8 months and counting

Aadya turned 8 months old on November 30th. Boy,the last month has been busy busy..Busy for me ,because the In laws were here for Diwali-busy for Aadya because she has too keep thinking of new mischiefs to get into!Its like her mind is constantly thinking- hmm OK so I finished tearing up this paper,may be I should pull myself up to a standing position … hmm and while I am at it,why not pull the cushion down..OK the cushion is down on the floor now to throw it..OK OK I know you got what I am trying to say!
I knew you wouldn’t believe me,so i video-taped it, but got carried away in my motherly love and forgot to stop recording,the video is now more than 5 minutes long and I cant upload it anywhere.Any ideas where I can upload it?

So, this little baby is a full fledged cruiser now.She happily cruises around the place,following me from room to room. Well,she is not very happy about me leaving the room.Yes,separation anxiety has kicked in and so,as long as I am sitting around,being a couch potato,she is happy playing, by herself. She does sneak glances at me,but she is pretty much playing alone.But the movement I get up, she starts following me at full speed and then demands to be picked up.And if I don’t pick her up,then the crying starts. But one good thing is she understands “Come”.So,if I don’t pick her up and tell her,”Come,come to Mamma,baby” ,she happily comes..crawling on all fours!
She has been trying to stand up,without support and now manages to balance herself for a good minute or so. And all she wants to do is stand.She never stops practicing,she tries,she falls,she tries again and again and then succeeds and smiles..if we are not looking even calls out to us..screams to attract attention,is more like it.We have so much to learn from these babies,na?She loves holding the furniture and moving sideways or holding her crib and moving forward.

And every now and then she goes on a scavenger hunt..finding the tiniest piece of biscuit or paper and pops it in her mouth.How does she find’em when my glasses adorned eyes and heavy duty vacuum cleaner miss’em?Beats me!Speaking of popping in her mouth,I wonder why only trash finds its way to her mouth, and why not the baby biscuits.Give her a baby rusk or some baby munchies and they are either crushed to a fine powder with fingers or thrown around like that’s what they are for! Give her a piece of chapati instead and at least she tries to bite it,holding it with both the hands like a squirrel..cute!

Since we are talking about food ,let me tell you about meal times. Meal times are just getting messier each day. Aadya wants to help herself now,the big independent girl that she is.She wants to dip her hand in the food,hold her spoon herself.She is now slurping solids and 3-4 times a day with fruits and vegetables(mashed or pureed).But,its not as happily eaten as before.Some well-meaning friend asked me if Aadya was eating well..and I opened my big mouth and told her how well she was eating.”Aha!”,thought the J monster,”Time for me to appear,in Aadyaland“. And appear he did! Since that day, every meal time is a disaster! 3 spoonfuls are taken in happily,then Aadya gets busy looking down,I think scanning her tray for any dust,”Shoni,baby please,1 more..1 more baby” manages to get in another 3-4 spoons And then starts the crying,which just wont stop till she is not out of her booster seat on to my lap. The next few spoonfuls are partaken seating on mamma’s lap, trying to fling royal self backwards,banging her head, more crying,trying to grab the bowl,getting mad about not being able to touch it.. Ohh J-monster, go away! Give me my baby back!

Same is the case at Dudu-time. Slightest of sound and it has to be inspected by Inspector Aadya,satisfied she turns back to take a sip but not before cocking her head to make sure the sound has stopped really! And dare mamma get tired of all this and close shop, another crying is in order!So, in short major part of our day is spent in extended meal-times! Not a bad deal,any pending chore is easily accounted for-Oh I was taking care of the baby! 😀

And last but not the least,sleep! I reading somewhere that as you baby is growing, she will want to sleep less and I thought,oh no! she is my daughter,she will love sleep as much as I do.Well, she loves her sleep but sleeps only when she wants to! So,I put her to bed at around 8.30 and she is up at 9.30,10,10.30,11.00 ..and so on till we don’t go to bed.And she claims her rightful place between us. So, the crib we loving chose, spent so many hours browsing the Internet,looking for reviews,and checked out so many stores,is lying unused for most part of the day!Yes, Co-sleeping is in!And some days she decides that the only place to sleep in is mommy’s arms.I know partly teething is to blame.All you mommies with babies-Tharini,AP,MM,Shobana,and everyone else, who I am not writing because I really want to finish this post tonite, help me out!All ideas are welcome.

Well there’s more-(This post is not all complains).Now some fun bits-

Aadya loves sitting under the dining table and playing and that’s her favorite place so far.Every time I see her sitting there,playing with her plastic spoons n bulb syringe ( LOL) yes the bulb syringe is the most favorite toy these days,I fall in love with her all over again.

As soon as she wakes up,she starts crawling. it is such a cute sight- my cutie pie, eyes still closed crawling calling out mimi..awww that’s it,I just have to pick her up n hug her.. how can I not?wouldn’t you?

Aadya knows what BYE means. So,she goes and hides somewhere,I call out to her,she doesn’t come.Tell her bye Aadya, mamma is going and she comes ambling out! All smiles that she didn’t let mamma go. And also,now she knows that when Papa leaves in the morning,when she is still sleepy,its ok.But when he is going somewhere after he comes back,then OK. She has to go with him.

Cuddling after dudu-no more.Now, as soon as she finishes her job,she wants to be put down,so she can crawl and stand and practice standing alone. Ohh ,my baby is growing up!

We are already in the last month of 2007 and to think, first 3 months of 2007,before Aadya’s birth seemed indefinitely long.
8 months and counting…..