My earrings!!!!

Ananya had been fancying earrings for sometime now and anyway, we wanted to get it done this year, before she turns 3,so 13th March, Friday, was the day.It is a bit of a ceremony for us.So a little tilak and bath and a new dress, and off we went, to a hospital in HSR layout. On the way to the doctor, Ananya asked where we were going and we told her we were going to get her earrings."My earrings?" she asked."Why?" "Because you like earrings!" we told her.
An appointment was booked the previous day, with the 'piercing doctor' and we were there at the appointed time,the Muhurtham was 10:37 AM. The equipment, the sterile studs, the spirit .. was all ready.We had prepared Ananya for this exercise and so, she knew it was something to do with her earrings.
The doctor marked the spots on Ananya's ears, for piercing.Our already tense hearts now were expecting shrieks and resistance of all kinds.But our lil angel just withdrew her shoulders a little, in reaction to the pain from piercing.Not a word, not a shriek.We were speechless.Now that one ear was pierced, we expected resistance for the second one.But she calmly got the second one too. The studs were in place and we showed Ananya her ears in the mirror. She looked at them for a second and said,'Nice'. Then, she said,"Thank you doctor, for the earrings".The doctor, who herself was tense before the piercing, was elated and all praise for our lil princess.So, now, the lil one has two lil stones adorning her beautiful ears .

Ananya's second Birthday

It has been a long time since we posted..partly because there was no internet in the new
house where we moved to.
Our earlier house in Bangalore was an independent house, and our biggest challenge was to find playmates for Ananya.
We delayed joining her to a play school as we were informed that our own new apartment would be ready for possession by this june. This apartment was far away from our present house and therefore there was no point in enrolling Ananya to a nearby play school.
We did hope to be in our new house atleast by august.
So, we then decided that we will rent a new apartment with a decent play area and plenty of
kids. And rent we did, in a nice apartment complex in one of the upcoming areas in
bangalore.
As a bonus, I found a shorter route to my office. The most dreaded seven letter word for
bangaloreans "TRAFFIC" was no longer a nightmare for me as my route to work was relatively
less dotted with vehicles.
In the midst of our moving in activites, Ananya celebrated her second birthday in our new home.
For the month preceding her birthday, while lalitha and i were busy shopping for the event,
our little angel used to ask us why were were shopping (ofcourse in her own words). Lalitha
always used to reply "For your birthday,darling".. And Ananya used to immediately say "Happy
birday Ananya".While at home, she used to ask Lalitha "Mommy,give me sweet" and smiled so
cutely that lalitha invariably used to give her a sweet. Ananya used to get this sweet to me
and place it on my hand and say "happy birday Ananya" She used to do this so often, but
each time with a subtle variation, that never did it appear repeated to us. I really hope
that we continue to maintain the same levels of excitement in her for her coming birthdays.

For her traditional birthday per the Hindu calender on May 9th, we organised a private
"Ayushya Homa" in a temple. Ayushya Homa is a ritual performed over 9 days culminating in a
grand offering of Ghee and Food and sweets to the messenger of the Lord -"Fire". A section of
Hindus consider that the most sacred of the offerings to the Almighty will be made through
the medium of Fire. It is personal belief that this ritual will cleanse our mind and soul,
bringing us to peace with ourselves,thereby increasing longevity.
For her calender birthday on May 1st, We had a nice chocolate studded Winnie the Pooh cake
for her. Lalitha's parents were in for the birthday, as were a couple of my good friends.
We originally scouted for a outdoor venue for the birthday. But with the threat of rains
looming large ( it rained heavily in bangalore the few days on the run up to her birthday)
we dropped the idea and instead invited a truncated guest list to our house.The choice was made mostly to include parents and their toddlers.The birthday went great with Lalitha making some nice recipes and her by now famous Kaju barfi :-)
The event ended on a wonderful note. I will add the pictures shortly.

She's full of words......

