At Sweet 16

Joyce is 16 months today. She is trying to pick up words. From the sweet little girl she has become that irritating little cricket which around you keeps mugging you with that stupid sound. When I am around she believes my hip is the most happening place. Saturdays and Sundays she hunts be down to every nook & corner of the house.

1. She is almost WEANED. ATLAST. 'Almost' because, days when I am lazy to boil & wash & sterilize I just breastfeed her.

2. At 14 I mentioned she goes and calls her dad as soon as I start putting the plates on the table. Now she starts pulling the cushions down from the chairs, climb them, then climb the table, will leave space for the plate and side dishes and will reserve herself a nice spot, from where she can send everything crashing down with just one kick.

3. Climbing, reaching out for things at different heights is her favourite sport right now. She is mostly found on top of the dinning standing at the edge and yelling out to me to catch her. I don't have time to go get the camera, I rather save her or its my CDs, DVD player, TV, cellphone, handbag etc that will be at stake.
4. When I scream at her, she points a finger at me and blabbers. Maybe she is saying calm down mom, who knows.
5. She can hum tunes when the song is on. She loves the "Bonney M"s I think. In the car, she will get on to my lap, turn the volume knob for a 20 from 9 and clap her hands and smile. I will need ear plugs or a sound proof room looks like.
6. She will smile at the camera and so the actual expression is missed many a times.
7. She loves to play with the ball but as soon as she starts, the crazy mom and dad are kicking it around in the house, and she is tired finding it for us from under the bed or sofa or whatever it is.
8. She will pick or pluck a flower or leaf or even a twig and bring it to her nose and inhale it.

9. She can pour water all around. I let her play around in the tub for a while before I bathe her. She aims the water at herself but not quiet on target yet. She also helps me water the plants and wash the balcony. Just give her a mug and she will follow me around doing the same.

10. Sleeping. phew!! She will test my patience before she sleeps. On the bed, she will keep moving her little butt and head from one direction to the other searching for that perfect spot like a dog, sometimes she will let her legs hang outside the bed, then decide against it and get back in.

11. I think she is a little slow on the talking thing. A few things she says,
App - was meant to be apple but in Joyce's words it is anything that is round.
tar - which is star, which could be anything on my T-shirt since thatz where I first showed her a taaar.
bow bow - thatz the dog. sometime even the cat is.
na na - is what she calls the children in building. I tried didi and bhaiya but nana stuck on.
Mumma - Every body in the family is Mumma, sometimes there is a Mummy too. Instead of Dada that we have been sticking our heads out and teaching her, theres an occasional baba.
vavo - When the stage is all set for her to go to bed, she will put both her hands to her tummy and ask.... vavo vavo?
che che - She will put a finger to her nose, make that piggy face and tell us she has just done the job, or if she just passed gas.
kllas - Its my mom's hindi, Khallas, for everything that is over. We tried undoing the killer-khallas but its here to stay.
Illa - In mallu means, no. so anything missing, not found is all "illa". That according to my mom was my favourite word as a teenager.

Lots of blabbering. Different pitches and tones. You can almost make out if she is asking or telling you or just annoyed by your lame response.

A Sea of Change

Last week, Sharon has come visiting us with her mom for a couple of weeks. Joyce was all happy to see an another toddler in the house and was all game for any game. I was happy the way my little girl had no problems sharing her toys or even with any of us carrying Sharon. Joyce is a lot quieter with Sharon around and so no more threatening Ammachy of throwing off her utensils off the balcony or window. Between then and now, that is a week, things have changed a whole 180 degree.

A small cry from Sharon now has Joyce looking downwards pouting her lips and quivering with tears ready to drop. The moment Sharon screams a little louder..mostly for her mom's attention, Joyce starts crying out real loud. That ofcourse freaks out Sharon and then there is a who-cries-louder-and-longer marathon. She has also got possessive with her toys and books. We saw her carry all her toys away from Sharon's reach even when she doesn't plan to play with them. If I or mom is spotted carrying Sharon, she would make sure she is carried as well. If it looked like Sharon might crawl into my mom's lap, she will make it there first. She doesn't mind Sharon being carried as far as she is catered too. When the toddlers see each other after a hour long nap or after one returns from an outdoor trip, they both smile showing off their little teeth and blabbering to each other but all changes with one little scream or an unpleasant noise.

