The Grandma Effect!

My daughter has undergone a transformation in the last fortnight that I have been here, at her grandparent's house. Baba is travelling, but we have no time to miss him (Sorry Baba!). There is so much waiting in store at Aaaa-jeeee's place that there is no time to even sleep (yes, that remains a challenge unfortunately).

Aaajjeeee has been teaching us a variety of new lessons and we are such an obedient student. We can now 'dance-dance' i.e. tap our feet. We can bring our thumb and middle finger together and show how 'chhaan-chhaan' something is. We can show you what sunlight does to the eyes. We can say 'diu-diu' and point at the light. We can put things into a bucket and pull them out again. And all of this with such remarkable sincerity and passion that trust me, I have never known my daughter like my Mom knows her grand-daughter. It does not end here... Aaajeee manages to make Bobo chan lie down in her lap for minutes together (feat!) and actually sleep in her lap (magic!).

In all of this, Aai has been reduced to a mere by-stander observing with both joy and fear. Joy because there is so much pleasure in watching my Mom and my baby together, laughing, playing and having fun. And fear, because there is just a day to go and I return to my own house. Will I be able to take this forward by myself? Only time will tell...

Latest developments!

I haven't blogged since my last post on Bobo's newly acquired walking skills. The reason is simple, the baby is walking and I'm running after her, literally. Suddenly there is an increase in the motherly workload like never before. Anyone who has been there, done that, will identify with me immediately! That's not all. There has been a spate of illnesses in the house. First, P got a cold, then Bobo had it. Even as it was going away, P caught a viral cough and Bobo got that too. As a result, the last week has been spent in endless pacifying, night waking and constant feeding. And just when I thought I was lucky enough to escape both the round of infections, I have come down with the cough :(. Thankfully, I'm at Mom's since P is travelling, which makes things SOO much easier.

An unfortunate side-effect of the illness bout is that Bobo has become extremely clingy. She wants to be carried all the time and making her sleep has become (even more!!) difficult. I'm really worried that this might become a habit which she will carry well after she has recovered. I so hope not!

It's not all bad though. Since I last blogged, we have mastered walking and are starting to use it skillfully. The terrace, artificial grass covered children's play area in the society, lobby outside Mom's house, are all favorite places. We still don't like our (not so) new shoes, but booties are great. Several words are being attempted - Aai (about 100 times a day), Ajji, Mummm, Tdou tdou (some mix of kau-kau and chiv-chiv), Baba (on rare occasions). Waving, clapping, pointing, wrist movements are becoming second nature. There is a lot of new association-building and concepts such as open-able lids, different textures, colors, animals, birds are being understood nicely. It's a great phase, and there is an imminent transition from 'baby' to 'toddler' on the way!