All by Herself

This day should go down in history as the day my little girl actually had (and finished) her dinner (which mostly ended up in her tummy and not the floor) ALL BY HERSELF!

Yes. Just today over lunch I was lamenting to my friend what has come over my little baby- lately she's gotten whiff of this terrible thing called independence. All parents would agree. I would want to give a good 'talking-to' to the person who first introduced the concept (sorry Ayn Rand - I've loved you all my pre-Suhaana years, but looks like we might need to take a break!) - especially to my little baby. But it's possible she just stumbled upon it all by herself ( I looked for a scapegoat and didn't find one).

So in this new spirit of independence, she was intent upon feeding herself last couple weeks. Which translated itself into- we place the girl on high chair, put food on her plate. She proceeds to prod it with her fingers, smash it between her palms, rotate it all over the plate, smoother it out on the food tray, take it to her mouth (we're watching in foolish hope and excitement at this point), then very soon, spits it out with her tongue, picks it up again, smashed it some more with her fingers. Puts it back on the tray, then picks it up. Finally, coolly tosses it out of the tray on to the floor! It was diving me crazy!!

So anyone would appreciate what happened today. Fearing the worst, a bowl of rice and grilled fish was presented on the tray to her. First, she coolly picked up the Cod and segregated it on the side. That was the end of the fish. Then, using her spoon proceeded to feed herself the wild rice one spoonful at a time! I could barely believe myself. And did not even react till she was finished so I don't jinx myself!

Only after she was done and I picked her up that I told Raj what a wonderful baby I've gotten.. My absolute, hands-down, no-question-about-it best mama's baby in the whole world!

Wiper Blades

You know good wiper blades when you see them in action. I saw one today and I knew it was good.

I was at the day care lady's to pick up Suhaana this evening. Her older daughter, 10, and I were talking about cell phones and photos. (Both her daughters are incredibly sweet, loving and cute. Both dote on Suhaana. Suhaana enjoys their company thoroughly.) Soon we started looking at photos on my phone. There are 846 mostly of the little girl. We were sifting through them, commenting, laughing, giggling at how much more hair the little girl had before we got her haircut, how cute she looks, how she was wearing Rudolf slippers etc. And then we stumbled upon this video from maybe 6 months back. I didn't even remember about it. And here's how it goes:

Suhaana is sitting on her high chair. And Papa is trying to feed her. A spoon filled with food bravely starts on the treacherous journey towards the little baby on high chair. As soon as the spoon is within a feet from her, severe shaking of her head begins- dodging mechanism or wiper blades in highest speed and motion?

Soon Papa is deciding to really give it a twist. Now, it's just his hand moving towards the little girl on high chair, as if to feed her, but no spoon, no food.

Result? Same as above. Fully-functional-well-oiled-in-warranty-wiper-blade movements to dodge whatever it is that might come close to perhaps feeding her!

We had so much fun watching the video.. And I was surprised and thankful some phases have passed!

Push The Red Button

Suhaana has a big toy to keep her busy while she sits in the high chair. It's a big (1 feet tall) tree with a monkey and frog jumping down from its branches. A parrot and parakeet sit on a wheel between the two branches and rotate round and round. A blue and green turtle sits on a yellow Dias that rotates and croaks when you turn the turtle around. On the other side, a blue lizard sits atop a red button. The button makes a different sound everytime you press it.

I pressed the red button once with my right index finger and it made an elephant trumpet sound. Suhaana observed closely. Her right hand inched closer and she pressed the red button herself- hoping for the same sound- but this time it was a monkey shout. She evaluated what went wrong. Then, grabbed my right index finger and took it to the red button to press it!

I have no idea what sound it made 'cause I laughed and laughed!! Suhaana looked at me wondering what happened to mummy.