Sharon is still very much crawling and Joyce after all the walk & run is imitating Sharon and crawling around the house on all fours. She has re-discovered crawling. I guess the knees hurt and so she is crawling with her hands and feet.

This last week she has become all the more clingy, holding on to my leg and me literally dragging my leg and her along while doing the chores.Take her below for a walk in the park and she is running off all in the wrong directions(towards the road). She has also been whinning a lot of late (even before Sharon arrived). She makes that whinning noise for no rhyme or reason. When I ask her to shut up, she does promptly, only to start again and check my reaction. Once to amuse her, I blew a strand of my hair on to her face. Now I have her pulling my hair and trying to blow them. While going through where the nose is and where the eyes are I pointed at my eyes(foolish mumma), now everytime I have her poking my eye and pulling my nose when I ask her where the nose or eyes is.

Where is my harmless little sweet innocent child ..I want her back.

My Baldie

Joyce’s curly hair was a riot. It could be tamed only after a bath and couldn't even be attempted otherwise. Joyce was born with hardly any hair. In a year it grew in length & grew wild but not all around. The curls make it look thick but it isn't actually. The Grannies kept saying, shave it once, apply egg white and just wait and watch thick black hair growing back. We kept postponing the tonsure because it almost seemed like a crime to us. We couldn't visualize out little girlie bald. But we gave in to good advice against that unruly curly hair and patches of scant hair. I had enquired with moms in our area about the barber & his parlor.

We did not start off planning to go to the barber but when we were in that area, P and I just looked at each other and said, ok, lets just do it. It was a men's AC parlor. P sat in front of the mirror, Joyce, unaware happily hopped on to P's lap. The barber (or should I call him the stylist) came with the hair cutter machine and asked P to hold her head. As soon as the barber started shaving, Joyce started screaming and crying making us feel like dirt with every tear rolling down her cheek. She was throwing me, accusing looks while I was hovering around blabbering nonsense about how its ok and it will be over soon. P was worried if she was ever going to talk to him. She refused to look into the mirror even when I hugged and kissed her. She had her lips quivering every time I touched her head. She refused to look at P. Once in the car, she was quiet but very unhappy.

Since it was an unplanned event, when we got home, mom was all surprised and did the famous Sushmita-won-the-universe-crown pose and the tear floods opened wide open once again. In a days time, she was fine, I was fine and so was P. Phew!!!

Initially, she did not want to look at the mirror and even if we forced her, she would simply look away. In 2 days, she was pretty ok and I don't feel as bad as I thought I would about my baldie. Her soft spot is still visible.

So lets ask my baldie a few questions ..what say?

Mumma: Hi Joyce!!



J: Hi!!

Mumma: Where is you taklu??



J: Here

Mumma: Show us your taklu??



J: See

Mumma: Were you scared



J: Shit scared

Mumma: I am so sorry we had to force you darling



J: You dare not try again

Mumma: And what are you doing now?



J: Oh nothing and enough now, I have closed my eyes so that you don't see anything more.

Right!! Thank you anyway.

Joyce at 14

She walks, runs & kicks. She climbs 2 flights of stairs 5 times a minute (atleast seems so). Good for my health you might say, I don't think so. At 14 she can kick a ball, she can show anger by kicking anything available at her discreet.No, this is not a practice in our place and I have no clue where she gets it from. It could be probably because my mom moves rags with her feet, just a guess .

She claps and turns around. She enjoys watching nursery rhymes.

She drink off her sippy, glass and even a bottle. She has learnt to sip through a straw as well.
P took her for a walk one day and bought some coconut water from the street since he was thirsty, Ofcourse the daughter wasn't going to let the father enjoy it in peace until he taught her how to sip. Now every time we walk the road and pass the coconut seller, she keeps smacking her lips and pointing fingers.

She imitates P exercising everyday. One day, he was just showing off his muscles and she started imitating him forcing strength while grinding her teeth.

She tries to eat all kind of raw vegetables. Tomatoes, beans, onions and even bitter groud. She even tried digging her teeth into garlic and latter spit it out in disgust.

