Bitter Sweet

Last night was one of those bitter sweet, but makes-mommy-daddy-proud experiences. Rian has been a YES-man for a while. We were not sure if he understands the questions, and is just going with the YES reply since it makes us all happy and smiley. Last night he said "bib" pointing to the IKEA bib he got as a gift. So Amit asks "Do you want to wear the bib?" And he goes "No". And we're like - HUH?! Did he just say NO!? So we asked again, and No came the reply.

He's expressed displeasure before by using the words "na na na" but never a clear No like this before. Wow, we were happy - now he knows the questions so well, and at the same time sad. Now he knows how to say No. Sigh.

Another bitter sweet experience last night was with the bitter gourd veggie. Our cook makes this wonderful karela sabji with jaggery in it, so it is literally bitter sweet. Usually Rian loves to pour over the kitchen stove in the morning and taste the fresh fare every day. Whenever it has been karela, he's made a face. Last night Rian had finished his dinner and his yogurt, and we were watching his fav movie Cars, all three of us. Mommy and Daddy were having their dinner on the sofa in front of the TV :D Suddenly our fellow develops interest in mom's plate. Mom says "you won't like it, it is kadu". He reaches for it, and pops one in his mouth. Then goes "hmmmm...." and reaches for a second one :-) After rejecting karela five or six times, Rian has developed mommy and daddy's liking for karela... Nice!

Tech crazy

I'm not sure what exactly draws babies towards electronics, but babies have a built-in sensor to find and pursue electronic objects. Of course when they see examples of Daddy and Mommy spending every extra moment with their iPhones, it doesn't take too long for the kiddo to catch on.

Rian's early explorations began with chewing Mommy's neoprene cover literally to pieces. Mommy got a new one and decided it is not for eating. Then Rian moved on to the harder parts to eat, and both our iPhones have badges of honor to mark the time when Rian was teething.

Slowly but surely the guy kept experimenting. 6 months back we started guiding his fingers into the apps - Doodle Buddy, spelling games, counting games, shapes, etc. Silly stuff like popping bubbles used to make him giggle and helped keep him calm through diaper changes. He was majorly into photos, and first learnt how to "flick" through the photos. At 16 months, he then started popping the bubbles himself, tickling teddy to laugh. YouTube and iPhone videos kept him busy inflight. Many a tired weeknights, Mommy and Daddy have taken sahara from Rian's favorite video of all time: ek anek. That last quarter of paratha, or bowl of soup, or cup of yogurt vanish so quickly when he's hooked onto the chidiya flying away.

After we got back from Texas though, the guy got into serious business: he could unlock our iPhones with no effort. Quickly he learnt how to start the apps he wanted. With words pouring out of his mouth, he started asking for those apps, pointing to the iPhone. Now he even searches my pockets when I get home, to locate the enchanting toy :-) Reminds me of Parv looking into everyone's pockets for "Kaa kee".

He's been learning on the sly though. Rian learnt his shapes mainly from the iPhone app. Maybe his numbers and alphabets also came from there (although he has two other sets of alphabets and number toys). His fine motor skills have seen a big improvement, trying to "catch" that lion or slide that letter into its box. At 20 months, he's a pro and loves spelling out words. We've now started buying his apps though, else he keeps hitting the ads in the free games or the several prompts to "upgrade now". Paid apps keeps him less frustrated :-)

For the most part we're so thankful for this invention called the iPhone as we've made most use of it for Rian. It has truly been a savior. It is the ultimate kid-pacification device, although we try to limit iPhone time and let Rian know before his time starts, when its going to end. Our iPhones also help with TODOs, grocery lists, keeping track of my WW points, and loooots more. And yet, the one use we are most thankful for - keeping Rian busy when we need those 5-7 mins of peace.

Two words

Yesterday 3/16, Rian hit another small milestone. Just as we were entering our garage, he pointed to my car and said "Mumma boov", then pointed to Amit's car and said "Daddy boov". For a minute, I just stood there and wondered, wow, did he just say two words together?! Yes he did :-) for the first time, and it happened just too naturally... Sometimes I suspect he must be practicing in his mind, because it came out from his mouth so perfectly...

Since then he's been going crazy about mumma boov. All his toy cars are mumma boov and daddy boov. Today he could identify my car from a bunch of ~10 cars or so. I've also been trying to teach him "I wuv you", and I thought he almost said "wuv you" together today, yet to get that magical string of three words from him.

Gotta make him a Bambaiyya boy right? So we were casually saying "Shanyaa" today, playing with him, kissing/tickling him, and pop comes from his mouth "Shanyaa" with that familiar wide grin which tells us he's so proud he's said a new word.

