Breaking news

Naina's progressed from commando crawling to a more graceful but not quite refined semi commando semi normal crawl. The commando crawling commenced about a week and a half ago. I wish I recorded the date of the first crawl. She's also progressed fairly quickly to trying to lift herself up onto things, such as the futon we have in the lounge room and nearby pillows.

My fears of Naina growing up a toothless wonder are over as her first tooth appeared yesterday, after feeling a bit scratchy in the mouth for a few days. The winner was the left lower central incisor. She was fine throughout, we wouldn't have even noticed otherwise.

You might remember this photo (still love it):

And on to the socialising

So after the visit to the apartment, the rest of the weekend involved hanging around at Sven and Jackie's house and visiting Swarup and Bonny and meeting up with TGA people at Delissio.

Cassie (Sven's daughter) spent a lot of time with N, making a great baby sitter. I met up with Sven at the TGA and he's been great company ever since. I regularly accuse him of taking my only copy of Bone Machine, and only forgive him for it because he's such a great bloke (slides of two Hawaii trips included).

Cassie and N meet for the first time (March 2008) -
Rosstown Hotel

Cassie and N meet for the second time
(December 2008)

Swarup, N, (new teddy bear, still wrapped) and Sanjukta (Bonny)

Swarup and I met up at the TGA, where we started the same day, in the same section. We've got similar cultural backgrounds - he's born in NZ but grew up in WA, son of Bengali migrants. And of course we both married girls from India. We both have a deep despisal of Matthew Hayden. And a love of South Indian food.

I swear the Matthew Hayden thing is true.

7/1 Port Jackson Circuit

First stop was the apartment. I bought the apartment in 2004 December and sold it in 2008 December. Noice symmetry there.

I remember first spending time in Philip in 2004 and then when looking to buy, thinking no way am I going to buy in Philip. I did buy and it was a pretty good move at the time and in hindsight.

Deepti commented how much I must have loved living in the quiet of Canberra, no one to disturb me, the computer and the TV. Quite true. I distinctly recall where I kept the computer, the TV and my electric heater when I lived there.

It felt really strange walking in though, bearing the above in mind. When I left the place in March 2006 to go work with the evil Swiss pharma company in Melbourne, I'd been talking to Deepti for a few months by email, as a friend, with no real plans to meet her and certainly no idea of what things were ahead.

So to come back 2 years and 8 months later married to Deepti, in a totally new career with a slightly less evil American pharma company (hello Mr Begley if you are reading) and of course, with a lovely little daughter named N had me feeling spun out, washed out and dazed. I'd never counted on the next time I walked back in to that apartment, being with my wife and little girl.

I suppose that's the time capsule effect - what were you doing when you were at this physical location in your life. I've rarely been in that situation, my memories of living in Nedlands are vague at best now and all other places I've lived since have been rented properties, without too many distinct memories apart from Darling Rd, where we are now. Don't get me wrong, I have good memories of West Melbourne apartment and Glen Iris and Richmond, but none as imprinted as Port Jackson Circuit and Canberra.

Photos were obligatory to remind me of the spin out! Even more so with the apartment bereft of furniture;

New found commando crawling skills

Pig tails just keep on getting bigger

Looking glum, baby reclining, probably adds to nostalgia

Canberra

Part of the reason for the complete disorganisation is that we went to Canberra (Our Nations Capital, The Bush Capital) last weekend.

The aim was to visit the recently sold apartment one last time. That was done within two hours and then on to catching up with good friends.

I actually felt quite nostalgic for the place, the city and my time there. I have some great friends there, (Sven and Jackie and now Cassie, Swarup and his wife Bonny, Kevin, Frank and Tahli), who make me feel very much like the people in Perth do. And now Deepti and Naina are with me, make Deepti and N feel at home as well.

When I lived in Canberra, everytime someone visited, we'd go to Parliament House, Old Parliament House and the National Gallery of Australia. It was the done thing. So driving past all these places (time shortage) sent waves of good memories flooding in.

It was of course, frickin' freezing on the Saturday night, which also reminded me of how cold that place can be!

Xmas

Christmas is on us, and I've organised the following: presents for N, no, Xmas lights - yes, this evening, tree - no, cards - no.

Deepti chastised me for not putting up the christmas lights and buying gifts for Miss N. I suggested wrapping a box in christmas paper and letting her play with it. I say, get the most mileage out of a present whilst you can.

Plans for the blog during down time

I am still pondering what to do with the blog whilst N and Deepti are away. I was thinking of putting it in hibernation and starting the Coco Mambo blog with all the stories I have saved - with assistance from Green in tracking down the "lost episodes".

