... well, more like Strawberry Squish :-) So it was fru fru time in our house, and Mommy (me) cut up some fresh strawberries for all. Lil' Rian likes 'em whole, likes to suck on them, pull out pieces, chew the pieces and gulp 'em. So it was, Daddy & Mommy were having their strawberry pieces, and Rian was getting his dose with a big berry that mommy was holding on to. Then Rian decided to have some fun :-) and start eating the plate itself... the physical plate. Once content that he couldn't bite anything off of it, Rian started to pick up stuff from the plate, and throw it down or back on the plate. It was sooooooooooooo cute, watching him smash the berries, make everything red and sticky, and squeal in joy!
Well he decided to give us some more entertainment. So he grabs the other berry that mommy had carefully kept on the side of the plate, and then... SMASH... smashes them together, squishes them, makes it all mush ... hehehe... very cute.. and then repeat!
Daddy's jeans, baby's bib & clothes - all needed stain removers. This was a lot of fun though, must repeat, wearing all WHITE clothes :-) hehehe, our substiture for holi!
PS: Just had no time to capture this on camera, what a shame!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Walk with me
Its amazing to see the "walkers" out there for sale. I guess there's a reason the AAP recommends no walkers for babies. They are so light and the wheels move so freely, they should be called runners instead!
Rian's activities since he started crawling were going at full speed, so we decided to aid him walk, and got him a playskool Step Start Walk n Ride walker. One might imagine a sturdy product which can bear the weight of the child, without sliding forward. This was such a cheap flimsy product, it would slide on the ground (even carpet) when pushed with a single finger!
Of course, Daddy the greatest came to rescue :-) The pair of 5lb ankle weights for my knee recovery have been used once again - they were deployed earlier to stabilize the bouncer, which is now held in place with a 20 lb bag of basmati rice! So Daddy wrapped a 5lb weight to each of the 2 legs that come out behind. Also, he jammed some paper into each of the 4 wheels. Now, its perfect :-) The walker is heavy and doesn't move. Exactly what Rian needs to learn walking.
So Rian took his first steps yesterday with the walker :-) almost 10-12 steps. Glad I could catch it on video! Now let's see when he can walk unaided...
Rian's activities since he started crawling were going at full speed, so we decided to aid him walk, and got him a playskool Step Start Walk n Ride walker. One might imagine a sturdy product which can bear the weight of the child, without sliding forward. This was such a cheap flimsy product, it would slide on the ground (even carpet) when pushed with a single finger!
Of course, Daddy the greatest came to rescue :-) The pair of 5lb ankle weights for my knee recovery have been used once again - they were deployed earlier to stabilize the bouncer, which is now held in place with a 20 lb bag of basmati rice! So Daddy wrapped a 5lb weight to each of the 2 legs that come out behind. Also, he jammed some paper into each of the 4 wheels. Now, its perfect :-) The walker is heavy and doesn't move. Exactly what Rian needs to learn walking.
So Rian took his first steps yesterday with the walker :-) almost 10-12 steps. Glad I could catch it on video! Now let's see when he can walk unaided...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Lifejackets be damned
So we went for a 2hr chartered sail boat cruise off the coast of SF yesterday. The day was warm, the sun was out the whole time. It was really perfect SF weather, as perfect as we've seen it. We got on to the sail boat and Rian seemed curious and was just getting warmed up to everyone. That's when Capt. Josh said all kids, regardless of age, would have to wear a life jacket.
Okay, if we'd known this earlier, at least I'd have tried to buy one of the right size for Rian. We'd have seen if he's comfortable, and if not, we'd have cancelled on the trip. Capt had only a few life jackets on hand, and none fit Rian well. Poor fellow was stuck in one that came up to his chin and kept rubbing him. Look at the poor guy, he can't even move his neck.
