First Year of M (And us, a family of 4)

She is walking faster, more confidently. She has a temper. She also has a sweet nature, if you can imagine it coexisting with a monstrous temper :D She is naughty, determined and she hasn't been the star of a post on this blog in a long time. She said "milt" clearly yesterday morning, when J placed her in the high chair and she saw her sippy cup of milk. Oh, that reminds me! She has been weaned from the bottle. Completely!!

And she throws really high-quality, best-value-for-money, ring-side-seat worthy, sooper-dooper-jumbo tantrums!! She threw one yesterday. Non-stop screeching, screaming, crying, not-eating, not-drinking-"milt", not-letting-go-of-sippy-cup ONE-FRIGGIN'-HOUR-LONG tantrum. What did I do? Didn't lose my temper for one. And I am mighty proud of it :) I am getting really good with not losing my temper with this one. Only thing that makes me feel guilty is that I did lose my temper with S for lesser/smaller things when she was little. I guess first children lose out in that respect. But they teach an invaluable lesson to their parents. Of tolerance, of tuning oneself out during a whine or a tantrum, of not whacking or not yelling or of not doing whatever the parent might be feeling guilty of doing to the older child. They are the best on-the-job training one can get :)

I have been told by my mom that my father used to whack me one every now and then. "MY father?" I asked incredulously when this information was passed on. I don't remember the whacking. But then my father wrote me a long email once telling me how he feels guilty that he used to occasionally smack me if I were being stubborn. (And for the record, I wouldn't blame him - I WAS that kind of stubborn :P) And he said by the time my younger brother came along, he had learnt to control his anger much better. He advised me to learn to control my temper with S or I would have to field the same guilt one day. He was so right! But on a separate note to my brother - you should be thankful to me buddy, that I "trained" pa!

Anyway, so getting back to the little monster. She turned one and I didn't write about it. She had a birthday party and I didn't write about it. She is being transitioned to the "Toddlers' room" at her daycare and... well, I am writing about it now :P Yesterday's tantrum was probably a result of the stress of being in a new environment and missing her favorite care providers.

Most days she wakes up and keeps playing in her crib on her own until one of us stirs. Not a peep out of her until then. As soon as one of us as much as lets out a slight cough, she is up, holding the crib's railing with one hand, and dragging her blanket up with another, calling out "eh?". And the calls become insistent if we pretend not to hear (which we do sometimes, the meanie parents that we are!) Only occasionally, if she is probably hungry or wants a diaper change RIGHT NOW, does she wake us up by crying. Of course, I know that Murphy's whatever law dictates that tomorrow she WILL wake up crying. So consider it already recorded here.

Her most favorite toy is a plastic kitchen clip inside a transparent plastic container, which she endlessly pulls out and puts back in. Sometimes I give her containers in different shapes, sizes and colors and that just triples the fun you know! Loves going to the dishwasher and smiling at her reflection in the shiny black surface. (Please note my subtle way of telling you that yes! I wipe and clean the dishwasher!!) Loves fruits of all kinds. Her daycare provider tells me that she can't cut up peaches fast enough for M to eat. She loves cherries, strawberries, papayas, mangoes, watermelons and bananas.

She is a social animal as has been demonstrated on many occasions at functions, parties and get-togethers. At her own birthday party, she ate lunch with one of her aunts, played with one of her cousins, went to everyone who would care to look in her direction, blissfully ate all the strawberries she could lay her hands on and didn't go to sleep until the last guest had departed with a cheerful "bye".

She has cut many, many teeth. I haven't counted, and I haven't "explored". And she didn't show many external "signs" of teething either. She'd be a little cranky and stop eating and we'd guess that she must be cutting a tooth.

She has been sick a lot of times during the last 14 months. Has had 5 or 6 ear infections, many stomach upsets, stomach upsets due to lactose intolerance, numerous coughs, colds, fevers and yes, one cut lip too. But all through it she has remained the (half) joy of our life (the other half being S), the laughter in our home (one half of the laughter, the other half being S'), the shine on our faces and the light in our hearts (again, half of each: S completes the other half).

Last week of May'08

• Walked about 4-5 feet - without stopping or plonking her ass down! (Friday, May 30).

• Offered bottle to dadda and didi.

• Wiped mama's nose.

• "Cleaned" herself on the leg while taking a bath.

• Took shrieking to new levels.

• Raced up the stairs in a record minute. Yup - all 13 stairs! Never stopped for a second. TWICE this week. Safety gates, here I come!

• Once upstairs, raced into didi's room and looked at/grabbed all the treasure in amazement.

• Ate pulao for the first time.

• Tried to put on a sock.

• Tried to comb her hair with a doll's hair brush.

• Found a new strategy to pull socks off. Stand with one foot in front of the other, heel on toe. Press down with heel, pull the other foot back, thus removing the sock. Repeat with the other foot in front.

• Climbed into her rocker by herself and sat there observing everything.

• Ate Chinese food - Egg fried rice. And preferred it over plain ol' bread 'n butter!

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.

So you don't miss me...

...here are a few pictures. Blogging will be very light as I have hundreds of things to deal with. J is going on a 5 day training next week, so I will be the only one doing all the drop offs and pick ups to and from school/daycare. I have this important project at work that I have to focus all my work-energy on (yes, being a mom, I have different kinds of energies - work energy, home energy, friend energy, wake-up-all-night-with-sick-baby energy, wake-up-all-night-with-sick-baby-and-report-for-work-next-day energy... ), I have to recertify for CCNA (the three year certificate-validity period is running out on me), start planning our garden for spring's arrival AND the kitchen garden - lots of tomatoes and other vegetables. Yum! So, blogging has taken a back seat - ONLY TEMPORARILY though. I love writing in this space.

We bought S a dinner set (playset) from IKEA. She washed the dishes and set out a place setting for me like this -

To give you an idea of the actual size -

And here is the plate against a pen.

Next....

GOOP ALERT!!! (Scroll down FAST to the bottom of the page, ye faint of heart!!)

M makes a mess of her food like this when she is sick and not in a mood for eating. Over the months I have learnt that if she is fussy about eating her goop ...er... food, it means she is sick or is going to be sick pretty soon. Nice of her to give me the heads up actually! This time it was an ear infection.

She looks so out of it, doesn't she? She was so tired on this day - hardly slept for an hour (total) in the entire day.

S, with her new haircut. This one doesn't do justice to the haricut actually - it is much better than it looks in this picture. Really.

This is how M looks when she is NOT tired, or hungry, or cranky, or sick....

I'm the naughty one in the family. Any doubts??

The IMP!!

PS: These pictures are from M's 9th month, so I am labeling them as such even though she is in the 10th month currently.

The first battle of wills

Baby M loves the tissue box. She loves to pluck a tissue out and tear it apart. We don't let her do it. For one, she puts the pieces in her mouth.

We usually keep a box of tissues in every room (really comes in handy when there is a mucous-filled 9 year old ready to explode in your face). There is even one on our bed, between the pillows, next to the headboard. It is this box that M made a beeline for this morning when I brought her in our bed. As she reached for it, I just blocked her access with my hand and said "No". She tried again from a different angle. I blocked her again and repeated "No". We went at this about 20 times. Usually, I just pick her up and distract her but today she wouldn't be distracted. She kept going back to the tissue box. And it is Saturday. I have all the time in the world (well, not really). So I decided to see if the block-and-say-No strategy took us anywhere. So I kept at it. Gently, but firmly. And in a true stubborn-child-of-stubborn-Cee style M kept at it too. After about the 17th try she started getting the idea. She still tried a few more times. Then she must have realized it wasn't working. So then she sat back and started playing with what I had been distracting her with.

