Ear Piercing

Daph called me yesterday from Walmart to check if she could pierce C's ear. I had resisted this proposal for a long time. And once in a while, strangers ask about C whether she was a boy. Sometimes, when we look at her in pants and t shirts, she looked lil bit like a boy baby, because she looks a lot like me!
So I said yes and daph got C's ears pierced. It seems, the walmart lady first marked it with ink and they just used something similar to a stapler to accomplish the job. I was afraid that C would try to take / push this extraneous thing off her ear and in turn might hurt herself. Incidentally, C does not even like the sweater that comes with a hood. She pushes off the hood almost always. However, because of a topical anesthetic, C didnt have any issue till 9 pm. Later, she slowly started fiddling with the earring and we tried to taught her to leave it alone.
She looks pretty, as always, and nice.

Waking at Midnight

C has acquired this habit of waking in the middle of the night. She gets up and sits and expects us to play with her. In order for that to happen, she has to wake us up. She pats, and pinches Daph's nose to achieve that.
Yesterday she woke up and was sitting with her eyes wide open. I made the mistake of : 1. Waking up; 2. Moving my position and 3. Making an eye contact with C.
C became very elated to find me awake and started jumping in the bed, with her shrieking laugh and tried to play hide and seek. I tried to pat her to sleep. She would not. She was smiling incessantly expecting me to join her in her game. While patting her, I went to sleep and that was the end of that!!
After some time, I woke up again, to see Daph rocking C on her lap. I didnt want to disturb the mother and child moment and promptly went back to sleep.
D has been very patient with C. Even though Daph is very tired, and sleepy, Daph makes it a point to rock C to sleep before herself going to sleep.

Vaa vaa

As of today, C utters the following words:
appa,
amma,
Oh-oh,
vaa vaa,
tha,
tha tha,
Hi.
We are not sure, how many of them she actually understands. She still cannot figure out, if we point something to her. While pointing, she just looks at the finger, and NOT at the objects being pointed to.
Even though C started saying "appa", long time back, D has successfully made C forget that word and instead taught her "amma". C also says mummy sometimes, and we dont know where she learnt it from.
Whenever we picked her up, we said, "Vaa". So, the meaning for vaa for her is to pick up and she would come to us, put up her hands in the air, and say "vaa vaa".

Walking on the ramp

Last sunday, D was putting up the snow-light-tree in our frontyard, which we had bought on after-xmas-sale last year. C was coming into the way all time while we tried to assemble the tree. C would pull the leg of the tree, and then the light and if we dont look would take the scissors that D used to unpack the tree. After repeated "orders" that she stop fiddling around, C managed to hurt her palm with the tree leg and started wailing. We told her that that was the reason we were telling her not to fiddle. She stopped crying in 2 minutes, and started her fiddling again.
The weather was quite pleasant, and I let C be in the Sun and walk around in the front driveway while we were erecting the tree outside in our front yard. C was quite elated with her new found freedom and the open air, et al, and started running here and there. As long she was running perpendicular to the drive way ramp, she was fine, but when she started trying that along the drive way, she didnt calculate the slope and made adjustment to it. C came tumbling down, and did a roll - like a slip fielder - and in a quick instant, I went around and behind her line of movement, so that, I could atleast stop her from keep rolling down. (We had seen people falling off or rolling off snow and ice the day before on the Discovery Channel!) But C managed to stop herself with just one roll. Luckily, she didnt have any scratch (from the concrete drive way!) and was fine.

xmas day

Daph made mutton biriyani and chicken today. It turned out nice. She also made very good Christmas Cake.
In the evening, we went to Abraham's house for a gettogather. Lots of people were there. C got used to the crowd and started playing with the other kids. When Dr Retnaraj's girls picked up C, she started crying. I thought the girls should give $50 for every 5 minutes of petting C!
C likes to take off our Air conditioning / Heating duct register grilles at home. The grilles at our house is not fixed, and so, it could be easily taken off - and in C's case - could be thrown away in the garbage bin or could be safely tucked behind the sofa. At Abraham's house, the grilles were not removable, but C was trying to take them off anyway, and later, started to cry because it wont come off!!!
WE came home around 11 pm and C was jumping around the bed for a long time, before she went to sleep.