I can't believe it's two months since I've written anything......The naughty lil one is keeping me quite busy.Between answering her never ending questions, telling her stories, playing with her, the usual food and drink battles, listening to her while she reads books, watching T.V with her and so many other things, time left in a day is very little for me, the lazy bug that I am.
She is a master of words, no no...not just words, sentences to be precise.She builds 3-4 word sentences, that make sense and she knows to communicate her ideas.She asks questions with great curiosity, even if she is asking one for the nth time and listens to our questions with equal interest.She tells one line stories too.
She's got her favourite serials, cartoons and characters.Tom and jerry, Mickey Mouse are her favourite cartoons.She adores Dr.Armaan from a serial 'Dil Mil Gaye', she screams his name every time he appears on screen.She knows several other characters by name....Abhi and Sameera from 'Choona hi aasmaaan',Moneesha, Indravadan and Rosesh from 'Sarabhai vs Sarabhai',she sings 'Anu ki ho gayee wah bhai wah'.In fact, anything seen or heard once is registered in her mind, she repeats what she likes and ignores the rest.She's so fond of Mickey Mouse, she wants me to get it on TV anytime...'Mummy,Mickey Mouse pettey'.
She's well past her 'Baby's first words' books.She now names vegetables and animals .
Cucumber, cauliflower, beetroot, garlic, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkin, brinjal, capsicum, green beans, peas are the veggies she can name.Lion, elephant, chimpanzee, monkey, horse,dog, cat,zebra are some of the animals she can name.
She now names almost everything that we use at home.Some of the cute lil questions she asks,,'what are u doing','how's my dress' ,'what is your name', with a rhythmic nodding of the head and widening of the eyes can melt any heart.
She is an extremely social person....takes only a second for her to smile, walk up to someone, say 'hi (with the relevant adress )' and then a 'bye'.She runs up to kids, gives them a warm and friendly hug and shrieks with excitement.
In January, we went on a ten day long vacation to her grandparents, and the joy and satisfaction she gave them was immense.Couldn't have got a better illustration for the phrase 'bundle of joy'.

The year 2007 was.........

beautiful.So many memorable moments, that it would take pages and pages to record.Have to proudly say that most of it centred round our princess.That's the reason why this piece is on this blog.Watching her grow and learn so fast, we could hardly catch up with time, or even register it passing by.Feels like yesterday, we were watching the New year Eve fireworks in London ....and an year has already passed by.

What has she learnt this year?????Asked me?You've had it ....Now you'll have to bear with me.She knows the names of most of the stuff used in the house, appliances, cooking ingredients, objects,jingles, names of characters in TV serials, songs, the words we speak at home, and she can now make sentences. If I went any further, I would be labelled as 'bragging' but, a li'l secret,'I love bragging about my princess' .Got this gift in 2006 and each day sees it growing more beautiful and something to be proud of.I can brag about it for a hundred years.

On a general note, this year, as others, has had its share of good and bad, all of us,who've been fortunate to experience the kindness of the Almighty should end this year thanking him for it .

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

A very quiet and peaceful day at Kuteeram, a Taj resort and it was really out of the world, amidst trees and birds and water . Ananya had a blast, chasing ducks and pointing at fish in the ponds and collecting flowers and leaves and she had a whole lot of activities to pursue. The li'l one, like her mama and dada, loves travel and open green spaces and luxury.The 55 km drive aways from the city, on roads that can really shake each joint in your body, was all forgotten at the sight of the luxurious, beautiful world in front of us.The icing on the cake was, when Ananya hugged us and sang "Happy to"(upon request , of course :-).

