This amazing child

These days Thumki amazes us alot. She is growing so quickly and her mind is so sharp. She has exhibited immense comprehension, memory, attention, humour, thoughfulness, concern...so small and yet her mind is expanding so quickly right before our eyes. I swear she understands EVERYTHING I say, this is just amazing to me...She has some new words, her latest is Wow..= )

Since when she was a lil one everytime a plane flew overhead I would wave and say bye bye airplane, now I suddenly see her waving and I'm not sure why...just as I'm asking her who she is waving to, I will hear the airplane! As I start to say,'Oh! mama just heard that." she smiles and points to her ears. I know this seems like nothing to most people but when I think about how I only just a few days ago showed her her ears with a word for them and explained that is where we hear from, it amazes me that she is able to put all this together so quickly.

Dh bought her a lovely picture dictionary recently and she is able to point out all sorts of things that I had no idea she knew...eg 'where is the hair brush or the broccoli or the banana or the car etc.' And this is from just her interactions with these things in the real world..its stunning, she is like a sponge who absorbs everything. Nowadays, I can tell her attention span is longer, she seeks me out to sit down for awhile to look at new things in her book, she listens intently as I blabber on about things...The human mind is beautiful. Mmasi was talking about 'The Institute of Human potentional' and mentioned that a child is a result of how much we put in, the output is directly proportional to the input. The days I spend alot of quality time with her, teaching her new concepts, she sleeps longer as if processing all the new info. Last night she said 'so sleepy' in her sleep, but she never says that while awake..

The other really cool thing is her quickly developing sense of humor..yesterday, she was sitting on the table while D and I ate dinner and she farted...she looked up at me to see if I noticed and when I met her eyes, she giggled! We all laughed for five minutes after that. It was hilarious, I guess I shouldn't make a habit of laughing at her flatulence!

She also plays by herself for much longer periods of time now. She has long conversations with her stuffed toys, making them walk around, or sleep or swim, ever since Sea world!



Since she's been a baby I made up songs about whatever we were doing. Today as we walked to the park I created a new hit. I sang this song to the tune of Old Macdonald,
Thumki and mama going to the Park,
Going to the park now..
We'll swing on the jhula
and zoom on the slide,
Up up down down down!'

She literally rocked her body to the beat all the way to the park! It was fun.



Since its gotten cooler we have a good routine of going to the park for an hour and half in the morning and about an hour in the evening, she absolutely loves it. If I let her she would stay there all day long and sleep on the rocks around the playscape. This past Friday she climbed up the steps and came down the slide on her own for the first time, she was thrilled. I was happy and oh so sad too..she doesn't need me to take her 'up up up' everytime now..she's growing up tooooo quickly, my little jaan.

Of Dolphins and Whales

This past weekend we made a trip to Sea World in San Antonio with friends. Thumki slept for the entire 2 hour drive, so dh and I chatted like a romantic couple with no kids! When we arrived, dh was very thoughtful and dropped the mamas and kiddos off while the men parked the cars and walked longer in the hot sun. I love him for things like this...

V and I literally ran the whole way through the park for the Shamu show that was starting 5 mins from our AT..we huffed and puffed our way there and just as we sat down, three big whales came swimming underwater..Thumki spotted them and squealed in delight. We had a few minutes to feed them(the kids not the whales!) some snacks and water before the music and jumping(the kids and the whales) started. Dh and A arrived right in time and Thumki leapt into his arms. She watched the show standing in his lap transfixed and dancing...it was such fun.





We went to a little restaurant called Mango Joes to feed the kiddos, which seemed to take forever, but the kids made a game of it, running around the place, under and over things tossing goldfish around...we built up quite an appetite chasing them around. Thumki ate 2 french fries and raisins...and drank a lot of iced water.

After that we went to a pool area that had flowing water that you could coast through on large tubes...this promised to be fun. Thumki had other ideas, she was very irritated coz she had to wear an oversized life jacket that she kept trying to chew off..she fussed and chewed the whole way..no fun. I decided there was no point torturing her any further, so we got out and went to a 'lil gators' pool for babies, there was a little slide and maybe 1/2 a foot of warm water...This was a huge hit! Before we got in she was kind of fussy so I nursed her standing up in the diaper change area! Why oh why doesn't the human race provide a place for nursing mother's to feed the young of their species in peace?? Why am I forced to stand in toilets to nourish my baby? Anyway more rants on that in another post. After tanking up, Thumki was ready to rock and roll..she really enjoyed the pool..She sat and splashed the water, walked and splashed, walked under the rain like spray...smiling and laughing for an hour..it was lovely to see her so happy.

