Growing up is real fun. But watching ones kid grow up can sometimes be a little scary and stressful. Here are a few instances why...

We use a table fan for Sid as he doesn't take well to AC. The first thing I do on waking up is to switch off the table fan, unplug the same and push it to the far corner. Once moved thus, Sid would not turn and look at it - till about 3 weeks back.

Last week he discovered that he can still reach the table fan and promptly started playing with the buttons on it. Even though unplugged, the scene somehow sent shivers down my spine. (Kids and electric equipment! And a table fan at that!!!). However, since unplugged, I didn't make a huge fuss except to casually divert Sid's attention onto something else.
The actual Shock set in when, on not being able to switch on the fan, he promptly picked up the plug and tried pushing it into the socket!!! And whats more he even hit a few of the switches to see if that worked. The scene had me immobile with shock? fear? pride? and such before I managed to scamper out of bed and pull him away. Now have to find a serious solution before he actually manages to start the fan! With this rate of progress, won't be too long. I am still not sure if I was more impressed or more scared stiff.
The other things he has picked up the last few weeks include understanding that pens are usually pulled open and then scratched on papers. And in case of success, this is accompanied with squeals of delight. Dangerous again!
Among the good things, Sid knows we wear shoes before going out. So whenever in the mood for a walk, he brings over the respective persons shoe. The sweetest thing here is he will first bring me one shoe, then go back and bring the other one as well.
He also has learnt that bottles and utensils are to be closed after use. (I am really pleased with this and hope the streak continues).

Also pleased with the cleanliness streak that makes him come running to me with hands raised at the smallest hint of dirt, and cries "dirty dirty" till its washed. (just don't get too obsessed darling). Oh! That washing bit was till last week when this post had been started. now he just comes, holds my skirt/t-shirt/what-ever-mama-wears on one hand and wipes the other hand with it, very efficiently too. Complete with hand-eye-coordination and everything!!!
What really impressed me seeing these small developments is the things babies pick up by just observing us, completely unnoticed. This realisation has made me very conscious of all my actions in front of him.
Small traits and habits that I would be comfortable pursuing in front of Sid, thinking, "oh! he is not going to judge me for some more time", has now become even more dangerous!
To Sid: Baby, Chewing nails is bad habit and Mama does it only when highly distressed(And that is NOT an excuse also). So, please don't pick that up.
And talking to oneself will also not be looked at very nicely, ever!
Not writing about the other stuff that I am personally worried about. Just "Note to Self".
Signing Off With: CALVIN: "Where Do you Keep all the Chainsaws, Mom..."

Warrior Boy

Our Sid is comparatively an early teether. He got his bottom 2 incisors by around 5 months and 2 weeks! The thing about Teething is that its an extremely painful and irritating process. Just imagining the teeth cutting through the gums makes me squirm with pain and discomfort and too heartbreaking to watch. At times I feel so helpless that there isn't anything I can do to help Sid and then keep reminding myself that ALL of us have gone through it and so will he.


With his Teether

When babies are faced with this discomfort and irritation, there biggest need is to bite and gnaw at whatever they can lay there hands on. Many doctors recommend buying teethers for your babies to bite on. Very good advice of course, not only because it gives your baby some welcome relief but also keeps him occupied playing with the teether. EXCEPT (aah there it comes) we must remember that teething usually happens somewhere close to or after 8 months (usually being the operative word). By this stage their hand eye coordination is excellent - by which I mean the baby takes the teether into his mouth, if that is where he wants it, not into his eye. Now, you see the challenge. Sid is still too young and has not yet perfected his HE coordination. His movements are jerky and whatever he has in his hands has a danger of hitting his eye.

But then Sid has a solution to this problem too. Because, whatever we do or don't give him, his favourite thing to bite is our hands. So don't be too thrilled as soon as he grabs your hand. His intentions are to make two very deep and painful imprints on them. When he has his own hands in his mouth, he is very careful to cushion them on his tongue but as soon as he spots a careless prey, bang! within no time you can hear howling and screaming around you. I have also discovered, at my own very painful expense, that he loves to bit cheeks, nose and then whatever he can reach around him including furniture. His latest favourite is to bite down hard on my shoulder when I am carrying him around, especially when he wants me to walk around with him and I keep standing in one place. Additionally, he also directs his mount (me the elephant) by kicking and pushing against me.  