It WORKED! She does understand a "No". Only she chooses to ignore it. But we are getting to the point where I just call out "Uh-unh" and she backs off. We have tried that when she was trying to grab hold of my laptop's adapter. It took a few tries - 5 or 6 maybe - but she did move on to something else and I didn't have to physically remove her from there.

In bargain, I do let her mutilate a few newspapers and glossy fliers (while keeping an eye on her that she doesn't sneak a piece in her mouth) and generally let her make a mess sometimes (like pulling freshly laundered, neatly folded clothes out of a laundry basket, onto the floor). I am trying to keep "No" to a minimum so that when I do say it, it is paid attention to. For now it seems like we are making a headway. Lets see where this strategy takes us. It worked for us with S. I never had to baby proof the apartment with her but then we were living in a one-bedroom apartment and didn't really have much stuff anyway. No coffee table, no dining table or the horde of other tables that we have around the house now. And all these tables have stuff on them - photo albums, candles, flower vases, table lamps, books.... It will be interesting this time around.

This one KNOWS what's good for her!

Last thrusday (Feb 21) was my turn to take care of the baby at night. So, at around 5 or 5:30 in the morning I wake up to find her standing in her crib, holding on to the railing, going "da-dda da-dda". I pick her up and say "you should say ma-mma ma-mma", change her diaper, feed her, put her back in the crib and drift off to sleep while she plays in there. A little while (about 20 minutes) later I wake up to see her standing in her crib, holding the railing and going "ma-mma ma-mma..." :D

Smart kid!

Note: Oh yeah! She has started "speaking"! But I think I already mentioned it in one of my pprevious posts.

Creepers n crawlers

We have one of our very own in Kay-ville! Baby M has been trying to crawl for the last week or so (maybe more - I am not very good at remembering such dates. I get lost in the moment) and has finally been bold enough to crawl around a little! All my attempts at video-recording the moment(s) have failed miserably till now, not that I am too anxious to stop watching her and run for the camera anyway :P She has also been grabbing things to stand up. This morning J nudged me awake to show me a half-standing M in her crib. It is comical - she gets on all her fours and rocks back and forth for a little while and then I guess the momentum just sends her forward (or backward - as the case may be :P).

By the amount of gushing I am doing, one would think this is my first child :D But with S I was so busy with other chores in a joint-family that I barely got time to enjoy her. I was a "single-parent" at that time - J was here in the US and I was waiting to join him in a few months. This time, even though I am "technically" more busy with a full-time job, I am enjoying the baby more because now I am the master of my own routine. I don't have to do anything unless I want to. Which means I also drop everything when such events (as crawling) happen.

In one of my recent posts I mentioned how M figured out how to say "La" and spent the whole day saying it. Well, last weekend she spent one whole day saying "Mmmmmmm.. mmumm..mum" :) So now we have an even distribution of first sounds. S said "Pppppaa" first and M said "Mmmmmaa". Mom and dad are both happy now.

Starting from this weekend I am going to introduce more foods. I already introduced her to khichdi mixed with tomato puree and mashed potatoes with tomato puree last weekend. It got delayed because of her diarrhea but now she is back on track. This week I am going to try small cubes of boiled vegatable and fruits (zucchini, carrots, apples, pears, broccoli and cauliflower come to mind - any more suggestions?) She has been working on her fine motor skills with "puffs" from gerber. Her daycare providers suggested we start giving her little pieces of boiled vegetables and fruits as that will help with fine motor skills as well as in training her to eat by herself. AND it will also help teach her to chew. She is doing a great job at chewing now - I just fed her more than 3 quarters of a banana 2 days back by cutting up small pieces (banana sliced lengthwise into half and then cutting off thin slices of about 2mm each). She took her time in chewing each and every piece and didn't gag even once! She did gag when I tried to give her pieces of boiled potato - maybe because it was dry and stuck in her throat.

Her diarrhea is gone. It really WAS lactose intolerance. She is on Soy-based formula now and has regained her appetite. It took her a few days to get used to the new formula but now everything seems better. Well, almost! She has a cold now :( She didn't get much sleep the night before last because daddy-dear was too tired (politically correct term for "lazy") to put a few drops of saline water in her nose and clean it. So poor baby, with a nose full of snot, had a hard time sleeping after her early morning feed at 4 am. When I cleaned her nose with a nasal aspirator that morning, snot came out in bucketfuls. But she felt better after that, I am sure. Today, it being my turn to wake up with her at night (and in early morning), I cleaned her nose before giving her the bottle at 4 am. As a result she did cry then but had a restful sleep afterwards till 6:45 am. After that she had a congested nose again and I didn't have the heart to put her through the torture of nasal aspiration again for an hour of sleep so I just let her be.

That is all I want to put down now. It's almost 6 and I am going to make a run for home. Friday - YAY!! there are a few (OK - MANY!) posts that I need to do. Christmas, an update on S, pictures of the two sisters, pictures of S' haircut (yup! I gave her one!), the tags and not to forget Valentine's day! We had a simple, but good one. Hopefully one day I'll be able to put all this down BEFORE I forget it all. And there are a few other posts which don't involve the kids or their milestones.

But not now. For now Ciao!! it is.

Sunshine state

Well, no. We are not going to Florida for a vacation. And this post is not about Florida either. it is about the state my mind is in today - the "sunshine" state. Even though it is cloudy and grey and cold outside, it is warm and sunny in my mind. Ever have that feeling?

For the last 2-3 weeks Baby M has been having "on again, off again" bouts of diarrhea. She first caught a stomach bug when she started daycare. I wrote about that in my Month seven update. Then, as we were settling down in our new routine after my parents left, she got it again. The last time I took her to the doctor's office, she told us to keep her away from dairy or, if that was not entirely possible, to give her diluted formula. We did that - diluted her formula because that was better than completely starving her. She held that well. So we continued for another 4-5 days and when she had gone 2 days without a watery poop (ughhh! Gross! Click on that X fast!!) and without throwing up for more than 2 days, we decided it was time to switch back to regular consistency for formula. The diarrhea came back within a day. We thought she hadn't gotten over the bug in the first place so we went back to Pedialyte (J calls it Pee-Delite - can you believe it? This man can distort the best of names!) and bananas and diluted formula. After doing two more rounds of that I began to think it was a bacterial infection (because viral infection would eventually go away) that was doing the rounds of her daycare. Almost made up my mind to harass the pediatrician at 12 in the morning. Then thought some more and deduced that if it were a bacterial infection, it would have been accompanied by fever and/or vomiting. And she wouldn't have been the happy, active baby that we were seeing each day despite the diarrhea (yep - she is a trooper). She would have been sicker than she seemed at that time. Then I thought maybe the daycare wasn't following proper hygiene in changing diapers etc. but again that pointed to a bacterial infection which I had just ruled out with my "vast" medical knowledge. And her daycare is clean, if not super clean. I don't believe in sterilizing every single thing anyway - but that is material for another post. The only thing that bugs us is that some parents walk all over the rug that the babies play/crawl/lay/sit on with their shoes on, thus tracking mud/debris/dirt from outside. This IS a potential health risk but Baby M isn't crawling yet. OK - more on this later in the post...

