Leaving on a jet plane.....

.....tomorrow! Peanut alone has three check-in bags, one cabin bag and one diaper bag. A and I have managed to cram our stuff in one check-in each. Are we prepared for the long journey with this bundle of terror? I am not sure. A knows he can no longer lounge in his seat, flicking channels or read a book or take his own time for a nice long meal. And I know that I can no longer snuggle into A's nook, cozy up and read a Wodehouse book. We will instead be doing what parents of a five month old would do. Listening to Peanut play Baby Einstein Piano, reading Little Spot books to her, singing itsy bitsy spider and rocking her to sleep.
Things Peanut will miss - talking to the monkey, froggy and turtle hanging from the crib mobile. The gold fish hanging from the swing that calms her every night like no one else can ( oh fishy, what are we going to do without you?) and her new activity center that she loves pottering around with these days. Rest of her things are going with her.
As for me, I'll miss the Black Friday sale, holiday lightings, hearing "Santa baby", the festivity in the air, dining at Cheesecake Factory this time of the year and partying on New Year's Eve. I'll miss that where ever I am. More updates from the other side of the globe! Happy holidays!

Five months letter

Dear Peanut,

I am starting to wonder if I should still call you Peanut. You are five months old now and much bigger than the peanut you were when you left Wombsville. Touchwood. But I would like to know if there is a nut that is nice and round and plump and juicy. Hmmm? Maybe I should settle for those Minneola oranges. No, no. You please continue to be a juicy Peanut. Forever. You are growing so fast. I miss seeing you stick out your lower lip when you are upset. These days it is just a loud wail. And whatever happened to Ag-hoo? It used to be Ag-hoo all the time. Haven't heard it in a while. Instead, you babble a lot. You talk to the monkey, turtle, froggy and the crocodile hanging from the mobile. You arch your back up, longing to touch them. And when you can't, you have a meltdown. You have befriended Alice and love to chew her long legs. At night when dad puts you to sleep, you love looking at the fishes hanging from the swing mobile. It seems to calm you.

You are such a light sleeper, though. You wake up every two hours night after night. Your dad and I can't wait for you to sleep through the night. The doctor said your gums are swollen and you are teething. Poor you. We like to think that's what is troubling you and do all we can to soothe you. Hope things will get a little clement for you and us.

Right now your most favorite person in this household is me. Not that you have a choice, you know. You have to keep seeing my face all the time. If I run for a quick loo break, you will scream endlessly till I come back. I, unfortunately, cannot bear to let you cry it out. So, these days, I take you with me to the loo.You have me wrapped around your pinkie, ha? You need me even after your dad is back home. He is a little tougher, you see. You act very shy when he comes home from work and scoops you up for a cuddle. Signs of you growing up, no?  But you warm up soon and throw around those wide toothless smiles.

When you are quiet, you are busy sucking your toes. You are so flexible, you just pull your feet up to your mouth. That's a new development and you love doing it. May be I should sign you up for Baby Yoga. I can even get you a nice little yoga pant and a teeny tiny yoga mat.

You got an email from your Grandpa a few days back. How cool is that? He and everyone back home can't wait to meet you. So yes, we are going to India for a month's vacation. I have my fingers crossed about taking you on such a loooong journey. If you happen to be a button, I promise you, this is just the beginning. We have a lot more travel on the cards. Places to see, people to meet and cuisines to try. What, ho?

We celebrated your five months birthday last night, by dressing you up like a doll and cutting the cake dad got for you. It is five months, Peanut. Five months of sleepless nights, five months of equally tough days, five months of looking into your eyes and seeing you smile, five months of loving you, five months of motherhood, five months since I read a book or watched TV, five months of trying to lose my baby weight and five months of growing up! And it's only getting better.

Love you,
Mamma.