Our vacation

The vacation we took pre Diwali, to our hometown, was a pleasant one.One reason was, we attended a wedding after a long time and so got to meet a lot of our relatives .The other reason was, more importantly, that Ananya enjoyed the presence of so many people around her.She enthralled the audience with her cute, lil ways and her naughty smiles, and the half uttered words.It was exciting to see the way she communicated differently with different people and with kids, she was a great hit!She looked stunning in the special outfits we got for her, to wear at the wedding.
It was touching to see her enjoy her grandparents' company and vice versa.The 10 day trip came to an end so fast,even before we realised it had started!
The li'l one is growing up so naughty, one has to see her to believe her. Climbing up the balcony wall,jumping off chairs,pulling knobs off the stove, opening cupboard doors and pulling out stuff, are some of her daily 'harkatein'.Too long a list to record.
She now tries to speak in sentences.She speaks a coupla words and then says ,'adtwra adtwra......'.A tongue twister?? I know, but she says it with so much ease and conviction, you gotta believe,'she's speaking sense!!'.
Looking at the 'Dettol se haath dhoya?'ad, she asks me,'dhoyya?'hahhahha.And hearing the kid say 'kab ka maa', she tells me again, 'ka ka maa'.When she gets hurt, she comes running to me, rubbing her head, 'taggindi'(hurt).She can now name pictures from three books.She likes to dance to her favourite jingles and songs.
Never imagined before this time, that babies grow so drastically.But now, its an exciting truth on one side and 'oh! this stage will soon be over' on another....

After a long time from Ananya's dad

So much to say about my lil one.
Few pleasures in life come as close to seeing your little one grow up! And time flies!Ananya is now 17 months old and her progress is in line with accepted behavioural milestones for kids her age (the proud
father in me says that she is going great!).Now the tough times also start, when we as parents get so " peer conscious". It is a terribly bad thing to be comparing
everything ananya does with her "peers" (Street talk-"You dont do it only if you have nothing to show.. meaning the kid is
poor on the development milestones." Yuckkkk.. cant hate this line enough).. Sometimes I do get into that mode and then
lalitha wisely pulls me out and vice versa... Luckily the concept of trying to " Prove" is still not a part of our general
behaviour. Hopefully it stays so.And i am confident that me and lalitha will be effective in applying brakes on each others
moves to prove Ananya better than the crowd etc etc..Not much of good english., but hopefully you have heard my heart out.Now for the other part. Snapshot of Ananya's behavior:She is been doing some of this stuff quite sometime and some since the past week or so. Here goes in no particular order.She now has four front upper teeth ( incisors?) and four bottom teeth(incisors) plus two newly developed lower molars ( that
makes it 10 teeth in all).. She effectively uses all her teeth in a warm out of the world smile ( as well as to bite me in
one of those very rare occassions where i dont let her disturb her mommy at kitchen.She is very adept at walking ( she is been on her legs for the past few months.) she also runs short distances.
Her vocabulary now includes:"Happy to" which is actually her way of mentioning a rhymes video (Among The first few rhymes she had heard was the " Happy
birthday".. so her calling all rhymes as " happyto)
She actually differentiates all songs other than rhymes by calling them as " paata" ( telugu for songs)
She calls me dadda, and Lalitha as MMommi ( and that extra sweet Mmommi Junnu when she needs special favours from her mom.
Her rendering Mommi Junnu is heart stopping for us. It brings in so much of joy to us, something words can never represent.
Incidentally Junnu in telugu is Cheese)
She identifies a 'doggy',a 'piggy' a car, a plane, and a bike.
She can identify parts of her body " head, shoulders knees and toes, eyes and ears and mouth and nose :-).Me and lalitha have
been singing a lot of rhymes these days :-)
she also says "kazhoku" ( which when spelt the right way stands for spectacles)
she says Mamma Phone ( when the phone rings) and asks for her "towel" after her " bobbeelu ( bath) or "nappy" after potty (
you know what)
She can identify greebee - green beans,carrots, potathow -potato, tomato, mimmi-milk,water,bikki- biscuits, khazhur-dates.
She plays with baloons and her thoys (toys).
She has a picture book (bhukkk) with lovely images of catty (cat),cake and cheem (ice cream)
and her mumm-mumm( meal) consists sometimes of bhed (bread) and dham (jam) and pheggu annam( curd rice).
Among her other pastimes are chasing phuggu (small worms and flies, typically ants).. Ammo Phuggu!! (Look, an insect!)
I could go on and on... Let me chip in very soon again.