M's daycare providers even mentioned Acid Reflux being a possibility but since she wasn't throwing up everything I put it at the end of my lists of possiblities to consider. I noticed one thing - M would throw up formula but she mostly kept the solids down. Or she would have a watery bowel movement after drinking formula but a normal one after eating solids. That made me suspicious that she might have lactose intolerance. Strangely this time I haven't been on the net researching all these possibilities. It is partly due to the fact that I have "grown up" as a parent and don't freak out like I used to and partly due to the fact that I am soooper busy so had no time.

Today I took her to the pediatricians' to discuss this with them and the doctor agreed with me right away that all symptoms point to it being lactose intolerance. When I asked her why she didn't have these symptoms with diluted formula, she said sometimes our body has tolerance for certain levels of lactose and cannot tolerate anything above those levels. Maybe M's body can tolerate the amount that she was ingesting in the diluted formula. The doctor also said that a stomach bug can sometimes trigger temporary lactose intolerance too. That was something I didn't know. I sure am going to research more on this issue. So, now we are going to start her on soy-based formula and see what happens. If that helps, it is definitely lactose intolerance. If not, we go back with a sample of her stool so more tests can be run. I am keeping fingers, toes and eyes crossed for the first possibility.

Strangely, instead of feeling smug about having made a correct guess, or that the doctor thinks I am correct, all I feel is relief. That is where the sunshine is coming from. The warm, soothing sunshine of relief.

There are a LOT of things to mention. I meant to write a post earlier and started it too, but it is still in drafts because of all that has been going on. I wasn't a mess exactly but every Friday for the last 3 weeks I have been making the decision to "quit my job next week". Once I came to the verge of calling up my boss right then and telling him that I won't be coming in on Monday. And anyone who has read my take on the WOHM issue would know that is a BIG decision for me. I didn't believe that it was happening because I am working but I did believe that I am the only one who can make this (stomach upsets) disappear for good with the kind of care ONLY I can provide. J even made fun of me for this last week :(

OK - now on to more cheerful updates. Baby M is getting ready to crawl!!! She balances herself on her hands and knees and stays that way as if trying to decide which direction to go in. She still doesn't sit up by herself though - lazy bum!! She flips over on to her tummy very easily and very non-chalantly now. Reaches for and grabs and pulls things towards her. About a week or so ago J caught her inspecting her toe closely. She had grabbed it and brought it as close to her eyes as possible and was closely inspecting how it wiggled! She wiggled it and looked at it with fascination as if trying to connect the two things - wiggling and the moving. I noticed her doing the same thing yesterday morning again. And now she "silently" creeps up behind me in her walker when I work in the kitchen and tries to grab my trousers or thigh. She also understands "No" - and chooses to ignore it at times :P

She likes to fip over on her tummy and sleep that way now. But sometimes she isn't comfortable and then I have to turn her back to her side and then she goes back to sleep right away. She also has been trying to grab hold of the side railing on her crib to try and get up. She pushes down the bumper and cranes her neck to see if we are awake and paying attention to her. Strangely, if we are asleep, she goes back to playing and cooing by herself. If she catches one of us looking at her she wants to be picked up immediately.

M loves bathtime. That has been confirmed. As soon as I finish her massage and go into the bathroom to prepare for her bath, the look on her face changes to that of anticipation. And now she even likes the shower. Doesn't make a fuss even when water runs over her nose and mouth. Just gasps lightly and thats it!

Just two days back, as soon as I entered the driveway of M's daycare, she got excited and started cooing and "singing". It melted away a big piece of the guilt I sometimes nibble at when I am on one of my guilt trips. She is trying to "speak" now too. Last weekend she discovered that she could touch her tongue to the top of her upper gums and produce the "La" sound. We spent the whole day listening to her go "Lalalalalala" :D

What else? What else?

Oh yes! I have been looking at daycares. When M was going through reapeated bouts of diarrhea, I made up my mind to look for another one. A coworker mentioned that her daughter's daycare has a special drop-off section and if parents want to go in the main area, they are required to take their shoes off. I decided to look at other daycares and see if any in our area implemented that policy. Then later as I began thinking this may be a lactose intolerance issue, I thought maybe I should let her stay and not put her through the trauma of adjusting to new place and new people. But in the end we decided I should at least go take a look so today I visited two daycares. I LOVED BOTH OF THEM!! Not only do they have a "no shoes in infant rooms" policy, they have many other features which make them waaay better than the current one. I do like the care-providers at the current daycare and M obviously loves them because she is happy to see them in the morning. But having seen the other daycares, I have realized what we are missing here. One of them, which has IMMEDIATE OPENING, even has a FULL GYM with thick mattresses for the kids to jump on and balance beams for older kids etc.!! OMG - I am soooo excited :P They have a better, structured program even for infants and their facilities are more bright, airy, clean and spacious. And not to forget secure. One of them has locked doors and parents have to be buzzed in while the other one has a front office that every one has to go through in order to get to the rooms where babies/kids stay. So we have to make a decision on that front, and fast!

Oh, and she now plays Peekaboo! She pulls up her blanket over her eyes and waits for a few seconds then slowly lowers it and looks at us with an impish grin. As soon as I say "Peekaboo!!" her grin turns into a W I D E smile. Sometimes when I say "Ninni, Peekaboo karo", she does this as if she understands what I am saying.

So this was how M's 8th month went. She is 8 months old today. Gosh! I don't know where these 8 months went. Do you?

Close call

Last night, after coming back from work, I gave M her daily massage and bath and left her in the walker while I prepared dinner. J and S were with her in the family room. J had to come into the kitchen to prepare her bed-time bottle of formula just for a couple of minutes and S followed him. J told her she shouldn't leave M alone in a room if we are not around, specially when M is in the walker. We don't leave S to babysit M, but J had left the room thinking S will stay there with M until he came back. So, we were explaining to S why we shouldn't leave M alone in a room when she is in a position to move around (she could pull something heavy over her, take a leaf off of a house plant and put it in her mouth, reach out to something within her reach and put it in her mouth) when J just went in the family room to check on M. She had just plucked a leaf off of a house plant and put it in her mouth and was gagging on it!! I still gives me the shivers to think of what would have happened if J hadn't walked in to check on her. We need to baby-proof our house RIGHT NOW!! By the way, all the various door/cabinet locks and outlet covers have been purchased and are just waiting "implementation". This weekend - I promise!

M is now turning over effortlessly which confirms my belief that she already knew how to do it but just didn't bother. And she is now trying to hold on to things and pull herself up into a standing position. I now believe some people's claim that she will start walking without going through the crawling phase first. This is one gal in a hurry!

Yesterday M took three naps 1 hour and 45 minutes long in total. This is GOOD!! She was napping only for about 15 minutes during the whole day there. This means she is now comfortable and secure enough to take a long nap there. She is already eating and taking the bottle from her care-providers. So now I think she is completely settled in. In fact, she even gave "Miss Carol" a wide, toothless grin this morning when I sat her down in front of a toy and left. This has lifted the cloak of guilt from my heart!

