And that's it - the end of another year. And what a year 2008 has been.
Peanut has really grown - she is 17 months old already, and an extremely powerful personality. She has begun to get extremely possessive about me - protests quite a bit when I talk to or am touched by anyone else. I don't think Vijay is very happy about this, because he can't even hug me after getting back from work, without triggering an eruption of Mt. Peanut.
Work has been good, despite many ups and downs. I still feel I have yet to discover my life's calling, but in the meantime, it's nice to work in a place which you can actually look forward to going to on most mornings. Most people there are very nice - but of course, there are the occasional odd characters that pop up now and then, just to try my patience and keep things interesting.
My days are so full between work, home and Peanut. I have decided that I can't be doing everything, and so of all the three things, 'home' is pretty much the one that is going to be getting less attention. So pardon me if I don't host too many fancy get-togethers - however, if you promise to be non-judgmental, you can come over for a glass of wine. I will even let you drop it on my sofa. Peanut does it everyday, anyway. Her own food - not wine. I don't give her wine. That's at least another year away. Ha ha.
I haven't been blogging as much as I would have liked, nor have I had the time to follow my favourite bloggers. Let's see, maybe I can figure out how to squeeze some of that in, going ahead.
I'm still breastfeeding Peanut and mostly enjoying it. I'm glad I didn't listen to some of you who told me to stop ( Just stop, it seems) . Of course, don't remind of this the next time Peanut decides to use me as a teething toy. Also, don't remind me of this when it really is time to quit and Peanut is an even more determined and strong-willed toddler.
So now, here they are - my resolutions for 2009:
- Stop demanding so much from myself. It's okay if the house is messy sometimes.
- Give up on trying to change Vijay. He's pretty okay the way he is. I don't have to eat the Alu Gobi everyday, but he should if he wants to.
- Continue with all the decent habits I have discovered in the last few months like good reading, exercise, meditation, yoga, pranayam - increase the time spent on these activities.
- Get up an hour earlier everyday. (I refuse to divulge what time I currently get up)
- Worry less about Peanut - and just enjoy her more.
- Play my guitar at least once in three days.And learn some new stuff, for God's sake.
- Be less sarcastic. To avoid snapping at people.
- Stop procastinating the tasks that I don't like.Get my papers in order - bank, tax, bills; figure out stuff about Peanut's playschool and so on.
- Socialize more, quit making snap judgments and actually remember people's names. Boy, have I got a good one to tell you about this - will do so in my next post.
- Write that darned book. Or at least the first chapter.
- Regularly remind myself to live in the moment and enjoy it.
Happy New Year, Everyone. Have a fantastic 2009.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I can't get over it...
It still sometimes shocks me that I've now graduated to 'What to Expect the Toddler Years'.
I mean, come on. Just yesterday, I was staring at a stick and going 'Whaaaat?' in an office loo. I happened to be in the same office as Vijay that day ( we previously worked in the same organization), and came out and informed him accusingly of what he had done. Of course, he asked me to take a chair, a slow smile forming on his face.
And now to this? From 'What do you least expect at this current moment' to 'What to expect when you're expecting' to 'What to expect the first year' and now 'What to expect the Toddler Years'. Really? What next? What to expect?
Wow.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
I mean, come on. Just yesterday, I was staring at a stick and going 'Whaaaat?' in an office loo. I happened to be in the same office as Vijay that day ( we previously worked in the same organization), and came out and informed him accusingly of what he had done. Of course, he asked me to take a chair, a slow smile forming on his face.
And now to this? From 'What do you least expect at this current moment' to 'What to expect when you're expecting' to 'What to expect the first year' and now 'What to expect the Toddler Years'. Really? What next? What to expect?
Wow.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Aadha Bola Karo, Honey
I have often been asked by various kinds of people if it would be possible for me to be a tad less sarcastic, in my daily dealings.
Now, here's the thing. The phrase 'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit', cuts me to the quick. I refute this statement passionately - it appears to me to have been the invention of some non-sarcastic person, probably after being at the receiving end of some highly witty sarcastic statement. Think about it. It is highly possible that it came into being in this way:
The year is 1568. Two men, Sarcastic Thomas and Regular Theodore meet.
Sarcastic Thomas: Hello, Theodore. Nice hat.
Theodore: Thanks. Hey, I'm not wearing a hat today.
Thomas: I know. I meant your hair looks strange. I was being sarcastic.
Theodore: Oh, yeah? Yeah?
Thomas: Yeah. See ya!
Theodore goes home, in a foul mood. He's mulling over what he could have said in response to Sarcastic Thomas. He considers - should he have followed up the 'Oh yeah?' with a 'Your mother wears high heels' - or equivalent? Theodore is despondent because he realizes he can never beat Sarcastic Thomas this way - he just doesn't have that kind of sarcasm in him. After many days of ruminating on the subject, Theodore is finally hit by inspiration and leaps out of his bathtub and runs down the street naked, yelling 'Eureka! Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit'. He can't wait to meet Thomas again.
At this juncture, I must give my imagination a break and leave it to you to conjecture what might have transpired next between Thomas and Theodore. I must also say that I haven't had time to do my usual detailed research ( read: two minute Google search) before writing this post, and therefore there is some niggling fear in my mind that some cool dude like Shakespeare might have actually come up with this line. But my point is simply this - we don't have to agree with what random phrases are thrown at us by random people, right?