Our vocabulary and activity upgrade.....10th July 2007

We like 'tomatooo', We can say 'I know', We can tell you we are 'happy',when mama gives something not liked as much,we can say 'oddama'(no mama),'maney' in telugu, we enjoy playing with the 'ball', we like the colour 'yellow',we have learnt the courtesy to say 'hello'.She's been saying her name 'Ananana' for a long time now.Wasn't that a pretty long list.... actually she tries to repeat most of what we say.If the word uttered is too complex, she would atleast say the first syllable and then, finish off in the rhythm that was used to say it.So now, we are trying to prune our language to avoid slangs and other words not acceptable from a kid.Part of babyproofing...Hahhaha. She also repeats the pet names me and Murali use to call each other, and exactly the same rhythm.When she thinks it's time dadda came home, she goes to the door, fiddles with the latch and calls 'daddaaa'.She feeds mamma and dadda whatever we try to feed her, brushes our teeth when we try to brush hers, combs our hair when we try to comb hers.When she wants to be picked up, she extends her arms towards us, and says,"come on, come on".Basically, we are in the 'mirroring' and 'echoing' stage where everything we do or say is immediately copied.It's a double edged sword-we understand.Very heartening to know the lil one learns so fast but need to be very careful with what she learns.
A coupla days ago, we had our first walk in the park nearby. I held her hand for sometime but then, let go of it and she enjoyed walking around.Crawling is a thing of the past now.We walk ,walk and walk......Anything and everything interests her...from the kitchen utensils to dadda's wallet to the ants on the floor to the dogs on the street.It's amazing to see her starry eyed wonder at everything around her. Looking through her eyes, every trivial thing seems to have attained beauty.The magic a baby can add even to mundane things!

She's growing up so fast!!!

How I missed writing about my lil one.....Her words have left us speechless, her songs have had us dancing and her pace has left us motionless.That's my lil one, so much full of things to say.Where do I start???? Her new found buddies are the dogs of the neighbours.A bark from them, and she runs to the balcony , as if to their rescue, stands on tiptoe and looks all around with pursed lips, then, when she has spotted a doggie, points her finger towards it, and looks back at me and goes,"Booow booow". She runs to and fro in the balcony, trying to follow a doggie running in the street and with a fully animated expression comprising of surprise, excitement and happiness, waves and claps her hands.The amusement a mere dog can give to a curious kid, is beyond imagination to an adult adulterated by wordly desires.
Her generous self is willing to give away everything to others.She picks up trivia from the floor, like bits of paper, or unused plastic and gives it to me, saying "take it", with an emphasis on ta(thake it).And the proud mother in me, has never cherished anything more than the bits of paper she gives.They feel like diamonds to me.She awaits the "thank you"I tell her after receiving her gifts, and then repeats,"thaku".She has a knack of making even a universally hated "no",sound sweet, by dipping it in honey.
She winks her eye, sniffs her nose and opens her mouth big,waves her hands, when asked to identify parts of her body.She sits on me and jumps up and down, trying to imitate the horse rides I give her.She repeats'Hi'and 'Bye' after me, whenever I start and end a conversation on the phone.When asked to sing, she instantly starts off "aaaaaaaa aaaaaaaa"in a voice so sweet and adorable, one would want her to sing all day.She calls people and doggie buddies, by opening and closing her inverted palm and saying,"come".She even says that to food she likes and to those that she doesn't like, she scoffs with an unceremonious"noooo".From eating no food at all, she has grown to be a "junkie".She has started to like all junk food like salted biscuits, rusks, ice cream, soan papdi and namkeen. What an improvement!!!!And isn't that a great spread??? Another amusing thing she does these days is, when she's tasted something she doesn't like, she immediately tries to put it either in my mouth or Murali's mouth and says "thake it".But this afternoon, she was having her favourite soan papdi, and half way through, she got a small piece to my mouth and as soon as I opened my mouth to take it, she turned her hand away, and put it in her mouth, all with a naughty smile....Woooow, the lil monster....way to go.

