Now its time for potty training! Plan for this weekend - poop pot!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Wardrobe Changes
On the 4-5 June weekend, Ishi, Daddy, Tuki Maashi and me all went shopping! We went to Ambience Mall. The shopping list, some nice new toys, pyjamas (she has grown out of her earlier ones!) and a high chair/booster seat. We shopped at Mom & Me, Early Learning Center, Mothercare and Reliance Time out. And she got 10 new outfits, 3 new toys and a booster seat with tray for eating! Great fun was had by all and we were all like kids ourselves at the toy stores! Plus, babies have the cutest clothes ever! And the priciest!
Back home then, we turned out her entire wardrobe, retired a lot of old non-fitting clothes (a LOT of them! already!) and re-organized her current outfits. This is taking playing house and baby to a whole new level! The games we play as kids are really just a preparation for adult life!
Back home then, we turned out her entire wardrobe, retired a lot of old non-fitting clothes (a LOT of them! already!) and re-organized her current outfits. This is taking playing house and baby to a whole new level! The games we play as kids are really just a preparation for adult life!
First Words!
In the last month or so, Ishi has been progressively more and more vocal. It started with sighs, shrieks and some babbling and is turning into more identifiable words now!
Her first identifiable word was 'Aum' or 'Hom' which sounds a lot like the Indian chant 'Om'! From that it moved to Humma and now to Humma, Umma, Hum-mum-mum-ma, Hubba, Hub-bua. Sometimes she also clearly vocalises just Ma or Mma! Gosh she is growing so quickly!
While I can't put a specific date to when she might have started saying Humma or Umma distinctly, it has been within the last week or so.
She spent Saturday with her Dida-Dadu-Tuki Maashi at Delhi and on Sunday/Monday her Dada-Dadi stayed over for a couple of days enroute to US. She spent a lovely vocal weekend with them :) As of Sunday evening, Leela (her nanny) is also back and I finally have the time and energy to start documenting the highly eventful last month. Now to get Daddy to upload the photos and make her video!
Her first identifiable word was 'Aum' or 'Hom' which sounds a lot like the Indian chant 'Om'! From that it moved to Humma and now to Humma, Umma, Hum-mum-mum-ma, Hubba, Hub-bua. Sometimes she also clearly vocalises just Ma or Mma! Gosh she is growing so quickly!
While I can't put a specific date to when she might have started saying Humma or Umma distinctly, it has been within the last week or so.
She spent Saturday with her Dida-Dadu-Tuki Maashi at Delhi and on Sunday/Monday her Dada-Dadi stayed over for a couple of days enroute to US. She spent a lovely vocal weekend with them :) As of Sunday evening, Leela (her nanny) is also back and I finally have the time and energy to start documenting the highly eventful last month. Now to get Daddy to upload the photos and make her video!
Back to Roots 3: A Tale of Three Cities (21-22 May)
We expected coming back from Jagdalpur to Delhi to be a breeze. It turned out to be a gale of massive proportions!!
We left on 21st morning for our 7pm Jet flight. Dida-Dadu-Tuki Maashi were booked on Indigo flight about an hour later. Since we would reach Dida's home first, we took a set of keys. We were to reach by 9pm and they would be an hour behind us. Then on 22nd (Sunday), we would come back home in the morning, picking up Nero on the way. Or so was the plan.
What happened next is an epic tale of Murphy's law - Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!
The road trip was fine enough, we left at about 10am, stopover at Makdee, one more packaged apple for Ishi and we were on time at the Airport. Unfortunately our flight wasn't. Apparently there was thunderstorm in Delhi so flights were delayed. Ours was now leaving at 7:35pm. The departure lounge thankfully was air-conditioned and much better than the arrival lounge and we hung around there. We used our last upgrade vouchers and managed to get upgraded again. We bought some snacks at Makdee, and left most of them with the others as their flight was later than others.