We tried to reason with the Capt whose "reason" was the CoastGuard was monitoring. From his perspective, he was trying to save his backside. Perfectly fine if you don't care about the kids onboard. I was carrying a baby carrier as well. I mentioned Rian will be very safe, snug right against my chest. He may have even dozed off to sleep. But the capt was not to be pleased.
After an hr of crying and crankiness, we went down to the room below the deck and removed Rian's life jacket - Indian shtyle - jo karna hain woh kar, I'm setting my baby free. Rian took a good milk feed after that, and was very happy to play and explore the space inside on his hands and knees.
Note to self: get more info about kids' arrangements in an event like this.
Note 2 to self: before I take Rian camping, make sure I think of how he can entertain himself. Perhaps I'll need to carry his playyard as a safe place he can be left to play and crawl.
Okay, if we'd known this earlier, at least I'd have tried to buy one of the right size for Rian. We'd have seen if he's comfortable, and if not, we'd have cancelled on the trip. Capt had only a few life jackets on hand, and none fit Rian well. Poor fellow was stuck in one that came up to his chin and kept rubbing him. Look at the poor guy, he can't even move his neck.
We tried to reason with the Capt whose "reason" was the CoastGuard was monitoring. From his perspective, he was trying to save his backside. Perfectly fine if you don't care about the kids onboard. I was carrying a baby carrier as well. I mentioned Rian will be very safe, snug right against my chest. He may have even dozed off to sleep. But the capt was not to be pleased.
After an hr of crying and crankiness, we went down to the room below the deck and removed Rian's life jacket - Indian shtyle - jo karna hain woh kar, I'm setting my baby free. Rian took a good milk feed after that, and was very happy to play and explore the space inside on his hands and knees.
Note to self: get more info about kids' arrangements in an event like this.
Note 2 to self: before I take Rian camping, make sure I think of how he can entertain himself. Perhaps I'll need to carry his playyard as a safe place he can be left to play and crawl.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
When you're happy and you know it... clap your hands!
Yes... my sweet pumpkin can now clap his hands! This was one of the major developments this week :-) Aaji Ajoba told us about the time in the temple when Rian clapped his hands on his own for the first time. Then on Friday evening Rian clapped his hands sitting in his bouncer. Then today on Saturday, Rian clapped several times in the car!! He's so happy when he claps :-) or maybe he claps because he's happy... He'll do it like 5-6 times. And he does this other cute thing with his hands - clasps them together and twists them around, oh so cute! I fall more in love with him every day...
Rian is now cruising along furniture. He walks from one end of the TV stand to the other, and from one side of the center table to the other :-)
We did a webcame telecast of Rian to Daddy, Mummy, Mandaar and Shruti on Friday night and today morning. They were thrilled looking at Rian crawl, climb up, sit down, and more...
His latest, discovered by proud Daddy this time around :-) is climbing stairs! Yes, Rian is climbing almost 10 stairs. We're so excited! Of course cautious too, so Amit is usually following Rian around :) Its so cute to see them having fun together - Dad and son bonding. Of course Mom feels a tinge of jealousy.
Today was Rian's third trip to the Sunnyvale Farmer's Market. Guess what? Another first for Rian - he ate his first strawberry. I held it in my fingers, and he just went ballistic on it. He kept sucking and biting off little pieces. It was too cute to see him. Then he had half of another strawberry as well. I'm sure Rian has a sweet tooth :-)
Oh wait, another first for Rian - yogurt! Rian was eager to see what Ajoba is eating, and we gave him some yogurt from Ajoba's plate. Man, he must have eaten at least a spoonful on that day! Next day, Daddy got him Yo Baby yogurt, and now we routinely give him yogurt after his bhat and daal dinner.
Oh wait, there's more :-) this week Rian also ate Mango and Cantaloupe! Quite a fruit baby he's become. And he's also trying to stand without support. He does like 2-3 seconds before he plops down on his backside, thud! He's drooling a lot more this week. He's also twirling his tongue around a lot, and taking his tongue out all the time.
