A letter to tooth fairy

A letter to tooth fairy

Feb 7th, 2013, 10:30 a.m. to be precise, has to go down in history. For this is the day, my lil chinipie lost her first baby tooth. That very first tooth, upon slight sighting of which, at the baby-age of five and a half months, the mom had called almost everybody in her family n frens list with the very exciting news (yeah.. She was a young, new, and first-time mom). Chinipie is now five (and three-quarters) years old and has lost her first baby tooth and is super-excited about it. She even plans to show that tiny gap in her lower teeth line for the 'show-n-tell' at school tomorrow. She had drafted a very lovely letter to tooth fairy just before she went to bed. The tooth fairy a.k.a the dad was duly called and informed to get a gift and a chocolate to be kept under the pillow, albeit secretly.

We were not at all prepared for this milestone, you see. The said tooth has been (supposedly) wiggling for past one and a half year. Past two weeks, the whole family has been going crazy taking turns catching and dealing with the stomach bug and with the frequent trips to the 'john' we frankly hadn't bothered putting our hands in her mouth. This morning, chini being the latest stomach-bug-infected person had stayed home and was given a popsicle while mom had busied herself with all the buggy laundry (yes. mom is a freak. Let's not talk about her.) . So, with a load in washer, another in dryer, mom was busy folding the previous ones, when Chinipie came rushing with a minuscule thing in her hand, "see momma! See . See". As hateful a task, mom thinks folding laundry is, she just wanted to get done with it and at that point, didn't really wanted to get up again to go to another room to see anything. A bored mom looked up at her with a face saying 'I really can't see anything'. Chini said, " my first tooth. It came out. See!!" And then momma did see. That little tiny speck if red on her lower gum and that super-duper tiny tooth with another dot of red in her palm. That's when momma started jumping.  " oh my God! Chini! Yes! It did come out."

 " i can't believe it mumma"

 " i know. neither can I" 

" i am so excited. Now tooth fairy will get me a toy!"

" ahem yes"  apparently, in her excitement, momma had forgotten that part.

The letter

Dear tooth fairy

I was eating popsicle then I touched my tooth. I touched my gum, and I took the tooth out of my mouth. (Tooth is in a cotton ball.) Love:

P.s. Notice the tiny tooth she has made on the top? 

That's the tooth fairy with her tooth. Pretty, isn't it?

While Chinipie had been chirping excitedly, the whole day how she cannot believe this actually happened, the mom felt that little pang of sadness of losing those part of her little-baby. Apparently, her Chini has grown up so quickly an those little baby-teeth will soon be all gone. And gone will be her sweet little baby chini too. I know I am a hopeless case of emotional bundle.

Let's part with Chinipie's favorite tooth joke

Q: What is the best time to go to a dentist?  

A: Tooth-hurty (2:30)

:)  :)

Of ancient and alien momma

This happened, sometime in October too,  when Chinipie had just started skipping rope successfully and was rather proud of this milestone of hers.

How old were you when you started skipping rope?

I don't remember, honey. (Why did I say that? I could hv said anything. She had no way of cross-checking, after all)

Why? Why don't you remember?

B'coz it was a long time ago.

How long?

Many years ago.

You mean many many years ago?

Yes

It was such a long time ago that you don't remember now?

Yes

It's a very very very very very old story now?

Yes

It's an ancient story?

Huh?

That means you are ancient?

Hain???

Ancient like dinosaurs?

What??

Runs off upstairs to her dad, "Papa, did you know mumma is ancient?"

Dad looks up from his laptop, "Really?"

Ya. She told me that.

????!!!!!?????

Also, in October, once I had avacado face mask on when sugarbun had entered the kitchen.
 "Why is your face green? Are you an alien ?"
Runs off to her older sister, " didi ! look we have an alien momma! She came from the other planet in her rocket ship."

And ever since I have been an ancient alien momma.

Little League

That's right! Chinipie had her first official game today! Can't believe my little girl is already playing league games now! The day started with the team coach handing everybody out the team-shirts and hats (light blue color), followed by a parade with all the kids holding the team flag(had each team-members name written on it, pretty cool, isn't it?) and then the individual and the team photo-sessions. Chini was all excited for it as she had liked her team when we had gone for one practice session on the 9th. Additionally, when lined up for the parade, her best friend W. from school was spotted in the other team(his dad n coach had come to say hi to her). She is since hoping to play against him very often. The parade was a short one and she did good sitting with her team later and chatting with her coach, who patiently answered all her questions. Unfortunately, just before the photo session, she was hit by the ball on her pretty little nose and the poor thing had a forced smile in all the pictures. Still, her spirits were high and was ready to play the game two hours later.

For benefit of those, who are trying to make guesses what I am talking about, little league is non-profit Organization holding Local baseball games for the youth, starting with tee-ball for the littlest ones(5yrs old). It's a great way of imbibing team spirit and introducing the sports to young kids. Frankly, even I do not have much knowledge either about the sport or the game and am hoping to learn along with chinipie. It had all started with, we being stuck in the house for so long as I had cancelled their gymnastics classes post-acc. Chini had been really good and understanding all this While but recently started complaining about not going anywhere and on searching online, I came accross this and wasn't even sure, if she could be enrolled(as she is not even five yet). Still, I took a shot at it and exchanged a few e-mails with the league members and when they said, she could, I just went ahead and registered her even if that meant that I had pay the late fees and that I had the onfirmation email just a couple hours before the second(and the last) practice session.