Those first tiny steps

It was the afternoon of May 12th.Murali was at work and me and Ananya were at a friend's place.Something excited me then. Ananya was standing for an unusually long time and I noticed her urge to take that first step but she kept standing and I knew she would take a couple of days to get her act together.But wooooh....suddenly, she moved her foot forward....and we all were clapping and cheering her.A step, and she sat down and continued to play.After some time, she got up again and took another step and sat down again.That was it for the day.Then started the fun.Each day, she has been making tremendous efforts to take that extra step every day. The process, a great milestone for her, has seen us experience a range of emotions, from smiling at her eagerness, priding in her steadfastness, reassured by her courage in the face of failure and the parental pleasure in seeing her want to grow up.From her wobbly one step, she has now grown to taking 7 to 8 steps at a time.If I am standing at the other end of the room, calling her, she scurries towards me, with tiny feet, never minding the couple of falls she has on the way, with the complete pleasure and pride on her face and jumps into my arms, waiting for the hug and kiss she gets at the end of each completed trip. And at the other end is waiting, a mother, with equal eagerness, greater pride, inexplicable happiness and tear filled eyes. A page in every mother's book.

A hundred years of glorious life

21st April was the traditional celebration of Ananya's birthday...celebrated according to the Tithi on which she was born....Vaisakha Shuddha Chavithi. We had the Ayushya Homam performed in the morning,by a learned priest, which continued till 3 PM.In the evening, was a party arranged by Ananya's grandparents, attended by friends, and a lot of kids.There was lot
of fun and play.Though Ananya refused to go to anyone, she smiled to everyone and played peek a boo with those she found very friendly. Her uncle got her a lovely Mickey Mouse cake , which ofcourse, everybody except her, ate. Ananya looked pretty in her surf blue frock, stole hearts with her smiles and her dancing to tunes.The day ended on a cheerful note.
May 1st, the date on which Ananya was born.The celebrations took place at the Royal Fort Hotel, Visakhapatnam.We reached the place a couple of days in advance.Did a whole lot of shopping for clothes, gifts, chocolates.And we were all excited about the party that was planned for the evening of the 1st of May. 1st May, 2007, we started off the morning on a relaxed note and after our breakfast and lazy chats, we got into action.Murali set out on our great mission, to find matching shoes for Ananya's new pink frock.Lots of things were being done,in the three rooms that we'd booked.Baloons were being pumped, compliments being written on the return gifts, I squeezed some time out to take pictures of Ananya playing with the baloons(which was an irresistably cute sight).And even before we realized, it was 2 PM and we all gathered at the open house for lunch and following that, some people retired for a short nap.Murali swung into action,the pressure of time was slowly building up.He got to the banquet hall and got the decoration going.And at 5 PM, guests started trickling in.Ananya was still deep in sleep and I didn't wish to disturb her but at 6 PM,relatives gatecrashed our room, with all the eagerness and longing that had built up over the year, they were waiting to see her.So, I woke her up from sleep and she was startled.Then I quickly got her dressed and we all headed to the banquet hall.
And it was funtime ....... There was music, laughter fun, kids recited rhymes, some sang songs and at 7:30 PM, Ananya cut her cake, that was the shape of Winnie the Pooh holding the number 1.This time too, she refused to taste the cake and opted instead, to smudge her
fingers in the icing.Kids sported the princess hats and blew party horns.Soon, guests were treated to a tasty dinner which was rounded off with Gajar ka Halwa and ice cream.After 9 PM, they started to leave, mostly not wanting to leave, but only because they had to reach homes by bedtime.They all carried back with them, lots of fond memories, loads of smiles, happy
hearts, a box of chocolate and a beautiful baby doll, which we presented as a souvenir of the occasion. Thus a glorious one year was celebrated amidst family and relatives.....where every heart wished her a hundred years of healthy, happy,learned, fun filled, loving and loved, successful life ahead.More prayers added to that of her Mama and Dadda...

