Happy Birthday Adu!

Dearest Adu,
Happy first Birthday! And here's wishing you tons of more, each happier than the previous one.

This first year was an interesting journey for us all. We saw you grow from a clueless baby to a thinking toddler. I still can't believe that a year has zoomed past so fast. But hey, more fun ahead is what I keep telling myself.

Oh my God!

You are as busy as ever, learning new things and surprising us all the time. Just yesterday, while giving you a bath, I was singing- 'Heads and shoulders; knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes; We all clap hands together'! And you started clapping as I went-We all clap hands together. All by yourself! Once, I was searching something, running around here and there, without realizing that you were watching me. And putting my hand to my head, I said 'Oh my God, how could I forget it'! You did the same and since then, whenever we say, 'Oh my God', you put your hand to your head. And, we say it a lot just to observe your reaction!

Hello!

Your favorite object is the 'phone'. That's the first toy you went after in your child-care. Whenever you see a phone or hear someone say 'hello', you put your palm on your ear. It is spontaneous and let me tell you, it is damn cute. That's the reason I've ordered your Birthday cake in the shape of a phone. Now, will you want to eat it or put it on your ear is what we will see in the party this Saturday. Tomorrow, we'll have a cake-cutting in the child care center. The theme of that cake is sea creatures- your first love.

And today, on your birthday, we've planned a trip to the zoo and aquarium. Going by the way you talk to the dogs and the ducks, we hope you would enjoy watching other animals too. Yes, you do talk! You speak a lot, but we are yet not able to make out the words clearly. However, you are very well able to communicate your emotion. You do say some words, like when we sing- 'Old Macdonald had a farm', you say ee-ya, ee-ya. Yes, its about singing. You love music, you enjoy anything that has rhythm and you dance (or jump) in the rhythm. So, when we run out of nursery rhymes, we sing anything we can think of. You are happy whether its 'ruk-ruk-ruk, are baba ruk' or 'its only words and words are what I have...' and we are happy as long as you open your mouth to that song and eat.

And girl, you are very observant. Whenever, I dress up to go out and wear something nice, its amazing how you appreciate it by smiling and trying to touch it. And I tell your dad, "Hey look, that's my daughter"! And then you would go to your dad and hug him without bothering about his clothes or even whether he has shaved or not. Need I tell you what does he say then? Yes, you have brought much fun and laughter in our lives.

Adu, you have taught us to wonder at the world again. Thanks for coming in our lives.

Happy growing!

Love,
Mumma

Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh month letters...

Dearest  Adu,
Very close to that one year mark, you are eleven months today! Lets see what all has happened in these three months.

Month 9: We travelled to India this month. The flight journey, time lag, change in weather- you took everything in your stride and decided to have fun, loads of it! For the first time, you had a companion, close to your age (oh well, almost six and a half years older to you) and you loved him the very instant you met him. It's a different story that we had a very difficult  time trying to capture Arjun and you in a single frame because you both wouldn't remain still for a single moment. We were in Bhopal on your ninth month birthday. Everyday, you would get up early and spend some time with Aji in the verandah while I caught up on my sleep. Sitting there in the comfort of Aji's lap and in the luxury of a verandah on the first floor, you had a very good view of kids playing in the ground, vegetable vendors going on shouting and doing their business and cows and dogs and sometimes cats and squirrels too, wandering. You wondered at the newness of it all and soon that verandah became your favourite place in the house. That was the place where you mastered crawling on tiles and then followed Aji everywhere from the living room to dining room to kitchen into the bedrooms. Yes, the first time you tried crawling on tiled surface was in Bangalore but, there you kept slipping. But, thankfully you had Arjun there to keep a watch over you and save you from banging your head against the floor or a wall.

