Aarush the musician

Since being a baby, Aarush loves different kinds of sounds...and his love for this hasnt dimmed now that he is almost two.
One day he wanted to listen to some music or song on the music system.. as there was no electricity at that time due to power cut, we were unable to play that.

Aarush though we are bluffing and dont want to play music for him,he came up with the idea of playing the music himself.... and his instruments were the "music system's speaker"

Starting play group for Aarush

After a long battle with myself, I finally gave into my hubby's wishes and decided to search for a play school for Aarush.
We saw a couple of those, met the staff, questioned the teacher but could not still make the decision to send him. The thought of him being with the strangers, not only to him but to us too, did something strange to me...

Then one day, my mom told me that we can try sending Aarush to a nearby play group which her friend runs..
Today, we went and met the principal, saw the school. It wasn't very big or those extra modern 5 star hotel kinds..But it had a homely feel to it. The staff was experienced.
The factor that the principal was known to my mom did make a lot of difference...

And so it was decided that Aarush will start going there initially for 1-2 hours....

I felt the pain, the anxiety which every parent must have gone through for searching a play school, because we all want the best for our kids!!!

Cheers to us all!

Rule #1: Parents name their babies and not the other way round

Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.

(Morpheus, in "The Matrix")

In general we the parents name their babies and tell them their and our names. Aarush started speaking and remembering words a few months back (Mumma is the first word) and I was happy that he learnt to pronounce my name quite clearly. But these are just the rules or mere guidelines. And rules are meant to be bent. A couple of weeks back, Aarush suddenly started calling me with a different name. And from that day onwards I did not hear "Neerav" from him. The new name is "Neennu". For past four years my wife was looking for a nick name for me, I think now she has found one.

The day when mankind discovered wheels

The battery driven scooter which my son got on his first birthday still continues to be a passion for him even after 7 months..
Every morning the first thing he wants to do is take a ride on it...He has figured out that the more the pressure used to press the pedal, the more the desired speed..
Though besides driving the scooter on all its wheels, Aarush has figured out different ways of driving it...
Out of the three wheels, one is battery operated and two are manual, till few days back he used put the scooter on its one side and manually rotate the wheel.....and if the side too had to be according to his wish...
These days, he choses the side which has automatic wheel up, pushes the pedal and enjoys the scooter in motion.....SIDEWAYS!!!

Father's Day

I was in Washington, DC for a week on an official trip so was away from Aarush for about 10 days or so. When I met him after returning, he was a bit shy and was not able to contain his joy. 06/15 was Father's day but we celebrated Father's Week. Aarush being 18 months old can not buy any materialistic gift for me but had certain things up his sleeve.

The best gift for a dad would be that his kids learn new skills. I'll give you guys a glimpse of what he learnt in past couple of weeks:

1. Acupressure: As per dictionary acupressure means "treatment of symptoms by applying pressure with the fingers to specific pressure points on the body". I have 5 moles on my face. Aarush recently learned acupressure (I don't know how) and applies his skills on all of them.
2. Self Defense: Aarush goes to a nearby town park every evening. These days that park is full of kids of all shapes, sizes and age. Usually, there is a group of (older) kids who practice judo (or any other for of martial arts, they all look the same). Aarush observes them daily for about 10-15 minutes and tries to imbibe whatever he can. We got to know about his newly acquired skill a couple of days back when he demonstrated it at home and was looking damn cute when he uttered those "hooo-haaa" while waving his hands.
3. Responsible These days Aarush's mom is in Maryland and would be returning in first week of July. But while she's not here, Aarush takes care that I do not forget her. He reminds me daily about her side of bed and doesn't let me sleep on that side.

Dance with me!

Last week was my cousin's wedding, and as it is with other weddings in India, there was lots of music and dance.
We all cousins prepared a small musical skit with lots of practice sessions.

Aarush enjoyed himself immensely and thats not all participated in all this actively..
And now his love for music and dance has increased many folds..

Whenever he listens a dancing beat, up go his hands and and he starts moving them. Thats not all whomsoever is present in the vicinity has to dance with him...

He doesn't speak but he expresses it all...The expressions, his movements, the tone of his voice.......

Even more fun are the ring tones, specially my sisters. Whenever he meets here Mausi, the only thing he wants her to do is play that ringtone , get on the floor and dance with him!!

A pure joyful moment!!!