Another favorite "teether" - Mama's Mob

A Note to the Unaware: Some additional modes of attacks you may experience are hair pulling ( i wonder how he always gets his hands on the hair around the edges that hurt the most!), scratching (people I meet have been asking me if we have a new kitten), kicking and punching (I am not kidding, he can hurt!) and supersonic screaming into your ears that can be the end of your eardrums! Beware.

Sleep Like a Baby?

Well, well...whoever coined that one has definitely not met many babies in his/her lifetime; at least not many like mine. And, thereby I finally get down to writing a post I was putting off for the longest time ever, because just writing this brings out all my pent up emotions and normally has me going on a rampage:

"The Tale of the Elusive Sleep".

From the day Sid arrived at my side, some motherly intuition told me to be very careful with his sleep. I used to whisper and tiptoe around him, only to be scolded by one and all that thats all too silly and babies don't wake up that soon. Even when everyone noticed him waking up every half hour, (after a  marathon 2 hour effort to make him sleep) no one would agree it was due to the sound of the pressure cooker whistle from the ground floor at the other end of the house! So, I was all alone trying to ensure that he slept beyond 45 mins, at least once in the day time as well as the night time.

Over a period of time though, everyone had to agree (extremely reluctantly) that he was a cat-napper who would wake up at the tiniest possible sounds, even some that only he and Danny (our Dog) could here! We even asked a few paediatricians if it was ok that such a tiny baby wouldn't sleep at all and they all said the same thing - that if the baby is happy, active, playing normally and so forth, there is no point in interfering, it will all shape up just fine. What no one seemed to get was that mama was tired, sleep-deprived and had become a zombie.

Then there were people giving me time lines by when babies start sleeping normally, like 3 months, which later become 4 and then 6, though I am yet to see any change whatsoever.

I went around doing a lot of online research on baby sleep patterns but could not figure out anything wrong with what I was doing. Whats worse is other parents who complained about there baby "not sleeping through the night" complained about having to wake up every 3-4 hours. and this had me even more depressed; what I wouldn't give for even 2 hours of undisturbed sleep.

To top it all came a thousand different advice from all quarters, out of which my least favorite was when people asked me not to be especially quiet so as to make him "used-to" sleeping through noise. Yeah! you can say that since you didn't walk aorund, singing and swinging a sleepy crying baby for the last 2 hours, only to have him wake up in 15 mins cos of some sound you made, esecially when you yourselves are sleep deprived and practically fainting!!!

People even ask me how I went back to my post pregnancy weight so quickly. I am sure all these walks have hepled me (lose) a ton.

Anyhow this state of things continued, and then we shifted from Trivandrum to Pathanamthitta, And then it got worse (like I had imagined THAT possible!!!). But thankfully that seemed to be only due to a change of place and he  went back to his half an hour routine soon enough. 

Mama's half hour break time



Whats really puzzling us these day is that whenever we go back to trivandrum he manages to sleep through 4-5 hours without any disturbance at all and as soon as we come back he goes back to 30-45 mins routines. We are all racking our brains trying to find out what might be missing here cos it can't be the "new place" phenomenon anymore; He lived in trivandrum for about 3 months and has been here for almost 3 months now. Only if I could get that missing link.

So, here we are still struggling and living by the motto "Wake Up Sid". (Yea yea bad one, but sleep deprivation can do that to ones brain!)

P.S (on a serious note) all those out there asking me not to be quiet, please note that docs advice to do whatever it takes to ensure your baby sleeps at a particular time everyday. Eventually he will be habituated to fall asleep at that time whatever be the conditions. (I am working really hard towards it) On the other hand if you keep making noises (to make him used to it), his system will just get used to not sleeping at that time. We all have these internal clocks.