Rian is now cruising along furniture. He walks from one end of the TV stand to the other, and from one side of the center table to the other :-)
We did a webcame telecast of Rian to Daddy, Mummy, Mandaar and Shruti on Friday night and today morning. They were thrilled looking at Rian crawl, climb up, sit down, and more...
His latest, discovered by proud Daddy this time around :-) is climbing stairs! Yes, Rian is climbing almost 10 stairs. We're so excited! Of course cautious too, so Amit is usually following Rian around :) Its so cute to see them having fun together - Dad and son bonding. Of course Mom feels a tinge of jealousy.
Today was Rian's third trip to the Sunnyvale Farmer's Market. Guess what? Another first for Rian - he ate his first strawberry. I held it in my fingers, and he just went ballistic on it. He kept sucking and biting off little pieces. It was too cute to see him. Then he had half of another strawberry as well. I'm sure Rian has a sweet tooth :-)
Oh wait, another first for Rian - yogurt! Rian was eager to see what Ajoba is eating, and we gave him some yogurt from Ajoba's plate. Man, he must have eaten at least a spoonful on that day! Next day, Daddy got him Yo Baby yogurt, and now we routinely give him yogurt after his bhat and daal dinner.
Oh wait, there's more :-) this week Rian also ate Mango and Cantaloupe! Quite a fruit baby he's become. And he's also trying to stand without support. He does like 2-3 seconds before he plops down on his backside, thud! He's drooling a lot more this week. He's also twirling his tongue around a lot, and taking his tongue out all the time.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Rian is no longer a vegetarian
This week was Rian's first non-veg eating. Since his cold is getting better, aaji experimented with Gerber Chicken entree on Friday, which Rian seemed to enjoy. On Saturday I cooked chicken for a potluck party, and saved some broth as soup for Rian. He seemed to enjoy that too.
Rian clocked his second hike today. We went to the Los Trancos hike of the San Andreas fault. We did a shorter hike, just did one loop instead of two. I think I heard and spotted a Mountain Lion and felt it was not worth the risk for Rian, so we retraced our steps. It was just an hour long walk for us. (Be sure to ask Amit why we didn't do the 3 mile loop). This time around I carried Rian on the Ergo carrier for the whole hike. He was asleep the later half of the hike. I think he generally likes these hikes, he keeps looking around everywhere!
This was also Rian's first time with sunscreen. I got him the waterbabies pure & simple, tear free formula. Unfortunately I think I applied my sunscreen first, then used the same hands to put some on him, and some of my sunscreen went into his left eye. Poor fellow, his left eye kept tearing for almost half an hr, and he didn't crib about it at all! My cutie cute darling!
We took him to our complex pool today, and he sure was intrigued. Amit let him dip his feet in the sauna, and he enjoyed splashing around. We plan to take him to the pool with the floatation thing tomorrow. Let's see how that goes.
It's gone from a cold night requiring heaters, to a hot one where we've kept our windows open and a fan is running, tonight. What a sharp change in weather. I've dressed down Rian: only one layer on him tonight, and no blankie. Summer is here, sweetheart! Perfect timing to get those shorts out. Let's cash in on those sunshine dollars ;-)
Rian clocked his second hike today. We went to the Los Trancos hike of the San Andreas fault. We did a shorter hike, just did one loop instead of two. I think I heard and spotted a Mountain Lion and felt it was not worth the risk for Rian, so we retraced our steps. It was just an hour long walk for us. (Be sure to ask Amit why we didn't do the 3 mile loop). This time around I carried Rian on the Ergo carrier for the whole hike. He was asleep the later half of the hike. I think he generally likes these hikes, he keeps looking around everywhere!
This was also Rian's first time with sunscreen. I got him the waterbabies pure & simple, tear free formula. Unfortunately I think I applied my sunscreen first, then used the same hands to put some on him, and some of my sunscreen went into his left eye. Poor fellow, his left eye kept tearing for almost half an hr, and he didn't crib about it at all! My cutie cute darling!