She is scared of the dog growling not barking. she is scared of the grinder, the moped starting and thunder and little butterflies sitting on the ceiling. She comes running and clings hard or even better is she runs through that stretch of the house instead of walking or strolling where the butterfly or insect is seen on the ceiling.

As soon as I set the table for dinner or breakfast, she goes in search for P and signals him with a smacking sound while summoning him with a nodding head. Now-a-days she pushes him towards the dinning. Smacking is her way to tell us she is hungry or thirsty.

These days she seems to be putting things into her mouth just to grab attention. Couple of days back I was so tired of yelling "spit, spit" after she put in a piece of paper into her mouth, I just ignored her. In a few minutes she comes to me and holds out her tongue for me to see. I ignored her again and she comes back holding the thing in her hand :).

All the trolleys/drawers in the Joyce household has been emptied or dumped with things otherwise not required for the smooth running of the kitchen or the house in general.

Not Potty trained, not weaned and does not sleep on her own yet.

My cousin Sharon

Hi Again!!!

Here is one more personality. My cousin Sharon. This is when I was 12 and she was 9 in perfect harmony.



Sharon with her Mom. Do you know, when I was born, I used to sit on my aunty's tummy(that is Sharon's head or leg whichever) and go to sleep. What does she know, possessive toddler ;)





She finally sat at 9 months.


I was just checking if she was sleeping or awake. And there she indeed is. Did I tell you of her 2 hobbies, 'Sleeping' & 'Crying for Mama' keeps her occupied for the whole day. I hear she has started crawling and getting up with support, waiting to see the lazy bum finally off her BUMS ..he he he :)

Hardworking Joyce!!

Hello everybody!!! I know my milestone is the next post mumma is planning to do, mumma is soon gonna be telling you how I am getting naughty and messy so I decided to tell you how I am not.

I get up before mumma most days. I drag her out of bed. I guess she is tired so I get the milk in the morning from the milk man.

I help sweeping the floor. I also help & supervise
our maid. Ammachy doesn't understand marathi, so I have to pitch in to help both.

I also help mopping the floor and sometimes this dumb piece in my hand knocks out things at different places and I get the looks. You think that is fair??

I help Ammachy clean her garden everyday. There are quite a few strange things in here and every time I try checking them out, I have my mom and Ammachy at my throat screaming spit spit, spit, spit ...irritates me no end ....I spit it right out so that they can stop screaming and leave my ear drums intact.

I know how mom loves a neat house and things in their own place. I always help with all the folding and packing. Sometimes I have to get into those bags and clean it of the last dirt. Don't ask me how. Aren't we toddlers entitled to any secrets of our own??

And finally when I am done with helping all at home, I get very little time to play :(. I love my toy basket. I feel like the 'Queen' sitting on top of my toy basket


I hope now you are convinced and will not believe a thing mom comes up with.

Like Dada or Mama?

The day Joyce was born, everyone who came to see us were prepared with their guess at who does my child look like. Absolutely divided. My family, as in , Mom, my extended family, uncles, aunts, basically all who had seen me as a kid claimed she was just like me and ofcourse P's entire family including parents, aunts, uncles all claimed they resembled him. I was happy then. since atleast half the world is on my side.

Slowly well-meaning friends and neighbours and acquaintances at social gatherings or otherwise would go ...oh she is so NOT like you. She looks like P or She looks like her grand father and so on. Now obviously these people haven't seen me young and all they see now is a wheatish complexioned, long faced, short mother and a fair, round faced fairly tall father. Obviously the scales slides the Dada side and he is grinning because he knows how I disagree and am being polite.

The only thing people are not able to figure out about Joyce is her curly hair. No one in P's family has curly hair. My father had. Mine is too, but fairly less than his. My Father's granny in all her snaps, seemed like she had a boy-cut, but that was just curly hair curled all the way to her scalp. My cousins have spent a fortune in the parlour trying to straighten their hair. So coming back, Joyce's curly hair attributes to my genes :). I am Happy, one down.