Soon it was time to go. We dried off the kids, gave them a snack and took them to the hotel. At the hotel she got a second wind, she jumped up and down on the bed, investigated the whole place, turned on the radio and the tv don't ask how she knows how to do all this...!



Then we set out for the Riverwalk, a very beautiful, romantic walk by an artificial river about a couple miles long. Thumki was beside herself with excitement nearly walking right into the water while shouting 'wa wa-wa-wa!' While the others ate, I took her on the bridge and she ran up and down screaming wa wa the whole time. At one point she was feverishly excited because a boat passed below us..she pointed and shouted 'ba ba go go!' It was a perfect night, 75 degrees F or 22 degrees celcius, a light breeze was blowing, a Bolivian man played a haunting tune on a flute and my baby and I were soaking it all in...



The next morning, I tried in vain to feed her the free continental breakfast, but she would have none of it. She turned her face in every direction and pursed her lips shut! Did I mention the previous night she ate nothing either? Anyway, I gritted my teeth and we went back to the park.

The first thing we did was feed dolphins. It was really exciting to be in such close quarters with these beautiful, big animals. They have such a happy air about them. You buy a plate of fish and they swim right up to you and eat out of your hands. After a bite they swim away playfully. We tried to have Thumki feed them but she was a little scared, she was happy to watch and point.



Then we went to the aquarium, it was cool and dark..our eyes slowly adjusted to the beautiful aquatic world. There were huge displays with sharks, jellyfish, bright coloured coral, eels, little fish, penguins swimming around like torpedoes..It was beautiful..But I have to say it paled in comparison with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of the most stunning aquatic displays I have ever seen...that place is just amazing. I can't wait to take Thumki there again, when she is older.

We rounded it off with a show of dolphins and beluga whales, with pulsating music and flying tapeze artists..Thumki jigged wildly and clapped everytime thw dolphin jumped, it was as though she knew them well now after having fed them in the morning..=)



She fell asleep before we could even exit the park! When we reached home she first hugged the cats and chased them aroud for a few minutes then she started begging for food..by this I mean while i was at the stove she was hugging my legs and making pleading sounds alternated with threatening sounds! When I finally offered her a katoriful of vege pulao and dahi she wolfed it all down..=) That really made my day..another fun weekend full of memories goes by.

Where have you been?

No post for so long? I was actually asked to post by a reader..I puffed up with pride and decided to stop being lazy...So here's a post for you Priya masi, my one faithful reader=) This was written before the weekend..coming up soon the weekend fun post, stay tuned.

Rakhsha bandhan

I have a cousin that lives in the same city and they have two boys 8 and 3..so ofcourse we had to tie rakhis...it was fun to doll up little thumki and take her last night.

I made kalakand, the easy way with badams, ricotta cheese and milk powder and it was yummy.

I also made besan ka ladoo which turned out pretty decent, not like mama's but good nonetheless. I put them in little cupcake holder paper thingies, it was very presentable and nice..the most fun was dressing thumki up. Her ghagra was in her way..



She was dragged about by the other children there and tried to valiantly hold her own..she is very independent spirited, she doesn't like to be cuddled unless its on her own terms..she enjoyed runnin around in circles with the cute 12 year old girl who was besotted with her.







The other 7 year old girl found out she likes shoes of all types and handed her a shiny chappal much to her delight.





When it came time to tie rakhis she just looked on quizzically..i tied on her behalf she just hung around watching me rotate the plate and ad teeka..she almost leapt on the diya.

bird moonwalk

An old friend sent me this hilarious video..watch the numnum go! K danke! Ich liebe Ihren Sinn fur HUmor Sie verruckter Vogel, ihre biene

Aaj ka din

Here is some tribal art created from things Thumki found in her morning outdoor adventure..we admired it..


only for a moment


then the canvas was lifted, inspected

and carried away for other experiments

She gave me company when I made her thepla, the first one I mixed with ghee and gur..my mouth watering the whole time..but she made a face...I couldn't waste it, no? So I ate it..yummm..

