Good Morning Big School :-)

OMG - my little baby has finally grown up. I think I am choking the same way today as the day she weaned off breastmilk! This little baby of mine looks like such a big girl in the her uniform! I somehow feel that the change in boys is less drastic when they transform from a non-uniform playschool to a uniform one fine morning coz they continue to wear a shirt and shorts right? Yes - now it is all tucked in and plain white or beige but it is still not a totally different look. But girls - not so much. Coz little girls usually wear anything from shorts to pants to frocks to skirts. Suddenly seeing them in a uniform makes you realize how time has flown by and my baby has now matured into this school going disciplined girl. I know you'll say it is just LKG but still a uniform adds to their years I feel. And it also brings back vivid memories of when I trotted off to my school (not so long ago?)!

Anyway...just wanted to share the joy of this morning when I got my child ready to join her "big bachcha's school" (meaning: big kids school) as she calls it. Leaving you with some pics that say the rest...

My pride, My Joy, My Sunshine

 On her way to school

She is thrilled that her best friend A is also in the same class as her!

About Summer Holidays, Life Changes, Other Updates and Such

• Mar 30, 2012: Lil N said goodbye to her teachers, akkas and the wonderful friends at her Montessori and Daycare for the last 2 years - Little Feat Montessori. She graduated with lots of memories and learning and ready to join her "big school" coming June. She and I made cute farewell cards for each of the teacher and akka who has touched her life here. 

• Mar 30, 2012: Same night, flew out to Bombay for a month long summer break with both sets of her grandparents. 
• Apr 13, 2012: Flew to Jammu (via Delhi) for the loooooong overdue trip to Vaishno Devi. 
• Apr 14, 2012: Jai Mata Di! Vaishno Devi darshan at last!!!
• Apr 15, 2012: Back to Bombay 
• Apr 18, 2012: Lil N and I set out to visit my dear bro and bhabhi in Pune (N's mama and mami)
• Apr 19, 2012: Visited my office in Pune, met the team face to face for the first time. N spent a memorable day chilling with her mami at home. Great bonding on both fronts :-)
• Apr 21, 2012: Drove to my parents home for us to spend quality time with them for a week. 
• Apr 28, 2012: Back to Bombay
• Apr 30, 2012: Back to Bangalore - Home Sweet Home after a month! Time for getting back to our routine and looking forward to new beginnings with new school and stuff.
• May 11, 2012:  Added a new member to our family - the oh-so-cute-cozy-soft-whitish-fawn lab pup. Born on April 8, 2012 - was about 33 days when he came into his new home with us. Lil N named him Simba :-)

• May 27, 2012: N and I decided to doll up her play room so that she can call it her own and even sleep there with Simba. This is a huge milestone for her and us as well. We bought a tonne of stuff for her bedroom that same day and she has happily slept in it ever since. (Just so I don't forget: This has been a very very gradual process. I had started training her to sleep by herself while in Bombay the previous month. She went from wanting me to be in the same room as her while she tried to sleep, then leaving the door open for a while, then me leaving the room after reading and kissing her good night. When we came back to Bangalore, the whole thing kinda regressed again and she wanted me to sleep with her on her bed which was on the floor next to ours. Then when Simba arrived, it regressed even more! She slept between us on our bed coz obviously if Simba walks on her or worse chews or bites her while she is asleep on her bed that was on the floor, it would be terrible. A week or two of these crazy sleep arrangements especially with Simba falling a little ill and us not having the heart to leave him outside our room, I had this bright idea of getting N all excited about "her room". Thankfully she took to that idea and we excitedly went shopping for her room with her - she literally chose everything and I promised to get her even more if she keeps her promise of sleeping in her room every day. Now I lie in her bed, read to her next to her new bedside lamp, on her new girlie pillows and kiddie bedspread,  kiss her goodnight and leave the room. She does wake up around 4am or so and call out for me crying - and that is when me (and sometimes me and my hubby both) bring our blankets and join her for our dose of baby cuddles until we wake up in the morning :-) The other promise she wanted was that Simba sleep in her room and we have been trying to get him into the habit as well. So far so good. Touchwood...knock on wood...kala tikka...whatever it takes :-))
• Jun 6, 2012: Her new school begins. Goodbye lazy mornings...sigh! 

