Sidekick

Yesterday I was fixing to turn in for the night. I was brushing in the bathroom, when suddenly a flurry of giggles ran towards me, past me and then off it disappeared. In a few seconds the whirlwind came back again; and just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone again! 

Little miss Haana and Bobby boy were working together. Big sister was whispering to the boy just outside the bedroom door. They giggled at their shared secret. Then he ran towards the closet, carrying his monster ball, sucking his thumb, and giggling at their delicious shared secret. Then little miss Haana ran behind him, all secretive, telling him to run back towards him. And they both ran out of the closet together giggling into each other's ears. I watched this parade with questioning eyes and a toothbrush in my mouth. 

Later miss Haana quipped; Bobby boy is now her sidekick. I think that's his new name. She tells him to go run up somewhere, and the little boy, biggest fan of the big sister, is delighted to do her bidding. Runs off in the direction he's been instructed, delighted to be her sidekick. Giggling at the prospect. Prancing about in sheer happiness. Bobby boy is a prancer! Big sister Haana is happy with her sidekick!

Hair Cut

Sweet Bobby boy's hair were a bit of a late bloomers. When he was a year old or younger, he hardly had much hair on his head. But then, sometime after his first birthday, it seemed like suddenly he had a head full of hair. And they were oh so curly! Locks of springy curls. So wonderful! Sometimes I lamented he got crazy hair like mine. It was crazy no doubt. But on him, it looked so cute in a crazy, wild kind of way that can best be described as 'Bobby-ish'. 

But then lately, his hair was getting longer too. We had started making a bun for him in the morning. And I have to say, it was the most good looking man bun ever! Sometimes I used to put a white bow clip on his hair, little miss Haana's of course! Sometimes people would refer to him as a 'her', no doubt because of the bow. But I don't care.. when little miss Haana was a baby, she didn't have much hair for a long time. Even though she would be dressed from head to toe in pink, some odd person would ask me, "What is his name?"! 

I had been thinking I need to find a place where we can take Bobby for his first hair cut. But I was making no progress on it. It's hard to guess how things might go in a new place. One day, a couple weekends back, Rajesh took out his clippers and decided he's just going to do it today. Little Bobby boy was placed on his high chair and dressed in a plastic robe. Favorite thing Coco Melon was tuned in on the TV. And then, the clippers were put to work. Bobby boy didn't mind at all. Soon, a bigger looking boy emerged, with short short hair. And all the curls were gone. I looked at them with some sadness. I hope they come back, all in their curly springy wild wonder! I remember Softy mausi said she had curly hair when she was very young, but they're all straight and smooth now. I hope Bobby boy's hair don't give up on their craziness! I liked them! A lot! 

I saved one springy curl from the aftermath of the haircut. I saved it in a small zip lock bag just for me. My sweet Bobby boy's first hair cut.

Oh! Peepee

Some babies like to play. Some babies like to talk. But some other babies like to just run away!

This evening, I had just gotten Bobby boy out of his bath and wiped him dry. I wanted to pin him down, creme him up and put him in his diaper. But things rarely go as per my plan. Instead, as soon as I got done drying his baby body, Bobby boy scuttled away towards the closet. Once there, he hid behind my tall dresses, in the far corner of the closet. I figured I will grab hold of him in a minute. But before that happened, the little naked boy, crouched down and yelped "Oh!" with equal parts surprise and delight. Like one feels about a package that gets delivered earlier than expected; or you find your favorite movie or TV show suddenly available for streaming. An unexpected delicious surprise. Bobby boy exclaimed "Oh!". Then continued with "Oh! Peepee!". I turned to look, he was crouching down and pointing to a pool that had just appeared on closet floor. 

I grabbed him before things got worse, and put him into a diaper. I got a little mad at not having trapped his baby butt in a diaper before the accident. But once I cleaned up, I thought the "Oh!! Peepee!" reaction was hilarious!! He thought so too!

Guided Tour

Little Bobby boy loves going to the play ground. But he doesn't just do it all alone, Bobby boy takes his beloved monster ball along for the ride. 

Yesterday at the party ground, Bobby took his monster ball, climbed up the stairs in the playground, sat the monster ball down on the side, and pushed. The little ball went rolling down the slide in a hurry,  then flopped down amongst the wood chips! Bobby boy giggled and went down the slides himself. 