Oh! In case I forget, there was a bake sale on the grounds, for which momma had baked banana and chocolate mini-cupcakes the evening before, but in all the rush to reach the field on time, had forgotten to take them along. Yeah! That's me! Ever so forgetful and always struggling to reach everywhere on time; at the same time, trying to fit in a lot of things in between!

Like between the morning session and the afternoon game was a birthday party. So, we were rushing, stopping and then rushing again. And all points go to chinipie for still performing so good at the game! Of course, her fren W. was there to cheer for her. And credit goes to sugar, too, for co-operating with us with all the running around. So the first game was over and done with!


Post game, we went to TSA to get her a new helmet, bat, glove, and all new baseball gear! And she's all set to swing her bat in the next game!! May be, catch a ball or two, too!!!

So Sugar goes to School!

And yes! you can close your mouth and wipe that look of surprise off your face! Even I didn't expect it to happen so soon after this. But I guess I saw it coming much before but refused to acknowledge. With sugar trying to pull her older sister out of the classroom, every time we went to drop her off.. with sugar refusing to enter the house afterwards, screaming No! I don't want to go home! as soon as the car halted before the door of our humble abode... with sugar jumping to her feet when I announced that it's time to go get didi..

And momma ooh'ed and aah'ed on the sisterly bond all this time!
Until, one day,
She just kept crying inconsolably. When everything other soothing effort failed, mommy decided to talk it out with her.
Sugar, kyun ro rahi hai? why is sugar crying?
Amidst her tears, she had replied I wanna go
Sugar library jaegi momma ke saath? Does sugar want to go to library with momma?
still hiccuping, NO
Sugar shopping jayegi Sugar will go shopping?
NO with another heartfelt bawling
Now, these were the options, which ought to cheer her up, usually. Not today, though. The only other option left was going to the park, which was out of question on that wintry morning.so, momma asked her again,
Sugar kahaan jayegi? Where does sugar wanna go?
School. uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnn

Mommy didn't even realize when her baby just grew on up her.
Not quite though. Before this surprise breakdown, momma had already enrolled sugar in two-day two's classes in the same school as chini and was waiting for the classes to start. Though, in truth, momma was still having the separation issues and was fooling herself in wondering how her oh-so-little-baby will handle in. While, in truth, it turned out that she was actually an eager-to-leave-mommy girl who just walked straight to her teachers with her own story to share. Without even turning back to say bye or even look at momma. Whereas the shocked mom was repeating insanely to the chuckling dad over and over and over again, she didn't even look at me. she didn't even look at me. Dad, still as happy as can be, said, Oh! I was never worried about her. Concerned for you, instead!?!?

Today, is the second week of her school and she goes only two days a week. The rest whole week, as her older sister gets ready, she keeps asking, where's my book bag? Where are my school shoes? Why are you not dropping me? Well, I did get greedy and tried to enroll her for two more days at least, but it turned out that there are only two-day classes at the current school for this age group. Am at loss, how to keep her busy the rest of the weekdays for the remainder of four months of this school year. Any ideas?

sugar on her first day to school

Another feather In the cap!

Another milestone achieved! It's official!

CHINIPIE READS!!!

And the momma is doing a little jig! Chini reads everything from books to magazines to to newsletters to titles to banners to traffic signs!!

Summers saw her reading short sentences with 3 to 4 words and now she can do the whole book, sometimes without any help! Of course, it shouldn't have too many multi-syllable words coz then she loses interest. Nevertheless, she surprises me! She can read those'step 2' learning to read books without any help! Now many a times, sugarbun goes to her, "didi, will you read the book to me?" And, sure enough, she does!

I still very vividly remember my 18 months old chini, sitting on the couch and turning the pages of a book with a "phii ka hua.. Then what happened". Must like her momma would do while reading her the stories and yes, I was trying to raise a bi-lingual chini. By two, she was looking at the pictures and recognized the albhabet. At three, she was doing the sight words, even spotting them hidden in the big words. Before her fourth birthday, she could read many other small words and most definitely could give you an impression that she read the whole book when in truth, she was reproducing it on memorization.

And now, She reads independently even before I get to read to her first! Woo hoo!

We are working on the writing too! She can write small notes like thankyou, happy birthday and even attempts to write a story once in a while but we don'tget beyond one sentence as she has to ask for each spelling and then she loses her patience. But we are getting there. Her handwriting is getting beautiful each day, most definitely! Even her drawing Is now so illustrative and clear and pretty.

Oh! I think I am just a doting mom and should stop here.

And yes, I have to share this morning's story:

As it's almost time for school and chini is still in the bathroom. I call out and ask her if her potty is done.
3 is done. 1 is left
What??
I finished reading 3 books and am about to finish the last one.
!?!! ;-)

Chinipie's growing years - a snapshot

Let me try to justify my blog by trying to capture as much as I can from my girls' growing years. By and by, as i remember, I will keep adding more. Here, I will like to call on all my friends and family who used to get regular updates from me.. either in person or on the phone or live action, do remind me about the episodes/incidents you recollect. Let's travel back to the memory lanes together..

Since chinipie was the reason to start the blog, lemme start with her and will do the next post on my sugarbun.

