To Joy....

I felt you.
You were a pea.
Then a lemon.
Then an eggplant.
I followed advice. I read books. I quit coffee/tea.

Could you tell I was scared?

I talked to you, sang to you... I wasn't ready.
But then you were here. Ten toes. Three kgs. Love. Big fat love.

I held you.
I fed you.
 I realized that I would spend my life doing things to make you happy -- and that that would make me happy.

And then there are the times I want to give up. You've made me rethink my sanity. You've made me want to fall on my mother's feet and tell her that I get it.

But then you smile and you say my name -- and you grab my hand with those little fingers.

We're growing together. We are seeing the world like it's new.
 I will open my heart and love will rain down all over you. You'll giggle, and I'll do it all over again. And we will walk hand in hand. Until you let go.
I made you, but you made me a mother.

Updates

Whats happening???
Right now the big thing is choosing a school for Joy..
A big school....

Myself coming from a big school with vast grounds and all advanced facilities in my days.. I have huge expectations from the school.
I want huge grounds, state of the art facilities and good parent teacher rapos.

Being in Bangalore, there are lot of school options and the fees are also considerably high but none of these so called big schools match up to my expectations.

Other than that,
1. Trying to teach Joy the social circles, family, neighbors, strangers etc... she is a very outgoing person and starts off a conversion with anybody she meets. So, I was trying to teach her the social circles. The other day at the hospital:
   Stranger 1 :  Hello! What is your name kid?
   Joy            :  Are u a stranger or a neighbor?
   Stranger 1 : Why kid?
   Joy            : Based on that I need to decide if I can talk to you?
   Stranger 1 :  **** No words****
   Me:           :  ****Don't know where to hide my face?****

2. She had a lovely 4th birthday party with all the friends she wanted at a play area. She loved the party and was a wonderful host too.

3. Had her first ear infection, that needed a round of antibiotics.
4. Is soooooo beauty concious... Wants to play dress up. Loves my makeup kit.
5. Has good friends at school. Anvita being her best friend. She constantly tells me that kids fight to be her best friend.
6. Is still a very picky eater. Making her eat is becoming tougher day by day.

Will log more later........

Joy's Song

Mom:  You are growing into a big girl...

I am just a kinder girl..
Each day I grow some more...
I like exploring ...
I am Jaanu...

So many things to do..
Each day is something new...
I like winging it..
I am Jaanu..

My world is turning... changing each day..
Mommy and Daddy and finding my way...

Growing up is not so tough...
It looks like there is lot of stuff..
Except when I have had enough....
I am Jaanu...

Jaanu.. Jaanu...
Jaanu... Thats me....


This is the new song Joy keeps singing everyday and I sooooo love it....

New Updates

Well... I know ..Long time No see...
Been busy..(Or I will make that excuse)

Joy is being her usual naughty self and keeping us on our toes..

Updates:
1. She started school in Feb 2015 and is thoroughly enjoying it.
2. Will start going to LKG this June... (All big girl haan...)
3. Can fluently speak her mother tongue and English.. She surprises us by using big complicated words.. Sometimes complicated being the word it self. "Mama Can you fix this for me please? This is too complicated."
4. She understands Hindi quite well and respond back with a few words. All thanks to Peppa Pig and other videos she watches on the youtube.
5.    She can read and identify A-Z and numbers from 0-20. She can count to 20.
6. Hates to write.. and is quite lacking in her writing skills.I think this is because she needs to concentrate and sit in one place to write.
7. Loves her "Aggi" (the nanny) and spends most of the time with her.
8. Has a few friends.. but still has to learn the art of sharing.
9. Made us run to the ER and spend a lot of anxious moments in the OT. This was due to a very nasty cut on the head resulting in a huge blood loss.. That makes a post for itself.. maybe later.
10.  Healthwise.. doing OK.. weighing 15kgs and 101cm in height now.

Shan is all obsessed with Joy from seeing her face first thing in the morning to putting her to bed all by himself.
I am still waiting for the day when he will believe me to entrust the kid with me alone..  Haha...

So that's life right now a fine balance between Job and Joy sometimes one outweighing the other..
More updates later...

Joy's trip to Singapore

We took Joy for her first international trip to Singapore last year end. The trip was a total of 11days from 20th Dec to 2nd Dec.

 

Her itinerary:

20th Dec 2013(Friday): Her first Intl flight from Chennai to Singapore.(She has already been on a flight from my home town). Reached Singapore on 20th @ 11:00pm

21st Dec 2013(Saturday): Was a day of rest with a visit to Waterfront park in the evening. She happily slept through the visit and woke up when we were leaving.

22nd Dec 2013(Sunday): Gardens by the Bay. Thoroughly enjoyed the cloud forest and the flower garden. She loved running around and the silence of the place. Towards the end of the visit she tripped and fell while running down a ramp and had cut her lip. cried for a few minutes and was back to the being the naughtiness she is.

