A talking Baby at almost 16 months

So heres cheers to Rishab's 16th month .. to be completed in a few days... and the news is well he has started talking.. He is my cute little parrot who is repeating not just word but even sentences... Well what i noticed was just after he turned 15 month he started saying 2 word together.. then 3 and now almost 4 word at a time... Its amazing to see how he tries to copy... A simple instance of opening a door.. Rishab started saying "oooo" for open.. then progressed to "open" and then to "open door" and now he can say "please open door" All this in a months time... Well people say he is quiet fast at talking considering he is a boy... but i would attribute this to all family members speaking to him at a from birth.. Just talk to your baby anything... describe everyday thing.. and do it right from the begining... this will increase his vocabulary and help him speak faster... Another thing was use of one language to speak to him.. This has helped him to speak faster... and his speech is so adorable that it amazes me at times .. He can say "Dada Dadi"  "Avi Mama" "Ball bounce" "Nail cutter" "shoe socks" "please wear" "please start laptop" "old king cole" "pee-boo" "om jai jagadi" "wheels of the bus round" "chappati" "eeya eeya oh" and today it was "Good Morning". He can repeat words at lightening speed. However the most common word is "NO No  No"

Everyday when his nana and papa are having dinner.. he will come and tell them "pleeease get up" cause he wants to give them their medicine. Its just so cute. 

One more amazing thing happened last month .. he started counting 1-10 and its the most adorable thing I have heard in ages.

So basically I am feeling like a very proud mom.. and I guess I just cant stop writing about all he says in this post. It a wonderful feeling so look at Rishab now.. From a helpless baby to a strong and expressive toddler.. the journey has been amazing.

On the last months progress.. the potty training is going on quiet well.. atleast out of the 5 times a day he pee.. he will mostly do the evening pee on potty which is good progress. There are days when it get cold and he peeing schedule goes haywire.. but its really fine and acceptable for such a small baby. The best part is if he does his pee outside the potty he will start crying.. cause he know "Mummy dsay do pee -pee in the potty". but obviously we dont scold him... we just remind him to do it in the potty next time. However the conclusion for this topic is...potty training is fun.. and I would suggest to all to-be parent to please try it out... and not wait for them to come out of it on their own.. You might be wondering whats the fun in putting a toddler on the pot every 2 hours.. yes it was tiring initially.. but now its fun. I sit near Rishab when I put him on the potty and we will play some game with him and make him laugh when he is sitting... and there comes the pee.. just making him laugh. Sometime we also try to put water on his pee-pee to make him pee.. and the sound of soooo-soooo make him giggle his way to pee. The pee accidents can be frustrating at times but still a potty training is fun. Recollecting the last week experience... Mrugesh was connecting the CCT to the computer and Rishab was standing behind him.. and suddenly he pee-ed on Mrugesh back.. Mrugesh was wondering what is this warm thing on my back... only to later realised his son had pee-ed on him.. it was a hilarious scene.

Last week 26th Oct was a bad day for Rishab. We had a few guest at our place and Rishab was playing pee-ka-boo with the kids.. and he suddenly started crying... He cried almost 2 hoours continuously that day... Not me or my husband or nana or nani could stop his crying and he vomitted his food out twice. so that day poor baby slept off without and food.. and only milk. We attibuted it to the number of guest adn to the unknown environment and noise at home.. and thought he will be ok the next morning... The whole night my rolling baby hardly moved.. and was whimpering in his sleep.. I was helping him get into a comfortable position every 2 hours.. but I attibuted his night crying to hunger.. however more was yet to come.. the next morning he got up and started crying bitterly just like the previous night.. Since dad is a doctor he suggested rushing him to emergency.. Well quiet scary.. But being patient in such matters helps... We observed that the moment we asked Rishab are you"hurt" or having "pain" he cried loudly cause he understands these word.. They I recollected .. the whole night he was not moving his left hand.. so we detected the problme was in the left hand.. Mrugesh sprayed a muscle relaxant on his shoulder and the cry of Rishab was heart wrenching.. but in exactly 5 minutes he stoped cryin.. So the cause was detected..  Next we observed he did not move his left hand... ok we knew we had to goto a doctor.. We rushed to the emergency in NUH and luckily the doctor there was able to detect the dislocation in his elbow and just pull it back to place and in the next 15 minutes or so he was back to normal. He said such things keep happening to kids till the age of 5 if fall wrongly or sleep in some awkward position (this is just for your information).

When your child is hurt specially if he is so small.. and cant say what is happening.. its too painful for the parent. We really felt so helpless that day and I was really thanking God for having doctors in this world.

So like every other month this month too was very exciting and adventurous. Wishing you all a Happy Diwali.

I am waiting to write about the Diwali celebrations .. since Rishab can understand more this time as compared to his first diwali.. another important thing is my parents would be leaving this month end .. so now need to manage with my hubby and domestic helper..so another experience awaiting.. It will be different with mom dad leaving after spending one year with Rishab. I hope Rishab adjust well after they leave.

Rishab turning 15 months soon !!

I must say time flies.. specially after the first birthday... I remember just writing sometime back about his first birthday and now he's already 15 months.

Last months progress has been very satisfying and quick.. The good news is Rishab is now sleeping full night without getting up... Oh.. its a relief after..14 months of waking up each night twice (minimum) we are finally sleeping full night. For parents who children still get up will really envy me.. and for those who kids are sleeping all night would understand my relief. As it is I was never a night person so having a disturbed night sleep was the last thing I wanted. Thanks to my friend Priyas suggestion and my hubbys cooperation we managed to train Rishab to sleep full night. It took us 3 weeks and its done now.

Now on the diaper training .. going on fine for the day.. accidents still happen... but every new thing take some time to learn right? So we keep encouraging each time he pees in the potty ... Hopefully it should be better next month.

On other thing we stopped was giving him grinded food..how did it happen ?? Well a friend from India visited Singapore and taking her and her hubbys advice we decided to try out. Thanks Aarti, you know the discussion .. was quiet scary but nevertheless solved our problem. We also started with parathas.. but Rishab is sometimes too lazy to bite.. he loves to swallow his food. This is quiet a problem .. cause the food will go in the wrong gullet and my dearest son will puke out every single grain in his stomach.. I way of showing his emotions I guess.  However we started one more ritual this month to try to make him eat on his own. Everynight the last 2 -3 spoons are kept for Rishab to practise. He will pick-up his food with the spoon and put in his mouth.. then whoever is present around him should clap for him. Although most of the times the food falls off and only the spoon reaches the mouth we still encourage him... Kids really need lots of encouragement.

His development on the talking front has been quiet good... He learn the ई (eeeee) alphabet this month... Which was quiet a development.. !! After this he was able to finally call "Nani" for my monther.. otherwise my dad and mom were both called "NANA". My name has also changed from "Mama" to "Mummmy". My mom reads the Bhagvad Gita  daily, so Rishab has also started saying "Gita" when he want the book. he says "Boo" for book, "baby" is baby, "bed" for bread when Papa eact breakfast, "more" when he want more of something, "over" when he is done with his food, for bubbles he says "bubbee" and bumble bee is "bumbee" for ball its "ba" for bounce its "bou" for bed its "be", where is "we" and wear is also "we" , here is "here" and this is "this" sit is "si" dog is "do-geee", wheel is "whee", hay is "hay". Nowadays he confuses with nana nani papa mammy when he calls us.. I guess it because of the the excitement.

The other day I showed him the photos of animals and he could easiy say the sounds... cows says "moo" dog say "bow  bow" cat say "mi" sheep says "baba" horse says "nay-nay" lion say "roar" (he make some scary noise which i can write down for the lion). He loves seeing youtube on the laptop.. though we try to limit it.. he just loves to laugh at some of the videos.. His favorites from youtube are is the "Appu series vol 1" "Wheels of the bus" "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" "Snow flakes are falling" "Twinkle twinkle "(the owl version).

