The Way to Blackmail Parents !! Come party with the bhootnath ..

I am hugely amused to see the way kids are swayed by music in fact anyone who thinks that Indian film music has limited utility is the wrong.

In my house I have observed that Veera (who’s all of 17 months), seems to have developed a way to ensure that we keep her favourite music playing ESPECIALLY when she knows that you’re trying to feed her .

 BLACKMAIL !!!

What happens is that she’s figured out that we want her to eat and , as soon as we get the food in a plate ,  she will run to the television .If she can find the remote she’ll take that and wave it around and just will not open her little mouth until you have a HINDI music channel blaring .

I thought let me not only expose her to the Hindi music channels let me try and expose her to the English music channels. But my lady just does not want any other music other than popular Hindi film songs off today’s date. So all attempts to play music which belongs to the Golden era of Indian cinema is all very wasted too.

NO old Hindi music… it has to be today’s music… today’s POPULAR Hindi music. Which are the two favorite and songs that she is following currently?

One is “party with the bhoothnath … “ ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7kdKf_aqX4  )And the other one is “beshaarmi ki height”  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vUDeO801Dk)

I wonder what this new generation is coming to …. J

From Infant to Baby … The GIANT leap

Wikipedia reads : An infant (from the Latin word infans, meaning "unable to speak" or "speechless") is the very young offspring of a human or animal.  Vira is now ‘able to speak’ and so , technically, is no longer an infant . Aren’t we proud … You may THINK -  how come only speech is the differentiator ? Isn’t that a very small thing ?  But if you have kids around you will KNOW – that speech is a huge HUGE indicator of progress . I do think Facial Expression should also be considered …

So the story of evolution of Vira is that she has started experimenting and enjoying the sound of her own voice .

Along with the multiple repetitions of 2 lettered words … da da da daaa ddaa da daaa da dada … pa pa ppaa papa paaa aa aaaaa, there is this fierce enthusiasm to be heard. So the volume of rendering this ‘alap’ is very loud. And the pace differs too . This extempore delivery is often punctuated by random screeching .

So the activity cycle of Vira’s world now consist of

1.      Eat

2.      Sleep

3.      Run

4.      Bump (into furniture)

5.      Scatter (toys , newspapers)

6.      Blabber (the ‘alap’ mentioned above)

7.      Screech

Wow … a formidable list for a 12 month old .

The other good news is that the hair on her head has started growing . All of a sudden , there no of hair follicles per sq cm on her head seems to have multiplied. What a relief !! I was quite worried that she was practically bald till now .

This month has been good , with so many agreeable surprises .

Baby to me - 'I don’t like socks …'

Bangalore has that ‘chill’ in the air again . And my mom’s go the baby these fabulous socks of a couple of varieties –

·        the thick , furry kinds,

·        the pure cotton with cute embellishment kinds

·        the ‘ready to party’ kinds

As Vira jets about the house, it is important to keep her feet warm . This is slated to being down the incidence of cold AND to reduce the frequency of ‘su-su’ (errr , pee pee to the uninitiated)

With these noble objectives we put on a couple of them .. and were very pleased to see the Vira move around with growing confidence (initially she slipped about a bit ) .

Wow !! wonder grandmom and mom were soooo proud of our achievements. I bragged about this success to all my friends and foes with infants .. 

A month later the tables turned . Miss Vira learnt that if she tugged sufficiently hard or long at the toe of a sock, it came off !! She decided that this was a great game .. tug off a sock and mum or grand-mum , or Lakshmi aunty (the maid) would come running after her . What a great way to grab some attention!!

Since then this has become an often played game . The sequence of events is

1. Baby takes a bath
2. Dry her up , sprinkle lots of Johnson’s baby powder all over, including on her toes
3.  Person 1 - distract the wriggling baby
4.  Person 2 - put socks on the baby’s feet
5. Baby is happy to play .. for a while
6. Baby tugs at a sock on one foot
7.  Sock comes loose
8. Baby waves the sock around till someone (mum, grand-mum, Lakshmi Aunty) notices
9.  Baby squeals and runs
10.  We shout and run
11.  Catch the baby
12. Repeat activity no. 3 onwards

Phew!! The evening finds three exhausted women and 1 ecstatic baby .. Dihka diya na !!

Combat techniques from the art of war –

a.      Love thy enemy (here – the baby)… once she is asleep . Till then , prepare to chase !!