Only 2 Hands

In the morning when little Bobby boy wakes up, he feeds and typically falls right back to sleep. I keep watching him sleep in my arms. With my one hand caressing his head, another his back. Then my one hand touching his sweet cheeks, another holding his soft baby arm. Then my one hand holding his hand and another around his legs. Then one hand touching his sweet baby nose and ears and another caressing the side of his tummy. The only problem is, i want to do all of that all together and i only got 2 hands!

Roly Poly

Typically little Bobby boy wakes up from the night's sleep between 430 and 530am. Has his fill of milk and most days goes back to sleep. Then, he wakes up again between 7 and 830. This time, he has his milk and now, is wide awake. It's time to play! He's looking for faces to smile at, laugh with, giggle and cycle together. 

Yesterday, after a good session of play time together, I was putting the boy in his crib for tummy time while I go and brush. It's no secret. He does not like his tummy time, he tries to get himself out of it and swing back on his back, but he can't on his own, most of the time he ends up frustrated (some other times he gives up and goes to sleep!). This day, though, he was somehow able to swing from his tummy to his back! I clapped and cheered and hooted when I saw what he did. He stared back at me wondering what all the fuss was about! 

Later on the day, he did it again. This time little miss Haana saw it too and we both made some noise together! My boy has turned into a roly poly!!!

In another roly poly news, little miss Haana has decided to keep a roly poly as a pet. Her name is Rola. Miss Haana created a habitat for Rola, and there she lives. I've been trying to convince her to release Rola to the "wild", but that's still work in progress!

Here's to all the roly polys of the world! :)

Tummy Time

Yesterday evening, I put little Bobby boy on a play mat on his tummy. Putting small babies on their tummy is important for their physical and mental development. It encourages them to pull up their heads, bringing better head and neck control as well as better motor control. Tummy time also ensures their skull, that is still made of disjointed bones, is developing well. I'm sure there are other benefits i'm missing here.

So, last night, I thought it's time to crack the whip  and get the boy working on his tummy. I was bracing for the worst too; little miss Haana didn't make any secrets about her dislike for the tummy time. As a baby she would hate it, grunt, get red in the face, get mad and finally scream bloody murder! But not the boy. He froze for a few seconds, trying to figure out what's happening. But then he pulled up his head, turned to the other side. He did this several times. Kicked his legs too.

Little miss Haana and I watched these efforts with the excitement of cheerleaders. We clapped and cheered him on,  "Yeah! You can do it!". The obvious next step for our cheerleading was to come up with our own jingle to cheer him on, although, there wasn't a direct connection between his efforts and our cheer leading.
"G.O.B.O.B.B.Y, yeah, Go Bobby, Yeah Go Bobby...", I went, while little miss Haana came up with the beats vocals for it! And most certainly encouraged by our singing and instrumentals, the trooper boy kicked on!! :D

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!

From Tripod to Table

Sifting through some photos, shouldn't call them old photos, they're just from 2 or 3 weeks back. And I realized I forgot to log this:
What started off as a tripod is now a table. This little girl Suhaana keeps trying to get up, and reach places , touch enticing new things and finally put them in her mouth. But earlier she was not able to get up much at all. Up until 2-3 weeks back, she would get on her tummy and either be able to get up on her legs or be able to get up on her hands, both wouldn't happen at the same time. So, she used to end up doing a combination.


She would get on her tummy, get up on her hands, look around and chart out interesting toys to taste, then fall back on her tummy. Then get up on her legs, her head sliding away on the carpet or mattress as she charts her way in the general direction of the toy. I used to call this one her tripod stage- with her feet and head sliding away on the carpet and her butt kissing the sky!

But no more. She's graduated since. Now she's able to quickly get on her tummy and get on all fours. I'm watching out for that initial first step of crawling stage. So far, she takes one step then falls over. I don't think that counts.. But we're very, very close.,

Milestone Rollover -Part 2

Suhaana had cracked the code for rolling over from her tummy to back sometime ago. Mainly it was a discovery born out of her deep dislike of forced tummy time. She was glad she found a way to wiggle out of them. But this week she cracked the more tricky back-to-tummy code. Here's how it happened:

When we lay Suhaana down on her play-mat, she tends turns on her side. Often it is just so she can follow some bright lights or a person of keen interest (usually translates to her grand mother). I didn't really pay much attention to it till a couple days back she started leaning on to her side so much that she almost fell on her tummy. Almost there but not quite. Her hand would get stuck somehow.

But he little girl is quite a fighter. She kept trying and trying.. Rolling back on her back and then leaning on the side again to get some momentum.. I should probably mention that at this point both her grandmother and I were hovering like busy bees over her play-mat egging her on!

And then suddenly it worked. Due to the momentum, she finally landed on her tummy. I think she herself was a little stunned what happened.. But while she was musing over 'How'd I end up here', I was all over her! Loading her with hugs and kisses at an important milestone reached! Now I can answer "How's Suhaana?" questions with a proud "She rolls over" response.

Milestone - rollover

As this week draws to a close, there was a big milestone that Suhaana made that I haven't yet mentioned.

Last week, as I was giving little Suhaana her oil massage, I put her on her tummy for tummy time. Now, even though tummy time is good for babies to help them develop good head and neck control and motor skills, it's not Suhaana's favorite time of the day.

Earlier, when she was younger, as soon as we used to put her for tummy time, she used to go all red in the face and visibly unhappy. It used to scare me, as if we're hurting her. Checked with her doctor and got the prognosis that she's just mad because it's mildly uncomfortable.

But lately she's been doing exceedingly good! But the best came when I was giving her an oil massage last week and put her on her tummy, she kept sort of fidgeting, being mildly uncomfortable. And then as she was leaning on to one side, before either of us realized she turned over from tummy to back. I was thrilled but the suspicious.. Wad this a real rollover or was it a fluke? So, I got her on her tummy again. And she did it again!
At this point I was like going wild cheering her on! She rolled over with such ease that she was probably looking at me and wondering was the hoopla was all about. Nevertheless, I was thrilled.

Now, as I look back and write this, and contemplate a working life outside of home, I wonder how many of her milestones I might miss by just not being around.