We took off on time and things seemed okay. Then it started. The storm at Delhi was one of the worst in a very very long time. We had a bumpy few minutes at Delhi airport with the plane trying (but unable to land) and took to the clouds to circle for better landing weather. While flying above the clouds was pretty with a moon so close by you felt you could touch it, the clouds themselves were immensely scary - huge, with rain and lightning flashing all around. And then there were air currents and pockets that made for some very uncomfortable moments. Our pilots circled till then ran out of fuel and then we got diverted to Jaipur to refuel. We landed there about 10:30pm and waited in plane to take off again. Meanwhile, the others in the Indigo flight also had had a bumpy ride, but the weather had cleared enough for them to land. We unfortunately had run out of fuel and were now in Jaipur. So they reached home after an eventful flight, but more or less on time.
At Jaipur, while we waited, some passengers wanted to get off since it was their ultimate stop. That delayed us further. Finally we took off and were expected to land in Delhi around midnight. As we took off, we rose into huge clouds with lighting flashing all around. It seemed the thunderstorm was now moving to Jaipur too. Ishi meanwhile had some more of her packaged food and was sleeping on and off throughout.
By the time we reached Delhi, the weather had worsened there yet again. This time we couldn't go back to Jaipur as the weather was bad there as well. The pilot informed us that the next diversion would be to Lucknow, where we would probably halt for the night as crew flight hours would be up by then. None of us wanted this, and we kept circling and hoping that Delhi would clear up.
Most of us had slept off by the time we landed at around 1:45am. The steward announced we had arrived at Delhi and there was a burst of applause. But after a brief pause, he informed us that actually we were in Lucknow not Delhi! What!!
We landed in Lucknow as we had run out of fuel yet again and both Delhi and Jaipur had bad weather. We saw some more Delhi bound planes land in Lucknow with us. Now there was a problem. The crew should have stopped there, but Delhi seemed to be clearing up again. The pilot had within his powers to take on an overtime of upto 2 hours, so if we could get airborne by 4am, we could reach Delhi. It took a while to contact Delhi ATC (Air traffic control), but it seemed that the weather might clear by then. Meanwhile, more people decided to leave the aircraft at Lucknow. As we waited about, about 3pm, we saw the other aircrafts take off till everyone was gone except us. It seemed there was some technical error with the ground staff and they needed to resolve it. They let us out of the aircraft, and we all walked/sat/lay around the plane as if it was a railway station!! It was unreal!
As it got closer to 4am, the pilot kept assuring us, we would go. Meanwhile, it started raining for a bit in Lucknow, giving everyone the heebie-jeebies, but it stopped soon and though it remained mildly cloudy, there was no storm. In fact, the weather was quite pleasant, had it not been that we had now spent 7 hours for a 2 hour flight. Everyone still had hope ... all we had to do was take off now. Delhi was clear, all other planes had gone and landed. We were the only ones left.
Sadly it was not to be. 4am came and went. The crew hours elapsed and the plane had to be grounded for 6 hours. It would now take off only at 11am. They made hotel arrangements for us. Some of the passengers were livid. Ishi so far had mostly taken it all in her stride, but was starting to get upset. I had by now exhausted all the extra packaged food I had got as well, as well as the diapers in my bag. In fact, there was another 3 month baby in the flight, and we donated a diaper to her, as her parents had left it all in the check in baggage. (They got off at Lucknow at 2am).
At that point, we knew nothing would happen, so we go off and went and sat in the bus. Some of the passengers were very angry and wanted the plane to fly. Soon, everyone realised the futility of it all, and started coming down. Our baggage was unloaded as well. Thank God, we had given one of our check in bags to the others, so we only had 2 check-in bags to manage, along with our two hand luggage. By 5:30am or so we were ready to leave for the hotel.
The airport buses that transported us also had their share of mishaps. Once starting too early, causing an elderly lady being helped to her seat to fall down and causing more anger, and then at the hotel, hitting one of the gateposts, shattering a window all over the passenger sitting on that seat! Was there no end to the troubles of the night??
