Communication Skills 2

Chhavi loves watching my mom talk and coo with her. She loves it more when my mom sings. She just watches with awe when my mom sings all the devotional songs and lullabies. My mom calls her 'amma' because she resembles my grandma and also she displays some of the same characteristics. She loves singing, she coos in nice tunes. She stares intently at the pooja room and the deepas (lights in the pooja room). My grandma was an ardent devotee.

Chhavi is a huge attention seeker. If someone is not with her for more than 10 mins, then she screams at the top of her lungs to call them. She has different sounds for each expression. She kind of coughs when shes hungry. She screams loudly when she is sleepy or bored. She coos when shes happy. She has a different shout for when shes angry :)

I love to sing to Chhavi. She listens intently to the rhymes I sing and she loves it when anyone plays with her. She laughs out loud when we play peekaboo with her. The Konkani version goes like this:
Hide yourself and say - Coocoo. Show yourself and say - Achchi. She finds it super amusing.

I dont mean to boast but I feel for a 4 month old she has learnt a lot of things. If she doesnt like a toy, she throws it away. She constantly looks at another toy and stretches out her hand towards it showing that she wants it. The only thing I still regret is that I thought she would learn to move around quickly but she has still not mastered the art of rolling over and back or rest when she is on her stomach.

I hope she learns to crawl and walk soon :)

4 monther

My dear Chhavi baabu turned 4 months old and I cannot imagine where I lost all those days. It seems like just yesterday when I turned to ask the doctor - what baby is it ? Is it a girl ?

I take this time to tell my baby how much I love you. I might get angry sometimes when you cry and disturb my sleep, when you don't sleep even after I pat you for hours, when you cry super hard and you are hungry but you still don't feed or when all you want to do is look around instead of feeding. Although I get irritated sometimes with your behavior, I still love you to the core and will always do.

You have made me realize what motherhood is all about. Made me warm up to my mom more than ever before. Made me realize why my mom is sometimes strict with me. Made me cry when I think about how I have hurt my parents before. Sometimes, I still cannot believe that I have you in my life. You complete me. You are my firstborn and will always be my dearest child.

Anyways, enff of the emotional banter... lets talk about happy things.

You have started rolling over from the past month now. I couldn't take time out to write a post about your 3rd month. You get so excited when people come near you or touch you that you start lifting your head expecting them to pick you up. When anybody even holds your hand, you just lift yourself and sit up.

You love the toys that I bought you in the past week. If you are with your toys, you don't cry - you play by yourself. You love to sit up and stand up (although both with support). I am guessing that you will learn to sit up pretty soon.

Last week your maternal aunt was here with her baby Aadya. She is 1 month elder to you and you both had a good time rolling and crying together. We dressed you up as Radhe-Krishna and Krishna-Radhe alternatively and had a gala time clicking photos of you both playing with your toys, kissing each other, hugging each other, sleeping side by side etc.,

Will update this post with the photos soon.

Your daily routine now:

You have started sleeping through the night from the past month or so and thats a happy thing for me. Although I never minded waking up at night and feeding you, this new activity of yours gives both me and you a sound sleep through the night. You wake up around 5 am or 5:30 am and play with my mom and dad until I wake up at 6 am or 6:30 am and feed you. Then you drift off to sleep again around 7:30 am and wake up only at 10 am next for your bath. You enjoy the oil massage I give you and the hot hot bath. After bath you immediately shut your eyes and you are down for another 3 hrs atleast. After this you feed every 2 hrs like before, except when you catch a nap here and there. Then its the usual feed, burp, play, sleep routine :) You are a huge attention seeker and want someone or the other always next to you to keep talking to you or playing with you.

BTW, even though your neck has set and you are rolling over nicely now, since you sweat a lot, your doc has prescribed a calcium syrup. He said some forms of calcium of deficiency are related to excessive sweating. He said there is no harm is giving some calcium supplement for babies.

The moment you are put into your rocker, you sleep like a baby. DUH !! You are a baby :) I meant to say that you sleep for hours together, even during daytime, if you are in the rocker.

The family thinks you are teething, because you chew anything and everything that you can put your hands on. Also, you chew on your hand, my hand and everyones hand !! Doc on the other hand doesn't think so. Also, he strictly advised against teethers due to fear of infection.

If that first tooth makes its appearance, ill make sure I post it or even if there is something else special. Until then ciao.