After all, without sarcasm, what would become of Chandler Bing ? Groucho Marx? Gerald Durrell? Some of my favourite bloggers and friends ( Mahogony, Ganju, Shome, Manav, Tambi - you guys listening?). I even like Snape because of his sarcasm ( and what a piece of casting that Allan Rickman was - but I digress!).
Anyway, my friend Ganju once said I was too sarcastic, back when we were in B-school together. My immediate response was 'Yeah, right'. I said it without even thinking but when he recovered from his paroxyms of laughter, he pointed it out as further evidence to support his claim.
Today, my mother was visiting and I was talking to her.
Y: On Thursday, the day when I was ill...
Ma: 'You never told me you were ill'.
Y: 'Of course I did, on the phone yesterday. It would be nice if you listened, Ma'.
At this point, Vijay looked over and said sweetly 'Honey. Tum aadha bola karo'
Y: (irritated) 'What do you mean?'
Vijay (smiling like a well-fed cat, knowing I can't smack him with my mom around) : 'It's just that - if you speak only half your sentences, your whole personality will change. You could have just said 'I told you on the phone', but you added 'if only you listened, Ma'...Sirf first part bolte to kitna achha lagta... Tum hamesha itne sweet lagte. Bas...Aadha bola karo'.
I decoded this quickly to mean that apparently I follow up quite a lot of my sentences with unnecessary tart statements which are an unappealing combination of sarcasm and nag-asm. I glowered, muttering 'Aadha bolo, what nonsense...'.
However, within the next ten minutes, the following conversations took place:
Conversation 1:
Vijay (calling out to me from another room) : What are you doing, Y?
Y: (dumping an armload of laundry into the washing machine) Putting the clothes in for a wash. You may believe otherwise, but the clothes don't wash themselves around here.
Vijay ( as my mother and sister giggle): See? Aadha bola karo.
Y: (Mutters to self in embarassment)
Conversation 2:
Y: Vijay, please get Peanut's jacket from the cupboard.
Vijay: (after rummaging through the wrong cupboard) - Where? Where is it?
Y: It is in the OTHER cupboard, on the right. You'd know, if only you bothered to be a bit more involved in... ( my voice trails off in horror as my mother and sister laughed at me)
Y: On Thursday, the day when I was ill...
Ma: 'You never told me you were ill'.
Y: 'Of course I did, on the phone yesterday. It would be nice if you listened, Ma'.
At this point, Vijay looked over and said sweetly 'Honey. Tum aadha bola karo'
Y: (irritated) 'What do you mean?'
Vijay (smiling like a well-fed cat, knowing I can't smack him with my mom around) : 'It's just that - if you speak only half your sentences, your whole personality will change. You could have just said 'I told you on the phone', but you added 'if only you listened, Ma'...Sirf first part bolte to kitna achha lagta... Tum hamesha itne sweet lagte. Bas...Aadha bola karo'.
I decoded this quickly to mean that apparently I follow up quite a lot of my sentences with unnecessary tart statements which are an unappealing combination of sarcasm and nag-asm. I glowered, muttering 'Aadha bolo, what nonsense...'.
However, within the next ten minutes, the following conversations took place:
Conversation 1:
Vijay (calling out to me from another room) : What are you doing, Y?
Y: (dumping an armload of laundry into the washing machine) Putting the clothes in for a wash. You may believe otherwise, but the clothes don't wash themselves around here.
Vijay ( as my mother and sister giggle): See? Aadha bola karo.
Y: (Mutters to self in embarassment)
Conversation 2:
Y: Vijay, please get Peanut's jacket from the cupboard.
Vijay: (after rummaging through the wrong cupboard) - Where? Where is it?
Y: It is in the OTHER cupboard, on the right. You'd know, if only you bothered to be a bit more involved in... ( my voice trails off in horror as my mother and sister laughed at me)
So that's it. I would be a better person if I only said half of what I said.
I asked my sister that evening, in an unrelated conversation, why she was being so quiet.
She said 'I'm always quiet'. I said 'Oh yeah. That's right' and then a thought struck me very hard. I asked 'Is it because I always said twice as much as I was supposed to when we were kids? And didn't let you talk?'.
She seemed to like that theory because she said simply and in a highly convinced manner 'Yes'.
In short, the world is telling me to generally talk less and specifically cut back on the sarcasm. It's going to be tough - a whole new way of life. But since I'm fundamentally a lovely person at heart, I think I should be able to manage.
Yeah, right.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Midnight Feast
When I was a kid growing up on Enid Blyton's Malory Towers and St. Clare's series, there was nothing as enticing as the thought of the Midnight Feast. These were the forbidden feasts where the girls stealthily managed to enjoy spreads of wonderful-sounding food like kipper and scones. I really didn't have a clue what kipper and scones were but they sure sounded good. Discovering what kipper and scones are through the process of growing up has only lessened the charm of the whole thing.
However, I digress.
The point I was making was that the Midnight Feast had a certain meaning then.
And now - the Midnight Feast has a certain meaning.
For Peanut.
This morning, at 4 a.m. to be precise, my baby woke up and sat up in bed next to me. I was only half-awake but noticed in the nick of time that she was trying to escape from the bed through the simple yet ingenious means of hurtling out headfirst, with the carefree abandon that only a baby who has never been allowed to fall out of a bed, can possess. I lunged out at her and caught her by the legs and she giggled loudly, clearly thinking this was a great game to kick-start the day with.