Eventually we made it to the lobby, were the reception got overwhelmed with the sudden influx of so many people. They needed our boarding passes and signatures on our form to allot rooms. We were the first ones in the lobby and I asked them to give us a room first as Ishi was really upset and crying by then. As we got the papers together, the others also came in and the lobby was a sea of people and paperwork. They were taking ages, and I got really angry and shouted at them for not considering the plight of poor Ishi and giving us a room, even with all the paperwork done. We then got our room immediately and went and settled down there around 7am.
There wasn't much time to rest and we had to leave by 10-10:30am. Once in the hotel room, it was easy to make Cerelac for her, feed her, change her and generally soothe the poor girl. We did that as we took turns to go down for breakfast. At 10:30am we were off and back to the airport and into the plane. We got the same plane, same seats, different crew. Everything moved as clockwork as they tried to get us back to Delhi in the fastest possible time. It was a new day, a sunny day, and we all just wanted to get home now. Plane landed, taxied and tried to dock. The docking system failed and took a few minutes to correct. All the passengers at this point were really much beyond amazement or complaining by now. Finally we docked, we took a little cart to the baggage and got back on our way to Delhi. It was now Sunday afternoon, almost 26 hours since we had left Jagdalpur!
Once at Delhi, we didn't have time to rest. Just had lunch, collected our car and bags, and on our way to pick up Nero and then home. Finally we got home on Sunday evening, tired beyond belief, after a very eventful week!
Despite such a saga, Ishi travelled really well, sleeping in all the take offs, self-soothing on all the landings, mostly sleeping in the journey or playing happily by herself. She is such an angel! And now I feel confident of planning longer trips too! But first, some much needed rest! :)
We left on 21st morning for our 7pm Jet flight. Dida-Dadu-Tuki Maashi were booked on Indigo flight about an hour later. Since we would reach Dida's home first, we took a set of keys. We were to reach by 9pm and they would be an hour behind us. Then on 22nd (Sunday), we would come back home in the morning, picking up Nero on the way. Or so was the plan.
What happened next is an epic tale of Murphy's law - Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!
The road trip was fine enough, we left at about 10am, stopover at Makdee, one more packaged apple for Ishi and we were on time at the Airport. Unfortunately our flight wasn't. Apparently there was thunderstorm in Delhi so flights were delayed. Ours was now leaving at 7:35pm. The departure lounge thankfully was air-conditioned and much better than the arrival lounge and we hung around there. We used our last upgrade vouchers and managed to get upgraded again. We bought some snacks at Makdee, and left most of them with the others as their flight was later than others.
We took off on time and things seemed okay. Then it started. The storm at Delhi was one of the worst in a very very long time. We had a bumpy few minutes at Delhi airport with the plane trying (but unable to land) and took to the clouds to circle for better landing weather. While flying above the clouds was pretty with a moon so close by you felt you could touch it, the clouds themselves were immensely scary - huge, with rain and lightning flashing all around. And then there were air currents and pockets that made for some very uncomfortable moments. Our pilots circled till then ran out of fuel and then we got diverted to Jaipur to refuel. We landed there about 10:30pm and waited in plane to take off again. Meanwhile, the others in the Indigo flight also had had a bumpy ride, but the weather had cleared enough for them to land. We unfortunately had run out of fuel and were now in Jaipur. So they reached home after an eventful flight, but more or less on time.
At Jaipur, while we waited, some passengers wanted to get off since it was their ultimate stop. That delayed us further. Finally we took off and were expected to land in Delhi around midnight. As we took off, we rose into huge clouds with lighting flashing all around. It seemed the thunderstorm was now moving to Jaipur too. Ishi meanwhile had some more of her packaged food and was sleeping on and off throughout.
By the time we reached Delhi, the weather had worsened there yet again. This time we couldn't go back to Jaipur as the weather was bad there as well. The pilot informed us that the next diversion would be to Lucknow, where we would probably halt for the night as crew flight hours would be up by then. None of us wanted this, and we kept circling and hoping that Delhi would clear up.
Most of us had slept off by the time we landed at around 1:45am. The steward announced we had arrived at Delhi and there was a burst of applause. But after a brief pause, he informed us that actually we were in Lucknow not Delhi! What!!