Inspiration Block

Help ladies!!! I seem to be stuck in an 'inspiration block'. You know how you can't figure out what to write next when you have a writer's block? Well, for me these days, each day seems to be like an inspiration block. Almost like I can't figure out what to do with my time all day. I mean I want to tidy up my home or redecorate or do a fun craft activity with my child or just cook something new. But just don't seem to muster up the enthusiasm to do anything!!! Why??? This sucks! I am not sure when this will pass or what it will take to make this pass...so thought I'd ask you ladies for suggestions. Do you feel this way at times? How do you snap out of it? Even at work, I do what I need to do but almost subconsciously...not wholeheartedly. Each evening when I come home, I hate to think of getting into meetings again within an hour...I used to do it all so well until a few weeks ago...these days I just feel shitty about everything :(

The ONLY thing that I have started engaging in these days is this new sitcom Modern Family, after reading about it at Simran's blog here. Thanks Simran for that one new thing I look out for during the day...I had almost given up on TV after moving to India since I was soooo hooked to all the sitcoms in the US but had failed to find anything interesting here. I know they telecast replays but those are seasons I may have already seen or some shows I loved are not even telecast in India. So this is like a breath of fresh air.

Any other tips, ideas, suggestions guys? I thought of finally acting on something I always wanted to learn - sewing. I even called the classes yesterday and told them I am coming today to enroll. But then not sure what made me fizzle out this morning :( That's another reason you may see a new look to my blog...these new colors kind of made me feel good and I hope to get inspired by them too. Every little bit counts you see :-)?

Edited to Add: It has been several hours since I typed this post. Since then, I have taken a short afternoon nap (since I was working from home today), gone to the parlor to get my legs waxed, have planned on taking lil N to the swimming pool tomorrow, had a good nice talk to the hubby about this and generally feel a whole lot better already. Almost like I have finally snapped out of it. Thank God!!! And Simran, a sincere thanks to you as well for writing some uplifting words almost right away. I think finally writing about my emotions and knowing there are others like me out there helped me get out of it.

A very good morning to you all as well...

Happy Monday everyone! And a very good morning to all.

Not sure why but I feel like I have suddenly woken up from a long slumber. Somehow, it feels like the last week kind of whizzed past by and I was too tired or sleepy or just not in the mood to notice. So much has been going on in life lately that I haven't even had the time or motivation to blog about any of it. But somehow this morning, I feel energized and refreshed again. No real rhyme or reason...maybe just maybe its coz it is the last day of my monthly visitor Aunty Flo :-)

Anyways...hope everyone had a nice Diwali break. I, for one, enjoyed two back to back long weekends at work. We had a Monday (Nov 1) and the same Friday (Nov 5) as holidays so just a 3 day week at work was a nice change. We decided to capitalize on this and booked a trip to Goa for Oct 30 - Nov 1. Left Bangalore by bus on the night of Oct 29, reached Goa the next morning and checked into the Kenilworth resort we had booked. And believe me, after that, we did really NOTHING for the next 4 days. Just relaxed, ate, enjoyed the beach and the pool to our heart's content. Bliss. Pure bliss. Really a much needed break just as a cozy family of 3 after a long long while. Vacations are a very nice time to bond emotionally and rediscover the joys of having each other and counting our blessings. I am glad we took that break.

Post that we just took it easy during Diwali. Had planned to travel again to visit my parents but were honestly too tired after the long road trip to Goa. Infact since the bus ride took too long due to bad roads, we took a one way cab from Goa back to Bangalore and cancelled our return bus tickets. That was a wiser decision and on hindsight - should have done that to and fro right from the start. Oh well...lesson learnt. So Diwali was spent by me making some besan laddus at home and generally doing rangolis, diyas and socializing with some friends - that's all. No fireworks for us since we are not crazy about them and neither is li'l N. She infact is terrified of going anywhere near them. We took her down for a walk in our apartment complex on Diwali night and she hated the noise of these bombs and ladis and cried to go back home. So we did what we usually do every year at Diwali - sat in our balcony and enjoyed the view of fireworks in the Bangalore skyline. We are lucky to have a very good view of the city from our own home so Diwali nights from our balcony are pretty nice.