We also did away with the baby tub we used to bathe him in. So just like big boys, he takes a bath standing.
It so weird to see him grow so fast.. Now i realise we have already packed up so many thing... starting from the specially selected baby clothes .. to the swing.. to the walker .. to the shoes and socks... and now the tub.. All gone in over a year...so fast!!

Last month we also celebrated the Ganpati festival and for Rishab the important thing was to get to eat "modak" and "seera".He totally loved it. We also took him to the "West Coast Park " for his first sand experience.. and he totally loved it. we too him sand play toys and he loved filling the container with sand and emptying it ... he also loved walking in the sand to my surprise.

On the physical development too he is doing quiet well.. now he can climb up small hills and can go up the slide alone ... bring himself to turn and sit in the direction of going down the slide .. and then slide down all on his own.. This might seem like a simple thing for all of us.. but for a baby to go up and then get sense of doing the things i have described above is quiet a task to learn... It obvious to us.. but when you see a baby doing it.. you can understand how much effort it take to undertsand the whole thing. Beside this he can also climb the sofa set and from there the clmb further up to the window sill almost effortlessly. In actions he can show "3 blind mice" rhyme and "twinkle twinkle" and "london bridge is falling down" and of later he shows "beautiful eyes" by blinking his eyes... and this one is hilarious. I

Just sharing one video https://picasaweb.google.com/110030338176687730236/Oct42012?authkey=Gv1sRgCOO66-SW2f_cfA#5795372453591646850.


Anyways the coming month planning to take him to the Zoo and to Sentosa.. waiting to see his reactions.

Thats all of now.!!

Stubborn toddler at 14 months

Tomorrow Rishab turn 14 months old and like the topic of my post he has become 'STUBBORN" yes in capital. Last month was quiet entertaining. Right from getting up 7 times at night during his teething problem.. to washing his vomited clothes to cleaning the floor where he vomited. It was tiring still fun. Well actually my maid went back so i was practically without her the whole month.

Let talk about his stubbornness.. Now if he want to go to a place he will pull your hand with so much force that if you dare to leave it he will fall right on the floor. He will cry loudly if you dont take him to a place or give him what he want. He cannot ask for what he wants but knows how to get it. Rishab likes to read books so we have got him many books and they will all be stacked on the book shelf.  He will then point at the book shelf then we will get him one book.. then he will push the book aside if the doesnt want it. He will then keep pushing the books till we give him the one he is looking for. In the book, if he wants to see a particular page in the book, he will go on turning the pages till he reaches the page he want to see.  My mom is making an ABC book for him and he loves the black monkey in the book. so he will make us flip all the pages from A to N and finally will get excited to see the Monkey. He can now walk backwards and can climb small steps without support. He pushes a whole trolley filled with 24 lts of milk and tries to lift a 2 litres bottle. He has started sipping water from the sippy cup. And thanks to my friend priya we have now stopped giving him milk at night. We are still working on him sleeping through the night but i think he should in some weeks. He is also trying to transition to one nap nowadays.. So lots of changes are happening.

His food routine remains more or less the same... morning starts of with egg yolk and almond walnut and honey. Followed by his morning walk and then his breakfast (ragi or dalia or cerelac.
He then lays and sleeps and gets up for lunch. We have started giving him half a puri fried in ghee followed by rice and fish or rice and chicken. evening is orange juice and dinner is rice and broccoli or mixed veg or palak paneer. This time we have started puri so that he learn to bite considering now he has 6 teeth 4 above and 2 below.

Thanks also to another friend Shraddha, we have now started him on cow milk without sugar and he is taking it well. We mix half formula and half Meiji milk and will be doing it for a week then next week will be going one forth three forth milk and finally he will be on cow milk after 2 weeks.

Another thing we are planning to do is potty training. We had started last month then he had diarrhea for a week so we stopped. Anyway maybe next month will give you more reviews on his progress on biting of food and potty training.

Rishab at 13 months

Its been almost a month since I updated my blog. I have been quiet busy with work. The last month has seen dramatic changes in Rishab. After his Hair tonsure specially... he has change.. become more accident prone.. more mischievous ...more talkative... and very expressive.

The has started saying words like "mamma" "papa" "nana" "there" "car" and of late "peach" and "over". He tries to ape us when we talk.. and some times its hilarious. The other day my husband called me "Priya" .. and my son resounded it with "piya" ohh .. it was so hilarious... mu son calling me with my name.

He has become quiet stubborn too.. he will catch your finger and take you where he wants to go.. he will cry out if he doesnt get what he wants... so will make this continuous irritating cry of "eh..eh" till you give him what he wants. He loves to play ball with his father... and gets so excited when he sees his father dribble the ball.. he feels like it is magical.

Last week was dear "papas" birthday. Rishab was a darling.. the moment we told him its papas birthday  he pointed to the walls... asking for the hall to be decorated with ribbons just like we did last month on his birthday.. He started clapping his hand on his own to let us know that he was happy for papa. It was an adorable scene.. not to be missed at all. We took him to the "Gardens by the Bay" and how he enjoyed the flowers and the running about in the domes. We went there by train.. and if the trains are not crowded then they become like a play area for Rishab.. he will pull papa's hand and take him from one compartment to another.

He loves watching the laptop and going out to.. Infact if he sees his nana wearing a t-shirt he will immediately know that nana is going out and then will run to him and take nana to the door.

Learning more each day and growing faster than we expected. Rishab is not more a small baby he is my "little man" now. Love you.

Rishabs Mundan (Hair Tonsure)

On 9th of July we had Rishabs Mundan ceremony. It was held in Laxmi Narayan Temple here in Singapore. We took him to the temple around 10 in the morning. The maharaj came and did some pooja and this was followed by the head tonsure. Rishab sat in Papas lap and the barber gave Rishab a lollipop and started off. Ohh the ceremony went off in a breeze. No crying or any kind of drama from Rishab.  By 10.30 am we were done with his hair shaving. We then took him for a short bath and this was followed by a small pooja again and some thread tying on the wrist. We also went to a gurudwara the same day. It was a surprisingly calm and relaxed ceremony without any tantrums from Rishab. He was really enjoying his hair being removed. Actually I think Rishab likes cleanliness, he lets me clean his ears without any fuss.. Good boy!! Mommy loves you!!

Rishabs First Birthday

So finally my dear little son has turned 1 year old. Seems like a big achievement for us. Let me start off with describing our preparations for the party.. Well the week before his birthday was quiet a busy week. Once the guest confirmations came in we went and booked the cake.. a cool 2.5 kg for about 40 adults and 10 kids.We ordered it from "Awfully Chocolate". The cake was sponsored by my dear friend Jaya. Thanks again for the cake. On the weekend of 1st July we went for return gift shopping to Mustafa.... After much research we decided on giving pencil boxes and a set of pencil/rules/sharpner and glue to the elder kids.. to the younger ones we gave colouring books and crayons and to the infant it was teethers and bibs. We also brought home some decorations for our home. In addition there we birthday cap which we took for the kids to come.

On the penultimate day, I made something special for my son. We selected one photo each from month 0 to 11 and took A4 size color prints. We then made chart for each month with baby saying below. It was quiet appreciated by all guest who attended the party. That day we were still confused about Rishabs dress.. Should he wear a suit or a Sherwani(Indian clothes). Finally we went with the suit after a short dress rehersal. That day we also decorated the house with balloons and other decorations. My and Mrugesh were so excited that night that we could not sleep.

                           

On the "D" Day my son got up by 7.00 am. Normal activities of potty, going down for a morning walk and breakfast was completed on time... and Rishab was down for his nap by 10.00am. By 11.00 am he was up.. We dressed him up and took him to the venue (Novotel Singapore). 