My absolutely delightful, lovable and charming Chinipie has grown to be a very sensitive, intelligent and too-mature-to-be a 4-yr old! As I said earlier, she loves everything pink, takes a delight in all that a little girl should and is very proud to be a four year old! She is an amazing elder sister, a very lovely daughter and a great friend to all those who are around her. 

Let's go back to from where I left.... my Chinipie had turned 1 in April'08. For records, she had taken her first independent step (i.e. w/o support) on April 17th .. time- around 5 p.m.. distance covered- from the center table to the couch.. number of steps- 2 to the arms of - waiting Momma; who of course made such a hulla-baloo about it. But then she never attempted it again until there was the an entire audience to cheer her up in the lobby of the apartment building we used to live in. This was about 7-10 days after her first birthday. By the end of May, she was such a cutesy toddler! Together, me and her, used to explore the nature.. jump into the water puddles, look at the crawling earthworms, the busy ants, the spinning spiders, the humming bees, the pretty flowers complete with the chirping birds! She used to love to look at the cars, air-planes, bikes! I remember, how she used to love to climb up and down on the steps outside of  our apartment lobby. I used to take a thrill in the silhouette of a mom walking with a happy, chirpy toddler holding her finger(this feeling is still alive though with my sugarbun)..

And yes, books used to be her all time favourite.. the first time she scribbled something, she was just 11 months old (I guess I must have saved this one.. will have to dig it out!). She wasn't speaking much then, but could explain everything to me - with her actions and a few words that she could.  The sequence of her initial word power was something like this.. 

ka - for car and for what

key - for key, of course

cow - for the animal cow, of course!

tie - for the dad's tie

then she had moved on to 

Baaaney.. for barney, her then fav

Paaani.. for water

Naaani.. for granma

Gaaani... for granny.. there was this 74-yr ol' lady on our floor, who my chinipie used to adore a lot and spent lots of time with.. 

And then, she had picked on frm there.. The first multi-syllable work she had spoken was 

naap -kin for napkin.... for a long time she used to pronounce a as 'aa' like an apple was always an 'aappu' for she couldn't say the 'l' and the 'u' sound if it came at the end... diaper was a 'daapu' coz again she couldn't do the 'r' and the 'u' sound...

Now that we are on to her Language building skills, there a few episodes that I remember..

At around 15 months of age, I used to ask her what does papa wear to office and she used to point to her neck and say 'tie'!

At around 18 months... during the apple picking season, she had amazed all her co-riders (dad's frens) in the car by saying 'tee' pointing to a tree!

At around 22 months, she explained to the librarian that her dad is at work.. 'Papa aapis. cum baak ening'!

In the same library event, I had made a teeny-tiny black and white soccer ball out of play-dough and she had sent the entire room to an uproarious laughter by showing to each and everybody that she had a 'soccu baoo' and then trying to kick it, in the event smashing it with her feet!

At around the same time, she had amazed my friends, by telling them that the flying object in the sky is not an air-plane but a glider!!

And before we knew, she had begun to speak short sentences a few days before she turned two!

... more to be continued.. lemme just bask in these memories.. can't tell you how I am feeling at the moment... as if the entire events are unrolling live in front of my eyes.... and my eyes - they added their own dewiness to these fond images...

Monkey see, Monkey do!

More aware of herself and more aware of people around her, Chinipie just loves mimicking the actions of those around her. If I lean forward towards her, she would lean towards me with a smile till our heads touch. Blow a kiss and she would blow it back. Smack your lips and she would smack hers, in turn. Wave your hand and she will wave hers. Blow raspberries and she will do the same. Laugh and she will laugh too. This becomes funny when DH and I are laughing over something, and she unknown of the conversation, just joins in and laughs!

She would be busy with her toys and I would be busy with my work and if I cough, a few seconds later I am sure to hear a 'ahe ahe ahe' across the corner. And when I look at her, she would repeat that cough with a huge smile on her face. I mimic coughing with a smile and for a few minutes, the whole house enjoys this coughing session (yeah! dad too joins in when he is around!). We have to be a little careful these days as she is actually coughing a lot, so in an attempt to mimic, she gets an original cough and with it all the food comes out too..

She enjoys somersaults. We, just, have to touch our heads to the bed and she starts doing the same. The difference is that in her case she lies down completely to do that. Then, she instantaneously does a somersault to touch her head again. Now a days, as soon as she gets on the bed, she starts rolling over with a chuckle to let us know that she wants to play this game.

She shares her food and drinks too. Whatever I try to feed her, with a smile on her face, she takes it from my hand and puts in my mouth too. And, if I act like I am eating it she feels immense proud that she can feed her momma.

She imitates not only actions but the emotions and moods too! I was surprised at her increased sensitivity and understanding when she had started crying seeing me cry. There was this incident, when I had put her to sleep, like a fool, in our bed instead of the crib and had gone out of the room. A few minutes later, her cries had drawn me to the room and I had found her sitting on the floor and crying. Both, DH and I, pacified her and she stopped crying after some time. But by then, I had started crying on my stupidity. Seeing my cry, she did too! No guesses, this had put a stop to my woes instantly.

These were some of the cute acts of my little monkey! Isn't she lovable?