We took him to our complex pool today, and he sure was intrigued. Amit let him dip his feet in the sauna, and he enjoyed splashing around. We plan to take him to the pool with the floatation thing tomorrow. Let's see how that goes.
It's gone from a cold night requiring heaters, to a hot one where we've kept our windows open and a fan is running, tonight. What a sharp change in weather. I've dressed down Rian: only one layer on him tonight, and no blankie. Summer is here, sweetheart! Perfect timing to get those shorts out. Let's cash in on those sunshine dollars ;-)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Simplicity and me
I love the simple pleasures I can appreciate because of you, Rian! Loooooooooooove feeding you at night. Love it how you are yearning for the bottle to touch your lips. Love it how you stop when you have a burp. Love it how you come forward when you are done. Daddy calls it a fill indicator :-) Love it when you fall asleep on my chest. Love it when you smile in your sleep!!
Often Daddy and Mummy fight over who gets to feed you at night and spend a blissful half an hour in your company, and get 100% of you to themself. You're our "jaan", Rian.
I wanna wake up where you are...
...I won't say anything at all
So why don't you slide...
Each day, waking up next to you, cuddling you, is the brightest start my mornings can have. Last night you decided to wake up at 3:30am for your night snack (which you pretty much didn't have - you just drank 1 oz juju), and went back into the crib. At 5:30am you woke up, I picked you up, rocked you and put you back in the crib. You woke up again at 6:30am, and I decided it was time to cuddle you up. It was time for you to come into Mommy's bed :-)
Yesterday you surprised us. You went to bed at 10pm the night before and woke up at 5am, a straight 7hr sleep! After the milk, you went back into the crib and woke up at 7am, to be cuddled by Mommy and brought into her bed. By 8:15am when you hadn't stirred, Mommy decided to get up and get dressed. You woke up at 8:45am and immediately started crawling and within 15 seconds, had pulled out Dadddy's iPhone charging cable! Daddy rushed from the bathroom to save you from falling from the bed to the floor. You are so quick :-)
So why don't you slide...
Each day, waking up next to you, cuddling you, is the brightest start my mornings can have. Last night you decided to wake up at 3:30am for your night snack (which you pretty much didn't have - you just drank 1 oz juju), and went back into the crib. At 5:30am you woke up, I picked you up, rocked you and put you back in the crib. You woke up again at 6:30am, and I decided it was time to cuddle you up. It was time for you to come into Mommy's bed :-)
Yesterday you surprised us. You went to bed at 10pm the night before and woke up at 5am, a straight 7hr sleep! After the milk, you went back into the crib and woke up at 7am, to be cuddled by Mommy and brought into her bed. By 8:15am when you hadn't stirred, Mommy decided to get up and get dressed. You woke up at 8:45am and immediately started crawling and within 15 seconds, had pulled out Dadddy's iPhone charging cable! Daddy rushed from the bathroom to save you from falling from the bed to the floor. You are so quick :-)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Doctor visits
Sitting in the doctor's office waiting for the doc reminded me of Rian's latest trip to the clinic last Saturday. Rian had an hour long morning nap and woke up at 12:30pm feeling totally refreshed. Daddy - as always - was in a very playful mood and Rian played along. He was laughing, smiling, cooing, gurgling to Daddy's wishes. When the nurse came in the check him out and get basic readings, he kept staring at her so cute, she said "are u flirting with me? Coz if u r, u know, I'll take it ;-)". When the doc came in, she said "oh you're just a happy baby, huh?". True that, my happy baby. May u stay this way always, no matter what life (or mommy) hands out to you...
Growing by leaps and bounds
Okay, the title is somewhat of a cliche, but seriously, it's really something we're seeing with Rian. We got back from India when Rian was 7.5 months old, and he took ~2 weeks to settle back into his routine, get over jetlag, and start eating his solids with relish.