We reached the venue by 11.45 am. My dear hubby and my friend Jaya and her family were there well in time.We let little Rishab get accustomed to the place. Around 12.15 people started coming in. We were busy clicking snaps with Rishab and the guests.. Then we had the cake cutting ceremony around 12.45pm. This was followed by a short speech by dear hubby and then by the lunch. Everything went off well.. Rishab was very happy and to our surprise enjoyed socializing with the kid guests.This was an event I enjoyed more than my own marriage too. Every moment was just too overwhelming for me to decide... and Rishab was looking like a prince in his Birthday Dress.Everyone enjoyed the cake and the food. It was a a memorable day. 

                                       

This was followed by his first session in the Schichida class.. Once he was home he slept like a baby... He was up at 6.30 pm. We then opened his gifts and he was too happy.

                                     

The 1st Birthday Excitement Begins..

So we are slowly inching there... with 13 Days to go.. the excitement has begun...Rishabs First Birthday will soon be here. The hall bookings are done... the menu has been confirmed... the decorations have been decided...Rishabs Birthday dress rehearsal was just completed yesterday ... the invitation was finalized over the weekend. Infact just sent over the invitations to family and friends. I would also like to invite all those who have been reading my blog. The invitation (created by mr and my hubby)is attached below.

Lots of things are still to be done.. buying gifts for children.. organizing some small games...but we are waiting for the guest list to be confirmed... So next weekend is going to be busy.

Last weekend we took Rishab to the baby swimming pool... and ohh he was sooo happy. As soon as he saw water he did not care about changing.. he just wanted to get into the pool. We had to force him to get into Swim suit.. and the funny thing was he had already outgrown the 12-18 month swimming suit. somehow we managed to fit him into it... We did not have the swimming floats so he did not really get the feel of floating.. but he could'nt care less. He was happy to enjoy sitting in the shallow part of the pool and splash the water. It was more fun since his Father went along with him in the pool. Hope fully we will take him to the pool once a week atleast.. Thats what we have decided as of now, hope we have the strength to do it :)

Lots of things to be done.... the excitement begins.... 

Goof -ups in the past year

As first time parents there were lots of goof-ups that happened last year and this year. When Rishab was born he was so tiny and kept crying most of the times.. the only interpretation we would be able to make is "he is hungry" It was a struggle to understand why he would be crying. Sometimes we would wrap him in so many layers of clothes that he would feel hot but we would never be able to understand. At times he has cried because he has done shit in his diaper but we would forget to check it and concentrate on all other things like he is hungry or sleepy. Now when I look back I find all this too hilarious. Initially we would forget to change his diaper or forget to put powder for him. Slowly after six months as he became expressive it became more easier for us. 

Rishab at 49 Weeks

The last two week have seen so many changes in Rishab. Last month when he started walking his arms would be widely stretched to balance himself. When he had to cross a barrier and goto the kitchen he would sit down and crawl and then stand up with support and start to walk. Now in the past to weeks he has become more confident with his walking. His arms are no longer widely stretched. He can now get up from sitting to standing position on his own. He also confidently crosses barriers without having to sit down and crawl. Babies really pick up thing quiet fast. He can also pick up somethings and walk. Earlier his hand were used only for balancing himself. Just yesterday he was pulling his father to come out and play with him. He has a lot of fun with his father just playing peek-a-boo.

He is almost able to follow most of the instructions and can understand lots of words and phrases. He can show you "where is the sugar jar" and "where is Nanas  shaving foam" and "where is the clock" "where is the piggy bank" "goto your bed" "where are your books" "where is the moon".

This weekend we took him to Botanical Gardens.. and to our luck we had a "Opera Show" organised for the visitors. It was all so new for Rishab. So many people had come with mats and picnic set and bubble game and balls. It was so much fun.When a performance would get over Rishab would also clap for them along with the crowd. He enjoyed going to other peoples mats and observing them eat and drink. Most of the visitors were Caucasians and they loved to interact with Rishab. He also enjoyed the waterfall in the garden. It was a good experience overall.

The next day we went to  my cousin sisters place and we were in for a shock. Rishab cried very bitterly on entering their home. It was until after some time when he got used to the place that he seemed to be fine. Well guess all babies are scared of new surroundings and strangers.

In his new developments.. 2 more teeth are about to erupt, the upper 2 bunny teeth. So currently the bad teething phase is going on where is is biting on to almost everything.

We are no looking forward to his birthday just about 2.5 weeks from now. It quiet exciting to see your child turn one. Time has just flown by in the past year. It has been a learning experience for both Mrugesh and me. The best thing in the past one year has been making guess on his Rishabs need and wants from time to time. Since we dont know what babies really want all we can do is guess and sometime these guesses go really wrong.  So all in all its a learning experience... sometimes frustrating and sometimes funny... but  all in all its been a joyful first time parenting experience for us.. Now things are much easier since we can predict Rishabs needs and wants as we understand him better and also because he has become more expressive.

My next article will be on the the goof-ups and mistakes that Mrugesh and me have made during the last one year.

Rishab at 47 Weeks

Rishab is growing up so fast. Every day he is becoming more and more expressive. He is now proficient in walking .. still walks with his hands out stretched and tries not to touch or take any support while walking. Sometimes he is so fast that I feel he will almost fall down. Now he has become quiet expressive and understand a lot of things.

His nani has taught him concept of fat and thin and now he also know Tall and short. When we say " Giraffe is tall" or "Papa is tall" (he is a six footer) Rishab will very cutely lift both his hand to show tall. He is adorable. He tries to speak also .. tries to say "bye" "mmmaa" he also say "baa baa" when he hear baba black sheep. He tries to copy what we say. If we say "Blue" he repeats with "booo" when i sat "catch" he will say "cas" for "car" he will say "caaa". One very funny thing about my baby is ... when we try to tell him "Rishab that day we saw so many apples and papaya in the supermarket" he will look up at the ceiling and try to recollect what we are speaking about.He is a darling and very cute. I feel he has one not so good habit... Many a times it so happens that he is crying to either carry him or to come out of the bath tub during bath. At such a time if the person he is requesting does not help him by "carrying him" or "getting him out of bath" he will request another family member to help him... (now is the interesting thing..) if the other family member lifts him or removes him from bath he will look at the other member with and smile .. which say "So what if you did not lift me I got someone else". It quiet funny.

He also loves to play hide and seek with his papa. Once his papa is back from office he plays hide-and-seek with Rishab. At that time my house is full of laughter. Rishab will start giggling each time he finds his father. For him its a big achievement. Rishab will roam around the house like a little man. 

Fun never ends with the little man running all around my house !!!

Rishabs routine at 10 months

Well I posted his routine at six months and now its changed and very drastically. Nowadays Rishab gets up anytime between 7 and 8 in the morning. He will stretch like a king and then we make him sit on the potty. Like a good boy he will shit. It will take him about 10 minutes. Then Papa will dress him and make him sit on the high chair and eat his egg yolk. He has been eating egg yolk since he is 6 months and he still loves it.. like his first love.

Then we will put on his shoes and he will go down for his morning walk in the with Papa or nana. Once he comes back we give him powdered almonds with honey. This is followed by his breakfast which is cerelac or oats or raagi. Now being mango season he eats mango and loves it. This will be followed by lots of walking and playing. Then he will nap for 45 min to an hour. Once he gets up he is again energetic. He will have his orange juice and cheese and then see some ABC phonic video on the laptop. This is followed by reading the picture word books which he loves. He will walk around and play again.. then we will bathe /sponge him and make him eat food. He eats rice and day mixed with vegetable. Sometimes its paneer with palak or peas. He also eats fish rice or chicken rice. Very good baby. Does not fuss over food. You just need to give him something in the hand for him to be occupied and he will finish his food like a good boy. This will be followed by a 1-2 hour nap depending on his energy levels.

