Bubble Capsules

Other playschool reviews: Jain Toddlers, Orange Kinder and Xseed

2011-03-20T23:55:00.001+05:30

While searching for a good preschool with daycare, I checked out the following schools as well since they are in Jubilee Hills and that is convenient for us. Here are my personal impressions:

Jain Toddlers - Mr. Vamshi, who is Facilities in-charge - we met him last year at the Infosys school mela, showed us around the school. We went on a Saturday in the evening and it is admirable that he was still around at this time - considering that most shut shop very early on Saturdays, if at all they work that day. So the school is good - playarea is good - they are raising 7 rabbits there - which I think is very cool. They let children feed the rabbits. The playarea is decent. The school is unfortunately not sparkling clean - I spotted cobwebs in the classrooms but if you are willing to ignore these kind of things - it IS a decent school. Mr. Vamshi was able to answer all our questions confidently. He knew the schedules of children in various classes. One thing I loved about this school is the facilities they offer - for eg. drop and pick up etc. It is located a km away from Apollo Jubilee Hills. We saw one kid who was playing with his daycare teacher. The toilets were ok - could have been a little cleaner. There is an inhouse kitchen where they make food for the children. What I personally did not like however was their sample menu. They had Maggi Noodles one day and Top Ramen another day of the week. The classrooms are cosy. P asked them if they had a fire extinguisher - they didn't. They have no plans of coping in case of accidents/emergencies. The daycare area was small - had provision for 7-8 kids to sleep but he said around 10 were coming in for daycare.

Price points - typical of the locality - playgroup is in the 40-50k p.a range and only keeps increasing every year.

X-seed - XSeed is in Filmnagar. Nothing much to say except that is is for the richies-riches who live in this area. Price point is high - goes up enormously each year. Teachers were dressed neatly. They are a green (read eco-friendly) school. Mrs. Saritha Reddy, the owner gave us a look around and was quite smart and confident of what she was talking about. She knew what they are doing. The playarea is good enough - the outdoor play equipment they have for the children to play is from Little Tikes brand (read expensive). She showed me their playgroup classroom. She showed us a kitchen garden being maintained by all the kids. I was impressed that Mrs. Saritha has 12 years in this field. But to be honest, even if we could afford it, I wouldn't spend a bomb on Bubbles' preschool because I believe that it is better to save for his later schooling.

Orange Kinder - Just opposite the Jubilee Hills Public school is a newly-opened daycare/school called Orange Kinder. Well, I would say their intentions are good but it is still in a nascent stage. It is owned by Mr. Srinivas Raju who is from the real-estate business and who says that schooling is one of his passions and hence he opened up his own school. And here, let me list the negatives. The school does not have a curriculum. Some children in nursery are not starting to write because their Akshara Abhayasam is not complete yet. I call that lame. A school needs to follow its own pattern and curriculum.

Mr. Raju admits to having studied the best of schools around him and taken what he liked out of them. Good for research but not good to base your entire school on your own principles. So there's no particular approach that the school has. The school was opened in 2009, has three brightly colored classrooms, good toys (wooden and decent) - not too many. However, the classrooms are not fixed. He said children are being shuffled from one to another as they tend to bore of the rooms easily. And here I was assuming that children like routine and a sense of predictability and familiarity :). They do not have beds for daycare yet. So what I see is that Orange Kinder has grand plans while also having online advertisements asking for teachers to join them. They do not have enough teachers right now. They are still growing - but Mr Raju said he has plans of adding 20 kids per classroom next year onwards. His focus is on siblings of those who go to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Jubilee Hills Public School. I think 20 kids from playgroup age onwards is a little too much. I do not think at the age of 2-3 children can mingle with so many people suddenly. And for a school that is not yet established, Orange Kinder seems to have decided the fee structure like they way they decided most other things - by conducting market survey of preschools in the surrounding area. So it is expensive.

I'd love to hear from you if you have children who go to these schools or if you have had any other experience with these guys.

Strawberry Fields Jubilee Hills review: Ugly!

2011-03-13T22:23:00.004+05:30

This is a review of what I saw at Strawberry Fields daycare/preschool at Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
Disclaimer: This is my impression formed from a 45 minute tour of the Strawberry Fields Jubilee Hills Center. However, if you spend more time at this place - hats off to you. I make no bones in claiming that this center is one of the worst daycare centres around. If you beg to differ - please use the Comments section. You might help other parents but nothing you say can change my mind - thank you.

So when we were looking out for a daycare/school for Bubbles, Strawberry Fields (SF) came up also in the list. Let me give you some history here. These guys had a corporate tie-up (translating to discounts) with Wipro - when I was at that place - so I knew them through their advertisements and brochures - all of which seemed impressive. Their USP and what made them different is their CCTV access - they assure parents that they can watch their child on TV all the time - whenever they want. However, a year later, I attended their booth at Infosys School Mela - where different schools were alloted some space to display their offerings.

I saw two women who had come from Strawberry Fields (Madhapur or JHills I am not sure). They had an entire business look about them. They didn't look like they knew anything about babycare - all they knew was how to pump money into business. They were rude and getting impatient when my husband, P asked them what children did at their daycare. They were just not able to sell anything to us because of their own lack of knowledge on the subject. P was already put-off by SF but I wanted to give them another chance. Hence our visit to their facility this time around, one year later.

Well, the SF Jubilee Hills campus was earlier something called Kids Campus. We let them know we were coming. It was a Saturday and there was one daycare teacher there who showed us the place. The place is not so big - it is brimming and overflowing with toys - in all kinds of condition - mostly bad and used too much! It was almost like an exhibhition - cluttered unnecessarily with toys. So this is probably what they do when they realise they cannot handle children - shut them up with toys. The place was done up in a nauseatingly bright yellow color - which felt suffocating after a while. We went up and saw there was a toddler/daycare room - which was locked. There were three children in the premises that day. There was one baby (probably around 1.5 years) who was standing and restricted in a crib. There was a boy who was a little older (probably 2 years old) who was being handled by an ayah and was in the midst of a tantrum. The place was again strewn with toooooo many toys.

What I saw next is probably a sight I shall remember till the day I die and put me off this place totally. The teacher who was showing me the place showed me another room - it was locked from the outside so she unlocked it, took me inside and showed me a room which was stifling - with no proper ventilation. Imagine my shock when she switched the light on and showed me a sleeping baby in a crib there - the baby was covered cosily with blankets and I couldn't fathom what the *uck these people were doing locking a small baby up like that when she was sleeping in a room. I asked the teacher how she would know when the baby woke up and the lady says "She wakes up at 12.15". Oh, so that's the schedule they got her into, probably sleeping pills helping them out a wee bit here? What if the girl woke up hungry or had a nightmare - she anyways cannot get out of the crib - but she cannot even see anything around her and if she yelled - no one would even hear her...but wait, there's CCTV right - maybe that's what it is for!! WOW, technology to their rescue. Maybe they were hoping the girls' parents keep a track and call the parents when the girl wakes up.

The place was not clean or well-maintained. The nursery, LKG and UKG classes are currently attached together (beat that!) - they are all in an L-shaped classroom. There's no wall nor curtain between them. So they mean the teachers can get some learning done in such a classroom, really? My husband noticed that their chart on Incy Wincy spider is sprinkled liberally with spelling mistakes - why bother with correct spellings when they obviously are the best thing to happen to Hyderabadi parents who are on the lookout for daycare/playschool?

I waited for a while to speak to the owner, Mr. Shams - who is as clueless about the entire facility as I was. He was DUMB (excuse me for such a strong word but a man with no brain is called DUMB!). He asked me if I had come to take the admission form. I told him I am looking for a school first and based on my son's comfort level I would move him to daycare. Mr.Shams suggested that children have no problem adapting - so daycare would suit him fine from day one. Great! He had no clue about the fee structure - his wife runs the show. He is probably where the money comes from. He also had gala plans for the next academic year saying that they plan to include more classrooms for kindergarten or some such crap.

What I didn't like about this facility also is the joke of a playarea that they have. A tiny pool and some smallish area for a sandpit - all dirty and not maintained well. There is a notice board outside the school that has the numbers of parents and some emergency numbers. But what is amazing is their attitude. Their attitude is that they are the best in daycare and parents just need to trust them and not ask questions. I wouldn't mind if they knew what they were doing - but that is a little too much to ask from the Strawberry Fields place.

They had a list for parents to read - stuck on that notice board. It contained things like - Do not come rushing into classrooms to pick your ward up. We know when you have arrived and our teacher will bring your child to you kind of crap. There's more but you can go and check it out for yourself.

Verdict - Strawberry Fields is being run by a bunch of morons with no knowledge of what they are doing - the place is stifling and I just feel sad for the kids who go there.

Check out their Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/STRAWBERRY-FIELDS-Jubilee-Hills/103821449667758

It's a free-for-all kind of page - you can check their premises out - check how they have bought so many cribs - money is obviously free-flowing here. I would hate it if my child's school allowed all and sundry to view pictures of the kids in various activities. I would atleast prefer it being a closed group. To each his own and to the most unfortunate of them all - Stawberry Fields to your rescue!

Postcards from Pondicherry

2011-02-19T12:03:00.001+05:30

Here are some photos from our trip to Puducherry aka Pondicherry (29th Dec, 2011 to 1st Jan, 2011). We had a blast and a very good and much-deserved vacation here.

With Laxmi the elephant at Manakula Vinayagar Temple.

At Le Cafe, Promenade Road, Pondicherry.

Wearing Baba's shoes makes me feel older.

Enjoying collecting shells at Aurobeach.

We loved Pondicherry!

Auroville Matrimandir.

Chunambar Boat House

Bubbles the past few months - what he does now

2011-02-19T11:48:00.000+05:30

Bubbles recently completed 20 months and I'm ashamed to say I didn't take time out to record all the wonderful things he has been upto. Here is a recap anyways.

1) Talking - The words started appearing suddenly. He now speaks a mixture of Bengali, Telugu and English. He knows his colors and numbers and alphabets. To be very honest, I didn't expect a kid of his age to pick so many things up but I guess this generation is uber-smart. He says bu (blue), baap (black), oni (orange), purple, yellow, white, pink, green with variants dark and light thrown in for good measure. Wow! He knows numbers 1 to 10 well and my mom is teaching him numbers 10 and above now. As for his alphabets he could sing the alphabet song all day - he gets all but misses M and N in between. When he is a in good mood to occupy himself - he keeps repeating the alphabet song. P thinks we might be unintentionally raising a geek but I know that Bubbles is happy doing this.

2) The obsession with 'Bayata' (outdoor in Telugu)- I don't know why my son prefers the outdoor to the indoor - every single time. It's like when he is at my mom's house - he goes on autopilot asking all and sundry to take him outside. He might first try with P and me and when we do not give in, he goes to his Amumma and keeps pestering until our ears can stand it no more and we give in. Once outside, he enjoys the garden, the flowers, the leaves. He enjoys watering the plants both at mom's house and at ours. He gets excited to see little insects, different colored leaves etc. While this is great exposure and I should be happy about his interest in nature, I am worried that one day he might just open the door when no one is looking and walk to places alone.

Once when mom and I were in conversation, he actually opened the door and stepped out. No talk of a monsterman who picks kids up in bags seems to be scaring him at all.

3) The sleep - got lesser and lesser. He needed to be told loads of stories to drfit to sleep. The sleep actually got erratic. Sometimes he managed with one big nap - sometimes he needed two small ones to keep him going. But he hardly shows interest in sleeping -its usually that we have to put him down to sleep in order for him to not get cranky and miserable.

4) Interests - Books, videos, puzzles, blocks retained his interest. He got new toys from various sources. P got him Zanimo from Paris which he enjoys cos of the animals. He loves animals of all sorts. We recently had a good trip to the Nehru Zoo park at Hyderabad and he had fun seeing various animals. He sat down for a while these few months learning to occupy himself quietly using crayons (which he calls calah pencal), with pens of various shapes/colors, with blocks. He now can play better with blocks than before. He also likes to play with mom's bindis and stickers of all sorts. He loves rubbing lotion/cream all over himself, loves the few luxury items his parents own like their watches, some perfumes, deos etc. He loves to keep busy in the kitchen playing with dals of various colors, with sugar etc. He likes putting tea powder into the bowl when I make tea in the morning. He loves money(coins) and buttons in all shapes and sizes. He loves most fruits which is a boon when we go out!

5) People - He is not scared of strangers but likes to smile and wink at them, only from a distance. Once they come close, he says "Na Na" and says "Amma" or "Baba" etc and comes back to us.

6) Favorite word in the whole wide worls - is "Na Na" meaning No in Bengali. Whatever we tried to do, like changing his diaper, his clothes, or moving him away from something he was really enjoying (for e.g. water play) was met with a continuous string of "Na".

7) The tantrums got just worse - his pitch louder, he starts beating all and sundry when he is made to do something he doesnt want to do or brought inside etc. At times, he throws tantrums in the car and wants to get out of it immediately.

8) Helping us - I have to give Bubbles credit for wanting to do somethings himself. When he is in an occassional hunger mode, he eats and loves to pick things up himself. He helps me by shelling peas, by carrying his own bag to and fro the lift. He does little chores around the house when we ask his help to. Never mind that he doesn't have the concentration and willpower to complete the task he sets upon, but it is endearing to watch him do his things. Oh by the way, he loves feeding us at times - grapes or some other handy things like this which he loves.

At the zoo!

Sitting on the kitchen platform...

-Bubbles' Mom

Sunshine preschool/daycare at Jubilee Hills - Impressions

2011-02-17T21:14:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: The information you find here is my personal opinion, based on a one-hour tour of the school. Feel free to visit the school and get a feel for yourself before taking any of this as final. This information is obviously subject to change. I am tired of not finding reviews for playschools from the internet, so decided to post my own impression of this school.
********************************************************************************

We are on the lookout for a playschool for Bubbles so we decided to give Sunshine a dekko today. Sunshine is a playgroup/Nursery/LKG facility that has opened up at Jubilee Hills near Rayalaseema Ruchulu or SVM mall. The school is set in an old(ish) house, but the interiors look very good, neat and clean. The academic manager, Mrs. J did a fabulous job of explaining various things about the school to me - someone who had innumerable questions to ask. My point is that if someone is not willing to give you a patient ear, you need not bother to go ahead with them. Well, I will give Mrs. J full credit for answering all my questions with consideration. It was actually quite nice to catch up with her.

Sunshine has taken over an existing school in this area, called ABC. It is maintained by SatNav group. Currently, it takes children for playgroup, Nursery, LKG. The manager said that the school believes in Montessori as well as the other approach (Integrated?). This year there were no students for UKG. My guess is that next year there would be - since those who are studying LKG will definitely move up.

Anyways, so we took Bubbles there - the place is spic and span. There are around 3-4 classrooms, ample play area, a little bit of garden, a very nice library with decent collection of books and an audio-visual area other than the kitchen and dining area. The rooms are cosy, tidy, the aayah (help) seem good and helpful. Guests are made to enter their presence into a register.The place looks warm.

Some plus points according to me:

They are located close to Hitec - which is bound to be a boon for most working parents.
They provide daycare for 1 to 12 year olds- however, it is currently from 11 a.m until 9 p.m in the night.
They have a faculty person for daycare and not just maids to take care of children.
They have a good ratio of children to teachers and they seem to be strict about it.
They have tie ups with schools like Radcliffe etc so a child who completes preschool here is eligible directly to join first standard in one of these schools.
The place looks clean, neat and the people warm.
The snacks menu that I saw put up did not have noodles (;) - I believe noodles are just timepass food items, with no nutrition and the manager said they don't believe in serving noodles, pasta etc)
They allow the parents to pack lunch/fruits for the child
The collection of toys in the playgroup were good!
The manager did not hesitate in giving me details of two parents (their phone numbers) whose children were studying there - so I could ask for their opinion.
The manager spent good time explaining things and was not too pushy. She also did not force her views of things upon us - which is good!
I contacted them using their website "Contact Us" page and the response was prompt.

The not-so-good:

I personally find it very inconvenient that they have no transport system for either drop or pick up. This can be good or bad depending on what you want.
The fee structure - I would rate it as OK. Not exorbitant, but not less either.
The non-refundable portion of the fee includes admission fee plus one-term fee.
The school has tieups with corporates like Infosys etc but that translates to a small discount only when the parents shell out the entire fee of one year. If I look at this in another way, it probably is good that they are not willing to slash rates just cos the parents work in IT.
Currently, I am not sure how this goes with other schools, but the school is off for two months for summer. Summer camp and daycare however continue. This might be the case everywhere, I am not sure.
I had a colleague of my husband's pull her child out of this school midway for some reason - so it makes sense to find out opinion of parents whose children are currently studying there.
Their beds for children in daycare seemed flimsy to me.

So Sunshine is on my waiting list - while I scoot around for more. We might just decide to put Bubbles there if we can get a convenient solution around the transport.

If you have been associated with them in some way or the other or have an opinion to share, use the Comments section! :)

-Bubbles Mom'

16, 17 months

2011-02-03T14:42:00.001+05:30

Bubbles will soon complete 20 months and is now up to a lot of things. I have gotten back to work and that keeps me busy. I spend whatever little time I can trying to play with my son and keep my home running, with a lot of help from family. I am very grateful for everything we have right now.

But I still do not want to lose track of how my child has grown slowly and surely into a mini- adult and how he amazes us each day with things he says and does.

Here are pictures from when he completed 16 months and 17 months (October 12th, 2010 and November 12th, 2010) respectively. I got back to work October 14th, 2010 and life has been a whizz since then for me.

In the first one, he is just beginning to throw a tatrum (those became very often from the 16th month onwards) and in the second, he is just being a happy boy that he usually is with attention from one and all. Both shirts are gifts from my mommy.

More photos to follow soon and blogging will also resume!

Book review: Your Money God's Way by Amie Streater

2010-12-17T18:51:00.003+05:30

http://amiestreater.com/I chose Your Money God's Way by Amie Streater as my second book from Booksneeze since I have had some trouble with money lately. I had been working five years with little thought of saving and lots on spending. Swiping cards, buying luxe goods had become a part of life until baby came along. I took time off work to stay at home with my son, and it was only then that I realised the value of money, the importance of saving and not blowing it all off. Considering I always try to include the spiritual in my life, the book Your Money God's Way seemed to be calling out to me to read it with its sub-title "Overcoming the 7 money myths that keep Christians broke".

Amie delivers a lot of practical, no-nonsense wisdom in this one. What makes the book adorable is the fact that it is perfectly in alignment with God's way of live for Christians. Despite not being a Christian, I follow Sai Baba's principles and the book is in perfect concurrence with His teachings. Amie makes a lot of sense when she talks about how we need to set aside a little money from our salaries, to serve the needy, if that is what we want to do. We must not wait for the day when we earn xyz to set aside something for charity, since it most definitely never works that way. With increased income comes increases in expenditure, so it is vital to set aside even with humble beginnings.

I also understand that America has many people who are under debt of various kinds - college loans, mortgages, credit card debt and with no clue how to solve them. Amie is a pastor with a church who helps people overcome their financial problems. You have got to love a woman who is smart with finances! Amie does not sweetcoat anything, if anything she is blunt and tells you what you can do NOW to clear debt first. What I loved in the book were examples of people and their financial issues and how she advised them to go from red to green in their finance statuses.