Poor Vijay woke up with a start 'Huh? Kya? Kya?'. I told him to go back to sleep and tried to convince Peanut to do the same. She shouted loudly 'Du-du. Mama, Du-du', and I settled her down again next to me and fed her. Just when I was drifting off and hoping that she was too, she detached herself and sat up again.
I groaned and asked her what she wanted now. Godi? She nodded vigorously, with her whole body, the enthusiasm clearly visible even in the darkness. I got out of bed with her in my arms and started to rock her to sleep, but she wasn't having any of it. She struggled out of my arms, in her curiously effective wriggly-worm fashion and as soon as she landed on the floor, was out the door. I followed her groggily as she headed straight into the kitchen and went for the fridge.
'Du-du, du-du' she stated loudly. Vijay, who had followed us into the kitchen, immediately decided to jump into action and warm the milk in the fridge. I told him that she didn't really want it because she had just been fed, but he was adamant and started to rattle pans around indiscriminately.
I suspected that she might need to eat something else because she hadn't had much at dinnertime. I asked her if she wanted to eat something, and she grabbed the nearest available slice of cheese out of the fridge. I then remembered that I had bought some fruit buns for her to try, and figured that this was as good a time as any, and so took that out to warm for her. Vijay, unable to resist a shot, asked her if she wanted to eat 'Makkhan-Toast' and she looked up at him and nodded her assent vigorously again. He then proceeded to rattle a few more things around, digging out the Toaster, plugging it in and so on.
She had two bites of the cheese, one bite of the fruit bun which was then spat out unceremoniously into my hand, and then cheerfully refused both the milk and the makkhan-toast offered by Vijay, much to his annoyance.
And so it went. Vijay and I stood around bleary eyed while she giggled and darted here, there and everywhere. We looked at the clock and then at each other. It was 5 a.m. and Peanut showed no signs of falling asleep.
Eventually, she did fall asleep but woke up every half hour to demand her 'Du-du' loudly, falling back asleep within a couple of minutes, each time. Vijay and I woke up each time but it took us a lot longer to get back to sleep. As a consequence of which, we didn't actually sleep at all, but still dragged ourselves out of bed only at 8 a.m. and got late going to work.
I felt like I was going to collapse in the first half of the day, but a couple of cups of coffee and some paracetamol produced by my very kind-hearted young team members resulted in my bravely lasting through the rest of the day and actually managing to do a few productive things.
And now, at 10.30 p.m., again Peanut has just fallen asleep and I am about to go to bed. Sending up a silent prayer that she will not assume that 4 a.m. is now her official wake-up-and-play time.
In other words - Midnight feasts and all other night-time adventures appear highly overrated when you get to be an adult. Oh, to be ten again. Chalo, I can live that age vicariously through Peanut.
Should be fun.
Yawn.
G'night, all.
However, I digress.
The point I was making was that the Midnight Feast had a certain meaning then.
And now - the Midnight Feast has a certain meaning.
For Peanut.
This morning, at 4 a.m. to be precise, my baby woke up and sat up in bed next to me. I was only half-awake but noticed in the nick of time that she was trying to escape from the bed through the simple yet ingenious means of hurtling out headfirst, with the carefree abandon that only a baby who has never been allowed to fall out of a bed, can possess. I lunged out at her and caught her by the legs and she giggled loudly, clearly thinking this was a great game to kick-start the day with.
Poor Vijay woke up with a start 'Huh? Kya? Kya?'. I told him to go back to sleep and tried to convince Peanut to do the same. She shouted loudly 'Du-du. Mama, Du-du', and I settled her down again next to me and fed her. Just when I was drifting off and hoping that she was too, she detached herself and sat up again.
I groaned and asked her what she wanted now. Godi? She nodded vigorously, with her whole body, the enthusiasm clearly visible even in the darkness. I got out of bed with her in my arms and started to rock her to sleep, but she wasn't having any of it. She struggled out of my arms, in her curiously effective wriggly-worm fashion and as soon as she landed on the floor, was out the door. I followed her groggily as she headed straight into the kitchen and went for the fridge.
'Du-du, du-du' she stated loudly. Vijay, who had followed us into the kitchen, immediately decided to jump into action and warm the milk in the fridge. I told him that she didn't really want it because she had just been fed, but he was adamant and started to rattle pans around indiscriminately.
I suspected that she might need to eat something else because she hadn't had much at dinnertime. I asked her if she wanted to eat something, and she grabbed the nearest available slice of cheese out of the fridge. I then remembered that I had bought some fruit buns for her to try, and figured that this was as good a time as any, and so took that out to warm for her. Vijay, unable to resist a shot, asked her if she wanted to eat 'Makkhan-Toast' and she looked up at him and nodded her assent vigorously again. He then proceeded to rattle a few more things around, digging out the Toaster, plugging it in and so on.
She had two bites of the cheese, one bite of the fruit bun which was then spat out unceremoniously into my hand, and then cheerfully refused both the milk and the makkhan-toast offered by Vijay, much to his annoyance.
And so it went. Vijay and I stood around bleary eyed while she giggled and darted here, there and everywhere. We looked at the clock and then at each other. It was 5 a.m. and Peanut showed no signs of falling asleep.
