Amuktha talks

Amu has been getting more and more fluent with language. She uses all kinds of words which soemtimes surprise me. Recent one was "amma help chesthundi" - she means she wants to help me with things.


I felt great!!She knew I was working and offered help. I was more surprised to hear the word "help" from her.

How much ever hard we try to keep her away from English, she still seems to be picking up words here and there. She says "I like it" with an accent and yesterday when she sneezed she said "Bless you" which was a shocker because I always say "Satayish" and "chiranjeeva" when she sneezes and she did not seem to have picked those up.

Well, I want her to know her mother tongue and be able to read and write Telugu. We try hard, hope it works.

She sings the entire "lali lali" song with me in the night, says "ramaskandam" her night time prayer. I am so awed by this little one's grasping power.

Bless you my baby!!!

Expecting a sibling for Amu

Yes, we are expecting again and Amu is going to have a sibling soon. In July to be precise.

I don't think she has any clue what is happening with "amma" but she promptly shows my belly when asked " where is the baby?" . Some times she gets confused and shows her belly instead :).

Also, when asked if it is a "babu(boy)" or a "papa(girl)" she has never wavered from her answer of "babu". Let's see how true her prediction would be.

I am very confident Amuktha is going to be a wonderful older sibling whether it's a babu or a papa.

Amu is a gunga!!!

We shaved Amuktha's head on Dec 14th. It was a painful experience to see all those beautiful curls fall away at the merciless barbers' hands. If I had the chance, I would have stopped it, but tradition tied my hands.

Each time I saw her, my heart wept. To accept those soft and silky locks have gone was tough initially. But then, I realized it's not all about looks. My daughter is cute no matter what. It's her mischief that matters more. It's those small sweet things that she does and says that make the difference.

It does not seem to make a difference to her. She is perfectly content with her gunga (that's what she calls it). Children teach you so many things. Being open is one of the most important of those. Never the less, I can't wait for her hair to grow back soon.

Amuktha is talking!!!

Long time, no post. Does not really mean there have been no "milestones" or "exciting moments" with Amu. Jus that I have been lazy to put things down.

Amu has started to talk clearly. The first thing I hear when she wakes up is "amma". I feel thrilled each time. When she keeps calling me from the back seat in the car I feel so good. I can sense the love in her voice.

She has an impressive vocabulary for a 18 month old. She can pretty much repeat all that we say.Her latest word is "duppatti" (blanket in telugu). She pronounces it so well separating each syllable - du -pa-tti- , she is at a mode where she's picking up all the words quite quickly and repeats them with amazing clarity. She counts from 1-10, misses a few numbers in between :), remembers them later.

She can now tell her name when asked. She learnt it yesterday. When asked "What's your name?" she says "Amutha". Well, she never stops amazing me. How much ever I record her on tape, there is so much more...

Here's to firsts

Amuktha is one year old!!!

The first time I knew I was pregnant, it was the best thing that happened to me. Initially I wished for a boy. The day we knew it was a girl, frankly, I was a little lost. But as time went by, I was so excited to meet this new person in my life. Then there was the first sonogram photo, the first kick and that started a new relationship.

The first time I heard her cry, my heart went out, I realised I was crying.
It was magic when I held her and looked into her eyes and since then life has been happy!!!! really happy. I felt foolish for wishing for a boy, I feel foolish each time I look at her.

Then the series of firsts. The first funny little smile. The first laugh. The first rollover. The first crawl. The first stumbling steps and she calling me "amma" for the first time. Looking at her makes me realize, there is no more I... She has made my life more meanigful, thank you!!!!

Happy birthday my darling!!!! May you have a long, healthy and happy life ahead.

-Amma

The big milestone

Amu has been walking for 6 weeks now. She started walking on June 12 2008. We had been expecting it for a while as she was standing by herself almost 2 months before that and one day all of a sudden she took her first steps. I was so excited, I shot so many videos,called up home and told my parents and in-laws about it. But then I realised that she was just growing up too fast.

When someone see's her walk, they say "wow! she's just 10 months old and is already walking, that's great". But, I ask myself what is really great about it? Why do we want kids to do things early? Why do we compare babies actions with some benchmarks set by others? Don't all babies grow at their own pace? As long as they are healthy and on track with their developments, it should be fine.Each baby is unique, they do things at their own time and I strongly believe they should do it at their own time.

All said, I love to see her walk, taking those tiny wobbly steps. She has started to explore all corners of the house. She follows us around where ever we go. I go into the bedroom and there she would be right behind me.She even started climbing steps and causing us some worry.

I guess it's a part of parenting, excitement and worry. I am enjoying every moment with her.

My daughter super star????

Recently, a month ago we had a concert by Mani Sharma ( a famous music director for Telugu movies) in town. It so happened that he stayed with a friend of ours. Of course, we also hosted a couple of guys in the troupe. Coming to Amuktha's involvement in all this..

She usually gets a lot of compliments when we go out but, I could not believe how many compliments she got for being the cutest baby around at the party that was hosted in honor of the troupe. I know all kids are cute and especially babies get attention, but I am stumped at how everybody whom we met at the get together for this troupe, wanted to carry her. Just once they would say and take her away. And, amongst all this, she was the nicest baby she ever has been. Did not cry, nor did she refuse to go to anybody.

Well, at the party after the concert, there were people who wanted pictures with her.I know it sounds like I am bragging about my daughter which I hate to do, but that really is the truth. There were at least 7-8 people who waited to have pictures with her.Seems like she is handling the stardom very naturally, and I am getting conscious...