Looking back.. more of Chinipie's 5th and 6th months

I have been itching to this post since such a long time, but somehow all my posts either lay word to word in my mind (yeah! most of the times, I have them done completely in my mind, but never get a chance to pen them down) or as unpublished(I had started this post on 4th of Nov), half-written posts and then time flies by and a layer of dust gathers over them making them deep buried in the piles of posts to be done or just making me forget completely what I had wanted to write. Many a times, I just lose the context as to why I wanted to do a particular post. I, sometimes, feel that I should have chosen compiling a baby book instead of doing a blog as it would have been so much easier. I have no clues as to why I am not able to blog each and every activity/milestone of my Chinipie, when I ravish them so much and find myself so lucky to be able to enjoy being with her 24x7, reveling in each cute little act of her and thoroughly thoroughly enjoying my motherhood.

On 30th October, Chinipie turned 6 months old. I had planned to throw a half party for her or at least have a little celebration with just the three of us- bake a cake and sing a little happy birthday song. But, DH had been so busy at his work and his work schedules made it impossible to have any of these things. I could have done the second one but it being a Tuesday (DH's fast), I scratched that option off and besides, I am not much into cutting cakes or blowing of candles. So, finally I just gave a little(?) peck on her cheek and wished her happy birthday, a silent celebration, a ceremony I have been doing for each month's birthday, every milestone and other special days related to her. But to make it different from her previous birthdays, I lighted a diya- something that long back I had promised myself I would do for my children every year, following our Indian tradition. Along with, I murmured a little prayer to God to fill her entire life with happiness.

Talking of silent celebrations, Chinipie's 5th and 6th months, marked two other. September was the month last year, when I had missed my menstrual cycle for the very first time(co-incidentally they made their appearance exactly after one year) and after I waited for them to make an appearance (as sometimes they get delayed), trying not to get hopeful so as not to face a disappointment later, I had taken the home pregnancy test and finding it positive immediately had asked DH to fix an appointment with an ob-gyn and couldn't wait for that day to confirm my new-found happiness. The lab tests at the doctor's office had confirmed my pregnancy but the doctor had asked us to come back two weeks later in order to have a real look at our "maybaby". You can read about it here. As we congratulated each other and were stepping out of the doctor's office, I had asked DH to take me out, just to commemorate the day. He had promised to take me out on the weekend, which he did but with a whole bunch of other people. That was the first time that I had a little talk with my little baby, telling her how much I love her and how eagerly I am waiting for her. And as I remembered those days, I took a moment and had a little talk with her again this year, thanking my Chinipie for making me a momma and for bringing so much joy and sunshine in my life!

Chinipie has achieved a number of milestones this month and I feel bad about not noting them all here in my blog. She is growing up so fast that sometimes, I want the time to stop just to have her cuddled up next to me for some more time. Every time I do the laundry and find her clothes getting bigger in size, a strange feeling of delight and sadness overcomes me - delighted because it makes me look forward to her next stage, her next act and I plan to dress her up in more beautiful clothes the next time(yep! after all baby girls are so much fun to dress up) and sad because it makes me think of the day when she would be a grown up and no longer want me to hold her and cuddle her up next to me and would argue with me (the way I did with my mom!). Sigh!! Anyways, clock I can stop not and fate I can write not. So let me capture her days of growing up, something to remember by when we look back.

Chinipie is one active baby and is growing very fast. In fact, this was what got her through her days of diarrhea. When on her paediatrician's instructions, we had taken her to the emergency at 3 o'clock in the night, the doctor on call had expected a weak and dull baby who has been suffering from diarrhea since past 4 days and was surprised to find a happy one instead who pushed him back with her tiny hands. I do not want to jinx her but come on, even adults would go pale after 4 days of constant and loose bowels and she was just a 4 months old then and yes, she had pushed the unsuspecting doctor back! Despite of her diarrhea, she didn't want to miss on her daily routine of the evening strolls and increasingly grew fascinated with the cars. She would look at each passing car and follow them with a quick turn of her head and ours being a huge apartment complex, there were a lots of them moving around in the evening to feast her eyes.

Cars do fascinate her but they do not make her squeal with delight and bounce as much as the toddlers and the younger kids do. When the autumn weather started to get windy making it impossible for me to take her out, I switched to remain in the lobby area of our building in the hope that a few passers-by would stop by and talk to her, thus satisfying her need to be social (i forgot to add that she is a very social baby and has much groomed manners too, about which i will talk later). She smiles in return to the people talking to her, but when she sees other children around, she bounces her stroller and sways her hands together in delight with a huge gummy smile and a very enthusiastic chirp. At times, she just watches them playing around and follows their each move keenly before jumping and having a belly laugh, a sure sign that she is enjoying herself.

She has definitely proved that she is a very social baby. She smiles to every person we meet in the elevator and I am sure her smile makes their day too! If we have guests at our place and she gets up in the middle of the night, even in her slumber, she manages to acknowledge them with a smile, and that too with an eye to eye contact before letting me know that she is hungry. And what a way to let me know. She wouldn't cry for hunger in front of other people; instead she just starts eating my chin up. Didn't I say she has very well groomed manners !?! This brings me to her communication skills too. In her 5th month, when she had diarrhea, she invented her own sign language to communicate whatever she wanted. For instance, when she had spasms in her stomach, she just took my hand and put it on her tummy, when her gums trouble her, she guides it towards her mouth and so on and so forth. Talking of her communication skills brings me to her speech development too. In her 5th month, it was 'p' and 'b' which would go like 'pooooaaaaa' and 'booooaaaaa' spitting all over us throughout the day and in her 6th month, she included 'm' in her vocab which would go 'amma' and 'mmmmm'.