I and P often argue about who she is going to be like. Once he showed me an article which stated that every women would want to claim her child is like the father. It is a mental game where the women is telling the father, "really, is your child". I probably belong to a different league :). I want her to be like me.

Yesterday my cousin mentioned, her smile is like mine. Ofcourse, two down. I am counting. Recently, while going through old albums I found a pic of mine at ONE. I have been carrying that pic in my bag to get it scanned. P found the pic in my bag .."oh so that is what you are going to pull out every time anyone says she looks like me uh" ?? ... But the self-pompous creature that I am ... I will post in on my blog for the world to look at :), So ladies & gentleman, here I present the proof.


Joyce's picture taken at 8 months

Tell me there is something similar please. Else I will get a better pic :)

Was the walking milestone the most overwhelming?

A comment on one of my previous post actually made me write this post

My daughter is My First Born. Everything she did was amazing and nothing short of a miracle to our eyes. Of all she did, the ones I enjoyed the most are the tiny-winy gestures like, staring at me or giving me a faint smile or playing with her toes, pulling off her socks or holding her hands together. Many a thanks to babycentre.com and babyzone.com for their newsletters which initially I kept reading atleast 2 weeks ahead, which kept telling me what changes to watch out for this week. After the 6th-7th month I think I lost interest in them since I already had my intutions about what next.

Walking independently is the most advertised milestone. Though it is awesome to watch your kid walk, I think its over-hyped. Here are a few things that amused me more than the walking milestone.

1. The first time she laughed and refused to stop. She had just completed 3 months. I had absolutely no clue what I had done and anything I did she continued laughing.
2. Second major was when she turned over.
3. Third was when she wanted to roll over. It took her a lot of time to figure out how to roll and how to roll without hurting her head. Once done, she was always under the sofa, chair or bed.
4. Crawling & Sitting

The crawling & sitting milestone was very significant to me because it was very difficult to get there from a lying down position. Since she was 4 months it seemed like she might crawl anytime soon since she kept kicking her legs, propped up on her hands, but actual crawling started only in the 7th month.... and just as soon as she got crawling, she slowly started resting her tiny butt and kept her hands rooted on the ground. Once she got her crawling act right, then holding on to stuff, trying to get up on her knees, standing up with support all happened pretty soon probably within a month. The walking independently milestone did make me happy, did make me raise my eyebrows, did hold my breath, amused me ..everything but it doesn't compare to the time I saw her laughing which made me cry infact or when I saw her crawling & sitting finally. I kissed and hugged her to pieces almost.

The small-small developments keep me smiling and I think I will remember them for a long time too(else I have this blog to fall back upon), like recently when we had been to my in-laws place, she was walking all around, but there was this wooden division ( generally found across most doors in India ), hardly an inch high, that she needed to cross to get on to the balcony, she was unable to lift her leg enough to cross that. As soon she tried lifting her leg she would loose balance, she tried dragging her foot over it but unsuccessful. I saw her struggling there and finally she just sat down & she crawled over. After couple of times of crawling over and trying to lift her leg, she realized she could rest her hands on the wall, lift one leg, put it over the wooden division, then slowly get over it, and then the next leg. I had a smile, stretching from east to west, inviting queries from many in the room. It was really fun to watch her find her ways of doing things.

I would really like to read about other mothers and what really overwhelmed them in the growing-up process.

The First Birthday Bash

The day before, Joyce was down with diarrhea which continued the next day too. We had booked a small hall in a decent hotel near-by. We had already invited the guests.And we were wondering if we need to cancel it all. Around late afternoon she seemed better & was responding fairly well. Being a working day we weren't expecting the party to begin any early. More than the cake cutting or the birthday it was fun getting togather. I and P both being residents of Pune with our families and first cousins also based in Pune, we ourselves are a good crowd, and the kids have enough company. Here are the pics. There were boys too but would simply not oblige the photographer :(







Now the whys & hows about celebrating the first birthday. Personally, spending money lavishly is not me. I started thinking about the birthday and what would I like to do just a month before. I had attended my niece's first birthday, which was just family for lunch and a little fun with the kids at a near-by orphanage. It was neat and ideal to say the least. Thatz how I thought I would like it too.