These people are someone everyone can identify with. The mom who feels like God does not want her to work post baby, the lady whose children always fall back upon to bail them out of their own financial messes, the shopoholic material earner of today, the couple who is in deep danger of forfeiting their monthly payments.

Closer home, Amie talks about the Scarlett syndrome to describe women who want to have the best of the world today while not giving a care for the future. That was pretty much me sometime ago!

I totally loved reading this book and have to a certain extent already implemented Amie's advice to my life. This is probably my first real book on finances which I got through without getting immensely bored and falling off to sleep. I give Amie full marks for her first book and fervently hope she has more coming! I cannot thank Booksneeze enough for giving me this oppurtunity to review Your Money God's Way.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Little Pim Review: Eating and Drinking DVD1 (English) +Giveaway!

2010-11-27T23:12:00.032+05:30

Lincy of Little Pim asked me if I was interested in reviewing one of their language products. I had never heard of Little Pim before this. I googled to find that they make language products/videos/flash cards, Iphone apps that enable babies, toddlers, preschoolers and young kids to learn a (secondary/foreign) language like English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic etc. Considering our child is multi-lingual, I was really excited and agreed readily!

There is some controversy about when a baby must be introduced to a secondary/foreign language. Well, from experience I can tell you that though my paed insisted we were confusing Bubbles by talking to him in various languages (English, Bengali, Telugu and a little Hindi thrown in), our son at 17 months (touchwood) understands almost everything we say to him. He does also speak a few words from all of these languages. So parents, go ahead and don't feel shy in introducing a foreign language to your child. Childrens' brains are best suited to learn languages until age 7, according to research.

Anyways, I was sent download instructions to an episode of Little Pim's Eating and Drinking video. You can watch a short clip of this video from their YouTube channel here:

The video shows adorable young kids and babies (from different races - really cool!) eating and drinking and making food during breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. It has subtitles in English and introduces many terms using interactive question and answer format for e.g. "What is this?" and "This is a fork"etc. Some of the terms described are hungry, thirsty, sandwich, yoghurt, butter, orange juice, milk, eggs, bread, pasta, fruits, plate, spoon, fork, knife, chicken, fish, meat, cake, rice, brocolli (!), cake, kiwis etc. What I really liked was that the video was so perfectly made. It has pleasant music. It uses repitition of these said words so the concept is not lost on the child who is watching. Also, it does not feel like a stuffy educational video at all. It is actually a lot of fun! I genuinely believe that we learn most (and unconsciously) when we are having fun!

My son, Bubbles loves watching other kids and seeing kids eating and drinking in this video was pure joy to him. First of all, he was able to identify with most of the items being shown. He followed the entire 30 minute length video with interest and to top it all, he was hungry at the end of it! Bubbles is fussy with breakfast so when he saw that other kids in the video also eat what he does for breakfast, I'm sure he felt better ;)

My son also totally loved the character of the panda, Little Pim that appears throughout the video. He found him funny and his face would light up each time the panda appeared. At a particular point, I paused the video and quizzed my son on various items like plate, spoon, fork etc and had him point the items to me from the screen. To my amazement, he got all of them right save one! Imagine my happiness when I heard him say "butter" for the first time while watching this video!

Even though my son is multi-lingual, my husband harbors a wish to teach him another foreign language some day, because he feels that learning a foreign language can only have advantages in a global and shrinking world like ours! Some day if I decide to teach my son French or Chinese, Little Pim is where I will be heading to!

Little Pim is a great resource for parents who want to expand their child's vocabulary in another language but want to have loads of fun while they are at it! I'm sure Little Pim will go a long long way in the future! Wishing them the best always from a thankful parent!

Edited-to-add: Well, the good news just got better! I am excited to announce that Little Pim is announcing a giveaway on this blog!

Details: Little Pim is giving away one of their English language downloadable videos, for free to a random commentor among the first 15 on this post.

How to Enter:

1) Post your answer to "What do you want your child’s first five words in English to be?" as a comment on this post.

2) Leave an e-mail address or any other way Little Pim can contact you (blog url etc).

3) Spread the word (Optional) - Link to this post on your own blog. Or use Twitter, Facebook etc.

Good luck!!

-Bubbles' Mom

15 months!

2010-09-25T16:56:00.000+05:30

Bubbles recently completed 15 months! He's quite a handful now. It is difficult to occupy him at a place, or to involve him in a single task! He loves people, will cry if taken away from people. He wants to be the center of everyone's universe and everyone indulges him so!

We have been at my parents' place for a long time now, during P's trip to Paris and we would be heading back soonish to our own home. He is now grown up enough to understand what we say to him and will terribly miss his grandparents and others who occupied his time here. This has been a good break for all of us, it has helped me concentrate on work a while.

More later, there's loads to write. I leave you with his picture, wearing a tee from the USA that his grandma got him.
-Bubbles' Mom

Kids and possessiveness

2010-09-06T18:16:00.000+05:30

I wish Bubbles displayed possessiveness towards me. He seems happy if and when I am whisked away :p. He then concentrates on asking the others to do what he knows mommy won't do anyways - like politely asking for the tv to be switched on or asking his grandparents to take him outside to the lawn and keep him there for long times!

Anyways, recently my cousin's son (K) (9 months old & totally adorable with an awesome smile) had come to our place. Bubbles got possessive about his toys. He took interest in whatever my cousin's son was showing interest in and snatched it from the poor thing. Baby K didn't seem to mind and moved on quickly to the others :)

It is too early to teach Bubbles about sharing his toys, I understand. A bit weird this, considering when we went to meet cousin and K at their place, Bubbles hogged K's toys (Lol).

I leave you with a picture of them, Bubbles wearing a tee gifted by uncle Affy.

Book review: Same kind of different as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

2010-08-31T00:00:00.002+05:30

I received the book "Same kind of different as me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore for free from Book Sneeze in exchange for an honest review of the book. It was shipped real quick, considering it reached me (in India) from the US. Here is my review of this book.

"Same kind of different as me" is the true and touching story of three people - a godly woman named Deborah, her husband, Ron Hall, an art-collector used to the rich high-flying life and a homeless black man named Denver Moore. It is an unusual story of how these three people meet and slowly become an important part of each others' lives. It talks about the unlikely friendship that blossoms, on Deborah's insistence, between her rich and sophisticated husband, Ron and a homeless modern day black slave, Denver. What is surprising is that Denver, despite not being educated and literate like Ron is, contributes pearls of godly wisdom to Ron's life and is a true friend and support to Ron during and after the times when Ron loses his wife Deborah to cancer.

What I particularly loved about the book was it's easy narrative style. Both Ron and Denver present their side of the story, they let us take a peek into their childhood and let us understand why they are who they are. The story is unusual and talks about how we tend to look down upon the uneducated, the downtrodden and homeless, but how they are actually sometimes much better people and much more spiritually ahead than we are. I particularly loved the fact that the protagonists let you peek into their lives and admit to their mistakes. In a new modern age like ours, it is endearing to see that qualities like faith, compassion, love, and serving the needy are highlighted throughout the book. It makes you want to do your bit to help society and those who haven't been as lucky as us. I liked the fact that Ron's dirty secret was something that he was ashamed of and tried to sincerely make amends for, considering that this was at the age where very few feel guilty or even accountable to their partners' for their foibles.

Deborah is undoubtedly the heroine of the book, her genuine compassion and kindness are rare to find. It is obvious why she is God's chosen one to give her life to serving the homeless and give her life up to God and pass on the legacy to Ron and Denver. I loved the scene of angels and Jesus visiting Deborah in her last days (something only those with faith in God know to be true). I am not a Christian but there is a striking similarity in what my faith (Hinduism) teaches me to what Deborah and Ron try to follow as good Christians.

I also did get an answer to one of my queries while reading this book - is it possible to be filthy rich and yet be spiritual and detached? I know now that God bestows riches on some so they help others by using the money for good purposes.

I highly recommend this tear-jerker for the fact that the story's simplicity will make an impression on anyone with a kind heart. If you stay at Hyderabad and wish to borrow this book from me, write to me at bubblesmom6ATgmailDOTcom.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

First haircut

2010-08-26T18:34:00.002+05:30

We got Bubbles hair shaved last May and he was a shrieking baby throughout. I didn't have the heart to take him anywhere for a haircut, so decided to give him one myself. So I set out and stumbled upon this useful video.

Bubbles is not yet old enough to sit at one place if asked, so I played him his favorite non-stop nursery rhyme video and started going about the haircut.

He did sense something funny and kept touching his hair in between, but on the whole, I managed to snip out a lot! I give all credit to him for being such a good boy, see what I mean?

A few days before the haircut

During the haircut

After the hairwash!

Bubbles, spirituality, rituals and religion

2010-08-22T22:20:00.001+05:30

My friend, Pal recently asked what I was doing right now to teach Bubbles about God, spirituality, rituals and religion. For her question I am grateful because it gave me the opportunity to think about what we are teaching our son, ritualistically or non-ritualistically.

Consider this. I was born into a Telugu brahmin family and married into a Bengali non-brahmin one. First, culturally there is a huge barrier. For e.g, Bengalis consider Maa Durga extremely important. They observe Durga Pujo and towards the end of Pujo, on the 10th day, they are sad because the goddess leaves the earth. Pujo is Pushpanjali in the mornings; socializing and cultural events in the nights.Compare this with the South Indians who observe strict ritualistic Dussera puja but celebrate the 10th day because Durga Devi has won the battle and good precedes over the evil.

Though we are Hindus, we have different ways of observing the same festivals. Then there are typical Telugu pujas that I have seen growing up like Vinayaka Chavithi and Varalakshmi Vratham, which are not Bengali festivals. Then there is the Bengali Shoroshotti Puja (for Ma Saraswati) that the Bengalis consider important. In my maternal home, Lord Balaji is given the prime position, something the Bengalis are not traditionally known to do.

So yes, there is this huge cultural difference. Having said that, our common factor lies in Shirdi Sai Baba. When P and I got married, we decided not to concentrate on the differences but to strengthen the common factors. It took us a while first of all to even understand these subtle differences. Shirdi Sai Baba was our greatest link. As a result of this, our house is totally filled with Him, from a huge idol to even our keychain. Bubbles recognizes and points to Sai from a long time now. He knows who is number one in our house.

Nowdays, I see a growing trend in multi-cultural marriages where the girls' side suddenly takes over and dominates the way things are done. Let's say a Bengali girl has married a Punjabi boy. Traditionally (call me old-fashioned or anti-feminist), the girl has gone into the boy's house. The progeny if anything should most definitely follow the boy's side of things. Great if they have a lot of maturity and tolerance and also follow the girls' traditions, but the primary rituals should come from the boys' side. The latest trend, however, is to do things the way they are done at the girls' place. Are these boys sleeping? Are they dominated to such an extent that they have lost their voice? Or do the boys just not care? Is it any wonder then why there are growing differences between the in-laws and the girl? Consider this.......... some day when the son of such a mixed parentage grows up and decides to marry a girl of another culture, let's say, a Gujarati, would the Bengali mom then want or allow the grandchildren being brought up with Gujarati traditions? I'm sure she would object though she did the exact same thing with her own husband!!

Also consider an example I know of. A Telugu brahmin girl married a Tamil non-brahmin one. Post marriage, the girl has completely dominated everything. Their kids themselves talk only in Telugu and unfortunately look upon Tamil with disgust. But what tops everything is the fact that the Telugu mom got the thread ceremony done for her son, something that is not supposed to be done in non-brahmin families. Since when did Hindu culture become a matriarchal one? By doing this, the woman conveyed the simple message that she is ashamed of her husband's caste and background, she considered him to be an aberration in her Telugu life and in her Telugu family. Imagine the poor husband's plight! Imagine also the confusion the children grew up with, looking upon their fathers' rituals as anomalies, having no respect, leave alone tolerance for their dad's background.

So anyways, when my friend asked me what I was teaching Bubbles, I have nothing really to teach him other than to follow Sai Baba's principles. That would be my only contribution to my son's spirituality. I am a Sai Baba devotee to such an extent that I go to all other temples and seek Sai Baba in all the other idols. I do not feel the need for anything/anyone else, knowing how my life is directed by Sai totally! But yes, I do have a tolerance for the different cultures and rituals, especially my husbands'.

In my maternal home, we light the diya (lamp) every day, but somehow I don't get around to even doing such a small thing! I am ashamed to say that I follow no rituals on a day to day basis, other than to offer Sai Baba the food I make before partaking it. I do not bring my Teluguness with me into our house. P is not comfortable with it (he's not very tolerant) and I don't feel the need to do something that he is not happy with. Living away from my in-laws, I have limited knowledge of Bengali rituals, despite having tolerance for them. So what Bubbles would learn would be from watching his father. His father is the one who offers a prayer each morning, lights the incense and prays. Hopefully, Bubbles will do that at least when he grows up. His mother does nothing but remembers Sai mentally all the time. So how do I teach him mental prayer at such a young age? I need to wait until he's older to talk to him about this. He will all along observe how some things are done at his maternal grandparents' place and hopefully enjoy those traditions, as well.

For rituals in our house, we do things the Bengali way, because I really do believe that my son is a Bengali, who just happened to have a Telugu mom. Which is also the reason why he would be a non-vegetarian (even though it kills me from inside to watch it), unless he decides otherwise on his own when he's older.

I do not believe in teaching him how to do a Puja as such, because for me, he needs to develop faith in God himself and not follow something blindly. Sitting in the Puja room for half an hour while thinking about rock music or something else will not go well with me.

Post the conversation with Pal, P and I did decide however, that it is important to teach Bubbles basics of praying etc, because he would learn those from us. So now, other than the chants of Om which I use to calm him down, I offer a neutral prayer in English to God. I'm waiting until Bubbles gets older and can understand language better to tell him how much influence Sai Baba has in our lives'. I will leave it at just that. If Sai Baba blesses Bubbles' and touches his heart, he will learn to love Him as much as He should be loved. I leave the burden to Sai Baba, as I do with most other things. May Sai bless our little child, His gift to us.

At 14 months

2010-08-12T23:04:00.001+05:30

Time sure flies!
Bubbles completes 14 months today!

Things have mostly been the same over the past month, cept now he can understand Bengali and Telugu a little better when we talk to him by giving him cues.
He loves cushions. He is shy on the webcam. Is slowly understanding that the person in the mirror is him and not someone else. Keeps pointing to objects like my perfume or something that catches his fancy and will go on saying "hmm' "hmm" looking at it, until we tire and give it to him. I have realised that I give in a little too easily and he might be taking that for granted. How do I know that? Bubbles behaves differently when his Baba is around and differently when it is me in question. He knows with a little more persuasion, mom would give in I guess. Sigh! Time to realise all his wants need not be indulged.

Bubbles still happily throws objects all over the place. So to counter that, I am making him go and fetch them also. Especially from places like behind the bed, where I can't reach anyways ;). Here is a picture of /Bubbles on his rescue mission.

I recently introduced pomegranate to him, guessing that he wouldn't like it or show much interest. Imagine my surprise when he sat at one place for 30 mins, shelling out each granule of the pomegranate and relishing it! Wow, the patience he has. Also, he decided he wants to skin the banana himself.

He now knows that there are two kinds of strangers - those that respond to him and need to be smiled back at and those who don't give him a second look and needn't be bothered about. :) He also recognises people he has seen before and is comfortable in their presence, even if I am not around for a few minutes. But once I am back, he greets me with a smile and wants to come back to me.

He still prefers crawling to walking though he can take 4-5 steps now.

The streak of independence in him is growing each day. To resisting naps and deciding which toys he wants to play with, which room he wants to be at. There are times when he doesn't mind me reading in one corner as he gets lost in his own play world. I see signs that he is much much more independent now and doesn't need me around all the time during play. I really now need to work on getting back to work, keeping the mom guilt away :)

I leave you with a picture of him today, wearing a shirt gifted by my dad, ordering me to get him something from the shelf. God only knows what he wanted though ;) sort of explains his frustrated face :D

Bubbles' Mom.

One baby step at a time

2010-07-31T08:41:00.000+05:30

Bubbles is finally showing interest in walking - by taking a few baby steps at a time. Until now, he used to pride himself on standing without support, mostly on our bed. If we tried to make him walk a few steps, he didn't take to it kindly and showed frustration. Knowing him the way I do - I knew he would do something only out of his own interest and at his own pace!

My paed is against walkers and we never felt the need to hurry our baby into walking. I know the day he masters walking, I will literally have to run behind him ;)

Yesterday, 30th July, 2010 - he showed interest in taking a few steps before tumbling down :). A befitting date that, considering it was his Maama's birthday.

At 13 months

2010-07-22T11:56:00.005+05:30

Bubbles recently completed 13 months, yay to that! Due to a bad internet connection thanks to Hyderabad's rain, here is the update - late again!

Here’s what he does and how:

* He is more mischievous now. He has analyzed people, realized who reacts how and has decided to play different with different people. For instance, mommy is a soft target – so he head bangs into her before sleeping and sometimes even bites her in frustration sometimes. Enter Baba and all these antics are thrown out of the window temporarily.

* Probably feels that the reason why people exist around him is to return objects he keeps throwing or to fetch him his toys – which would barely be a meter away to begin with! Hmmphhh!! We are trying to get him to do his own thing slowly :)

· Has realized that we are not going to desert or abandon him and is slowly more confident of playing in a different room as long as he can hear or see people. Post the Delhi-trip, he followed me everywhere around the house, probably scared that I would leave him alone. To counter that, I let him know why I was leaving him for a couple of minutes. Now, I see that he is more confident and will even play by himself for a while. Signs of growing independence and signs that he would soon ask me to go to office :p

· Is able to entertain himself a while once given the right toys – Toys could also mean kitchen utensils. He loves putting things in containers, trying out which caps fit which bottles or boxes, loves banging things on the floor so their cap comes off. He cannot yet screw and unscrew and thank god for that, because there’s loads that is dangerous and in a bottle that I wouldn’t want him to get hold of – for e.g. our medicines, the detergents etc etc.

· Absolutely loves books of all shapes and sizes – I am a proud mommy!

· Is trying very very hard to learn the names of lots of things from his picture books and we are glad. His current favorite words are star, starfish, flowers, teddy bear, gorilla, lady bug, buttons, lion, smiley face, car, birds, butterflies, crab, dolphin etc.

· His vocabulary now can understand the following objects - few animals, fruits, clothing, body parts, basic things around the house etc. He also can understand which activity is next when we talk to him and explain it.

· Says “hmm” when his name is called out. His Baba is trying very hard to call him his formal name so he gets used to it.

· Appreciates music with peppy beats. I’m trying to increase the kind of music exposure he gets. Up until now, it was most of the time the rhymes or other baby stuff. Trying to bring in hip-hop, rap, devotional, country into it, not to mention in various languages so he can have an ear for music. Well, the genes show cos yesterday he was totally moving to Nelly’s ‘Must be the money’.

· Loves this song and gives us a brilliant smile when we play it for him.

· Can follow simple instructions like ‘Get me this ball’, ‘Come here’, and the most important “SLEEP” in Bengali and Telugu.

· Claps his hands etc when asked to

· Is very reluctant to sleep! :) Is slowly creating a fuss each time we take him to the bedroom and put him down to sleep. Takes power naps and comes back as refreshed as he used to post a one hour sleep nap.

· Loves loves loves bathtime and his bathtub and animal friends.