Me and my hubby were talking on our way back from Goa about how he has noticed that after most of our vacations, we have some life changing events at home. Our last trip was to Sirsi, Ankola and hubby's native for li'l N's mundan and dear hubby had quit his job right after that. This time too there are some huge changes going on at my work as well as his. And we spent a good chunk of time discussing these during our drive home. So that is the other reason I have been preoccupied and away from blogging too much. To give you a summary - the company I work for is getting acquired by another MNC which means that I may not have the same job anymore. Infact, if I don't find anything else within this MNC, I may have to look outside in the next 6 months or so. And I wasn't too happy about the idea of polishing my interview shoes all over again :-( I just don't do too well with change when it is not what I have chosen generally so I was quite mad at losing the great job I had. I mean it had a very good amount of flexibility which was the only reason I could even think of working with a little child at home. And it matched my past experience and career desire perfectly. It was in many ways tailor made for me. It will be next to impossible to find another one like this in today's market. I will be forced to change my career and lose the flexibility a little which I really don't wish to at this point. Oh well...enough negativity right? Let's wait and see...and hope for the best. Like I said - this morning I am all fresh and energized full of positivity again. Hubby too got a new boss at work and there are major re-orgs happening that may not be received too well by everyone. But he too is dealing well with it and making the most out of it.

On a brighter note, I had planned to invite some upper management guests from work over for Diwali. And I have been stressing about that for weeks. But finally made it happen last night and thankfully it was a success (atleast in my mind :-)). No more nerve wrecking moments wondering what to cook and how to place everyone and what to buy etc. Whew! We did have a good time and some great discussions. Some things that were said and that stayed with me:

• On the topic of when to pursue entrepreneurship if that is what you really want to do - one thing he said was - do not give yourself artificial deadlines such as when I am x years of age I will do something of my own etc. Infact, if you have something in mind, the earlier you start, the better it is because you have lesser to lose. And the later you start, not only will your responsibilities increase in life but your lifestyle will only go up. It will never go down. So your expenses and stuff will only increase and it will be harder to maintain your lifestyle at that point.

• On the topic of buying a home and what kind, where etc. - one thing she said was - when your kids are young, your priorities are very different. What you want at that stage is not an independent villa in a far off location. Infact you want everything at your fingertips - proximity to the medical stores, doctors, super markets, shops, a good community, etc. along with security of a gated complex, amenities that the kids could use such as children's park, pool, tennis court, etc. Once they are older, one can think of building or living in your dream house far away from the city but when the kids are growing is when you really need the support system.

So all in all some eventful few weeks have gone by and hopefully this post brings me out of my so-called stressful misery and motivates me to just look at the brighter side of things. I resolve to stop taking out my stress on my loved ones at home and making them miserable as well. I will just enjoy my present and let God and nature decide what future holds for us all. Now let's just hope I stick to this resolution for atleast a week ;-)

A guest post I'd written recently...

As part of Vishy's attempt to capture various perspectives on "Returning to India".

http://ulaar.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/the-journey-from-one-home-to-another-guest-post/

You can keep going back to find more such stories by clicking on his newly launched category "R2IProfiles" on the right (or you can just go here).

Give it a read and let me know what you think...

Kids can be soooo understanding

Ever since I posted my last entry on this blog ranting about how difficult it was to get N settled with her new nanny, things have actually taken a turn to be much much better. Touchwood! Touchwood! Touchwood (please do not jinx me or N on this ever!). I have realized that once again my child has taught me to be patient and not expect miracles in a day. Yet at the same time, she has made me realize that they can be very mature, understanding and responsible if that is what life demands out of them. I needed her to co-operate, to stop making mommy feel so bad accepting a full time job (even though it is for mommy's sake right now) and to please let someone else take mommy's place for a few hours every day while I go out and satisfy the other side of me as a person - the side other than loving being a mom...the side that wants to satisfy the itch of having a great career knowing that staying at home and spending great quality time with my little one, although has been a lot of fun, I will never be able to forgive myself if I do not atleast try doing other things I want to do in life as well. So after I realized that maybe N was missing having mommy all to herself and was a little angry at pushing her towards the nanny a little bit now and then, I backed off and gave her all the love and mommy time she wanted for a week. Plus she had her aabu (grandpa) visiting that week too so she loved all the time and attention from him as well. She happily trotted to school every morning with him and even came back home with him. While all these months she has never gone to school with anyone else but mommy. So after the one week of a reset and providing her all the mommy time she needs and having the nanny around at home as well, she probably felt secure enough to venture towards her and start playing happily with her. I could hear squeals of delight when the nanny entertained her in her silly games and used to thank god for those moments of happiness seeing them bonding together.

