If you are wondering that why I wasn't more ardent in recording the things you did in the first 6 months of your life, let me tell you that I was busy experiencing the fun you brought into our lives. And really, I had to choose between living the moments and logging them, I was that short of time and I chose the former. But, as you turned 6 months old, this month (on 7th Sep), I can't let this milestone pass without notice. So, let me tell you how much and how well have you grown in these six months.
Month 1: We came home from the hospital when you were just 6 days old. As I was waiting at the hospital gate for Ritesh to bring the car, I felt so proud in holding you. And I was aware of others' admiring looks in your direction. Already? I thought. Well, you slept throughout your first car ride. And, in that first month, you slept very well during the day. Night time, although was a different story. You thought that it was the time to see the world, know your parents and do things in general. Your daddy cleverly thought that it must be light which makes you sleep during the day and the absence of it keeps you up at night. So, we started sleeping with the lights switched on. That enabled you to sleep for a few extra...minutes! I can't imagine what we would do if it was not for Ajis who took care of everything and everybody, kept the house running, kept you happy with oil massages, hot baths and songs and helped me in recovering after the surgery. And of course, they loved spending time with you as much as you with them. And, you had started to smile, though it had nothing to do with us or so we thought...till one evening as Ritesh came back from work and went straight to you, as he usually did, you smiled at him! It was hard to tell then whose smile was broader. I thought it was a mere coincidence but then, another evening and another, and we were left in no doubt that it was a proper smile and was intended towards your dad!
Month 2: Well, sweetheart, at this stage you were beginning to be more interested in the world. And, the first thing that caught your fancy was the heat vent in the ceiling. You would look at it and smile. Just pure joy at the sight of it! It had to do something with its round shape. Yes, that was your favourite shape, so when you were in not so happy mood, we showed you CDs, bangles... round plates and bowls too. Also, you loved the red fish of your first play gym and didn't mind spending some time with it. Your love for marine creatures encouraged us to get a mobile with different coloured fishes and star fishes for your cot. You enjoyed watching them so much so that we sometimes suspected that you would start believing that fishes fly in the sky. All was well, except Ajis' time of departure was approaching and I was getting worried about my sleep. Ritesh and I took turns to keep you company during the night. He slept from 9 in the night to 3 in the morning, and I slept after that till late which I knew would be impossible once the Ajis are gone back. As if you sensed that and one fine day (or should I say, one fine night), a week before they were due to leave, you decided to start sleeping during the night. Well, here I want to clarify that you didn't sleep a lot, but it was sufficient for all of us to carry on during the day and 2 months of sleeplessness had taught us to appreciate whatever sleep came our way.
Month 3: Your first trip to Sydney to see off Ajis happened at the beginning of this month.Well, the car journey went very well in which you slept for most of the time. The highlight of the day was admiring the coloured glass of the adjacent building from our hotel window. In the night, you were upset when you found your beloved round vent absent but, that was it. Otherwise, you enjoyed yourself during the whole trip. And we were so proud of you that we have already planned the world tour with our little traveller. The next few days were difficult as much for you as for us and understandably so. After all, half of the people in your world had disappeared. But, in a few days you saw familiarity in the faces on computer and were happy again. Thanks to Skype. I played Karadi rhymes to replace the absence of Ajis' lullabies and in a couple of days you got so used to that sound that we played it again..and again...and again. And you loved them. As a result, Ritesh and I started speaking in Karadi language like if one of us mentioned a beach, the other would say- "To the beach, I like to go".
Month 4: Now, your day time naps were considerably reduced. That meant a lot more time to explore the world. Oh well, it was winter, so we were mainly indoors. But, you loved to look out of the windows and we did stand in front of all the windows to get every possible view- construction work, plants, street, cat in the opposite house and other random things. This was also the time when you were learning to be cautious. For example when we got a new play gym for you, it took you almost a week to completely take to it and play in it freely. Same applied to people too. Even though you would smile at them almost instantly from the safety of Ritesh's or my arms, you would look at them, observe their behaviour with us and then after a while you would be ready to play with them. And I must say, your dad was very proud of it! "Our daughter thinks before acting", he would boast. Well, this month also brought us a moment of unprecedented joy when you chuckled for the first time. We both joined you and soon all three of us were cracking up. What fun!
Month 5: Hey, we had company this month and you had another playmate- Aji from Hyderabad. You very readily took to her, may be you recognized her from all these months of seeing her on Skype. And darling, you did flip this month from your back to on your tummy. And the very next day, you started to roll! You had started to explore various objects by grabbing and then mouthing them. Also, you started loving books- paper, cloth or plastic...to eat! Your favourite toy this month was a tape-recorder in bright green and orange colour, with flickering lights. It had mini discs with tunes of various nursery rhymes. Once, in order to entertain you, we thought of projecting a crescent moon and stars from your cot mobile on to the ceiling. At first you didn't like the feel of the dark. So, then, I stood close to your cot, holding your hands as Ritesh turned the lights off- and whoa...you were mesmerized by the scene. Later, that night whenever you got up, you would look at the walls and the ceiling as if searching for those stars. Oh, I wanted to show you the real star lit sky but, the cold wouldn't let me take you out in the night. But, we would do star gazing soon, let it be a bit warmer.
Month 6: Heading towards half an year mark! And your favourite game this month was peek-a-boo. You liked to play it endless number of times till you would dissolve in laughter. You had started manouvering things properly and using random objects as teethers- anything soft or hard, your hand or mine would do. Also, you loved having fun and wanted others to join you in the riot. So, when you woke up for your early morning feed and we would pretend to be asleep, you would twitch Ritesh's nose, pull my hair and when we opened our eyes, you would squeal in delight. You has started recognizing familiar sounds and one of which was 'Skype call', that made you look at the laptop instantly and smile. You knew how to enchant your audience, thus bringing a lot of pleasure to the admiring grand-parents!That's all for now. Happy growing...
Love,
Mumma