Oh loooooooooooove this stage of Rian's growth. He's so happy happy all the time since he can communicate what he wants now. Every day is worth those awesome 5 minutes just before bedtime when mommy and daddy just want to cuddle him and whisper sweet nothings into his ears and do naka naka with him and huggie him and kissie him, and he responds back to each and every one of them with more gusto than us... Life in those moments is perfect.

My darling

Rian said "darling" :-) couple of nights back. Yay, my darling said "darling"!!! I couldn't believe it, asked him to repeat it so many times, and he complied, giggling every time... It was so cute.

I've been trying to get Rian to complete my rhymes, get the last word kind of a thing. His first was:
Twinkle Twinkle Little "Star"

and he loves to say it out loud with a wide grin :D Then came the phrase:
I Love "You"

Then we graduated to:
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Won't you be my "Darling"

Around a month back we asked Rian casually: Rian, what's in the sky? "Moo", pat came the reply. I followed up with "what else is in the sky?" and the fellow goes "Taar" and my heart swelled with pride. Who taught him that? Neither of us or Cely did. He just figured it out on his own from the Chandoba cartoon he watched post dinner. Now, he has added on the "sun" and is also trying to say "clouds" :-) This month the "moo" sounds perfect - he can say moon very clearly now. Also the letter "N" is not "nnn" anymore, it is "en"... too good!

First hike of 2010

On Sunday we were out and about, finished our first "hike" of the year. Well, not sure how many people can call it a hike, it's more like a trail, in fact a fully paved stroller-friendly loop: the Stanford Dish trail.

The odds were pegged against us this day. Due to changes in daylight savings, we'd already lost an hr. Mommy had thrown her back on Saturday, so we were not sure how she'd feel in the morning about the hike. The morning was slow and lazy, with Rian as usual refusing to eat much breakfast. But we pushed through, and Daddy made sure we didn't change plans, that we went. Our thinking: even if we walk only for half an hr, it is still worth it.

We left from home at 12:50pm, well past Rian's lunch time. Rian was hungry, and ate a few of his favorite ginger cookies. Theplas came to the rescue. We started the hike ~1:15pm, and Rian must have been hungry, as he happily agreed to hold thepla in his hand and munch munch munch. The first 45 mins went by quickly and smoothly since Rian was busy with the thepla. He loves the outdoors, wants to point to aeroplanes, birds, everything. Squirrels kept him totally hooked, and he stayed in his stroller.

Then he got into this "pick me up" stage and didn't want to be in the stroller anymore. He settled on Dad's shoulder as a close second, after walking/running for 15 minutes. It was new and fun to walk on a hike at Rian's walking pace :-) Almost funny! He of course took many scenic detours into the "gin gaas" (green grass) chasing squirrels and birds and storks. This was arguably the best part of our hike. We agreed this is what we stay in the Bay Area for - proximity and availability of so many great trails, and of course the awesome weather. It was in the 60s, perfect spring weather.

Rian had loads of fun when the downhill parts of the hike came by. Daddy promised him a ride, and he sure as hell delivered. Off went the two of them, down the hill at full speed, with Rian in his stroller. Wow they almost went off the road and toppled over at some point, but the little one was all giggles all the time.

The first and the last few hills had mommy and daddy huffing and puffing. The middle 50% of the trail is a walk in the park. All in all, a good time to be outdoors. Rian had his lunch on the trail :-) and was much less "fussy" as he was super hungry :D Daddy and Mommy came down by 3pm and headed to a sushi restaurant. After ages, we had lunch outside, and Rian too was well behaved. I guess we're getting to that point when we should consider starting to travel again.

Oh, milord, note kiya jaye: Daddy's camera had a very nice outing too, IN IT'S BAG. The poor thing never saw the sunshine and the blue clouds. Well o well, maybe next time ;-)

Bye Bye month 20

This is by far the busiest month we've had with the little one, and the most exciting one so far. Our bonus room carpet was found wet this month, and the repairs (and home refi) has increased mommy's todo list and stress levels to a new high :-) Here's a quick recap of Rian's month 20.

• First time eating out: i.e. we didn't carry lunch for Rian from home. 20 Feb lunch at DeeDee's for Swati and Jigga's party
• First time mac n cheese: 28 Feb lunch at IKEA. Asked for cake by name. It was amazing to see him "point" at the cake, and say "cake". The glee in his eyes was unmistakable!
• Started calling Cely by name Yeyi: 2 March. Rian also calls Aatya as Tatya, Ajoba as Baa and Aaji as Jee.
  