We landed in Lucknow as we had run out of fuel yet again and both Delhi and Jaipur had bad weather. We saw some more Delhi bound planes land in Lucknow with us. Now there was a problem. The crew should have stopped there, but Delhi seemed to be clearing up again. The pilot had within his powers to take on an overtime of upto 2 hours, so if we could get airborne by 4am, we could reach Delhi. It took a while to contact Delhi ATC (Air traffic control), but it seemed that the weather might clear by then. Meanwhile, more people decided to leave the aircraft at Lucknow. As we waited about, about 3pm, we saw the other aircrafts take off till everyone was gone except us. It seemed there was some technical error with the ground staff and they needed to resolve it. They let us out of the aircraft, and we all walked/sat/lay around the plane as if it was a railway station!! It was unreal!
As it got closer to 4am, the pilot kept assuring us, we would go. Meanwhile, it started raining for a bit in Lucknow, giving everyone the heebie-jeebies, but it stopped soon and though it remained mildly cloudy, there was no storm. In fact, the weather was quite pleasant, had it not been that we had now spent 7 hours for a 2 hour flight. Everyone still had hope ... all we had to do was take off now. Delhi was clear, all other planes had gone and landed. We were the only ones left.
Sadly it was not to be. 4am came and went. The crew hours elapsed and the plane had to be grounded for 6 hours. It would now take off only at 11am. They made hotel arrangements for us. Some of the passengers were livid. Ishi so far had mostly taken it all in her stride, but was starting to get upset. I had by now exhausted all the extra packaged food I had got as well, as well as the diapers in my bag. In fact, there was another 3 month baby in the flight, and we donated a diaper to her, as her parents had left it all in the check in baggage. (They got off at Lucknow at 2am).
At that point, we knew nothing would happen, so we go off and went and sat in the bus. Some of the passengers were very angry and wanted the plane to fly. Soon, everyone realised the futility of it all, and started coming down. Our baggage was unloaded as well. Thank God, we had given one of our check in bags to the others, so we only had 2 check-in bags to manage, along with our two hand luggage. By 5:30am or so we were ready to leave for the hotel.
The airport buses that transported us also had their share of mishaps. Once starting too early, causing an elderly lady being helped to her seat to fall down and causing more anger, and then at the hotel, hitting one of the gateposts, shattering a window all over the passenger sitting on that seat! Was there no end to the troubles of the night??
Eventually we made it to the lobby, were the reception got overwhelmed with the sudden influx of so many people. They needed our boarding passes and signatures on our form to allot rooms. We were the first ones in the lobby and I asked them to give us a room first as Ishi was really upset and crying by then. As we got the papers together, the others also came in and the lobby was a sea of people and paperwork. They were taking ages, and I got really angry and shouted at them for not considering the plight of poor Ishi and giving us a room, even with all the paperwork done. We then got our room immediately and went and settled down there around 7am.
There wasn't much time to rest and we had to leave by 10-10:30am. Once in the hotel room, it was easy to make Cerelac for her, feed her, change her and generally soothe the poor girl. We did that as we took turns to go down for breakfast. At 10:30am we were off and back to the airport and into the plane. We got the same plane, same seats, different crew. Everything moved as clockwork as they tried to get us back to Delhi in the fastest possible time. It was a new day, a sunny day, and we all just wanted to get home now. Plane landed, taxied and tried to dock. The docking system failed and took a few minutes to correct. All the passengers at this point were really much beyond amazement or complaining by now. Finally we docked, we took a little cart to the baggage and got back on our way to Delhi. It was now Sunday afternoon, almost 26 hours since we had left Jagdalpur!
Once at Delhi, we didn't have time to rest. Just had lunch, collected our car and bags, and on our way to pick up Nero and then home. Finally we got home on Sunday evening, tired beyond belief, after a very eventful week!
