A Very Eventful Meal

It was Baby D's lunch time. Mommy D decided she could handle it alone now that Baby D can sit up unassisted and so feeding him shouldn't be a two person job. So she carefully measured out two scoops of cerelac and added just the right amount of water. Then she stirred really carefully the pearly white stuff and carried the bowl to Baby D along with water in his ducky cup.

Baby D was propped up with pillows, just in case he got tired. A bib was tenderly placed around him, which he dispensed with immediately, preferring to sit in his fresh clean clothes for his meal. Mommy D's one hand was occupied with the spoon and the other engaged in keeping the bowl away from Baby D's inquisitive fingers. This left Baby D with full freedom to grab at the spoon with his free hands. From his fingers, the cerelac found its way into Baby D's nose, his hair and forehead and then his eyes! Mommy D had to take a break at this point to perform an emergency wash and clean.

When Mommy D was ready to resume the meal, Baby D decided he had had enough and attempted to crawl away. This left paw prints on the pillow case and bed sheet and on Mommy D 's clothes.

Mommy D hurriedly shovelled into his mouth the remainder of the cerelac and hauled Baby D off to the washroom for a thorough wash. Of late Baby D  has become quiet hygienic minded and loves to have a big splash in the washbasin. He is fascinated with the tap and has even once tried to turn it on his own.

Naturally he welcomed this fresh opportunity for water play on top of a right messy meal. Baby D sat himself down on the basin and proceed to wreck havoc. Water was sent splashing every place and there were tiny paw prints all over the basin mirror. With one sweeping gesture he managed to send the toothbrush holder smashing. Mommy D had to hurriedly carry away a gleeful Baby D and report damages to nani...

We sat shaking our heads for the storm to pass over. Couldn't believe there was still soup to be tackled!

Senior Baby

Baby D is now seven months old, an assertive little fella with a knack for getting his own way. Last Saturday, Baby D was "insisting".  It takes Mommy D a while to figure out what he's insisting on, and she suspects sometimes Baby D himself  is unsure what he'd like done, but that doesn't deter him one bit. More often than not though, when  she hears the high pitched, unrelenting "ummmm ummm", Mommy D knows he is bored.

All that remains then, is to find a way to entertain him! There's no one right solution, but one that works quite a few times is communing with nature! It isn't ideal  to take Baby D to the garden in the middle of the afternoon, although Mommy D gave in and did exactly that one time. At most times, a compromise does work - we go to Scotland. "Scotland" is what we call nani's balcony for it's potted plants greenery and it's view of hills. Once here, Baby D is perfectly content to gaze dreamily out or play vigorously with the leaves. Then Mommy D brings on the music.  Baby D loves hearing such soulful stuff as "I can't help falling in love with you"  or "Fields of Gold" or Chitra Singh's "kiya hai pyar jise humne zindagi ki tarah".

Daddy D wanted to find out which "can't help falling" version Baby D preferred, so he played it over skype. We had a truly wired family time, Daddy D singing along and Baby D dancing with Mommy D. Well the correct answer was Elvis Presley. Baby D prefers him to UB40 and he seems to find the lines "take my hands, take my whole life too" extremely funny. Go figure!

On a more non-spiritual plane, Baby D is definitely on the move. His first attempts at crawling began in mid December, when he managed to raise himself high up on his knees. but then he thought the correct way to move forward was by grinding his head into the bed. Since then Baby D has devised new methods of movement like rolling over in every direction, the head grind zig zag roll move. Even though he hasn't been officially crawling or even army crawling, Baby D manages to move all over the big bed. It now looks like he may have reached the penultimate stage, before we can leave him to crawl around on the floor. Baby D has managed to get up on both hands and knees. His victorious grin when he does this is something else! Having raised himself up, he teeters backwards and forwards, unsure what to do, until he collapses again. Still he senses the goal is in sight and is a rather cheerful baby for it.

Amidst all the focus on crawling, his one skill that is in fact fully developed went unnoticed until quite recently. We one day sat him down and lo and behold, he could sit! Baby D can sit without support for a full five minutes before toppling over. When asked when he learnt to sit up, he seemed to look puzzled - "what this? Sitting? Yeah I can do that, what's the big deal?" And then off he went attempting to crawl again.

Mommy D wishes him speedy success.

Wanderlust

Baby D can't wait to get out the door. He'll insistently "swim" at the main door. When you oblige and take him to it, he bats at it until you open up and go out on the landing. Once there, Baby D frantically works his arms and legs at the lift door! After some convincing that he'd be taken out at a more suitable hour of the day, he reluctantly agrees to come inside again.

On the weekend, at the decent hour of 5:30 pm, when Baby D has had his afternoon nap and bottle of milk, Mommy D dons the carrier to follow through on her promise. Baby D who was once very wary of his carrier, now all but jumps into it. We get out, into the lift, and the adventures begin!

