Another Peanut Update

Peanut is about 5 months and a week old now.


Over the last few days, she hasn't really been too well and I haven't felt much like posting. Mumbai weather suddenly turned pretty cold, and we had a pretty hectic holiday out of town, so that could also be why she developed a nasty cough and cold. But she's a better today - it was good to see her smiling and talking again, because she had turned rather cranky over the last four days.


Nowadays, she just doesn't lie still on her back - the minute she is put down, she immediately turns over onto her stomach, faster than you can say 'Wait, your diaper is open' - over the last few days, when she was ill, she would start whining immediately once she found herself on her tummy, but today she is playing fairly happily in this position, so that's good too.

I think one of the reasons she refuses to lie on her back is that she thinks I'm going to force some of that vile expectorant down her throat again. Seriously, couldn't they make it taste better? I tried propping her up a bit on a pillow before giving it to her. The pillow has now got bright pink spots all over it, and Peanut escaped by simply spitting every last bit of the offensive liquid out. That's right. Bright pink. That helps a lot.


The other thing about her now is that she absolutely loves to stand and 'walk'. I try to explain to her that she must learn to crawl before she learns to walk, but there is absolutely no reasoning with a baby. I am used to this. I've had bosses like that, too.


Eeks! Speaking of which, the moment of the return to work of the mother approaches, it is only a matter of a few weeks now. I don't think I want to go down this line of thought right now, so I will deftly move on to another topic.


Ah, yes. The 'nazar' bit. So, Zareena is convinced that the baby 'ko nazar lag gayi', and that's why she is ill. I really don't know what to say about this. How can people really believe in this stuff? Our driver, Vinod has informed me that his mother, who has been calling regularly from their village in UP for updates on the baby's status, also feels the same way. I am touched by his mom's concern but sigh at the reasoning. Sometimes I think it may just be better to put a kala teeka on Peanut's face, just for the sole purpose of shutting everybody up. And while I'm at it, I think I'll be putting a kala teeka on my handsome husband's face before he goes to office everyday, too.


So what else about Peanut was I going to write? Ah yes, she still absolutely loathes being fed so I'm easing up on that for the time being. I imagine she will stop breastfeeding at some point of time or the other, so why push it? But this refusal of all things solid, as well as the bottle, makes it a little tougher to imagine leaving her to return to work. Dammit! I'm back on that again? Come on, come on...think of something else...


Oh yes, she has started saying 'Ba-ba'. It's really quite cute because she crinkles up her nose while saying it and her lips keep moving as if she is chomping on something, long after the sound has come out of her mouth. It's rather like watching a tiny, chubby, badly dubbed Chinese martial arts movie. We are breathlessly awaiting to see whether this 'Ba-ba' evolves to 'Ma-ma' or 'Pa-pa'. I have to say that Vijay has an edge here, though - while I am constantly talking to her about everything in an attempt to widen her vocabulary, whenever Vijay gets a chance to talk to her, all he keeps saying over and over is 'Pa-paa'. Hah. We'll see.


In the meantime, since he's been out of town for the last two days, it's been good to have the K, Zareena and Vinod around. Vinod has helped by fetching medicines, but more so by engaging with Peanut and trying to cheer her up. Once he discovered that the only thing she seems to like right now is 'walking', he's been walking her up and down the drawing room, over and over again.


Here's a picture - *yes* we live in Mumbai and not the North Pole. Your point is?





Both she and Vinod seem very happy at these times. And it's quite amusing for me, when he uses words and phrases right out of his driving vocabulary, such as :


'Ab das kilometer aur chalna hai, bas'

'Chalo, yahan U-turn maaro'

'Haan, ab hum reverse mein chalenge'


(Achha, listen, please don't put nazar on her. And anyone know how to put kala teeka on a blog?)