Baby's day in :))

Its been sometime since my last Snugli update. I guess it says something when she actually has got 2 more teeth than last time I updated (she now has 8 incisors, 4 pre-molars, plus her canine gums are swollen - so lots of fussy time ahead :-D). She's like a little kitten these days, curious about anything and everything and not staying at one place for more than 5 minutes. I was actually worried about her short attention span until we went for her 15th month check-up and one of the first things mentioned in the pamphlet they gave us was that :-D. Well, she throws tantrums when she doesn't get stuff (wonder who teaches them that!) - literally like one they show on TV - crying and rolling on the floor! Its really funny sometimes :)). Other times its annoying :-D.

Well I have a nice set of Snugli stories for you -

• Last time I talked about how she spreads the laundry clothes everywhere. She later used to find shirts and throw them over her head and roam around blindly in the house :-D. Thankfully these days she seems to have gotten over it.


• The day I forget to put my shoes/slippers in the closet, she doesn't forget to remind me. Somehow finds those and carries them all around the house (have to run behind her to get them back).


• We always tell her that dust bins and footwear should not be touched by making a puking sound - "waaak". These days whenever she looks at dust bins and foot wear she says "Khkhkh" and we have to reaffirm that yup, they are not touchable :-D.


• Once she started walking, whenever Sri came home from office, she would run to him and ask to be picked up. He'd say "hand wash first" and show her a hand rubbing gesture. These days, guess what, as soon as Sri comes home, she herself rubs her hands together and points to the bathroom as if she's saying "first wash your hands and then pick me up" :))).


• She talks a lot these days, says Amma, Naana, Thaatha, Aththa, maama, Paapu and baabu. Plus she tries to repeat things said by us, albeit not always correctly :-D. She says "Aapu" for office, "rara" for Car, "Baba" for baby. Other than these, she answers "Bu bu" for "what does doggie say?", "Ka ka" for "What does duckie say?" (her version of quack quack), "eaaayah" for "What does cat say?" (there's no M in the meow :-D). The fun part in all these is the sounds - she says "shshshsh" for cooker, "ssss" whenever she sees fire indicating its hot and "ha ha" pointing to her Minnie mouse doll which makes a laughing sound.


• She not only talks but understands most of the instructions we tell her. Some she may refuse to follow, but she understands alright :-D. She brings things to us, puts things away, goes to rooms when told to and gives hugs and kisses to us when asked :).


• She makes lots of signs with her hands other than the usual "Hi" (accompanied by a "hai" from her mouth, does it to everybody she meets whether they respond or not) and waving bye - shows a fan rotating, bird flying, and eating. She shows a plane whenever she hears a plane sound and points to things. "Amma elli pettu kodbeku?" - she shows her bum (I taught her to do that :-D), "Ammana mammu elli?" - she lifts up her shirt to show her stomach :-D. "Amma nindu thale hege orsthaare?" results in her rubbing her head vigourously :-D.


• She loves stuffed toys these days. Hugs them, kisses them and squeezes the life ought of them (praana hindthaaLe :-D). Moreover she says "Olelelelelaai" and pats them as if putting them to sleep (which is what I do to make her sleep :-D).


• One evening, she and I were outside when this neighbour's fat cat came along. She was so excited. I think she thought it to be a stuffed toy or something, she tried to lift it! And it looked like it was as heavy as her. Thankfully it was tame and it bardaashed all the torture she inflicted on it :-D.


• She's pretty smart in some things. I talked about putting gloves on her hands to avoid her thumb-sucking. Well, the gloves are torn and its too warm to put them on. So whenever she puts her hand near her mouth, I warn her not to. She goes behind the sofa (basically escapes our eye) and put the thumb right back in ;-) :-D.


• One day my eyes were not on her for 1 minute and well, she made me regret that. Went to the Devaru koNe, and spread the kumkuma and arshina all over the carpet. Man, my back broke cleaning that up!


• Also, she knows to close doors, so closes doors sometimes with her inside. Thankfully, none of them are in locked mode (even if they were, there is an easy mechanism to unlock them), so its alright. She has recently learned to open the devaru koNe door, so I'm in big trouble. But the room doors she can't open yet and I'm grateful for that :).

I can go on and on about her. Each day she learns something new and as parents, its like seeing an absolutely amazing phenomenon unfold. Sri even says that her recent activities are so many that we are slowly forgetting her previous stages. Its like our reality of her is now and whatever she was earlier is fading away from our minds. Strange! I don't know if its just us or every parent feels this way. But the feeling is heart-warming and so satisfactory.

And its not that everything is hunky and dory. There are many times she gets on my nerves. She wants to be picked up when I have something to do and doesn't want to be picked up when I do want to :-D. Ah, the irony! I sit near her and she doesn't want to play with me and whenever I'm on the comp or the phone, she leaches onto me :-D. Wonder what she'll be like when she's a teenager :-D. But as I said, each day is a new experience for us. All part and parcel of parenthood..