Then one night a few days before N's grandpa was leaving, I had a heart-to-heart conversation with her. BTW nights are the best times to have a good talk to her...she is actually listening and most times she also tells me a lot about her day at school and other things at night when I am putting her to sleep. So here's bits and pieces of how our conversation went that night:

Me: N, when papa goes to office, do you cry?

N: No.

Me: So when mommy goes to office, will you cry?

N: No. I will not cry when mommy goes to office.

N: And I will not cry when aabu goes to Bombay. (this part surprised me and my hubby as we never expected her to even realize that her grandpa is not here for good and that he is only visiting. This sentence came totallly unprompted as we had not even planned his return travel yet...but she just knew he'd leave some day to go back to his home in Bombay!)

Me: (Hugging and kissing her tightly) Good girl N. I will come back from office and play with you. Will you please come home from school with D auntie (her nanny) and eat mum mum (lunch) with her?

N: Yes.

And volla! Since then, she has actually done as she promised. The day after her grandpa left, I walked her to school and while saying goodbye, told her that mommy will go to office and would she not cry and go home with D auntie and eat mum mum (lunch) and do ta ta (sleep)? She nodded her yes. And with a heavy heart I left home around the time she was supposed to come home and stayed outdoors for 3 hours. When I got back I found her playing with the nanny. She saw me enter, squealed with delight, jumped on me and made me fall, hugged me so tight and said "Mommy you came back from office? I did not cry"!!! Now how can this not make me melt down to the floor!!!??? So I spent the rest of my day all in love with the wonderfully co-operative child. And followed the same 'going to office' routine the rest of the week. The second day I found her sleeping when I got home. The third day I found her actually done with the nap and actually starting to drink her evening milk with the nanny. And each time she greeted me with such joy that it just made my heart melt even more. But I secretly thanked god for one good step ahead each day and realized that my child just needed reassurance that mommy wasn't going away leaving her with the nanny. Thank god for miracles like these. It is just the moments when she hugs me tight and says things like "Thank you for coming back from office" that make me re-think if I am really doing the right thing...

Oh well...I guess I wouldn't know until I actually try it out once. I will give it my best shot and then decide if this really is for me anymore or are my days of having an actual career (not just a job) are over for a long long while now.

Her first Konkani sentence

Little N formed her first sentence in Konkani this evening. She woke up after a 3 hour afternoon nap (which is very rare for her) then insisted on sitting on her high chair and eating 'dadim' and started saying 'Makka stone jaai'. Just like that! Out of the blue! I had to ask her to repeat it almost 10 times before I was convinced that is what she was saying. And then the little smarty translated it for me saying 'Makka stone chahiye' as if mamma couldn't understand what she was asking for :-) I have seen it quite a lot of times now....some nerves in her brain click when she sleeps coz almost every time she gets up from her afternoon nap, she says something so new and marvelous - it makes me proud!

P.S. She has already been forming 3 or 4 word sentences in Hindi and English (mixed). Such as "Mamma eat mummum khaana" since the past month or so. But now the fact that she has started translating words amongst 3 languages - Konkani, Hindi and English is music to my ears. Touchwood!

Finally!

Finally after being without a PC or a laptop...basically "internetless" for almost 3 weeks, hubby dear gifted me a new laptop as my belated birthday present. Yayyy! Now I can waste more time on the Net that I utilized in useful things otherwise :-)

Glad to be back!

If one more person comes and tells me...