Eventually, she did fall asleep but woke up every half hour to demand her 'Du-du' loudly, falling back asleep within a couple of minutes, each time. Vijay and I woke up each time but it took us a lot longer to get back to sleep. As a consequence of which, we didn't actually sleep at all, but still dragged ourselves out of bed only at 8 a.m. and got late going to work.
I felt like I was going to collapse in the first half of the day, but a couple of cups of coffee and some paracetamol produced by my very kind-hearted young team members resulted in my bravely lasting through the rest of the day and actually managing to do a few productive things.
And now, at 10.30 p.m., again Peanut has just fallen asleep and I am about to go to bed. Sending up a silent prayer that she will not assume that 4 a.m. is now her official wake-up-and-play time.
In other words - Midnight feasts and all other night-time adventures appear highly overrated when you get to be an adult. Oh, to be ten again. Chalo, I can live that age vicariously through Peanut.
Should be fun.
Yawn.
G'night, all.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Phamily News! I'm a Bua!
Written by my sister - it's great to be able to outsource!
............................................................................................
A brand new little lady has made her entrance into the world today, far away in the UK. I am now a bua as well as maasi, my mom is a daadi as well as a naani and Peanut is a big sister as well as a little baby... well, you get the drift.My brother's sms announcing the birth of his daughter conveyed no emotion of the proud first time father. It read "Baby girl born at 11:40 am gmt via caeserian section! 3.3 kilos. Mum and baby fine."The exclamation mark is the only thing in the message that betrays any excitement - and that excitement seems directed more at the fact that it was a C-section. He's a doctor. Go figure. :)The baby is reported (by her rather biased maasi - my sister in law's sister) to be very pretty and fairer than the fairest of babies born in England. We hope to have some pictures soon. Questions like 'how much hair does she have on her head?', 'what shape is her nose?' etc. remain unanswered as yet. And she is yet to be named.We're now officially overrun with baby girls. The next generation is yet to see a boy. This baby is the fourth girl after my cousin A's two little daughters and of course, my sister Y's princess Peanut. Woo hoo to female domination!!! I hope to see the baby real soon, and especially to see Peanut with her little cousin.Happy birthday, little lady!!!
...........................................................................................................................
After the sister wrote this piece, the brother did deign to send pictures and the child is a far better looking version of her parents - chubby, chinky little doll! I think she looks a lot like I remember Peanut when she was born - although Peanut's earlier pictures often make me recoil and say 'She never looked like that!' I guess Peanut was just not very photogenic in those days. Just like me! I'm much better looking in real life than in any photo.
Anyway, coming back to the NEW little beauty in our family, I almost uploaded her picture before remembering that it is my blog and I haven't asked the brother for permission. Then I figured, forget it, we'll just keep in in the family - so the rest of you just have to live without it, or else consider yourself spared, depending upon your own personal philosophy about newborn baby pics. I do understand, by the way, despite being a proud parent and bua, considering Peanut's newborn pics (shudder).
I was chatting with my sister and she asked me in all seriousness 'Now that we're buas, don't you feel we ought to be fat and jolly?'. I think we may be a bit skewed in this regard by our own Bua, but I do tend to agree.
I refuse to be fat - incidentally I'm all skinny and awesomely fit at the current moment, ha ha, show-offing done - but I can be jolly!
So, Ho, Ho, Ho everyone! May you have Merry New Babies!
Yayyyyyy! A new little person to love!
P.S - Oh and congrats to the brother and the bhabhi. Well done on producing someone far better than you, in every conceivable way. Vijay and I know what that's like! Let's resolve to try and not ruin the perfection of our beautiful daughters. Kala Teeka time!
............................................................................................
A brand new little lady has made her entrance into the world today, far away in the UK. I am now a bua as well as maasi, my mom is a daadi as well as a naani and Peanut is a big sister as well as a little baby... well, you get the drift.My brother's sms announcing the birth of his daughter conveyed no emotion of the proud first time father. It read "Baby girl born at 11:40 am gmt via caeserian section! 3.3 kilos. Mum and baby fine."The exclamation mark is the only thing in the message that betrays any excitement - and that excitement seems directed more at the fact that it was a C-section. He's a doctor. Go figure. :)The baby is reported (by her rather biased maasi - my sister in law's sister) to be very pretty and fairer than the fairest of babies born in England. We hope to have some pictures soon. Questions like 'how much hair does she have on her head?', 'what shape is her nose?' etc. remain unanswered as yet. And she is yet to be named.We're now officially overrun with baby girls. The next generation is yet to see a boy. This baby is the fourth girl after my cousin A's two little daughters and of course, my sister Y's princess Peanut. Woo hoo to female domination!!! I hope to see the baby real soon, and especially to see Peanut with her little cousin.Happy birthday, little lady!!!
...........................................................................................................................
After the sister wrote this piece, the brother did deign to send pictures and the child is a far better looking version of her parents - chubby, chinky little doll! I think she looks a lot like I remember Peanut when she was born - although Peanut's earlier pictures often make me recoil and say 'She never looked like that!' I guess Peanut was just not very photogenic in those days. Just like me! I'm much better looking in real life than in any photo.
Anyway, coming back to the NEW little beauty in our family, I almost uploaded her picture before remembering that it is my blog and I haven't asked the brother for permission. Then I figured, forget it, we'll just keep in in the family - so the rest of you just have to live without it, or else consider yourself spared, depending upon your own personal philosophy about newborn baby pics. I do understand, by the way, despite being a proud parent and bua, considering Peanut's newborn pics (shudder).