In the evening he will have either some fruit or some baby biscuit with cheese. We will dress him up and then take him down to play on the slide and do some exercise in the Gym. He loves to run behind bicycles and touch the pedal. He can recognize the seat, pedal and wheel of the bicycle.The will walk in the gym and see the trains/buses and cars on the road. Around 7.15- 7.30 pm  we will get him back home, wash his hand and legs  make him have water and then his dinner. This will be followed by play , massage and bath.

The one thing that we all fear is giving Rishab water to drink. Most of the times the water will go in the wrong gullet and he will vomit out everything... out savior at that time is the Cerelac Wheat and Honey. If he vomits we will wait for 10min and give him this cerelac which he will happily eat.

He is in bed by 8.45pm to 9.00pm and asleep by 9.30pm. The night story is ... we are still getting up once or twice or on worse night thrice to Rishabs eh eh eh. Now we have actually given up counting the night wake ups as its become quiet unpredictable.. Also because the poor boy is teething and is  in between his walking milestone.. we think he must be disturbed because of the pain or some nightmares.

One thing is for sure.. each day is more and more enjoyable with Rishab!!

Milestone on 14May2012 - WALKING

I had to post this.. little Rishab took his first steps independently on 14 May 2012. A memorable date for me!!.
I also need to describe this eventful moment. I was massaging Rishab, did his legs and stomach and then as usual he was not ready to continue lying down. So I made him stand up and do the "titanic" and then turned to take some oil for massage... and guess what I saw.. Rishab has walked 2 steps. Not believing my eyes, I made him stand again and tried the same .. and he walked again... oh my it was wonderful.. He was so excited to walk himself. so me and my mom made him walk again and again.. and he totally enjoyed himself. He walked almost 10 steps at one time.. What an achievement!! Truly commendable son!! Keep it up.!!

So now my inner wish that he walks on his first birthday will come true :)

My first mothers day !!! Rishab 44 weeks

13 May 2012  was mothers day!! My maiden mothers day!! It was a fantastic feeling and a day that made me feel special. Although Rishab cant yet wish me a happy mothers day verbally he can very much show it in his actions.. Infact he always does things which make me sooo happy that I feel its mothers day everyday!!.

This week we saw another progress. Now Rishab does a "Titanic".. Whats that??? Well it  means he tries to stand without support. He will lift his hands above his waist and stand for a couple of seconds without support laughing loudly.. like he achieved some miracle .. then he will sit down.

This weekend saw another milestone being achieved. Rishab first pearly white projected out like little knives.. well the whole week before that was nightmarish as he would get up so often because of his teething that we were left totally exhausted.

This weekend we took him out to the mall and to West coast park He enjoyed a lot at both the places At the mall he love sitting on the baby car and moving the steering round and round.. He was not ready to allow any other baby to sit on it. He also bullied a bigger baby to give his balloon to him.. It was a rather funny scene. We also took him to a supermarket and he was very excited to see the apples, banana and oranges there. At the west coast park he was thrilled to see kites flying... something he sees in his books daily.

We actually look forward to the weekend to take him out and see him enjoy!! 

Rishab at 43 weeks

Now Now Now.. baby Rishab just wants to walk from the last week.. He just needs one finger and he will take you to the place he want to go... not yet walking without support but will soon start doing it.

He is becoming cuter  by the day!! He now bends his head to the left and right to see us. He looks like a doll... now more so because he is wearing a hair band... his hair has grown really long. Whoever see him cannot believe that he is a boy!! he looks like an adorable girl. Now he expresses himself a lot. he will take you to the thing he wants to hold.. he enjoys playing with his cars and buses. He hates dressing up... its a war he fights with whoever trying to dress him up. He is also kissing family member when he is in mood.

We are really enjoying each moment of his growing up!!

Babys Day Out !! First International Trip to Malaysia with Rishab

I have not been able to write for 2 weeks now as the internet in office has blocked my blog. But I will write for this week. Rishab turned 40 weeks in this outside world .. its the same number of weeks he was inside my tummy. The occasion for the first oversea trip was my birthday. We took a 4 day holiday to Genting and KL- both in Malaysia.

Rishab was suffering with loose motions and fever just before the trip. We were quiet worried and wanted to even call off the trip but I am glad we did not do so because he enjoyed the trip so much. Well we started his packing on Wednesday evening and mind you Rishabs luggage weighed 20 kg. So ironical, such a small baby but so many things to carry, no doubt the airline charges more for baby luggage.

Anyways going on to thursday. We had a 9.45 am flight to board. Rishab got up on time and we reached the airport too in time. He was all excited on the way to the airport in the taxi. He was dazed to see the airport and the baggage moving on the belts. When we entered the flight and it was about to take off, as advised by all Rishab should have sipped on his milk but no he was too busy exploring the aircraft. He started off with playing with the food tray and the window shutter when the flight was taking off. Then as the flight took off I think he felt his ears close and so he gave me a confused look. I asked Rishab to open his mouth so he did and i guess his ears opened then.. it was a very funny sight. He kept opening and closing his mouth thinking it was a game. 

Anyways the flight was good both ways except that he messed in the flight both the ways. No major hassles in the airplane. When we reached the Malaysia airport .. at the immigration Rishabs passport was not getting scanned... some problem with his passport.. so it took 15minutes to get his case resolved. Once that was done Rishab was outside the airport ... and he just wanted to go everywhere on the airport..He was too excited to get "his space" to move around and see the cars and buses which drove off from the airport.

We took a taxi to Genting. It was a 1.5 hour drive. Initially Rishab was dazed to see the winding road and the traffic jams of malaysia but later he got bored.. so we showed him some magazine having model photos.. and can you guess the reaction? He kissed the model photos.. but not all only the blond ones.. He did not kiss 2 chinese model.. guess the boy already has a good taste ;-). One the way some part of the road was very winding so Rishab got some motion sickness and he vomited. 

(Please note vomit was the most normal thing we witnessed of the trip and all people accompanying him - Nana, Nani, Mrugesh and me were a victim of his vomit at some point or another.)

After we reached Genting we had food and Rishab enjoyed watching the fishes in the pond nearby. Then he when off to sleep like he was the pilot of the plane (soooo tired). In the evening we proceeded to the cable car ride to the theme park in Genting. My son was so amazed by the fleet of continuous cable cars moving that he could not stop moving his head from one side to another. He would see the string of cable cars and then start his donkey noise( to indicate his happiness). The theme park, the entrance had some artificial trees with some monkeys hanging. Well I have not described this earlier but now Rishab know the concept of a monkey. So each time you ask him "What does monkey do?" , he will happily scratch his head and show you. So now you can imagine when he saw the monkeys on the trees how happy he must be. The theme park had so many lights that Rishab was confused where to see.. there were boats and trains and merry-go round. He was very happy to see all of it. Well we went to have dinner at pizza hut there and a real funny incident happened there. We were having chicken soup and I made Rishab taste it. He loved it so much that he was smacking his lips till he had all the soup at the edge of his lips. Then he would shout at me "eeh" meaning give me more.. then again he would enjoy the spoonful of soup till the end and again would say "EEh". once he got bored and sleepy I took him to a nearby shop of soft toys. We saw lots of toys there and then we came to the teddy bear section and oh he got so excited he wanted to jump off my lap and get the teddy bear. I brought one down from the shelf for him and he was so excited to feel the Teddy that he kissed it. It was an adorable scene. So the day ended one a good note.