When figures started falling in for just close family & friends, we were having difficulty managing all at home and the food and decoration. So we decided to have it out. Once we reached at that decision, I was almost chalked out of P's plans. As I said earlier, the hall was booked, the menu was decided, the dress came in, the shoes came too, an extra cake, candles, birthday caps and so on. I did try to argue it out but he wasn't budging or listening, I went on to remind him this wasn't her wedding but her first birthday. At the end of the day, we were approx 25-30. We chit-chatted as usual, the kids had fun. We had fun watching the kids have fun. Though we did shell out a little more than usual, we were happy about the party. We sure do not feel guilty about hosting the party. Joyce enjoyed the moment.

From my own experience, I have the exact opposite views now on the subject from the time I started thinking about it. The First birthday bash was not for Joyce (she has the remaining years to celebrate), the first birthday we wanted to celebrate for our own self. We celebrated a year of parenthood. We basically celebrate this whole new responsibility, new emotions and togetherness with our child and the bond we share as a family. That is what I was celebrating. I don't regret the fact that she will not remember it. I am happy we celebrated the moment and WE WILL REMEMBER it for the rest of our life. So I am completely for celebration rather than let it pass. Pick any kind of celebration, and you do not need to feel guilty about it, big or small, it is a TREAT to self for getting through nurturing the first year of your little one's life. Its a huge milestone.

A Year back when the stork arrived ....

I switched to my new company when I was 3 months pregnant. Initially I didn't quite get anything to do, I didn't totally feel like getting to know people and for quite a while I felt no one in the team liked me. Latter someone told me, they thought I was a selfish snob because I was opening small packets and boxes and eating all the time and never bothered to offer :) also they weren't quite sure if I was fat or should they annoy me by asking if I was carrying. You will find couple of my pregnancy posts in my archives during that period, Oct 2005 onwards

Anyway, the initial due date was 23rd March. After the 8th month or so, my Gynec corrected it to the 29th. I looked forward to my visit to the Gynec, since I could hear the heartbeats and at the same time dreaded it because I wasn't gaining much weight but my tummy was growing in size. I started my leave a week before my delivery date. Many people guessed it would be a boy and so as per each's own thesis I was suppose to deliver a week or 2 before my set delivery date. Nothing happened. One of my younger sister was also carrying was in her 7th month. She was home, the other sister had abandoned her job hunt and was stay put at home for 2 weeks before my delivery. We all were loosing patience. If I just lie down or as much as hold my tummy or make a weird expression they would ask me, hopefully, any pains??. Monday morning, the 27th, I had a spat with mom over some routine stuff. I just walked to my room and lay there not in a mood to talk to anyone. I shooed away my sisters who came to chat. The 2 brats kept peeping & asking every 15 mins ..any pains?? ...any pains?? ...I wanted to throw the pillows at them but then I was having one in-between my legs and other under my head.

In the evening, around 6:30, mom & my sis went off to buy groceries. I was home with my other sis who was carrying then. I was walking around the room and I realized I was leaking. While I was happy about some progress finally, I was dreading labour pains. I had already discussed with P that if the pains get unbearable, I want an epidural. We did our do-diligence and spoke to many people who did taken it. The feedback ranged between the worst and the best so it was our call.

Waiting for my mom to get back, I took a bath, pulled out the hospital bags and checked once again for everything required. Though I was tensed , I knew the stage could last 2 days(like my mom) even and so there was no need to panic. Called P, who was on his way home. Called my in-laws who live at stone's throw from my place. Everybody arrived around 8 and we left for the hospital. I walked to the stage-1 labor room. Through out the night the pains kept coming at irregular intervals. They were also monitoring my baby's movements. A couple of times they asked me to have ice since my baby was more interested in sleeping than in getting out. I was tired but couldn't sleep. Early morning around 4, they came back with ice again. "Your baby isn't moving, we guess its sleeping" ..."Like father, like child" I thought. Slowly I started getting my pains regularly and I was already tired. I hanged on as much as I could, but latter told my sister to ask P to sign the epidural form. Couple of hours latter, the form was signed amidst strong protest from moms, some not knowing what is epidural, and threat smses from the stage 1 labour room -"Sign it". P didn't have much choice and he was more worried about wifey and child more than moms with folk tales about "children should be borne with pain" etc. He signed it, he confirmed "no side effects" with the concerned doctor and sent me a sms ..dont worry-signed. Men weren't allowed in the labour room, mom didn't want to stay by my side, mom-in-law tried to keep me entertained with many birth stories but she couldn't take it either and then it was my sister who had to stay by me and see me in pain and check on doctors again and again and again. She even screamed at an intern who seemed least moved by all the happenings. There was an another to-be-mother in my room too. She came in after me. Her sister and my sister were exchanging notes on the progress of their respective sisters and sharing their own grief about having to stick around because the mothers couldn't handle it. Early morning I & the other lady were going in turns wincing in pain. Bearing and screaming in pain hurts but hearing someone scream in pain hurts even more.