· Starting to shriek the kind of scream that is not pleasant at all from any angle.

· Blushes when he sees his maama and ammumma on webcam. God only knows why!

· Loves chatting everyone up – but has realized that not everyone will be interested in entertaining him. That doesn’t stop him from trying to check by cooing to strangers at all kinds of places like at the doctors’ etc

· Currently fixated with buttons – in his shirt, in his Baba’s, in his thatha’s and in his mommy nightsuits. Will mouth them and keep pointing to them until someone confirms that they are indeed “buttons”.

· Calls out to me once his nap is done

· Will still not let mommy read a book in peace. How dare she, without explaining all the things in it to him?

· Can recognize now when his Baba is home by the car reverse horn. Will then point to the door and ask mommy to take him there. Gets hyper to see Baba is back home!

· If he finds something in the ground that he is curious about, will hand it to parents and check their reaction. But will mouth it irrespective of what they say :p

· Reaches out to kids. It is endearing to watch.

The other day, I was trying to search frantically for a five rupee note from my purse to buy some sugar candy at this mall. I found it and lost it again in a couple of minutes. The guy didn't have the necessary change so I was still looking for this note, when I saw Bubbles handing it over to me. It was the cutest thing and I couldn't stop going awww for a while. It might sound silly to some, but it never happened before that my child handed out something that I was looking for, without me even asking for it! It's a sure sign that he is growing and he can understand things and predict few others :). I was also packing things up and he helped me by handing over items. It really made me feel like time is flying fast and my baby's growing up on me! But it is good in a nice way!

Here is what he looked like on the 12th, wearing a tee from Uncle Affy and the trouser from his maternal Maama, sitting in a chair gifted by his Thakurdada (my father-in-law).

Bubbles' Mom

Spiritual Parenting by Gopika Kapoor

2010-07-11T23:11:00.000+05:30

"Spiritual Parenting" by Gopika Kapoor is a book I first heard of through Prerna Malik. Prerna is a blogger I much admire - for her honest blogging, for her sincere desire to help aspiring writers, and for the super planned woman that she is! So, when she rated this book from Gopika Kapoor high, it made me want to pick it up instantly. I ordered it from flipkart.com (awesomely fast delivery!)

You can read more about the book from Prerna's post on it here . If you are an expecting or a new parent, please pick this book up! You'll love it - I promise! It's a fun and easy read while trying to knock a lot of practical modern sense into a parents' head without getting all preachy about it. There are images of cute kids interspersed in the book. On the whole, a great read for the modern Indian parent!

Buy it here - (sure I'll get 6% of the sale - but I'm not counting on that for the daily bread :p):

I love Blogger's new Template Designer

2010-07-11T07:32:00.000+05:30

Blogger has let me have some major fun designing this template! OK, OK, I'd say customising an already existing cool template. The best part is changing it is so much easier now! Nothing breaks mostly when I move effortlessly from one background to another, trying to find a theme and look that matches the blog content and what I hope wouldn't hurt your eyes as the reader.

So, what do you think of this template? Like it? Hate it? Want something changed? Let me know!

Considerations for playschool/pre-school

2010-07-06T16:36:00.001+05:30

If things go well, I want to get back to work by the time Bubbles turns 2. We plan to find a decent playschool to occupy him for half-day. Here is what we (P and I) think are important for us before we decide on a playschool!

Image from http://www.shemrock.com/galleryschool.htm

Within our budget: Our purse-strings are tight considering I have been home a long time now during the maternity leave and now for taking care of Bubbles. Hence, even if we find a super duper playschool that is heavy on our pocket, we would have to let it go. I don't think we need to pay loads of money on playschool because I don't think Baby Einsteins are produced there. All the "cognitive" and other developments they showcase have been around a long time. I haven't been to nursery myself and looks like I turned out OK. (If you disagree, let's take that offline :p, shall we?)
Location: We are looking at locations around our home. Preschools have sprung up in every lane of every locality - making it only tougher to choose! Irony!
Transport: We would like the pick up and drop facility for backup on days that we cannot provide it for Bubbles ourselves.
Food: Not sure what the deal is, we want to know what they feed the children. I have heard stories of food being thrown down the drain when some fussy eaters refused to eat! The poor parents are then under the misconception that the child has eaten and all is well. I mean, aaall eej well.
Medical facilities: How the school plans to cope with medical emergencies, we would like to know.
Day Care: Having day care at the centre is a great idea! But I do not term ayammas taking care of children as daycare. This is what I have heard about Bricks so far. Maybe that's the case with the rest :(, need to investigate!
Garden /play area: Considering the sad state of Hyderabad's apartments, we would love if the school has adequate play area and garden space. Unforuntately, our apartment has none of that and the nearest park is miles away - so this is important!
Other kids at the school: Peer pressure is going to play a large part in our childrens' development. Knowing what kind of kids come to the school would determine whether Bubbles would be a misfit or a perfect fit :) As parents, we don't want to HAVE to do something just because the rest of the parents' are. Especially with regard to buying Bubbles things.
Cleanliness: I am a cleanliness freak. It is VERY important for me to know that the school has high standard of cleanliness, especially in the bathrooms etc. No compromises on this one. As it is, schools spread infection from one child to another. Do not want the school environment to contribute to that!
Parents' testimonials: I guess it is important to find out from parents what they feel about sending their child to this certain school. Are they happy, are they worried? How does the school comfort their fears, if any?
The quality of teachers: Warm, patient but SMART!

Am I asking for too much :(? I want the world for Bubbles - one of the reasons why I couldn't let him be raised by someone else while I worked long hours. Even then, getting back to work is a reality for me, sooner or later. So let us watch and watch how things go!

So, what is important for you when you choose a pre-school? Tell, tell!

Uncle Affy comes avisiting

2010-07-04T23:03:00.001+05:30

Affy is my good good friend from engineering times. He is quite the charmer and even more so with kids.

He came to our place before we headed out for a yummy pizza dinner. Bubbles loved spending time with him, didn't take more than 5 mins to warm up to his new Uncle! (Affy, don't kill me). Bubbles also got cool gifts from Affy - three tees and his most favorite being a pair of cute looking slippers. He is not resisting slippers anymore and seems to have really liked this pair! :) Thanks Affy - we really had a great time!

@ Pizza Hut enjoying his new tee, the cool footwear and the highchair!

The lead scare

2010-07-04T10:11:00.001+05:30

I just watched news on TV that was quite alarming. It spoke of the lead content in children's toys and jewelry. India unfortunately has no regulatory body that controls the amount of lead that is used in various manufacturing industries.

Lead is known to cause brain damage, lower IQs, renal failure and various other health problems in children and young adults when present in levels greater than the permissible levels.

Bubbles has a lot of toys being gifted by our friends and relatives. The news item made me scared and I have thrown away most non- Fisher Price toys of his - only to read online that Fisher Price itself has recalled many toys in the US which contained lead in dangerous levels. I'm yet to hear of toy recalls in India :( Hmm, great, so now what is a parent to do?

We can probably only buy toys from reputed brands still but hope that they are safe. Bubbles is just slowly outgrowing his fascination for mouthing every object/toy under the sun. Perhaps I could regulate that more and keep washing his hands meanwhile.

Suddenly, the world is more dangerous than we know it after kids!!

Source: http://enews.toxicslink.org/im-info/lead-paint-big.jpg

Source: http://smartcanucks.ca/toys-r-us-canada-us-not-made-in-china-toys/

BabyTv's birthday series

2010-07-01T17:17:00.001+05:30

I love Babytv. That is probably the only TV channel we will let Bubbles watch when he is older. I first came across Babytv at my mom's place - unfortunately my cable guy doesn't supply it at our place.
Nevertheless, the channel's website has a lot of cool content and resources for parents for e.g. making up a customised video for your child's birthday with an awesome song playing at the background.

Well, here is the result of a video I customised for his first birthday:

The entire video can be seen at :
http://babytv.com/birthday-train.aspx?comp=90271&step=play

I played it to Bubbles his entire birthday week :) and he loved it.. unfortunately he doesn't recognise himself - so this should be even more fun for his next birthday!

Varicella and later

2010-06-26T17:35:00.002+05:30

Bubbles got his chicken pox vaccine shot aka varicella vaccine shot past his one year mark on 23rd June, 2010. He has been down with fever now since two days (yesterday - 25th and today the 26th). He is active at times, sluggish at others, seems irritable. To be very honest, I am not even sure if this is the after effect of the vaccine shot or a normal cold cough fever routine, since P and I have been down with the latter barely a few days ago.

Well, there are no rashes. The site of his vaccine doesn't look red and all swollen up. I am just not very happy that his temperature is high. I was expecting a low grade fever. We have now moved over to Crocin suspension syrup (5 ml every 4 hours) but still the fever's not completely coming down.

I am wondering and wishing that I had the courage to say that we as parents are doing the right thing for Bubbles and not putting his body through move than he can handle because of the vaccinations.

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day. I will update this post once there is some concrete news on the recovery.

On the aside though, it has been tough to get him to have his medicine. Last night, he was sleeping and we needed to wake him up. All gentle calls to him to wake up seemed to have no effect. That's when P said "Dog" (he wasn't calling Bubbles !~ believe me) and our little darling woke up all alert and tried to imitate P by saying "Dddddaa" "Dddaaaa". The story behind this is simple.

P bought Bubbles a picture book with large life-like pictures. The little boy has taken a fascination to it this entire week - so much so that all I need to do to entertain him is to name all the things in this book - around a hundred times. Bubbles points to a picture and asks us what is it. He moves on and on and on and on, until around the two hundredth time we show him dog ---- we distract him, take the book away and hide it somewhere else. When he wants us to show him this book, he says "Ddddddaaaa" his attempt at saying dog :)

His current favorites from this book are Dog, Cat, Tiger, Rose, Zebra, Pigeon, Joker etc. So all it took to make him alert at 2 a.m was to remind him of dog. The poor baby is going to love this story when he is older :p. I anyways have proof on video of P saying "Dog", "Dog" on repeat :)

Edited-to-add: Three days of high fever later, Bubbles's fever has disappeared. But not without taking a toll on him. He is sleeping long hours, has a bit of cough and cold. I guess his body is recuperating. While he naps, I wait for him to wake up. And while he is awake, I wonder when he would nap again :p. Weird, this parenting thingy :p

What the boy does now at one year

2010-06-20T03:34:00.003+05:30

I have been meaning to write - don't ask what occupies me. I keep myself busy all the time with Bubbles - hardly leaving him alone :p, and the rest of the time is spent making and sometimes spoiling dishes in the kitchen.
Bubbles has grown real fast on us! I still remember the day he was born like yesterday. Unfortunately, it was yesterday a year ago :p. Here is what he is up to nowadays:

Loves to hear "No" from us. The more he hears it, the greater is his thrill of doing the activity that elicits the "No". Like he touches the switches, looks back to check whether his parents are dutifully keeping an eye on him and then tries to act like he is running away when we swoop in to remove him from the switches. His latest interest is in my slippers. I find him trying to play with them. The moment I am close, he tries to act like he was just trying to return the slippers to me! Natak, I say!! But I just laugh adoringly like a fool, all gooey eyed at my baby growing up and understanding complex dramatics :p
Adoringly follows me to each room if he doesn't see me for a few minutes. I inform him that I'm going to the other room to bring his food and such, he waits three minutes before setting out to look for me. The other day he was banging at the bathroom door. :) LOL! This separation anxiety is especially more ....now that it's mostly him and me for the entire day at home while P works. There's no maid since our return to Delhi and I quite like it that way.
Still says hello in baby babble to the strangest of people. I wish we were more social that way. Sometimes the person on the other end doesn't respond back and Bubbles tries to make louder sounds for the person to notice, the poor darling!
Plays with his toys better.
Loves eating on his own. He has started losing interest in Cerelac. He likes adult-ish food that people around him are having. Right now, he likes maggi, dosa, toast etc cos he can eat it himself. He also generously leaves the food on the floor for mommy to clean up. Thanks baby, you are the only reason why I move around :p
Absolutely hates wearing his diapers nowadays, cos he wants time out to *err* touch himself. The moment the diaper is off, Bubbles scoots off in another direction for some privacy. Talks of asking him to wait until he's a little older don't seem to be working! :(
Expresses his dissatisfaction with loud cries. It doesn't take him a moment to get all weepy about something - like the moment we took him off his scooter ride at a mall in Delhi - he cried so loud that people hearing it would think we were torturing the poor guy. :) Thankfully, touch wood, he still does get distracted with something else interesting and forgets what he wanted in the first place. I have a sinking feeling that won't stay for long though.
Loves being bathed - as always. Enjoys playing with water.
Loves playing in the kitchen.
Fights harder before he gives in to sleep - at night or during naps! Phew! It won't be an exaggeration to state that sometimes P and I fall asleep on the bed, only to wake up to see Bubbles playing on his own and sometimes patting us to sleep (I kid you not!).
Babbles baby talk continuously. This has increased post the Delhi visit :D
Loves holding everything to his ear as if it were a phone. Loves it more when we say "Hello Hello" to him at the time.
Loves Nokia's ringtones.
Points to objects. Almost like "Me King - you are the person who must bring me the object I point to". Now, there, bring me that, no not that one, you duffer, the other object....oh no, I am talking of thaaaat object.. While we are at it, why don't you use the laptop to play me some nice videos of Babytv or Gummy Bear?
Showed me the other day that he wanted to eat by showing me his mouth and pointing inside it. It was so damn cute.
Gives kisses if he's in the mood. I said to him the other day, aka his Jethamoni "It's time for a kissy, Bubbles" only I meant I wanted to kiss him. The little darling instead kissed me and made me go awwww.
Feeds us!!!!! He's really loving this child, God bless him. He feeds P and me sometime, if he really likes what he's having.
Says "Ooooooooooooh" for Om and looks at Sai Baba and at all walls to check where the Gods are.
Stretches out his hand when we dress him.
Pushes me off the bed to fetch him milk during the night feeds.
Tries hard to get onto my lap if I'm at the table cutting vegetables. He wants to check what I'm doing.
Loves taking books out of my hand so he can go through them.
Talks on the phone with relatives if he is in the mood.
Loves being praised and talked about.
Makes confused faces when he hits against something or if we accidentally hurt him (not much, I assure you!).
Loves to dance to music.
Loves to clap his hands to the tune of "Clap your hands..."
Still does not get that the boy in the mirror is him!
Enjoys chewing with his six new teeth.
Refuses to eat sweet things - so far, that seems good to me!

Here he is at Delhi's The Great Indian Place mall.

Bubbles turns one!

2010-06-15T01:30:00.002+05:30

Bubbles turned one this Satuday, June 12th, 2010. We brought in the birthday at my in-laws place at Delhi.

I do not have anything emotional to say to my darling son here. Except that I wish him a long and healthy life filled with god's grace in abundance. The god's grace would probably take care of everything else. I hope he grows to be a fine young man.

I know that the past year has been the best one in my life so far- here's wishing I could say that each year, Amen!

Om Sai Ram!

The dreaded M word - Measles

2010-05-19T07:37:00.003+05:30

We have had a hectic two weeks here at Bubble Capsules. Bubbles came down with a high fever 103-104 degrees and it ultimately turned out to be measles. Yes, he did get his measles shot (MMR) the first one at 9 months, but looks like there's nothing fool proof about vaccines. You can only hope for the best.

Here's how it happened:
Bubbles had caught a cold one Sunday - he kept sneezing even though it wasn't too cold outside - it is damn hot in Hyderabad these days! We assumed it could be because of the air conditioning and toned it down. We took him to the paediatrician two days later when there was a slight cough also involved. The paed assured us that it was just a viral infection and prescribed Crocin for fever and a nasal spray and cough syrup. Things looked good over the weekend and we went out with Bubbles. Unfortunately, the hot sun took its toll and he again came down with burning fever the next Sunday. I didn't read too much to it and kept giving him Crocin, only to note that it was doing practically nothing to bring the temperature down. When I noted the temperature shot to 102 - we rushed to Apollo Emergency Care at Jubilee Hills.

Now, Apollo Emergency Care is ironically everything but urgent about the cases that come there. Eventually, the visiting paed asked us to give him Meftal-P syrup to bring the fever down. Bubbles was a sight to behold, at the emergency. I was literally in tears there and not able to talk much to the doctor, because I was so upset about what my son was going through. P spoke to the doctors. My father and maid were also with us. But what made me feel a little better was the way Bubbles was responding to people around him.

He had a temperature of 102 but was acting like a celebrity at the emergency. All the nurses (men and women) had surrounded him and befriended him. One nurse carried him and was very reluctant to give him back to us!!! Bubbles acted like a cool superstar there, basking in all the attention. He was so happy and active that the paed and others didn't read much into the high fever. They said he seemed fine and all.

Well, we returned home only to note that the horrid fever kept coming back. It was high all along for 4-5 days. He was on Crocin and Meftal- P (5ml every 8 hours) syrup all along. He became weak, irritable and scared if left alone for a few minutes in a room. He wanted company all along. He slept a lot understandably because of what the fever was doing to him.

I noticed a couple of rashes on his face but his paed told us those were rashes caused by viral fever. So we didn't read much into it, until 4 days after the high fever, rashes appeared all over his face, chest and started to move to his tummy area. We guessed that this is what measles is.

Well, looks like measles has no medicine as such. All we needed to do was try to regulate his temperature and use Crocin if it shot up too much. Soon, the rashes moved down his body and started disappearing from the face and neck regions. I guess it is only now that the rashes are almost clearing up. Make no bones about it, measles can be life-threatening.

All along this incident, I was reminded of how we as parents could have monitored Bubbles well enough the week when he showed signs of cough and cold and not have taken him out on the weekend, assuming he was fine. Then there was the constant guilt about his immume system not being strong enough due to our breastfeeding problems. Apparently, if the mother has already had measles in her childhood, the antibodies are supposed to pass onto the child in the womb. I'm not even sure why my darling caught measles.

Here's what you can do if your child has measles:

Consult the paed for the best course to follow.
Relax, measles will take its own sweet time to cure. There's hardly anything you can do except keep your baby's temperature down.
Keep baby well hydrated. Measles causes loss of appetite and solids may not be your baby's favorite things to have. Ensure your baby gets enough water, fruit juices, water in which dates and other dry fruits have been soaked and water in which Misri (crystalised sugar lumps) has been soaked. You could try curd rice or other such easy and simple to digest food, provided baby is in the mood.
Try not to give a proper bath but use sponging to keep the temperature down as well as to keep baby clean.
Be prepared for a fussy baby. We kept Bubbles entertained with a bit of TV to distract him - it was an experience that was quite new for him. Somehow though, it didn't occupy him for long - possibly because the eyes are watery and not so comfortable during measles. Reassure your tiny baby that you are there for them - measles makes babies miserable from inside :(
Pray HARD!

I just thank Sai Baba that even though Bubbles has been through hell this last two weeks, we hope his immune is stronger now and he doesn't get this dreaded measles again.

-Bubbles Mom

Mothers Day gift from IndusLadies!

2010-05-19T07:12:00.001+05:30

I guess most of you have heard of IndusLadies :) a very popular place for Indian ladies (IL) to meet and discuss everything under the sun. I got introduced to this site when I was pregnant, and found it quite useful to hear stories from people who were in the same boat as me.