• Can count from 1 to 10: all the numbers :-) This one makes mommy and daddy real proud.
  
• The alphabet is almost there too: He now can say: A B C D E F (says Fuf) G H J K L M (says mm) N (says nn) O P Q (says ku) R (says aa) S (says sss) T U V X (says eww) Y Z. So we're missing: I & W, and then comes the task of putting them in order.
• Can identify 8 colors and says the name of 7: Red (says noon-noon), Blue (says Flu), Green (says Gin), Pink (says correctly!), Yellow (says correctly!), Black (can't say yet), purple (says pupple), white (says why).
  
• A true YES man: This one is totally Daddy's genius. Daddy taught Rian how to say yes. Now ask Rian "Do you love Mommy?" YES, pat comes the reply. For a few days everything was yes :-) But now he "gets it" and a few questions get a no, for e.g. "Do you want to brush your teeth?" Nanananana ... :-)
  
• Rian has become a true popat now. He can say many many words, and some by just observing our lips as we speak. The list of words he speaks is amazing long now :-) and we're proud of every little bit that he picks up.
• Rian's room is picking up bit by bit. Now there's a shelf, and we have a CD player, but we're still not quite "sure" about the music player (such few options for what we're looking for). We have a few shelves to go, and then we'll be done with iteration one and ready to welcome the grandparents.

Rian's grandparents will be joining us soon, and will stay with us through his second birthday. Rian is very excited about his Baa and Jee coming here, and his face literally lights up when we tell him. He can identify Baa, Jee, Mumma, Daddy, Yeyi on the phone. Any other female voice is Tatya!!

19 and counting

It's hard to believe that Rian is already 19 months old. It feels like it was just yesterday when we celebrated his 18 month birthday. The little guy has surely been keeping us busy, but its such an enjoyable phase that the month has flown by pretty quickly. So many things keep happening and every day I think at least once "ah, I should add this to my blog, this should be in Rian's diary", but the busy, stressful life that I'm leading leaves me with little time to visit my blog as often as I'd like. Let's hope I can at least add one entry every month, with all the major things to remember. So here's a quick recap of the last month, in an approx chrono order:

• Rian had a blast at Shayona's bday party in The Jungle in San Jose. He was wary at first with the ballpit and the unstable surfaces, but Daddy got him finally started and involved. Rian and Shayona were sliding from a 3ft slide and we absolutely enjoyed the last 10 mins when they held hands and went down sliding.
• Rian chipped his left front tooth. A visit to the dentist was more traumatic than the tooth chipping itself, as Rian was restrained: hands, legs and head. Fortunately Mommy wasn't there to see it, Daddy braved the visit with Cely.
• We moved Rian's crib out to his own room. He's been sleeping fairly well on most nights, but it's not a smooth road. Mommy thanks Daddy for all the efforts, and continuing help.
  
• Mommy and Daddy went to IKEA to buy stuff for Rian's room. Turned out we need to return 80% of the items we brought home :-) It's all good though, coz we got a pretty good idea about what we want to do with his room, once we got into the process of thinking about it. Rian's room now boasts an alphabet and numbers mat (waiting for its stink to go away!).

• Mommy has been cooking more n more for Rian. I made dosa for the first time in my life and Rian loved it :-)
• Rian started going to a class on Saturdays in the morning for an hr. It's a "mommy n me" kind of a class. He's have quite some fun seeing others his size and the indoor play is good for this season. Daddy joined us for the second class to take some pictures. 6 more classes remain, the series is of 8 classes.
• Rian has been spitting out water very well now for more than a month, at brushing time. Recently though Rian has taken to spitting out everything liquid :-( It's been 4-5 days now. Hope it's a phase and it gets over quickly.
• So far I've cut Rian's nails while he was asleep. Now that Rian sleeps in his own room, I don't have that luxury. I tried getting him into our bed, and cutting his nails, but he kept waking up and I wasted an hr!! Finally the next morning, with a lot of cajoling and explaining (half an hr again), I finally cut Rian's nails for the first time when Rian was wide awake! So far only did the hands, the toes still remain...
  
• Rian has picked up more than 20 words, and his vocabulary increases every day. This weekend he said three new words (teeth, wow, baby) in addition to lots of alphabets and numbers (A, B, C, D, E, O, P, T, U, 2, 3, 4, 9) and he's catching on to "aaji" and "ajoba" too!

Wish us luck for the next new challenge: conquering the sippy cup (for milk)!