Monday, March 28, 2011
First Party
Ishi attended her first party on March 19, 2011. It was my Mama, Ishi's grandfather's birthday party (his birthday is on Mar 20). Ishi wore a pretty pink, black and white top and matching pants, decorated with pink and black hearts (from Mom & Me). It was her first party, and the first time she was meeting many of her family and friends. There was lots of oohs and aahs and cuddles, and she posed with Sumana Aunty and Mama as Mama cut his birthday cake. Tuki Maashi played with her as Mommy and Daddy tucked into yummy Mediterranean dishes. Everyone loved her, and Vikas Jeejaji's Meena Maasi told us a small salt nazar-utaro ritual (pinch of salt around her 5 times and allowed to drain with water) to do when we got home (which we did!).
Stroller times...
Walk in the Park:
Ishi's Dada and Dadi are visiting, so Mommy and Daddy decided it was a great time for us all to go to the park. Out comes Ishi's stroller, loaded with toys for Nero! We went to the park where Dadi handled the stroller, Mommy threw ball for Nero and Daddy manned the camera. Dadaji decided to take a longer walk and left us in the park. But come dusk and we were besieged by mosquitoes! Ishi's stroller mosquito net kept her safe, but the rest of us gave up after being thoroughly bugged!
First Mall Visit:
On Saturday afternoon (Mar 26) Ishi went on her first ever mall visit. We went to MGF Metropolitan Mall. After a brief visit to Shoppers Stop shopping for Dada-Dadiji, everyone made a beeline for Gini and Johnny and then Ladybug for frocks for Ishi. In the last couple of weeks, its turned really warm, and Ishi needs summer frocks! Ended up buying about 10 frocks for her!! Ishi allowed herself to be measured for the first few, after which she decided sleeping in Dadi's arms was much more preferable, while Daddy and Mommy splurged on pretty dresses. We ended up buying 9-10 frocks! Now we need a new wardrobe :)
Ishi's Dada and Dadi are visiting, so Mommy and Daddy decided it was a great time for us all to go to the park. Out comes Ishi's stroller, loaded with toys for Nero! We went to the park where Dadi handled the stroller, Mommy threw ball for Nero and Daddy manned the camera. Dadaji decided to take a longer walk and left us in the park. But come dusk and we were besieged by mosquitoes! Ishi's stroller mosquito net kept her safe, but the rest of us gave up after being thoroughly bugged!
First Mall Visit:
On Saturday afternoon (Mar 26) Ishi went on her first ever mall visit. We went to MGF Metropolitan Mall. After a brief visit to Shoppers Stop shopping for Dada-Dadiji, everyone made a beeline for Gini and Johnny and then Ladybug for frocks for Ishi. In the last couple of weeks, its turned really warm, and Ishi needs summer frocks! Ended up buying about 10 frocks for her!! Ishi allowed herself to be measured for the first few, after which she decided sleeping in Dadi's arms was much more preferable, while Daddy and Mommy splurged on pretty dresses. We ended up buying 9-10 frocks! Now we need a new wardrobe :)
First Holi
Ishi celebrated her first holi on March 20. We spent it quietly at home. We had bought some organic gulal (Organica Pink - beetroot, carrot extracts, turmeric, wheat; Organica Green - Henna extracts, tulsi, maida).
Here is Ishi with shagun pink and green gulal on her.
Here is Ishi with shagun pink and green gulal on her.
And then it was pose time. With mommy, daddy and Nero :)
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Holi Hai!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
First Rice - Mukhe Bhaat Ceremony
Ishi had her mukhe-bhaat / annaprashan/ first rice ceremony today (March 27, 2011). It is the ceremony after which a baby is allowed to eat food grains.
Her dida and dadu hosted the ceremony and party at their house in Netaji Nagar. Her dada and dadi came specially for the occasion. The date was fixed much in advance for March 27. It had to be in her fifth month and on a Sunday so that friends and family could join us in the happy occasion. Also, it was preferable to have it before Navratri, which starts from the first week of April.
With the date set well in advance, all of us had time for our preparations. Dida booked Bijoli Grill caterers and went over menus. Mommy and Daddy went shopping and got Ishi a beautiful white fairy dress with red flowers on the bodice. Then just before D-day, we went to the locker to take out a silver set for her, my old tiara (from my annaprashan) and her silver diya (given by Dida). Her dida meanwhile, got the backyard cleaned and her maashi supervised the shamianas.
