Sunday, May 13, 2012

18. The Explorer


Gone are the days when we kept her at a place and knew that she will be still there after 5 minutes. Now with her new found mobility she is ready to explore the world, and what an explorer she is. She intuitively knows what things she is not supposed to touch. She explores the entire room and manages to find them. Things like plug points, wires, shoes and papers attract her like honey attracts bees. No wonder she is a daughter of geologists.



We had to quickly child proof our house, all plug points sealed, all hanging wires concealed, all shoes in the rack, all important books out of reach, any small things that has potential choking hazard removed from sight, and all sharp objects hidden. They say that your house gets redecorated after your wife moves in, well babies are no different. However, we have not stripped clean the room of everything. There is still enough stuff for her to explore, toys to play with, teeters to chew, sofas to hold and stand, and books to eat. Her playground is now the floor as freefall from beds is dangerous. Even than we have to be constantly alert. It is a full time job, specially for her mom who is alone when I am in office. Surprisingly she manages it all along with all the other wrks and doesn't want a baby-sitter. One reason why women were given the task of being mother was because they are the only species who has that qualification. Our constant surveillance has not prevented Hridhima from falling, but falling has not deterred her urge to stand. We were perplexed by her perseverance. I wish this spirit stays with her forever.

She is now a full-fledged member of our family who has her own character, her own likes and dislikes, her own mood swings. She even tries to communicate with us. After eating few pages from a book she got enough education and started speaking, “da-da”. It’s time to give her an encyclopedia for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, she has also started eating solids and drinking water. People often get surprised to see her drink from glass at this early age. Like I always say, they are smarter that we think. Boiled potato is her favorite dish. What goes in has to come out. The more she eats like us, the more she shits like us. The smell of her potty was the first noticeable change after the solids were started. But solid food gives us more freedom of travelling, not that it has stopped us from travelling before. She already had travelled to many places. Last month we went to Kolkata for her ‘Annaprasan’ and she grabbed pen from the all the options in the tray. Do we have a writer here? It’s her life, she will be what she wants to be, and I don’t want to bias her. 

21 comments:

  1. Loved the post, and good to see you back after a longg tym... Hridhima luks beautiful .. i love the way you have narrated your efforts at making the house safe for her ...:0.Parenting is a skill by itself :)

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    1. and that skill comes naturally :)....
      Thanks Menachery :D

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  2. This is the 1st comment but I have been reading ur blog and love ur writing.

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  3. OMG!! The girl has grown up <3 Kisses to the baby doll...

    Well, I was fighting myself over past few months and hence the on-off presence Sub....Sounds like you are an expert man with the kids.....She has such big eyes....awwww *touchwood*

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    1. thanks Chintan :)
      well i have been off myself...hope u r doing good now....
      oh...every dad feels like he is an expert i tell u :)

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  4. Hridhima's all grown up! :) As usual, great post :)

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  5. ow, so cute, n smell of potty, haha, how has it changed? become worse or wat? hehe :-)

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  6. She is very pretty! I love shot of her crawling towards the camera!

    My babies, now big boys took a spill or two. Once Isaak fell into the coffee table at my sister's house. He had to get stitches in his forehead.

    The best way to baby proof is to crawl around like a baby yourself. They find all kinds of things to get into.

    Solid foods do make their poop stink. Although if she were on formula, her poop would have smelled the whole time. That's what I hear anyhow.

    In response to your comment on my blog: Isaak loves his hair. He was just a grump this morning. It was actually him that wanted his hair cut like his brothers. If it were up to me, I'd have his hair longer. I love feeling his baby hair. It the only baby part of him left.

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  7. the kids or infants for that matter have their own likings...they are not a Tabula Rasa as we tend to believe. We too had to redecorate our house but thankfully it was much simple for us coz somehow every time my kid was in different house when she went on from crawling to knee walking and from knee walking to feet walking :)

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  8. Coming here after a long time. Awww Hridhima looks chooooo cute :) Am sure she is keeping you guys on your toes :)

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  10. I am not reading this post, how can anyone for that matter. She is looking so adorable, I can hardly take my eyes off her photos...:)

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  11. ...and mom :)...
    actually, its us who are lucky...:)

    thanks Ashwini

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  12. Coming here after a long time! Loved the post, as always!
    You record the growth so well, she will be proud of this treasure one day.
    There is an old saying in Hindi, "Girte hain sheh sawar hi maidane jang mein, wo tifr kya girn jo ghutnon ke bal chale" (Only those who have the courage to ride lions can fall in battle fields, those who crawl will never fall).
    She seems to be doing her gene pool justice, be it exploring or the pen. :)

    Loads of love to her.

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    1. thanks Janhvi....i am not that regular too....how are you doing?

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