Last week, and the weekend was brutal. I fell sick on Monday, took the day off as I was running a fever. Then returned to work the next day as I could not afford to take any more days off. Just trudged through Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and was looking forward to the weekend. Thursday night, I came home to find that M was sick too. I had passed on my cold to her :( I had to go to a PTO meeting so I left. But I came back as soon as I had presented my report to the members and discovered that M was running a high fever! 102.4!! Panicked thoughts of seizures and frothy mouths and ER visits ran through my mind and called her pediatrician's answering service (it was 10:20 PM). Her pediatrician immediately called me back and told me to give her some Tylenol to bring the temperature down. She was also straining as one does to pass stool when one is constipated (I am not joking) and she continued to do so for good 20-25 minutes. The doctor had no idea why. J had also emailed a friend whom we consult for homeopathy remedies and she emailed us back immediately telling us which remedies to give to M. She even called in a few minutes and when I told her about the straining, she changed the remedy and told me babies sometimes do that if they are having difficulty breathing. As soon as we gave M the remedy my friend suggested, she threw up. We repeated the dose in five minutes and M threw up again. But she seemed much relaxed after throwing up and even stopped straining so we assumed it was a good sign. M's pediatrician called us again at 12:15 am and told us to keep an eye on her and to call him if we noticed any changes for the worse NO MATTER WHAT TIME OF NIGHT IT WAS. I must say - I love the pediatric group we consult for M and S. They are the most professional and kind doctors I have ever met. Even their answering service is kind and professional and believe me when I say this - not every doctor's answering service is like that. My experience says, one can accurately judge a doctor's worth by their answering service and front office staff's attitude.

Next day J and I took the day off. Well, I took the day off because waking up all night with M took its toll on me and pushed me over the edge and I made J take the day off because I didn't feel strong enough to drive m to the doctor's. We took M to the doctor's that morning, and after a checkup we were told that she had no ear-infection (Phew!!) and no chest-congestion (another Phew!!) and it was a viral infection in all probability. No antibiotics were prescribed - and had they even tried, i would have fought vehemently! This is another reason I love this pediatric group so much - all the doctors in this group believe in NOT prescribing too much medicines which agrees completely with my and J's opinion.

All in all, M is fine now. Yesterday her appetite returned. She still has a little bit of cough but slept well last night and was happy this morning.

The last week and the weekend were so bad that I swear I feel like the last week never ended. We just went through a grueling week and stepped into another one without going through the weekend. It was like landing on a "Go to Jail" box or pulling a "Go to Jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200" card in Monopoly.

I had many plans of cleaning and cooking for the entire week during the (last) weekend. And of shopping a bit for essentials. And laundry. We were able to do the shopping but nothing else by end of Saturday. On Sunday, I woke up with the hopes of getting started with all the chores early so I could get everything done and still find time to relax with a cup of tea in the afternoon. Came downstairs to find a glum S. Found out J had discovered lice in her hair which she obviously caught at school. So, there lay our day ahead of us. All planning shot to bits. J went out to get a medicated shampoo to get rid of the lice. I set about gathering EVERY piece of clothing and bedding S had used in the past 2-3 days so I could either seal it up in plastic bags for 2 weeks or wash it in hot water. The whole day went by in a jiffy. I first gave S a much needed haircut - I had been thinking of doing it for a long time. Because of her Alopecia, her hair is growing unevenly and I want to trim the hair to make it look even. Now I wanted to cut it shorter because it would be easier to get rid of the lice. I do have some before and after pictures and will put them up soon but S looks wonderful after the haircut, even if I say so myself! After the haircut and shampoo (even J and I washed our hair with the shampoo because if one person in a family gets lice in their hair, EVERYONE must be treated for it), I was still able to prepare four vegetable dishes for the week. Not bad, I say.

S being S, was VERY upset that she had lice in her hair. I explained to her that it is very common in school age children and is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I had just recently read an article that mentioned lice love a clean head (I did. I swear!) So anyway - she continued to mope around and be generally glum. Then she came to me and asked me if she could Google "lice". I helped her find a kid-friendly article on the hows and whys of getting lice in one's hair and she felt a lot better after reading those articles. In this respect I feel she is like me - I have to have all possible details of any such situation that I might be in. i am glad to report that everyone in the Kay household is lice-free now. And that we will repeat treatment in 7 days just to be sure.

Afterwards, as a courtesy, I called a friend of mine whose daughters ride the bus and play with S, to warn her about the lice and to tell her to make sure her daughters didn't have it. She then told me that she had already treated them TWICE for it and in all probability S caught it from her daughters. It left me wondering if it was too much for me to expect her to call me and inform me so I could take appropriate precautions? I definitely would have appreciated a heads up from her. But anyway - I am sure she didn't hide it on purpose. I think, we Indians associate so much stigma with lice infestations (I remember a friend of mine made fun of me when I caught lice once in my school days) that she felt I will judge her if she told me.

The best question came from my mom when I told her of the "lice saga". She asked "Do you have lice in the US too?" Very innocently. Another funny question I have been asked in the past being - "Have you grown fairer after going to the US?" Upon asking why would that happen, I was told "क्यूंकि अमेरिका में सब गोरे होते हैं" (Because every one in America is fair). I had to remind that person that there are black people in America too :P

Month 7 - Catching up 2

Month 7 came and went. So did months 1 to 6, for that matter. And it happened in a blink. I didn't even notice the 7th month whizzing by. It was also my parents' last month with us here. A month when M started daycare. A lot happened, but it is all a blur.

In short - my parents are back in India, M has started daycare and we have settled into our new routine. Our lives are hectic-er. But I also derive a pleasure from being able to handle it. I am not a morning person, but getting up early helps me get everywhere in time and I love it. I and S drop M off at the daycare at around 8:10 am. Then get to the bus stop by 8:25 and wait for the bus there. That gives us about 20 minutes to chat and listen to our favorite songs. WAIT!! This post was supposed to be about M!

So, she got THE WORST stomach bug as her Christmas gift from the daycare. She started going there on Monday, December 17th. Tuesday and Wednesday went fine. Thursday, she threw up the squash my mom fed her in the evening. But she kept the milk down, so we didn't think much about it. Friday, she threw up her lunch and dinner. And had severe diarrhea. But she wasn't throwing up, wasn't running a fever, was not dehydrated and was active and happy so we didn't worry about it much. But it got worse before it got better. Her diarrhea worsened but we got through those days with the help of Pedialyte and my friend Y's homeopathy remedies. She has lost a lot of weight but I am sure we can build her up again :) Oh, she is up to three solid meals a day now. And one of the care providers at her daycare told J that we should start giving M the toddler crackers because picking that up will build up her hand-eye co-ordination and also teach her to chew. She loves eating so it all works out for us!

This was the month when M cried to see me leave for work for the first time. It happened a mere 4 days before the day she started daycare. She even cried the first few days at the daycare but now she doesn't. She eats and drinks her milk there. But she doesn't (or can't) sleep there probably because she has been thoroughly spoiled and is used to sleeping in pin-drop silence. But I am sure she will learn to sleep with babies crying all around her when she is tired enough. Until then, mom and dad are enjoying full night's sleep every night. She goes to bed at 8 and doesn't wake up until 5:30 or 6 am! (There! I am sure I have jinxed it now :P)

And she is still a lazy bum. She turned over today while I was dressing her in the morning. So I know she can do it. But she doesn't want to. Oh well. Who am I to complain? It is easier for me - I don't have to run after her. Counting my blessings here! She has started toppling over in an effort to reach for things though. I think she might be getting ready to try to crawl. We need to baby proof the house before she does.