On the day of her annaprashan, the venue was decked out in beautiful flowers; bouquets and arrangements of roses, lilies, rajnigandhas, dahlias; and wonderfully festive marigold chains. The front verandah was the puja room, redolent with the scent of roses, lilies and rajnigandha. The florist also made a beautiful flower mukut, flute and payals for her. The backyard was covered seating with lovely flower arrangements adding to the decor. Her dida also made the ceremonial payesh. We brought the puja material. We reached their house at about 11:30 am.
Ishi was dressed into her annaprashan finery, but the synthetic in the fancy dress wasn't much to her liking. Still she bore it all with some forbearance! A fairy dress, silver bangles clinking with black nazariyas on her wrists, flower mukut and payals, and a pretty flower garland. To this her doting grandparents added a gold chain each, one with design, another with a 'S' diamond pendant! We also tried to alternate the flower mukut with the gold mukut, but she didn't like the latter much.
Her dadi conducted the puja, post which we posed her for photos! Then her dadaji fed her 5 spoons of yummy payesh and a drop of water. Her payesh was served in the same silver bowl and spoon which her dad used when he was a child! The silver glass was from a set gifted by her dida. After that, her dadu fed her a spoonful, then her darling dad, then the ladies. A special guest was Deepak, Mausa-to-be, who had also come down specially from Ahmedabad for the occasion.
After the feeding, Ishi was shown a silver plate with a book (first learner dictionary!), a pen (mont blanc), a few coins (mostly Rs 5) and two pieces of jewellery (gold mukut and my gold meena necklace). The game is that she chooses an item, and that will represent her interest later in life. After some brief touching about within the plate, most notably the book, Ishi spread her arms out and clutched the sides of the entire plate!! Why choose when you can have everything :) Then we lay her down on her tummy and spread the items in front of her. She looked at each of them, without particularly fixing on any one. When we picked her up, up came with her, the pen in the right hand and jewelry in her left! She dropped the jewelry after a bit, but held on to the pen. We handed her the book in her free left hand. She held that for a bit too, then dropped it, holding on to the pen throughout, before finally dropping the pen after a while longer. The pen symbolizes wisdom and writing skill, and given that our family highly regards education, we're all pretty pleased with that choice. Of course lets not forget, her first choice was the whole plate :)
Post the game, her dress had really started irritating her, so we changed her into a soft cotton one-piece (white with little flowers) and a matching little cap. Then all the guests started arriving and Ishi went out to meet all of them. Throughout the course of the afternoon, she was feted and cuddled. We kept giving her little breaks from the crowd and the heat, taking her inside into the cool room to play about a bit in the bed. In the middle of all this, poor Daddy realized that he had maxed out his camera's memory card by videotaping the whole mukhe-bhaat ceremony. By the time he figured out a solution (finally had to delete some old photos to make space) the party was in full swing. It was also a chance for everyone to meet Deepak Mausa-to-be and that kept the heat of Ishi as well! (Tuki Maashi even called him Ishi's knight in shining armor, deflecting all 'nazars' from her! And of course Deepak simply adores Ishi!)
Dida had outdone herself with the menu, a vegetarian mix of Bengali and North Indian cuisine. There was pulao, white rice, naan, matar kachodi, navratan korma, stuffed capsicum, mochar ghonta, begun bhaja, shahi paneer, mango and date chutney, aloo bhaja, green salad, pineapple raita, rosogulla, misthi doi, paan and lots of cold drinks and coffee! Yummy food for everyone, except Ishi, whose little tummy still has a lot of growing up to do!
Three special ladies in the party where Lucky Dida, Jorbagh Dida and Watford/Khoka Dida - all my didas and Ishi's great grandmothers, the fourth generation! Another special mention for Arati Maashi who couldn't make it, but sent her blessings. Bhaiya, Bhabi, Nisha didi, Pappi didi, Jeejaji all also sent her their blessings.
After the party, Ishi played with her grandparents and mausa-masi, as her mommy-daddy catalogued and arranged gifts. She slept all the way home.
Though she has religious sanction for grains, we still plan to keep her on exclusive breastfeed till the completion of 6 months (April 19) after which we will start introducing other food. But thats a story that is yet to be lived :)
Her dida and dadu hosted the ceremony and party at their house in Netaji Nagar. Her dada and dadi came specially for the occasion. The date was fixed much in advance for March 27. It had to be in her fifth month and on a Sunday so that friends and family could join us in the happy occasion. Also, it was preferable to have it before Navratri, which starts from the first week of April.
