la la" back to her, she goes again! We do this on our way to her daycare after S takes the bus.

Her first pearly white made an appearance in this month. Right after that, 3 more teeth popped out. All at once. She has been crawling at super speeds and has lately been letting go and standing unsupported. I call her "spidey" because she crawls fast and sometimes looks like a spider darting from rock to rock. She got another ear infection before I went to India, but got better and since then has been OK. I took her to the ENT specialist who declared her ears fluid free and infection free. He also did a hearing test on her and declared her hearing top notch! She still likes to hear only selected things - so in that matter she seems to be taking after her dad :D

M has grown so much and so much has happened in the last month that I am having trouble remembering all of it. So it'll all come in bits and pieces. Oh yes! We have seen tantrums. And we continue to see them everyday. She decides she wants some thing, or HAS to be picked up RIGHT NOW and goes "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". If she is on the floor, all the more better! Then she can spread out on the floor and bang her legs. She even tried banging her head against the bathroom door when J went in to take a shower against Her Highness Ms. M's wishes. I guess that must have hurt because she didn't try it again. I sure didn't supply any sympathies :P We are getting used to these tantrums and most times just walk off. Other times I find it so damn funny that I start laughing in front of her and she feels insulted. Increases her efforts then :D

Speaking of head banging - she really banged her head yesterday. FOUR times, on different occasions. The first time it happened in the morning when she pulled herself up on a folded stool and then started shaking it. Fell, with the stool falling on the top of her head. Cried a bit but was quiet as soon as I picked her up. Then,after she came home from the daycare, S was playing with her on our bed. J had fallen asleep trying to get M to take a nap (poor thing!), M went to the edge of the bed, looked down cautiously, then looked up at the light (or fan, maybe) and lost her balance. Fell on her head. Later she was standing against an end table and when I called her, she let go, tried to sit down and hit her bum on the edge of the fireplace just behind her. That made her lose balance and fall over on her face. Yeah she cried but it WAS funny! Yup, heartless meanie I am! She fell one more time but I can't remember the details. So, with all this falling on her head, I am fully expecting her to turn out a little crazy. If that happens, remember you heard it here first!

M has started doing one thing that has made my life easier a whole lot. She holds the milk bottle on her own while drinking milk. And she drinks more if she holds it herself. With that our morning schedule has eased up a whole bunch as I just plop her in her high-chair, hand her the bottle and occasionally remind her "doodh pi lo!" (drink your milk) while packing lunches and preparing breakfasts. She even likes finger foods. Wants to eat by herself, and I ain't sayin' no! I try to give her as much finger food as I can. Sometimes it has to be spoon fed - like when it is dal-chawal or khichdi. M got introduced to mangoes this Saturday - May 24th. She loved the taste! That small mouth kept opening like a goldfish's to gobble those bite sized pieces up. We are currently in the process of switching her to whole milk from formula. Once we are done, she will also get a taste of mango milkshakes and I bet she'll love it! I have started giving her regular food with a little less spices. I want her to get used to the food that we eat so I am not taking out portions for her before adding spices. I just add less-than-normal spices and we are all eating the same food. S is definitely happy! M likes the taste of whole milk too - less fuss in drinking it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

She has suddenly developed a liking for pacifiers. Initially, if we tried to give her one, she'd spit it out in a rage. Last week, she found one in the basket that holds her nasal saline bottle, nasal aspirator and other random stuff. Popped it in her mouth and went cruisin'. Kept pushing it back in with the back of her wrist every time it dangled at her mouth, ready to fall off. But we aren't in a hurry to give her one if she has survived the year without them. Yes, we haven't thrown them out (we have at least 4 - none of them was bought by us. They were either given by the hospital or came free with some other stuff we bought) so she stumbles across one every now and then.

There's a lot more stuff that happened but I don't remember. I will record it here as and when I remember it.

Her first budday is coming up. We were swinging between no party and a little get-together. Finally we decided upon inviting just close friends and family to a simple get together. A small bunch of friends and cousins will gather on June 8th and spend a happy day together. And by small I mean about 27 adults and 18 or so kids. Yes, the list could have been at least double its size if we hadn't done some heartless chopping of names off of it. We'll just invite those other friends over for lunch or dinner on some other pretext. The reason behind keeping it small is that the last time we had a big get together, we invited about 120 people (including 35+ kids), 80 accepted the invitation and only 68 (including 25 or so kids) showed up. We had planned to have the party on the deck, which is fairly large. And the backyard is big enough for 30 odd kids to run around like crazy. The weather went severely bad on us on the day of the party - high, chilly winds - forcing us to take the party indoors. That wasn't fun. Cramming so many bodies inside the house may have been fun if we were all teenagers. We are not. So it wasn't. So I have learnt my lesson - invite only as many people as your house can accommodate without bursting at the seams. People have more fun if they aren't constantly banging into others or stepping on toes.

So that's that. My little baby turns one on June 5th and I absolutely have no idea where time flew. I still remember the day I went in for embryo transfer with crystal clarity. I don't remember the last 10 months. Well, I do but I still wish for more.