Chinipie's Milestones

It's been almost 3 months now that I have given updates on Chinipie's milestones and believe me there have been so many that am sure I will not be able to recollect now. All of them are so important and have filled my heart with equal joy that I want to cherish those memories forever and to write down all of them. With each milestone she achieved, I made a mental note to myself to blog about it but, somehow, could never get down to it. Then, I assured myself that it's okay if I am not able to blog them for the most important thing is to enjoy the time with her and celebrate those milestones. And, i knew that I still have my memory buds alive and thriving so if I try hard, I will be able to remember them and write many a posts. So, here I make an attempt to write them all.. one by one may be.. and am sure if I am not able to cover all of them in this post, I will do that in the subsequent ones.

Mobility

Chinipie is surely growing confident and her hands and feet are putting a wider range of things (read all the things) in her grasps. She is surely mastering her motor skills and her mom and dad, I must add!

She has become a expert in pulling herself to a stand position and can take 4 to 5 steps with support. Though she is motivated to take this steps only on the occasions like
1. dad encourages her to walk towards mom sitting a few baby-steps away and then back to dad 2. she is standing in her crib and an object of her interest (mostly mom) is a little towards the side
3. she badly wants something which is in mom's arms exactly opposite to the side she is standing.
I am sure, it's only a matter of few more days and she would make me run around her throughout the day. I am really looking forward for that as I hope to shed some pounds consequently (I have lots of the pregnancy(?) weight on me, so to say). Yep, I have very high hopes.

Somewhere in her 7th month, when she had already perfected rolling over, she used to get on her fours but after that, she couldn't figure out what to do next and would cry until she was rescued from that position. Watching her do that, always reminded me of those Hum-Tum strips where Tum couldn't un-yoga himself from the difficult yoga poses. And, how much I tried to avoid, I couldn't stop myself from chuckling. Towards her 8th month, she was more comfortable on her fours and used to enjoy being on fours, though she could not move yet but she compensated by staying put on her knees and palms and rocking forwards and backwards with a smile. It seemed like she was enjoying this new-found activity of hers. Then on 11th of December, her efforts did bear fruits and she could move her hands and knees one by one and move ahead! This had happened after our routine morning massage, when I had left her sitting on the floor and went to the bathroom to prepare her bath. I came back to pick her up and as soon as I bent down I noticed that she was moving forward. Instantly, I moved back and encouraged her by stretching my arms and asking her to come to momma. She found this lucrative and with a chirp started crawling. It was a mix of creeping and crawling. Nevertheless, she made it to momma's waiting arms. I was so jubilant!! Now at ten and a half months, her crawl is no longer awkward but she has perfected it to match the speed of light.

She can deftly pull herself to stand grabbing hold of anything withing her arms reach. Usually it is my neck when I am squatting on the ground, sending a clear message to be lifted or my pajamas, and when she does that I have to think for a second whether the ones I am wearing had strong elastic or not before letting her do so..

Reaching Out

Chinipie is developing fine motor skills in her hands and her grasp is becoming evermore precise and her vision microscopic. She can easily beat any vacuum manufactured. Throughout the day, I have to be extra vigilant as her super microscopic eyes and fast fingers can pick the minutest of objects and find their way to her mouth. There are times when she makes momma jump with joy by using the sippy-cups and spoons for their intended use. And then, there are times when she insists on self-feeding and eats the pieces of fruits/boiled vegetables/crackers/cheese bites herself. I clearly remember the first time she had done this was just a couple of days before we had to leave for India. I was so excited that I had started boiling lots of bite size veggies for her and used to give them as an after-dinner dessert. And then, after I returned and she was starting to get better, she would open her mouth to eat only if there was something for her to self feed. I used to grab this chance to shove a few spoonfuls of cereal in her mouth. She, in fact, tried feeding herself water by putting her hands in a glass of water and was surprised when she could not grasp anything. Later she enjoyed playing with water and I had to take the glass away to minimize the mess.

Her combined use of hands and legs have made my days busier than ever as she rummages through my kitchen cabinets, shelves and refrigerator. I let her do so, even though it means extra work for me, for two reasons: one, I made sure there's nothing in those places that poses potential danger for her (and from her too, if you count out the merciless squeezing of tomatoes :) ) and two, I feel this satiates her natural curiosity and contributes to her development.
Her favourite play-things in kitchen are the colanders, baskets and empty yogurt containers. She loves putting things in and out of the colanders and baskets. Sometimes, they are used as hat and sometimes used for playing peek-a-boo. Yogurt containers keep her busy by rolling over and making her chase them. Speaking of empty containers, we can open a waste material recycling unit for my princess hates the sight of throwing them in the waste basket. They empty cereal boxes, juice bottles, jars are her favourite toys. If you have any of these you want to dispose, you can send them to us. We promise to make a good use of them by either rolling them, tasting them or eating their labels. We also love using them as drums or banging them together and always are happy to hear the various musical notes we compose.


Will be back with more updates on my little monkey.. till then have a wonderful time!

Another set of Chinipie's firsts..

Chinipie's celebrated her first Diwali on 9th Nov this year.

And guess what she gave momma as a Diwali gift?

Her first tooth!! yep! Just two days before Diwali, I could feel the sharp tooth on her lower gums while nursing her and when I looked harder, I could see a teeny weeny white tooth on the front left just beginning to make an appearance. No wonder that she had been so crabby for past one week. But now that she has cut her first tooth, the pain has eased and she enjoyed the Diwali pooja along with mom and dad. Probably, these would be one of the last few snaps I would click with her beautiful gummy toothless smile..

that's me in the back holding her... coz she had wanted to grab the diyas


with daddy just after the pooja..
dad had returned from work just in time for the pooja



Chinipie's first Snow..