She ate a little of the plain one

The rest was fed to Palu who was not interested..sigh..why don't I just stick to gerber??

having a bad day

Why won't she sleep? She slept badly last night and for her afternoon nap she slept 20 minutes...aaargh! I NEED sometime to myself...We had a good morning got her car seat checked up by a pro to see if it was installed correctly, actually found some issues, so it was good I went at 830 am..too early for us..On the way back we went to the library, she had a great time, flopping on the giant bear's lap and pulling board books off the shelf. she was given free reign of the kids section, so she had a ball..then after an hour it was time to head home, I fed her in the car and put her in the car seat asleep..ofcourse she woke and started screaming on the top her lungs until I could get in the driver's seat..I got a look of concern from a passing mom..what are you doing to that poor child? Look at your own daughter running in the street, lady...like I said, having a bad day.

When the car started moving she fell asleep. The drive was 15 minutes. At home, I carefully took her out of the seat..had her sleeping in my arms all the way upto the bed...I was going to put her down lightly, not yet breathing(that's me not breathing)..when at the last minute I panicked, on her back or belly? back or belly...? Why, why, why...why do I question the most obvious things at such a critical moment? It should have been back, the way she was positioned, but no I wanted to put her face down on the damn blankie we bought a couple days ago, so she could get used to it....BAD DECISION, I kind of plonked her down...and of course she was up..up up up..cranky and playful at the same time. Today I just needed a few to myself to have some chai and read a little before starting the housework...sigh...

Friends

Just got some nice pics from a friend from a weekend trip at the beginning of the summer. This post is for you, V & A. Since we moved here they are the one family that feels comfortable. Their adorable son Nikhil who is almost 2 years old is Anika's boyfriend(they hug everytime they meet, see the kiss below) and guru..she watches and learns and we the parents get a chance to hang out and not be overwhelmed by constant parenting for the times that we can share the load. Here are some pics and a small blurb I wrote while Aniika took a nap....









June 9th, Port Aransas, TX 1:10pm

I'm sitting with my legs propped up at a windswept beach home in Port Aransas, TX. We are at V's familys' 41 year old beach home on an island just north of Corpus Christi. It is beautiful and muggy here. the damp salt air is clinging to my skin, I can actually feel the weight of the air, like Bombay. D and V are reading racy paperbacks, A and the kids are sleeping. All around us are sun bleached mementos of a family. The flags of the world are all one colour now, on the poster anyway. A wooden board says, 'Heaven's a little closer in a house by the sea,' that couldn't be more true. Thank you God for friends.

Family bed blues..

Had a terrible night...thumki woke up every hour after 4am, plus once before that when I didn't look at the clock. I really want to believe in the family bed and it works well most of the time, the closeness and the snuggling are great but last night was terrible. She is not teething but she keeps waking up to snack..it usually happens after she has rotated and kicked me in the face or something and I try very slowly to make a few inches for myself..but she invariably wakes up in a few minutes and then the whimpering and searching for the boobie starts..I can't say no to her, she starts screaming and everyone is disturbed. We tried attaching the crib flush upto the bed next to me, no railing and stuffing pillows in the back, we have her favorite stuffed toys in there. We thought the extra space would give her undisturbed sleep but she only plays in the crib, she doesn't sleep in there..DH was getting into work late coz of disturbed nights, we tried to have him sleep in the other room for a couple nights but we both missed him. Last night when he came back, she was all over him, jumping on his belly, biting his nose etc..what a welcome=)

But anyway, I was so tired this morning..am everyday. I do not get a restful night of sleep and after some accumulation it takes a toll on my state of mind and body. I know I am not living in an optimised manner. Its not her fault, its my lack of training for her so far. She sleeps later than other babies her age do, because she needs some time with her father when he comes back from work...she is up until we sleep, which means no time for us together without baby..this is hard. I have to make a better routine for her. If DH would be consistent about the time he came home and we could have dinner finished by 7 and go for a family walk after dinner and then bath and in bed by 8pm...that would be sane..

According to Pri who is a family bed mama, you just have to get used to the lack of good sleep to enjoy hte benefits of warm, cuddly baby...there must be a middle road i can find...?

Chak de India: Five stars!

This past weekend DH, Thumki and I went for Chak de India with trepidation, our last three attempts to watch a movie with baby in public have been frustrating, with thumki screaming to go from the first frame onwards..but this movie, her first Hindi fillum in true desi style she enjoyed, she started dancing in my lap like a good Indian baby from the start, the pulsating, loud music of Salim-Sulaiman was great. What a great movie, I really enjoyed it alot...Shahrukh is great, much like the Shahrukh in Swadesh, very real..and the team of girls..I loved them, great characters very endearing and refreshing.