With the date set well in advance, all of us had time for our preparations. Dida booked Bijoli Grill caterers and went over menus. Mommy and Daddy went shopping and got Ishi a beautiful white fairy dress with red flowers on the bodice. Then just before D-day, we went to the locker to take out a silver set for her, my old tiara (from my annaprashan) and her silver diya (given by Dida). Her dida meanwhile, got the backyard cleaned and her maashi supervised the shamianas.
On the day of her annaprashan, the venue was decked out in beautiful flowers; bouquets and arrangements of roses, lilies, rajnigandhas, dahlias; and wonderfully festive marigold chains. The front verandah was the puja room, redolent with the scent of roses, lilies and rajnigandha. The florist also made a beautiful flower mukut, flute and payals for her. The backyard was covered seating with lovely flower arrangements adding to the decor. Her dida also made the ceremonial payesh. We brought the puja material. We reached their house at about 11:30 am.
Ishi was dressed into her annaprashan finery, but the synthetic in the fancy dress wasn't much to her liking. Still she bore it all with some forbearance! A fairy dress, silver bangles clinking with black nazariyas on her wrists, flower mukut and payals, and a pretty flower garland. To this her doting grandparents added a gold chain each, one with design, another with a 'S' diamond pendant! We also tried to alternate the flower mukut with the gold mukut, but she didn't like the latter much.
Her dadi conducted the puja, post which we posed her for photos! Then her dadaji fed her 5 spoons of yummy payesh and a drop of water. Her payesh was served in the same silver bowl and spoon which her dad used when he was a child! The silver glass was from a set gifted by her dida. After that, her dadu fed her a spoonful, then her darling dad, then the ladies. A special guest was Deepak, Mausa-to-be, who had also come down specially from Ahmedabad for the occasion.
After the feeding, Ishi was shown a silver plate with a book (first learner dictionary!), a pen (mont blanc), a few coins (mostly Rs 5) and two pieces of jewellery (gold mukut and my gold meena necklace). The game is that she chooses an item, and that will represent her interest later in life. After some brief touching about within the plate, most notably the book, Ishi spread her arms out and clutched the sides of the entire plate!! Why choose when you can have everything :) Then we lay her down on her tummy and spread the items in front of her. She looked at each of them, without particularly fixing on any one. When we picked her up, up came with her, the pen in the right hand and jewelry in her left! She dropped the jewelry after a bit, but held on to the pen. We handed her the book in her free left hand. She held that for a bit too, then dropped it, holding on to the pen throughout, before finally dropping the pen after a while longer. The pen symbolizes wisdom and writing skill, and given that our family highly regards education, we're all pretty pleased with that choice. Of course lets not forget, her first choice was the whole plate :)
Post the game, her dress had really started irritating her, so we changed her into a soft cotton one-piece (white with little flowers) and a matching little cap. Then all the guests started arriving and Ishi went out to meet all of them. Throughout the course of the afternoon, she was feted and cuddled. We kept giving her little breaks from the crowd and the heat, taking her inside into the cool room to play about a bit in the bed. In the middle of all this, poor Daddy realized that he had maxed out his camera's memory card by videotaping the whole mukhe-bhaat ceremony. By the time he figured out a solution (finally had to delete some old photos to make space) the party was in full swing. It was also a chance for everyone to meet Deepak Mausa-to-be and that kept the heat of Ishi as well! (Tuki Maashi even called him Ishi's knight in shining armor, deflecting all 'nazars' from her! And of course Deepak simply adores Ishi!)
Dida had outdone herself with the menu, a vegetarian mix of Bengali and North Indian cuisine. There was pulao, white rice, naan, matar kachodi, navratan korma, stuffed capsicum, mochar ghonta, begun bhaja, shahi paneer, mango and date chutney, aloo bhaja, green salad, pineapple raita, rosogulla, misthi doi, paan and lots of cold drinks and coffee! Yummy food for everyone, except Ishi, whose little tummy still has a lot of growing up to do!
Three special ladies in the party where Lucky Dida, Jorbagh Dida and Watford/Khoka Dida - all my didas and Ishi's great grandmothers, the fourth generation! Another special mention for Arati Maashi who couldn't make it, but sent her blessings. Bhaiya, Bhabi, Nisha didi, Pappi didi, Jeejaji all also sent her their blessings.
