Weaning Child #2

The funniest thing happened today. Ari woke up from his nap just as I was finishing dinner. I held him as I drank water and gave his sister her after dinner sweet. As I put the dinner things away, opening cupboards, closing food containers, etc, looking at me handling all this food I guess it got a bit much for him. When I reached into a box and got out an after dinner treat, he could take it no more. He instantly reached out for my hands and directed it to his mouth. The texture of the sweet however was unexpected and he took it out again. I knew then that I have waited too long to start Ari on solids. I'd assumed bf would be as smooth as it was with Nidhi. But as it turns out our little man was keen on our food for a while now. When mum was still here she commented on how he watches us when we eat. Though I noticed it as well I never gave much thought to it as I'd intended on exclusive bf until 5 months and then gradually introduce solids as I had with Nidhi. But he did not take to bf as easily. After month 3, his weight gain plateaued. This was not helped by the fact that he was more mobile than Nidhi was at the same age.
Anyway we're going to start with solids now and see how he takes it.

Mum of two

I guess it's about time to acknowledge the fact that I am now 'mum of two'. And perhaps not too late to start a journal on the littlest member of the house.

Ari is a little over 4.5 months as I write this. Comparisons with the first born are inevitable. Ari is a 'smiler', his sister was ever-grumpy. According to their father, a frown is the first sign of intelligence, in which case the brother will find it hard to live up to the standards set by his sister.

In physical development however, he leads by far. Nidhi was content to lie on her back until she was nearly 6 months. She din't even make an attempt to roll over before then. It was as if one fine day she decided, may be it's time to look at this world from a different perspective and voila, she rolled over.

Ari has been attempting it from 1.5months. Mum said he would roll over soon and I didn't believe her. He surprised me by rolling over from back to tummy at 2.5m. By 3months he was rolling both ways.

Now he rarely lies on his back. If we put him down, he rolls onto his tummy, raises his torso and tries to balance on his fours.

He is not a great feeder, again unlike his sister. 5 minutes is a good feed. However his weight gain is satisfactory, he is 'thriving' in doctor-speak.

He adores his sister. When she is around he has eyes only for her. he puts up with a lot of mishandling by her. She in turn wants to be around him all the time. It is delightful to see her speak to him, telling him things he can't do yet, but will be able to at an appropriate age.

Nidhi is doing well at school, we have the parent's evening next month when we find out more. Her handwriting has improved significantly with the daily practice during the summer holidays.

She has learnt to ride the cycle and enjoys it a lot. She is bottom of the class in swimming and this is our next area of focus. The 10 minutes that she gets during the group swimming sessions at school just aren't enough and we need to enrol her in classes at the local leisure centre next term.

Behaviour at home continues to be a challenge. The key to disciplining is consistency which I find so hard. Hopefully things will be easier when Rohan returns from project in India.

Oh to be a child again

Today Nidhi was, as usual, non-stop chattering, when we noticed her brother staring transfixed at her. When we mentioned this to her she says, "I wonder what a baby's life is like. I wish I could go back and be a baby again."

More on maths

It's a pity there is so much focus on reading in schools here, not enough on maths. Nidhi loves her numbers. Yesterday she watched programs on the computer for a long time. Finally she asked me
 "How long did I watch computer for?"
I said " 2 hours"
"How long am I supposed to watch it for?"
I said "Half an hour"
"So I watched it for three quarters more"

And today,
"How long did I watch computer for?"
"One and three quarters hours"
"So I watched it for 1hour and 45minutes"

Family day assembly

Last month Nidhi's school had a family day assembly. Parents, grandparents and other family members were invited to a special assembly, where the children of various classes sang songs. After the assembly, the parents were served refreshments, while the children went back to their classes. Then the parents were offered the option of being taken on a tour of the school by their child(ren).

Since I help in the classroom one morning every week, I generally know what the children get upto in school. But I thought Nidhi would cherish the idea of showing her dad around. So after tea we went to Nidhi's classroom. She was busy at play with her friend Roshni in the home corner. I went and suggested that she could show us around the school if she liked. She ignored me and continued with her play. Thinking that perhaps she did not understand what I meant by 'showing us around the school', I said that she could show her dad where she had lunch or did PE, etc.

