Poor Granma and Granpa Curic

I went back yesterday afternoon and today afternoon to find Granma and Granpa Curic totally frazzled. Husband didnt believe me, "My dad can go shopping while my mom can take care of Anjali". "They can take Anjali out by themselves." "You make it sound like Anjali is a time bomb".



No she is not a time bomb. She is a cute little girl, but someone has to be confident about handling her. Granma is very confident, as is husband. I am learning slowly, and remember what it felt to be frazzled when the maid came to clean, and husband had gone to the market for eggs and Anjali, then one month, began crying at the top of her voice for her milk, refusing to drink from me the bottle that I offered her, prefering instead the breast she was used to. I had her a little under control when husband came (though had he been at home, she would have never gotten out of control in the first place, the bag of tricks always keeps quiet in her father's arms).



Granma and granpa Curic are not yet very confident. Yesterday, both of them were staying by Anjali's side, doing nothing but trying to keep her from crying, as I tried to monitor the situation on remote from the office. If it hadnt been so sad, it would have been extremely funny - two old people turned around the little finger of a seven month old.



"What did you do the whole day?" I asked when I returned home in the evening.



"Nothing at all" replied Granma Curic. "One of stayed by her stroller pushing it back and forth to make her sleep while the other went to the toilet and vice versa".



Like I said, it would be extremely funny, if it werent so sad.



Granma Curic has no time to cook lunch or do anything besides. She is afraid of how Anjali would react to receiving a bath from her, and so doesnt give her a bath (before you come to the conclusion that we let Anjali without a bath, let me clarify that I go home for lunch and give her a bath then, complete with the oil massage that she is used to - the little princess!!).



It should get better with time, but yesterday was grueling

Putting a diaper on Anjali

Try getting a live squid and practice first before attempting with Anjali

Anjali's godmamma's facebook page

This is Anjali's god mamma (who calls anjali the cutest baby she has ever seen, other than herself) - well whatever...

And this is the folder that has been dedicated to Anjali by her god mama, who keeps taking pictures of Anjali every time.

babbling hummingdinger

Well, Luna lovegood doesnot need to look any farther to find a babbling hummingdinger. there's one right here.

And a few days later...

The toe eater

Whenever Anjali is bored with her toys, or is lying down in someone's lap, or in her bathtub, or in her stroller, or sitting down, or at any time in general, she eats her toe, either one or the other, and sometimes trying to take both toes in her mouth at the same time. if we put socks on, she eats the socks, and if we put pants on, she eats the pant.

We at home, have gotten quite used to this, but for people who see Anjali for the first time, it is a very surprising thing to see her quite so dextrous. You get comments all the time like "How cute" and "Other kids eat their fingers and this one eats her legs."

Well, she doesnt eat her fingers and we should be thankful for that.

The growth of a flame

And beauty and grace and grandeur had their home,

Harboured the childhood of the incarnate Flame.

(Savitri, 4:2)

Its amazing how much a small baby can grow in a week. truly amazing. At the start of the week she was army crawling, and now she is kneeling and doing mountain positions.

Just another play moment

I thought I would take a short video of Anjali at her typical play time. Nothing special, just a routine game with one of her favorite toys.

New characters

Husband's mum and dad are coming tomorrow to spend two months with Tutu. The cast of characters in Anjali's fan club expands.... More stories when I return from my week break

We can open drawers

And if mummy puts the child safety lock on, we open two drawers at a time!

What mischeif can we get up to next??!??

Navaratri time!!!

Anjali at the temple during Navaratri. I wish I could say that she enjoyed herself a lot, but actually she got rather cranky during the programs, firstly because she was carried around so much and secondly because she got distracted by the speakers. Standing in the middle of two speakers, she was unsure where the sound came from and therefore got annoyed.

But annoyance did not stop her from making mischief, nor did it stop her from crawling to everyone eating food and grabbing their plates, and making a big ruckus when she discovered that people actually dared to, on purpose, hold their plates such that she wont get her hands on the spicy chutneys.