I was chatting with my sister and she asked me in all seriousness 'Now that we're buas, don't you feel we ought to be fat and jolly?'. I think we may be a bit skewed in this regard by our own Bua, but I do tend to agree.
I refuse to be fat - incidentally I'm all skinny and awesomely fit at the current moment, ha ha, show-offing done - but I can be jolly!
So, Ho, Ho, Ho everyone! May you have Merry New Babies!
Yayyyyyy! A new little person to love!
P.S - Oh and congrats to the brother and the bhabhi. Well done on producing someone far better than you, in every conceivable way. Vijay and I know what that's like! Let's resolve to try and not ruin the perfection of our beautiful daughters. Kala Teeka time!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Peanut @ 15 months
Peanut actually gets funner (!) every month. I guess it's because this baby thing is new to me, I find it endlessly fascinating. Well, let's not say endlessly because I was pretty darn ready to go back to work after 10 months at home with her! But still - the point is that each new development is just so wondrous to me that I have a sneaking suspicion this fascination is perhaps swayed to the extreme by the fact that this particular child is mine, and that not everyone shares the same level of enthusiasm about a baby's monthly progress. However - this is my own space to be a completely starry-eyed and barmy parent, and therefore, onwards with a 15 month update.
- She is practically running around now, and let's be frank here - she's not very good at it. Yet, you have to give her points for trying. She has finally got slightly better with walking in shoes, too, and therefore I can now take her out to the park for a walk.
- Taking her to the park for a 'walk' is a bit theoretical though, because she's the sort who would rather watch the other kids from a safe distance - which means her clinging on to me for dear life. In general, she is at an embarrassingly anti-social age and I spend quite a bit of time answering well-meaning park people in a baby voice, on her behalf. You know, like
Well meaning Park Aunty - 'Oooh, Baby...how are YOU today?'
Peanut - (Looking the other way, the complete cold shoulder)
Me ( Stepping in to save the day, in a baby voice) Ooooh! I'm fine, Aunty. How are you?
It really is kind of stupid. Oh, well.
- She still continues with her fascination for older children, particularly girls, whom she calls 'Didi' quite indiscriminately, whether they are a few months or a few years older than her. In fact, come to think of it, she's not really giving the boys any attention at all, just seems to like the didis - who in turn, are very interested, gentle and sweet with her, in general. Unfortunately, though, our nice next-door neighbours have moved to Mumbai, taking their 20 month-old daughter, Sai with them ( which is understandable because it wouldn't really have made sense to leave her behind), and therefore, there is a gap in our lives which we are somehow trying to fill. I really hope we don't get nasty neighbours.
- Peanut also says quite a few things now, apart from the 'Mama', which is also used to refer to my mother and my sister. There's also 'Da-da' for Vijay, 'Pa-pa' for my grandfather, 'Bua' for my bua, 'Na-na' for my Foofaji ( wow, I have never used that word in real life and it looks funny, is it phoofaji? phoophaji? never mind). In case you've noticed, she is going to possibly grow up a little confused about these relationships with this kind of nomenclature logic, but never mind.
Oh, and Vinod, our driver, is called 'Meow' because that's something he says often to amuse her.
- Speaking of amusement, Peanut invents her own little ways to keep herself entertained. This includes stuff like climbing up and down steps a zillion times, with the K in close attendance. She also derives great pleasure from the strangest things, and it is an endless journey of discovery for us, to find those little things that are going to amuse her. For example, today, it was Vijay's knocking over the shade of a lamp that sent her into hysterics. She laughed so hard each time that we looked at each other, helplessly amused, thinking 'What's the big deal about this? It's just a lamp shade being knocked over', but it worked for her so we did it a thousand times. Of course, when we tried to turn the camera on her and then do it, she gave us a bored, quizzical look that said 'What's the big deal about this? Can't you guys come up with something better?'
- She still isn't a great eater, but certainly seems to have enough energy and to be making enough poopy to suggest that she is doing just fine, so I'm thinking I will really just be quitting worrying about it. I'm a great believer in not trying to force her to eat at any point of time but a lot of ominous prophecies from the family sometimes drive me to try a little harder than I should to get a spoonful into her - although it's quite a half-hearted effort and therefore predictably fails.
I know this has nothing to do with this post, but I have found myself doing a similar half-hearted effort thing when it comes to killing mosquitos. I do want to get rid of the damn pesky mosky but I can't quite bring myself to actually kill it most of the time. So when I do slap my hands together to kill it, I am just pretending to be aiming for it because I really actually just want to send it a message and tell it to go away and not bother me anymore - and therefore, I end up just missing it deliberately and then telling Vijay 'Damn! I missed - can you please kill it, honey?'
I had a lot more to write but Peanut is calling for me and it's time to go. I feel rather sorry to have to end this on a random mosquito note, but such is life.
Until next time.
- She is practically running around now, and let's be frank here - she's not very good at it. Yet, you have to give her points for trying. She has finally got slightly better with walking in shoes, too, and therefore I can now take her out to the park for a walk.
- Taking her to the park for a 'walk' is a bit theoretical though, because she's the sort who would rather watch the other kids from a safe distance - which means her clinging on to me for dear life. In general, she is at an embarrassingly anti-social age and I spend quite a bit of time answering well-meaning park people in a baby voice, on her behalf. You know, like
Well meaning Park Aunty - 'Oooh, Baby...how are YOU today?'