Despite such a saga, Ishi travelled really well, sleeping in all the take offs, self-soothing on all the landings, mostly sleeping in the journey or playing happily by herself. She is such an angel! And now I feel confident of planning longer trips too! But first, some much needed rest! :)
Back to Roots 2: Bald is beautiful (16-20 May)
Ishi had a lovely time at her Dada-Dadi's place, with lots of people to spoil her! The second day, her Badi Bua, Fufa, Pinky Didi and Shubham Bhaiya joined us, and the house was full of lots of people! Everyone loved holding Ishi. Dadi took over her massages, Aayushi didi tried her hand at burp duty and everyone played with her! She was in good cheer throughout and had great fun with everyone!
On 16th, we made a small excursion to Chitrakut falls. We reached there at dusk and as the moon rose, whole clouds of bats swept through the sky with huge red budh purnima moon at the background. Its was a fascinating sight, reminiscent of a lot of horror movie settings!!! The other days, we mostly stayed at home apart from a drive around Jagdalpur one day.
19th was the big D-day. We left early morning (Ishi bathed at 4am!!) for Dantewada for her mundan. By now, Indore Dada-Dadi had also joined us at home and it was a big group that set out. Dada-Dadi had made all the preparations and all we had to to was prepare Ishi and keep her travel stuff and an extra set of clothes ready.
We, the Delhi gang, took off in one car with Daddy as designated driver. The trip to Dantewada was about 3 hours. On route, we also saw the Geedam house where Dada-Dadi lived before moving to Jagdalpur. At Dantewada, we moved on to Danteshwari Mai Temple, the main temple of Dada-Dadi's family and the same place where her Dad was born and had had his mundan! More people joined us at the temple, and we were about 30-40 people present.
The mundan ceremony went off like a dream, Ishi sitting with her Dadi and Indore Dadi, intermittently sucking on a batasha, while the nai shaved her head and her Badi Bua collected the hair. She didn't cry or fuss at all, a fact noted by everyone! After the ceremony, she went in and gave puja in the temple, before we all moved to the gardens behind. There we had samosas and pakodas before heading back home. Ishi had another of her packaged apples during this outing.
We left first, so that we would have time to rest and prepare for the big party in the evening. The evening gala was a HUGE affair! There were about 400 guests, a big stage with a Magic Show, DJ and lots of yummy yummy food. The weather during the day had been sweltering but the evening was beautifully pleasant with the most lovely breeze blowing. Almost the whole SunCity locality were in attendance along with many more friends and families. We had a lovely time, a table laden with gifts and a rocking party with lots of dancing! After the party, we got on to the stage for lots of family pictures, before coming back home to rest after a very long and exciting day!
The next day was a rest day, as we prepared to for the return journey. All too soon it was time to leave. But we would be seeing Dada-Dadi soon again as they would be going to US from Delhi on 11-13th June.
The only sad thing that happened was that Tuki Maashi and Bujo (Dada-Dadi's 3yr old alsatian) had an altercation and Tuki Maashi got bitten. Poor Bujo was not used to so many people invading his territory and poor Tuki Maashi bore the brunt of his fear and unease. He did the same to Indore Dada after we left. Finally, given that Dada-Dadi were going to US for 2 months and would not be able to manage him, they found a good home for him with a breeder and had to give him away. It was sad, but best for everyone since Dada-Dadi are travelling so much, poor Bujo was always left alone. We hope this arrangement works out well for him. Tuki Maashi has recovered well, but had to have 3 injections. Indore Dada too is well and had to have injections. Bujo is well and settling down in his new home. So hopefully, this is a happy ending for all of them to some unfortunate incidents.
On 16th, we made a small excursion to Chitrakut falls. We reached there at dusk and as the moon rose, whole clouds of bats swept through the sky with huge red budh purnima moon at the background. Its was a fascinating sight, reminiscent of a lot of horror movie settings!!! The other days, we mostly stayed at home apart from a drive around Jagdalpur one day.
19th was the big D-day. We left early morning (Ishi bathed at 4am!!) for Dantewada for her mundan. By now, Indore Dada-Dadi had also joined us at home and it was a big group that set out. Dada-Dadi had made all the preparations and all we had to to was prepare Ishi and keep her travel stuff and an extra set of clothes ready.
