Random pics

Not jet lagged at all

Pick me up

We said goodbye to the old volvo last Monday;
the car I had when Deepti first came to Australia
and N came home from the hospital in.
On retirement day

Other changes - vocab

N's become vocal, very vocal at times. Not "just" the crying and occasional temper tantrum (lasting all of two seconds and involving putting her head on the floor and waling). She also does the usual - baba, dada, tata (with waving goodbye hand gestures, even when on phone).

However, more deliberately, she's putting together some great words - like "Dey-Do" and "Do" which mean "Give it to me" and (more authoritatively "Give it to me!") which is usually followed by some lunging and whinging when we don't give it to her.

Also, when she drops something or hears us talking in a certain context - like I just dropped my pen, she will add "Jha...." which means the equivalent of damn or shucks - not a swear word but more a sigh of annoyance. So Deepti was saying that her arm was hurting and I jokingly said "Tut-gya?" which means "Is it broken" and N pops up with "Jha...." with Indian hand gestures.

She greets me at the end of the day with Jha... jha... as we play the jha game each day when I come home.

She's seemingly only learnt hindi phrases and words at this stage; when I say to where did you hurt yourself when you fell off the coffee table (sigh, that's coming up soon), she won't respond. However, asking the same question in Hindi and she'll put her hand on her head where it hurts. Amazing.

Rock star with six teeth

So many changes - the hair

Two months is quite a long time in the life of a 12 month old. The changes in N are so numerous I am not sure where to begin. I think the first thing I noticed is N's new hair.

It is more of a crewcut now, short and sharp.















She's a bit touchy when I run my hands through it, perhaps conscious of the paternalistic habit people have of running their hands through their kids hair. It definitely gives her a rougher edge, a mischevious and curious look, whereas the old look was innocent and soft.















I mean, which baby would you prefer coming knocking on your door at 2am?

The short crewcut look worked well in India; she blended in with the locals (all of whom have the buzz cut in the first year or after the begininning of the third year) and she seemed to coped well with the oncoming heat of an Indian summer (regularly +40 in Patna).

So I guess, despite hair handicapping in Feb, putting her at the back of the pack, she's raced up to the middle and at the rate it's currently growing, she'll have a lead by mid-May.

And we're all back...

Weekend of Easter was an unusual one. The phrase "can eat off the kitchen floor" is usually a ringing endorsement of a clean home. Sadly, one could still use this phrase to describe our house at Easter weekend. But not as a ringing endorsement.

Monday, 13 April, 7pm, I was still cleaning, with Deepti and N due to arrive in no less than 40 minutes.

I got to the airport with my shiny new camera. The best of the lot was this one:

Deepti and Naina left Patna on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Delhi that night. A night at my aunt's house and then onto Malaysia and Melbourne. N fell asleep on the way to the airport (in the pouch) and did not rouse until the following morning an hour from Malaysia. Bliss!

A little bleary eyed and confused when she saw me, it took her about a day to warm up to me properly. After a week, she barely lets go of me. Which is just great.

Naina's first Holi

I just saw this video. It's the first time I've seen N and Deepti in nearly 7 weeks, the hair handicapping looks great. No pillow hair either.

This is Naina's first Holi - the spring festival as winter ends. And she's getting heaps of gifts by the looks of things. My parents were in Patna for Holi this year and spent time with N and Deepti.