Xmas Eve

Since D was making the breakfast in the morning, I was keeping C downstairs with the computer. we were playing some christmas carols on the computer. When the Holy night song started playing, I sang along in a high pitch, close to C's ears. C didnt respond for sometime. When I was going, "oh....oh..." C started crying very loudly and would not stop for some more time! I could not figure out whether she cried because of the high decibel sound or because of my singing! One of these days, we have to videograph her crying. She stretches her mouth to its fullest and makes her lips / jaw do lots of funny stuff while crying.
In the afternoon, we went to buy clothes for daph. In the evening we went to the Grace Church. They had a very good performance of the Little Drummer boy. During the cresendo, the sound was too much and I thought C would start crying but surprisingly she didnt but was dancing and clapping hands. C seemed to enjoy the show quite a bit, and was trying to play with the girl, who was sitting in the front. That girl was complaining to her mom, that the baby was "touching" her hair!
C also accosted the people who were sitting next to us, and said Hi and came back. When C tried to take a peek into their bags, we pulled C back.

Sitting

C likes to sit on the stuff that are small but look like her seats. Like the first step of the stair. Recently her favorite seat is the pedal of our exercise machine. It suits her almost perfectly, and she goes towards the machine, and turns back and sits on the pedal. She does the same thing, if we are sitting / lying on the floor, she would come towards us, turn her back towards us, and then sit.
Her other favorite spot is the base of the fireplace in our Drawing room. Eventhough, we are both sitting on the sofa, C would make it a point, to go away from us, towards the fireplace and sit on its base.
Some weeks back, she would be able to climb up the base, but would not be able to get down. During those moments she would cry to make her mother help her down.

Fall from bed

C like to take all the stuff on our bedroom sill and throw it on the floor. Typically she cannot reach the sill, but whenever she is on the bed, she could. Two days back, she was on the bed and throwing stuff to the floor. I was sitting next to her and I had put my arms around her, so that she would not fall down.
Amidst throwing stuff to the floor, suddenly, C jumped over my arms and landed on the floor. It must have really hurt. She was crying uncontrollably for sometime. She almost landed on her head and in the last minute landed on her palm. Daph was worried that C must have dislocated her shoulders.
But in five mins, C stopped crying and started smiling. Daph thinks C fell because of my mistake.

Tamil Xmas Celeb

Chantel was one of the angels in the Tamil Xmas celebration drama. She was dressed in white and have wings tied to her back. Before the drama, C was walking around in her angelic charm. When she had to go on stage tho, she didnt like it and looked at D on stage, singing, started to cry. Jasmine tried to pacify C, but she would not have it.
Her third tooth cameout during the weekend. But, I guess, the fourth one is about to make its appearance and that made C cry the whole night yesterday.

The Third Tooth

Daph calls to say that C might be getting another tooth. She has been crying lately for the past 3 days. I checked her upper gum 2 days back, but could not find anything. At night, she gets up and sits upright, and keeps crying. Since, I am usually in deep slumber, I sometimes get up but promptly go back to sleep. Daph has to sit with her through the night.
Today we thought we should call the docs and find. But D said that the docs told her that the vaccinations we gave C last week would kick in after a week (?) and might induce light fever. C also had some fever. So, we thought that was it. But D caught C today trying to chew the laptop and checked her gums to see the white film like thing. So, it looks like she might be getting another tooth. Lets see.
C has been roaming around with 2 teeth all these days, but would not shy away from putting the whole paireecham pazham or the whole fish piece or the whole jilabi (which D tried to make the other day!)

Last dose of Antibiotics

Yesterday was C's last dose of antibiotics. When she started taking the medicine, she would create a lot of fuss. I had to hold her arms and head and daph had to hold her legs in one hand and the medicine syringe in the other to push it down C's throat. Giving it in a syringe made it very easy.
First we just held her arms and legs, but she would sway her head so much, the medicine flew all over the room. Slowly we learnt to hold her steady. C also got a bit, wise and would start crying whenever we went towards her with the syringe. At one point we were giving her juice / medicine and water thro the syringe.
The St Louis doctor had given a strong dose and made it strawberry flavour. So, even though C liked the taste of the medicine, she would still cry and make a fuss, most probably because of being manhandled. We didnt want to let her go easy, because she likes to spit with a sprrrrr sound and laugh after doing this. She has demonstrated this very clearly and very often while drinking this nutrimilk. Instead of sucking throught the straw, she would blow and laugh at the sound and the bubbles made by the fluid.
However, day by day C got used to the medicine and yesterday when I gave her, I didnt hold her at all, but she was actually sucking from the syringe and was actually wanting more. Sorry, yesterday was the last day of the medicine and we have to chuck it today!

Christmas Decorations

D thought C would be delighted to see the xmas decorations this year. She putup the xmas tree single handedly and also decorated it with ornaments and lights. I scavenged last years serial lights and put it up last week. C is quite excited with the lights. She points to it and says something all the time. I tried to teach her "light". She is yet to learn that.
In the mean time D has taught her "amma" quite methodically, which made C forget "appa" which, C had mastered over a long period of time. I am trying to teach her appa again.
We also putup some lights outside and the star. C stares at these lights quite intently. Since I have connected the outside lights with a remote, C likes to see the lights being switched on and off.
C is also afraid of any moving toys. We had to deactivate the any "moving" toys and make it stationery so that she can enjoy. D had bought a dancing santa and a shaking Reindeer toy. When we switch it on, C seems to be interested in the beginning, but when Santa is in the middle of the handwave, she starts crying. She would take her eyes away from Santa, and then look at it again, and start crying.