Eleven months today 1st April, 2006(and it's true)

Not to fool anyone, we are eleven months today!!!Very, very hard to believe so much time has flown past, but it's true that we are just one month short of our first birthday.Yayayay.Very strong personality traits, which were very clear right from the early days,are getting even stronger by the day. Curiosity and inquisitiveness, independence, comic sense, need for achievement, perseverence, positive attitude are some of her traits that come clearly across.
Well, well,well a personality in the making.
Climbing up and down the sofa is now her favourite pastime,in fact, she likes climbing onto everything.She climbs up with the look of a mountaineer and once there, she looks down like she's gonna dive.Inn adaao pe hum fida hain........
Another tooth has cut through and Ananya is fascinated by the sound teeth make when the the lower ones rub against the upper one.Small things.... great discoveries...
We are now having to go through a huge box of toys, cups, spoons (and whatever I can think of!), to eat a small cup of fruit.Ananya, extremely naughty when being fed, needs a new play thing for each spoon of food.She bangs the old toy on the floor with great gusto and bends forward in her chair and watches it roll on the floor,and I go fetch it for her.She now looks at it and bangs it again.Now I know, she is looking for something new and I better get it if I want her to open her mouth.I try and get in a couple of spoons before she loses interest in the second toy but poor mommy and her strategies won't work....The second one goes on the floor again and mommy is there, running after it and this goes on and on and on....and mommy is tired but the lil one isn't...mommy lets out a big scream of frustration and pulls out her hair .....throws the food down the drain and sets out to clean the big load of soiled toys....The lil one, aware that mommy has given up her attempts to feed her, gives out a big, hearty grin.Mommy's anger is gone and hugs her and plays with her again....There ends the story and the meal and the story repeats at each meal......

Ten tenaten Ten.....Ten months today!!!1st March 2007

Another two months to our princess's 1st birthday!!!And we are very excited...In fact, the preparation is underway... Now at ten months, all the baby proofing we thought we'd done, is seeming so inadequate.The lil one is stretching on her toes, to reach up to things beyong her height and she's managed to be successful a couple of times.She's trying to turn on the switch of the oven and pull out drawers from the cabinet.Yesterday, she let go of support, and stood independently for a coupla seconds and the 'victorious yet surprised' look she gave us, was mighty thrilling and Murali was at home too,in time to catch a glimpse of his darling daughter's advancement. She's in complete awe of the computer, bangs on it,pressses the keys and finally manages to bring it to the stand by mode.SO, we are increasingly having to spend lesser time at the computer, because there is no way she would let us sit at it. A new thing that she's enjoyed immensely is drumming on the cookie tin that I gave her.She plays it like she were playing the tabla(though she's not seen Murali play it).Her sense of music and rhythm is just awesome and needs to be seen to be believed.Even something as mundane as me shaking her feeding bottle filled with water(for cleaning), sets her music sense going and she immediately starts rocking to the rhythm.This afternoon, I hummed to her instead of singing the lullaby, and she asked for it!!"laayi laayi" she said. I think she's gonna be a star....Will have to wait and watch what the stars think...