She even saw her first snow this month. And she sat mesmerized in her walker in front of the window. It was a funny sight! Unfortunately, I was rushing out the door so couldn't click a picture. But I'll always remember that scene. I'll always have that memory.

Playing catch-up: 1

There are a lot of updates and tags to catch up with. Sometimes it feels all I am doing is playing catch up with things that need to be done. So, I am starting a "Catch-Up" series of posts. These are events that I have been meaning to record on this blog, but haven't had the time to. Like Halloween of '07.

I love Halloween. I comapre it to Holi for the fun factor. Yes, I love Holi too. And it has been almost 13 years since I played it :( Anyway - that's material for another post. So, I was saying...

I love having a carved, candle-lit pumpkin on the doorstep. I love the decoration many people put up. I love to stock up on candies for kids when they come "trick or treating". And I love to see their faces light up when I tell them they can take as many candies as they wish. Yes - even teenagers'.

This year, obviously, was extra special. We had one more costume to worry about. One more trick-or-treat bag to carry :D This year, like last year, we went to a near-by condominium complex with a friend and her family. Her daughters are the same age as S and go to the same school too. This complex is special in that many residents there put up special decorations for Halloween and enthusiastically distribute candy to all trick-or-treaters knocking on their doors. So many people come there that special police presence is arranged, the entrance is blocked and only pedestrians or residents can go in.

This year we had a Harry Potter, a doctor, a Witch-bride and a Tigger in our group. The grandparents accompanied us too and were busy clicking pictures. All had a great time. And since it is also S' birthday, we came back and then S cut a cake. The friend had brought cupcakes because she thought I might have not had the time or chance to get a cake for S. These are the kind of friends I am deeply thankful for.

Here are a few pictures.

TIGGER!!

Tigger's Poonchh!

Witch-bride

BLACK!! Nailpolish :D

Pumpkin

M had a great time I suppose. She didn't cry even once in her costume. We did pay extra attention to the comfort factor of the costume and comfort was the only reason why I chose Tigger over a beautiful Lady-Bug costume. I liked the Tigger costume too but the Lady-Bug was VERY eye catching.

As the picture says it all - S was allowed to paint her nails black this year. This small permission made her extremely happy! When I took her to Party City to shop for her costume, and allowed her to add a few accessories (nail polish, black artificial roses), she was giddy with excitement and kept thanking me. Occasions like these make me wonder if she sees me as "Cruella DeVille" and if that is why it makes her extremely appreciative of these small permissions I grant her. No?

A new nick name

that J came up with for M is "Gram Panchayat" (Village Panchayat) because she is so much interested in what others are doing :P

Long overdue updates

I have been lagging behind in recording all the happenings in Mitthi Mouse and Ninni the Pooh's worlds. Now I have forgotten half of them. I never was the "record-it-all" kind of mother. I rejoice when the milestones are met, mention them to anyone who cares to ask about my two rays of sunshine but almost never remember to head over to my blog and record them. Oh well...

**Randomness alert! The following updates are going to be random - not necessarily in the order they happened. **

M is sitting up unsupported. She has been doing that for quite some time now. And she is pretty good with maintaining her balance. The lazy bum that she is, she still hasn't rolled over :D I guess since we are doing her work for her (in helping her sit up) she is not worried about learning some of the basic skills. Moreover, she still doesn't like tummy time so that might be one reason why she hasn't rolled over yet.

I think I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts that she is also trying her hardest to sit up - but since she hasn't learned to roll over, she just wants to sit up in one go. No "rolling to her side and then slowly propping herself up on her hands" (like S did) for her! This is one dame in a hurry to get things done :P She IS getting strong ab muscles in the process and each day she moves her shoulders a tiny fraction higher than the last time. So I guess she might just sit up one day without any forewarning! I am worried that it might happen in the middle of the night and the only way we will know about it is when we'll hear the "THUD" of her falling off her crib. Yes. Me and my active imagination :D

M is also using her walker like a pro! She has been mobile in it now for quite some time and has gained confidence in maneuvering it in the tightest of spots. It is hilarious to see her follow us around the house. She does this "flapping her hands in the air and pushing with her tummy" to navigate the walker around corners and to turn it around! She learned all this on her own for one reason, and one reason only. She has lazy and cruel parents who just watched and laughed when she got stuck on corners and in tight spaces. We didn't move even a single muscle to go help her out. So she had to learn fast!

With her increased mobility, we have to be on a lookout for potential "slobber alerts". If she sees anything hanging at her eye level, a jacket on the back of a chair for instance, she rushes to it and tries to put it in her mouth WITHOUT USING HER HANDS! I told you she is a lazy bum of a baby. Not an iota of extra effort for anything. Just enough to get things done with the minimum movements of limbs seems to be her goal.

She is also eating 2 meals a day now. She loves the cereal and the carrots and the peas and everything else she can put in her mouth. Green Beans give her gas and make her VERY uncomfortable. So we have decided to re-introduce beans later. I haven't been able to cook much for her though and that thought nags at me. I would love to feed her more home cooked meals. I need to get more organized to do that.

Another thing she has taken up recently is shrieking. If she is tired, or wants something, or if she is just plain bored she'd go "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE". Then it is up to us to decipher what exactly is the request here. So a typical scene goes like this-

M: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Grandma: You want me to pick you up? Come here.

M (Now in grandma's arms - clawing at her face): EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Grandma: No? You don't want to be held? Do you want to go on your activity mat then?

M (now laying on the activity mat): EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Grandma: Do you want a toy?

M (with a toy in her hands): EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Grandpa: Maybe she wants a diaper change.

Some one - Grandpa, grandma, mom, dad - checks her diaper after that and changes it if needed. If that was the true reason for the shrieks, M stops. Or sometimes she decides to start shrieking for something else. So we keep on trying different things to stop the d**n shrieking and M keeps upping the volume. Then sometimes J decides enough is enough and grabs her, bundles her up so she can't move her arms or legs and sings her to sleep. Then we realize that she wanted to sleep all along.

Sometimes, instead of shrieking, she grunts. The sound is then "UUUUUUUUUURNNNNNNNNNNNNDTTTTTTTTTTTTT".

Another thing she has just started doing is keeping tabs on everyone and everything that goes on in our house. So no matter what she is doing - drinking her formula, or trying to sleep - she HAS to check out every one that comes into or leaves the room. Last night was J's turn to wake up with her in night and while he was feeding her, she kept turning around to look at the sound-asleep me :) J says that made the task of putting her back to bed extra difficult because she really wanted to make sure that mommy was asleep and not just pretending to sleep! He finally had to do that bundle-her-up-and-don't-let-her-move-an-inch thing again :D All I could hear was a wail getting louder by the minute and daddy's lullabies matching the volume of the wails :P I drifted off to sleep with that "pleasant" sound filling my dreams :D But that did the trick, I am told, and M finally went to sleep.

Diwali happend too and that is when we found out that we have a social animal in the midst of us! M just LOVES company. She had been crying non-stop until we reached a friend's house for our Diwali get-together. We step into their house and all everyone else gets to see is a happy, smiling baby! Not a peep out of her all the time we were there. The moment we left their driveway the crying resumed and didn't stop until I plugged her mouth with a bottle and she went to sleep drinking her formula :D

Now on to the big sister.