Recently as a Mothers Day initiative, IL set out to make a compilation of all the Indian mommy bloggers out here who are doing a great job blogging about parenting, children, mommyhood, working or staying at home and all the trials/tribulations and joys/highs of being a parent. IL had asked mommy bloggers to submit a little something about their blog so it could be included in this compilation. Well, I sent in details of this blog (Bubble Capsules)and guess what, it made it into the e-book compilation!!!! *drumrolls*

Here is where you can download the e-book! This e-book would be made available to over 1 Lakh readers of the site!

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/announcements/93175-mommy-bloggers-list-mothers-day.html

What he does now.

2010-05-03T15:43:00.001+05:30

I haven't been able to post regularly - especially wrt to the monthly updates. Bubbles is already 10 months and 3 weeks old :(. Here is what he does now:

He seems to be slowly getting a hang of what we are trying to tell him - either through language or through gestures. Let me remind you that we are raising a multi-lingual kid. Bubbles father (P) talks Bengali to him , I speak Telugu to him, P and I speak to each other in English and Hindi - not the easiest of combinations. But finally, there are a few things that he gets now - might sound silly to some other single - lingual babies but for us, this is reason enough to celebrate.

He understands:

Sai Baba - looks for his pictures when we ask him to
Aayi, aayi or da da (bengali and telugu for come here respectively).
Dao or iyyi (both meaning give it to me)
Baba for his father, Amma for his mother. He is yet to learn what other close relatives are called.
Kothai or Edi (both meaning where )
Ball etc for his simple toys
Gummy Bear :p from the video :p (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=astISOttCQ0)

I am mightily thrilled. :D :D He is also showing some basic understanding of repeated words (Apple, Grapes, Orange ;) from a chart of fruits), he knows the Bengali numbers 1- 5 through fingers etc. Mostly, I love how he picks up what we want him to do when we introduce new and silly games with him.

He is slowly trying to hold the receiver and hear from it, rather than mouth it :). He loves pottering in our kitchen, catching hold of utensils big and small and banging them. He likes his toys, he loves books of all sorts, he especially likes to know what mommy is reading. So if I am reading something and he has his own book in his hand, he will leave it and come to mine and browse it from start to end like a wise old man :)

He loves trying to eat from our plates. He likes his main rice and dal over all his cereal kinda food. He likes oranges - especially because he can eat them himself. Today, he refused breakfast for a while because he wanted to feed himself. He threw the spoon down when we brought it close to his mouth. :)

He wants to unfortunately mouth all the shampoo bottles, when we bathe him. He does not want to sit still no more when he is being bathed. He loves trying to open the bathroom door and trying to take a sneak peak at what is inside. He throws tantrums at the drop of a hat if he doesnt get what he wants at the moment. :) Still, he is adorable and our number one!!!

He cried and whined the other day because I locked the bathroom door on him. Because we wouldnt give him our cell phones to mouth. He already dropped saliva on mine and made it disfunctional, sigh!!

He absoultely adores people. He does know who is a stranger and who is not - but will make friends easily from a distance. He will charm them with his smile. He has learnt how to fake smiles - just because people around him are laughing. He had a ball playing and adoring his Maama who came down for a visit recently. He will slap people in excitment. He bites his Baba's cheeks with love and laughs when his Baba screams in pain. He gives kisses if he is in the mood. He throws away each cloth from a pair of neatly piled clothes, after examining it for a second :) He dances to music!

But what I absolutely cannot get beyond a point is when he throws objects down from a height and expect us to promptly give it back to him - only so he can throw it once again!!!!! Sigh sigh sigh!

I love you, Shona. Each day with you is a blessing, you are life's biggest gift to us.
You are a charmer and your grandparents adore you.
Here you are - with the last of my Nokia 6300.

Love,
Mommy

Shave off

2010-05-02T00:12:00.002+05:30

Bubbles recently got his hair shaved off - for the first time ever. Needless to say, he was shrieking and screaming through the entire shave - the poor thing! He would keep looking at the barber and then at us and wonder why we were committing such a heinous crime on him.

He took a while to cool down and was himself soon after. Anyways, this was during our first visit to Tirupati post marriage and post baby :). We meant to go after marriage, but I found out I was pregnant and my doctor wouldn't agree for me to travel during the first few months. Finally, Lord Balaji called and we went there during the Bengali New Year incidentally (April 15).

Here are the pictures of Bubbles before and after.

Before:

After:

There is loads for me to write on this blog - considering that I'm now staying at home with Bubbles until he is little older. Need to find the inspiration to beat a slow laptop and a slow Internet connection, blah!

Bubbles' Mom

9 months already! Whoa

2010-03-16T06:36:00.000+05:30

Well, time sure does fly by. I cannot believe its been nine months since the day I delivered this little chinki baby, who kept blinking his eyes like his father does. I remember it like it was yesterday. :)

Bubbles completed 9 months recently. He has been upto a little more mischief than he was upto in the previous month :p which people tell me is a good thing because he is learning and growing! Well, boy has he learnt things on his own. He knows how to get what he wants from different people. He floors some with smiles, he tries fake crying with some! Man, how do kids learn so much on their own?

His latest activity is to stand up by grabbing anything he gets for support. And before I forget, his other recent activity is to climb onto mommy's thighs before trying to climb onto the bed (while we were sitting on the floor). He wriggles out of our hands, onto the floor. He moves from one room to another, checking what is at his eye-level that is worth examining. Yesterday, it was the dustbin which fascinated him. I am going to have my hands busy this summer :). On the subject of summer, Hyd has been experiencing horrid power cuts that make me wonder how I am going to survive it with a baby who needs his share of air. Bubbles cannot let us know he wants the fan on, but sometimes longingly looks at it and once it is switched on, he heaves a sigh of relief and says "Oooh" and smiles at it. It is really endearing to watch him make an "O" kinda loop with his tiny lips.

Another thing that he seems to love is to take an object and bang it on the floor, especially when he knows there is someone around to pick it up and give it back to him. I do not know what he is checking - is it gravity, is it to see what happens to something that is thrown down, is it to improve his parents' physical fitness? We cannot really fathom. But a failure to fetch that object back to him only makes him bend and try to wriggle out of our hands, so we stoop and pick it up anwyays. The worst affected by this kind of behavior is the head of the camel rider in this toy of his (pic below). Just as this toy starts humming a tune and moving around the house gaily does a little Bubbles come her way and dismantle the camel rider's head (because it glows and attracts his attention). Soon, the head is in Bubbles' hand in the process of being banged on the floor. Ouch!

Bubbles is still a very social creature, who always smiles at people. But my dad was mentioning the other day that Bubbles started getting a bit uneasy around my grandpa, a sign that probably stranger anxiety is around the corner. But despite that, he is still someone who likes meeting new people and experiencing new things. We took him to City Center's play area for kids and he had a whale of a time on the little car there. One thing that I really love about Bubbles is when he is happy, he turns and smiles at all of us and wants us to be happy about that same thing too! It is really cute, the way he does that. His Baba and he have a special magic charm going on. All his Baba has to do is appear in his view and the little boy is ready to start laughing, giggling and showing off new skills :)... I love them both and its a treat to watch them together.

On the health front - he got his measles shot on the 13th. His paed asked us to watch out for symptoms of fever and a rash anytime from now to 3 weeks later. Let's hope its not too bad for Bubbles this time.

On the food front, we have recently introduced some new things - like actual rice (not Cerelac types), yoghurt, prune juice, coconut water etc. Plans ahead are for introducing vegetable soup and eggs sometime. The paed asked us now to slowly cut down the formula and bring in packet milk. I am looking forward to my summer cooking meals for this little guy. The paed asked us now not to restrict anything - just keep trying things until he likes and takes them.

Well, this is all I can think of now. Happy Ugadi to us all :)!

Lots of Jan-Feb updates

2010-02-28T17:36:00.000+05:30

No point making excuses about the lack of posts here :(. In any case :p been busy with work and a useless internet connection at home, so here goes:

Bubbles now prefers to do only one thing - standing himself up by holding anything that he can get his hands on. It doesn't matter that sometimes we find ourselves sleeping, and Bubbles on top of our shoulders of tummy, trying to stand. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of furniture at our home, and even lesser that's baby friendly and at his height, to which he can hold onto. Also, I think, I'm not sure - but Bubbles has only yet figured our how to stand from a sitting position and not vice versa, the poor thing :). So we end up trying to make him sit again soon enough. His crib's side bars seem to attract him, as does our the head of our bed, and we have had some unfortunatel incidents where he in his excitement, hit his nose against a few of those named objects.

His crawling also has changed from a typical army style to one in which his tummy is raised off the air and he crawls using only his hands and foot. :) It is really endearing to watch babies learn to do so much on their own. You are happy that they are reaching milestones and there's this twinge that soon the babe in your arms will be walking or rather jumping out the door. You also sincerely hope that atleast in this way, you get to lose some of those darned pregnancy calories that seemed to have fallen in love with your body.

He is upto a lot of mischief nowdays - I would still say not too much but he has realised that he can whine when he doesn't get something and someone would give into that whine. He has realised that he loves cell phones of all kinds and each time we get a call, he must also be allowed to talk on it. He was very self conscious earlier when my in-laws used to call and speak to him, smiling shyly from one corner. Now! He wants to speak to them and ends up grabbing the phone and cooing into it.

His daytime sleep has come down drastically. He knows he is sleepy, rubs his eyes, yawns and seems tired. The moment we move him to his bed, he decides he will have none of it and ends up crawling or standing and looking to see what interesting objects have been added newly to the house, which need his quality inspection check :)

He also has formally let us know that the minimum amount of time in which we can hold him in our arms and expect him not to bend towards something fascinatedly is 2 seconds. Once the two seconds is up, we find his body horizontal, checking some new item or trying to make a dash towards a toy or something interesting :). The only time he would be still in my arms, is when we are in the car.

Unfortunately, I am still not too comfortable with his diet. I feel and know there is scope for improvement, but once we were zealous about feeding him things and it didn't suit him much. There was a series of tummy upset and loose motions which has brought back our efforts to try something new on him. Meanwhile, he has gotten a wee little bored of the flavors of cereal we feed him and wants to have whatever his parents and others are having.

Also, one of the big things to happen to Bubbles recently is the appearance of his first tooth sometime around Feb 21st. His lower incisor was first to dash out his gum and the drool hasn't stopped since. The neighboring molar is also trying to come out now. I hope the appearance of the teeth would mean that we can increase the kind of food we have been feeding him.

One thing is for sure - our darling is a social creature. He loves people, new faces and takes offense if someone new doesn't seem to stop and say hello to him. We went to Sai Baba temple yesterday, where I was holding him in the queue and he decided he would try to converse with the lady in front of me. There was a lady behind me who kept smiling and him and making faces and he would respond right back. One delightful thing that makes all of us happy is the fact that he can recognise Sai Baba now and each time we say "Sai Baba, Sai Baba Namaste" in front of Bubbles, he looks out and tries to find an idol or picture of Sai Baba. This thrills P and me no end, since we believe Bubbles has been gifted to us by Sai Baba. Also, I recently took Bubbles to the puja room at mom's place and there he ended up seeing a big Sai Baba photo and gave him a beautiful smile and turned back and looked at me excitedly.

In the temple, when we took him the first time, he saw a small boy and ended up smiling and chatting him up. This time, there was a lady who was singing a bhajan loudly and Bubbles started clapping cutely. We are proud parents :D.
Yes, he claps now. He sings his own songs, he makes "da da da da" kind of sounds. Sometimes he utters total gibberish in our kind of tones, and it just endears us and makes us want to hear more. I guess I should stop here and check on him now.

Also, he prefers to sleep in our bed and not in his crib. On our bed, we put his head on one side, when we wake up, he has already turned himself totally and his head is on the other side :).

More updates will follow soon enough :).

Here is our Gemini baby smiling at his twin in the mirror.

Sitting and crawling update

2010-02-01T21:53:00.000+05:30

Bubbles has so far not been very fond of sitting unsupported or supported. He never made attempts to do it himself until last week. The last week of January saw this milestone finally! At 7 months and 2 weeks, Bubbles finally got around to pulling himself upto the seating position and sitting there a while. I was a very little weeeeeee bit worried about him not being interested in sitting, but looks like that has been put to rest :)

The crawling update goes like this: Last weekend, Saturday and Sunday saw him crawling full fledgedly (pardonnez mon Anglais :) ). Up until now, the bed was his favorite place to crawl. When we put him on the floor surrounded with carpets and pillows, he showed no interest in moving around much. But now, he suddenly decided he had enough of being at one place and started moving towards the floor. Too bad that Hyderabad is quite cold and chilly nowadays, but that didnt deter him. He likes to move towards the floor and thump it :) Yesterday, Sunday, January 31st was a special day for P and me. We were sitting having lunch at the dining table. We had put Bubbles down in the hall for some playtime. Only he decided he would have none of it and came very very adoringly towards us, crawling away on the floor. Each time he would gaze at us lovingly, killing us with his smiles. God bless the lil one!

A belated 6 months post

2010-01-26T23:08:00.002+05:30

Well, I have been away from this blog long! :( Sorry, dear Bubbles. There have been things which have kept me busy one of which is work. I joined work from January 1st, so its back to the grind. It has been tough but we are getting by with help from my mother and a maid, mostly. And oh, God's infinite grace, before I forget.

I have this tendency to ignore some of my blogs for a while before bouncing back. :( It is shameful though Bubbles is 7.5 months old and I didnt get to writing the post of when he completed 6 months (Dec 12 to be exact). In any case, here is a post from my drafts. The 7 months completion post is also missing, but let's get to it one at a time !

So here is what the draft looked like: It is not complete again but I needed to post this before I moved on to the next month. Here is what you did in your 6th months, darling Bubbles. Sorry for the delay.

****************************************************************************
Bubbles recently completed 6 months! Time really flies by when you are having fun. Anyways, I can't believe it has been 6 months since I was wheeled into an operation theatre for the delivery. Well, today I would really like to know what Bubbles darling has felt the past 6 months. I would love to get into his head for a bit and examine the world from his eyes.

Well, here is what happened from the 5th to the 6th month.

Reflux refused to go away. It did lessen. I am guessing this also has to do a lot with the fact that Bubbles loves to be on his tummy all the time, thereby putting pressure on his abdomen.

In any case, I’m hoping it will go away forever and soon!

Prevnar shot 2’s effect was worse than the first one . It is already now time for the third shot and I am so not looking forward to it.

There wasn’t a drastic change from the 5th month behavior in terms of what he did and liked to do. Except we found out that he likes to travel and go new places and he loves people! In fact the more people he sees, the merrier he gets, touchwood. I have recently come across come cranky type of kids who are not fond of people and I have thanked my lucky stars million times after that. Having said that, this phase might last only until he can really recognize us as his parents and then he would refuse to go to someone new, but I am still very thankful.

We travelled to Kolkata this past month and I have been meaning to write a post on it. Except I haven’t been able to. At Kolkata, we found out mostly that he likes interacting with people, he is an easy going character and that people love him! Our relatives didn’t get enough of him and would keep on wondering when he would wake up from sleep so they could play with him! Hehe!

The trip was enjoyable only because Bubbles was super cooperative! He did get a bit fussy when we kept going places without him getting his quota of sleep, but on the whole, once fed, he could last sometime. In Kolkata, we visited the Dolls Museum, a place called Scoops at the river ghats, we visited relatives homes, we performed his Annaprashon ceremony. It was also one week in which I got some rest from my usual household work. I enjoyed this visit thoroughly and felt sad when it was time to leave near and dear. I enjoyed seeing Bubbles with his closest relatives and when they praised him, I felt very happy despite having nothing to do with his good behavior ;) Motherhood likes to take credit even if it not due :D :D Hehe. The Annaprashon day was special for us because my brother and his wife welcomed their baby boy far away in the USA! I cant wait to get my hands on that bundle of joy and smother him silly.

His activities were not very different form what he did in the 5th month, except we introduced solids to him. This month, he had Nestum Rice Stage 1, water, Cerelac Wheat Apple flavor (not as fond of this as he is of Rice), carrots, apples, bananas etc. He seemed to take to everything ok so far.

On the day he completed 6 months, my Pinni (maasi) and her daughter (my cousin) flew down from Canada and he took to them well too. He likes pretty faces, duh! They got him a very awesome warm blanket, a nice pair of T and Jeans and Baby Einstein books.

He has been handling objects much better. He has been maneuvering himself quite well towards objects. After a close shave with a fall, I put him on the ground and surrounded him with his toys. But wonder of wonders, he refused to move anywhere! He seems to prefer the bed for moving.

He has been making sounds from his rattles offlate. He prefers mobile toys, which move over his eyes and face. He got hyper whenever we waved something in his view and tried to reach over for it. He started to try and pour water on himself during bath! Hehe, he gets excited and hits his own thighs during bath times. The cute thing!

The sleep got a little longer in the day, possibly due to the effect of Cerelac but one thing that didn’t work out too well was his lessened interest in milk. When he sees the bottle, he does reach out and drink but halfway through he loses interest and looks around the house at all the items. He still likes the door, the fan and switchboard kind of items.

Here is a picture of you doing what you do when something excites you, Bubbles. You widen your arms and move your legs cutely. Like when you do, when I play "Dhan te nan" on my mobile ! I love you, darling!

*******************************************************************************

Happy Birthday, Baba!

2009-12-30T08:06:00.001+05:30

Dear Baba,

This year on your birthday, I woke up bright and early and cuddled up with you, tried to get as close to you as possible and tried to use your arm as a cushion. But that didnt go very well, cos mom pulled me back so I wouldnt break your sleep. Even then, you kissed me when mom wished you from my side. I love you too. I am too young to wish you online or in person, but for you next birthday, I will have something special lined up. Until then, hear what I have to say from the person who knows me best - mom.

First things first - you are my favorite person in the world. After all, you were the first close person to hold me (not counting the gyn and the paed that is) and hug me. I looked at you then and saw a much bigger version of myself and thought, "How cool can this get? He looks just like me and is so cute and friendly!". I saw how overwhelmed you were with my presence and knew you and I would bond bigtime. (touchwood*).

And then oh, those colic days were a nightmare for me. All pain, no sleep until you swooped in with your comforting style of holding and rocking me and singing me various songs in cool languages. I mostly remember and identify with "Teri hain zameen" so much so that it has become a lullaby of sorts, bringing me a sleepy smile each time it is sung. I can't forget how reassuring your presence is to me.

After all, when I decided to let the world know I am happy with it, I chose you to give my first smile to. You are way cooler than mom, not as strict as she is about timings and all that and you let me sleep on your chest when I'm having hard times. I also love trying to snatch your food, your arm, your tummy and anypart of you that I can see on the bed. I also love your armband, so do understand that I might want one of my own when I'm old enough to demand it.

I can see myself growing up with you as inspiration. Mom says you are the best and she loves you loads, so I know I have chosen well.

And personally, no one else kisses me the way you do. I just love those kisses you shower on my cheeks. They are so warm and cuddly. I can't get enough of them and wonder why you stop.

I hope you remember that yesterday I realised that laughing out loud can be fun when you were ticking me. In any case, I will stop here and let you know that you are the coolest Baba in the world. I love you and miss you and love the moment you come home in Krystal (our car) and smile at me from the lift. I hope you have a great birthday this year!

With love,
Shonu aka Bubbles.

Here we are trying to understand what to do with mom (I mean her passport).