Peanut - (Looking the other way, the complete cold shoulder)
Me ( Stepping in to save the day, in a baby voice) Ooooh! I'm fine, Aunty. How are you?
It really is kind of stupid. Oh, well.
- She still continues with her fascination for older children, particularly girls, whom she calls 'Didi' quite indiscriminately, whether they are a few months or a few years older than her. In fact, come to think of it, she's not really giving the boys any attention at all, just seems to like the didis - who in turn, are very interested, gentle and sweet with her, in general. Unfortunately, though, our nice next-door neighbours have moved to Mumbai, taking their 20 month-old daughter, Sai with them ( which is understandable because it wouldn't really have made sense to leave her behind), and therefore, there is a gap in our lives which we are somehow trying to fill. I really hope we don't get nasty neighbours.
- Peanut also says quite a few things now, apart from the 'Mama', which is also used to refer to my mother and my sister. There's also 'Da-da' for Vijay, 'Pa-pa' for my grandfather, 'Bua' for my bua, 'Na-na' for my Foofaji ( wow, I have never used that word in real life and it looks funny, is it phoofaji? phoophaji? never mind). In case you've noticed, she is going to possibly grow up a little confused about these relationships with this kind of nomenclature logic, but never mind.
Oh, and Vinod, our driver, is called 'Meow' because that's something he says often to amuse her.
- Speaking of amusement, Peanut invents her own little ways to keep herself entertained. This includes stuff like climbing up and down steps a zillion times, with the K in close attendance. She also derives great pleasure from the strangest things, and it is an endless journey of discovery for us, to find those little things that are going to amuse her. For example, today, it was Vijay's knocking over the shade of a lamp that sent her into hysterics. She laughed so hard each time that we looked at each other, helplessly amused, thinking 'What's the big deal about this? It's just a lamp shade being knocked over', but it worked for her so we did it a thousand times. Of course, when we tried to turn the camera on her and then do it, she gave us a bored, quizzical look that said 'What's the big deal about this? Can't you guys come up with something better?'
- She still isn't a great eater, but certainly seems to have enough energy and to be making enough poopy to suggest that she is doing just fine, so I'm thinking I will really just be quitting worrying about it. I'm a great believer in not trying to force her to eat at any point of time but a lot of ominous prophecies from the family sometimes drive me to try a little harder than I should to get a spoonful into her - although it's quite a half-hearted effort and therefore predictably fails.
I know this has nothing to do with this post, but I have found myself doing a similar half-hearted effort thing when it comes to killing mosquitos. I do want to get rid of the damn pesky mosky but I can't quite bring myself to actually kill it most of the time. So when I do slap my hands together to kill it, I am just pretending to be aiming for it because I really actually just want to send it a message and tell it to go away and not bother me anymore - and therefore, I end up just missing it deliberately and then telling Vijay 'Damn! I missed - can you please kill it, honey?'
I had a lot more to write but Peanut is calling for me and it's time to go. I feel rather sorry to have to end this on a random mosquito note, but such is life.
Until next time.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Old....so old....
So guess what? I think I'm burning out - and I'm not even thirty yet.
Just came back after a week's holiday in Jaipur with the in-laws. Peanut stuck to me like glue throughout the trip, refusing to go to even the K or her Daddy for more than a few minutes at a time. The one time I did manage to get out of the house for some shopping, she was apparently fine, though. What is it about my presence that makes her become so clingy and whiny? Okay, the clingy part I get because it's kind of difficult to cling to someone who isn't there, but why whiney? What is it with the whining, I ask? Where does she get it from? Oh, right. Shut up and move on, Y.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The holiday is over, and it's back to work tomorrow - I'm telling you though, I need another holiday to recover from this one. What's that you say? I'm whining again? DAMMIT! Sorry, sorry. Let's try another thread.
---------------------------------------------------------------
After experimenting over the past year with train travel, air travel, car travel and even boat travel (yes, once, to Murud-Janjira), I have decided that that train travel suits us best, given how Peanut behaves on all other modes of transport. Well, to be honest, actually boat travel was the smoothest but I don't see that being practical for Delhi-Jaipur travel.
Anyway, on the way to Jaipur, Peanut was an angel - to be more specific, she slept for a while. But on the way back, she was on some sort of a sugar high or something, and was keen on exploring the whole train - at one point, one of the stewards (is that what they're called on trains?) muttered to Vijay while practically leaping over Peanut 'Sir, bacche ko godi mein bithaiye na', to which Vijay muttered to his retreating back 'Bhaiiya, tumhe hi bitha doon godi mein?'. It certainly would have been easier.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So we got back from Jaipur day before yesterday, and today just spent the day running a few errands here and there. Peanut, unfortunately, developed a high fever today - it just seems to come and go. Have been giving her doses of Crocin which brings it down for a while but then it clambers up again. Not sure what's wrong, but if she keeps it up, may need to take a little more time off to nurse her back to perfect health again.
Speaking of nursing, I am aware that I publicly declared that it is time to wean her, but now I'm publicly declaring that I don't think I will be doing it anytime soon. And not just because of the kind anonymous commentor who encouraged me to keep weaning ( Who are you, kind commentor? Are you my Raju Masi? Yes, people, I have a masi named Raju but don't worry, it's only her pet name). Anyway, the point I was trying to make before I meandered off course, was that I spoke to my boss, who has nursed her kids till they were at least two, and I think there are just too many benefits of this extended breastfeeding for both me and Peanut, and there's no real reason to rush it - plus, my visit to the paeditrician last week confirmed that she is on track with her weight gain although a little below average, and so it's okay to continue.