Nine and half month milestones

Our little pearl has learnt a lot of skills.
Most noticable is her clarity of preference and persistance in getting what she wants. She has always been a very light sleeper and wakes up at the slightest sound. so, we always keep our phones under very low ringers, when we retire for the night. we also keep it under the pillow to further hush up the sounds and to have the phone handy.
Ananya has noticed this and now, whenever she wants the phone she pulls the pillows and looks beneath them.We find this very cute.She also says daddaaaaa ( daddy) and mama ( or sometimes amma for mummy). Not sure if she really understands and
means what she says, but those very utterances are utterly butterly delicious :-)!
She also sways to music whenever we play fast songs.
We recently did her annaprasana (religious ceremony where she gets her first taste of rice. rice is boiled in milk and sweetened with sugar).
She is yet to take interest to textured solids. As of now milk and pureed solids are still her staple diet. She has also experimented with biscuits, rusks,rice, apple pieces and a tiny bit of chapati yesterday. She still thinks biscuits are something to play with and not to eat.. me and lalitha
are patiently hoping that she gets to like this stuff.
She also got a haircut.. and she looks very cute and maybe boyish in her new hair.Will post a picture shortly. We are all awaiting her third tooth.. which is here. which is there but doesnt show up..pretty much like her desire for food.. It is here.. it is there.. BUT DOESNT SHOW UP!

Our lil naughty pie 1st Feb 2006

Yay yay yay yay we are nine months today!And we go 'mummummmummmummmmm'.
Standing is out of fashion for us!Ananya is now climbing onto elevated surfaces, lifting
her tiny feet off the ground.She rolls her toys under the refrigerator, and then tries to creep under it to fetch
them..Seems, she's now learnt newer ways of smiling..she scrunches up her eyes and nose,
and gives a big,wide 'teethy' grin.We've been trying to show her how to put small cups into
bigger cups and when she succeeds into doing it herself, she pauses, looks at us with a
victorious smile and claps her hands.She crawls around the house, with a cup held in
between her teeth and it is a real funny sight.. A coupla days ago,I sat Ananya in her high chair, and at the end of her meal, I gave
her some pieces of apple, so she could get used to finger food.She played around with them
for some time, taking care to keep them away from her mouth and after a few minutes, she
silently dropped them under the tray and then gave me a wide,'lil devil' grin, flashing her
teeth.I really fail to fathom how she manages to keep all 'edible'things away from her mouth and
all 'inedible' stuff in her mouth.She nods a 'no' for things I want her to do and smiles at
me for things I ask her not to do.What's in store for us?Heeeeeee...... A must see event is her crawling around with a toy or cup securely held in one
hand.Many times, she realises, a better way to do it is,hold the cup between her teeth.
This sight has us rolling on the floor. This morning, I was trying to change her
pyjamas.I'd just taken out her old pyjamas and turned to bring a fresh pair, and there she
was....already crawling away with the old pair in one hand...hahaha... Her 'High 5's with mommy and daddy are just too cute and she'd do it any number of
times.She taps our palms with her tiny palms as soon as we say 'Gimme a 5'. We now play 'advanced peek-a-boo's.I hide behind large objects and she chases me around
it, to see me. The more intelligent part of it is, she doesn't just keep following me in
one direction, she understands there are better ways, like turning around and catching me
from the front, or standing up and reaching for me from above. Chasing around our ever exploring young heroine is demanding and what better example than
that I couldn't finish this post of mine in one sitting?I had to save it and keep visiting
it again and again to finish it.But man, with the innumerable number of times she melts our
hearts, we could soon be creating an ocean here....may be something like an'Ocean of
hearts":-)

Annaprasana

So, it was finally performed yesterday!!!Annaprasana, the official start of feeding rice to a baby.We had a whole range of things placed on the ground, money, gold, food, book and pen, computer,some religious book and an idol.This is a part of the Annaprasana ritual and it has been followed for ages now, with the belief that, the first thing that the baby touches, is what he/she would show interest in, when he/she grows up.And guess what Ananya touched yesday..... the computer.No wonder!!!Any way, we believe this is something done for fun..And the, we tried to feed her the 'parvannam'(kheer)that we cooked and the tongue so used to pureed food, didn't like the feel of a grain of rice.She made a face like we'd fed her something bitter...spat it out, and we tried again and she cried.Oh what lies ahead for us.Would she grow up to eat pureed dosas,pureed chapathis, mashed vada, ground pizza, liquified samosas????Hope she gets to like normal food soon.....Otherwise, like our current North Indian and South Indian cuisisines, we will soon have to add pureed cuisine to our diet.