We, the Delhi gang, took off in one car with Daddy as designated driver. The trip to Dantewada was about 3 hours. On route, we also saw the Geedam house where Dada-Dadi lived before moving to Jagdalpur. At Dantewada, we moved on to Danteshwari Mai Temple, the main temple of Dada-Dadi's family and the same place where her Dad was born and had had his mundan! More people joined us at the temple, and we were about 30-40 people present.
The mundan ceremony went off like a dream, Ishi sitting with her Dadi and Indore Dadi, intermittently sucking on a batasha, while the nai shaved her head and her Badi Bua collected the hair. She didn't cry or fuss at all, a fact noted by everyone! After the ceremony, she went in and gave puja in the temple, before we all moved to the gardens behind. There we had samosas and pakodas before heading back home. Ishi had another of her packaged apples during this outing.
We left first, so that we would have time to rest and prepare for the big party in the evening. The evening gala was a HUGE affair! There were about 400 guests, a big stage with a Magic Show, DJ and lots of yummy yummy food. The weather during the day had been sweltering but the evening was beautifully pleasant with the most lovely breeze blowing. Almost the whole SunCity locality were in attendance along with many more friends and families. We had a lovely time, a table laden with gifts and a rocking party with lots of dancing! After the party, we got on to the stage for lots of family pictures, before coming back home to rest after a very long and exciting day!
The next day was a rest day, as we prepared to for the return journey. All too soon it was time to leave. But we would be seeing Dada-Dadi soon again as they would be going to US from Delhi on 11-13th June.
The only sad thing that happened was that Tuki Maashi and Bujo (Dada-Dadi's 3yr old alsatian) had an altercation and Tuki Maashi got bitten. Poor Bujo was not used to so many people invading his territory and poor Tuki Maashi bore the brunt of his fear and unease. He did the same to Indore Dada after we left. Finally, given that Dada-Dadi were going to US for 2 months and would not be able to manage him, they found a good home for him with a breeder and had to give him away. It was sad, but best for everyone since Dada-Dadi are travelling so much, poor Bujo was always left alone. We hope this arrangement works out well for him. Tuki Maashi has recovered well, but had to have 3 injections. Indore Dada too is well and had to have injections. Bujo is well and settling down in his new home. So hopefully, this is a happy ending for all of them to some unfortunate incidents.
Back to Roots 1: Delhi-Jagdalpur (14-15 May)
The last month has been very eventful for Ishi. First, was her very first outstation journey to Jagdalpur. This trip marked a series of firsts - first outstation visit, first long road journey, first flight, first stay with Dada-Dadi, first mundan, first visit to a temple, first open air large party and probably many more mini-firsts!
Our Jagdalpur trip was scheduled for 15-21 May. After a lot of preparation (namely clothes shopping and Ishi's weaning), we left home on 14th May to stay over with my parents in Delhi for an early morning flight on 15th. Her Dida, Dadu and Tuki Maashi also accompanied us on the trip, though we were on separate flights. Nero was dropped on to his Kennel on 14th.
15th early morning, we reached the airport. Our Jet flight was on time, but Dida-Dadu-Maashi's Indian Airlines flight had been cancelled! After much running around, they were able to get onto a later flight (via Mumbai!) that would reach about 3 hours later than us in Raipur (unlike the original flight which had a 30 mins time difference). Our plane was ready to leave while they were still making arrangements for the substitute flight, so we decided we would look for a hotel near Raipur airport and wait for them rather than waiting at the airport.
We had managed to get upgraded, and Ishi's dad held her through the take off. We were prepared with cotton for her ears and her water sipper, but she preferred to suck her thumb and fell asleep during the take off! She was as good as gold in the flight. The seat next to us was empty, so her Dad shifted over there and we made a little nest for his original seat next to me, where she peacefully slept off cuddling her little piglet soft toy. She woke up while we made our descent and again managed the landing process sucking her thumb rather than sipping water.