Peanut was four months and one day old when I tried some rice cereal on her. I made it so runny that my mom refused to call it a solid. That thing, she said, can only be fed through a bottle. I would have none of it, you know. I proceeded to tie a bib around Peanut's neck and propped her up against the boppy pillow, while she was busy checking out the monkey on her bib. When I fed her a spoon of the cereal, she pulled a face and pushed it right back out, wondering what on earth is mama feeding me. I tried apple sauce after a week and the same story. She seemed to like the apple sauce more, though. Why wouldn't she? It was so sweet ( I taste everything before feeding her), I would like to call it the Dessert. Having not mastered the spoon, she kept pushing it out and I kept shoving it in and after a while she had finished the entire jar! The next day the said apple sauce had formed a layer of concrete mess in her stomach. Resultantly, baby never pooped. It was past her usual poop time, but no sign. After forty eight hours still no poop. I called mom and filled her up on the story. She suggested some home remedies and in a few minutes , I was treated to some green gooey piece of shit (pun intended)! I thought I would call P's doctor anyway. I was adviced to give her oatmeal cereal. No apples for Peanut anymore. She is the type who gets constipated by apples. Give her fruits starting with P, she said. Prunes, Pear, Plum, Peach. Only green vegetables for her. Peas. Beans. Spinach.
Well, I just thought that Peanut was not ready for solids yet. She used to wake up every night, screaming and crying when passing gas. As all mothers would, I blamed it on the solids. Alright. No solids for another week, I decided.
When she was one week shy of five months, she showed interest in the food I ate, opening her mouth and reaching for the spoon. I tried giving her Pear and was flummoxed at how adeptly she ate from a spoon! As though she'd been doing it all the while.
She loves brown rice cereal. Pear. Prune. And Peach to some extent.

The Lord of the house thinks she's got the food gene from him. And I concede. I don't wanna break his heart, you see. So, yes, I am the picky eater in the family. Bah!

Just me and Peanut

What can I say, with just me and Peanut for company, life these days is a blur of events.

So, the grandparents left, bidding Peanut a sorrowful goodbye. Peanut moaned when they walked away with their trolleys in the airport. For a sec I thought she knew they were leaving.That night she cried, cried and cried. These babies are amazing. They can sense the sadness. One has to be chirpy around them. She was fine the next day though.
The happy baby that everyone christened her as is now actually turning into a cry baby. She wakes up every one hour, fussing and crying. She wants to be just held. She's scared her mommy would go away, far from her. As a result the swaddler is back in town. And Peanut is back in her swing. Not that it helps a great deal, just a little.
She won't be alone even for a min during the day either. If mama's not around there will be pouting of lower lip and yelps. So clingy. Resultantly, I have been taking her with me to the loo as well. Gone are the days when a coffee mug and my iPad used to be my sole companions on the throne. Now it is Peanut and her plush monkey. A thinks I should just let her cry it out. I feel she is still too small to be disciplined. So, I now put her in the baby carrier and get around with my work. Like today when I made dosas with her in my pouch. We are after all pink Kangaroos, what?

The cooing, gurgling, and giggling continues. Only at increasing decibels these days. She can roll over both sides and sit unsupported for few seconds after which she topples over. Peanut wants to reach out and grab everything that she sees. What's with the curiosity? Touch and feel everything, peep into the fridge or mama's t-shirt, rip any paper that she can get hold of, grab A's nose and pull it to her mouth, open her mouth wide when mama's having her lunch and on it goes. Suddenly she babbles more these days. Stranger anxiety is at its peak. I took her to Tea at Shiv's place the other day. She is usually a happy baby, so I bravely stepped out without a pacifier. Little did I know. Shiv's took her from me as soon as I entered and good lord! I had never heard that wail before. That unconsolable loud wail as if someone just beat her up. She settled after a bit, but then all the girls kept calling her "laddu" and took turns holding her and whoom! Waterworks again. This time she never stopped. I had to run with a wailing baby in my arms, from her house to mine. We live in the same community you see. Later when I told A about it, he burst out laughing saying had someone seen me they would have thought I was kidnapping a baby and called 911. Yeah, right. Laugh your ass off. You too, dear reader. Like someone said ROFLMAO.