Of course, when she bites me at the end of a feed, I resolve 'never, never again' - the pain is just so acute at that point. Four sharp teeth digging into a rather tender part of your body. Shudder. In fact, she did it once on the train too, and my screams were audible at least twenty rows away. Vijay, grabbing every chance that he can, decided to comfort her and bravely offered her his finger, saying 'Come on, Peanut, you can chew on this'. The resultant scream was audible at least twenty five rows away.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
That reminds me, Vijay really does try hard to get some brownie points with Peanut, but as he says 'Aaj kal bilkul mujhe lift nahin deti'. I tell him to read her books to her, but she usually just snatches them out of his hands and brings them to me with a firm 'Mama' - clearly, I do it better. But Vijay makes the most of every opportunity - there is one book called 'Spot loves his Mum', which is all about the things that little puppy Spot does with his Mom. Vijay reads this one out loud without any major distortions in the story, save for the fact that he replaces 'Mum' with 'Daddy' every single time. There is also some rather undue emphasis on the Daddy part so it's -
'Spot loves his DADDY...
When spot hurts his knee, his DADDY makes him feel better...
Spot snuggles up to DADDY as he reads his favourite bedtime story...'
...and so on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a rather mish-mash post but given the paucity of time, what do you expect? I mean, what is it that you people want from me? I give, and I give, until there is nothing more left to give but still you clamour for more....okay, sorry again. I think I'm just in that kind of mood right now. I think the bit I mentioned about burning out is getting to me. I mean, a gal's got to have some time to herself, right? Why is it so impossible? Between work and Peanut, I'm just ready to completely pass out at the end of the day. I am fairly good with my exercise, and even dabble in a little yoga and meditation which gives me a good start to the day, but by the end of it, it just seems like another day has rushed by. Towards what end? Why? What is it that I am meant to be doing beyond just 'managing very well'. Have you ever got this feeling? Does it happen often? Does it go away? Does it chase you throughout your life? Well? Well?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the other hand, of course, there are these moments that I wouldn't give up for the world. I mean, we got Peanut this new red ball, and yesterday, Vijay and I were tossing it back and forth while she giggled and ran between the two of us trying to catch it. It struck me then that just a couple of years ago, Vijay and I couldn't have been playing this game of 'Beech ka bandar' because there would have been no bandar in the beech. And while it may seem like a slightly strange reason to have a baby, at that moment, it just seemed to fit very well, and frankly, Beech ka bandar is a lot of fun and it does make sense to have a third person in order for you to be able to play it.
It's just so strange, though if you can understand where I'm coming from on this one - We couldn't play this game two years ago - and now we can. There's a whole new person here, who wasn't there before. We created this little person, who is so much better than us in every way. This, my friends, is called evolution. And so, carrying on in the same vein, maybe someday we'll even be able to play doubles tennis - although I'm fairly sure that Peanut no. 2 is far away - until Peanut is old enough to help take good care of him/her.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discussing stuff like this makes me realize I'm in a slightly strange situation, which is that some people at work apparently read my blog. This wasn't the case in my earlier organization because no one but a few close family and friends read this blog at that time. Why are you work people reading me? Is it because you are genuinely interested in what I write or is it some sort of a sinister HR-driven plot to keep tabs on me? Delurk now and let me know the reason. I also know a couple of you have your own blogs but I haven't asked to read them only because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. If you like, you can leave a comment and I'll come by and visit.
This whole blogging thing is redefining social relationships, isn't it? So many people have blogs now. Frankly, a lot of them are crap but there are also a lot of them that are such interesting reads. In fact, what I miss is not just the time required to post more frequently but also the time required to read my favourite blogs and discover new ones. I feel I'm losing touch with some of my favourites...Parul, Kiran, Sur, Sue, Tharini, Dotmom, Cee Kay, Mona...sigh. Anyway, if you guys are reading this, just to let you know I'm thinking of you!
I was going to write a lot more, but I'm going to go now - will hopefully be posting a little more frequently, even if they are just little short posts.
So that's all I have to say for now. And you?
Just came back after a week's holiday in Jaipur with the in-laws. Peanut stuck to me like glue throughout the trip, refusing to go to even the K or her Daddy for more than a few minutes at a time. The one time I did manage to get out of the house for some shopping, she was apparently fine, though. What is it about my presence that makes her become so clingy and whiny? Okay, the clingy part I get because it's kind of difficult to cling to someone who isn't there, but why whiney? What is it with the whining, I ask? Where does she get it from? Oh, right. Shut up and move on, Y.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The holiday is over, and it's back to work tomorrow - I'm telling you though, I need another holiday to recover from this one. What's that you say? I'm whining again? DAMMIT! Sorry, sorry. Let's try another thread.
---------------------------------------------------------------
After experimenting over the past year with train travel, air travel, car travel and even boat travel (yes, once, to Murud-Janjira), I have decided that that train travel suits us best, given how Peanut behaves on all other modes of transport. Well, to be honest, actually boat travel was the smoothest but I don't see that being practical for Delhi-Jaipur travel.