S went to her first swim meet this year (not counting the one she went to in April when she participated in just one event) We were excited. J took her to the meet and I followed after completing a few chores. Seems like mommy and daddy were the only people excited about this meet. S spent the whole day with a long face. She was tired, she declared. She really was. Try to picture this - a tired kid doing a 100 m freestyle swim. Watching her do it was like watching one of those slow motion scenes in a Hindi movies where the lead actress is swimming neck to neck with her rival and they are inches away from the finish line. Only, here it was a very tired S and no rival and no neck-to-neck competition happening. I was VERY proud of her when she finished that event - because it is pretty damn difficult to even get going when you are dog-tired, let alone finish. I think it was the fact that she wasn't swimming very fast that was dragging S' spirits down. I tried to explain to her over and over that I DON'T care if she is first or last in an event as long as she is making her best effort and is having fun. Finally I gave up and left her alone. And then I couldn't help wondering if we were unduly pushing our daughter into something she didn't want to do. Agreed she loves swimming and begged us to enroll her in swimming but it was on our insistence that she tried out for the swim team.

So, we somehow got through the meet and then came home. J had already left leaving me with S. On our way back, I talked to S about her behaviour that day. I told her that we didn't want to push her into the swim team if she didn't want it and that she can opt out and go back to regular swimming lessons if she wants. She insisted that she wanted to be on the team and that she enjoyed it. By the time I drove into our driveway I was on the verge of tears and just sat in the car and started crying. I don't know why the tears spilled - it was probably the mad rush that we had been in since morning topped with S' attitude. Seeing my tears S got very upset and tried to console me. I told her that I NEVER wanted to push her into anything EXCEPT in education and matters of health. All I wanted was for her to have fun doing whatever she opted to do. I told her that I didn't mind if she didn't want to stay on the swim team - that she can go back to regular swimming lessons if she finds swim meets very stressful. She assured me that she likes being on the team for the umpteenth time. And she even said "You are a very good mommy. You are not pushing me into anything" or something to that effect. All in all, I and S had a heart-to-heart talk out in our car on the driveway. S promised not to behave that way again in the next swim meet and she kept the promise. In the next swim meet, which was on the weekend before Thanksgiving, she was in a cheerful mood and didn't whine about "having to do it". Another reason for the absence of whining was that I had earlier told S it was her choice - she can easily drop out of the swim team if she doesn't like the early morning swim meets. I guess that made her realize that we are not forcing her into anything and the only way she can continue this is if she wants it. And that no whining on the matter of not being able to sleep in will be tolerated :P

So the first swim meet that S participated in turned out to be very different from what I had always imagined it to be but it still was a good experience.

S has started showing some signs of puberty and I talked to her pediatrician about it. I wanted help on how to discuss puberty with her. I myself entered puberty pretty early (I don't exactly remember but I think I got my first period when I was 10 or 11 years old) and I still remember how scared I was when that happened. It was because my mom had not had a chance to discuss this with me before it happened and even after it did, she just told me the basics very matter-of-factly and the rest I had to figure out by myself. I don't want S to go through that alone. Her pediatrician has recommended that we see a pediatric endocrinologist who can make sure her hormone level is normal and that she doesn't start puberty too early because it would stop her from reaching her full height/growth potential. I didn't know that and I am glad I brought up this issue with the pediatrician. So we are seeing a pediatric endocrinologist on this Friday and I hope she will have some useful information for us.

Academically S is doing wonderful. So says her teacher. We had the first parent-teacher conference on November 1st. For the first time in all these years, S wasn't a nervous wreck before the conference. I hope it is because I have finally been able to get it across that if she fails in a subject, we won't disown her. We will, instead, try to help her understand that subject better. The teacher says S is very good in math (and she said that with a surprise), and her writing skills are very good. That surprised ME because till last year her teachers had been telling us she needs more work in that area. Guess the "more work" has paid off! S got a "C" (for "consistent") or an "O" (for "outstanding") in most skills that she was tested on. Specially in physical fitness, she got mostly "O"s which is good because her teacher told us that the Physical ed teacher didn't hand out many "O"s this year.

We also asked the teacher to help her participate in other activities around the school in order to help her develop a rounded personality and not just become a book worm. The teacher suggested that she can try being on the editorial board. S like the idea too so in January, she will try that out. S has also started going to the Kindergarten classes (another of her teacher's ideas) to read books to the little kids. This is helping her with her reading skills and the little kids love it when an older kid comes to their class to read to them. S enjoys doing that too.

I took M to S' class one day in October after her teacher had sent me many pointed reminders :D S loved being the MOST IMPORTANT PERSON in the classroom (because M had eyes only for her and she even got to hold the baby!) and M loved all the attention. Mommy loved all the compliments she got for the beautiful baby and the beautiful big sister :P

S has continued with violin lessons at school this year and with Piano lessons too. She seems to be enjoying both. She cleared another level in math in KUMON and has been in the ASHR (Advanced Student Honor Roll) for quite some time now. Looks like she will make the "G by 5" milestone in Math too. That is when a student completes level G in KUMON math by (or before) 5th grade. S is on level F right now. Ain't I the proud mama? :D And that is so because S has achieved this without any POP (prodding or pushing) from us. In fact sometimes I wonder if she would have done better with some POP but then I remember that it wouldn't have meant anything then. At least not to me.

S surprised me with one thing a few weeks back. She has been learning dance moves to some Bollywood songs with a few friends and they sometimes present those dances in their school's "All School Meetings" where all kids are welcome to perform anything they are good at. The friend who has been co-ordinating these performances at the school signed up all the girls, including S, for a dance performance in a talent show that S' school was going to hold. S came to me in the evening and said she didn't want to participate in the dance because she wanted to share another talent (Piano) and they were allowed to present only one talent. I was surprised at the clarity and determination with which she put her "case" in front of me. For the first time she came out and told me what she wanted in plain terms, without whining. A big achievement, I am telling you! So I talked to the friend who let S off of the obligation and S did present her Piano piece at the Talent show. She chose her pieces, auditioned and prepared for them all on her own. I am very proud of you, S!!

Edited to add (before I completely forget): M has also been pulling herself up into a sitting position and then into standing up by grabbing our fingers. It has been at least a month since she started doing this. And I swear that we don't help her AT ALL (refer to the paragraph about lazy and cruel parents) so SHE has to do all the grabbing and pulling. As a result she is developing a very strong grasp! And shoulders :P

It worked. Really!

The idea of giving M cereal before bedtime so she'd be full and sleep longer? It worked!! I knew it would - but it still feels good to actually see it working :) At the same time we are now feeling bad that we kept her hungry all this time :D

Sunday night I had the longest, uninterrupted sleep in weeks. Whats more - M lovvvves the cereal! She gobbles it all up! Can't wait for me to fill up the spoon and bring it back to her :D And she even loves the water that let her sip on! What more could I ask for? A baby who loves her food and drink and sleeps most of the night - thats all!

Oh, and she is becoming chattier by the day! Last night, she woke up at 11:30 for her last feed of the day and was still wide awake after drinking up the milk and cereal concoction that I gave her, and more milk and a diaper change. And she was singing! She grabbed my chin and "sang" at the top of her voice. I didn't have the heart to interrupt her and waited for the song to finish. But another one started after this one - that is when J stepped in, scooped her up and "lullabied" her to sleep :P A good rest was had by all after that. NOT.

