A discovery

My Chinipie made a new discovery today. and she was absolutely thrilled by it!! Really, you could see it on her face. Babies are so inquisitive by nature. Anything new captures their interest so soon and bores them equally sooner. DH's colleagues had sent a bucket of goodies on Father's Day. Along with candies and fruits, were bibs and rattler for the baby. I thought this is the best time to introduce the rattler to her. The rattler is very lovely, with a little tiger sitting on the top. So, for the past two days, I was trying to hold her attention rattling it and making roaring sounds. Rattling did not charm her but the roars did! Eventually, I thought, my baby is a very unusual baby and may be doesn't like the rattlers or would like them a little later when she would make me go crazy with throwing the rattler down to the ground and gurgling as her mom picks and gives it to her every split second (some weird imagination, huh!! seems like i can't wait for my baby to grow up!!). Anyhow, I shunned the idea of using the rattler as a rattler and started using it as a prop instead. I held conversations with her holding the little tiger by its tail and roaring every once in a while. I also named him "Sherkhan, the tiger" (jungle book creature, if you remember). My conversations are nothing but silly mumblings like

" I am Sherkhan the tiger. Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I will eat you up. Roarrrrrrrrrrrr (with the tiger going to her cheek or momma going all ga-ga over Chini's face and Chini with an amused look on her face)"

Now, this little girl of mine is very talkative and an intent listener! She dries up my throat, literally, with all the talking that she makes me do!! Today, as I was again putting up this act of mine, Chinipie was kicking her legs and arms, a definite sign that she was enjoying this while her momma's throat had started aching with all the talks and the roars. So, I just held the tiger by its tail and sat for a while looking at her. She, in turn, looked at the Sherkhan intently. "Wow!", I thought to myself, "This might be the beginning of her getting to know the rattler as rattler!" and in excitement I rattled the Sherkhan by its tail. She just kept looking at it and then at me and then started kicking her legs and arms again. There goes all my hopes and Sherkhan would always remain a roaring Sherkhan! But wait!! In her excitement, her arms boxed Sherkhan and poor fellow fell (I was holding the tail lightly, you see) with a, not roaring but rattling, sound. And this captured her attention! She stopped kicking and boxing and looked at Sherkhan as I picked and held the poor creature by its tail in front of her, then she looked back at me and then again at Sherkhan. Very cautiously, she brought her hand near it and touched it lightly; Sherkhan made a rattling sound but didn't fall off this time! Again, a look at Sherkhan, then at momma, and action repeat - with the blow growing stronger. Sherkhan again rattled, exciting her. With a gurgle, she repeated all the sequence and discovered that she can actually box with her hands, looked at momma with eyes filled with the joy of discovery and got back to fist the Sherkhan - poor Sherkhan, obediently rattled away every times he fell off and silently came back to hold his place in front of her - only to be fisted again!


Here's a snap of her, as she enjoys boxing Sherkhan down!

LAWS OF BABYHOOD

First law of Babyhood

When momma is exhausted to the point of dropping and thinks of taking a quick nap, the baby would grace her with a heart-melting smile (there goes momma's sleep!!).


Second law of Babyhood

Whenever momma thinks that baby is happily sleeping and she can catch up with some work, the baby will get up and start wailing.


Third law of Babyhood

When momma takes the diaper off the baby either to give her some nudie time or to change the diaper, the baby decides to shower the house with her offerings (in other words, pee-pee and poop-poop)

Startled!

To let chinipie's skin breathe, I try to use cloth diapers for as much as I can. I do not mind standing at the sink washing loads of them as long as my baby's skin is healthy.

In the afternoon, my little girlie was happily sleeping when I noticed that her diaper was all wet. Hmm.. ime to put a fresh and dry one on her. I stealth across to her so as not to disturb her and slowly untie her diaper. She must have been feeling more comfortable in her wet diaper coz as soon as I removed it, she let out a startled cry so loud that even I was startled! Poor her, she surely would have not expected to be striped off her clothing when asleep. She went back to sleep when I held her. Every little act of hers seems so cute that I could keep her cuddled to me all the time!

Love you Chinipie

My dear chinipie,

It's been a month now that your naani has returned to India and you are doing quite well now. You had noticed her absence and had opted to sleep over, cry out and then chose to remain silent and dull - all the while constantly looking around for your beloved naani. I still remember your immediate change in expressions - from your face lightened up and you turned your little head around to see your nani when I had entered the room saying "quack, quack" as your naani used to do when she was here, to a loud howl when you realized that the voice was not your naani's. I assume, finally you made peace with yourself and accepted the presence of just your mom and dad in the house.

You've indeed grown up since then.

You have your own schedule and nothing in this world can break your routine. You love to wake up at six every morning and play with your mom and dad, even when they are unable to open their eyes. You love to get your massage and your bath every morning at a fixed time. Any delay in these activities and you know the best way to convey it to mama - cry your lungs out!

You love going for walks outside every evening. You are so observant. You love looking at trees and clouds and the sky and of course, people! You are sure to greet them with your so adorable toothless smile, even when you are not particularly talking to mom and dad for having delayed your evening walk.

You love looking at your "Fuzzy Bee" book and wait expectantly for momma to read it out to you as she turns the pages. Sometimes you stare intently at my mouth as I talk. I watch your little mouth starting to mimic mine, and talking back to me with your "hoon"s and "eki"s, "kaga"s, "inga,unga"s and "eku,egu"s.
You love to talk to the ceiling fan, to the light, to your mobile dinasours, to your playmat doggy and swing rocker doggy.
You kick or shoo away your little pillows while playing on your mat or talking to your friends.
You look around to check if momma is around and watching you, while you play with your mobile or playmat friends. You keep looking at these tiny friends of yours when you suddenly start shouting asking to be picked up. This cute little act of yours seems like you just had a quarrel with them while playing, when in fact you might have been bored or tired or hungry.

You pout your lower lip before you cry. Sometimes I soothe you when I see you pout and other times after pouting, you straight away start your howls skipping the short cry altogether. When tired or extremely hungry. you get pissed-off when dad mimics you and he loves doing that! You welcome him with a huge smile when he returns home in the evening.

You still lighten up when you hear your naani's voice over the phone.
You honour your baba and dadi with smiles on the webcam when they coo you.

You love to chew our shoulders, our shirts, our arms and mark them with your spit, while you look around with twinkling eyes. You love to stick your whole fist in your mouth and slurp away loudly. You cling onto me like a little monkey, pressing your face against my shirt - as you shy away from either me making an eye contact or your dad whistles at you.


You snuggle up cosily beside me and sleep in the afternoons. You make squeaky noises when you sleep and cuddle up like an up-turned beetle-bug. You love wriggling and stretching yourself out when you wake up all fresh from your sleep.
and I love watching you doing that.
You love to sleep in your own bed by my side in the nights and wake me ever so gently to nurse. although I have to say that I wouldn't mind one--just one--chunk of sleep longer than three hours. But I'll take these sleepless nights as what comes with the beauty of motherhood. I know that I would be saying this often throughout our lives, but my ecstatic heart wants to say -
Thanks for making me momma!!

This is how I cry!

I really love her when she is about to cry! Don't give me those faces - I am not a mom who would make her cry for no reason.. what I mean is the pouty face she makes when she is about to cry is so adorable!! And then within a second she would be all howling and wailing, taking the nerves out of you. But if you are prompt enough and lucky enough to pacify her the moment she makes her pouty face, you might infact bring back the smile on her face!

Some crocodile tears :)

"Beware - I pout"


"I'd warned you"


"Lucky Momma - You gave me attention & I decided to change my expression"