On parents, parenting and motherhood

2009-12-04T19:32:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: A disorganized rant type of long post ahead~~!

Recently a friend of mine delivered a baby and is staying with parents for a few months until she can join her husband. Unfortunately for her, the staying with parents equation is not really working well. There is a generation gap which gets in between her parenting style and those of her parents', which is totally understandable. But what comes as a shock to me is the fact that her parents are not genuinely interested in doing their bit for her and for her newborn. They seem more interested in giving her lectures about why she should be grateful for their presence and for the support they are extending to her at this time. And they seem more interested in picking up irrelevant issues and making mountains out of molehills during these tough and stressful times for all. They have also asked her repeatedly to pack up her bags and leave as soon as she can to her husband's place.

To be honest, this behavior shocked me. Being the pampered daughter of my parents, I guess I have taken their support and help for granted. Not to say that I am not grateful for their love, affection, physical, moral as well as financial support, but there was never a moment when I doubted that they would do something for me if I needed it and if they could do it. After Bubbles was born, I guess they love him more than they do me! Never for a moment did I feel like they wanted me out of their house the months I stayed there after delivery. There were definitely some minor arguments, glitches and differing points of view on some opinions, but never did they blackmail me saying they had raised me, they had done so much for me, they are still doing so much for me etc etc which is what my friend is getting to hear these days. After all, isnt this what parenting is all about? After becoming a parent, I have been thinking a lot about what parenting means.

As a parent, I am expected to put my child before me. To put his needs before mine, to do what I can for him, even if it means inconvenience for me at times. Honestly, touchwood, Bubbles is such a sweet baby that I never find myself regretting any of this, regretting the fact that I am at home...or that I am working more than I ever did in my life before (i mean the housework). In fact, if anything, I am proud to be Bubbles' mom, to get his things done, to provide him a life as smooth as his Baba and I can with God's help and blessings, to do whatever I can to make him smile, to give him a good life. Never once would I think that I am going out of the way when I take care of him, because that is what I am expected to do!!! Thats what my parents taught me!! They NEVER keep talking about their troubled times, their sacrifices or the discomfort my brother and I must have caused them. I'm sure they went through a lot of self-denial so their children could see better times and have it all. And this is exactly what I have learnt!!!! And that's just what Bubbles will get, alongwith a lot of love from both sets of grandparents and close relatives.

I remember now an anecdote I heard in childhood which stuck in my mind, but never before made an impact the way it does now. I heard about a couple who had committed a lot of sins, who were bad, mean and who did a lot of bad things in their life, like stealing etc etc. They were proud to be bad and the husband and wife were in it together. When they have a baby, they are shocked to learn that the baby is blind. To the outside world, it might seem like the baby is at a disadvantage, born blind and one cannot help but feel sad for the child. But the reality is that being born blind, the child does not know a thing. The child does not know what he has been missing or what he does not have so he is happy and content in his own world. Ultimately, the blindness was something that God did to punish the parents. Because they could see the world, they knew what their child was missing and it hurt them every moment to know he was blind. It brought down their pride and made them more humble and more human. So this is exactly what parenting is.

Yesterday, Bubbles came close to his first fall. He was sleeping on our bed, the crib was next to it. I had left him for a few minutes so I could make his formula and bring it to him. When I came back 3 minutes later, I saw half his body on our bed and his legs dangling dangerously at the edge. He was happily unaware of what had happened and was sucking his thumb sleepily. But my heart was turned upside down. I was so moved by what I saw that I came close to tears imagining what would have happened if he had fallen off. The pain to him would be less than the pain I would go through. The guilt of not having an eye on him at all times, even when I know he is highly mobile and crawling. In simple words, the guilt of motherhood :) !

This mother thing is a complex equation!!!! At the same time, the mother-child relationship is one of the most beautiful things on earth.

Parents struggle for their children, this is not something new. My maid who must be around 45-50 years old was telling me the other day that her son-in-law is pestering them to gift him a gold chain repeatedly. She works hard all day and was telling me how the prices of gold have gone up recently. So when I asked her if they would still go ahead and gift him, she said she most definitely would so that he keeps her daughter happy. She was saying something on the lines of our lives are almost over, if our daughters are happy, what else could we want as parents? I am not in favor of this kind of blackmail but the point is that even she understands her role as parent and has no qualms that her children are her calling in life.

I maintain that a woman learns how to be mom by seeing her own mother and a man learns how to play dad by seeing his own father. I would like to thank my mom and grandmother for the care that they inspire in me to put into raising my child. For teaching me what parenting is about. For teaching me indirectly to love Bubbles silly and never expect anything in return. P's support is another thing I am indebted for. It is true that parenthood changes everyone for the better and until one experiences this feeling for himself/herself, they cannot understand what the fuss is all about.

-S

Bubbles' first flight details

2009-12-02T18:22:00.000+05:30

We flew with infant Bubbles on Nov 15th, 2009 on Indigo airlines. The first disappointing factor about the whole thing was that prams were not allowed in Indigo aircraft. We had gotten used to using the pram with baby and he also enjoys his pram rides. Even thinking about the airports and the distance we would have to cover with baby on foot was a bit daunting for me. But parents are got to do what parents are got to do right :p so we went ahead. I would give full credit to Bubbles for not being too fussy the entire flight.

P held him throughout the onward journey. Bubbles was actually excited I guess. He had never before stayed put in a single position for 2 hours or so, but maybe being sleepy helped or the pacifier did. I have no clue!

However the flight back was not so eventful. He was a bit disturbed throughout, a bit fussy, maybe he realised he wasnt going to get this much attention and love from all the relatives and was complaining :( the poor thing. In any case, Kolkata airport is not baby-friendly. Even if we had taken the pram to the airport, it would have caused us a lot of inconvenience as we had to go up and down flights of stairs and that would mean packing and unpacking the pram. At Shamshabad airport, we used the golf cart to go around so that was a good thing!

I don't have any advice to parents travelling with infants on Indian flights except that you pay 500 Rs or more just to have baby in your lap, which I think is ridiculous and makes no sense :p. The air hostess told us to feed baby during take off and landing to help his ears deal with the air pressure. We however used the pacifier as his paed suggested.

More on the Kolkata trip, what we did there later!

Army crawling and solids

2009-12-02T17:50:00.001+05:30

Yesterday, 1st Dec, Bubbles did the army crawl without much ado :). His rattle was a wee bit ahead of him. I didn't even notice until two minutes later he went ahead, held the rattle and started shaking it cutely! Ever since we have been trying to entice him to move ahead by putting his favorite toys ahead of him. Surprisingly, I heard this is a pre-cursor to the actual crawling stage, but Bubbles does not seem to want to sit up still. He sits unsupported for a while, but topples cutely once the support is removed.

Yesterday, he also became affectionate with his parents and kissed Baba. :)!! Lovely times ahead for us, I guess.

The solids has been going ok now. He has some Cerelac Nestum Stage 1 Rice in the morning. At first, he was interested more in the colorful spoon and chomped on it, probably to help with teething discomfort. Soon he realised that the spoon only brings him the gooey Cerelac. So we have had some messy times with him landing the Cerelac on my face and hands once :) but on the whole, he seems to be ok to be eating it. Water however is another affair. I bought a Sippy cup with a soft nipple spout for him to have water. The bland taste of it brought out cute expressions like "What is it and why do I have to drink it?". He is slowly getting used to the idea that he needs to have it anyway!

Here are photos of him eating Cerelac and drinking from his sippy cup for the first time.

Will be posting more soon, on the Kolkata trip and how Bubbles' first flight was! Ciao

Bubbles was 5 months, 2 weeks and 5 days old when he army-crawled.

-S

Prevnar Round 2 and directions on introducing solids

2009-11-24T20:38:00.002+05:30

Bubbles got his Prevnar Round 2 set of vaccination today along with Hepatitis B and Oral Polio drops. He took the first Prevnar shot without more than a whimper but the second injection had him crying a wee little bit :(. He was fine soon after.

He is on Crocin now for fever.

The news about this visit is that we can now slowly introduce new foods for the little boy.
Bubbles has been on a diet of only NAN-1 and his mother's feed (for 3 months) from birth until now. We have not been very keen on introducing solids to him before he was ready. The paed had asked us to hold solids away for 6 months for preventing food allergies. Here are my Indian paediatrician's suggestions on introducing solids. I hope this is of some use to Indians who are googling away about introducing solids for their babies. I also welcome any tips and suggestions on this big milestone!

The aim of all these directions are that by the age of 1 year, Bubbles would be eating most of what we adults eat for meals.
The paed asked us to go for either of Farex or Nestle's cereals starting with Rice Cereal of Stage 1.
He asked us to use 1/2 tsp of powder mixed with 5-10ml of boiled water or milk and feed it to Bubbles at around 10-11 a.m every morning. Depending on his intake and like for it, we could increase the quantity by another 1/2 tsp every 3rd day. This could be done for a maximum of 4-6 spoonfuls of cereal. He said that this was a trial and error method and no one can predict how much cereal Bubbles could take. He could like it or reject it. If Bubbles seems to tolerate this well, we could also have another feed at around 6-8 p.m and slowly move on to other flavors of cereal from these companies so that Bubbles does not get bored with the taste. When I asked him how his formula intake would get affected, he said it would reduce but didnt specify how much really. I guess we need to experiment slowly to form a system for baby. The paed asked us to make the consistency a bit thick. I have been using NAN-1 so far for Bubbles, the paed suggested to go for NAN-2 from 24 weeks onwards.
We can also now let Bubbles drink 15-30 ml of boiled water through the day, preferably after the cereal feed. The paed asked us to feed water with a spoon and see if Bubbles likes it.
Here are the phases of introducing solids. The gap between each phase could be one week or so, depending on how the baby reacts.

Cereal
Juices
Fruits
Vegetables

The paed asked us to go for Mosambi or Apple Juice (15-30ml) if needed bought processed from companies like Tropicana. I am not too keen considering the sugar content, let me see how this goes.
For fruit, we could feed Bubbles banana made mashed, could use it with cereal. Apple needs to be skinned first, boiled and mashed before feeding.
For vegetables, we could use Carrot, beetroot, green leafs, cabbage, sweet potato and potato - boiled and mashed.
If we wanted to introduce home made things like dal water etc, he said we are welcome to. I guess some people feed baby liquidy Khichdi. Need to check with inlaws and parents on their suggestions as I am a novice at this game.
He asked us to check his reaction and if some food causes baby loose motion or constipation to hold it off for a while.

So, we would be switching over to NAN-2 and introducing solids soon. I will keep you updated on how that goes!

-S

Edited to Add: Reflux continues to pester Bubbles. Paed says it should have gone by now. :( Also, the paed does not have a problem with Bubbles sucking his thumb and fingers. Everyone else universally is against it. I think if the baby is happy and soothing himself by sucking his thumb, let him have his fun. I think he will outgrow it when he is ready for it. I prefer it over the use of pacifiers for some reason.

The good news...

2009-11-24T11:21:00.001+05:30

First the good news in chronological order:

- My cousin L welcomed a cute lil baby boy to this world on MY birthday..there, no excuses now for forgetting to wish me in future ;)

- We named Bubbles on Nov 19th, 2009.

- Few hours later, my brother and bhabhi welcomed another cute lil baby boy to this world :D far away in USA, so that was a double bonanza!

And Bubbles is the eldest of them all now. As long as he doesn't teach the others mischief, it is fine !

And here's Bubbles in a picture from his Annaprasan and naming ceremony.

Some firsts...

2009-11-13T10:59:00.001+05:30

Here are some firsts that took place this week and last night, just into Bubbles' six month:

- He is slowly starting to get a will of his own. Until now, he wouldnt protest anything we did. Yesterday, his Baba had a tough time trying to get him to turn around. Bubbles needed to be cleaned after the job and we wanted him to be on his back, except he decided he would have none of it! :) He made his entire body stiff and resisted us for a whole five minutes before finally giving in! LOL!

- This past week he started laughing without being tickled! :) There's a toy which makes a duck like quack. Each time we waved it in his face, he giggled. He is also resisting efforts on our part to get giggles out of him from tickling. He starts screaming when tickled so he doesn't end up laughing. Very smart, beta :p :p

- He started jumping out of our arms (already :( )

- He started his Nakhras :( when we try to put him to sleep. He would be sleepy but he wouldnt want to sleep. So he would whine and whine. If the fan caught his attention in between, he would smile and it and make conversation. Once back to our faces, he would whine. This is actually endearing to watch. He is also slowly demonstrating a preference for being in the company of his father over his mother :p.... This in no way makes me feel good but I am not a natural charmer with babies, so I let it be. Heck, I am not a charmer with adults either :D

- And on the health front, he is having some sort of loose motion the poor thing. The doctor insists he is not dehydrated so gave us Econorm sachets to use. Econorm supposedly is a probiotic thingy that helps aid in his digestion. I will update its effect once the course is over. We are travelling this weekend, so I do not want him to fall sick :(

Edited-to-Add : Yesterday, he also moved a toy from one hand to another and back! Another first! :)
-S

5 months down the line

2009-11-12T19:15:00.000+05:30

Bubbles completes five months today. To me that only means that time is flying and going back to work will not be easy.

In any case, here are the updates for this month:

Health

Reflux refused to go away. It actually got aggravated in the middle sometime.

Vaccination of Prevnar affected him more than any other vaccines. DPT which is known to be the one causing pain to baby now seems like an angel in front of Prevnar.

It seemed like the effect of winter caught on, as the sneezing increased, despite the sweaters. Put sweater on Bubbles, he gives a wet burp and renders sweater useless.

Activities

Favorite activity continued to be standing with our support on his two little feet. We tried to make him sit with support and that resulted in cute topple over effects on the bed.

He continued to produce drool like a baby possessed.

Interaction with others – He seems to like people so far, atleast he likes them more than his mom :p . At our parents place, he was happy to see the son of our cook who is around 10 years old. (Bubbles had never set eyes on anyone younger) and instantly tried to reach out and touch him. I’m guessing he likes little people. Hmm, will he ask us for a baby sister or brother? :p

At my best friends wedding, he charmed my friends with his smiles and funny sounds and his willingness to go to any person known or unknown.

The love of fans extended also to lights and switchboards. If he was having a fussy moment all we had to do was show him the fan :D. He also showed a strange fondness for the main door of our house, smiling shyly at it.

His toys did not interest him much this month. He very clearly let us know that he was bored with them. His favorite person continued to be his father. He watches his father fascinated, trying to grab any piece of him, watching him all the time like a hawk and chomping on his father’s fingers. He also kept admiring Baba’s arm band.

Another favorite activity was when we blew air on his face. He would take a deep breath, sigh and smile sweetly.

What was undoubtedly my favorite thing to do with him this month was to tickle him silly. His armpits, tummy and side of the tummy were hotspots. All we had to do was rub our nose or chin there and Bubbles would giggle “he he”. Once he understood that we were clamoring for listening to more of that sound, he started producing every other sound in advance, and resisted from getting tickled. I really love the sound of his laughter. After the appearance of his smile, this milestone gives me maximum satisfaction.

He was super co-operative when we went out this month to celebrate my birthday. He was fine in his pram as long as we kept moving it.

He loved to do from one side of the bed to another, getting irritated when pillows blocked him. He tried to chew at them, probably hoping they would vanish :)

It got difficult to pin him down for a diaper change. Each time I wanted to do that, he would want to roll over.

I’m beginning to feel that he is slowly able to understand the effect he has on us. He is using cries now to express his unhappiness at things we do. If activities like dressing him up, changing his diaper took a little longer, he expressed his dissatisfaction. If he was sucking on something he should not have been and we removed it, he let us know he was not happy.

The night time sleep got a bit better most days. He still woke up for two feeds though, but slept promptly once the bottle got done.

He started to hold his own bottle with both hands while drinking milk. We do not allow him to do that though, because he is smart enough to bend the bottle for maximum inflow of milk. If we tried to moderate the flow of milk, he would hold our finger and try to raise it so the bottle would also rise.

He stopped really crying in hunger. If we took sometime, he more like whimpered and put up a sad face.

And,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, our cell phone, laptop and digicamera enthralled him. He tried to grab them, press keys on the laptop and pull the camera’s cord. I caught him smiling at the pictures in the camera, but he still probably thinks theres another baby in there.

And how can I forget? His taste in music was impeccable. Nelly Furtado’s “Say it Right” and Singh is King’s title enthralled him and made him move his body. I want to attribute this good taste in music to me, as I heard these songs all through pregnancy, but P also has a good ear for music, so as of now it’s in his genes at play. P has a tendency of making up his own absurd lyrics and singing them with conviction while I am very particular to get the lyrics right. Let’s see what Bubbles does :p

He started enjoying bathtime better. Proof – he tried to reach out to the mug when we were pouring water on him. Also, started getting jumpy and hyper while the maid bathed him.

We gave him the pacifier on a couple of occasions – first to test how it works. Second, we would be traveling this month and the paed suggests using it while landing and take off so it helps his ears deal with the pressure inside the flight.

Well, I will wind up now. This has been a very dry sort of post.

Here's my letter to my darling son:

Baby Shona,

Soon you will have a name. I do not know if I will continue calling you silly/endearing nicknames or using your main one. As I see you sleeping now in your cute white sweater, I can't help but wonder how we got this lucky. How having you has changed everything for the better. You have made me a much more patient person, you have taught me to put your needs before mine and I am quite happy to do anything I can to help you and care for you. I love seeing you and your father interact, because he seems to have some magic on you. I also similarly love seeing how the switchboards and fans make you light up instantly.

I did something new today baby o mine. I went to office to atttend a 3.5 hour meeting which was a torture. I didnt fret over you every minute cos I knew you were with mom and you would be fine. But the moment I got home, seeing you at the doorstep in her arms brought back all my maternal feelings. I flung myself at you and kissed you silly. I felt like it had been an eternity since I saw my little baby darling. That he already looked different when I wasn't around a while. I do not know how I can work 10 hours a day, but the time to get back to work is fast approaching.

I hope you bring with you yet another miracle that will enable me to stay longer and take care of you. Please do continue to shower your luck on your parents. I love you dearly. I wish the best for you these coming months. I look forward to seeing you with your other set of close relatives, especially your paternal grandparents, uncle and aunt.

I also cannot think of anything fun or funny to end this letter, so ciao :)

Here is what you look like admiring the ceiling fan today :)

With loads of love,

the boring woman you see day and night.

who am i kidding?
with loads of love,
your supermom :D

Say hello

2009-11-01T19:18:00.000+05:30

to the youngest author at http://suite101.com/ :)

At lightning speed...

2009-10-30T17:57:00.001+05:30

the little one moves.

The bed’s no longer safe.

It happened sooner than I expected. Thankfully, not Bubbles’ first fall, but the fact that I can no longer put him on the bed without a rise in my blood pressure :p

He seems to think the bed is a huge never-ending playground. He covers it from one end to another in under a minute. He has perfected the flip, double flip and has his own way of going from one place to another.
Verdict : Bed not safe anymore for the little hurricane.

Solution: Place him on the ground. :( Remove things in sight as he is specially fond of hitting his head against things. Read all about baby proofing home and hope your reader(s) leave you useful tips. SS, are you listening? ;)

Doubt: Will this boy be able to last sometime at least in his pram? (We are travelling in a few days to Kolkata for his Annaprasan and naming ceremony.)