On ground, the airport was really hot. The others were now in Mumbai! So, we decided to go ahead with our plan of waiting at a hotel. We stopped at a nearby resort and immediately dove into the shower. Ishi had a fun bath with her dad, then had her Cerelac (using the room tea maker to boil water) and she went back to sleep in a nest of soft towels. We had lunch and freshened up. Then while her Dad went to get the others, I fed her in preparation for the long road trip ahead (300kms/6 hours). Once they came and freshened up, we were off!
Ishi spent most of her time with her Dida and Maashi, sleeping occasionally. At the half-way point, we stopped at Makdee restaurant, where she had her first packaged food - Mashed Apple! I had bought a 4 packs of mashed apples, one tin of creamed porridge and one mashed pear, along with her Cerelac box, and water sipper for feeding her during the journey. Though it was bit of an over preparation since she would feed only twice during journeys, I wanted to be prepared for any contingencies. Similarly, I over-prepared with about 5 diapers in my bag, and 5 in her Dad's bag for the journey. We changed her once at the hotel and once at Makdee. After that stop, we drove non-stop to Jagdalpur, reaching there at about 7-8pm.
There, she had a big welcome by her Dada-Dadi and Jetha-Jethi-Aayushi Didi. Her Dida-Dadu-Tuki Maashi were staying at a nearby hotel, while the others where staying at Dada-Dadi's beautiful new house. We took over the lower guestroom and Ishi slept with us in the same bed.
Our Jagdalpur trip was scheduled for 15-21 May. After a lot of preparation (namely clothes shopping and Ishi's weaning), we left home on 14th May to stay over with my parents in Delhi for an early morning flight on 15th. Her Dida, Dadu and Tuki Maashi also accompanied us on the trip, though we were on separate flights. Nero was dropped on to his Kennel on 14th.
15th early morning, we reached the airport. Our Jet flight was on time, but Dida-Dadu-Maashi's Indian Airlines flight had been cancelled! After much running around, they were able to get onto a later flight (via Mumbai!) that would reach about 3 hours later than us in Raipur (unlike the original flight which had a 30 mins time difference). Our plane was ready to leave while they were still making arrangements for the substitute flight, so we decided we would look for a hotel near Raipur airport and wait for them rather than waiting at the airport.
We had managed to get upgraded, and Ishi's dad held her through the take off. We were prepared with cotton for her ears and her water sipper, but she preferred to suck her thumb and fell asleep during the take off! She was as good as gold in the flight. The seat next to us was empty, so her Dad shifted over there and we made a little nest for his original seat next to me, where she peacefully slept off cuddling her little piglet soft toy. She woke up while we made our descent and again managed the landing process sucking her thumb rather than sipping water.
On ground, the airport was really hot. The others were now in Mumbai! So, we decided to go ahead with our plan of waiting at a hotel. We stopped at a nearby resort and immediately dove into the shower. Ishi had a fun bath with her dad, then had her Cerelac (using the room tea maker to boil water) and she went back to sleep in a nest of soft towels. We had lunch and freshened up. Then while her Dad went to get the others, I fed her in preparation for the long road trip ahead (300kms/6 hours). Once they came and freshened up, we were off!
Ishi spent most of her time with her Dida and Maashi, sleeping occasionally. At the half-way point, we stopped at Makdee restaurant, where she had her first packaged food - Mashed Apple! I had bought a 4 packs of mashed apples, one tin of creamed porridge and one mashed pear, along with her Cerelac box, and water sipper for feeding her during the journey. Though it was bit of an over preparation since she would feed only twice during journeys, I wanted to be prepared for any contingencies. Similarly, I over-prepared with about 5 diapers in my bag, and 5 in her Dad's bag for the journey. We changed her once at the hotel and once at Makdee. After that stop, we drove non-stop to Jagdalpur, reaching there at about 7-8pm.
There, she had a big welcome by her Dada-Dadi and Jetha-Jethi-Aayushi Didi. Her Dida-Dadu-Tuki Maashi were staying at a nearby hotel, while the others where staying at Dada-Dadi's beautiful new house. We took over the lower guestroom and Ishi slept with us in the same bed.
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