Next day morning Mrugesh took him too pool side as we waited for the bus to go back to the theme park. He saw a baby swimming pool with bubbles and was so excited that he literally wanted to dive into it..but since he had fever we could not allow him.When we reached the theme park again we took a ticket to sit in a few rides. I made him sit on the merry go round of horses. Rishab know the concept of galloping .. he does it daily on his nanis stomach.. so when he sat on the horse he was excited.. He just wanted to gallop away.. again my sweetheart was making the donkeys noise on the horse.. Very cute scene. We also took him on a train ride but he was not interested in the train.. What took his interest was the yellow seats in the train on which he kept banging his hands. He was too small to do any of the other rides so we proceeded back to the hotel. Here he slept like a log.. straight 3 hours... after which we went doing for some dinner. One of the hotel shops has an angry bird collection which Rishab likes so just bought him a small glow ball.

Next day we proceeded to KL.In the evening we went to see the KL tower and the Petronas... The thing Rishab enjoyed at the KL tower was the small zoo, where he got to see a rabbit and monkey... again he was too excited. We bought him a cat toy there.. he loves cats.. in books and on internet when he see either cats and dogs he will kiss them and give a lovely smile. This toy was a battery operated toy which said "Meow" and went back and forward and also moved its tail.. Its eyes glow too. Rishab loved this toy.

Our next stop was the Petronas, but it seems that this amazing structure failed to amaze my son. Instead the small fountains near the Petronas was something he enjoyed a lot... Touching the fountain water and wetting himself was his entertainment. When we proceeded inside the Petronas, the mall has some wonderful shopping areas. We took Rishab to one having perfumes and guess what he did!! He started kissing the pretty perfume models. Oh such a darling !! When we went to have food in the food court he loved to walk from one place to another (with support) and played with a small pebble all through our dinner.

It was quiet an amazing trip with little Rishab. Looking forward to more such trips with you Rishab!! Mommy loves you !!

Rishab - 39 weeks

This week Rishab learnt to wave bye.. and he does it really very cutely.. he started off with raising his hand and moving it from back to front.. but now he has almost reached moving his hand correctly from left to right. To see a baby do such small actions is really adorable.

This weekend we took Rishab to a mall for an hour. The mall was celebrating family week so there were lots of activities for kid like drawing  balloon slide and tub of balls. Rishab was very small so he was allowed only in the pool of balls..I went along with him and how he enjoyed... oh my God.. initially he felt weird and was dazed by the colorful balls in the pool. .. but later he started enjoying them. Then his dad took him second time into the pool of balls and this time he really enjoyed because he understood it was a fun activity.

Next we took him to the balloon slide.. but here too he was not allowed. however the organizer was kind enough and allowed us to use the slide. So his father took him and threw him in the air and bounced him on the balloon.. ohh he loved it so much.. The smile on his face was a million dollar smile.

He has now started walking with support and slides down effortlessly.

More to come ...

Rishab - 38 Weeks

This week started with a bang.. and literally a bang..Rishab learnt to clap finally... We have been trying so hard and for so long too teach him to clap but he never did it. Then on 26 Mar, 2012 when I was massaging him it happened... this is how.. Massaging Rishab nowadays has become quiet a task. He hates to lie down on his back and the moment I put him on the mat he will roll over and then sit up. So Mrugesh and me has to resort to the old method of distraction. Mrugesh started to blow bubbles.. Rishab got distracted seeing the bubbles and let me massage him. The I made him sit to massage his back, the bubbles still continued. Next I showed Rishab that he can burst the bubbles by clapping his hand. I helped him the first few times and then said.. clap clap and he started clapping. So adorable... he was a pleasure to watch and he did it for everyone papa mummy nana and nani.

He can now slide down the slide independently. He has become an "English Man". He now understand sit, stand ,crawl, clap, hi-fi, bye. He understands" look at light" "look at fan" "where is the lamp" "put on the light" "kick the ball" "push the train" "eat curd" "eat egg" "goto nana" "goto nani" "show your tongue" "kiss the dolly" "follow nisha"  "water" . He can identify pictures like "dog" "cat" "apple" "banana" "watch" "teddy bear" "slide" "fish" "flower" and many lady bird picture word books.

In the playground he literally drags me to where he want to go. He gets excited to see the cat, dog. He loves to touch the flower and leaf. He will go to the exercise area and exercise. He turns the wheel used for exercising the shoulders. Going out is his favorite activity.
He is learning new things daily, waiting to see what he picks up next week.

Rishab 37 Weeks - Papas first kiss - At Vivocity

This week was quiet good for DS(Darling Son) Rishab. It started with him learning how to slide. Well its funny but my baby can actually slide down the slide unassisted and all by himself. We will place him at the start of the slide, he will then turn over his on his stomach and come down the slide. Once he reaches the bottom of the slide he will go further down to reach the ground and stand up. He loves it.

Nowadays he has become very good at playing football. He will kick the ball and run(we hold him) and drag us along. Its quiet an effort for us but he makes it seem so effortless.  He has learnt to give a "hifi" to his family and how he loves it.

One the eating front he is eating most of the natural food and is quiet a good baby. The practice of putting him in the walker still continues.. so that he digests some of his food... only difference is now he has mastered the walker so well that he races like a bull towards the person calling him. And if his walker happens to hit any of us that would mean a very bad hurt. One thing that continues to be an effort is making him have juice...Nani will get juice for him twice, once in the morning and once in the evening and however sweet or however delicious the juice is.. Rishab will refuse it. We have to distract him to the maximum to have juice. He will sometime have it when he is in the walker and sometimes when he is lying down and seeing the ABC phonics song on the internet. (The last option used to make him have juice).

This weekend we took Rishab to for another outing. All of us got ready and papa dear put on a good perfume so after Rishab got ready he kissed his father .. for the very first time.. and that to 3 or 4 times.. and it was a sight I still cant forget. He obviously cant make a sound when he kisses.. but he will goto the person and open his mouth... thats his way of kissing. We proceeded to Vivocity - a shopping mall with babies play area. This area has slides and small fountains and some remote operated cars for babies to sit and enjoy. Initially Rishab was scared to go into water but once he showed him how to splash water he enjoyed it sooooo much that he did not want to come out. He got wet from top to bottom and enjoyed each and every moment. He was walking and crawling all over the place. There was a hush puppies shop and a big dog poster there. Rishab posed with the dog thinking it was a real dog. It was very funny.

           
Its a pleasure to see him express and enjoy himself. Feels like even after writing this blog.. I still cant capture all of it... Some moments will still remain just a memory which I cant capture in this blog. I just love my baby sooo much... waiting for new things Rishab will do this week. See You !!

Rishab at 36 Weeks - At the Park

Another fun-filled week with Rishab. Starting with the weekend, we went with Rishab to a hospital to visit a friend who delivered a baby. Its worth wondering what could be interesting about a hospital visit... but for Rishab it was a grand outing. We traveled by the MRT and the bus to reach to the hospital and Rishab was too dazed to see the escalators on the stations go up and down. He was staring at all the colourful posters along the walk through the station. Once we reached the hospital he was so dazed to see the wheelchair. Passing through the long corridors of the hospital was a like the best part of the outing.He was so excited that he was making the donkey noise(thats what he does when he is excited).

Well the next day .. Sunday.. was another interesting day!! Since we have shifted house we went to visit the West Coast Park near our place. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise for us too. The place had 2 adventure parks one for older kid and one for the younger ones. Besides this there were lots of people flying kites.. and here in Singapore the kites are huge and in different shapes like dragons and owls. Since this park is near the sea there were also lots of ships docked nearby. Rishab has a gala time at this place... He loved to sit in most of the rides (which were permitted for his age). He also met Caucasian twin baby girls.. Robin and Eva who were playing in the sand.. They were about 15 months so I made Rishab sit next to them and they started pouring sand on him. Poor guy he sat through it but did not enjoy the sand being poured on him. Next we proceeded to show him the ships and the sea and guess who we met there - a 13 month old chinese baby girl... and rishab is so naughty he just wanted to touch the girl but the girl was too shy and hid behind her daddy. He basically had a great time socializing with other babies.