Time is going to tell.
*******************************************************************************

This parenting thing is tough. ;) You wait for baby to reach certain milestones, even though the milestone is going to actually take baby further away from you, because he is getting more independent with each milestone.

You want not to have to be negative and say 'no' all the time, but what do you do when baby puts everything in his mouth, including his dirty mosquito net?

You want to be in his good books but he glares at you when you remove his squeaky Cheetah that he enjoys sucking on.

You want not to restrict his freedom so much, but you are forced to pull him back and bring him closer to you each time he rolls to the end of the bed. He is displeased no doubt that you are constantly trying to hold him back.

You are learning that life is tough, yet you are supposed to infuse enthusiasm into the little one for living life.

-S

His age now: 4 months, 2 weeks 4 days.

4 months down the line...

2009-10-25T05:15:00.001+05:30

Bubbles recently completed his 4th month but I wasn’t able to post this on time due to a bad net connection. Here is what happened last month:

We shifted home to our own nest and Bubbles took a while to get adjusted to it. He was a bit quiet the first two three days and then got back to his normal self.

And in the sound department:

The sounds got a wee bit lesser actually. We did not hear much from him vocally except a shrill high pitched cry which was not comfortable to hear at all. But it probably is a way for him to develop his vocal skills, so we didn’t try to stop him until our ears exploded.

On the health side:

The reflux refused to go away. I am waiting for Bubbles to complete 6 months like the paed says. Until then it means more wet burps and easily soiled baby and parent clothes. Another point I forgot to mention earlier was that the colic incidents dropped suddenly on their own sometime when he entered his 4th month. Needless to say, no one is missing them :D :). A non colicky baby is much easier and a pleasure to handle. But I am more happy for Bubbles who had to endure torture the starting few months due to digestional problems.

Things he enjoyed doing:
His favorite thing to do this month was to enjoy standing up with our support on the bed, on our thighs, anywhere at all. Suddenly his face would light up on knowing he was standing on his feet and a super smile would be gifted to the one holding him.

He started observing everything and then putting everything in his mouth. As a first, he probably realized that the people around him also do some work of their own, since he would show curiosity if his mom was cutting vegetables or making food. Once P brought him to the kitchen where I was frying something and Bubbles was leaning over and trying to see what was on the stove. He also realized probably that the people around him seem to be consuming something that is not white and is not in a bottle. He would give us strange looks when we ate in front of him. I’m guessing this only means he is giving me some more time to brush up my cooking skills. Of all the items he observed so far, Maggi got the most number of interested looks from him. And here's what P said when Bubbles was eyeing Maggi, "Baby, this is Maggi, you are going to love it when you grow up cos you are Chinki". (Insider joke - Never mind if you didn't get it !)

His favorite objects to put in his mouth was cloth of absolutely any nature. Blanket, bib, bedsheet, even mosquito net – bring them all on, he wants to know what they taste like!

He gazed minutes on end at patterns – floral being his favorite. The bedsheets and mom’s nightgowns were observed to no end, especially the ones with flowers. He started scratching his nails on the bedsheets to check the texture probably.

He enjoyed looking at his own reflection in the mirror and smiling at it shyly. He continued to sleep with his butt in the air. Don't get me started on the sleeping. He sleeps in the weirdest of positions. He likes to lightly bang his head against the crib's sides and sleep. He needs some sort of cushioning around him to feel comfortable. He made friends with the pink floral cushions and spoke to them. And if you put him in horizontally, he found it boring and slept vertically.

On the play side:
His absolute favorite toy was a Dancing Duck - a gift from my mother. Winnie the Pooh was not so interesting anymore. The duck would bring out a very happy smile from Bubbles, who didn't mind looking at it the entire month. The other toys were squeakies in animal shapes and little colorful squeaky balls. A colorful football kept him busy this month. He enjoyed pram rides from one room to another.

My mother says he has become more mature after we moved here. There are times when Bubbles occupies himself and plays with himself and for that I am very grateful. Since at times, I am home alone with him, I need some time to run small errands which he allows me to do by not demanding constant attention. Thank you, little darling.

Others:

His love for his father was quite evident each time P came home from office. Bubbles and P are a sight to watch, touchwood. In fact, I feel these people have a karmic connection that can’t be explained easily. I do know that Bubbles was one of the main factors P came back to consciousness after his accident. P's bike accident took place one year after Bubbles was conceived. So we brought Bubbles to life one year and he pulled his father back to conscious life the next year.

This month was his first major outing. We attended Navami puja at the Bengali Samiti at Lower Tankbund, Hyderabad. At first, Bubbles seemed quite happy to go there. After an hour, he started getting restless. So we packed up our act soon and left the place. This month saw a lot of car travel. Depending on his mood, he gazed out until it overwhelmed him and then he slept off in our arms.

And the love grows:

I'm not talking about our love for Bubbles here. I am talking about his love for the ceiling fan. Give Bubbles a ceiling fan and you have a happy baby. Even at the Bengali Samiti, he was fine for a while because he saw a huge ceiling fan up there and became happy. Bubbles loves fans, he can gaze at them continously and hold long meaningful conversations with them. His latest activity is to raise his eyebrows at them almost like he asks them, "So how you doing? Receiving enough electricity?". The love of celing fans also came down literally to the switchboards in this house. A switchboard to him probably looks like some board game. I have no clue until he grows up and explains :). P is guessing "Electrical engineer?" :p :p

And here's a picture from October 12th, the day he completed 4 months. This is him chomping on his favorite toy.

And a personal favorite photo of mine - this is his hands folded together. He usually does this when he waits patiently for someone to entertain him.

To some of you reading this, it might look like I note down a lot of detail into each of Bubbles activity. Well, yesterday I found a video of his I took early last month and I was shocked at how little I remembered of the incident and how little Bubbles looks in that video :(. That only means one thing : Time is flying fast and my memory is not improving any. So this blog shall be an endeavor to record everything I remember now and look back at it with fond fascination later :) So please do bear with me.

-S

Prevnar Shot 1

2009-10-20T21:33:00.001+05:30

Was today. Bubbles took it bravely, the poor thing didn't even realise the prick of the syringe for a while. He yelped for a little while and was fine soon after. I love this little boy. And I would like to attribute this bravery to my own genes. But then maybe he won't be so brave once he is older and knows what's happening :)

Until then ofcourse, it is my genes at work! :)

Today also was his first ride in an auto-rickshaw, attributed to the fact that my dad's driver thought it unnecessary to report on time for Bubbles' doctors checkup. The driver was whiling away time elsewhere so we took Bubbles in an auto cos it wasn't too far away. I think he enjoyed the breeze flowing in.
And no, despite what my brother would want you to think - the auto genes don't come from me - even though I practically grew up in autos :p

Edited-to-Add: Prevnar made baby restless and cranky. He couldn't sleep the way he used to earlier. His sleep got shorter. Guess there are pros and cons of everything. But always the poor thing suffers more than we know or can understand.

-S

A day in the life as a housewife

2009-10-09T05:18:00.002+05:30

Yes, homemaker's the word, but it doesn't rhyme :p

Warning: Long post ahead!

I want to record my current activities for two reasons: When I get busy running behind a crawling Bubbles, I want to remember life and all the activities I could do in peace, when all Bubbles did was roll-over and so the bed was still a safe place. And the second reason is that I thought Bubbles was growing up, but looks like I finally am.

Before getting to the boring details, let me reveal that I have been a very pampered (spoilt?) person so far. There was always hired help to depend on in the maternal home, and after marriage, there were always things like Pizza Hut, Subway, and other Indian restaurants on speed dial. Well, they say make the most of it while it lasts because it doesn't last long :p

We now reside in an area that technically comes under Ranga Reddy district. The nearest restaurant here is not worthy of going to, Dominoes and Pizza Hut refuse to acknowledge that there are humans here who know how to spell pizza. All this only means one thing - more time spent in the kitchen for me and more suffering and endurance training for P and the occasional guest who drops by. But finally I have learnt that one can learn how to cook. It might take one a long long time before inviting guests to sample, but it can be done. Hey, Norman Vincent Peale believes in the power of positive thinking.

Sorry, cooking has always been a favorite topic for getting carried away. Currently Bubbles feeds every three hours. He is active (plays) for a hour and a half after a feed and then sleep prevails. He has been super co-operative about sleeping, but I will not jinx it by giving more details :D :D :D

So here’s what my usual day looks like:

2.30- 3 a.m – Feed Bubbles, try to put him back to sleep before he thinks this time also could translate to quality playtime.

6 – 7 a.m – Feed Bubbles again, put him to sleep and wistfully acknowledge that my own sleep is over. Let the maid come in. She washes the utensils, sweeps and mops the floor. This is also my own bath time.

7- 9 a.m – Make tea and breakfast for P and me. Send him off to the workplace.

9 – 10 a.m – Bubbles’ feed time. Get him ready for bath, and give him a light oil massage.

10 – 11 a.m – The maid comes in again to bathe him. I help her with the bath, dress him up, play with him and put him to sleep again.

11 a.m– 1p.m – Make and have my own lunch (the most boring part of the day – with no P to cook for, I don’t have reason/inspiration for not burning my own dal etc etc so some cooking disasters do happen around this time.)

1 – 3 p.m - Another of Bubbles’ feeds. Play with him, put him to sleep and sleep for a while myself. If I am lucky and wireless internet works in the bedroom, use it to check mail, official and otherwise. Realise with a sigh that I am not making any significant money online through freelancing, through paid surveys, through Google Ads that have sprung up ubiquitously on all my blogs. Also the time for reflection on how life would change once I get back to work and the big question: When to get back to work?

3- 5 p.m – The maid comes in again, washes utensils and makes Chapathis (God bless her cos I can’t make them yet). She keeps me updated on the apartment gossip but it takes me time to get her vernacular Telugu so I keep saying “Ah?” after each sentence of hers. She is a sweet woman but lets me know very clearly that all the ladies in the apartment are very hardworking, do their own laundry, make their own food, send their husbands lunch in a box and that I am nothing in front of them. Like I said, she is sweet.

Cut vegetables for the dinner time. Feed Bubbles, play with him and put him to sleep.

5-8 p.m – Call P and keep asking him when he plans to come home that day. Make dinner. Usually time to catch up with friends/relatives over phone if I can.

8- 11 p.m – The last of Bubbles’ feeds for the day. Usually P helps with this feed but he is not able to right now, since he is recovering from his accident injuries. End of my day.

Whatever other time I get, I squeeze in washing and sterilizing Bubbles’ bottles and feed equipment. I make time for the washing machine, for giving clothes to ironing lady, folding and arranging washed clothes, reading about baby development online, checking the grocery stuff to be bought, replenishing baby's things. Then there's the task of cleaning Bubbles when he does the job.

And there’s always Facebook to know how my friends are doing and what!

Mom drops in regularly and that is a big help for me!!! She takes care of Bubbles for a while, so I spend the time doing other household work.

It has only been a week or so like this. Here are my areas of improvement:

I want to make more conscious time for my freelancing work. Writing keeps me sane.
I want to iron Bubbles' clothes. No one is doing it yet but I want to make time for it.
I miss time for sprucing the house, dusting it and arranging things. I need to do a little at a time so the new home doesn't go bad.
I want to be able to learn how to give Bubbles a bath by myself, by using his bathtub.
I want to be able to learn even more dishes and easy-to-make recipes.

So how does all this compare to work at a 10 hour software job?
The software job is good. It keeps me creatively satisfied if not fully financially. It feels good to be appreciated for your work, to mentor freshers, to work towards deadlines and rush hours. To meet and catch up with friends to crib about the workplace. To learn something new that keeps the brain busy. And ofcourse, to have free tea twice a day :p

Now, I definitely have more respect for women who give up careers or who don't take them in the first place so they can devote themselves to their families. There's not a single day off as a housewife :). There's always more responsibility, no shut-down time, there's always unpredictable things that happen. Ironically, P is on foot rest now and I need to help him do things so he doesn't walk around much. And in between all this hustle bustle, I finally find the time to blog at 4 a.m in the morning! There's lesser appreciation for the mundane tasks, but more satisfaction on knowing you are contributing towards running a smooth household. You want to think you have done a good job but it is already time to wake up for the next day :)

And what about parenting? Parenting is definitely an eye-opener and one in which you feel good to be making whatever small sacrifices that you are making and stretch yourself physically and mentally. In which you let your baby pull your hair, scratch your face with affection and kick your chest hard, all with a happy smile on your face and a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart.

Updates

2009-10-09T03:46:00.000+05:30

I have been away real long, darn, it is close to Bubbles' 4th month :(. In any case, there's some reasons why I didn't get the time to post to this blog. The first one being that we shifted home after much fanfare and planning and I was busy getting the home spruced up so it could be lived in. There were suitcases filled with my clothes mostly (sheepish grin) that needed a better place etc etc. With the baby at home now, cleanliness and orderliness is top priority.

The second reason why I was away is because we have been busy really since sometime now. P had an accident on his bike on 27th September against some cheap buggers who were drinking and driving on Navami night. We are just thankful that he is alive right now. He is recovering from the effects of the injuries, so do wish him luck here. :)

And the other thing that kept me away is little Bubbles. With no hired help now at this house for taking care of the baby, my hands are full. The little time I get I spend on sleep, then on Suite101, trying to write articles that get banned anyways for not making the editorial cut :p. I sometimes wonder why I bother to continue writing there, but the kick of getting the editor to finally agree to my article is inspiration for it, I guess.

And Bubbles has been fine, thank you.

He says hi and please check here for more updates soon. No, I said the last part :p

Ciao!

Vaccinations Round 3

2009-09-17T15:13:00.000+05:30

Darling Bubbles got this third set of vaccinations today - one day younger than his 14 weeks.
The vaccines were Easy 4, Oral Polio and Rotarix.

The paed also suggested Prevenar which is useful for combatting pneumonia. He said something about the Govt wanting the doctors to inform parents about this vaccine. It is optional, he said. It is to be given in three shots, each costing 4000Rs. Whoa! Has anyone used this yet?

Meanwhile, we will be shifting to our home this weekend (Inshallah). While that means a lot of work setting up and arranging things in the new house, I am super excited. We bought the house during my second trimester of pregnancy, but since close to 7 months now, I have been staying with my parents. Though I am greatly indebted to them for this time and for everything they have done, I long to get back to my own nest with P and now Bubbles.

I will keep writing, maybe a little less often. Let's see how that goes. The baby in my arms has fever, so I am rushing off.

Love,
-S

3 months down the line.....

2009-09-12T12:00:00.001+05:30

Yes, we are not very original with the post titles...but HEY, Bubbles completes 3 months today!! Bring on the trumpet, the drum rolls, spring rolls, Kolkata rolls... sorry got carried away.

So here's what happened the past month at Bubbleland.

This month's theme was "Observation and............. more Observation". Bubbles realised that it is boring to limit life to bed, bath and feed (while I, on the other hand, would kill for it!) and focussed this month on objects.

The object fixation started innocently with my dad's palm. My dad started waving it in Bubble's view and the little boy was hooked. Did you notice I called him a little boy? Darn, time is flying. He started gazing at it, transfixed, almost like he was a palmist reading my dad's future. My dad then started moving it closer from a distance, closing and opening fingers, like a hypnotist. And thus started Bubbles' quest to reach over and touch the palm. In paediatrics, this is also known as the start of hand-eye coordination. He started reaching out and grasping small toys like his yellow duck teether.

After palms, his second favorite object is the ceiling fan. There is a sort of unexplained, unadulterated love between Bubbles and the ceiling fan that ordinary human beings cannot comprehend. Probably when he is older, he might explain it to me. Until then, I will guess that for Bubbles, the ceiling fan is as important as any caregiver. Because 1) It moves 2) It makes sounds 3) It can go from slow to fast. Also once P was making funny sounds from behind Bubbles and Bubbles looked up at the ceiling fan and smiled.

The third favorite object of this month was the 'Winnie the Pooh' soft toy. He held long conversations with it, sometimes scolding it if it didn't appear in his view for long. He thinks it is also equal to a human being because he would continue cooing to it and making "Oooooo" sounds until he got a response from it. Ofcourse Winnie the Pooh is not a talking toy, so one of us had to act like a puppeteer and make it move.

Bubbles' gaze moved from his eye level to bending down to look at the floor and carpets. He loved being carried around the house and its various rooms on a house trip each day.

********************************************************************************
In the sound department, Bubbles' squeals got louder and more musical, the wails also got louder. His favorite word continued to be "Aguuuuuuu". He also said "Ayyaa" and "Amyaa" during rollover experiments.

This month he smiled at lesser known guests. P is hopeful that he should continue to do this, when we go avisiting relatives in November.

His neck got stronger but hasn't stood up totally yet.

This month's main motor activity was the roll-over. Over time, he perfected it to sleep on his tummy.

On the health front, there was a slight setback with infant reflux aka GER. I will be posting the technical details elsewhere (please ask me for the link if interested). To combat the symptoms, we had to keep burping Bubbles as soon as he consumed 30 ml or so. He did not take to this kindly at all (which infant would?) and was scared that we would not give him his share of milk. As a result, he tried to hold his own bottle with both hands. The poor thing! We are sorry for the inconvenience, darling but we had to do it for your own good. And to save our clothes and yours from being coated with wet burps. P and I also faced his displeasure with being burped constantly. I think Bubbles might be developing a slight temper (Sigh....).

This month, he also enjoyed his first long car ride to our home. He was running the DPT fever then and the motion of the car put him to sleep instantly.

And finally, his sleep and ours got better during the night times. This proves that there is a God and He has decided to shower some mercy. Once or twice, when Bubbles was totally exhausted from playing, he sucked himself to sleep! Thank you God!!!!!

*****************************************************************************

Dear Darling Little Bubbles,

As you grow older and learn so many more things, I can't help just wanting to gaze at you all day long. I wonder what other new tricks you have got up your sleeve. I would also do almost anything for getting you to smile at me. Because life seems more vibrant and worth living when you smile.

You make me want to be a better person. I have become more patient, less judgemental (no, really) and definitely more grateful after having you. I have also developed a paunch that refuses to go away..err...... where were we...... I hope I can stay patient next month also, when we move to our own home and the support system would not be around. But that is my challenge, not yours.

I hope you do not get bored seeing only my face through the day. I promise to ask Baba if he can arrange to have a webcam conference with us during his work hours everyday. But alas, I have a sinking feeling he might not agree.

I want P and I to be able to provide the best we can for you, without going overboard. God has definitely been infinitely kind. Gifts (pram, dresses from both sets of grandparents, cash) emerged out of nowhere for you, little one, but more important than these is the love you inspire and bring out in your closest relatives. You will know what I mean to a certain extent in November.

This is what you look like today, dressed in a gift from Jetha Moni and Jemma, who love you a lot!

I will stop now and wish you the best for the coming months. May God bless you abundantly!

Love,
Amma (ok, fine, Amyaa).

Roll over update

2009-09-11T18:44:00.000+05:30

I mentioned earlier that Bubbles had rolled over in his sleep. His latest pastime since then has been to try to wriggle out of our arms when we hold him so he can try his roll-over experiments. Well, today he did the complete roll-over. He had been leaning over and falling to his left, while getting his right hand under him. He did not know how to bring it out from there, until one of us had to rescue the poor hand. Well, today he got the grasp of it and brought his right hand out, only to now fall on his left :p

Eventually after a bit of struggle, he got both hands out and lifted his legs and head gaily. It was almost like he was swimming, except there was no water. I was wondering how infants learn all these things and know what they need to do!

