tiiiiii

Its strange how little we know about our babies even though we would like to think they are our allotrophes.
I like playing peek-a-boo with my daughter...I hide behind curtains and jump out exclaiming " tiiii. tiii"

Sometimes she gives a bored laugh (huh! seen this before , nextt!!!! ) or a bland face (maybe if I stare enough she would leave these histrionics ).

So today in wee hours of the morning our lady woke up ,looking for entertainment ..I signalled to my husband to pretend we are sleeping so that the lady does back to dozing .
Not her plans.

The lady crawled up to me hid behind my blanket , jumped out and exclaimed "tii tii ".

Who could pretend sleeping after that?

Take a stand

So last night we were having our dinner . Tish had already been fed her bowl of broccoli masala oats and her grandpa was trying to unsuccessfully keep her off our "batpalav" while she howled and tried to attack bowls of rice and aloo matar.

This will start making sense to you when you understand a kashmiri dinner setting . All kashmiris, the hi-fi and the not so hi-fi spread a cloth on the carpet /bed and then keep all utensils on it and eat . We abhor dining tables. So now you can see how its easy for a kid to crawl and jump into a bowl and do as she pleases .

So back to the story , the kid was trying to get hold of stuff or at least pots and pans when for a moment she stood up..all on her own ..and we were all like ...hey look , she is standing , she is standing ...for around 5 seconds and then she plopped down on her granny's back .

I didn't know such small moments could get imprinted on your brain , but apparently they do 

brushy brushy baby

Honestly , I am not very particular about dental hygiene ....call it a bed-tea connoisseur's whim or laziness...but I brush my teeth once a day and that too since I have to .

But we don't let our mistakes and bad habits reflect on our kids; do we ?

So i started brushing Tish's teeth last week ...I was a bit skeptical since she didn't take well to bulb syringe and other fancy instruments that I have regularly pulled out to make things easier . I bought a finger toothbrush and approached her and with great deal of hesitation and inserted it in her mouth .

Huh ! she took to it immemdiately .

I guess its because her other teeth are sprouting and she wants her teeth brushed and brushed and brushed ... once i am done brushing she cries as she wants to continue doing it .

Seems this girl is not going to follow the dental laziness route like her mama

Those cute little pearls

And the baby has four small teeth now .....

crawling

The problem with most of the people in society is that they are always worried about others. Which is fine , really , as long as the worry is not based on comparisons.

 I hate comparisons...I have hated them all my life and have often done the opposite of what I was supposed to only because a comparison was made. That's why I decided early that I am never going to subject my kids to it ...no matter what .

But then...ah! the society .

After Tish recovered from a bout of dengue ...we kind of knew that she would meet her milestones on the later side.Which to me was fine since I am never bother about that milestone competition anyway ....but it irked me to no end when relatives would pop up with stupid questions like  , " Why doesn't Tish crawl yet ? My grandson has started running at 9 months ..." Well lady good for you !Please scoot out of my house and run around your said grandson.

So on her 9th month "birthday " , I was pleasantly surpised to  see Tish trying to crawl to a toy to claim it ..in my excitement ..I placed the toy here and there just to see her try to catch it while the lady in question got irritated with her mommies behavior and decided it wasn't worth all that work anyway .

Its a funny crawl..its like  how a serpent moves , supporting her body on her stomach ..whats called "pet ke bal chalna "....so long as she is mobile ...at least she would have fun .

Though the worry mongers have changed their  questions to "why does she crawl in such a strange manner ?My grandson used to ..... "

Flute Cut -Yo!

So it was that time again ....time to get Tish's hair cut .

Now before someone plans to get my goat... i didn't follow any customary mundan or take her to a temple for her first haircut ...she has hair like her momma that grows in all directions so I asked my MIL what should we do about it ...While the hairbands looked cute... the hair would still protrude from every nook and corner as if shouting ..look at me ! look at me !.
My MIL is a cool lady ..she said , " Apply your commonsense lady ,when hair grows, we cut it ."
What about Mundan,shagun etc..
" Aaj Eid hai ...must be a good day , ask your husband to cut her hair ..."

So that was her first haircut .

This time around though , it was difficult...The lady  is adept at throwing  her hands around and moves her head very swiftly ...the papa of the lady wanted to do the honours again since last time everyone went "aaawwww....kitna cute haircut hai kahaan se karwaya ".

So hubby started cutting her hair while i brought out my bansuri (I kid you not) and started playing to her ...she held her head straight and just looked and looked at me (and the flute ) and her haircut was a cakewalk ...
except for a few jiggy-jaggy hair which hubby could make no sense of and was too scared to cut since it seemed it was very near to the scalp.

So that's what its now ...flute cut ...seems next time I would have to bring out my veena .

All those chemicals

Its funny how becoming a mommy changes you as a shopper... earlier you would buy stuff thats latest,branded ..go to high end salons and purchase whatever those ladies would schlepp down your shoulder.You just didn't seem to mind. Life was all glitzy doo and you were a part of a seemingly-never-ending-soiree.
Not now.
Suddenly as a new mommy, you become aware of the dreaded word chemicals. you start searching for organic produce, look into ingredients of erstwhile innocous stuff like detergents, baby shampoos and pronounce them all scary. Then you scoot around the town to look for something which seems less vicious ..you go frantic with sanitizing and sterilizing .Some of us double sterilize and wash clothes with antibacterial detergents followed by dettol wash and go bonkers when babies still fall sick.
What's the solution , eh?
While i know my opinion might also be wrong , but I seriously believe a little bit of dirt is far less scary than a fistful of chemicals..so i try to go as natural as possible...use soap nuts/mild detergents for wash..sterilize but dont go overboard...try to use cloth diapers whenever possible . This idea may not be foolproof but at least my mind is at rest.
And i always read the ingredients..that way i get scary shocked to realize even some mouth wipes may contain parbens so i use washcloths instead...Its easy, and you end up realising that best things in life are usually very cheap.