Nor did it stop her from looking cute in her pattu pavadai (more photos of this later)


Or from giving presents to the children (though it did stop her, on the first day, from eating her rice and fruit.)

But Tutu's navaratri did not finish there. On Vijaya dasami, Sunday night, Anjali sat on mummy's lap in front of the altar and wrote her first letters, Om, Maa, and a few scribbles. I think she is still too young to decide whether to write with her right or left hand and she wants to play it neutral until she can make an informed choice. So she writes with her mouth.



We decided to stop when she began to write on my hand.

The mischief maker's mischief mounts

Anjali's mischief meter keeps increasing its scale. This afternoon I was chatting with granma while eating. Granma was sitting against the kitchen sink holding Anjali on her shoulder. I look up and gave a squeal. Anjali had successfully opened the kitchen cupboard (where all the frying pans are kept) and was happily peeking into it.

She did it on purpose too. Because after we took her hand out of the handle, she put it back there again and opened the door again.

And now she flips on her belly while drinking milk. She used to do it off and on, but now it has become a real habit with her. This afternoon, the little bag of tricks latched herself, flipped on her belly, then tried to crawl, all while still being attached to the breast. Finally I had to pick her up and give her her milk, whereupon every thirthy seconds she stopped drinking, looked at me with a look of dawning wonder and expectation, kept staring at me till i kissed her nosey and then went back to her milk. Bundle of tricks. Guess she wasnt really hungry and just wanted to play.

Daddy's new name for her, Little octopushie. She wiggles so much that it is hard to believe that she's only got two legs. When I give her a bath, she almost always puts her leg over the edgs of the bathtub. Tried to get husband to take a video of her bathtime gymnastics, but he says it is too indecent for the blog.

same goes for her breastfeeding gymnastics I guess, so I got to contend with describing them. Well, husband has gone all prude now that he is a daddy,

Anjali's real nature study lesson

After the last attempt at nature study got botched by the sofa bed , We decided to take her to the botanical gardens yesterday.

Anjali is a class act. The nice thing about babies, and especially Anjali, is how easily they are delighted and surprised. Some babies show their surprise by laughing and squaling, but our Anjali speaks with her eyes. A lift of the eyebrow, a crinkle of the corner. I can see a laugh coming in her eyes. I always know when she is going to stop breastfeeing and look at me to smile, just as I always know, even before she reaches out her hands, that she is going to grab for the spoon. I know when my girl is going to drop everything she is doing to chase after a plate, and when she is going to start crying. Not by her actions or words, but just by looking at her eyes.

In some rare occasions however, Anjali shows her pleasure by speaking. The first time this happened in a Buddha temple, the second time at the art museum. The little girl got very vocal when we entered the park, but after a while subsides into silent, wide eyed wonder, looking left and right.

She was very fascinated by the fish in the water, and the dogs in the path, following their movement until they went out of her field of vision.

It was my long standing wish to put Anjali on the grass on a towel. However, after last week's attempt, I forgot to bring a towel to put her on the ground, and so put her in a saree. And guess what she did? She flipped over, and didnt like atall the poky sensation of the mowed up grass. So she started crying very hard. We picked her up, gave her a cuddle and put her again in grass. This time was better. She was inquisitive, oh yes, and she didnt cry. Nor would she put her hand on the grass. Even when her toy was put just out of her reach.

"I want my toy, but I wont move" was her message. Well, we picked her up after a while, but I will be trying the grass thing again sometime soon.


A grassy meadow and two cute girls
And a cute daddy!
The cutest girl exploring her grassy bed

And looking all around to find the source of water that makes the noise
Acting very surprised about something.

Bath bubbles

Anjali is growing very fast. Every moment of watching her play is a relevation. Here she is, bursting bubbles that I was blowing for her entertainment.

See how delighted and surprised she is when the bubble disappears?

The knockout clown

With winter (or cold weather, for lack of better world) sets in on this part of the world, we decided to pop Anjali into pants last night before bed.

She doesnt like pants much. of course, she has a penchant for nakedness only babies of her size can have.

