Peanut's Such a Little...Person!

I am quite amazed by some of the stuff that Peanut has started doing. And of course, I assume you share my fascination, so here goes.

* She recognizes the term 'Get down' and actually inches backwards towards the edge of the bed to try and climb down. Of course, sometimes she decides to change her mind at the last minute and ends up hanging off the side precariously but determinedly, and has to be pushed off the edge. When she lands and receives applause, she squeals in delight, a sound that sounds like a triumphant 'A-haaaa!'. She then, in her excitement, attempts to walk away from the bed, forgetting that she can't actually walk, and has to be rescued from the imminent fall.

* If any one of the rest of us lies down in front of her with our eyes closed, she leans over and 'kisses' us on the cheek. Well, this works for her father, her masi and her nani anyway. When it comes to me trying this out, I end up getting poked in the eye. If I make the mistake of giggling, she will do it again. And again. And it's really not that funny to have someone trying to claw your eyelid open. Just when I'm about to put an end to this, she deigns to lean over and put her mouth on my cheek, often biting me hard with her gums. And it's fantastic.

* She seems to know the time that I'm about to come home, and always gets terribly excited when I ring the doorbell. The K insists that if someone else comes home around the time, the baby gets very disappointed to see that it's them instead of me. My sister told me that when she came home one day, Peanut actually put on a sulky, sullen face for a while before deciding to forgive her and play with her.

* She continues to exhibit a clear preference for me - Vijay continues to try and get her to say Papa, which is met with dogged 'Mama' in response. I am, in the spirit of fairness, attempting to teach her to say Papa now too, if a little half-heartedly.

* She dances! When she's on all fours, she'll rock back and forth. When she's sitting up or standing, she shakes her head side to side with the biggest grin on her face - oftentimes, she does this head shaking even without music, just to express her happiness with life in general. I think she'll be quite musical because she manages to beat out a fair rhythm on her katori and spoons. I even saw her daintily pick out a tune on the huge keyboard that Vijay bought for her a while back. Okay, so maybe I exaggerate here a bit. It's amusing to see her play an instrument six times her size.

* She loves reading- she listens with rapt attention to the stories that I read out and cries everytime a book is closed. This process goes on and on until I finally toss the books aside, telling her to just learn to read them herself if she's that interested.

* Like every other baby, she loves throwing things, getting a huge kick out of this and laughing loudly and wildly each time the unfortunate object reaches the floor with a satisfying, resounding clang. I've never laughed so much to see things being actively destroyed before.

Yes. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I've never met a more interesting person in my life.