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September 25, 2006

A depressing week.

17th Sept, Sunday - My Dad arrives after his 3 months trip to the US. Loaded with goodies for Ashu. Happy reunion of Thatha and Pethi.

18th Sept, Monday - My dad and I with Ashu go visit my Aunts house and along with Aunt and Uncle, we go to visit my maternal grandparents. My grandpa seeing my dad after months, chats with him for a long time. Then collapses and falls on the floor unconscious. The doctor who arrives after an hour says he has passed away. He was 82. We had to break the news to my mom who is in the US with my sister.

19th Sept, Tuesday - Funeral.

20th Sept, Wednesday - We are trying tickets for my mom so that she can at least be here before the 10th day ceremony.

21st Sept, Thursday - My moms ticket to Chennai is confirmed. She ll be landing on Saturday. Since my dads stuck with some work, I decide to go to Madras.

22nd Sept, Friday - HD, Ashu and I leave for Chennai.

23rd Sept , Saturday - We all go to the airport to receive mom. She does nt know that I am in Chennai. She comes out late as one of her baggages has nt arrived. Shes in tears when she comes out but when she sees me, her mood changes.

24th Sept, Sunday - All of us back to Bangalore and we drop Mom at my Aunts place. Sad reunion of family.

When my grandpa was lying on the floor, Ashu was pointing at him and saying Thoola, thoola (Sleeping) with her palm on her ears.
It was pathetic when the doctors would nt come home to confirm he was dead. One homeopathy doctor nearby said "I don't know to do that."
Death is scary.
One minute he was talking fine and the next, he was dead.
I am glad I was there near him. Especially since my mom was nt.
My grand mother was so calm and collected. It scared all of us.
On Tuesday, Ashu would nt go near my grandpa. She circled and walked as far away as possible from him. Do young children sense something?

I have no one I can call Thatha now and Ashu has lost her only great grand father.
RIP.

September 15, 2006

Update on Ashu at 16 months and 3 weeks.

~> She had her first major injury on August 3rd when she fell from the chair and got hurt in her mouth. As she was screaming, I picked her up thinking it was just another bumpy fall when I saw blood. Lots. From her mouth. On the floor. All over her shirt. I called HD and he took her and there was blood dripping on the floor and his T shirt as well. I took a wash cloth and started wiping her mouth. The tissues were turning red by the second. I made her lie down and checked her mouth. It was horrible. I checked the teeth, they were intact. But the upper gum on the right was gory. She had fallen from the chair and got hit at the lower base of the computer table in between her upper lip and the nose. The gum had borne the brunt of the fall. I called the Doctor and she said if the bleeding stops and the teeth are intact, I don't have to worry and gave the name of an ointment. We were deliberating whether to go to the hospital(it was 10 pm by now!) when Ashu went to sleep. The drool from her mouth was staining the pillow red.
The next day, we took her to the doctor. She checked and said it was just a scrape on the gum and as the blood vessel had been cut, there was so much blood. But she could see that it was a pretty bad injury. She said the ointment will heal it fast. Ashu had a swollen lip for a day and could nt open her mouth wide for a couple of days. I did nt give her anything hot to eat for 3 days. She was alright in 5 days. I cried loads after she went to sleep. The incident shook me up.

~> She goes crazy and dances around when Noddy comes on Pogo. Just for the title song and the end credits song. And when Noddy breaks into a song in the episode. Otherwise she has not much interest watching it. She touches the TV and says "NODDY" when he comes on the screen. Sometimes when she gets up from her afternoon nap, she asks "Noddy illaiyaa?" (No Noddy?)

~> She can count. When I say One, she says Too, Thee, Toothee, Theetoo, Toothee, Toothee,...

~> She readily says "Tata" to anyone and everyone. Sometimes she says Tata to me and runs away from the room. When my sister says Tata to her over the phone, she says Tata and runs away from the room too!

~> She still has nt said Appa. When asked where is Appa she points to her father. But she calls him as Amma only. She can say Amma, she can say Paapaa but not Appa. Kids!

~> She likes to fetch things for me. She brings the remote, switches on the fan, picks up things I have dropped, brings the phone, ... Its fun for me! :)

~> Milk, Banana and Yogurt are still her favorite food. She does nt want to try anything new.

~> I took this quiz from the Toddler care book I have and it says Ashu is a Textbook Baby. The other types of babies are Angel, Touchy, Spirited and Grumpy.
*Note to self: Take the quiz again next month.*

~> She has become shy. She does nt say her name or say Hi or answer anything when guests are home. If she likes them, she will give them a smile. Nothing more, nothing less! The minute they leave, she becomes a chatter box.

~> She runs to me calling "Amma, amma amma" as if theres a fire somewhere. But thats all she wants to say. Amma, amma, amma. End of sentence.

~> Other than the eight teeth she has already cut, shes cutting four more, all premolars, at the same time. Ouch!

~> She has got this interest to point at things and say what they are if she knows them. Before I had to ask her a dozen times, now she says them on her own. Car, Kaakaa (crow), Maadu(cow), Noddy, Doggy, Taato(auto), Taater(Water), Book, Aadu(goat), Shoe, Ball,...

~> She still needs two naps in a day. She gets cranky otherwise. I tried to cut the morning nap and planned to make her sleep after lunch. So around 12, I was feeding her rice and half way through she did nt open her mouth and I find her eyes closed and sleeping! That was a first, sleeping while sitting! She looked so cute!

~> She looks like a ballerina wearing just the pink training pants and nothing else! :)

~> She clings to her dad as soon as he come homes from office and would nt come to me. It bothers me. A little bit.

~> Books still rule over toys.