Either that my daughter is so tiny...she hardly looks 2. Or that I am doing a mistake by sending her to playschool so 'early' and that I should have waited another 6 months or so...I swear I will sit them down and give them a good piece of my mind. Either that or I will shrug them off as another member of the 'Harry Mother's Association' as one of my friends refers to such moms :-)

Sorry for sounding so harsh but today is my day to vent and whine and crib. I am really sooo sick of hearing these things about her. Why do some people (and by people I mean total strangers... not even friends and family) especially here in India make it a business to come by and tell you how to raise your own child? We as parents are more worried about our kid than you Mr. or Mrs. Stranger are...trust me. We have consulted enough doctors to reassure ourselves that our daughter is perfectly healthy as long as she is active and following her growth curve and that her size is not an indication of ill health...it is probably just genetic. And yes, she is 21 months old now...old enough to interact with kids her age and fall into some kind of a routine in life. So we are both ready for a 2-3 hour per day of playschool each day. So no thankyou - you are not the best judge of when I consider my child to be ready or not. I know her more than you do and am not pushing her into anything. I am making sure it is gradual and that she is gradually beginning to enjoy herself. So please...just back off and just give us some space. Thank you!

Beauty regimen of a mommy

Was browsing a magazine online and reading this article when it struck me that my beauty regimen or rather skin TLC is actually next to NOTHING. Ever since I became a mom, my daily beauty regimen is to moisturize, moisturize and moisturize. And that's pretty much it. Obviously I do regular visits to the parlor just to make sure I don't grow hairy bushes all over my face ;) and once in a while when I look really really old with shiny grey hair, I decide to actually find the time to color my mane using one of those do it yourself boxes at home. But other than that, really nothing.

Isn't that scary? Atleast I thought it was quite scary when I glanced into the elevator mirror the other day just casually but what actually caught my eye for the first time were new lines under my eyes when I smiled!!! Yikes! I never had an eye for such things ever and thought that all women who obsess over such things are vain. So you can only imagine how obvious it must be for a woman like me to notice such a thing! And I am only in my very very early thirties! Help!!!!!!!!!!!

Please new mommies - do fill me in on what your beauty regimen is. And more than anything, how do you find the time to get things like facials etc. done? I mean when I was actually a working mom, I had a full time nanny to look after my little N so I could sneak out time here an there for an occassional pedicure or facial etc. But now that I am at working from home full time, who do I leave the baby with for such things? Weekends fly by just running errands - so when do you stay-at-home or working-from-home moms manage to take out time for beauty regimens?

Glimpses of little N in India...

Just felt like capturing a few glimpses of the little one's life here in her new home in Bangalore. So here I go with a few pics...

Chasing the sun on a warm sunny afternoon

Enjoying bubbles with her new friend T
(poor little kids had to play indoors due to a rainy evening in Bangalore that day)

Playing ball

There are sooooo many more to take and so many more to post such as a few of her daily visits to the park downstairs, a few with her precious moments with grandparents and a few of her first Diwali in India etc. Each growing moment is so precious...I wish I could hold it still forever coz I know this innocence, this sweet little age when everything amazes you and every little thing is a novelty and a learning experience, this age will never return. Your innocence will grow into a wiseness and soon my little baby will be a grown up woman before I know it. Oh how I cherish every second of your life little N and how I wish I could make this last forever!

Any Suggestions for a New Title?

When I started writing this blog, my intention was to capture all that I could about baby care and how we being of Indian roots, deal with sometimes conflicting advises we get from our scientific versus superstitious well wishers. I was living in the US at that time.

But since then, we have moved to India and so as you can guess, I will eventually be surrounded by more superstitious advises than scientific ones :-) The core in me refuses to believe or give into the superstitions. And so I'll still try to keep blogging about such dilemmas around baby care as I come across them. I will also blog about our experiences after R2Iing.

The key question I face now is that having moved to India, the title of this blog "Raising an Indian Baby America" does not fit anymore. I'm looking for some cool title suggestions from my readers. Pls send me your ideas either via comments or email. Also do you think I should change the URL of this blog accordingly as well? Since I am new to blogging, how easy/difficult is that?

Happy Birthday My Little One...