That was a curveball, wasn't it? Here I was raving about how M is sleeping through the night and all of a sudden she is not? Well, you see last night J made her cereal and fed her (I was away at a PTO Council meeting). He forgot that my instructions said "2 ounces of MILK + 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of rice cereal" and mixed 2 heaped teaspoons of rice cereal with water instead. M didn't like it and wanted to have nothing to do with it :P So he ended up giving her cereal from the bottle - which was again mixed with water and not milk. As a result, it wasn't filling enough for her and she woke up in 3 hours! But then we did give her milk+cereal then. She woke up again at 4:45 am and had another bottle of milk and then slept for another 3 hours or so - which is unusual. She wakes up in about 1.5 hours after her early morning feed. But all in all, at least M had a good night's sleep even if we didn't!

This baby of ours...

... is completely testing our limits of endurance.

She had started sleeping through the night pretty early - from 3 months of age. But now she is waking up every three hours after 12 am and WANTS TO PLAY AND TALK!!! Did that last night. Or should I say "this morning"? Poor dad stayed up with her from 3:30 am to 5:30 am. After that I took pity on him and took over :D Put her to bed in 8 minutes flat (yeah, yeah - all you supporters of J WILL say I got her when she was already tired but the fact remains that it was I who soothed her into a sleep :D). She woke up again at 6:30 am. I tell you - she is doing this JUST TO TEST OUR LIMITS!! Anyway, in Kay household these days, nana-nani's shift starts at 6:30 am. So I slept for another half hour after handing her ot my dad. I shudder to think what will become of us once my parents leave.

Before you start bashing me for sleeping soundly while my darling husband deals with the baby, I must tell you that we take turns taking care of her. So one night it's me and the next it is J and so on... Last night happened to be "his night". Hopefully, she will be so tired tonight that she will sleep straight through!

So, anyway - I think she is waking up so often because maybe she is hungry. So, starting this weekend (means tonight), I am going to give her cereal just before bed. Hope that'll hold her for the whole night.

Last night, when J was up with her - or lets say when M was up and J was sleeping with M in his lap, she kept looking at me (I opened my eyes just a "leetal" bit to see who she was speaking with) and calling out to me!! I think she has decided that I will be her playmate during the night. Maybe it is because of that "SuperMom" cape I wear that she thinks I can go without ANY sleep for 3 years in a row! I think I'll hide the cape tonight :D

Here you go...

She's mobile now!

We put Ninni in a walker a few days back. This is something I never thought I'd do because I am dead against walkers for babies. (This walker was given to us by a friend, otherwise we wouldn't have purchased one) But she was quite miserable in our arms and didn't like being on the activity mat all day so we thought we'd just put her in the walker for a few minutes and see if she liked it. She is already trying her BEST to sit up so we thought she'd like being in an upright position. Boy! She loved it! She accidentally pushed with her legs and the walker moved backwards. I loved the look on her face! She seemed amazed that she could move on her own :D So she kept doing it and eventually went all the way back and got stuck against the wall. That irritated her. "Here I finally figure out how to move on my own and I am already being hindered??". So we heard a few whiny protests. J picked her up and turned her around. She began pushing again until she reached the opposite wall. Whine. Pick up & turn around. Push. This went on for about 10 minutes or so. Good, clean, family oriented entertainment :P Then she got tired of it and wanted to come out. We haven't repeated it since. Maybe over the weekend. Unfortunately the pics are still in the camera. Will put them up soon.

Now about her efforts to sit up. This little girl is determined to sit up. Any time we prop her up against her Boppy or lay her down on a soft surface (like our bed), she hunches her sholders, balls up her hands into tiny fists, brings them close to her chest, brings her head forward and tries to sit up! Well, if it doesn't work, she will still get abs of steel :D So, Go Girl!!

Lately, mommy dear has found her "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" - Ninni blesses her with big, wide grins throughout the evening (and night). As I mentioned earlier, no matter what I did, she wouldn't smile at me. NEVER. But then last friday I was stuck in traffic and didn't get home until after 9:30 pm. I guess that day she must have thought mama ran away and when I finally came back she decided to throw these smiles my way to keep me from running away again :D

We changed her formula on Sunday and it seems that the new one suits her better. She isn't spitting up as much as she used to and isn't uncomfortable after her feeds like she sometimes became earlier. So, YAY!

Month Four

I am so running behind in everything that I need to post. I have a lot of tags to finish. I have lost track of things I've been tagged for. I also have to complete a post on how/why KUMON works for us that has been lying in my drafts for a long time. But first, it is time for Month 4 update.

Actually, I don't remember much. I have decided that, from now on, instead of doing a monthly post I will post about events as and when they happen and just label them by the month that we are in. Anyhoo - this is the last monthly post.

Sometime during this month, Ninni started turning to her side. She doesn't do it that often even now. As I mentioned earlier, she tries something new for a few times and when she is satisfied that she has mastered that skill, she just gives it up for something new :) So, she turned to her side for a couple of days and then lost interest in it. Also, our persistence paid off this month. Ninni HATED being on her tummy. But we would still give her some tummy time everyday and she'd spend it miserably. Then one day she discovered..... the IDIOT BOX!! Yes, as much as I hate kids and babies watching TV, both my daughters love it :D I think they got the "TV Watching" genes from both their grandfathers - J's and my dad :D Now this double whammy of genes is something that I can control, but can't wipe away altogether. So, this time I decided to use it to my advantage. I gave Ninni her tummy time in front of the television one day. Then her sneaky nana-nani also did the same the next day. And the next. And the day after that too. Slowly she started enjoying her tummy time and then we eliminated TV from this equation and she didn't even realize it!

We did have a lot of fun for a few days observing her love for the idiot box though. I would turn it on while playing with Ninni and then block her vision whenever she turned her head towards her. She would just go crazy trying to get a peek! She would contort her body (and neck) in every possible way just to get a peek at the screen. Yes, I know I am a very cruel momma :P

Around this time she also started enjoying her daily morning sessions on the activity mat. We have fixed the mirror on the top so Ninni can see herself when she is on the mat. She looks at herself and coos incessantly, this narcissist baby! One day, I decided to have some together time with her on the mat so I lay down beside her. She looked at me in the mirror, then turned her head to look at me and then looked in the mirror again. I think it confused her to see "two" of me :D

One milestone for the big sister was that she picked up Ninni UNASSISTED!!! for the first time!! And another milestone was for nana who successfully put Ninni in bed for her nap ONCE!! :D And I think this was the month when Ninni finally convinced nana to change her diaper :P (Till now nani, mommy and daddy had been doing the dirty work!)

One final thing to happen in this month was Ninni's 4 month checkup which was scheduled just 2 days before she completed 4 months. She got slammed with FOUR shots, poor thing! Apart from that, everything else was fine. The doctor was even very happy with her weight gain. I think I never mentioned it but Ninni was in just the 5th percentile of weight when we brought her home. Now she is in the 50th percentile. In the doctor's words - "The weight gain has been phenomenal". So mommy is happy. And keeping her fingers crossed. And touching wood everywhere she can find it :D

The doctor said that though he recommends that we start her on solids only after six months, he will leave the final decision upto us. Since we had already made up our minds about starting her on thin soups by the time she was 4.5 months old and then solids by the time she turns 5 months or so, I told the doctor our intentions. I have to say I wasn't expecting the way he reacted. He was COMPLETELY COOL WITH IT!! I told him this is what we did with our older daughter and she has the best eating habits in all the kids I have seen (and I believe it was because we started her off pretty early - and because of the varied food I gave her. More on that in another post). He asked me what is the rate of food-related allergies in Indian kids to which I replied that I don't have concrete data, but I rarely heard of any kids with food allergies back in India. He nodded as if my answer proved some unspoken theory of his. Or maybe it was my imagination :P

So, this is it. I am eagerly looking forward to starting Ninni on solids. With Mitthi, I made sure she got a variety of food, and something from all food groups every day. I am worried that this time it might be a little difficult because when Mitthi was small, I was at home and had all the time to cook nutritious food for her. I don't want to give Ninni much store-bought baby food. I believe home-made is the best. Also, home made will be closer to what I cook for our regular meals and thus there will be a greater chance that Ninni, like Mitthi, will develop good eating habits. Here's hoping that happens...