Our walk is divided into two segments - country walk and city walk. For the country walk, we go into the garden and in the playground. Baby D loves to reach out and touch the see saw and the merry go round and the swings. Mommy D was once reckless enough to sit in the swing, when she and Baby D got stuck in it. Panicking, she called out to one of the little girls playing in the park to help her out. As the girl was disentangling the swing chain from the carrier, Baby D saw no reason to worry. He blithely reached out to touch her cheek. Perhaps he was saying thanks or just "hello", we shall never know. Baby D loves kids though, he calls out to them and  they invariable respond, so he has a large acquaintance in the neighbourhood within the space of a week.

It also helps that he has learnt to blow kisses and baby girls respond back with flying kisses, sending Mommy D reeling!

It's not just the people, both little and big that he loves, Baby D appears to have a botanical bent of mind too. He looks up long and hard at the trees and throatily voices his approval. He often requests a stop at certain hedges and bushes where he'll vigorously play with the leaves and the flowers and end up plucking them off and trying to eat them (naturally). It's lucky he's still too small and above suspicion or Mommy D would have to answer to the garden committee.

The city segment of the walks pleases Baby D no less. Baby D turns every way when a bike zips by. He grins when Mommy D points out various cars and explains which one is "parp parp" and which "pom pom". Baby D has now seen first hand what a "meow" is and what's a "bow wow".

On week days, nani and nana take Baby D down for a turn around the park and so he now has a number of going out outfits - a pair of cargos, jeans, dungarees and t-shirts. With his expanding social circle, he needs to make the correct sort of impression!

Mommy D has never seen Baby D so content as when he's out and about and this does seem to have become his favourite hour of the day. So much so that when we are back home again, and just shutting the main door, Baby D looks up in surprise and expresses his loud and angry disapproval!

In this respect at least,  Mommy D is glad to report, he takes after her!

Mommy D is already planning all the vacations we'll take together. We'll go to Goa and Munnar and maybe some day the London zoo. We could go driving on the Auto Bahn (Baby D hopefully won't mind a car seat) and visit the Oktober fest and perhaps see kangaroos in their habitat.

And then Baby D, one day you'll be off on your own. You'll live it up in Vegas and take a walk along the Seine with your sweetheart. Perhaps a trip to Mars? What adventures you will have Baby D.

Time For Change

Baby D, who has for some time now been a predictable sleeper, nodding off around ten and getting up at 7 am for his morning bottle, has decided to mix things up a bit. He snoozed off at 7 pm one evening, leaving Mommy D with a sense of  anti climax to the busy blur that is her day. But then, he woke up at 3:30 am and announced his readiness to play! Then one day, he decided to sleep much later, but demanded a bottle at 2 am nevertheless. This sent Mommy D back to the drawing board, frantically planning nap times, play times, and feed times, all to no avail.

By accident rather than design, things are now back to normal with Baby D settling back into his schedule but Mommy D is still holding her breath. His sleep for one has become extremely active. Baby D kicks up a storm and is found orbiting all through the night. Mommy D was woken up on one such occasion to find Baby D stuck in his cradle, legs sticking out of the bars and head right up against the opposite bars.  As we wait for his cot to arrive, Baby D sleeps on the bed with Mommy D, suitably fenced in, but orbiting all through the night. It's been a while since Mommy D herself has slept through the night!

And we now have to say bye bye to his cradle, which currently stands in the room with the forlorn air of one who realises he is obsolete.

Mommy D has changed too. Before Baby D came along, she was not in the habit of speaking to even her next door neighbours, if she could help it. Now she has been known to stop complete strangers walking their dogs with - " excuse me, may I point out your dog to my son? " and then she excitedly tells Baby D "look look, that's bow wow bow wow bow bow bow" even as the bemused neighbour waits for release.

Never before in their six year marriage have Mommy and Daddy D read out aloud to each other from a book, but now even when Baby D is not in their midst on skype, they have been known to recite - "Who's hiding behind the spruce? Peek - a - boo! It's a moose!"

Sadly, we are having to ...lay Mr Rattlesworth to rest. He has lost his song. We haven't yet broken the news to Baby D, and hope very much that he'll forget, so we won't have to tell him. The debate was in Mommy D's mind as to whether to replace Mr Rattlesworth with Mrs Moo or something more grown up  than a rattle. Finally she decided to get him a toy drum with flashing lights and melodies and the works. This is the first toy that Baby D has actually tried to do something to other than eat! It's early days yet, but Mommy D is hopeful she has a budding musician on her hands.

And finally, Mr Spots is thinking of ways to reinvent himself, as Baby D more and more looks at him reminiscently but  distantly.