Technically, the first snow was on 6th of Nov this year. It was a light drizzle and had continued almost throughout the day. That was the day when Chinipie had got her six months shots and was a little irritable, so had my hands full and could not capture any of the pics. Had bought her first snow suit that day though.

Yesterday, 15th of Nov, the morning saw a heavy snowfall and within half an hour, we had a layer of snow everywhere. Again, I didn't want to take risk of taking Chinipie out so just clicked a few snaps from our apartment window without her in the frame... for records.




Summers are long gone.. yet we could capture..

Chinipie in her first sunglasses..

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.

Chinipie's 5th month.. details

Chinipie's 5th month has been very busy for all of us with her shots, diarrhea, milestones and lots of activities. In my last post I had posted her pictures. Here's more details of her 5th months developments. Actually I had wanted to do individual posts for all these but I hardly find time these days.. So, have to be content with this summed up post. I hope to do detailed posts in future .. only if Chini allows me to.

The 5th month started with her first ever play-date. We had invited our friends for dinner and thought that it would be a good idea that they come over a little early so that both the babies (their then 11-month old son and Chinipie) would get to play with each other for some time. Now, both these infants do not actually play but somewhere along in our conversations, we had figured out that they love watching other babies/kids. Chinipie, in fact, chuckles a lot seeing other babies or toddlers or kids. I have noticed that in our daily strolls, whenever we come across other kids and she has watched them to her hearts content, she doesn't fuss much after returning home and instantly falls asleep. I figured it out that this is the best way to keep her happy and, therefore, am encouraged to take her out for her daily strolls (which she anyways make sure that I do!). I have been thinking of taking her out for the 'Baby and Me' classes that our local library holds every week. But, DH's hectic work schedule and my yet unskillful driving is abstaining us from doing so. I am practicing my driving but as I said, DH has been so busy with work that I do not get a chance to lay my hands on the car, leave apart being at the driver's seat.

Coming back to her play-date, the evening had turned out to be fun with both the babies looking at each other before actually trying to make friends. And to our surprise, Chinipie was the first one to extend a hand of friendship to this shy young man as you can see in the snap. Hmmm, DH says she is going to be as friendly as me. I take this as a compliment :) :)
She being a friendly baby, gladly went in everyone's arms and was more than glad to be played with. And because she was so little then, I guess she didn't mind me or DH picking another child in our arms either. She was happy to be around so many people and especially her little friend and at the end of the day just indicated that she was tired and peacefully nursed to sleep.

Another surprise and joyful delight she gave me on this particular evening made me a very proud mom.This was something, I wasn't looking forward to and was so instantaneous that it would have gone unnoticed. But as all the four adults were so much into babies that we ooh-ed and aah-ed over it! We were showing our guests her pictures and I had to fetch the albums. As every body was around (and she was not much mobile then), I had seated her on the sofa supporting her with cushions around. When I came back, I sat beside her and started showing her pictures as we talked. Chinipie just rested her back on the sofa and kept looking at everyone. After a while, she turned her upper torso towards me and lifted both her hands a little over her shoulder, clearly wanted to be lifted up. As surprised as I was, I lifted her up and continued our conversation, when my friend remarked, "she does that at 4 months?" I replied in negative and shared my pride by telling them that it was the very first time.

Rest of the evening went peacefully with Chinipie just cooing a little when she got tired and wanted to sleep. Very quietly she nursed and dozed off to sleep. which leads us to the next day about which I will write more in my next post.

For now am going to play with her..

p.s. she has rolled over and is right under my chair, beaming with delight! For this little feat of her, I will reward her with kisses ..

Chinipie's 5th month

Days have been very hectic for the past two months with me barely getting any chance to touch my laptop. Had been intending to finish up so many posts that I started, but seems they still have to wait. Chinipie is one active baby and is growing more and more demanding as she is growing. She constantly wants to be played with.. and if she is content playing by herself, i grab that opportunity to either cook or clean, so this leaves no time for the computer and if i do get a chance to touch my laptop she makes sure that she too does the same! So, at the end of the day, I find myself nowhere near my laptop and hence, the blog too..

Today, finally when I managed to keep my eyes open, I find that my hands refuse to type anything that my mind says and my mind is not saying anything at all! So, for now I am summing her 5th month in these beautiful pictures. I will return with more detailed blog later. Behold!! For now you are going to view Chinipie in her 5th month..


Playing time..



Feeding time..



Teething time..


Daddy and Me time..


And.. exclusively momma times..

Chinipie's Developments II

Chinipie completed 4 months yesterday. She is a complete joy to be with and has been surprising and amusing me with her little acts of wonder! The expressions on her face changes from radiant to excited to innocent to mischievous to anger. She is growing more active with each passing day, leaving very little time for me to log them down. Here I try to capture some of her activities of the month.


Ulta-Pulta

On Friday, 3rd Aug I was absolutely thrilled with my darling's achievements!
For past couple of days, I was worrying that Chini is not getting enough time on her tummy and was constantly thinking of newer ways to give her more tummy time as she fussed whenever I put her on her tummy. By doing this, I had wanted to strengthen her neck and shoulder muscles so that she would be able to hold her head higher and try to raise her chest, at the least.