Anyway, on the way to Jaipur, Peanut was an angel - to be more specific, she slept for a while. But on the way back, she was on some sort of a sugar high or something, and was keen on exploring the whole train - at one point, one of the stewards (is that what they're called on trains?) muttered to Vijay while practically leaping over Peanut 'Sir, bacche ko godi mein bithaiye na', to which Vijay muttered to his retreating back 'Bhaiiya, tumhe hi bitha doon godi mein?'. It certainly would have been easier.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So we got back from Jaipur day before yesterday, and today just spent the day running a few errands here and there. Peanut, unfortunately, developed a high fever today - it just seems to come and go. Have been giving her doses of Crocin which brings it down for a while but then it clambers up again. Not sure what's wrong, but if she keeps it up, may need to take a little more time off to nurse her back to perfect health again.
Speaking of nursing, I am aware that I publicly declared that it is time to wean her, but now I'm publicly declaring that I don't think I will be doing it anytime soon. And not just because of the kind anonymous commentor who encouraged me to keep weaning ( Who are you, kind commentor? Are you my Raju Masi? Yes, people, I have a masi named Raju but don't worry, it's only her pet name). Anyway, the point I was trying to make before I meandered off course, was that I spoke to my boss, who has nursed her kids till they were at least two, and I think there are just too many benefits of this extended breastfeeding for both me and Peanut, and there's no real reason to rush it - plus, my visit to the paeditrician last week confirmed that she is on track with her weight gain although a little below average, and so it's okay to continue.
Of course, when she bites me at the end of a feed, I resolve 'never, never again' - the pain is just so acute at that point. Four sharp teeth digging into a rather tender part of your body. Shudder. In fact, she did it once on the train too, and my screams were audible at least twenty rows away. Vijay, grabbing every chance that he can, decided to comfort her and bravely offered her his finger, saying 'Come on, Peanut, you can chew on this'. The resultant scream was audible at least twenty five rows away.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
That reminds me, Vijay really does try hard to get some brownie points with Peanut, but as he says 'Aaj kal bilkul mujhe lift nahin deti'. I tell him to read her books to her, but she usually just snatches them out of his hands and brings them to me with a firm 'Mama' - clearly, I do it better. But Vijay makes the most of every opportunity - there is one book called 'Spot loves his Mum', which is all about the things that little puppy Spot does with his Mom. Vijay reads this one out loud without any major distortions in the story, save for the fact that he replaces 'Mum' with 'Daddy' every single time. There is also some rather undue emphasis on the Daddy part so it's -
'Spot loves his DADDY...
When spot hurts his knee, his DADDY makes him feel better...
Spot snuggles up to DADDY as he reads his favourite bedtime story...'
...and so on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a rather mish-mash post but given the paucity of time, what do you expect? I mean, what is it that you people want from me? I give, and I give, until there is nothing more left to give but still you clamour for more....okay, sorry again. I think I'm just in that kind of mood right now. I think the bit I mentioned about burning out is getting to me. I mean, a gal's got to have some time to herself, right? Why is it so impossible? Between work and Peanut, I'm just ready to completely pass out at the end of the day. I am fairly good with my exercise, and even dabble in a little yoga and meditation which gives me a good start to the day, but by the end of it, it just seems like another day has rushed by. Towards what end? Why? What is it that I am meant to be doing beyond just 'managing very well'. Have you ever got this feeling? Does it happen often? Does it go away? Does it chase you throughout your life? Well? Well?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the other hand, of course, there are these moments that I wouldn't give up for the world. I mean, we got Peanut this new red ball, and yesterday, Vijay and I were tossing it back and forth while she giggled and ran between the two of us trying to catch it. It struck me then that just a couple of years ago, Vijay and I couldn't have been playing this game of 'Beech ka bandar' because there would have been no bandar in the beech. And while it may seem like a slightly strange reason to have a baby, at that moment, it just seemed to fit very well, and frankly, Beech ka bandar is a lot of fun and it does make sense to have a third person in order for you to be able to play it.
It's just so strange, though if you can understand where I'm coming from on this one - We couldn't play this game two years ago - and now we can. There's a whole new person here, who wasn't there before. We created this little person, who is so much better than us in every way. This, my friends, is called evolution. And so, carrying on in the same vein, maybe someday we'll even be able to play doubles tennis - although I'm fairly sure that Peanut no. 2 is far away - until Peanut is old enough to help take good care of him/her.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discussing stuff like this makes me realize I'm in a slightly strange situation, which is that some people at work apparently read my blog. This wasn't the case in my earlier organization because no one but a few close family and friends read this blog at that time. Why are you work people reading me? Is it because you are genuinely interested in what I write or is it some sort of a sinister HR-driven plot to keep tabs on me? Delurk now and let me know the reason. I also know a couple of you have your own blogs but I haven't asked to read them only because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. If you like, you can leave a comment and I'll come by and visit.
This whole blogging thing is redefining social relationships, isn't it? So many people have blogs now. Frankly, a lot of them are crap but there are also a lot of them that are such interesting reads. In fact, what I miss is not just the time required to post more frequently but also the time required to read my favourite blogs and discover new ones. I feel I'm losing touch with some of my favourites...Parul, Kiran, Sur, Sue, Tharini, Dotmom, Cee Kay, Mona...sigh. Anyway, if you guys are reading this, just to let you know I'm thinking of you!
I was going to write a lot more, but I'm going to go now - will hopefully be posting a little more frequently, even if they are just little short posts.
So that's all I have to say for now. And you?
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