Fool's Day and Aarush

You must be thinking what Fool's day has to do with Aarush. He's just over an year and has a vocabulary of 7 words. For him Fool's day started a couple of weeks back. That was the first time he made a fool of someone. And that someone was me.
Well, it was a quiet evening. We all were having dinner and Aarush was busy playing cricket with his bat and ball. After sometime I noticed the ball was replaced by a saucer. I asked him, "आरुष बॉल कहाँ है?" (Aarush, where is the ball?) He smiled a little, then sat down and pointed his finger below the dining table. I bent a little to look for the ball and he started laughing aloud. After few seconds everybody else started laughing. There was no ball below the table!

Aarush's fultoo masti on Holi

Holi came and went....and Aarush got introduced to fun of playing in water.
This time instead of putting in words Aarush's "mauj" (fun) on Holi, I will let the pics we clicked that day speak for themselves..

Fun time on Holi

Click on the pic above to see more pictures

Mumma is the first word

Aarush spoke his first word...and that was "MUMMA"

It was such a surprise...Two three days back, when I cam home from work, Aarush rushed out to greet me saying "mumma........."

The happiness, love, wonder and whatnot all I felt at that moment cannot be put into words..
Though I still believe if he has uttered any other word, I would have been equally happy but this moment was precious..
I have been a mother last 14 months but being called "mumma" opened a whole new set of feelings for me..

Once confident of his new word, Aarush has started saying a few more. Today the addition to his dictionary was a hindi word " aaja" which means come here.

Everyone says he will soon start speaking, I too wish the same. But at the moment I am enjoying my peace.....

Activity Journal II - Fan Fascination

Aarush these days is enthralled by anything which is round and rotates!
My mom innocently showed him once with finger movement how does the fan move :"gol gol gol...." and that started it.

These days as summers have made their presence felt in North India, the ceiling fans have started.
Whenever Aarush enters any room of our home, the first look is for the FAN!..

If it isn't on, t
he round finger actions start, indicating his wish for the Fan to be ON!

Our kitchen doesn't have a ceiling fan, one day he discovered the presence of the exhaust fan.....

I know soon his interest will be diverted to a newer thing,fan will lose its novelty.
But till then this is fun!!!

Activity Journal - 1

Last one month had been full of activity, with something or the other turning up. Amidst all this Aarush kept us fully entertained with his antics.

He hasn't started speaking but can very clearly indicate his likes and dislikes.

My dressing table has be swiped out.Everything has moved inside. I think thats the fate of every table that exists in any household with young kids.
But his fascination for such small things fascinates me a lot!!
The victorious look on his face when he figures out how his scooter works, or when he reaches out for something and is able to grab it or when he successfully communicates his like is priceless..

The other day we were spending the Sunday in a shopping mall. Aarush enjoys himself immensely there.
He stood outside a shop and was observing people getting in and out. This continued for about 1-2 minutes. We were wondering what is he up to as he rarely stays at a place for so long...

Then much to our amazement, the door opens and a man walks out of the shop , and........Aarush rushes inside the shop!!!!

The surprised look on the guards face, the happiness on Aarush's face sure made a perfect Kodak Moment!!!!

I love talking on phone

I sold everything I had on my basket

Bang On!One year completed!!

Both of us completed the first year of parenthood and celebrated it with friends and family!!

The party invitation had to be as special as the occasion!!
The invitation cards were hand made( obviously by me!!) though his mausi improvised the design.
His Nana and Nani pitched in by making the envelopes and his dad contributed by posting the cards.
Though I know this may seem an outdated way as no one posts cards these days, but it was something I wanted to do for my baby, to mark his presence in our lives!!

The party venue was Hotel MOSAIC, Noida and the day was Sunday, 20th Jan 2008.
The guest list had about 100 people, all close relatives and friends.The best part was that almost everyone came!!!
Though I would say we invited people whom we knew will come ;)

Birthday cake was as tall as the birthday boy..It was a two tier cake and as everyone commented "it was delicious". I think cake is one think for which the birthday's are celebrated.
Though Golu didn't appreciate people making him eat it!!

For the cake cutting ceremony,the background score was a specially mixed and recorded birthday song!! (courtesy:Dad) .

One of the specially arranged event was the Roaming Magician!!He surely kept the kids and even the adults entertained.It was magical the way the coins disappeared, the cards guessed and
the ribbons were rearranged.

The continuous rounds of snacks and soft drinks made the party better.....
There were four items on the snacks platter."Mini Pizza" was a smashing hit!

"Creme of Tomato" being the soup being served. It tasted quite well, though I cannot vouch for either the snacks or the soup as I didn't taste them

The main course had the following items:
Salads : Four types
Dahi Bhalla
And 5 main dishes with Biryani.
Dessert: Rasmalai and Gulab Jamun.