So this is the roll-over update! Also, he now only wants to sleep on his tummy.Needless to say, he has inherited the habit from P.

Also, yesterday he said "Amma" :) :D :D :D (which is Telugu for mom!). He first said it during his roll-over experiments and the second time when we were trying to rock him to sleep. It sounded more like "Amyaa". Ofcourse, he doesn't associate this word with me yet. It is just something he CAN say, so he did.

However, this puts to rest (atleast for me) what term he should call me. P refers to me as "Mumma" when he talks to Bubbles. I would have preferred Amma but didn't push it. Now that Bubbles CAN say Amma, that's what he will call me!!! Very convenient for me. Thank you, dear Bubbles.

Tomorrow, Bubbles completes 3 months so more updates tomorrow.

The update in my life is that I have begun to write for http://suite101.com/ as a freelance writer. I submitted by first article for editorial review and the editor tore it up ;) virtually. So that feels great :p! I need to do a lot of revising before it gets accepted for the online world to see. I am learning to write like a journalist now. So far, it was technical writing at work. And I now appreciate the freedom blogs give you to write what you want how you want. And the comments are always a bonus.

This was posted in a hurry, so don't expect a lot of sense :) and thanks for dropping by!

-S

Friendsofbooks.com

2009-09-09T20:31:00.000+05:30

I saw a mention of this site on the telly. If you love reading, you would do well to check out http://www.friendsofbooks.com/ . They have a library that delivers books that you want to read.... to your house (cheaper if you are in the NCR region). They also have a bookstore where you will find loads of books to buy at discounted prices (shipped free of charge to you).

I ordered two books that were shipped to me quickly with a 10% discount on the MRP.

Halwa Tales and Other Stories:Tales Of Mulla Nasrudin
More Akbar Birbal Stories

This is good news because I do not find such Indian literature at upmarket bookstores like Crossword or Landmark or Odyssey. I just read one Mulla Nasrudin tale and revived childhood memories!

Do check and let me know what you ordered!

-S

What Gibran says about children..

2009-09-08T14:39:00.000+05:30

I'm mostly copy-pasting Dipali's post here but the words from Kahlil Gibran are so powerful and TRUE!

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward not tarries with yesterday.

And here's a quote from J.D Salinger, the author of "The Catcher in the Rye" among other works.

A child is a guest in the house, to be cherished and loved, but never possessed, because he belongs to God.

I had always heard children are God's angels or something similar. But I couldn't understand what this meant until recently.

Here's Bubbles dressed as Lil Krishna on Janmashtami this year. We were going to decorate him with a peacock feather also. He was irritable and not interested so we didn't persist. Next year, he is not going to escape!

Oh no, not that one....

2009-09-01T18:34:00.001+05:30

When we were expecting, I had a dream of a baby boy. I had hoped that he would resemble P completely. They say, "Be careful what you wish for, it might come true"

Well, the first time I saw my baby boy, I was under the effect of anesthesia and did not register much who he looked like. I was overwhelmed and dazed, at the time. When in the afternoon, they brought him to our room and put him in the crib next to my bed, I was shocked at how much he resembled P. The way he was blinking his eyes was just sooooo P. I had not anticipated how strong the effect of genes could be!

Time passed by and now 2.5 months down the line, he looks mostly like his father's clone. (Hey, his palms, fingers, toes, toenails are however very me!!! And ofcourse, the long eyelashes ;) ). But what I had not anticipated was another of P's trait...that Bubbles seems to share.

P sleeps in the weirdest of positions, twisting his body into various contortions. When he starts sleeping, his head would be on the pillow. Two hours later, the pillow lies abandoned. You would find P somewhere below it, with his head tilted, his body twisted into angles that would put an Olympic athelete to shame. By morning, it is possible that his legs would be where the pillow originally was and his head on the opposite side of where he started. P also seems to love my side of the bed and does not mind pushing me off so he gets more space. (Fine, I am fat! Don't rub it in......)

This was one of the reasons why co-sleeping with Bubbles was out of the question for us. That and because P and I are capable of crushing our little one even if one of our heavy arms fell on him :p.

In the afternoon today, I lay Bubbles in his crib on his side, in the vertical position with his head on his pillow. 45 minutes later when he woke up, the pillow was not being used, Bubbles was horizontal and still moving!

P, you have been outdone in no time!! Maybe I should let you both share the bed and sleep in Bubbles' crib.
....
....
....
....
Ok, are you done laughing yet? Thanks!

Roll over, Beethoven....

2009-08-30T18:37:00.002+05:30

or rather Roll over, Bubbles.

Yesterday, Aug 29th, was another milestone day, whether accidental or intentional, we will never know :)

I had put Bubbles to sleep at 4 a.m after his morning feed. When I woke up at 6, he was not in the state I put him to sleep in. Bubbles sleeps on his side ONLY. When I woke up, he was on his tummy. Unfortunately, since we were sleeping at the time, we won't know if this was some freakish accident. But then maybe not, because he has been trying to repeat this ever since.

This is not a milestone I am looking forward to, since I worry about his breathing while sleeping on his tummy. Let us wait and watch :)

-S

Your way, my way or the highway?

2009-08-26T10:43:00.008+05:30

Warning: Long post ahead!
**************************
Indians are like this wonly. When you are newly-married, they (mind you, never the immediate family but the extended one) will ask you, "When are you going to give me the good news?" You hope they would stop after the baby, but they want the baby soon only so they can dole out ~~precious~~ baby advice.

Well, these people talk about what worked in their time and with their babies. As you know, times AND babies change and how! So the advice on how to raise your kids is not apt for this generation. For e.g., earlier, gripe water was used to calm colicky babies. Now, Paeds suggest you not to use gripe water but safer drops.

In the initial months with a tiny baby, I was susceptible to listening to all and sundry and thinking they are right. Two months down the line, I know that no one understands my baby like I do. And that I am accountable only to Bubbles and to P for my actions.

So now, I listen to the advice but discard what doesn't suit the baby or what doesn't sound right. The advice comes from well-meaning people but when they get pushy and want to see their advice being put in action, that's what bugs me. Unfortunately, I am never ready with a clever retort on time :(

To get the records straight, none of my immediate family pushes anything on us. I have fabulous support and trust from my in-laws and parents and most importantly P. Here are some things we were asked to do:

- We were advised to use Nalugupindi aka Shubra powder during baby's bath. Well, we used it only to regret the rashes that it caused Bubbles. The Paed asked us specifically what we were using in his bath and ordered us to stop immediately. The rashes didn't come back. What was disturbing was that the relative who advised this also admitted later that this powder didn't suit her younger grandchild. So why the hell did you even suggest it to us??? AAaargggh.........

- One female Guru of ours asked me to feed Bubbles honey until he is a year old. She had even brought it along with her. I accepted her gift, said thanks and I have kept it safely out of reach of Bubbles. Honey before the first year of the baby is now thought to cause bulimia. My paed says no water for the baby until 6 months so there's no way I am going to ask him if he secretly meant yes to honey.

- This Guru of ours even asked me to feed Bubbles some raisin water (with glucose!?) so that he gets fairer. Really, so this was used for babies before Fair and Lovely came into existence eh? So what she meant to say was that Bubbles was not fair enough. Too bad that P and I are happy with his color and don't want to change anything, so the raisins will now only contribute to my calories, not to Bubbles'.

- One relative wanted to know in a mocking tone why I wasn't putting Kajal in (under?) Bubble's eyes. Considering the skin rash, if his skin is that sensitive, do I really need experiment on his eyes? Does my Paed have no other work than to comfort dumb parents? I told her that since the purpose of the Kajal is to ward away the evil eye, the Kajal on his forehead would do fine, thank you. I have no intention of enrolling Bubbles to "Scary Baby contest".

- There are some who asked me why we are using diapers so much and not cloth nappies. We use the diapers only at night and when it is time for his longer naps. If you want to comfort him each time he urinates (and that's a lot) and wakes up in a wet pool, you are welcome to take over.

- There were some others who asked us why we pick him up each time he cries (we would spoil him). Well, at his age, Bubbles cries to tell us something is wrong and needs to be looked into. It could be hunger, burp, colic, or a diaper change. So I would rather sort that out asap than make him feel we ignore his basic needs. Bubbles is not a fussy baby who cries for no reason. In fact he is very smart, it takes us time to get what is bothering him.

In any case, research says before 6 months, an infant is learning to establish trust in his care givers. He/She learns to associate the fact that when they are in trouble, care givers are around to comfort and to take care. That only adds to him feeling secure and loved and less fussiness/crying. I think no other theory makes more sense!!!

- There were others who asked us not to rock him each time he wanted to be put to sleep - Yes, this is inconvenient for us, especially me post the C-section. But we will live with the consequences and meanwhile enjoy the cuddling time with him. In a few years, he will ask us to get out his room and leave him alone :p

-His mommy should cut his nails using her teeth, they advised. They said being mommy, I would know how much to cut without hurting him. That didn't sound right. Well, thank God I didn't try this because there is a risk of infection.

-They told us to wrap him good for the first 3 months so that he would be warm like in the womb. Only my Paed said it was totally unnecessary and Bubbles needs ventilation not suffocation. Bubbles also helped by kicking his blanket away each time.

-The worst advice I got so far is from my (female) manager at work. In her words, "Do not get too attached to the baby. You are very young and you have a great career ahead of you. Leave the baby with your mom. Your mom has already seen and done a lot in her career. Let her take care and you try to get back to work asap". Yes, I had this baby because I wanted to tell my mom indirectly that her career is almost over and that I need a nanny for free. How could my manager read my mind so well? And the day I die, I will remember not my own offspring and family but the technical documents I wrote for clients who can do very well without them. I think no one has figured out my life better than my manager. Hmmmph.

I know as parents we make mistakes, not having known better. But let us be parents who learn from these mistakes, as long as they are no serious consequences. Parenting is the most thankless job in the world. The only one who tell us we are doing a good job is WebMd's newsletter. I think it understands us perfectly ;).

-S
P.S - Other new moms, I would love to hear from you on the parenting tips you got for free ;)

Err

2009-08-25T12:19:00.001+05:30

Stupid question of the day: Why don't babies get stretch marks?
And no, I didn't google it but I will now :p

Vaccines round 2

2009-08-22T16:40:00.002+05:30

Bubbles got his second dosage of vaccines today (10 weeks old):

Easy 4 vaccine - DPT and others...

Rotarix vaccine - A relatively new vaccine to protect against Gastroenteritis - To be administered in two dosages orally. According to his Paed, it is tolerated well.

Oral Polio drops.

He is running high fever again now because of DPT. So that is where I will be the next two days, by his side. Ciao.

Colic and your baby's bottle.....

2009-08-21T21:02:00.005+05:30

Well, we learn something new everyday. Bubbles is a very colicky and gassy baby. He is also going to hate me for writing this when he is old enough to read ;).
I recently noticed that there are a range of Mothercare baby bottles which are Anti-Colic. I don't know how effective they are but they claim to reduce the air flowing into your baby while he/she feeds. Less air translates to less gas and less colic. There are also Anti-Wind nipples from Tollyjoy (available at Me n Moms). I can't vouch for either, not having tried them. If you are breastfeeding, changing the baby's position could help.

I am a very experimentative mom. I read and then I experiment. P must be praying someday this rule would apply to trying recipes in the kitchen also. The kitchen is one area where I go frequently...to check what the cook is doing and to clean when the cleaning bug bites me. I also make super tea and that's where the prowess ends.
There's a little joke in our circle that goes:
Bubbles on the phone: Baba, please do something. Mom is not making dinner tonight AGAIN.
P: *sighing*: What's new, son? I am in a meeting.
Bubbles: I am very hungry. Can you please order pizza for me?
P: Ofcourse, how else would we all survive? Is she reading blogs again?
Anyhoo, I am digressing.

So, I am experimentative and sometimes that is not so good for little Bubbles. So confession time! Two mistakes I made which no other mom should make. But what the hell, we are all learning so we are allowed some mistakes ~~right~~? Wrong!
When Bubbles was less than a month old, I was feeding him formula from a bottle with milk filled entirely in the nipple. Bubbles gulped down his milk in hunger. Towards the end before burping him, I noticed some of it come out from his nose. :( That was like the first stupid thing I did while taking care of him. So I vowed to feed him slowly and steadily and did this until recently.

Recently, I read that it is better for the bottle to be entirely filled with milk in order to avoid air which results in gas and colic. So I experimented like a fool again and caused his first little purge :(. So the feeding experiments end there with two unfortunate events. I am definitely more careful now.

Well, the good news about colic is that doctors say it usually subsides by the time the baby is 3-4 months old.

-S

Where the ML becomes XML...........

2009-08-19T19:31:00.004+05:30

Yes, finally my maternity leave gets converted into an "extended maternity leave (XML :p)." So I am on leave for a few months more, very grateful that I get to spend this time entirely with Bubbles. I am not going to jinx it by talking about how long :p but let us say there would be a calendar change if things go well. I will not be paid a penny this entire time but I do not really want the money when I have Bubbles at home, flashing his smile at me and learning amazing tricks/nakhras everyday. I am also not comfortable leaving him with ANYONE else in this entire world :D while I slog at office.

But will I become a SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom)? Probably not, because I am just 25 and was beginning to just experience some kind of career growth when Bubbles happened. I have absolutely no regrets about the timing because the satisfaction I get from being a parent (even though it's just 2 months) is much more than the satisfaction I get writing technical documents for foren clients. (I am a technical writer in the s/w industry). I know I can always return to the industry probably with a slower career growth and lesser money after Bubbles is old enough to manage on his own. Having said that, two years at home without pay is also not a feasible option cause P and I are of the same age and we need the money now especially with a home loan on the side.

So things are not very clear but something will definitely work out, as I know it always does, with Shirdi Sai Baba's blessings! Here's to that and to the lovely and exhausting times ahead for us! Wish us luck!

Meanwhile, if you are looking for a freelance editor/writer, you know you can reach me at bubblesmom6@gmail.com ;) It is better to keep my eyes/avenues open.

God's love.......

2009-08-13T16:07:00.004+05:30

is so wonderful!

Bubbles is already a miracle baby sent and blessed by Shirdi Sai Baba (for reasons that I do not wish to reveal here :)). There have been times when Bubbles required something that we were not able to provide at that moment, either due to lack of time, laziness or due to postponing it for a later date. But he still got those things anyways! How, you ask? God sent us visitors who would bring the exact thing we needed for him. If that's not what God's love is...what is?

Thank you dear God for your kindness and blessings.

2 months down the line!

2009-08-12T12:37:00.001+05:30

Bubbles completes 2 months today and enters his third month. While he has been doing these wonderful things, his dumb mom is wondering in confusion whether this post should be titled "2 months" or "3 months". Anyhoo, here is a recap of the events that took place last month:

His beautiful smile - The gummy smile appeared in the 5th week. It really lights up our lives when he chooses to look directly into our eyes and smile.

Recognising his care givers - He recognises us now and looks for us when he hears our voices. His best smiles are reserved for my father who is his play pal. The second best are for his baba P whose antics and care Bubbles enjoys. Not to mention P's 'house-tours' (to calm colicky Bubbles, P walks him around the house explaining things to him while Bubbles totally enjoys the different views/fans/lights/colours in each room.)

Sounds - The first month we only heard him cry. Now there's a whole range of sounds we hear from him, when he is in the mood. Mostly he squeals and screams in delight by gathering up energy from his stomach and lungs. The other sounds he makes commonly are "gu", "ga", "boo", "ba", "oooo" "aaah", "ukku", "uggu", "unga", "rr", "khhh", "ku", "ey", "heyyy". Today I heard a "ni" from him. Sometimes, I hear a "t" and a "p" sound.

Crying for mommy - Bubbles is combination fed. Sometime during the vaccination time, I comfort fed him whenever he was irritable. He probably realised then that mom needn't be around only for hunger. Mom time can also be when he is bored, colicky, sleepy, upset, happy etc. So now he has a new cry for when he wants to be fed by mom. That is the most heart-wrenching cry in which he pouts his lips and acts like we are villains who are denying him his birthright. He now puts his hands on me to claim his property. He also kicks me and beats me to tell me he (loves?) me.
Pushing things away - His new behavior includes pushing things away - he pushed the maid D's hand away when she was trying to apply lotion on him. He pushes us away if we try to check what he has done in his diaper. The poor thing in his hunger sometimes pushes the bottle away from him.

Neck control - His neck has not stood up still, but during this month, he has realised that if he sleeps with his head on the right, it can be moved in the other direction. Now, he moves his neck around so much like he is watching a tennis match - left right left, repeat.

Trying to roll over - Bubbles already sleeps on his side. He is trying desperately to roll over but that won't happen because his neck has not stood up yet.

Responding to music - I know babies respond to music when they are in the womb. This one didn't. But then I was listening to hip hop which I hear is not so hot with babies. He didn't show much interest in simple instrumental Windows Vista music. He does show interest in nursery rhymes now, his favorite being "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". He yells when he hears it and starts moving his limbs.
Kicking - He kicks harder now, according to P.
Sleeping on his own - I did this post on it, but I probably jinxed this habit by talking about it. He rarely sleeps now.

Sucking blanket - Err, embarassing as it is, when he is very sleepy but hungry and doesn't have the energy to cry, he starts sucking his blanket before we rush to pick him up immediately.

So this was what happened in Bubbleland.

*************************************************************

Dear Bubbles,

The past two months have been awesome in every way for us, baby! You have learnt so much on your own. I have no idea who taught you how to pout, how to cry so much that you start coughing, who taught you to kill us with that twinkle in your eyes when you smile. I only know we are very lucky and blessed to have you. And that motherhood has changed me in so many ways that it deserves a post of its own :p. I love you, dear Bubbles and wish you the best in the coming months and in life forever.

With love,

Amma.

Bubbles uses..........

2009-08-10T20:12:00.004+05:30

This post is not of particular use for the regular readers of this blog. I am listing products that Bubbles uses in case someone comes googling for them and wants to know what the product is like. I am talking from my experience - what worked for us might not work for you :) Please test a product on baby skin first and only if baby reacts well, use it.

Here are the products Bubbles uses:

Himalaya baby soap - Suits his sensitive skin well.

Johnson & Johnson (J & J) baby soap - We believe this darkened his skin so stopped using it.

J & J baby oil - for body. Smells great and is easily absorbed into skin. I do not think it is as great as some other oils used for massages that strengthen a baby's body. We use it more to keep his skin moisturised before a bath.

J & J shampoo - No More Tears - literally

J & J powder

J & J hair oil - Has avacado and seems strong to me. Any alternatives anyone?

J & J scented petroleum jelly - One of the best smelling baby products - good for avoiding diaper rash.

Baby Wipes - Just born Wipes (thumbs up), Mee Mee Wipes (lemon scented - not so great).

Diapers - Huggies Dry (We rate this one highly), Huggies Care (noticed leakages so not recommended), Pampers (did'nt suit him much), Pureen (from Just Born - diaper body is good but the sticky tapes are no good), Care Mate from Food Bazaar (good for light use), Wipro Baby Soft (just ok). Tip while selecting diapers - look for the number of wettings a diaper can take while choosing. Some unfortunately don't mention them (Wipro Baby Soft says "Discard when soiled" - yeah right! By that time, the baby would have soaked in a pool!!!!). Huggies Care says 4 wettings, Huggies Dry is 6 .