But we cant put her to sleep in her diapers, since it is cold and she keeps kicking her covers. Hence the pants.

I said she looks like a clown (because of the dress).

Husband said that she is a knockout (Husband says she is a knockout atleast three times a week), because of her expression and eyes and all the rest of it.

So there you are Ladies and Gentlemen...

Presenting...

With great Honor and Pleasure...

Our very own...

KNOCKOUT CLOWN!!!!

Anjali has a tub full of toys. yet, she likes to play with her utensils a lot more.

Spoons, plates especially everyone else's and if it has got food on it (her favorite being dosas, apple pie (atleast she likes my cooking), ice cream, etc)

Yesterday she had a lot of fun with her washing bowl. Notice how she closes her eyes when she bangs the bowl on the floor!!

I had fun taking the video, but decided that I have to stop when she saw the camera and abandoned the washing bowl for it.

Anjali likes to eat

In fact, she likes her food so much that she tries to wrestle her spoon out of the hand of the person who is feeding her.




The result is, predictably, catastrophous

Favotire photos part 2

This post is full of favorite photos, again, in no particular or chronological order.

In spite of my earlier post to the contrary, Anjali is quite fond of her rocking chair. Afterall, she chose it on her trip to Toys R US.



I like this photo for the baby wearing effect, and Anjali almost always sleeps when I wear her like this, so she must like it too

This is when Anjali was three months old, and we put her often on her belly after her massage. See what big eyes she has...

Again, when she was three months old, on dialogue with daddy

One of the first times that she ate her feet, at four months.. This is a milestone moment as well as one of my favorite photos.

Anjali's first trip at the swimming pool, an illustration of how my little girl faces new situations with a smile and full of courage.

This is husband's favorite picture, again, Anjali is smiling. If I am not wrong, this picture was taken on the same day as her first swim, the same day as the previous picture.
Just around three months when Anjali turned to her side and tried to roll over on her belly. This was my favorite picture for a very long time because of how big her eyes are.
Taken on the same day as the previous picture, Anjali's face is full of expression.



Anjali's first center walk, when she was four months old in August. Her experience in the walk even came out in the review that Jaishree aunty wrote about her.

Taken on the same weekend as Anjali's first center walk, this shows her acting cute when she wore her green dress for the first time to a wedding reception.

At just past 6 months and playing with her windmill, she turned around at the click of the camera. She looked so cute staring at the camera that I just had to take this picture.

This is before her 6th month birthday, having successfully wrestled her milk bottle from granma's hand she proceeds to drink her milk all by herself. Taken just last weekend when Anjali is just over six months old. Again, I like this picture for the babywearing factor.

At a month old, this photo was also my favorite for a long time, mainly because Anjali is on her belly, and also because this is the first time that I put her on her belly.

Close contenders to the favorite photo prize at one time were these two pictures, with Anjali and granpa when Anjali was three months old. Everyone said that the pictures looked as beautiful as black and white photos. I should try entering one of them for a contest.


This photo came out of a series of clicks. When Anjali was three months old. Before she turned on her side, before she rolled on her belly. before she began eating her legs.
One of the first pictures of Anjali when she turned on her belly. My grandfather wanted a copy of it. She looks like a celluloid doll, he told me on the phone.

Favorite photos part 1

While everything Anjali does is beautiful to our eyes, once in a while we get a totally genius photo.
The definition of genius changes over time, but here are the photos, marked according to how old tutu was when the picture was taken

Around two weeks, posing asleep on granma's shoulder
Less then a month, daddy is burping her
Looking blase on her stroller at just around 3 months

Just around 3 months, looking at granma's face when bathing

Just past a month old, one of Anjali's first smiles
Again, just past a month old, this is one of my favorite times with Anjali, as granma was having a class in the living room and me and tutu were singing songs and laughing for over an hour

Anjali laughing during the singing session described in the previous photo. This is one of her first laughs

Adi took this picture of her sleeping, as , like he said, she looks so beautiful. She is about 2 months old

At just over a week old, and already very cheeky. You can see that even her umbilical cord has not gone in