And my little sweetie doubly delighted her momma with not only holding head higher, chest up high but also by rolling over!!

This happened when I was massaging her in the morning. Her morning massage and bath is a routine that naani had set and we still continue on that (As a matter of fact, she gets very irritated if her morning routine is delayed!). I start massaging on her legs, then the chest, tummy and hands before turning her on her tummy to massage her back. Since, past 3-4 days, I let her stay her on her tummy until she showed some discomfort, just to give that much required tummy time. Sometimes, she would totally refuse to let me massage her back. Other times, she would happily try to move her little neck around before fussing to be moved back to comfort. This morning as I was turning Chinipie to her abdomen, I was wondering if she would stay some extra time on her belly. And this is when she must have thought is the best time to remove all the fears from momma's mind! As I turned her to her tummy, she rested her hands onto the floor and lifted her head and chest high up. 'This is it', I thought gleefully, 'Now she would fall back to the floor. Fall back to the floor she did; But on her back!! I was filled with such a joyful surprise that I kept looking at her with wonder! and as I was about to call out to DH to share the NEWS, Chini lifted her tiny bumchi's up and turned to her left side (this little feat she has been doing ever since she was 20 days old), using her right palm as support, rolled over to her tummy!! No words came out of my throat and I got back to my massaging business with renewed enthusiasm. She responded to my eager hands with an 'aen!' and I complimented her on her achievements as I massaged her tiny back. After the massage was complete, I showered her with lots of kisses and just then Dad came in to say good-bye as he was leaving for the office. And he, too, happily shared our enthusiasm and made a note to himself to fix the fourth side of her crib over the weekend!

In the afternoon, again she practiced her new moves while an ecstatic momma was clicking away the pictures!!

Feeling you softly with my hands!

This is one of the most cherished moments of my mommyhood! Chini had just got up from her afternoon nap and was all fresh. As she had surprised us in the morning, I had pulled her crib to the bed (I usually do this only during the nights), while I was finishing the chores. Hearing her up, I went to her, pulled her crib out and started talking to her. As I bent down to kiss her, she smiled reached up to my face and with her tiny hands, felt me all over. She touched my eyes, moved over to my nose, my cheeks, my chin and my lips as I baby-talked to her. I wanted this moment to go on forever and couldn't resist myself to kiss her little palms when they next came to my lips!!

Ever since, she has been stretching out her hands and feeling me all over stopping at my lips as I speak. And she still leaves me mesmerized!!

Just two days back, she did this with DH and to him this was completely new and as she did this, he got excited and said, "Wow! This is something new" to which the proud mom says, “Yeah, for you!!

Handful of ...

Since last month, she has been continuously discovering her hands. This month, she has started reaching out, sweeping and swinging for everything in sight, trying to grasp it though her grasp is still not firm. If she is lying down chewing contently on her hands and something is shown to her, she would stretch both her hands and bring it down to her chest to play. If she finds it interesting enough, the object would find its way in her mouth. Initially, she used to be very happy when she would successfully clutch something. Now, more of her energy is consumed in the struggle to get to the object. The striking part is more the effort she puts in getting to it, easier it is to drop it as soon as she holds it! She does not fret over the dropped object but immediately focuses back to where it was kept (mostly table or bed if she is sitting and stroller or bed if she is lying down) continuously looking for the next object(read victim)! And if there's nothing in sight she goes back to tasting her hands. :)

There is this incident, happened in the beginning of the month and which I lovingly call "A spoonful", when she used to get excited over everything she could hold. I was trying to bottle-feed her so that she starts to develop the taste (just to make it easier when we are traveling in the car). When she totally refused to take the bottle, I tried feeding her with the spoon. She took a little but continuously tried to clench the spoon. Finally, when I thought she had enough, I let her have it. The spoon was the regular stainless steel cutlery. She got excited and started waving her hands. The spoon struck on the dining table and made a sound. This, probably, excited her more and she did it again and again, looking at me every time, she could make the sound and her eager hands moving faster than the last time. And then, instead of the table, the spoon struck her! As a rule, I did not react to it. For a split second, even she did not. And then, with her mouth wide open, she started crying. I took her in my arms, she kept crying for a while and then I showed her the spoon again. She stopped crying, took it and started playing again. But this time and henceforth, she was careful not to hurt herself. A lesson learned!

This is a picture of her when she was being careful..

Early milestones

I am not sure if these would typically fall under early milestones, but as I have not seen any other baby doing this so early, I would take these moments to feel proud of mothering an extra-ordinary child(yeah! clearly i am obsessed with mine!).

One morning, two weeks back, as DH was getting ready for the office, he found the Chinipie was awake and all fresh. He played with her for a while and then put her on the bed on her tummy. She looked at me as I wished her 'Good Morning' and with a smile kicked her legs while extending her arms towards me. DH pulled her back, while I called her to come to me. And guess what! She caterpillar-ed her way to me!! She would put her head down; using it as a pivot, and her feet as support, she would lift herself up and then push her whole body forward! Both of us just kept looking at awe as she came up to me and rolled over with a delight!!

