You dill it!

He says so many cute things these days- I wish I could have a recorder on for every moment! He mimics a lot, like the Elmo app that says "you did it!" To which he proudly yells "you dill it!" 

He sings "Jumma chumma de de" with such gusto! And of course BINGO and ABC's and twinkle twinkle. The pronunciation is all messed up but so cute. I need to catch it on recording one of these days. 

He's also reciting tatkar ki bandish's from tarana - attempts the ginti part. 

Croups virus

Poor baby has a virus that makes his breathing hard at night. We went to the drs and got him on a steroidal medicine that should help. I changed the bed sheets bc he had peed on them the other night and as we went to bed, he had some duddoo and subsequently threw up all over the new sheets. Poor baby was crying/whimpering as we changed his clothes n he waited for the bed sheets to be changed again. In effort to keep him upright and help w the breathing I put him to sleep in my godi. 

Last night was hard - I hope tonight is better. 

First movie in a theater

Today Puchku watched his first movie in a theater - UPAJ: Improvise. :) and he loved it, as one would expect. 

He's a huge fan of Guruji's, who he calls "Nanaji" and lately has become a fan of Jason's too. So he was really excited to see them on the big screen. He was shouting excitedly in the dance sequences and I was surprised at his sense of humor - how he would catch funny moments and laugh loudly. And he would try to copy all of Guru ji's gesticulations as he spoke. 

He let me do my Q&A w/the audience w/o troubling me. But when it was time to leave he kept crying "more Jason." For a really long time. To the point where I decided to call Jason to tell him this amusing story. Alas, Jason didn't answer but it was pretty funny. 

It took driving him to meet Baba for him to stop saying "more Jason" repeatedly. I was worries that now we'd have to put UPAJ on repeat at home - I don't think I can watch that movie anymore. I've already seen it 500 times - no exaggeration. 

Anyway, it was cute to see him enjoying the movie. 

Potty training?

This morning Puchku took off his own diapy and so I let him run around nannoo. And soon he told me "poo-poo" and successfully pooped in his potty! Am wondering if this means he's ready for potty training? He still has no clue abt when he's peeing but if I can get him to poop regularly in the potty, that will be a major goal for this year. 

And today when he wasn't wanting to nap, despite being tired after swimming, I did the longest "timeout" in his crib. He was fake crying and eventually put himself to sleep. We took a nearly 3 hr nap- even I got in 2 hrs. 

What a great Mumma - Baby day :)

Short updates -- starting now!

I really need to start blogging one liners about stuff my little kid does ... that's right, he's a little boy now ... not a baby anymore ... though, of course he'll always be my little baby. But he's more than half my height and weighs 30 lbs, and I think it looks pretty funny when I hold him godi bc he takes up most of my body.

Anyway, this month he enjoyed Easter Egg hunting. We didn't make it for Holi, but we made it to an Easter egg hunt. What to do.

Resolutions, resolutions, and more resolutions

I always get a little over-motivated this time of the year -- with how I'm going to change things in my life for the new year -- I'm going to do more of this, and more of that, and more, more, more. This year, I'm viewing things slightly differently.

Someone said to me, rather than saying 'what are you going to do this year?' when thinking of your resolutions, ask yourself 'who do you want to be this year?' That really resonated with me -- bc that is the crux of what we're trying to achieve with all these resolutions -- trying to become a different/better person.

I do know what I DON'T want to be -- and that is BUSY. My goal is that when asked 'how are you?' or 'how are things going?' that I never respond with 'It's busy.' Because too much of 2013 was busy, hectic, insane. I felt like a hamster, running around in a wheel for a good 6 months of the year, and the rest of the year was just 'normal busy.'

This year, I will not be frantic, stressed, hectic, all-over-the-place, overworked & underpaid. This year, I will be an artist. And everything I will do will be focused on making me further an artist. If I find myself too busy -- then there's something wrong with my approach -- either I'm being inefficient with my time, or taking on too much. Frankly, I think it's the latter bc since I've had a baby, I've become pretty damn efficient with my time.

And I'm not going to feel guilty that I'm not running around at 100 miles an hour.

To basically put what I am saying into better words, is this article from the New York Times 'The Busy Trap.'

So let's see how long this lasts ... fingers crossed :-)

Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets.

“Idle dreaming is often of the essence of what we do,” -- Thomas Pynchon, in his essay on sloth. 

Milestones a minute

It's a shame I've completely stopped writing in this blog, because the rate with which Puchku is growing and developing is incredible to witness. In the last two weeks alone, I feel like he's gotten so much faster at picking things up.

He's a mimicking machine. Any words he hears, he mimicks. His babble is entirely English, despite my efforts to speak to him only in Hindi (with occasional broken Bangla). I'm trying to keep Hindi stuff on in the background on the TV so at least he hears a little more Hindi.

Monday's have become the regular Nana-Nani day. He spends the whole day with them, mainly gardening in their backyard with Nani jiji, eating and tasting all the fresh fruit and veggies while 'working.' I can't think of a better way for him to bond with his grandparents, and nature. It's like his grandparents live in the 'country,' and he lives in the 'city.' Just like Curious George -- which I'm totally addicted to. We always turn on the show for Puch, and end up watching the whole episode ourselves while he's moved on to other things.

Eating fresh carrots from Nani jiji's backyard

Anyway, I've been wanting to catalogue all the words that he says, but it's increasing so rapidly, I don't think I can get them all. I'm going to divide them up by language, and the category of names. He's currently juggling 4 languages in his brain, mumma sho proud!

Names:
Mumma/Ma
Baba
Motu (Maushi)
Tutu (Kutu)
Nani jiji
Nana ji
Dadu (Raju, what my mom calls my dad)
Anka/Anta (Antara)
Peeshi
Thammi
Demi (Delmi)
Aiya (Anya, his steady gf)
Nee (Shivaranjani)

English:
Aipaa (iPad)
phun (phone)
O-dun (all done)
No mo
Mo (with sign language)
Shoes
Shocksh (socks)
oh no
oops
cheese (with sign language)
Poo poo


Hindi:
Thanna
Haan
Gigyaa (gir gaya)
Gaana
Khana
Pani
Duddoo
Dhin-ta (refers to tabla)
Ee-taaalo! (isko utaro)
Shoo nee! (chhoona nahin)
Maaka (asking for juju ke, mau ke)
Baddu (badboo)

Bangla:
Pakhi
Bosho
Shesh

Spanish:
Patos (zapatos)
Mano
Mucu (boogers)
Hola
Mana (manana)
Mas
No mas
Agua
Pan
Prolly a whole lot more Spanish that I don't even know about.

There are probably more that will come to me, I'll keep adding. But they're increasing so rapidly. I still suck at trying to figure out what he's saying.