Then,  the little boy took his monster ball over to the swings. Kept the ball at the swing, and slowly and gingerly pushed the swing. The ball flopped down in stead. 

Bobby boy proceeded to show the monster ball other fun things around the play ground. The ball got a good guided tour! 

Nursing Bye Bye

This week, after all, I finally, totally, with some deliberation, stopped nursing. 

I had planned and hoped to nurse for 1 year, same as for little miss Haana. But these past 2 years have been different. With covid, I was able to stay at home in stead of return to work. Most technology work is now remote, so there was no return to office. So, in short, there was no big event that made nursing too inconvenient, so I just continued. Then, with covid vaccines, I figured the boy will get some protection through breast milk. Add to all that, with covid, there's been significant reduction in going out. 

All of this made is more conducive to continue nursing. 

But there was one more reason. Unlike little miss Haana who is a sound sleeper, little Bobby boy is a very light sleeper. And he's super active through the day, with constant non stop moving about. Doesn't give much of a chance for mumma to hug and kiss him. He's too busy for that showing him down. Haana was this way too, but then she would sleep like there's no tomorrow, and I would use my chance to hug and kiss her while she sleeps. No such luck with the boy, though. He would stand up in attention if he hears a creak of the door. So when can i just hold him and tell him what a wicked sweet thing he is.. And that he didn't need to be this sweet and lovely, that all his needs would've been meet even if he was less sweet, but then he decided to become just too sweet and lovely. And that he's so tiny and yet he knows and gets everything of interest to him, how?! And that he is the sweetest baby boy thing. When he's nursing was the time when I would have these one sided conversations with him. And I loved them immensely!! 

So it was kind of hard to stop nursing for that reason. But he's close to 2 and I saw some signs that he was ready to move on. Here's to the most over rated sport - growing up!

Fossil Rim Safari

Over the holidays we got together with Kirthi aunty and Karthik uncle and sweet Varam to go to the Fossil Rim safari. They provide a cup full of feed for the animals, all herbivores, and as the animals come up close to the car window, you can feed them. It was a 2 hour drive. Little miss Haana and I were quite excited. I intended to lure the animals close to the window and pet them while they're close enough. Last time we had come here, little Bobby boy was 4 months old. I remember because we saw 4 month old cheetah cubs that time (separate enclosure), and I thought they were so cute, but my 4 month old cub was more good looking! 

Once we reached we haggled at the engraved to see if we can get another cup of feed. In stead they just have us another cup to divide the feed amongst us. Little miss Haana got one cup, and I took the other. Both of us shouting out various noises to the unsuspecting mountain goats, ibexes, deer, and others from opposite window of the car. Soon little Bobby boy was interested too. He wanted to feed the animals too, but right when they got real close to the window, he was scared and dropped the feed or of the window. He giggled at this. I sat with him and I braved it, having the mountain goat eat out of my hand.. bobby boy giggled at that too. 

Soon though another thought came to him though. What does the feed taste like? Next time i turned to face Bobby, his cheeks were puffy with a minced grass or hay pellet. "Oh no Bobby!! No eating the feed!!", I exclaimed. I pryed my fingers into the puffy cheeks to extract the feed out, but was only half way successful. A small piece came out. But the rest was still in his mouth, and bobby boy quickly jumped to the back seat and away from my arms reach, defensively. "This is mine" written all over his puffy cheeks and face. I gave in. I accepted it as part of Fossil Rim adventures. 

As we went through the rest of the safari, we met several emus, for who we threw out some feed (no hand feeding to these guys), and some ortriches (close the window on these ones). 

We met a giraffe too and little miss Haana hung outside the car window to feed the giraffe the last remaining remnants of the feed we got. Bobby was much amused too. He had only ever seen a giraffe in a book or the toy giraffe he got from Keith over Christmas. This one was much much bigger! 

As always it was a good trip! The kids had fun. On the way back he had a picnic lunch. Bobby boy didn't eat much. Yet I'm sure it was an interesting tasting trip for him!

Everything Ok?

"Ouuch!", she yelled. 

Little miss Haana had gone into the study to put away her violin. She had been practicing all afternoon. In the study she had stubbed her toe against something. Dad asked from where he was, "Everything ok?". Before she could answer, the little Bobby boy dropped whatever he was playing with and ran towards the study. "OK? ok?" He asked as he ran over to check to little miss Haana. I had a cuteness over load!