Food was hot and breads were served promptly.Guests had a couple of rounds and relished all the preparations!
All praises for the Chef.

The pre-prepared and named set of return gifts for all the kids according to their interests and age helped a lot. There was no last minute confusion and luckily no kid was missed!!

I was pretty surprised with myself and hubby dear that we were able to manage everything quite well and there were no hitches. Everything went smoothly and ended on a happy note!

Now about the birthday boy..Once the guests left and he had the party hall to himself he became active.
He wanted to smash all the balloons which decorated the place,taste the ribbon lying around, climb up and down all the chairs, open his birthday presents and dance to the tune of the famous number "Nagada Nagada".

He caught hold of a chocolate lying on the table and in one bite took it in.It was too big for him but had to be eaten....He didn't throw it but relished it and finished it...
Chocolates after all do taste good!
He too had to do something new for marking his birthday..

On the whole an entertaining and well planned party..
I would say a great accomplishment for us, the first time parents!!
Three cheers!!!!!!!!!!


P.S : Someone is being too modest here....

With his Nanu!

My cot is only mine

His peaceful sleep in his cot at eight months

My baby ,since he has been five months old, sleeps in his own bed(cot) though he shares the room with us. Past few days he has started showing signs of being possessive about his cot.

Only his toys, pillows and bedding can be put in the cot. Rest anything if kept,is very promptly thrown out.

Last night he did something really funny, he was so inquisitive as to what all type of bedding is occupying space. He wanted to dig..
Golu began throwing of the layers.. first went the pillows and his toys..A direct throw from the cot to our bed.Next was the bed sheet, followed by mattress. What a victorious smile he had !!
What a folly I committed then, by putting some of the things back... Oh my god! they came back at me with an amazing force followed by a frown meaning "Mom this is my place and can you please let it be the way I want!!"

God only knows what would he want to unravel the next!

Preparations are on!

I have been itching to blog since days, but somehow or the other it wasn't just happening.
Past few days have been so busy. I realized organizing a party isn't an easy task.
Hats off to the event management people who manage it all..

Some night a few days back an idea stuck! why not do something really special for this occasion.
And next day the search started for an amazing, eye catching, simple invitation card template. The card has to be as special as my baby!!

Several links were searched, cards tried and finally (with inputs from my sis) came up this:

First Page:
Our little champ is turning

1

Second Page:
Come, Celebrate, and
have some fun at

Aarush's
First Birthday!!

We got the hand made paper from Khadi. it has a wide range of both colors and types of paper.
Though we couldn't find the envelopes of the desired size!!
I think we will end up making them too.......

Visit to AksharDham Temple

Aarush's birthday party wasn't on the day he was born but a few days later.

We decided to keep it this way to avoid weekday rush, and to also to celebrate his day in a quite fashion.
Both of us took off that day and held a small pooja and havan in the morning at out place. His Nanu, Nani and Mausi joined us.

In the afternoon, we visited the Akshardam Temple. The weather was good. Though January days are very chilly, this day was no exception but the sun was shining bright.

We didnt visit the exhibitions and the boat rides, just the temple.It a masterpiece. Every carving beautifully and intricately done.

Aarush enjoyed himself a lot...The open spaces fascinate him.
Aarush's dada and dadi loved the temple, they had been wanting to visit the place since long.
The restaurant in the temple premises offers a lot of choice. All the dishes we ordered are well prepared.

We all came back home by 6.30 and spent a quite evening at home.
I loved the day.....
I managed to spent it completely with my family..What more could I ask for :)

Outside Akshardham temple



Learning to drive from 1st B'day onwards

Junk Food always a winner!

Health or taste what to choose.Most of us are always in a fix.
99 percent of times the things which taste the best are laden with calories.Even the thought of hot chocolate fudge or an extra cheese pizza makes our mouth water.
My son, just about an year old can also figure out what tastes the best.Normal dinner like chapati, pulses, green veggies doesn't interest him at all.But pizza, cheese sandwich, chips are a hit.

However much to try to put the food in his mouth, he won't open

Even when he was about 6 months and the doctor asked us to start semi solids, no baby food would interest him.He would relish grapes, mashed potato. And repeat the menu at your own risk!
One day my hubby was having hakka noodles and I had made potato for him.He compared his food with his dad and sensed the difference.I couldnt make him eat that portion.
Something clicked then, we put that bowl along with the hakka noodles in the plate. He then was satisfied that he is also being given the same thing which we are eating and ate his food peacefully..


As he is growing older, anything which is given to him on plate is never eaten, but the same thing picked us from the floor is so much better for his palate.

God! taste buds..what a sense humans have !!!!