The remaining week has been spend mostly in house because of the change in weather. Its too rainy nowadays to take him anywhere but nevertheless he has picked up a new game.. football. Papa dear got him a big ball this week and how he loved to kick it and then run behind it.

Another game he loves to play is rolling the rings on the floor and catching them. We roll the rings (big plastic ones) on the floor and how he crawls behind them to catch it ..  a sight not to be missed.

Well things are going good as of now.. lets wait and see what happens next week.

Rishab at 35 weeks

I was unable to write last week as I was very busy both with office work and with Rishab. First time Rishab had fallen ill with fever and cough and cold. Though it was not so serious he was quiet uncomfortable the whole week. This was mainly because of the change of place (we shifted recently to a new place) and change of climate.

Well now baby is back with a bounce, he turned 8 months today. The last 2 weeks have seen a lot of developments in Rishab. He has become more vocal, babbles a lot in his baby language and has become very expressive. when he doesnt want to eat more he will seal his lips like fevicol.

We introduced a new play mat this week and we have observed whenever we introduce a new thing for Rishab he will experiment further. we introduced the mat with the intention that he will crawl and while sitting it will act as a cushion if he falls. But baby Rishab had something else for us in store.... the moment we put him on the mat he tried to stand up. Well now he uses crawling very rarely only if he has no option left otherwise he will always try to walk and get hold of things.


He loves to slide down on the slide in the park and he has become a professional in climbing steps. He can also now hold thing in both his hands and bang them. He does it mostly with his nanis bangles as they make a tingling sound and he loves it.

This week we also introduced some normal adult food for him which he enjoyed.. such a relief that baby likes something besides cerelac. Well Rishab has also learnt how to play catch and cook. In between his dinner we need to push in some activity so that the food goes down and he burps a little. His papa started this game with him. He put him in the walker and started running and rishab also ran behind him to catch him. they both run from one room to the other and how my baby laughs when he play this game is worth a watch https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-XW2mWZxD1Rk/T21MDLP_n8I/AAAAAAAAHQM/hY1-kXy5TXI/w223-h167-n-o-k/00026.mpg

Rishab is also very attracted to girls... we have noticed this.. He will kiss the baby girl on the magazine cover and watch all chinese girls without a blink. He will also kiss his mummys photo but when his nana asks him to kiss he will not give him a kiss... He already know the difference.. so cute!!

One the bad front he has started hating to take bath. He will try to stand and turn around and do all kinds of acrobatics to avoid bath. How sad!! a baby who loved bath is now hating it. well as parents we had to try something news to avoid the everyday bath drama. So we kept a small stool in his tub. He now atleast does not do as many acrobatics while having bath. i guess he has taken this from his dada(paternal grandfather). His dada also takes bath sitting on the stool... so here we can see some similarities between the dada and pota (grandson). Next week we are planning to introduce a swimming pool for him... will write about his reaction next week.

Rishab at 33 weeks

This week was very busy and lots of new developments took place on Rishabs Front.

The week started off with Rishab mastering to sit up from the sleeping position. One night my hubby got up to go to the bathroom and saw my son had sat up on his bed at 2.00 in the morning. He was so tensed that he woke me up. I gave him milk and he went off to sleep. Actually we realized he had sat up in his sleep, we guess he was practicing his newly learnt skill.

A good colleague of mine made some khichidi powder for Rishab. He ate it with not so much of liking, and for days he had diarrhea. Seems like the new food did not suit my baby.

Rishab also fell and hurt himself for the first time this week. It happened so that he was sitting in the park with a friend and lost balance and bumped his forehead onto the ground. He cried for real this time.. no crocodile tears. A big swelling on his forehead and how he hated to apply ice on it.The good part however was that the swelling subsided quiet soon.

Another new thing that Rishab has mastered this week is step climbing (with support obviously!!). When we take him to the park he will climb up the step and is currently so fascinated by climbing that want to climb up everything ...the door, the fridge. He has become a Spider-Baby !!! He can also stand up with support on his own the only criteria being the support should be the right level (about 9 inches).

Another milestone achieved this week is crawling. Now Rishab can crawl quiet well. I think in another 2 weeks he would have fully mastered the art.

Awaiting his next milestone eagerly!!

We shifted to a new house this week .. will write more next week. Too tired now!!

Rishab at 32 Weeks

Last week stared with a visit to a friends house with Rishab. Whenever we go to someone place he will find it so new that he will keep looking around and observing things and people. If our friends lift him up and play with him he will he happy to play with them. But if they just lift him and talk to him, his face will change to a cranky face within minutes.

The week also saw Valentines day, so a brought a rose for Rishab and guess what he did!! He smashed the rose with both his hands and then gave a beautiful smile.Now he has also become very affirmative in certain things. If he does not like being in the walker and want to come out he will keep crying with crocodile tears and these will stop the moment any one picks him up. We have managed to trick little Rishab in eating more atleast for dinner. He will eat about 3/4th of a bowl and then he will seal his lips like someone has applied fevicol on them. No amount of coaxing of distraction can open his mouth. So to make him eat more we will change his taste and offer him some fruit puree which he likes, so he will take some more spoons till he is finally done. After this we don't force him or it could mean asking calling for trouble (he may puke out if too full).

This week during one of his trips to the park he learnt to climb the steps with our help. He has now understood how to lift his leg to take the step up. Quiet an achievement for his age.The funny part however is his going down the step. He is so anxious to get down that he jumps down the step instead of putting down one leg at a time.But I am sure he will pick this up sooner or later. He also did a funny thing at the park this week. There was a chinese girl who came to play with him. He gave her a nice smile she touched him and ran away. So he forced himself out of my arm and wanted to walk can go behind the baby girl. He was literally following her everywhere until he got tired. Chasing girls has started now itself. Lets see what the future holds for him!!.

The weekend was not so good, Rishab had major teething problem he was biting on almost anything and everything. Right from his blanket, to the remote, to the strap of my purse, to the his own finger, veerything was in his mouth. Guess the first teeth are anywhere around the corner. Lets wait and see.!!

Rishab at 31 Weeks

This week Rishab started playing a new game - hide and Seek with us.Once he is done with his food, we put him in the walker and push him to one side of the hall, then one of the family member will go an hide behind one of  the bedroom doors. We will knock and call out his name. Rishab responds with great enthusiasm. He will run in his walker and come over to the first bedroom door. He will then analyse with the help of the knocking door whether we are behind the first bedroom door. If not, he will move further down to the next bedroom and find us. Once he find us - What a smile!! We repeat this game a couple of times, this helps him digest his food too. So a fun game for all of us.

Another thing he has started enjoying is eating curds (yogurt). Even though he will be full to the brim after his lunch, if we offer him curds he will jump for it. He will put his finger in his mouth and try to hold the spoon and cherish his curds to the fullest. He has also started enjoying egg yolks. So whenever his grandpa has half-fry he offer the yolk to Rishab and my little baby will eat it will a lovely smile on his face.

When hubby and me come back from office in the evening Rishab is very happy to see us. He will actively start kicking his legs to show us his excitement. He also started making some weird noises like "Hee Hee Hee". His dad calls him a donkey ("Hee-Haw" minus the "Haw")

Rishab has also become very strong. Now he will not open his mouth if he does not want food. Any amount of distraction is a waste of effort for us. He will close his mouth very tight when a spoon come closer. Also massaging him nowadays has become an effort. he will not bend his legs to cycle, like he would do earlier .. I guess he is bored of the massage now.