Bottles - There's a huge argument about bottles containing a substance called BPA which is harmful for babies. I honestly do not know whether these bottles contain them so use at your own risk. There's always some controversy about infant products. Apple baby bottles (available at Just born) are superb in their design and for usage. Wipro's Baby Soft bottle is not recommended because it's nipple causes Bubbles to spit more milk than drink.

Infant formula - NAN-1 because he is still younger than 6 months.

Medicines etc - Colic Aid drops, for relief from Colic, work like magic. Zincovit drops as daily multivitamins. Crocin drops (peppermint flavored) when he got fever after vaccination. Ferium drops were recommended by doctor but discontinued when they affected his bowel movements.

Clothes - Clothes from all corners of the world - Thailand, China, Usa (Carters), Delhi's Lajpat Nagar, Kolkata's Rashbehari Avenue, Hyderabad's Sultan Bazar - he has them all mostly as gifts. Tip is to wash them well before use even if they are fancy wrapped and look great.

Baby clothes detergent - Ezee for his clothes, Dettol also for his blankets and towels.

On a final note, I love the Mother and Baby magazine from Next Gen Publishers. Superb work! It is very reassuring for moms-to-be and mothers of infants, toddlers and even school going kids.

Also, the online newsletter from BabyCenter.co.uk is also a superb resource.

-S

Positive rhymes, anyone?

2009-08-10T17:35:00.007+05:30

Ever wondered why most of the popular nursery rhymes are negative, destructive and some even disturbing? Consider these:

1) Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

2) Rock-a-bye baby
Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

3) Ding Dong Bell

Ding, dong, bell,
Pussy’s in the well.
Who put her in?
Little Johnny Green.
Who pulled her out?
Little Tommy Stout.
What a naughty boy was that,
To try to drown poor pussy cat,

4) Piggy on the railway line

Piggy on the railway, Picking up stones,
Down came an engine, And broke piggy's bones.
" Ah " said the Piggy, "That's not fair",
" Oh " said the engine driver, "I don't care".

These are from the CD "45 Animated Nursery Rhymes" by Golden Ball. Very few of these rhymes are sung by Alka Yagnik and Shaan. The rest are sung by a girl with a very strong North Indian accent. (Premlekha?) :) On the whole, the animations are good, the captions have a few mistakes, the songs are mostly pleasant. Bubbles totally loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star- the twinkle in his eyes shows.

And here's Bubbles smiling when we put him on his tummy for a while. This is the closest smile we could capture.

Sleep update

2009-08-07T03:43:00.004+05:30

A tiny sleep miracle occured today: Bubbles slept all by himself....no rocking, dancing around the house, singing songs in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, English, French, Swahili.....nothing! Can someone tell me why he is growing up so soon? At this rate, a few months later, he might even talk and ask me to go to office and get a life. Anyhoo, dear son, you might not need me around in sometime. But I need you, so you are still stuck with me!!! Heahahahhaha.

Let me recall in excitement how this miracle occured. Bubbles was very relaxed after a nice warm bath in the morning. Mom and I dressed him and lay him down on her bed. He was drowsy and me hungry (sheepish grin) so I just proceeded with having my breakfast while sitting on the side of the bed (he didn't know I was around but I was watching him like a hawk while stuffing myself). I intended to lift and rock him after eating, so I was really surprised when his eyes had already closed by then. I sent up a small prayer to God above, rubbed my own eyes and slept next to him for the next one and a half hours.

Just now the miracle occured again proving that it wasn't a freakish accident of nature. After his 2.30 a.m feed, I rocked him to sleep in my arms. When I thought he had slept, I moved him to his crib. Except he decided it was a good time to open his eyes and complain. So I picked him up and rocked him to sleep again. And put him down. He repeated "Open eyes and let mom know she didn't do a good enough job" sequence. I still proceeded to wait and watch- this time without lifting him. After a while, he slowly drifted off to sleep so that I could blog about it.

Very proud of you, baby! You have learnt so many things since you entered this big bad world!

-S

P.S - I have discovered Indian baby wipes by Himalaya recently. Finally, an Indian company is making baby products. Bubbles also uses the baby soap from Himalaya and so far, it seems to have suited him better than the Johnson's baby soap.

DTP vaccine

2009-08-04T16:31:00.007+05:30

Bubbles took his first DTP vaccine shot on Saturday, July 25th (when he was 6 weeks old). He took it like a pro and made his parents very proud and happy. It helped that he was partially asleep when the doctor jabbed the syringe on his left thigh. He yelped for a moment and as soon as I picked him up, he settled down and made no more noise. We were actually dreading the effect of this injection on him but he proved it unnecessary. :)

{P fears needles. I am a professional syring-taker thanks to the pregnancy and constant blood tests etc. The people at the diagnostic center used to look at me and say "You were here just the other day right? Back so soon? Haven't delivered the baby yet?"}

We chose DTP over DTaP (which is costlier but has fewer side effects). DTP caused him fever that lasted 2-3 days in which he was very hot and irritable. Comfort feeding sessions with him helped and soon he was back to normal.

It was really heart wrenching for us when his body was really hot and he cried in pain. He needed reassurance that we were all with him. I believe of all the vaccinations, DTP is one that is most uncomfortable. I hope this phase passes soon.

Not really related to the post, but I want to thank P for being there for the baby and me throughout. He is a very involved and caring new-age parent and I am only sure Bubbles is going to grow up a better person with P's involvement. I keep telling P that the credit for this goes equally but indirectly to my father-in-law whom P shares a great bond with.

I hope our (P and mine) parenting styles don't conflict a lot. I tend to be all "Let's not spoil the baby" kind of lecture-giver but one look at Bubbles and one smile from him and all my afore said sentences get thrown out the window. :( P is more balanced that way.

P, I love the way you rock the baby to sleep by humming all your favorite songs on repeat. :) I could never hold and walk him that long!

-S

Updates shortly

2009-08-03T19:41:00.001+05:30

The maid D is on long leave :p and I am very busy now. A lot has been happening in Bubbleland. Updates will be here SOON!

What I wish for my son.....

2009-07-28T18:59:00.004+05:30

This is going to be a long list to be updated every once in a while

To have God's blessings and love in plenty
To enjoy the health that his mother never could
To have confidence in himself as a person
To be a positive optimistic person
To not treat the closest people around him with unnecessary childish suspicion
To have tolerance for all cultures and not just one
To know that doing and being good is more important than following rituals blindly

The advent of the social smile

2009-07-25T21:59:00.003+05:30

Bubbles now not only smiles in his sleep. He smiles when he is awake also. And thank God for this beautiful milestone. He reached it sometime in the 5th week when he would smile by moving his lips either to the right or the left one at a time. Those you could say were half smiles.

Early this morning, he flashed a big full smile while P was holding him. Needless to say, we were ecstatic. I hope he never knows the power his smile has on his mommy, he might just be able to get away with anything. Sigh! However, I couldn't capture his smile on camera yet as he only stares when the lens is on him.

Ironically, today is also the day he got his DPT vaccine and is now running a high fever as a result. Tonight is going to be a long night. I hope he gets well soon because I can't bear to have Bubbles in any pain. P calls me the "protective Scorpion mom ready to sting anything harming her offspring". While that is perfectly correct, only now I understand what my own Scorpion mom felt all these years. Thank you, mom, for everything! I love you!

-S

P.S - I highly recommend Dr. Koteswara Rao, paediatrician at Apollo Hospitals. He is a very caring and efficient doctor! Thumbs-up.

Zzzzzzzzz

2009-07-22T15:26:00.007+05:30

DISCLAIMER: It is probably a little too early to sleep-train 5 weeks old Bubbles, but my father always says, "Start early" (err...was that for the airport though?) Anyhoo, I am too sleep deprived to remember.

********************************************************************************************************************************
If you are planning to have a baby, go to sleep first (pun unintended). After the baby arrives, you will wonder and thank God that there were times when nightime meant more than two hours of continuous sleep.

Moving on, Bubbles loves daytime sleeping. His playtime/funtime = Our sleeptime.
I am an optimist and I believe that one day, he will sleep through the night. That next day,you might see us distributing sweets in the neighborhood. Until then, let us examine the effect of various soporifics on Bubbles.

1) Lullabies - You ask if he likes the songs on the Lullabies CD? He likes them allright, so much so that he wants to know where the sound (noise?) is coming from and searches for the laptop. Also, when one song ends, his eyes which might have been closed until then magically open, as if to ask "Itna sannata kyun hain, bhai"? However, I will admit that the CD puts ME to sleep. I think Bubbles is too young to appreciates this fact, though.

2) Wrapping him tight- We read on a website that wrapping a baby tightly in warm clothes enables baby to sleep better. This actually worked according to the sleep angle. But the next day, we spotted prickly heat and had to stop.

3) Rocking - His crib has a swing, but he prefers human rocking to wooden one. He also prefers that the human being walk around and not sit. I think he is our answer to staying (getting?) fit without spending money at the office gym.

4) Bigger feeds in the night - We also read on the website (yes, we read a lot) that bigger feeds at night enables the baby to sleep longer because he doesn't wake up hungry and crying. Well, if you give Bubbles a bigger feed, it resuts in him emptying his bowels. And additional awake time for him while we change his nappy. Also, once he relieves himself, his body tells him, "It's party time!", so he spends the next one hour or so celebrating by keeping his eyes open wide and feeling good about life. By which time it is time again for the next feed.

5) Lights during the day, no lights at night - This doesn't work either. After his morning bath, he sleeps 3-4 hours straight. At night, his eyes are wide open even if the lights are not on. Apparently, he doesn't really care for electricity.

6) Falling asleep in our arms/ on our tummy - This definitely works. But the moment we feel he is deep asleep and start moving towards his crib, he senses it and wakes up as if to say, "You fell for it again, he haha ha."

So from points above, I conclude that parents cannot sleep train an infant. The infant will sleep train the parents. So we live with it and are grateful for any shut eye. And when friends and relatives ask for our latest snaps, we send them ones taken last year (without the dark circles and the date. )

P.S - Lately, we do not try so hard to put him back to sleep knowing that when he is relaxed and wants to play, that is when you hear most of his goos and gurgles. And that alone is worth all the sleep deprivation in the world. After all, we can sleep at the office, ~~right~~ ? Wrong!

Pics courtesy: Internet

We are like this wonly!

2009-07-20T19:07:00.002+05:30

This is how the Little One sleeps. If you try to position him, he knows how to get back to this one again! Sigh... all the head-holding pillows are not going to be of use.

Our maid D

2009-07-19T15:05:00.007+05:30

We have maid D to help take care of Bubbles as in with the washing of his clothes, arranging baby stuff, walking him around and holding him while I click photos of his for your entertainment.

So when D just started work and her salary had not been negotiated yet, she was the paragon of maids. (virtue?). I had taken an instant liking to her. She was efficient at work, cheerful, she loved Bubbles (let me assume and be happy, will you?). She was also not like other maids because she was educated. Yes, you read that right. She had passed tenth (she's 18 so this is not child labor) and was working here because her family needed money urgently.

So now the task at hand was to fix her salary. We are at my parents' place temporarily where to engage a maid, you need to submit:

6 months of your salary statement
3 months of your bank a/c statement
Last hike letter from your company
Credit card statements
Any impending loan statements
Donations to charity to show what a kind heart you have

No, I am only kidding. But the point is that, to engage a maid here, you need to pay 3 times what you would need to pay in other areas of the city. Note-to-self: Move asap to these "other areas of the city". So, I fixed her salary for Rs. YZZZ (that's 1/15th of my own salary :( ) because she sings devotional songs well. She seemed pleased with the amount and All was well until a few days ago.

Recently, she turned over a new leaf and showed me her split personality - the one labelled "Lazy D". She refused to do anything until prodded by me or mom umpteen times, was sloppy at work, enjoyed World Movies with my mom and refused to get things ready for Bubbles on time. I was flabbergasted, disappointed, depressed and started ~~blog hopping.~~

I did not know how to deal with her. Gone are the days when one shouted at their maid. Just like I can't bargain, I can't shout at maids. Anyways, it doesn't work. So I had to take the other approach - emotional atyachaar wala. I reasoned out with her. Told her my duty was to look after my baby, and I didn't need extra person to constantly supervise. That I didn't want to ask her if she had done X, Y and Z work and she should take up the responsibility herself and do things. I praised her saying she was good at work but was getting lazy and assuming that we would always pay her ~~1/15th of my salary~~ insane amounts of money for baby work. I told her how disappointed I was with the "Before salary was fixed" and "After salary was fixed" behavior and actually got misty eyed during this (damn post-partum hormones).

What happened then? She has again converted herself to the former self and is working well.. How long this will continue, I don't know... maybe until the next round of emotional atyachaar, we are good to go.

I can't believe I have written an entire blog post about my maid because I am on maternity leave. I might as well go and watch some K serials now on TV. Ekta Kapoor, here I come :(

-S

Playtime with Winnie the Pooh

2009-07-17T16:43:00.008+05:30

Winnie: Bubbles, I have a secret to share with you...
Bubbles: Go ahead and tell me!

Winnie: I really like you *hugs*

Bubbles: *Gasp, oxygen please!*

Winnie: Could we be good friends?
Bubbles: Oh, you know you are one of my friends already, don't you? (Notice his hand holding Winnie)

Winnie: Let's be BFF (Best Friends Forever) then!

Bubbles: *Oops, what have I gotten into? I shouldn't complain though. My tee says "I love hugs"*

- S

Sorry about my photography skills. They haven't gotten any bettter.

Missin the P

2009-07-16T16:59:00.003+05:30

......who is away in hometown Delhi.

The mistakes in text, if any, are mine, not the Bubbles'. He will speak good Bengali in time, I am sure. :)

Hush, Little Baby

2009-07-16T16:33:00.004+05:30

Hush, Little Baby* is a lullaby which P says "suits" me when I sing it...

Hush, little baby, don’t say a word,
Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mocking bird don’t sing,
Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring turns brass,
Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Mama’s gonna buy you a billy goat.
If that billy goat won’t pull,
Mama’s gonna buy you a cart and bull.
And if that cart and bull turns over,
Mama’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover.
If that dog named Rover don’t bark,
Mama’s gonna buy you a horse and cart.
And if that horse and cart falls down,
You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

Could it be that he is trying to imply that the keywords here are "Mama's gonna buy you.." meaning Mama buys a lot of stuff ? Or does he mean I'll indulge the baby a lot..Well, I hope it is not the latter :) Hmm, time will tell :p

* - This lullaby is a part of the CD "Mommy's Lullabies" by Twin Sisters.

Why I chose this blog template

2009-07-15T16:15:00.003+05:30

It reminded me of this....

Baby prickly heat help

2009-07-14T14:53:00.005+05:30

We had a false alarm a few days ago with Bubble's prickly heat. The maids insisted that it was a pox waiting to rear its ugly head and P insisted it wasn't. I was hoping it wasn't excessive body heat passed from me to him. But we didn't want to take a risk so we took the doctor's opinion.

Well, it turns out to be prickly heat boils caused by wrapping Bubbles in more layers than we should have. He needs more fresh air and ventilation. It is equally possible to be a reaction to a powder used during his bath. This is called Nalugupindi in Telugu or Ashwini's Subhra powder in the marketing world. Turns out, some babies appreciate only Johnson's baby products and Bubbles is one of them.

If you are wondering why I am posting such tiny details, it is in the hope that someday this information could be of reassuring use to other worried parents :) Nothing is taboo for discussion once you are a parent (not even the color of baby's poo ):p!

-S

Celebrations and loadsa gifts

2009-07-14T12:29:00.007+05:30

To celebrate Bubble's first month, P and I went to City Center, Hyderabad (Bubbles was home with my mom). It was the first time I was going out somewhere after the C-sec so I wasn't exactly a bundle of energy. We checked out Me 'N Moms, Mothercare and Crossword. (so no, it wasn't romantic really :p)

At Me 'N Moms, I was tempted to buy "What to Expect the First Year". On hindsite, I should have gone ahead and bought it. At Crossword, I was tempted to buy Parul Sharma's book Bringing up Vasu but priced at Rs.250, it would only make for 4-5 hours of reading and would then sit pretty on our book shelf so I resisted the temptation. After the baby, every indulgence is carefully considered for 4 more seconds than it was when we didn't have the baby.

Mothercare is so damn expensive. It hurt to even look at the price tags. Each time P was checking something out, I pulled him away, saying "Not for us. This is for foreigners and those with insane amount of money like those working for Microsoft or Google!" However what we could afford there was a baby nail-cutter :D

I like the 'Just Born' shop at Somajiguda, which is more like Mini ChinaTown, or China Baby Bazaar if you know what I mean. Even a powder puff there is flown in from China. I can't help feeling great and patriotic knowing we are contributing to building the economy of our neighbors by encouraging such ridiculously high prices.

We all love baby shops because they make you feel like you are not a good enough parent if you do not buy your child cloth nappies imported from your Chinese neighbours. They thrive on guilt and who better prey than new parents? I feel new moms (especially those who want to be best at everything!) are most suspectible to guilt. C sec or natural? Breast or bottle? Work or stay at home? You are damned if you do and damned if you dont! Add to that free advice from everyone lucky enough to have been blessed with kids and voila, you have a terribly shaky new Mom!

On a more positive note, our dear friends Raoul, Ash, Mojito and Janaab visited the baby on Saturday. Saturday is also the day I complete four years at the workplace. Janaab gifted Bubbles a cool winter suit in brown from Carters. The rest got baby a cool pillow and a cute towel. Cousin K got him three funky dresses from Mothercare :) Thank you, all!

I sign off now with some pictures of the books I bought Bubbles, in the fervent hope of making him a bibliophile (wicked laugh, hehaha). It seems to be working because he sees them for 2 mins, yawns and promptly nods off to sleep. I guess if that's what he feels about fun books, we might not have much more luck with textbooks :p

-S

1 month already? Really?!!!

2009-07-12T04:00:00.008+05:30

Dear little Bubbles turn 1 month old today. Happy One Month, Dear Son.

Someone put a stop to the clock already! Darn, my maternity leave needs to be extended...

Meanwhile, over the past month, P and I have had some sleepless nights trying to put Bubbles to sleep.He loves being rocked to sleep and sung to. So we become entertainers at night. Being a Gemini baby (?), he tires of his entertainers soon and sometimes greets us with incessant crying. This is when one of his grandparents jump into action and takes over.

We are taking care of the baby in shifts. P is a night person and moi a morning one. And the early morning time between 2 and 6 is when Bubbles loves being awake. So now it is 4 a.m. and Bubbles has finally slept since 2.30 a.m. Ironically, I am already missing him and waiting for him to wake up *sheepish grin*! Who said parenting is easy?!!? Just when you think you have your baby figured out, the baby shows who is king! Well, despite everything, I really hope the baby sleeps through the night, for the sake for the sanity of his parents (especially his father who works hard at the office!)

S

Hello Bubble Word

2009-07-08T12:43:00.000+05:30

This is where I will track the life of our baby boy, Bubbles! Bubbles is the love of the life of my husband, P and I. He was born June 12th and our lives have been turned upside down ever since!

I hear there is lots more to come as the baby grows and I can gladly say "I'm loving it!" and I look forward to it all.