Month 10: We then went to Hyderabad for your kaka's wedding. Well, we did hours of shopping, met scores of new people everyday and attended lots of parties. You totally surprised us by sleeping during one of the noisiest parties, being patient during our various shopping sprees and being generally comfortable around people.Well sweetie, the wedding was the highlight this month and we both felt that you were neglected while we were busy in the preparations. But, you are a sport and a champ at it! At any given function, you were surrounded by at least half a dozen kids, trying to grab your attention and entertaining you generally. We worried that you would feel lonely in Canberra after being used to all this social interaction. But, again you proved us wrong. We started with our daily walks which you enjoyed. And now with your advanced crawling skills, you had much to discover around the house to keep you occupied. Finally, we installed the baby gate to contain you in your play room without your entering the dining-kitchen-pantry area. That kept you away from danger while we baby-proofed the house. You stood comfortably holding on to things (well, you started it last month itself) and tried to walk too.

Month 11: Oh, we saw a lot of change this month. You started your child-care. In the first week, you considered it just another place to play with new toys and some new people. I sat in with you in the nursery for a couple of days chatting with the carers while you explored the whole place. The carers were impressed, I was relieved. But, as the orientation came to an end, you realised that we 'drop' you there and go 'away'. So, the next few weeks were difficult (to put it mildly). I had just started work and was already thinking of leaving it. It was heart-breaking to see you cry out so loud. We started with a couple of hours everyday. Ritesh took a few days off, waited outside for those two hours while the carers had clear instructions to inform him about your slightest distress. You started trusting the carers, slowly settling in and eventually we increased the hours to three, four and so on. I started working three days a week. The settling in process is still going on but, it is better with each passing day. Your communication has increased. You do understand simple words. The first word you comprehended was 'ball'. This happened at the beginning of this month. Its so much fun to play with you now that we can make our own little games- 'throw the ball in the tub' or 'wear the ring in your hand' or 'try to grab the block from my head' or 'putting you in the toy box'. There are times when Ritesh & I kiss in front of you, and you start crawling 'very fast' towards us to join in the cuddle, to kiss and be kissed. Adu, for us, those moments are worth living for. Yes, you balance out all your meal-time tantrums with such sweet gestures. You smart, smart girl! More about it later.

Happy Growing...

Love,
Mumma

PS: I started writing this on 7th Feb, but posting it today,

Australia...n

Well, I am officially an Australian now. I took the following pledge on 25th January at the Citizenship Ceremony.

About four years back, I was hoping that by the time I become eligible for the Australian Citizenship, Indian Government start dual citizenship. So that I need not relinquish one to get the other. But, of course nothing of that sort happened. And I have to let go my Indian Passport now. What do I feel? Surprisingly nothing!

And that's because I still feel at home in India. I visited it after three years and got used to the chaos, people, traffic instantly and in fact started enjoying it too. So, it doesn't really matter if my passport says that I am not an Indian.

Why Australian then? Within my first year of coming here, I realized that this was home. I live here, I love it here. So, it just makes sense that I share the duties with fellow citizens and get voting rights too.
Happy to be an Australian!

India

Out of the last two months since my last post, we have spent 5 weeks in India. Now, it was after three long years, so obviously there was much catching up to do. We visited Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Ujjain. As much as we were worried about Adu, she decided to find pleasure in the noise, people and general hustle and bustle there. Ours was mainly a social visit- meeting people and eating, what with a wedding at home! Adu had a gala time playing with kids who were in abundance in the wedding. The highlights of our trip (in no particular order)-

• Watching Adu and Arjun play, with Arjun playing the role of the sensible, responsible older brother, keeping Adu entertained and she on the other hand laughing at anything and everything he said or did. It was kind of history repeating itself.
• Meeting the parents.
• Meeting my grand-mother and Adu meeting her great grand-mother. She passed away 10 days later (RIP).
• A chance get-together with my school friends in Bhopal.
• Shobhna coming to Bhopal for a day from Delhi to meet me.
• Shopping, shopping and more shopping.
• The wedding, of course.
• Staying at my parents' place. My home, my room...It was just fantastic, gave a very positive feeling that all the worries would dissipate...just like it happened in older days!
• Chatting endlessly with Aai while Adu showered sloppy kisses on her.