Rishab has now reached the maximum height in the walker... he has grown taller... so now he bends his legs and walks in the walker.. An he has become a pro with the walker. He can maneuver the walker like Michael maneuvers his F1. He run across the room now. Its a lovely sight to see. Love to see him grown.

Rishab at 30 weeks

My sweet little baby is now 30 week old and he is growing very fast. He continues to understand new things everyday and now his world seems to have some meaning. He has learnt the meaning of STOP, SIT, STAND and JUMP. And his reaction to all these words is almost spontaneous. Just yesterday he was jumping and one of us said "SIT" and he immediately reacted and sat down. This was followed by all of us clapping for him thus encouraging him. But little Rishab gave a confused look as he did not realize why we were clapping. I feel his brain makes him spontaneously react even before he understands that he has reacted.

Another very prominent change that we noticed in him, he has become very expressive. When he wants a particular thing he will make some sound to indicate it. Once we ignore his request, he will change his cry tone and make it more expressive for us to react. Sometimes he will leave us with no choice but to let him have it his way. We like to give in sometimes and at other time we are in awe - about how he gets it his way :-)

We have also seen him being patient at times. In mornings and evening when he know he will be taken down to play he will patiently wait for us to get ready and also allow people to get him ready. He will sit quietly observing us getting ready. Once we are ready and go over to him he will stretch out his hand to indicate "Carry Me and Let go out!!"

We have observed the start of another milestone, crawling... to reach out for objects, Rishab will raise his butt and try to go on his knees and will succeed to an extent but is still not so confident. He has also gathered enough strength to lift himself up to a standing position when we offer our hands to him. Lots of exciting moments ahead!!

Rishab's - January experiences

Now that I have finished writing about all of our daily activities in details I have decided to write once every week on Rishab's activities. This month some very good things happened and some not so good things also happened with Rishab.

Let start with the "not so good things" - baby rishab got his vaccination shots in first week of January 2012. It was bad .. very bad ... infact, worse than the previous two times - more so because he was more aware of the pain this time. On the day of vaccination, just like we take him for morning walks every day, we took him to the clinic. The doctor examined him and was happy with his progress. Then came 2 shots - one on each thigh like a  bullet piercing by little baby.. ouch!! this was followed by a loud cry and an inconsolable baby. Ohh!! It must have hurt too much!! This was followed by 2 days of mild fever and discomfort for him. Well all bad things come to and end... and for now the vaccination episode stands closed till he turns 13 months. Its a relief, cause it really pains to see a small baby undergo so much agony.. but as parents this is part of our duty to see that he is properly vaccinated. This was the worse part of this month.

Now coming to the "really nice things" that have started happening.. Rishab has stopped sleeping in his crib as he has outgrown it. Now he sleeps almost anywhere, when he is sleepy so that a good thing. No one could be happier than me. Another good thing is that he will like a good boy have his milk without us having to distract him, which is quiet a relief cause as a mother I no longer need to bother about how much milk he drinks. He has started eating pureed food and enjoys it quiet a bit now. One change that we noticed is now he will not have his food in the stroller. He has now got enough sense to figure out that, if he is put in the stroller with a bib, then its food time. So we struggled a bit to find new ways to make him eat we tried to make him sit in the lap or on the bed- and a high chair was a definite no-no cause Rishab hates being confined. We observed he would hate to sit and eat and just wanted to stand and eat. or walk and eat... so we brought in the "walker". Many people would curse me for introducing the walker so soon... but believe me he loves this experience and can walk quiet well for his age. May be you should check out this video :
https://picasaweb.google.com/110030338176687730236/Jan92012#5701491425829085874

Among other thing we have observed he has started hating strangers. He will start crying if lifted by a stranger. The other day we took him to a friend place and he cried a lot. We have also taken him to the beach and how he hates the sand and the sea water!! Well the irony is that when he is in the bath tub he will play a lot with water but the other day when I took him to the swimming pool just to wet his feet he burst out crying.. i guess he can still relate water only with his bath tub and not the pool or the sea.

He is learning slowly but surely. In no time, I am sure I will see him jump into the swimming pool and think back on this day when my baby would cry when water touched his feet. A new experience each moment - I say so because when you have a baby a day goes by like it was a moment come and gone. So let these moments go by for now!! See you next week.

Rishab - Morning and Evening Walks

My baby's most enjoyable time is when he is out of the house. From the time he has been  2 months old we have been regularly taking him out of the house. It initially started with sun-bathing in the mornings. Me and Rishab would go down and enjoy the morning sun. He would look at trees and grass and birds feeding and would be delighted to hear the cuckoo bird coo.

Now that he has grown up and dropped his evening nap, he goes outside the house twice - once in the morning and once in the evening. One thing that remains till today is his love for nature. He loves to see the trees and the leaves swaying and flowers and birds feeding. He will be so quiet when we take him down in the mornings, absorbing each and everything he sees around. He loves to see moving objects .. right from the moving leaves on the trees (when the wind blows) to cycles and cars. If there is nothing moving his innocent eyes continue to look at the trees above him to catch some leaf moving. A very alert and observant baby.

Now we come to the evenings time when he is all energetic. This is because he has by now completed all his feeds and all his naps (the biggest nap is the one just before he goes down). We will take him to a Park down. Let me describe the park to you. The park has a slide, see-saw and a baby wall climbing area. Around 5.30 -6.00 pm in the evening there will be lots of children who will be running around and playing. Rishab also wants to do that - the first indication will be -- he will start to struggle to get out of his stroller. We will take him to the see-saw and then to the slide. Now since he is small he does not enjoy the see-saw too much .. but he has started to like the slide. We then take him to a platform where he will keep jumping - his favorite activity - and keep doing it till he gets tired.Well recently I started playing this game with him --- once he start jumping I count from 1 to 10 and then i suddenly say "STOP" and he stops. He has started understanding the meaning of "STOP". Good achievement Rishab!!!

We also play pee-ka-boo with him in the Park on the slide. one of us will disappear and re-appear from the other side of the slide and waoh !! he laughs and laughs mtill he turns red!!. Surprising how much fun such small games can give a child. The more we repeat the game the more he laughs. He truly enjoys his time in the Park.

He also tries to climb the baby wall to see whats on the other side of the wall. We help him climb and the moment he reaches the top of the wall and looks on the other side of the wall he is very surprised and sometimes he will burst out laughing if he sees a family member on the other side of the wall. For Rishab, its an achievement - cause he feels he just discovered a family member ON HIS OWN :)

Well now he also wants to walk on the ground... we give him some support and he will walk a few step and get elated. After all its an achievement for him!! Well done boy - Way to Go !!

All the above activities last about 30 -45 minutes which can be quiet tiring for him as well as us. If he is tired and done with his play, we will put him back in the stroller and he will wait quietly to be pushed back home. But if he still has some energy to do a few more jumps he will refuse to sit in the stroller and will struggle to come out. At this time we will need to allow him to do some more jumps before putting him back in the stroller.

When he comes back home from the park in his stroller he looks like a contented little "Buddha" - Cheeks all red after play - hair filled with sweat and very very hungry. Its END OF DAYS PLAY for Rishab.

Rishabs - Feeding time

Today as i write about his feeding time.. it brings in so many memories.. and obviously these will change with time cause he will start eating and experimenting with a lot of things.

Well little Rishab started off with milk like all babies do .... and things were going on fine till he discovered his hands .. around 4 months... Well Well Well this was also the time I had to start with office so it was double whammy for me. He suddenly decided that he wanted to practice pushing his bottle away from his mouth as a first exercise for his hands... And I was terrified .. as the doctor had advised us to start on solids only after 5 months .. so dear baby had to be on milk till then.. a whole one month to go and I had to start with office.. This was a new challenge for us as parents..here's when we started with the magic weapon called "DISTRACTION" will I believe will continue to be our weapon for feeding Rishab hereon.