Life flies by so fast...especially little children's. Almost seems like yesterday when little N was born to us and already she has turned 1! Already her age will be referred to in years instead of days or weeks or months. Already I am a mommy of a toddler instead of a newborn or an infant. Already I am an expert in mommy hood by surviving baby's first year :-)

It was little N's first birthday on Aug 25. Guess what we did on that day? Took her for her one year well baby check exam and subjected her to 4 shots - yikes! Could not really help it but our timing couldn't be any worse. We had to fly off to India in 2 days so better that she be immunized than not.

But its not like we did not celebrate this huge milestone. We had our little N's first birthday party on Aug 17, a little earlier than her actual bday. And it was just wonderful! Lots of work but worth all of it :) Most of our friends attended and everyone loved how cute you looked in that pretty dress and shoes. We played Musical Chair and Pinnata with the tiny tots in the party. Mommy had chosen a theme of Hugs and Stitches for you although she had really wanted to do an Ocean Wonders Aquarium theme coz all your baby gear (bouncer, swing, mobile, playmat) was of the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium theme. Oh well, maybe next time. And to top it all, daddy made sure your cake was made to order with the Hugs and Stitches theme too (see above) :-)

My love, here's to you and your long life...(a song from the Fun N Frolic CD you have grown to like lately and which we played when you cut the cake):

It's a hap-hap happy birthday,
May you live to be, a hundred-and-three;
It's a hap-hap happy birthday,
A hap-happy birthday to you.

Take a bow, take a bow on your birthday,
Your birthday, your birthday;
Show us how, show us how on your birthday,
You still look as good as new.

It's a hap-hap happy birthday,
May you have luck galore, knock at your door;
It's a hap-hap happy birthday,
A hap-happy birthday to you.
A hap-happy birthday to you.
A hap-happy birthday to you.

Baby's Current Likes and Dislikes

Here are a few things that my little one is fascinated with these days (she is 11months & 1 week old currently):

• Walking without support: She just recently learnt taking a few brave steps without holding our hands. So she has made a cute game out of it. Basically mommy and daddy sit on the floor and DD shuttles from one to the other with her arms extended out towards us and screaming in delight, trying to cover the distance with her new found skill of walking as soon as she can before she falls on the floor! It is the cutest thing ever to watch her do that over and over and over again. Sometimes she does not cover the distance successfully without a fall so she gets up and goes off again. She looks like a winding doll whom you wind and leave and it just dashes out - running from mommy to daddy and then from daddy back to mommy!I really wish I could capture this cute newfound joy of hers on camera but there is no way either of us can do it since we are both down on the floor cheering her and hugging her tight when she reaches us with those cute extended arms calling out to be picked up and hugged and the cute smile and squeals of joy!
• Climbing up and down the doorstep: This is another funny one where she wants to hold both our hands with her tiny fingers and just climb down from the door step and instantly turn around and climb up. Basically I think she has just discovered climbing and likes to practice it again and again and again tirelessly on the same spot. She does this also when she hits a curbside while walking outdoors by the sidewalk. She loves to climb up and down the curb (obviously holding both our hands) until our backs hurt coz of bending down to help the tiny one :-)
• Picking up things off the floor and mouthing them: When she is not walking or climbing, she is either cruising the house holding on to furniture or crawling on all fours. And when she crawls, she spots the tiniest bits of dirt or food stuff and before we can even react or say NO, it is in her mouth! Isn't it crazy that when I want her to mouth her food off her plate or high chair, she won't. But when I don't want her to, she will pick up every bit of food that is fallen on the floor and put it in her mouth. If she can't reach for something on the floor with her fingers, we have even seen her lie flat down on her tummy and try and pick it up straight with her mouth! Sometimes it is tempting to just feed her off the floor - atleast that way she will eat something herself :-)
  
• Sitting down on the floor and clapping when she hears music: Or what we call dancing where she holds on to us and bends and straightens her knees when listening to music. And her favorite CD these days is Preeti Sagar's Fun and Frolic. Her favorite musical book is the Vtech's Nursery Rhymes.
  