10 days after coming back from India, Rian was comfortably sitting (1 March) if we propped him up. 2 weeks after that he was balancing fairly well and sitting on his own with one hand. A week after that 8.5 month old Rian was crawling, and he was all over the place!! For a couple of days he only responded to toys placed just out of reach, to crawl. After those 2 days, he had "lift off". He'd just get up and GO! Unfortunately even his afternoon naps ended short this way - he'd wake up and just start crawling :D
In the last 10 days, I've seen Rian grow up a lot. Now he's all over the place - tur tur tur palto! And now he wants to hold things and stand up. He stands up very well in his crib. Now the latest is he wants to stand up and let go of his hands :-) Poor fellow is ending up with some hurts here and there. He has learnt to identify a few things - when we call out, he looks at that thing. Most recently he's learnt how to "clap", well he puts his hands together! And guess what... His first
tooth is about to sprout! In the bath yesterday, he looked at his bath toy and purposefully dipped it into water, to get the bubbles coming out. I was STUNNED. Rian has started understanding that if I hold this toy with 2 hands and turn it upside down and push it into water, bubbles come out. He then holds the toy up and lets the water drain. I had tears in my eyes - my baby is not a little baby anymore, he knows how to work his bath toy!!
Yesterday we took Rian on a hike - the Stanford dish 3.6mi loop. We totally enjoyed it, although Daddy's wicket is a bit down from carrying Rian for 3.6 miles.
We're having a wonderful time with Tuggy right now!
10 days after coming back from India, Rian was comfortably sitting (1 March) if we propped him up. 2 weeks after that he was balancing fairly well and sitting on his own with one hand. A week after that 8.5 month old Rian was crawling, and he was all over the place!! For a couple of days he only responded to toys placed just out of reach, to crawl. After those 2 days, he had "lift off". He'd just get up and GO! Unfortunately even his afternoon naps ended short this way - he'd wake up and just start crawling :D
In the last 10 days, I've seen Rian grow up a lot. Now he's all over the place - tur tur tur palto! And now he wants to hold things and stand up. He stands up very well in his crib. Now the latest is he wants to stand up and let go of his hands :-) Poor fellow is ending up with some hurts here and there. He has learnt to identify a few things - when we call out, he looks at that thing. Most recently he's learnt how to "clap", well he puts his hands together! And guess what... His first
tooth is about to sprout! In the bath yesterday, he looked at his bath toy and purposefully dipped it into water, to get the bubbles coming out. I was STUNNED. Rian has started understanding that if I hold this toy with 2 hands and turn it upside down and push it into water, bubbles come out. He then holds the toy up and lets the water drain. I had tears in my eyes - my baby is not a little baby anymore, he knows how to work his bath toy!!
Yesterday we took Rian on a hike - the Stanford dish 3.6mi loop. We totally enjoyed it, although Daddy's wicket is a bit down from carrying Rian for 3.6 miles.
We're having a wonderful time with Tuggy right now!
Cuter by the day
My cute baby seems to be getting cuter by the day :-) When he was born, I thought he was the cutest baby I'd seen, EVER. At 2 months when he was a bit more "filled in" I again thought he was so cute, definitely cuter than the Rian at birth. At 6 months his photos started showing that glow in his eyes, so cute, definitely cuter than 2 month old baby Rian. At 9+ months now, I think his smile is the best in the whole world ;-) and definitely cuter than 6 month old Rian. Can it be possible? Actually I think I'm the worst of the "comparing" moms... I'm comparing my son with his own "cute" profile, and he seems to be outdoing himself... hehehehe...
Coming back...
It's been ages since the last post I made to the blog. Coming back to the blog and reading the old posts was definitely fun! Feel sad that there were a thousand things I should have captured here, but have just slipped by, for lack of time. I'll try to post something here, at least once a week. More power... er... time to me!
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