At around 7-7:30 I wanted to go to the restroom but they wouldn't let me move. The Epidural doctor came in and gave me the epidural on my spine. It was one embarrassing moment. Till then I was being handled by a all-women staff, doctors, nurses, interns, sweepers all, suddenly an old bald guy comes in to see you in that state of misery and also wants you to bare the spine. I knew there wasn't much I could do. Shut all the shame and embarrassment up and co-operated with the doctor. In an another 10-15 mins I was super cool, smiling and talking to the girl next bed. Since she hadn't dilated even 3 cms, she wasn't allowed to take the epidural. At 10:30 the pains re-surfaced and this time it was really bad. My sister ran around me crying. I was given a second round of epidural and checked for dilation. Suddenly, the doctor who was examining me, exclaimed, the baby's head is there, and screamt for the stretcher. As I was being being shifted to the stretcher, I heard them asking my sister to leave. I was moved to the delivery room. Moved to a bed with the head rest held high. covered my legs with a sheet which was positioned for action. I felt no pain. nothing absolutely. There were atleast 6-7 people around me. My Gynec was orchestrating the whole thing at arms length distance. One lady had both her hands on tummy, and was pressing it hard as directed by my Gynec. 2 Pushes and she was out. I saw them holding her legs and moving her to the next room. I did not have a chance to see her face then. After this I don't remember much. I don't remember her crying, I don't remember how long I lay in that room. I remember a nurse brought and showed her to me, but I forgot to ask boy or girl. She was sleeping then too. I remember asking the nurse if the child was a girl or boy and she brought her back to me, I kissed her and maybe shed a tear wishing if only dad could have seen her. Like many said, I didn't feel an instant bonding to the neat bundle that was sleeping all the time and it the next few days was always scared that I might not be able to recognize her if lost or misplaced. I couldn't close my eyes and recollect her face. I was in love with her when she was in, when she moved around inside, when she gave me high fives by moving her bum or head or whatever, whenever I heard her heart beat but any mother-like feelings worked-up only in a couple of days.

Happy Birthday!!!

Joyce turns ONE tomorrow. I wanted to do her birth story to coincide with her first birthday but I am not sure I will have the time.

This is just a stick note to my little one. I haven't seen your father more enthusiastic about shopping and spending than on this one occasion in the last 2 years that I have been married to him. He is all pepped up and in high spirits and has also been driving me nuts. He shopped for your dress all alone because I wouldn't let him pick what he liked(Thatz true). He fixed up the venue and just informed me because he thought I would have tossed it out (I would have). He has personally invited all. He has taken suggestions to accommodate for specials. All this JUST FOR YOU. This is not the P I knew. This is the P who is your father.

There are a few who wouldn't be able to make it tomorrow for your birthday and might not appear in the album when you flip thru them in a few years from now for all kinds of reasons, but nevertheless, they all love you A LOT.

Note to Dad: Your first grand daughter turns 1 tomorrow. Sometimes, I just can't make up my mind if we are missing you the most or are you missing out on the most.

So Naughty!!

Picking the mischief tag


Wouldn't let Ammachy sit & pray but she will sit and clap religiously for the last few lines of the prayer.