Chinipie, still, cannot sit up without a support and somehow, she has figured this out (I guess after she has tumbled a few times!). So if she wants to sit and reach out to something, she wants us to hold her (she is very expressive. if we don't, she knows how to get it!). There are times, when she would support herself with her hands and sit all by herself. When she does this, I stay close by and let her play by herself. As I said, she has figured out, that if she doesn't have a support to sit up, she would topple over. So, if she finds something interesting to reach out to, she would take support of one hand while trying to thrust her up and reach quickly with the other hand, getting it back to support in time. She tries to balance herself on one hand before taking up the other one. Also, she alternates the hands in the hope of getting to the object. A couple of days back, I had seated her in the crib, where the peek-a-boo bird of the piano on the crib wall captured her attention and she tried to get its legs while supporting herself with her hands. She tried every trick she knew, also, toppled over once or twice, but didn't give up. In an attempt to reach to it, she left both her hands and tried to balance herself on her little bumchis. My protective hands immediately tried to clench her as I thought in shocked state, "uh-oh, she shouldn't sit up so soon or else her spine would be damaged!” But I contained myself and let her be as she sat without any support for one whole second before starting to fall off! That's when I held her, and bent down to kiss her. She, not wanting to be interrupted, concentrated back on the peek-a-boo bird.

Another day, she was on my lap as I worked on my desk and she played with her teether, my pen, notepad and every other thing which she could see on the desk. One by one, she would reach to them until either in an attempt she would push them further away so that they would fall off or she would successfully clasp them and drop it while bringing them closer. One particular item was being pushed farther and every time she was trying to jump out to it with a force more than before. She was so determined to get to it that she rested her little feet on the chair, and jumped, rested her tummy on the side of the desk and extended her arms. When I realised, she was trying to stand on her legs!!

Old ones in a new wrap!

Her old favourites continue to be so but with a new flavour.

Earlier, she used to look at and talk to the rattler and pull-me-down doggy hanging from her rocking chair. One of us had to pull it for her. Now, she pulls it herself and squeals with delight every time she does so!

The same applies for the playmat doggy and other toys hanging on it.

She still loves to go out in her stroller but loves it even more when she realizes we are going in the car!

When in stroller, she has developed this habit of kicking down her toys. She would play with whatever is in her hand and when she gets bored, she lifts her legs up, clasps it between her legs and bring them down and kicks and kicks until it is well out of sight!

Speech Development

One of a major development this month is that Chini has started shrieking and shouting, though when she does that she is either wet or tired or bored. Her short eki's and eku's have now changed to the long kheeeeee's and gheeeeeee's and occasional short gu's and ga's.

Around ten days earlier, I was transferring the photos from the camera to the laptop, when Chinipie got up from her nap. I sat her on my lap, as I continued to work. The laptop on the desk fell in the range of her sight and she started banging her little hands on the keyboard. I let her do it as I sat back and watched. Even after a while she didn't stop and I casually asked her, "bachcha, what are you doing?” She turned around, looked at me, "gheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" and got back to her business with the laptop.

Chinipie's Developments I

It's been a while that I gave updates on Chinipie's developments. There is lots to share as she has passed the quarter mark and is continuously up to something. It is fun watching her grow especially when she keeps my hands- full and me- busier than ever. Here I sum up her activities chart..

21 July- 28 July


All Flowery

Chinipie has been discovering that she can do many things with her
hands and she is continually amazed with every new discovery she makes; sometimes even surprising her momma. I almost laugh with wonder when I see her inspecting(!) her little hands. She would lift them, palms fist-ed in front of her eyes, and keep staring at them, turning them around clock-wise and then anti-clockwise before finally taking them to her mouth (read tasting them). In fact, this little discovery of hers has eased my pressure a bit and now, I can take my shower even when she is awake. What I used to do was either take my showers in the evenings so that DH could take care of her or wait for her to sleep
before going for for a quick one; this one was risky as most of the times, I would have to come out in haste to pacify the howling little angel. What I do now, is buckle her up in her stroller, tie little wrist-rattlers and give her a Baby Einstein aquarium toy(this one is designed for strollers with fish, turtle, sea-horse in the little aquarium and little rings, fish, and starfish dangle outside). She loves the dangling toys and tries to catch them, fist them or move them around; making my showers so much peaceful. I keep the stroller just outside the bathroom door for the just-in-case.

To her tiny hands, every thing within the sight is pick-able. One afternoon, I was playing with her on the bed and left her alone just for a while (it was safe as she was in the middle of the bed and has not yet started rolling over and she was still within my sight and reach range) to get a pair of socks for her from the other end of the room while keeping an eye on her. Though i kept talking to her, she started crying. I saw her lifting her tiny bumchis up and turning to her side and suddenly she stopped crying. I thought her fingers would have found their way to her mouth and that's what would have pacified her. I came back to the bed to find her tiny fingers busy indeed- trying to pick the flowers off the bed. I had this bed-sheet with a cream back-ground and pink and purple flowers printed all over. I couldn't suppress my smile on this cute act of hers!


I have got so much to say.......

