Keeping Cool

I love kids and I really do. I loved kids from when I was a kid myself. I played, pampered, fed and took care of them…my cousin's kids in case you are wondering.

I normally don't loose my cool when handling Aarush and don't even mind him making the house messy or doesn't sleep all night or cries or throw a fit or wants me to hold him all day.
But after a long day at work, come home -cook, give him a bath and just when I am ready to feed him he refuses to eat or eats very less. I consider the options of  'this may not be his fav' or 'he may not be hungry' and prepare another meal or another time -nope he doesn't want it either. I distract him with random things and feed him, this works sometimes but now he's outgrown all the silly things I distract him with. And then my friends, I loose it and scream at him and poor guy puts this 'Papam' face twisting his mouth in that 'I am hurt and ready to cry' way and I try to keep that serious 'I am Angry at you' face but feel deeply sorry for what I've done. After which I decide not to worry about anything..he doesn't eat- he'll eat when hungry or he'll have milk or that fruit or this snack. This serene and patient phase goes on for some days and again on one of those 'bad/tired/my baby is so skinny days' I loose it again:( . Kiran insists on putting him in the high chair and make him realise 'high chair= eating food time' and I tried doing that just one day and I had to clean the carpet, the whole high chair full of split food. May be I should try this more often until he gets it. The one day I remember him eating to  my hearts content was when our community lawn mowers came in and doing their job, he was busy figuring out and I was busy/happy feeding him taking advantage of his new found entertainment. Wish I could call them everyday and night to mow the lawn;) His pediatrician says he's doing good and very active and tells me not to worry and he'll know when he's full. But I just can't get over " I want my baby to be fat & chubby"deal.

I so wanted to appreciate my cousin 'Padmaja' for her patience with little Nishanth. He is an absolute darling. Hez well ahead for his age and the only disppointing fact is he doesn't eat at all. He shuts his mouth so tight that  an ant can't get inside, She manages to feed him with never ending stories and fun things and doesn't mind even if that ordeal takes hours. I would freak out if I was her and god bless her patience and give me some.

Elmo Fever

Elmo  found yet another home to make friends with Aarush. The thing laughs when tickled once, laughs some more when tickled twice and laughs more with vibrations for the third time.The first time we gave him the laughing elmo he hugged it and when it started laughing & shaking , he enjoyed it and started to scream with it. We couldn't make him stand straight and pose for the camera and so no pictures in this post.

I love it when kids cling on to a soft toy and take it with them while they sleep, play, walk, talk and do whatever, it all looks so cute. I thought he would do all that with his new friend Elmo but no, it is just any another toy he has. He was pretty excited the first time he saw it and played until we stopped tickling the toy and it stopped laughing. I am thinking of getting him those guy toys( Cars , trucks....) and letz see how he does ..

Toddlerism

This post is to help all the ignorant souls trying to figure out what toddler-ism is all about? read on and enlighten yourselves.
To me, the word "infant" rhymes with innocence, baby like, cooing, smiles and all such sweet things.
and "Toddler" for some reason rhymes with naughtiness, tantrums,imitation, monkey like,babbling,destruction, exploring,curious,fast learning,intense mobility,gawking, smiling more often and on and on and on...
And here's some proof to what I had to say.....

Mom Lets start with a fresh load of laundry
Toddler: Let me pick out and press them for you mom

Mom: Hey baby, play with this new toy I bought you
Toddler: Silly mom, why do you waste money when I am happy and content with dish washer and utensils

Mom: How do you like this park?
Toddler: Do we seriously have to drive this far?I just need some sand and mud to play with!

Mom: Lets have some fresh and fun bath time
Toddler: I like it better being inside the bucket than outside.

Toddler: Don't you think I look cute and adorable in my new PJ's
Mom: Well, can't deny that!!!!

that's my toddler for you.

14 @ 1

Oh my my ....I was counting the number of times Aarush took a flight in his first year and it was totaling to 14 times. What kind of Gen is this? The first time I ever flew was when I was 20 yrs old and I remember being so scared of that damn flight. Well, at 20 you are mature enough to imagine the consequences when something happens up in the air :p

So when Aarush was 3 months old we flew to Chicago with my mom,@ 7 months to NJ for Christmas, @11 to India, @11 to Vizag twice, @11 to Bangalore, @12 to Baltimore. He's been a good boy and a great co-passenger(touch-wood) throughout his travel.
Way to go Mr.Frequent Flier!!!!

Happy 1'st Birthday Aarush

Yayyyyyyyy......Aarush is 1 year old today.

My little baby is grown into a walking talking (Read babbling) toddler.

There was a major growth spurt the past 1 month. He now can wave bye, walk/run, feeds himself, stack blocks (destroy stacked towers) and babble.

Back to reality!!!

We are back from a fantastic vacation in India. Aarush got to meet all of his family, extended family and friends. There was always somebody to entertain/distract/console/play with Aarush. I wish it was like that forever.There is so much to write about our India trip and I don't know where to start, but let me try:

The Clan at mama's wedding

 

The journey went fine- he slept through the first flight and was on and off in the second leg. Big thanks to those bassinet seats, Aarush could sleep comfortably. Aarush had no stranger anxiety until our trip in fact when we took him to the temple just before we left he went to random people and happily ate the prasadam they offered. But in India he would cling on to me the whole time. he was fine if he doesn't see me but the moment he spots me he wouldn't go to anybody else.

It was scorching heat in India and we traveled to a million places, Mr. Cool guy was so adaptable and never bothered me.

Thanks to Aarush's Nannamma for a warm welcome

 

We offered his hair at Annavaram, all went fine and Aarush became Gundu Boss

It was so nice to see Aarush and his great grand mom play together. Aarush also met his great-great grand mom ( my grand mom's mom), she of course was not in a very good shape at that time but I was happy to meet her. 

 

One of the highlights of our trip was Aarush's walking milestone. He took his first few steps in Vizag home and there was no stopping after that. He walked and fell and walked again and fell again. Now he runs!

The 3 musketeers( Aarush, Megha and Nishanth) played (read destroyed) as a team and would want the same toy/thing/crap to play with at the same time. They successfully made pieces out of my parent's landline telephone.

Aarush's fav spot was the balcony in my parent's home. He would go there the moment we opened the door and stand there looking at people, vehicles, dogs etc.

Like they say, 'History Repeats', Aarush did exactly what Kiran did in his childhood, take things from home and throw them out on road this time it was throwing out from our balcony.

We did a bunch of things leaving the kids to our parents..aah bliss it was. I never wanted the vacation to end but all good things come to an end and so was our vacation.


Just the day we were to start Aarush was super cranky and when I checked he developed diaper rash, I was terrified imagining the journey but  "all (was)is well" I changed him every 2 hours with a good amount of desitin and voila it was gone by the time we reached home. I must write about the huge baby room in Frankfort airport- it was THE BEST PLACE, I could give Aarush a good shower and he was so fresh and ready for the second half of journey.

Aarush slept by the time we reached home (Hello Jet Lag!!) and felt out of place when he woke up in the middle of night. He caught some stupid stomach virus and has been sick since we came from India. It is only now that he is getting better and back to routine.