The distraction methods varied.. we began with mozart music(DISTRACTION No.1).. which lasted for some days before which smart little baby realized "Mozart music means.. someone will come to feed me" so he refused... then we progressed to light therapy (DISTRACTION No. 2) which means we had a player with small red light .. so the mozart music would play and we would move the player up and down so that bay would be distracted following the light and have his feed....within a few more days another distraction came into picture [DISTRACTION No. 3]  singing of nursery rhymes which he liked sometimes... "I hear thunder.." being his favourite. We would need to sing the rhymes so many times that our throats would get parched .. so I decided to record the rhymes in a player.. and I remember doing recording "ABCDEFG.." and GOD alone know how many times we would have played it for him... Once it so happened that Hubby dear was at home and little Rishab decided that the normal method of distraction would not work...so in frustration hubby put on the Chinese Song FM radio and dear rishab enjoyed it, had his milk and slept ..:-) (Different ways of a baby, I guess!!)

Now that he has grown and understands the world better.. the "Distraction" weapon needs to be sharpened. This is also because we introduced him to solid after around 5 months. The start was lovely.. meaning obviously his taste bud found a new taste of solid and the first time he had it like a "Cerelac Baby". Oh!! What a moment that was !!! He like it soooo much I cant forget his expression.

Generally we will feed him solids only when we feel he is really hungry as this will reduce our efforts to use our weapon. When he is really hungry we will make him wear his bib and sit in the stroller and he will finish 3/4 th of the feed without the need for distractions. After 3/4th of the feed 3 things happen together for my son :1 ) He will want to burp 2) He will be almost full 3) He will get sleepy and cranky. So now the weapon comes to use...we will show him the fan or a toy or move our hands like a plane up and down or make some funny noises like "tichick" [Sorry but lost count of the distraction method number] and he will start laughing and here's is our opportunity to push a spoon into his mouth. The game plan will usually be 1 person will distract him and the other will feed him... so while he gets distracted.. the other person will hold his hand and push the spoon into his mouth.. Well the precision and timing needs to be excellent otherwise I sometimes miss the opportunity to push the spoon into his mouth as he will close it too soon (timing really matters) or the spoon will bang into his nose as he will suddenly turn his head or push the spoon(oh.!! bad precision).

Sometimes it is possible that he will want to burp in-between the feed. This can be called low category risk (!! yes its a RISK) as he might not take the remaining feed after the burp or we will have to try the highest level of distraction [all 4 of us try to do different things] for him to have a few more bites. You might be wondering why to do all this ..and maybe he does not want more.. but we know.. he wants more but just gets too sleepy half way between  the feed so we need to try all these things. Well burp time is quiet some fun for Rishab as we will play with a ball with him. He will be a goal keeper, standing, his father obviously holding him (he hates to sit and burp) and mommy dear would roll the ball over to Rishab. Rishab will do his "JUMP JUMP" and then bend down to pick up his ball. We will play this game 7-10 time and in-between while jumping, if we are lucky, he will burp or once in a way, if we are unlucky, he will not be able to burp then get all uncomfortable and vomit out the feed :(

Its surprising how Rishab can get everyone on their foot and sometimes also get them tired trying to feed him. Nevertheless its a pleasure to watch him eat and grow. Every effort we put in seem fruitful even if many times, after all the dance we do, he will not finish his food. We are looking forward to you eating many more things dear son and finding new ways to entertain and distract you!!

Enjoy one of his eating video:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110030338176687730236/Jan92012#5696622299838729170

Rishabs Massage and Bath Time

Well we have started and practiced a ritual right from his birth that is to massage and bathe little Rishab in the evening just before he sleeps. Once he is back in the evening from his walks he would be a little tired so I start with his massage. The massage routine goes like this --- spread the mat, remove his clothes then immediately give him the oil bottle ... it dawns upon him.. its massage time...then a budhha-like smile will enlighten his face.. cause he loves his massage. I start with his face first... as he can get very irritated if I do his face later.. thats because if anyone of you has got a massage done before you would know that after massage you are relaxed and so you will want to sleep... and no one would want his face massage when he gets sleepy right !! Again an adult-like trait. I start with his forehead which he will let me do very calmly, then i proceed to his cheeks... which is also ok and allowed.. then the neck and chin.... baby gives a green signal to this too.. but then comes the nose.. the moment i touch it he will give a cry something like "I hate this.. stop it" so i quickly finish it and move over to the ears to calm him down. When I do his ears his becomes a statue.. cause i think he loves ear massage and he thinks he is getting some Bali massage(as claimed by his father). Well the tough part is over.

Next I go over to his chest and stomach and count from 1 to 10 and he laughs his heart out cause i think it tickles him.. obviously during this part of the massage some essential gases are release from his butt which make him laugh all the more. Then I move over to do his hands .. cross them, move them up and down and circle his shoulders.. oh how he enjoys it.. with me singing the one-two buckle my shoe.

Next is his legs another important part which needs proper massage since he cycles his legs so much during the day and tries to stand and walk.. the muscles of his legs need to be relaxed.. Well his first laugh was when i had massage his legs some 3 months back.. pressed his thighs said "chicken legs" and he had laughed for the first time... Till today I do the "Chicken legs" ritual on his thighs and he always laughs it out. Nowadays I sing "knee knee knee" when i do his knees , he gets tickled and laughs like he has gone bonkers. I love this moment .. oh my baby you have the most adorable laugh i have ever heard. Then I cycle his legs and make him to a half padmaasana (yoga pose) and then fly his legs into the air all the time singing some rhyme or the other. Last I do his back with is normal up-down on the spine.

Now comes the risky part.. removing his diaper... well risky because the pee can go in all directions if i miss it. Sometimes it will come as soon as I remove his diaper.. sometimes i need to fan him and it will come out in 3  waterfalls and i catch it with my super placement of diaper to avoid getting wet(mastered over the 6 months).. and sometimes if i am unlucky it will come the moment i feel "ok he wont pee"  and remove the diaper totally. In the earlier months when this sudden event would happen I would shout(because it was sudden) and poor guys pee would stop.. and Mrugesh would be laughing away to glory. Now I am used to it.. I just smile at rishab and he continues to pee all over me.

After the massage he is super excited, Papa dear has filled his bathtub with warm water (most of the times.. sometimes he goofs up with the temperature - too hot for rishab) and lifted him and the mischevious rishab realizes now is fun time. Papa dear does the part of holding him and I do the washing him part.. Rishab hates his hair being done  but otherwise enjoys... playing with the duck and splashing water..  First his face... nose is again the tricky part...other stomach, legs and other part no problem. When Mrugesh make him stand in the tub Rishab will start talking with himself  or singing to himself and will continue to JUMP JUMP JUMP... he also tries to look in all directions around him. Sometime he is so amazed to see his toes.. like they were never a part of his body... he will make weird expressions and gaze away to glory at them. He will try to drink the water I pour over him and while he is doing all these activities we need to bathe him.. so thanks dear hubby for holding him and keeping him distracted otherwise poor mommy would not be able to handle rishab alone all the way. Well one more thing that hubby dear helps me in is making the "soooo soooo" noise so that if Rishabs missed peeing( after the massage) he does it in the tub.

May be you would enjoy a short video of him:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110030338176687730236/Jan92012


Once bath is over dear hubby takes over the task of changing baby, powdering and diapering him while mommy prepares the bed for Rishab. Thanks for your support dear hubby.

Well this is one of our daily rituals which Rishab enjoys like crazy..and we enjoy watching him bathe.. as days go by and he outgrows one bath tub after another.. the feeling of his growth sinks in and so does a feeling of achievement as parents.