Chinipie is one talkative baby. She now not only talks to her toys but to the lights and fans, too. She responds to us with her 'eki's' and 'eku's and in fact we have started talking back to her in her language(:)), at times, to encourage her talking. When she talks, her eyes do so too! They are filled with so much eager and delight that one would wish 'if only we knew what she is talking about!' For past few days, when Dad comes back home from the office, he is not only greeted with a smile but beaming eyes and enthusiastic "eki eki inga inga eki eki aye aye unga unga..... ekiiiii" all said in a single breath! The first time she had said this, both, DH and I, had looked at each other with wonder, asking each other,"o yaar! kya bol gai?" This has become a routine now. It looks as if dad's darling daughter tells him what all she did during the day and how happy she is to see him back home.


Chinipie's talks would not be limited only for her dad or only for the evenings, but keep her momma equally fascinated during the day. One morning, she woke us up with her enthusiastic blabber. Her non-stop chattering accompanied by twinkling eyes were so expressive that left dad wondering whether she just a beautiful dream!

In a casual conversation with one of my friends, I updated her with Chinipie's evening rituals. She narrated an incident when her then 10-month old daughter who still couldn't mouth words, had still showed daddy how mommy had hit her on the cheek in his absence. My friend, of course, hadn't hit hard and her only intention was to discipline the little one for something. On hearing this, I thought for myself, "So far, So good!". :))


A surprised nana

Chinipie loves to sit; her alert eyes exploring the surroundings. It is quite funny to see her sit up though as her head keeps nodding. If we try to lay her on her back when she doesn't want to she would show her discontent. So, she sits on her dad's lap when we are having dinner, or on mine, when I am sorting the mails or working on computer; in her car stroller or in the rocking chair. The other day, she was sitting on my lap, while I was talking to nana on the phone. When I got tired of holding her (she needs lots of support to sit) and thought of giving my arms a little rest, I put her down in her crib, and she started crying. My dad's question was, ' why are you making her cry?'. I, instantly, seated her in her crib itself propped with pillows(she needs all kinds of support) and she stopped crying and started looking around again. When I told this to naana, he was delightfully surprised, 'dhai mahine ki bacchi baithne lag gai!?!'

And the proud mom smiled.


Social skills

Chinipie has been very social ever since we started taking her out for the evening strolls. She loves getting attention and responds with a smile to everybody who oodles her.

On Friday, DH and I, decided to dine out. This was our very first dinner in a restaurant after Chinipie's birth. Very carefully, we chose to go out when Chinipie would have normally slept. So, I nursed her and put her in her car seat (she usually falls asleep in the car) and she fell off to sleep as soon as the car started. And was sleeping through our appetizer course. As we were waiting for our main course, she got up and refused to stay in the car seat any longer. So we picked her up and took turns in seating her on our lap while having dinner. This is the trick that usually works for us when we are having dinner at home. But this time it did not as she would sit for a while and then start fussing again. Finally, I perked her up on my shoulder and this seemed to work as I could feel her gnawing happily on my shoulder and cooing contently; while DH and I resumed our dinner and conversation. A while later, we realized that her voice is getting louder and more frequent. I tried to turn back and see her face to try to guess what she wants or what would have captured her attention. DH, sitting across the table, suggested that she is just enjoying herself and nothing else. As he said this, he saw the couple at the adjacent table look at her and smile. And I could see a smile on her face, too. For sure, she had wanted attention and knew exactly how to get what she wants!


Baby's Day Out!

On Saturday, all the desi colleagues at DH's office had kept a get-together at Pymatuning State Park. I was very excited as this was the first outing for Chinipie. Unless, I consider our visits to the malls and department stores which I do not count as the outings. For me the outings have to be outdoors. With her feeding and crying, how much hard I tried, we couldn't leave our house at the decided time (I made a note to myself to keep a margin of at least one hour before making an appointment in future). On our way to the park, she slept until the last 20 minutes and got up hungry. For such times, I keep the formula and bottle as a reserve, which most of the times is a risk because she hardly takes the formula, but this time luckily she took it. I said, 'luckily' because by the time we would have been able to find a place to stop, her cryings would have been so loud that Dad would not have been able to concentrate on his driving. She played for a while before wanting to be picked up. Meanwhile, we could not find the exact meeting spot in the park and were going in circles with her cryings growing louder. Finally, with the directions over the phone and a couple of more wrong turns, we got to the place. As DH was unloading the stuff from the car, Chinipie also un-loaded herself. I thought that changing her diaper in the car before joining everyone else would be comfortable for all of us and asked hubby to give me a hand while I fetched my diaper bag. And this is when the things got messier with the diaper leaking and dirtying Chinipie's and momma's dress! What was just a one-minute job of changing a diaper went on to a 15-minute one including a change of her clothes (here my habit of always keeping an extra pair with me proved worthwhile), cleaning her back and legs and cleaning momma's dress too.

The rest of the day went quite uneventful as far as Chinipie is concerned because as luck would have it, she again chose to just eat and sleep for most of the day. For the brief period when she was up, I had taken the activity play mat along in which she would have played for not more than 10 minutes. Here's a snap of Chinipie sleeping in the sling with DH, something which she has quite taken to recently. I have also added the snap when we first used the sling. She looks like a little kangaroo in there, doesn't she?



P.S. While trying to fish out an appropriate dress for the picnic, I tried some of my pre-pregnancy ones which didn't fit me (obviously!). DH on watching this remarked, "tumhe apne kapde bag se baahar nikaal lene chahiye. waha pade pade sab shrink ho gaye hain"(Seems you should take your dresses out from that bag. They all have shrunk being inside that bag)! love love love... fluttering eyes.. :)