23rd Dec 2013(Monday): Was pretty much at home, In the evening went for the Water play area in the Sengkong mall. She was initially exited seeing the water but backed off once she got wet.

24th Dec 2013(Tuesday): River Safari. She enjoyed the trip thoroughly watching birds, Pandas, squirrel monkeys, Polar bear, crocodiles and many more animals.

25th Dec 2013(Wednesday): Ikea store. Nothing much of interest for her. She was more angry as we dint allow her to touch anything.

26th Dec 2013(Thursday): Mustafa. Nothing much here either. She went shopping with her dad and I was by myself to finish my shopping.

27th Dec 2013(Friday): Sentosa resort island. Her first experience to the Sea. Oh how much she loved the beach!!! She got so exited that she was even sleep talking about going to the beach. Visited the Merlion for the view and headed off to the beach. Initially she was a little skeptical about the vast amount of water and resisted going into the sea. But once she had her feet in the sand and the water, she loved it and thoroughly enjoyed the sand and the water. Her first cable car ride too.

28th Dec 2013(Saturday):  Think we stayed home the whole day. Don't remember exactly what we did.

29th Dec 2013(Sunday): China Town and Mariamman temple. Loved shopping here. She enjoyed the colorful streets and the temple and slept off half-way through the visit

30th Dec 2013(Monday): S.E.A aquarium(South East Asia Aquarium). Asia's largest aquarium. She was all exited to watch numerous and a wide variety of fishes.
31st Dec 2013(Tuesday): Stayed at home the whole day and relaxed. Went to the count down party @ 10:30pm. She dint enjoy it much and was puzzled by the sounds and the party poppers. But was happy and exited and chanting "Happy new year" to everyone she met.

1st Jan 2014(Wednesday): Returned back to Chennai. She slept soon after the take off. We took the bassinet and put her to sleep but there was turbulent weather(or the captain says so..) and we had to take her out of the bassinet and she didn't sleep again.

2nd Jan 2014(Thursday): Back by train to Bangalore. She happily slept through the entire 5 hour train journey.

Other things she loved in general were her "Pedda nana, Siya and paygound(play ground... she doesn't pronounce the la and ra sounds yet). She loved the play ground so much that every waking moment was a request for the main door key to head to the playground. She would spend time there till 1:30am in the morning and return home sleeping.

Health wise she had a upset stomach through most of the trip, but that didn't stop her from enjoying the trip though there were frequent visits to the Baby room to change poopy diapers.

Joy's major milestones

1. Learned to roll @ 3 months
2. At 5 months leaned to be mobile by rolling and moving wherever she wanted to go.
3. Continued this till she was 7 months.
4. Started eating raji porridge in her 5th month.
5. Learned to raise herself on her arms and used to swing back and forth in an attempt to crawl.
6. Learnt to crawl  and also sit @ 7 months completion.
7. Immediately learnt to hold onto things and stand up in May 2013
8. Started to walk all independently @ 10.5 months. To be precise, she took her first steps on 12th August 2013.
9. Has been running around since.
10. Started calling all the family by their right names by her first birthday.
11. Learnt to follow instructions by her first birthday.(She fed cake to the right person we asked to)
12. Speaking a lot of words @ 13 months.
13. Can point to parts of body like eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tummy, hands, legs etc.
14. She can tell if she wants to sleep, if she is feeling hungry vocally @ 14 months.
15. Expresses her happiness by hugging and kissing.
16. Replies back saying "happy" if I asked her if she is.
17. Loves books since she is just 3 months old. She just loves letters printed, written anything and loves looking at them.
18. She knows to hold and read a book in the right direction. Calls it her "Booka".
19. Is a big fan of her father and can keep endlessly saying "Nanna Nanna Nanna....."
20. Loves her granny a lot and hates to share her with anyone, even her father.

More updates to follow.............

Joy's first fever

Joy was sick and down with fever for the first time. She was down with cold and cough on 28th, but I took it to be only due to a seasonal change. On 29th November morning she had terrible cough and was vomiting lots of phlegm. Shan was out of town, so as usual I panicked and took her the doctor. She checked and said every thing was fine and inquired if she had Fever. I said no. So she just gave me a cough syrup and said Joy shd be fine with it with the cold lasting for a few days.
We went home and later in the afternoon Joy developed her first fever. Nothing bad... but I totally freaked out. Was up the whole night with her, trying to ease her out in every way possible. Thanks to MIL who is always around to help.

The fever lasted for 48 hours(just like the doc said.. viral), She had cough and cold for a few more days. But all in all she is fine now. Very Happy for that.

Many people were surprised when I mentioned that this is her first fever. (Don't want to jinx that).

I want my Joy to be Hale, Healthy, Happy and Naughty always.
Love you lots sweetheart.