First taste of something other than milk...

We started Baby M on thin, watery soups today. The first one was simple "daal ka pani" (water in which lentils have been boiled). The daal was "Masoor dhuli" (Red lentils). We had been thinking of starting her on this for a long time now - ever since she turned 3 and a half months old. But something or the other kept preventing us from doing it. Then, a few days back, my dad said not to do it since it was the "Shraddh" season. Now, I am a non-believer. But over the years I have changed a lot in this respect. Even though I don't believe in all this stuff, I do respect other people's beliefs. So I waited until today.

It was a vey simple, totally non-ceremonious event. I am not one for ceremonies. I mean, I do love celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, but that is about it. So we simply boiled some lentils and in the afternoon everyone took turns feeding Baby M. First it was mommy's turn. Then Daddy's and then big sister's. Then Nani and Nana took their turns. And then we found out that Nana, who had been manning the camera, had only taken pictures of Baby M and completely eliminated the person feeding her in every single picture :D Since we thought it will be quite difficult, 6-7 years from now, to recognize each person just by the picture of their hand, we went again. This time Nani took pictures :P

Oh, by the way, Baby M loved the soup!!

Note: Pics will follow soon. I need to download them onto my laptop.

Months Two and Three

Month two and three flew by and we didn't even notice! We were too busy dealing with a fussy infant who only wants to sleep. Even when she is hungry. So she keeps whining in her sleep but if we wake her up to feed her, she raises hell!! And I told you before - she can scream like no one's business :D A LOT happened in these two months and I didn't get a chance to write this long-overdue post for various reasons. So, I am combining the two updates in one post. Hope this doesn't become a trend in my blogging habits.

We were paid a visit by the Cradle Cap fairy too. Had the two month visit to the doctor's office and she got her first shots then. Boy, was she pissed!! THREE DAYS - thats how long it took the Royal Highness Baby M to calm down and be her regular self again :P

We also took Baby M to the temple for the first time. Sorry, no pics. We forgot to take the camera along. But I do have other pictures to share. Baby M also visisted a friend's home for the first time. This was her first long-distance trip. We managed fairly well, the baby and I with all the nursing-feeding-pumping routine even though it was a little tough.

Things were fairly quiet in the second month but when we crossed the two-month mark and stepped into the third month- that's when things began heating up. Mainly because momma had the eventuality of going back to work hanging over her head. The time just flew by and momma got lazier by the day!

Maternal grandparents arrived on August 14th. things got more hectic but also more fun because now there were more people to share Baby M's antics with. Sometime this month we were blessed with that first smile. And Baby M discovered something just a few days ago - that she can use her leg - YES, LEG!!! - to kick the rattles hanging off the arm of her rocker. She smiled a little smile, kicked the rattles very tentatively at first, then a little more deliberately and then forgot about it! She hasn't repeated that ever since. I am glad I caught that the first time. She also discovered her hands - briefly. Just brought her fists close to her eyes, examined them for a few moments and then moved on to kicking her legs like that never happened. I had told S big stories about how, when M discovers her hands she will keep squinting at them for minutes at end again and again. Nothing of that sort happened. This girl just discovers things, takes a brief interest in them and when she has determined it is something "normal", she moves on.

She has started sucking on her fist, yes the entire fist, in this past month. No matter how many times we try to pry it out of her mouth, it is back in there as soon as our back is turned! The hungrier she is, or the more upset she gets, the harder she sucks. Then there are days when she doesn't put even a finger in her mouth. Maybe she is going to cut her first tooth soon? S cut her first tooth when she was 10 months old and I was hoping same would be the case with M becasue by then S' eating habits were pretty well-developed and we didn't go through the hunger-strike phase during the teething process. We'll see how it goes this time.

This month M caught the first infection. My! What a crappy milestone to reach!! Thankfully it wasn't that bad. She had a bad cough and was spitting up thick mucus. That too, on my first day back at work (September 4th)! There is this Universal Rule it seems - no mom can go back to work without something going wrong during the first 2 days. Even if the past three months have been pretty uneventful. We started M on homeopathy medicine immediately and within hours her temperature was down to 98.7 (from 100), coughing had reduced a lot and she wasn't spitting up mucus anymore. By the time I took her to the pediatrician's the next morning, she was a lot better. She is a lot better now, getting her appetite and her strength back. And she can scream again! For the past couple of days, when she cried, it was just a tired wail and I had started to miss her screaming! Now we are back in business :D

At the pediatrician's office, when the nurse came in to check her weight and to take the details about her condition, M kept flashing the nurse a BIG smile every few seconds. I have never seen her smile so much at us! In fact she NEVER (well, almost never) smiles at me or J. I think she figures we are stuck taking care of her anyways and she needs to smile only at those people who might come in useful someday :P Like the nurse - when it is time for the next shots. Maybe if M smiles at her enough, the nurse will jab the needle in mommy instead of M?? Hmmm....

She has begun liking her rides in the baby carrier now. J goes around with M in the baby carrier and she sits there, royally watching over the rest of us. When she was sick, she even took a nap in it when she had been very restless throughout the day and hadn't slept at all. We bought a sling for her first but she didn't like it from the beginning. I have carried her in it a total of one time when I put her in it, rocked her to sleep and went for a walk. As soon as she woke up, she screamed her head off to be let out of that prison! The sling lies in a corner now. Maybe I'll give it another try a little while later. Then we bought this and she seems to be happy with it.

Almost at the end of month three, I had a case of Mastitis. Talk about irony! Here I am, pumping like crazy to squeeze whatever amount of milk I can and I get clogged ducts! The lactation expert said it seems like my body was making more milk than I realized. Hmmmm, really?? 'Coz I didn't see it. Not even when I pumped and then hand-expressed that 1.25 ounces of milk from BOTH breasts. And expressing by hand gave me tendonitis in the right hand (that is what the pain my wrist was - just figured it out :D) It was so bad that I couldn't even bring my fingers and thumb together to eat food. Believe me, I have a new-found respect for the opposable thumb. And I am sure glad our ancestors developed them! Because I just found out how tough things are when you done't have one :P

S is enjoying her big-sister role more and more. Specially now because M has started responding to S' baby talk with smiles and coos. Yes, that is another little development. She coos. And when she sees a prospective "baby-carrier" she starts flailing her arms and legs in a frenzy as if asking to be picked up!

So, now I am back to work, and S is back to school. J's life is less crazy than before - just a "leetal" :D With the crazy woman that he has for a wife, it couldn't be completely normal, could it?

NOTE: I might add to this post if I remember something that I have left out of the updates. I am sure I forgot something.