9 months in, 9 months out

Ishi celebrated turning 9 months old on 19 July 2011, by eating her very first chocolate fudge cake. Yum Yum Yum!

What is that mom? Give me a taste...

I can play with my cake...

... and eat it too!

Hello Doctor

Ishi had her 9th month doctor visit on Saturday (July 23). She was given a clean bill of health and development. Growing more in weight (8kgs) than height (66cms), but sticking to her growth curves. My mom says she is definitely bigger as compared to either me or Tuki. I hope she takes her body structure (tall and lean) from her dad's family!

He mentioned her forehead fused bone, but since her head circumference and development were normal, said there was nothing to it. Her skewed smile (due to depressor anguli oris muscle) was deemed cosmetic and something that she would learn to control with time. She was doing just fine. In fact he was amazed at her diet, that she was actually eating all veggies and had even tried to eat roti! He gave the go ahead for 1 egg/day and 3-4 mashed nuts. He also suggested soup/juice, but we haven't been able to work it into her diet plan yet. Egg is now standard breakfast. Left overs go to Nero, who now has discovered Ishi has a source of more people food. We've even seen Ishi deliberately drop bits of food and watch him eat! But then she drops/flicks off everything on her tray table while eating!

9 months also brought measles vaccine. Her first live vaccine and now the site changed to her arm instead of her thigh. Daddy held her, I distracted her with a toy, while Dr Gogia quickly inoculated her. She screwed up her face to cry but barely cried for more than half a minute, while daddy quickly soothed her as we went back to our seats. She is such a brave and good baby! We were told that as a live virus, we may see some rash/fever symptoms 4-10 days from the vaccination, but should disappear within 24-48 hours. It is the 4th day today...so far so good! :)

Whats in a name...

We spent a lot of time deciding on the perfect name for our precious baby. With my history, I was too cautious and refused to think of names before she was born. But after that, it was open season! We looked through our baby names book and scoured the net. The main criteria was meaning, exclusivity and ease of use. We zeroed in on Ishika/Ishi (reference to Goddess Durga as our baby was born 2 days after Vijay Dashami/Dussehra) and Saisha - Meaningful life/ truth of life. The former was my choice, the latter was hubby's preference. We had also like Anousha/Anoushka, but knew at least 3 friends who had named their daughter with some spelling variant of that name, so that was out.

The final decider came when we decided to check on gmail and facebook for Saisha Tripathi and Ishika Tripathi. Saisha won facebook with no other similarly named profile. It was hence deemed a winner on exclusivity, with the other two criteria being met by both names. We went by the spelling Saisha (variants are Sayesha, Saisa, Shaisa, Shayesha, etc. with conflicting information on meanings). As a bonus, the brevity and ease of pronunciation of 'Ishi' made it very suitable as a nickname, and also kept the Goddess Durga reference. Her dada deemed her rashi name was to start with the syllable 'Se'. So her dadu suggested Celina (after Celina Jaitely) and I suggested Selina (Selina Gomez - teen star). Since both start with the syllable 'Se' in hindi and are pronounced in the same way, both apply!

So we felt we had the perfect name Saisha - unusual, meaningful and easy to say. Immediately gmail and facebook accounts were set up. All seemed well with the world.

Wait did i say - Unusual? Yea right. Within a couple of days of officially naming her, we discovered at least 2 more Saisha-daughters in our larger friend/acquaintances circles. Then from everywhere, there were Saishas materializing from nowhere. Today there was actually a Page 3 news item on a socialite giving a monsoon birthday party for her daughter named - you guessed it - Saisha. Down to the same spelling. Oh you've just got to be joking >.< At least her surname isn't Tripathi!!!!!

Toothfully yours...

Its here! Its here! The sharp edge of Ishi's bottom left incisor has broken forth from her gums! She had been very cranky and drooly yesterday. But today has been a happy happy day! This afternoon, lying in her gym, the room was ringing with peals of her laughter as she banged her key hanging toy. In honor of her tooth, she was given a katori of little roti pieces with curd after her lunch. She relished the new taste! Such a good little girl :)

On the other hand, I've found her literally scooting off the bed (once on either side) twice today. The first time I was taking pictures and she was coming towards me. But the second time (evening 6pm) she had squeezed out from one end of her gym, knocked the two barrier cushions down and had her arms and shoulders off the side of the bed..all in the space of the few minutes that I had turned away! Her dida says its time to put her in jail (thats what Tuki used to call the cot when she was a baby!). For the moment, we've just relocated to the living room floor where her play mats are spread out. But of course where there is ample space and opportunity to crawl, she prefers to turn over on her back and just flail her arms and legs with abandon. Yes...thats my baby...very much dancing to her own tune!

Applying for a Passport? Bite me!

Today we applied for Ishi's passport. The long story Ishi's first government office visit is here.

Ishi spent breakfast with her Dida, fascinated by her green pendant; then spent time with Maashi and Leela didi, before Maashi drove them both to join us at the passport office queue. We tried to time it such that she would not have to spend too much time in the queue outside and we were in, in about ten minutes or so.

Throughout, Ishi was mostly in her pram, first playing with her pram fan (she would put her hand to the blades! And no matter that the blades were kid friendly, it did not seem to be setting a good precedent!). There she amused herself with her pram toys and kicking about in her sandals. Towards the end of our wait, she got tired and went off to sleep in Daddy's arms. We laid her in her pram and asked Leela to take her away from the main crowd and towards the waiting area. Once all done, we were back home by noon after a short stop to say bye to Tuki Maashi and pick up our stuff from there.

Once home, we got organized and I started feeding her her lunch while Leela finished cooking. I realized I could feel a definite scrape on the spoon and with my finger, could feel her lower incisors! She was a bit cranky, so have not pressed her to show me her mouth yet...but I do believe someone's pearly whites are finally breaking ground! Her Dida also called me later and told me she though her left upper incisor was coming out.

Its 3:25pm now, and Ishi is sleeping. I hope she wakes in a good mood, so we can get ... well... a clearer picture! Waiting with a smile ... :)

Whats in a Roti...

Today, while we had lunch, we gave Ishi little bits of my roti (thinner piece). At first she kept dropping them down, and Nero stationed himself between her and me. But once I put couple right into her mouth, she managed to work them down and even wanted more! No teeth..but why should that stop me momma!!!!!

Crawling about...

Yesterday, Ishi had a gala time with Daddy, Dida and Maashi, playing on her playmats in the living room. Everyone encouraged her to start crawling. Today, she made full use of her lessons and spent time pulling herself around on her arms and tummy all over the mat!