Either that or starting a blog about the loves and lives of six daleks who live on the upper east side in Manhattan. I'm going to call it "Daleks in Manhattan". One of the Daleks will be called Joey.

Movements

We're off to Canberra next weekend (20-21 December); I finally sold my flat up there and Deepti, N and I are going to do one final look over and catch up with Canberra friends.

After Xmas and New Year, we're over to Perth on 09 January for Green and Catherine's wedding. Deepti and N will stay back with my parents for a week and return to Melbourne on 19 January.

Then on 01February 2008, Deepti N and I are off to India. We're staying in Delhi a night and then off to Ranchi and Bokaro to visit my grandmother with her first great grand-daughter.

We're still working out if my Nani, grandmother, is Naina's per-Nani (great grandmother on N's dad's mother's side) or per-Dadi (great grandmother on dad's side). I'm not sure where the relationship is defined - my relationship to Naina or my relationship to my grandmother. See I think we had this discussion before about how confusing it is in Indian culture having special terms for each relationship depending on how the relationship is formed.

My dad's sisters are my bua's and their husbands are phupha's.
My dad's brother's are my chaacha's and their wives are chaachi's
My mum's sister's are my mausi's and their husband's are my mausa's
My mum's brother's are my mama's and their wives are my mami's
And my grandparents on dad's side are dada/dadi
And my grandparents on mum's side are nana/nani

Don't ask me what happens if a relation on my dad's side marries a relation on my mum's side, or what I am expected to call my brother's wives or my sister's husband's.

So after Ranchi it is Patna where Deepti and N will stay for about two months. I'll be back by Feb 15, unless I wangle my boss into letting me stay in Singapore for a week to audit the Singapore office and attend a conference and eat lots of nasi goreng and Indonesian food.

Food handling skills

Naina's become more adept at handling food by herself (she struggles with steamed broccoli though). We seem to have a lot of documentary evidence of her food gripping skills.

Including a scintillating, 8 minute in total video entitled "Baby eating mango" (with sound).

Baby with watermelon

Baby with novelty oversized pigtails and oversized novelty banana

Baby reclining with peach

Newly released stills from "Baby eating mango" (director's cut)

Seriously, the biggest frickin banana I've ever seen (courtesy of Shri Shiva Vishnu Mandir in Carrum Downs) - scale provided by Deepti's forearm:

Visit to the beach

Early November, we managed to find a weekend in Melbourne where the weather was good.

This might raise gufffaws from the Perth crowd who believe that Melbourne never has good weather, and then quote various Crowded House songs. Melbourne has had approximately eight months of winter this year including the first 12 days of December, with the occasional warm sunny outbreak. I just checked BOM - this month's weather has sucked.

But I digress. Anyway we went down to Elwood Beach. Melbourne beaches aren't quite Perth beaches or for that matter Goan beaches. They're Melbourne beaches. A lot of strutting goes on. You can get a skinny latte at the beach in Melbourne.

We just sort of hung around on the sand, trying to coax N to explore the surrounds and relaxing. Great way to spend an afternoon.


Note - beach wasn't actually deserted, it just looks like everyone is indoors sipping lattes and talking about how good the coffee is here.

Random cute pics

Just waiting for the pics to load... dodododododod... I've become a early riser. This is because at about 6 am, Miss N starts kicking me in the head. Oh here we go.

Back in melbourne in the new high chair.

Nice pic of mum and dad at Anveeta's 40th

Damn paparazzo, why can't they leave me alone to eat off a silver spoon in peace

A classic. Check out the teeth (enlarge photo)

We have no idea why she makes this face - it isn't a smile or a laugh, but a facial expression only.
N only makes it when she's happy; Deepti advises that I taught N to make this expression from a young age (like one month or so) but I'm not sure if it is the same expression

Gina Ford is nuts

I'm probably, oh, about six months behind in my baby reading, but Gina Ford, contented baby, she's nuts. Truly a megalomaniac.

Deepti handed me a copy of "Contented Baby". I read some bits and thought, hmm, interesting. Certainly less violent than the previous book I read. "A Criminal History of Mankind". (Recommended reading, especially the Roman Empire). And less soporific than the book before that "The Diamond Cutter - How Buddha can help your business".

Anyway, megalomaniac. She's a shocker. Does this woman come out of the matron age or what? I read her acknowledgement very carefully; no thanks to any baby at all there. That just tells me one thing, one important thing, for all her good things that may exist in her book, she's got no sense of proportion or gratitude or sense of generosity at all to any baby that has passed through her life.

Definitely, one for the bonfire.