"Sthothram sthothram karthave
sthothramadh aayiram aayiramai
anavadhi aayi sthothram nadha
krupa venam njazhalil ennum"

(Manglish can be horrible, but it means, Thank you lord a million times, Do bless us always)

My Baby at Eleven

My daughter completed 11 months today. Its almost a year since she arrived into my arms. It feels like yesterday though. I remember, being in the hospital and looking at her sleep in the crib trying to remember her face. I was so scared, I might not be able to recognize her admist other new-borns, if at all she got lost or misplaced and someone asked me to identify her :).

At Eleven,

1) She has mastered her princer grip. She will sit and try to pick any tiny black dots, pieces of paper, dust particles on the floor. Initially she wasn't sure what to do after she has picked it up, now-a-days it goes straight to the mouth for all kinds of tasting/testing.

2) She loves tearing books into papers and then tear them again into more pieces untill she has freed the soul of that piece of paper.

3) She enjoys making all kinds of noise. She and Sharon (my sister's daughter) had a gala time snatching a plastic bag from each other and howling, trying to make the maximum noise.

4) Sharon is 3 months younger than her and when she visited us last she could just turn over and was trying to reach for different things kept a little away by her mother to motivate her to move ahead. My daughter would see Sharon struggling and howling and would go pick them and offer it to her.

5) She claps & tries to sing along with Ammachy & friends at prayer meetings. All that comes out is aaa...aaa..aaa..aaa (there are highs and lows) but she sings as if she is singing right along with them.

6) She will crawl into/over anything where she can reach, be it under the dinning table or the window sill or the side table of the bed, the sofa, under the bed ... everywhere.

7) She says Ma..ma..ma Yahooooooooooooooo!!!!

8) She can get into a standing position on her own, right in the centre of the room. She will look at me and sway either ways with clapping hands. She has been trying to stand on her own for over a month, she just couldn't take her hands off the floor.

9) She loves fish. She rather have her food from our plates than her own. She hasn't started showing any fuss over food yet.

10) She took her first small step early this month. Now she walks all around. Initially, if she sees you watching, she would just give up and start crawling but since last 2 days therez lot of walking.

11) She loves playing in & with water.

12) Earlier, she could only take things out, and never put them into the box or container or sort. Since last 2-3 days she has started putting them back. She keeps Ammachy on her toes with all the stuff she throws around in the house.

13) She understands ball ta (give me the ball), dolly ta, mama eyk ta (give it to mama), bow bow is the dog below.

14) She holds her hand to the ear whenever we say Hello!!!

15) She imitates anybody coughing, but if it is a hard/loud cough she will start crying immediately.

Its lots of fun, fills me & P with pride and overwhelms us at times to see our little child grow. Her little achievements, like when she managed to open a drawer, to walk continuously without having to sit down, to hold her balance when turning around while walking, to pick food from the table and to be able to put it into the mouth, to climb down from the bed, to be able to roll her toy and so many many more, we are the blessed witness to the divine events. We see her face beaming when she has done something she was having trouble with. We clap our hands and she claps along.

Joyce monkeying around

My Baby has been monkeying around from all kinds of weird heights & slants, wanting to climb, and once up wants to rest her little butt in confined spaces & places where there are no supporting planes, wants to get down and then climb again. Initially I used to put her to sleep and build pillow walls around. Then we had to teach our little explorer how-to-get-down from the bed since she seemed to be heading head-along all the time. Last week, I left her sleeping on the bed with the pillow walls and tip-toed out for something. My heart stopped beating for a few secs when I watched her in absolute amusement crawling from the bedroom towards the hallway. No fuss, no noise, and so fast. Is this a Baby milestone?

Here I come

Hello!! Mama keeps telling me she has a lots of friends and everyone is eager to see and meet me. oh I See!!!! Now thatz not very easy. I hope you understand how lazy my mom is. Also I have a really busy schedule. In-between that, Ammachy even tries to feed me and put me to sleep. Of course, I don't sleep for long and am up before she can attempt at anything. I always catch her eating when I get up and she has the look of "O'God" ...you know that look right? I think she keeps all the tasty food for herself, so I insist I need a share from her every time she eats or munches and what do you know, its really really very tasty and at times a little spicy for my little tougue too. Now I need to get back to play. Very nice meeting all you great people, will surely come again with lots of stories from my buzy days, till then ... oh where is my smiley??