Aah the speed!

The speed at which Ananya is taking to new things, is having me running and chasing her around the house, all day.I am so scared to do any of my daily chores, coz she follows me everywhere and bumps her head against something !She has started cruising and walking,holding onto furniture or whatever she gets..Am considering getting her a safety helmet :-)Can't bear the sight of bumps and goose eggs on her head and face.My heart skips so many beats every time she has a fall .Yeah, I know,I knoqw all part of growing up and falls and bumps are inevitable....Ah, the joys of parenthood.
I speak my heart out to her, telling her how concerned I am about her falls, and she seems to understand.She sympathises, in her newly learnt sentences,"Arrrrdth kshh Prdddl jussssh huuushth dtha dtha dtha" but then, something very important catches her attention, and she has to crawl away and attend to it.Till she pauses and listens to me...... akdth akdth akdth, to myself.

Army crawl out !!!!!

So Ananya's now lost interest in her old 'army crawl'.And the regular crawl is in.Oh, it's soooo damn cute..She now doesn't pull herself on her tummy.She lifts her tiny hands and moves them forward, followed by her knees.She's so fascinated by her new skill.

First tooth!

So, the first tooth which has been waiting just there for a long time and promising to surface any moment, finally cut through, last week and has added a new dimesion to Ananya's smile.The new stuff she's doing of late is,sticking her tongue out,as if to touch her nose, and saying,'nananana'.The other one very cute is,blowing a mouthful of air and saying 'phooo phooo'.She can now pull herself up to sit on her own.She also stands up on her own,given the slightest support to hold on to.She called out 'daddaaa' a couple of times, though it was just a fluke and she can't really relate the word to her dad yet.Nevertheless, it gave us such a high to hear that from her.
More to come!

Yayyy!!! Crawled to the 7 month mile stone

The lil darling's 7 months today and she keeps surprising us with new things every day.Can't just believe the way she is gradually growing into a skilled infant, from a totally dependant newborn.
Ananya can entertain herself and she keeps discovering newer ways of doing it.She now crawls upto the transparent,glass walls of our house, climbs onto the cushions placed there, positions herself so that she can look out onto the roads, and keeps watching the traffic on the adjacent highway, the lights that go on and off and all the beauty the city has to offer her.Isn't that truly independent?
She's now got Murali's Yamaha keyboard to play with.She crawls upto the keyboard and accidentally yet inevitably switches the 'demo'mode on and with some funny music in the background,plays her own, rocking her head like she's actually composing some fast beat numbers.What fun,what fun watching her!
She is ever curious to crawl upto things that she doesn't normally get to play with, like, the household appliances etc.She finds the time mom is not sitting with her and then suddenly, at full speed, crawls in the direction of something she's been longing to see, and I suddenly call out,"come here"and she realises she's been noticed,pauses for a sec,looks back, gives me an ah-so-lovely smile, which also sends a message,'you can't catch me now' and starts crawling again, at double the previous speed.Good,she's freed me from the guilt of not exercising daily, thanks to the several times I run after her,each day.
And, the lil one is so intelligent when it comes to avoiding food she doesn't like. I try different jars of baby food each day.The first spoon of food at each meal, has to pass her'entry test'.She doesn't fully open her mouth until she has tested a small drop of the food at the tip of her tongue and okayed its taste.If she doesn't like it, then, there is no way she'll ever eat it.Several jars we buy her end up at the drain,hahaha.
Only growing crazier,crazier about her.What's this magic that makes babies so lovable,so adorable,that makes parents forget themselves and everything else in the world?Their innocence?Their smile that strikes at your heart and melts it?Their tiny hands patting you lovingly?Their tiny heads with silky hair rubbing against your shoulder?Could be so many things...the list can go on.But I have an easy answer and the answer is...Ananya.