After the party, Ishi played with her grandparents and mausa-masi, as her mommy-daddy catalogued and arranged gifts. She slept all the way home.
Though she has religious sanction for grains, we still plan to keep her on exclusive breastfeed till the completion of 6 months (April 19) after which we will start introducing other food. But thats a story that is yet to be lived :)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Cuddles for Sobs
This morning, in the wee hours of 4:30am, Ishi started sobbing and whimpering softly in her sleep. Such heart breaking sounds. She was barely awake, maybe caught in a nightmare? I took her out of her cot and cuddled her to calm down and send back to sleep. She tries to suck her fingers to self-soothe now, and isn't easily discouraged. So we got her little piglet and elephant soft toys and put one in each arm...both to cuddle and keep her company, and make it difficult to get her arm around them to put her fingers in her mouth!! She slept like a baby :)
The middle one goes tra-la-la
My name is Ishi and I have made a fascinating discovery. If I pull the middle hangie thing swaying from my bouncie bar, it makes music!! I can't quite reach it, but my daddy put an extra ring at its base so I can pull it and make it sing! It chatters like a monkey, roars like a lion and has 2 different musical tunes! I likey likey!!!
This is me in my bouncie :)
...but wait...where has the toy bar gone???? Daddyyyy Daddyyyyyyyyyyy........
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Theme for Diaper Dad
...sung to the tune of Spiderman Theme!
Diaper Dad, Diaper Dad
Does whatever ... Mommy can
Changes me, day or night
Cleans me up ... makes it right
Look out..here comes my Diaper Dad
:)
Diaper Dad, Diaper Dad
Does whatever ... Mommy can
Changes me, day or night
Cleans me up ... makes it right
Look out..here comes my Diaper Dad
:)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Early to bed, early to rise...
...makes you healthy, wealthy and wise!!
Or so goes the age old rhyme!
Ishi follows her dad's footsteps and this maxim when it comes to sleeping at night. So far, she's been a through the night sleeper (please oh please let it always remain so!!) from when she was just a couple of weeks old. Now that she is almost 5 months old, we are trying to instill good sleeping habits. Here is the grand plan:
Stage 1:
1. Correlate putting down in cot at night with going to bed for the day. Use mobile toy and its music to help go to sleep
2. Put her into the cot to sleep by 10-10:30pm
Stage 2:
3. Precede with at least 10 minutes story reading session and slowly instill reading to sleep habit (in both Ishi AND her parents!)
Waking up:
No taking out of cot except for distress crying before 6am. Use patting, mobile toy/music to send back to sleep
Stage 1 is already in place. She is usually ready to sleep by 10-10:30pm. Now we just need to establish this association (putting down to bed - putting into cot - going to sleep for the night) as a habit. And this is probably more for us than for her at this stage!!
Or so goes the age old rhyme!
Ishi follows her dad's footsteps and this maxim when it comes to sleeping at night. So far, she's been a through the night sleeper (please oh please let it always remain so!!) from when she was just a couple of weeks old. Now that she is almost 5 months old, we are trying to instill good sleeping habits. Here is the grand plan:
Stage 1:
1. Correlate putting down in cot at night with going to bed for the day. Use mobile toy and its music to help go to sleep
2. Put her into the cot to sleep by 10-10:30pm
Stage 2:
3. Precede with at least 10 minutes story reading session and slowly instill reading to sleep habit (in both Ishi AND her parents!)
Waking up:
No taking out of cot except for distress crying before 6am. Use patting, mobile toy/music to send back to sleep
Stage 1 is already in place. She is usually ready to sleep by 10-10:30pm. Now we just need to establish this association (putting down to bed - putting into cot - going to sleep for the night) as a habit. And this is probably more for us than for her at this stage!!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Waiting to turn...
Ishi is due to start to learn to roll over any day now. For the last couple of days, we have seen her actively try to roll over..always to her left. We have a pink pig puppet (Pig from Winnie the Pooh) that we keep on one corner of her play-gym for her to reach out to. Daddy even mounted a video cam to record her attempts!
So far she has figured out how to turn her body upto her hips. Once she gets that ... wheee!
Age as of date: 4 months 17 days!
So far she has figured out how to turn her body upto her hips. Once she gets that ... wheee!
Age as of date: 4 months 17 days!
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