• Picking up her toy phone or our cell phone and putting it up to her ear: As if to say "hello". She also just loves playing with our blackberries. So we use it to distract her when she is throwing a tantrum over something.
  
• Laptop/PC: She just climbs all over our laptop or PCs when we are working on it. She has even managed to remove 2 keys from my laptop so far.
• Grabbing our glasses or jewelery: She is soooo quick at grabbing our glasses right out of our eyes and into her mouth. If there was an Olympics competition in its speed, she would have won it by completing the task in nano seconds! And then there is the jewelery. Any jewelery that me or the nanny wears, she will try to grab in her mouth.
• Swing: We take her to the park nearby for walks now and then. She was initially tentative about the swing or the slide and such but now she just looooooves swinging high and low in the infant bucket swing. She screams in delight each time we push the swing high. It is such a joy to see these little ones enjoy little pleasures in life. The other thing she wants to do in the park is hold our hands and walk in the sand. I think she will also love going to the beach though we haven't done that with her yet.
• Looking out the Window: Every morning when she wakes up, the first thing she wants to do these days is go to the bedroom window and stand on the window sill. So it is mostly daddy's job to carry and take her there where she stands and bats at the window pane and look outside. Just last weekend, she was doing that and daddy was talking to her showing her cars passing by as usual and saying "dekho gaadi". And suddenly she said "gaadi". Man! That was sooo precious! Mommy instantly woke up and she even repeated it a while later - saying "gaadi". She also stands on the living room window sill or bat at the patio door. I think just being outdoors is what she loves.
  

And here are a few things that she is not so thrilled by currently:

• Bathing: As I mentioned in my earlier post, she has developed a dislike towards bathing lately for some reason. So we have started taking turns to take her in the shower with one of us before she sleeps at night (as opposed to the nanny bathing her during the day). She seems to like that fine.
  
• Hair clips or rubber bands in her hair: Since she was born with a full head of hair, they were long enough by now to come in her eyes all the time. So we had started either making 1 or 2 ponytails (she looks really cute in 2) or putting on a hair clip. But lately, as soon as we did that, she would instantly pull it out along with some of her hair. Yikes! So daddy decided that's it. She got her first hair cut on Monday, Aug 5 '08 by daddy. Mommy was holding her while dear nanny was trying to keep her amused. She did not seem to mind the scissors in her hair at all. And she looks even cuter with short hair now :-) Here is a pic with her and the nanny in her new hair cut.
  

Little N with her dear Nanny

Here's to the Nanny

As we finalize our plans to move back to India next month, we go through our checklist of things to take care of here. There are so many things to do and soooooo many people to inform such as our landlord, our nanny, our bosses at work, our doctors, dentists, beauticians and obviously alllll our friends. The list just goes on and on. But amongst all of these, the person I was dreading the most to break the news to was our baby's nanny. After us mommy and daddy, our nanny is the next closest person that our baby is attached to. The lady has literally raised my DD since she was almost 2 months of age. Ever since DD turned 3 months, I have gone back to work full time and it was this woman who was nurturing her, feeding her, bathing her, teaching her how to play, how to walk, how to talk, taking her to walks around the block and then later to the park. Not that we were never there for DD but obviously given that we both had full time jobs as well, she was with the nanny for a major portion of each day. So in the past year or so, its like our family has not grown by 1 but 2 new members - our DD and our DN (Dear Nanny) whom we call Auntie out of love and respect.

There was another "Auntie" we had hired before her but she was such a huge contrast to this loving lady that she had us in bitter tears in less than 3 weeks after which we literally paid her to not show up at our place ever after. Anyways, our short lived experience with her is another story altogether and maybe some day a different post on the blog. But today, I just wanted to dedicate this entry to our dear Auntie who is as much of a mother to our baby as I am.

You know, I had recently read this book called The Perfect Stranger. It opened my eyes to how much we take for granted about these "strangers" who leave their own homes and loved ones every day to take care of ours and how they rejoice as much in each milestone of the baby as we do. And yet how soooo many times we take these wonderful people so much for granted and shrug it off saying its just their job. I am not saying that it isn't but there is also an emotional aspect involved here - the joy in watching their labor of love (the kid) growing up that most of us do not have in our typical jobs.