She stood up, turned towards us, and said, "That big hall where you saw me singing just now is where we have lunch. The other smaller hall (where we had tea) is where we do PE." Pointing to a room behind us, she said, "That is the ICT room." Then swinging around and pointing, she said, "That is Ladybirds class, that is Caterpillars, and this is Bumblebees. And that room in the middle is the art area."

Satisfied that she had done what we wanted of her, she sat down and continued her play. We had been dismissed. :-)

One month to go

N: I can't wait for the baby to be born
Me: Why is that?
N: Because I love the baby so much.

Film night

Nidhi had a film night in school a few weeks ago. Till that day she had never watched any film, in a theatre or at home. She had no idea what it would be like, but wanted to go nonetheless. When I picked her up 2 hours later, I asked how it went. Her response:

"I was very happy when it was over because I knew then you would be coming. I missed you. Did you miss me?"

Math and time

Nidhi said her class teacher asked her what was one less than 1000, and one more than 1000. She answered both correctly.

She has a good understanding of time, even though she is not able to read the clock correctly all the time. The other day I was asking her to hurry up because we were getting late for school. She asked me what the time was and I said it was 7.55. She knows we leave at 8.30 so she said, "We still have 35 minutes!"

Today I had told her she can play a game for 10 minutes more. After about 4 minutes I said, 6 minutes are up, you have 4 minutes more. She said "I don't think it has been 6 minutes, it's probably 4 minutes" !!

If only..

We live in hilly town. Walking back home from a trip to the library, park and McDonald's Nidhi complains about the walk up the hill to our home.

5yo: I don't like to walk up hill. Why can't we go some place where going and coming back is downhill?

All you need

I am humming "All you need is love"

Nidhi hears this and says "That's not true, you also need food. And you need someone to help you do things, don't you? So why do you say all you need is love?"

So cheeky

Nidhi: Mummy, do you feel proud of me?

Me(smiling indulgently): Yes, I do sometimes.

Nidhi: Do you know that pride comes before a fall?

Me (smile wiped right out of my face)

Story #2 and other things

Another story she wrote during the Christmas holidays. Sentence capitalisation is mine. She added the fullstops on her own, after every sentence, after she finished writing the story. I helped her with the following spellings: elephant, naughty, anybody

Tiger and elephant were frends. They loved each other a lot.

They were naughty. They loved each other more then they loved anybody in the world.

Even God and Jesus.

God and Jesus was very upset with tiger and elephant.

***********

4yo: Mummy, how do you know there is heaven and hell?

Me: Because it says so in the Bible.

4yo: But Bible may be a fairytale

***********

4yo: Mummy, when will God talk to me or send an angel to me?

Me: When he wants to Tochi.

4yo: But when will he want to? I have been waiting for so long. I've been waiting for 4 years!

***********

I can't wait to see God!

***********

4yo: Who is God's wife and daughter?

Me: He doesn't have any.

4yo (angrily): That's not possible. Ok, maybe he does not have a daughter. But he must have a wife or how can he have a son?

Last post of the year: Nidhi's first story

(Punctuation and sentence capitalization added by me. Spelling is all hers)

One day Carla and Nidhi went out for a walk. We loved it. It was a windy day. There was rain. The sun was shining. There was a rainbow in the sky.

(The above was written sometime in November, the rest of the story below was completed during the school break in December)

Me and Carla got lost. We was feeling lonly. We misst are (our) mums. Just then we saw are (our) mums. Hoora! Are mums took us home.

Ure (Our) mums wre upset. Ure (Our) mums said "Why did you get lost?"

"I didint get lost."

"Don't tell lies."

"I'm not telling lies. Plese don't get upset with me. Ok. Kill ure (our) mums."

"They fired and shooded ure (our) mums."

(This was the end of her story. When dad and mum protested at the violence in the story, Nidhi amended it to add the following bit:)

They did all sots of tings. They didind get killd but they were badly hurt. They were bleeding. At last we seid sorry to our mums.

Time and distance

Nidhi talking to one of her friends at school

Nidhi: Which shop did you buy those ear muffs from?

Roshni: QS in Redhill

Nidhi: Is it very far?

Roshni: Just 5 minutes

Nidhi: 5 minutes by what vehicle?

Roshni: I don't know

Her prayer today

Dear God..I love you so much. And I love my mummy, and I miss my daddy. And my birthday is in 67 days. And Carla's birthday is on Thursday and she has invited me to her party. And I have made two cards for Roshni and Carla. And help Carla to be good and after her birthday to still be my friend.

