Communication

Mom: "Vir, do you want to go nhai nhai (for a bath)?"
Vir: Changes expression to one of great purpose, trots off to mom's dressing room, picks up his bathing tub and bucket, and drags it to the bathroom.

We think he meant "yes."

They really do look like angels when they sleep

He runs around like a maniac ALL day without stopping for even a second from one naughty thing to the next - pulling off table covers, emptying drawers, turning furniture over, picking up pieces of something or the other from the floor to eat, pulling books off shelves, trying to open bottles...you name it. Of course, pretty much all of this stuff is not allowed and most of his attempts are thwarted by one of his constant followers (grandparents, me, Vijay). The only time he stops at all is to run to me to give me a hug or cling to my leg for a few seconds. It's as if he's refueling - on love and reassurance and comfort and just to make sure that despite everything he's doing that's making me yell at him, I still do love him. It's a brilliant feeling, this need he so openly expresses. The other time in the day that he absolutely cannot do without me is when he needs to sleep. Just now, he was completely tired out from running around all morning but just wouldn't stop enough to let himself acknowledge that he was sleepy. All of a sudden, in the middle of trying to open his box of wipes to empty it out, he broke into tears, came crawling over to me, found a place in my lap, and was asleep within literally 10-15 seconds. Honestly, this guy finds something new to melt me every single day.

Finally...

...something to make the daddy feel special! Vir said "papa" for the first time today. He was sitting in his car seat trying to tolerate the drive home by chatting with himself and experimenting loudly with new sounds when he emphatically bit his lower lip and said "papapa." As soon as he realized this made me happy, he did it again a couple of times, beamed at me, and clapped for himself.

It's too bad that Vijay won't get to hear his very own special word from Vir for another couple of weeks. I guess Vir will have practiced enough by the time Vijay is back, and might even be able to write papa by then:-)

So much going on...

I haven't had a chance to write about the many amazing things my little monster is up to these days because we've been in the middle of the madness of getting the house finished and moving in on very short notice. That's too bad, because he's up to so much these days and I feel like I'm going to "lose it" if I don't track it somewhere...that's the whole point of this blog anyway - to maintain a record of what Vir is up to...for family and friends and anyone else who may be interested, but perhaps most importantly for him. I want him to be able to read this when he grows up a little bit and know that everything he did and said was always important to us. So, in bullets, here are the highlights of achievements over the last few weeks:

• He can now whistle like a pressure cooker
• Say "car" (can you believe it, he has said his first words! I thought it was just gibberish when he said it at first, but "car" is officially is first word. He runs to the first car he sees downstairs screaming "car...ca...ca...ca." We're wondering where the Boston accent is coming from.)
• Say "de de"
• Rub his tummy on request
• Pull your nose on request
• Poke your eyes on request and sometimes even point to your lips
• Do yoga and clap for himself
• Fit blocks correctly one on top of the other (and then clap for himself)
• Cover his eyes when you say "chup" - he wants to cover his lips but it never comes out right
• Get into the strangest of situations...like the one today, when he crawled into a cardboard box with some of our moving stuff in it and couldn't get out. I caught him trying to climb out holding on to a nearby chair and putting his feet on the rim of the cardboard box.
• Climb stairs. He runs to the door as soon as he sees or hears it open and makes a dash for the great outdoors. I'm wondering if he's trying to tell us something.
• Very, very clearly communicate exactly what he wants...through a combination of pointing gestures, pointed looks, and extremely pointed and sharp shrieks.
• Understand when I'm mad at him and act like he cares (when all he really cares about is doing the exact same thing I'm mad at him about again as soon as possible)

I get so frustrated with him sometimes for all his antics because he's always getting into things and causing trouble. But everytime I say something about how he's tiring me by making me run around after him all day cleaning up his mess, I say a little prayer thanking god that I have him to run after. I also secretly hope that god will be so impressed with me for this that he will teach Vir to put himself to bed at 8 every day. And I will watch a Friends marathon like in my previous life!

History repeats itself!

So, one of the most commonly shared baby stories of me is that I used to be quite the yoga master - I knew just one asan...don't know what it's called...the one where you lift your legs straight up into the air. And I did this especially willingly if there was an incentive, my favorite one being a pack of Cadbury's Gems. 28 years later, my son is doing the same thing! His incentive as of now is the amount of joy it's giving us and hence the amount of applause he gets from us. It's the cutest thing...you ask him how to do yoga and he lifts his legs right up. He hasn't figured out that he needs to lie down to do this, so if he's sitting, he tries anyway and tumbles. Then he waits for the oohs and aahs and claps that he knows will come. His face is like...this-is-one-of-the-stupidest-things-they're-paying-me-to-do-but-oh-well-I-can-play-along.

Our first date

Weird as it seems, the last couple of nights have been the first time Vir and I have been absolutely alone together - no husband, no mother, no maid, no anyone else. I can't quite believe I've never been alone with him all day and night, but I can't remember any other time anyway. It's been extremely difficult and has made me question if I really want another kid right now, but it's also been fun. Vir requires constant constant constant attention, so it gets tiring. I'd probably have to call the neighbors to watch him if I need to go to the loo, which luckily, so far I have been able to plan so I haven't needed to do that. (We don't need to get into the details.)

Anyway, yesterday was fun...Vir and I went to the mall...there's a nice play area there that I thought he would enjoy. Or at least there used to be a play area. I discovered that they've taken it down now. So, we just roamed around the mall. We went to Bata to pick out a pair of sandals for him first. I tried a pair on him and put him down so he could walk. I guess they're fine because he walked right out of the store leaving me to pay hurriedly and run out too. Then, we went to a bookstore, which was a tonne of fun. Vir picked out two books for himself...he actually went to two particular books and got really excited about them, so I had to buy them. One is about a fire engine that goes "nee naw" and the other is about a duckling that goes "quack-quack." They both have sound, so all I've heard since then is neenaw quackquack nee quack naw quaaaaackkk neenawneenawneenaw. Nee naw.

We got an ice cream each (I'm all for the health food), and Vir couldn't believe his luck. He would barely finish one bite that he'd be screaming for the next one. I think he was worried I would eat it all.

Anyway, all this activity had tired him out a lot, which was the goal we started the day with. Anything to get him to sleep, because a sleeping baby is a sight for sore eyes. Especially my sore eyes after having run around after him all day. He was out flat in the car...I couldn't even keep him awake till we got home!

All in all, it was a good first date. I think he'll definitely call me again:-)

Oh my god...

I was trying to get Vir to take a nap because he's going out in the afternoon and I didn't want him to be tired and cranky then. Apparently he wasn't really sleepy though, because after a few tries to break free from me, he finally succeeded, crawled to the edge of the bed, slipped off, opened the door, and simply walked out. Alright then. Someone knows how to take matters into his own hands.

Vir's first encounter with organized religion...

It's not as ominous as I make it sound...it's actually super cute. Vir has learnt "mattha tekna" (bowing down) at a little table where I have a few idols of Gods in my house. He amazed me by picking this up as fast as he did. He was just standing by the table and resting his head there once and I smiled and called it "mattha tekna." Now, as soon as I ask him to do it, he gets a really serious expression on his face and runs to the table from whichever part of the house he is currently destroying and puts his head on it. And he doesn't come back up till someone applauds and congratulates him. Then, he proceeds to pick up the idols and attempt to throw them on the ground, or eat them. Lines between religious idols and toys are blurry to a one year old. I think God will understand :-)