In any case, I digress. Let's get back to my story. So the other day we did gather up the courage to inform Auntie that we are leaving to go back to India in a month. At first she thought we are just going for a month to visit so she goes "ok". Then I had to clarify saying we are going back for good. That was when it struck her and she just broke down into tears! Not because she was going to have to find another job, not because she would miss us but because she was going to miss the little baby she raised so carefully and lovingly. She instantly hugged DD and said to me oh why are you all going...why don't u just let DH go...I will come and stay with you at nights...and so on. I couldn't help crying myself and my DH also felt so terrible for doing this to her. We obviously told her that we'll help her find a much better job and that it is all for the good. But in our hearts, at that moment, we did feel really bad.

So here's to the Dear Nanny (our Auntie) who has a heart of gold. Here's hoping she finds a family who is far more loving than us and they enjoy her services much longer than we could.

Anyways, I had started out this post with the intention of posting a few recipes that Auntie used to cook up for DD since she was 8-9 months old and was eating solids well. So here I go:

1). Churi with gud - this is a very yummy punjabi dish that my mom used to make when I was a kid. I just didn't know that it can be modified to make it suitable for babies too. Auntie basically makes a fresh chappati and minces it very well while it is hot. At the same time she adds ghee and ground gud (jaggery) or sugar to this minced mixture and either leaves it in that powdery form or gathers it like a soft laddu. This one is my personal favorite...I think I enjoyed eating the leftovers more than my DD did :-) And I thought this was the tastiest way to use up left over chappatis - so I'd make it for dinner sometimes for me and DH. (Obviously for DD it was always fresh chappatis and not leftovers).
2). Churi with sabzi - this is prepared in the same manner as above but the gud/sugar is replaced by any boiled sabzi (obviously without any masalas) that is prepared at home. This way the baby gets to eat roti sabzi at a very young age. The trick with both churis for babies is to mince it really really well which can only be done while the chappati is hot. So obviously, I could never get it to be like Auntie's.
3). Dal with Daliya - Take some ghee in a cooker, add some daliya (broken wheat) to it and seko it for a bit. Then add washed moong dal, water and some salt. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles. The nutritious dal with daliya is ready.
4). Anda Kela (Eggs with Banana) - Mash a boiled egg with banana together so that it binds well. Auntie said this was easier and less messier to feed than feeding just the egg alone.
5). Dahi Kela (Yogurt with banana) - Mash a banana into a few spoonfuls of whole fat organic yogurt.

Questions about baby care in India

As we plan out our return to India in the coming months, here are just a few of the questions floating my mind which no one seems to be able to answer. Feel free to go through them and share your knowledge via your comments and replies to this post:

1. The most important and absolutely unanswered question amongst all - what is the equivalent of baby formula in India? Is there such a thing in India? I have heard people say Cereal or Farex but aren't those cereals that you actually mix in milk? I am looking for the equivalent of Enfamil or Similac or Good Start...that actually IS milk for the baby.
2. Is there a structured way to review/research pediatricians in a particular city in India? I know most likely the answer is no...but still wondering if there is a remote chance.
3. Do the pediatricians and experts there also recommend weaning the babies to a sippy cup after 1 year of age? And do we even get sippy cups in India?
4. I suspect most Indian moms make baby food at home but are there good brands that actually sell pre-packaged baby food according to the stages in India?
5. At what age do they suggest introducing cow's milk to babies in India? Here in the US, it is after 1 year of age. But I suspect they do it much sooner in India. And if so, what brand or kind of milk does one buy for babies? Here most parents go for an organic whole fat version.
6. What about introducing solids to little ones? Here they have a certain pattern that is recommended - rice cereal followed by vegetable and fruit purees. And they tell us to avoid wheat cereal, eggs and dairy until much later. Also they tell us to introduce one thing at a time and watch baby's reaction for 2-3 days. What about in India?
   
7. What brand of diapers are the most popular and most economical to buy for babies there?

Like I said earlier...this is just a sample of the innumerable questions that go on in my mind. There probably is no end to this but I'd really appreciate if you have answers to any of these to begin with and can leave it in your feedback to this post.