Did I tell you she can very well communicate her emotions too now? When she is enjoying, she squeals, sways her hand like the butterfly stroke(yep! that's what it seems to me) and bounces up and down. And when she is bored and needs attention, she is very much capable of letting out a fake cry now! Can you believe it, a f.a.ke. cry??? I couldn't when I noticed it for the very first time. This happened somewhere in the middle of her 6th month. Usually when shez up and I have to cook I make her sit in the high chair pulled just at the entrance of the kitchen. This way I can talk to her while i cook and also at times, we play. On this particular day, I got involved in cooking and for a while stopped talking to her when all of a sudden, I heard a loud wail. I immediately turned to look at her, and you know what she did, she started smiling, with an expression of 'caught ya'! and went back to chewing her teether, keeping an eye on me at the same time!!

My little pincer can now use her hands very deftly. Her curious little hands are always busy, either trying to rake up some toys or transfer the objects from one hand to another or chewing up. She reaches and grabs for everything within her sight which sometimes makes it difficult even to dress her up as she would be lurching forward for her trousers, diapers, hangers, almost anything!

5th month saw her started to sit with support and by the end of which she could sit without support for 2-3 seconds. In the 6th month, she could stay without support for a bit longer before tumbling down, at times hitting hard on the floor. It used to be such a cute sight with her trying to balance her weight on her little bumchis before falling in any of the eight directions. If she is in playful mood, she wouldn't mind and continue gleefully with whatever she was busy with. If not, and if tired even the gentlest of fall would make her wail out loud, non-stop. Just a couple of days before she completed her 6th month birthday, she reached the important milestone of sitting without support. And after that she graduated to go on her tummy on her own will from the sitting position. She can also pull herself up to almost 70 degrees angle from the lying down position which obviously means that she can pull herself to a sitting position if her back is supported at a comfortable angle.

Chinipie became much more mobile in her 6th month. What started as a tiny rollover in her 4th month, has been perfected and she now spans the lengths and the breadths of our carpet by rolling over. I would leave her seated on the floor in our dining area to return from the kitchen just for a few seconds, neither to find her seated nor to find her at that place. She would have shifted over to some other place inches away from where I had left her. She absolutely loves this new-found mobility of her and drives me crazy when she spindles away from me, while I nurse her, and starts cycling her hands and feet, chuckling at the same time. Sometimes, I wait for her hoping to roll back to me to nurse and sometimes, I just pull her back to find her roll away happily again. She is becoming a handful when she turns and twists over while I massage her in the mornings (though she still loves her massage and bath). She follows me everywhere by just rolling over. I would be gone for a split of a second and when I turn back, I would find her right behind me, on her tummy, looking up at me with a gummy grin, expecting me to applaud her for this little feat of hers. Not that it's always a fun. There have been the not-so-happy and very teary moments too. At times, she would strike her head against the wall or on the floor. If she wouldn't be too tired or it wouldn't have hurt her much she would be okay with it and continue playing or else she would cry her lungs out. And there was this time, when in her sleep, she had rolled over and fallen on the floor. I had just gone to the restroom and forgotten to fortify with a pillow on the side and in her attempt to search for me(yep, she is used to sleep cuddled cosily next to me), she just fell off the bed. I could hear a thud and then a baaaahhhh and believe me to this day I have that sound ringing in my ears. After a full ten minutes of crying, she was okay but as soon as she stopped, I started. Why? Because I thought I was a very very bad mom. I am at home just for her and what's the whole point when still she would have to suffer? And, then for the fear if something would have happened inside the brain, and surface some time later only to know that because of me that occurred(yeah! that's me and that was all that was going on my mind then). Anyways, as usual she got over it after her bout of crying and it took me one whole week to get over it(?). Earlier in the day today, I was reading another mom blog and it is so funny that even she blamed herself for anything that happened to her son. I think it's one of the mom's things to feel the guilt and carry the burden in her head.

I never imagined that it would be so much joy to be with the babies. Almost anything can make them laugh. Believe me. She is in her high chair, I bend to take the veggies out from the refrigerator, She leans forward, I get up and she starts laughing, obviously making it a game of peek-a-boo. All by herself!! She is in the shopping cart at a store, I sit on my knees to read the ingredients on the packet at the lower aisle, She looks with a curious expression on her face, I turn to check if she is okay, she gives a belly laugh! Any time, anywhere, she starts this game and obviously, I follow the lead. At the stores, restaurants, parks, apartment lobby, laundry room, anywhere. Usually, many people who hear her laughter come running to see the baby who they heard laughing. I beam with pride, when almost everyday, people come up to me to compliment me for my baby and for raising a happy one too. I know all babies are special, nonetheless, my heart fills with utmost joy when people praise my baby. Yep! you can see me beaming right now!!

I will sum this post up with a few of Chinipie's favourites in her 5th and 6th months:

Favourite color: yellow and red
Favourite toys: anything within sight
Favourite nibbles: momma's cell, phone and keys
Favourite activity: rolling, gnawing hands
Favourite game: peek-a-boo


And here are some of the pictures of Chinipie's 6th month:




p.s. Do you notice her bare foot in last but one snap? It is because our little darling had pulled off one of her sock and had thrown it very royally at the mall. By the time, momma notices, it was untraceable.