~> She likes to observe the kids more than playing with them when we go to the park. She will stand in a corner and keep on looking at them and will look at me every few minutes and give this absolutely adorable smile as if sharing that special moment with me. She does that even while watching Noddy or some of her favorite songs on TV. I do exactly that with HD when we are watching something nice on TV. But he would never look at me when I'm looking at him and that will piss me off. So when Ashu is watching something, I only watch her. I would nt want to miss that special look and that knowing smile for anything in this world.

September 12, 2006

Cold feet!

Babies should nt get sick. And can anyone tell me why we don't have a vaccination for common cold or at least some cure? Here we are in this century, in this time with prevention and cure for deadly diseases but we cant protect the kids from a common cold? Is this supposed to be a joke? If you have nt already guessed, Ashu is down with a cold. Running nose, severe cough, vomiting, nose block,... the works! I waited for 2 days but the cough got worse. She does nt know to spit so the phlegm was accumulating. And as soon as I gave the cold medicine she vomited. Which was actually good as the phlegm was out. She was looking miserable. So we went to the Doctor today. We went a little late and there were 5 patients before us. All under five and all of them coughing. Felt a little better! More parents with kids in tow arrived. We heard the Doctor mention the word Chikungunya in the examining room to somebody and all of us went silent and on high alert. I started praying. When our turn came, Ashu took one look at the Doctor and remembered the vaccination she had just 2 weeks back. Stopped crying only when we came out and the doctor did nt even touch her. Anyway, she is okay. Nothing to worry. Just cold. Give this syrup 3 times a day. Admit her in the hospital for some nasal spray if the cough gets worse. Blah blah blah!

Sunday was the worst day in my life. There are different types of worst days and I write this one down so that I can compare notes later when I have another one.

I am tired even when I get up. FIL was here on Friday and Saturday so major cooking, cleaning etc. Then HD had to work this weekend. That is both Saturday and Sunday. Ashu is sick. I am just plain pissed at everything. The day only worsens. Ashu drags a chair near the shelf in her room, stands on it, takes the glass tea light candle stand and drops it on the floor. I am in the hall and hear a shattering noise. I think she has dropped a spoon or something and go to the room. There are a million pieces of glass all over the room. I carry her out and ask her to stay put in the hall when I sweep the whole room and then mop. In the mean time, I have forgotten the milk I had kept on the stove. I don't know how but it explodes and there is milk everywhere in the kitchen. I clean. In the mean time, Ashu has opened a cup board and takes out all the 101 things from there and spreads them across the hall. She tears the Tinkle book and is on her way to my precious Calvin & Hobbes book when I save it from her. I clean. Fast forwarding the soosoo cleaning and poopoo cleaning and we get to night time. After finishing her milk, she goes to sleep around 8.30 pm. I go to eat my dinner. (HD is nt home yet, by the way!) As soon as I begin to eat, she gets up and cries. Her nose is blocked and shes struggling to breathe. But the cold medicine has made her drowsy and her eyes are closed. I put the nose drops and put her in the crib. She stands on the crib and cries even while her eyes are closed. I bring her to our bed. She lies tummy down and vomits. All over her, me , the bed, the pillow and the blanket. I remover her clothes and change her while shes crying her lungs out. Her eyes are still closed. I wash up and change. But she would nt let me change the sheets. I just wipe it clean as much as I can. Then she goes to sleep but opens her eyes as soon as I put her in the crib. So I put her in our bed in one corner as the middle of the bed is still wet. I lie down with her for a while. I just want to die. I am exhausted. But I still have some cleaning up to do. I come out of the room and eat my dinner. I wash the stinky blanket and the clothes and hang them for drying. I clean the bathroom as it is stinking too. I rant about my worst day to my sister on Skype and go to sleep around 12. HD is still not home.

September 09, 2006

No means No!

Ashu has got this annoying habit of saying Nanah(NO!) to anything and everything these days. She first said Nanah a couple of months back when I asked her if she wanted some water. Then Nanah to juice, biscuits, cheerios,... Food types, basically. But never Nanah to milk though! Whenever we ask her "what do you want", she promptly says "Paal" (Milk). Even when she has just finished a bottle of milk, she ll answer that question with "Paal". The other day she got up in the middle of the night and cried and I consoled her and asked her why she was crying. She said "Paal" and went back to sleep the next second. I laughed so much. Anyway, she has realized the potential of saying Nanah and has started applying it for stuff other than food too.

"Ashu, say hallo to grandma on the phone". Nahnah.
"Ashu say Hi to the baby". Nahnah.
"Ashu blow me a kiss". Nahnah.
"Ashu come here". Nahnah.

She says Nanah when some stranger tries to carry her. When I take her from HD. When HD takes her from me. When we leave the park. When we enter the house. When I want to try a dress on her in a shop. Not even try on her. I just wanted to keep the pants on her waist and check the length, thats all. As soon as I went to her with the pants, she said Nahnah and moved away. The attendant there was really amazed. She thought Ashu did nt like those pants and asked me to try another one! It has nt come to that yet lady! Don't put ideas on my child's mind! Its really embarrassing sometimes. We went to a temple on Ganesh Chaturthi and the priest there gave the Prashad(Sweet poha!) to Ashu. Nanah indeed! So HD got it from the priest and put one morsel in her mouth and she promptly spat it out. It was not "I don't like it so I'm spitting it". It was definitely "I said Nanah and you still force me to eat it? I am spitting it". Generally she does nt like sweets. More spicy type like me! So only to Perumal Kovil hereafter for some Puliyodharai, methinks! And here I am thanking her a hundred times a day for stuff I don't even have to say thank you for and she still has nt mastered that word. Kids these days I tell you...
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