And, I am very happy that there is a baby in mummy's tummy. And I don't like her to rest but still I let her rest. Isn't that very nice? Hallelujah!....... (sings Hallelujah from her nativity play at school.)

Thinking about it

In the few days following the news of the baby, Nidhi was probably constantly thinking about the future arrival and how it is going to affect us all. Some notable remarks are below.

*****

Sitting in the bath, Nidhi is singing nativity songs that she has learnt at school. She adapts the words to our baby

A baby is going to be born

A baby is going to be born

In June, in June (original words 'Tonight Tonight')

In this big house (orig. 'In the bright starlight')

A baby is going to be born

A cot (stable) is where it will be

A cot (stable) is where it will be

In June, in June (original words 'Tonight Tonight')

In this big house (orig. 'In the bright starlight')

A cot (stable) is where it will be

*****

Using the toilet one day, she calls out to me "Mummy do we have a small potty?"

Me: Yes, somewhere in the loft I think, an old one you used

4yo: You have to get it out for the baby, because the baby cannot sit on the big potty, it will fall in.

*****

4yo: Will you get a cot for the baby?

Me: What do you think, should we get one?

4yo: Yes, and I will sleep in the same room as the cot. So if the baby wakes at night, I can tell you.

*****

4yo: We'll get a cot and the baby can sleep in it till he or she is 2 yrs old. Then we can get a bed for it. And the baby can sleep in it till it is dead.

Me: (a little shocked) Yes, but before that the baby might grow up and move to its own house and bed.

4yo: Yes, unless it has an accident and dies.

*****

WE're doing the Advent Calendar and are talking about the passage for the day (Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac). I tell Nidhi about how Isaac must have been so close to Abraham's heart because he was born after a long wait of many many years. And how things are more dear to us when we have waited a long time for them.

She says "Just like I waited five years for a baby brother or sister"

*****

Dec 10, 2011

Today Nidhi wonders if the baby inside thinks it is going to be the first baby because it doesn't know it has a big sister.

*****

Dec 15, 2011

We are playing and I pat Nidhi on the back. She complains that I hurt her when I did that, so I rub her back. I feel her shoulder blade and tell her how I could feel this bone when she was in my tummy. She asks me where I could feel it and I point to the part of my tummy. She says then that her back must have been facing my tummy.

She asks if I could feel her head. I said yes, because she used to keep moving about. She says, it isn't moving, because babies cant move on their own, it must have been floating around. And I say yes.

*****

Dec 16, 2011

4yo: Can we buy bunk beds for the baby and me when the baby is older?

Me: Yes, sure. Will you like bunk beds?

4yo: Yes, and we can ask the baby which bed he or she likes to sleep on - the higher one or the lower one.

Me: Which one would you like? You can choose what you like.

4yo: No, we'll ask the baby because it is younger.

Tooth fairy

Does the tooth fairy's teeth also fall off?

Breaking the news

Me: Tochi, look at this picture. Can you tell what it is?

Nidhi: No, what is it?

Me: Look, haven't I shown you another picture like this before, on my mobile phone.

Nidhi: Is it me in your tummy?

Me: Yes, that's the one on the phone. This is not you. This is another baby inside the tummy.

Nidhi: Ohhhh!

Me: Whose tummy is it, can you guess? See, the lady's name is on the picture.

Nidhi (reading 'Bini'): So, is it your tummy?

Me: Yes

Nidhi: So, is there a baby inside your tummy?

Me (smiling): Yes

Nidhi: So, are you pregnant!

Me: Yes!

Nidhi: So you are pregnant. But you don't have to get married, because you are already married.

Heaven and hell

4yo: Mummy, when you die do you want to go to heaven or hell?

Me: Heaven

4yo: Why don't you want to go to hell?

Me: Because God isn't there in hell.

4yo: But how is that possible because God is everywhere!?

Beware when your child begins to read

I am reading a Jodi Picoult novel, and Nidhi standing next to me on the sofa is reading over my shoulder.

Suddenly she asks, "What's virgittiny?" (she pronounces 'g' as in 'girl')

I say, "What?"

She asks again, "What's virgittiny? Why did she lose her virgittiny?"

I close the book, turn towards her and say, "Err... because she wasn't looking after it properly!"