Kabir Khan(Shahrukh), ex captain of the Indian hockey team coaches a team of girls, after 7 years in hiding post a lost game to Pakistan for which he is blamed and called 'gaddar', paki in indian clothing and other dramatic stuff...The coach trains the girls hard and makes them the 'Indian team' from a rag tag mix of 'state players'. Its a great sports film, of course its predictable but that doesn't matter, the characters are so much fun to watch, I found myself getting totally involved in their pain and gain..biting my nails through the finale. Chak de is a very well made film, very convincing sports film, good production, YashRaj films of course. The dialogues are fantastic. The casting is brilliant. I really liked the commentary on the farce of an 'women's team', Anjaan Srivastav plays the jaded, chauvanistic bureaucrat to a T..I liked the mixture of the girls, representative of the different worlds India lives in. I liked the political commentary and the questioning of the typical slurs..'you are madrasi?' no I'm Telegu...Telegu Tamil same thing, no? No are Punjabi and Bihari the same? The girls from Manipur and Mizoram are not pleased to be treated like guests. The girl from Haryana, Komal and Balbir form Punjab with her garam dimaag were fantastic. I also liked Bindia and her strong negativity, she wasn't folding easily. the script is text book..but the characters and dialogue lift this film way above the ordinary. It has great spirit! I loved the girl power....yeah..CHAK DE!!

This film is a sure hit, I can just see people watching it multiple times and learning the dialogues. It is a young, fresh movie with great music too, I'm going to buy the soundtrack, so thumki can keep shakin' to it! Chak de India made me very nostalgic and happy...GO WATCH IT!

Domestic efficiency program

So you've got to do what you've got to do..there is no way around cooking, cleaning, laundry..so after thought and dodging over the years the plan is to tame the beast..organize tasks into bite sized chunks according to a PLAN so that I can have free time to do the stuff I really want to. After years of snickering at 'military organization' in the home i.e. preplanned menu for the week ahead, becoming a mother has made me realize the wisdom in that, gone are the days of standing in the kitchen waiting to be inspired by sundry ingredients..spontaniety and chores are not good friends..Anyway will spare my few readers the boredom of the banal details of my domestic travails. I am very inspired by moms at the dailytiffin and the mom at veganlunchbox

The Secret Life Of Words - Must See

Saw a great movie over the weekend. Somehow managed to get Thumki to bed and DH and I watched it..we hadn't really heard of it in our current parenting blinker stage but we chanced upon it at the video store and agreed on it immediately..

Very good film, written and directed by Isabel Coixet..my first by her. Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley act brilliantly and Pedro Almodovar is the Producer. What an amazing, heart wrenching, captivating and memorable film. Its the kind of film that stays with you for days..Sarah polley is just brilliant..and the dialogue, the words are so good, the way they should be. The film is set on a dying oil rig in the middle of the ocean somewhere in the world. The film is the aftermath of an accident on the rig that is in its last days before total abandonment..there is consensus about this except for an idealistic oceanographer...this however is not an integral part of the film...but the little strand of idealism and the emotion is...everyone has a story, a past, all that's left is the stories and the words...I don't want to say much..please watch the film..it is not appropriate for kids.

Making a film is always such a mammoth task, but for a result like this..it must've all been worthwhile.

Ma am I a toddler now?

I had a nice day on my birthday..I was woken up at 7am with songs, gifts and cards..I was mama papa and masi's star attraction..they kept hugging me and getting kinda weepy, atleast ma did. Papa said some cute things to me he said, "my sweetheart I hope you have a long happy life in which you help people and spread love whereever you go." Mama was incredulous, she kept saying I can't believe my baby is out and about and walking around, I remember when she was inside me..how can this all have happened so quickly? She was treating me liek quite a ladli all day long..I was massaged with some almond oil was bathing for a long time, I splashed water all over the place and even sat in the bucket for along time...it was fun.
After my bath I wore the dress that masi made for me
After that I checked email with masi, she even let me chew her blackjack..hehe birthdays rock, I could do no wrong, masi love is great.
Then Papa came home early from work and we went shopping at Central Market, I love that place I even got to sample some rosemary bread, but the most fun was the pink balloon the lady gave me..Shopping with a balloon is fun!
After that was the highlight of my day, when we came out guess what I saw?
Ducks!Ducks!
Hey Hey come here!
After all that fun we came home and cut a cake with all my friends, again there was the singing...what a lovely day
At my official party..chk out my ghagra choli, I liked the cake and I clapped too, much to my proud parents' delight. I told them not to get too accustomed to this performing on cue thing...

more pics from art party

All these fabulous pics were taken by Melanei from the Other Mother's group..she did a great job capturing the adventure.