Kids, Brooms and Car seats

C gets quite excited whenever she sees another kid. Somehow she understands the other baby / kid is not a toy but has something in common with herself. Typically, in a walmart situation, she makes a shrieking laugh when she sees a baby and points to them.
C is also grooming herself, after her mom, in the art of brooming. She understands the broom, and eventhough this broom is taller than her, she picks it up and holds it in the correct orientation and tries to sweep the floor. She also tries to wipe the floor clean with any rag cloth she could find. Apart from these nice gestures, she pulls off all the stuff from the cabinets, fridge, dish washer and the shelf. She particularly likes the trash bin too. Since then D keeps the trash on top of the chair.
Also, C got resigned to the idea of the car seat and does not cry much when we put her on it. When we leave the house, she might be quite happy thinking that "these guys eventually found some time to get out of the couch and actually are about to leave the stuffy house" and does not cry. On the way back, she is almost always very tired, and does not care where she sits.

ER again - St Louis

Dec 2 Saturday night
i caught Chantel playing with a toy that had these small battery cells. One of the battery cells was missing. We had around 4 such toys. and I knew that we had lost one battery cell from one of the toys in las vegas. Was this the same lost toy? I searched the las vegas suitcase for the other toys to check. But could not locate all the 4 toys.
Daph got lil uncomfortable. She was feeding rice to C.
C ate some rice. After sometime C put her hands into her mouth and vomitted all the rice she had been eating. I searched for the battery in the vomit. But it was not to be found. D got really uncomfortable. But C was eager to eat again and Daph fed her again. C was fine for sometime. But after 5 mins, C did the same thing. This time both of us got really scared. I searched for the battery again. Could not find it. So, we picked up our jackets and left for the ER. Again. I had asked D to sit at the back and not to let C go to sleep. I didnt know the relevance of this thing, but in movies, they never let a person go to sleep under these dire circumstances. So, eventhough, "not letting C go to sleep" might not be medically necessary, D was very particular and did a good job.
This ST Louis ER seemed to be quite different than the one in Las Vegas. They asked us to fill a form. After 5 mins the triage nurse took us in. She said C was breathing fine and so, she might not have actually swallowed the cell. She also told us that sometimes the throat could hurt because of an ear infection. That was a relief. We told her about the ear infection and the past one week of C's life. The nurse alloted us a room and with no time wasted we were taken there. We waited for sometime.
The nurse came and told us that she has ordered an xray. C didnt like it when the nurse tried to get her temperature. After sometime, we were taken to the xray room. Wore heavy gowns. Daph was ordered to hold C as she was wailing. I was asked to stay near the techinician behind the glass partition. The actual xray happened in a split second, and was digital and I could see whole of C's bone structure. Metallic parts like Daph's watch strap was visible but luckily no battery cell. It was sure that C didnt gulp the battery, after all. But the techinician would not tell us anything one way or other and said that the Doctor would brief us. May be some legal requirement, or something.
Doctor came after sometime and told that C didnt eat the cell. She also checked C's ear and prescribed a stronger antibiotics. We had to give this only once a day. That was good.
The Dr also told me that she liked the Fish theme for the interior design of the ER (which our firm had recently completed for the hospital)
We came in around 10 and left around 1145pm.

1 Year Vaccination

Wednesday Dec 6, 2006
Daph took C alone to the hospital for C's vaccination. We also wanted to show the doc and tell him about C's ear infection. This is the first time D is driving to the hospital alone.
D called me from the hospital. They were waiting for the doctor to come and take a look at C. The nurse had told D that C needed to take 4 separate shots of vaccinations and another bonus one for the flu!! There was a definite chance of the nurse running out of a spot to poke the needle. I could hear C laughing and playing in the background without realising the forthcoming pricks.
In the evening I saw chantel's thighs covered with playful band aids! She was running around, so it is ok. After some time she started peeling off the bandaids and started chewing on them. We had to take off the aids and trash them.

Snow storm

Dec 1 night
When we arrived in STL it was covered with ice. The snow storm had changed to ice storm and all the trees, house, everything had got a coating of ice. This ice made the branches heavy and there were lots of fallen trees. Santosh picked us up. Luckily the road were are ploughed and no problem.

Dec 2 Saturday
Luckily we had power, and so internet and phone.
Around 10 am, C had some fever and started crying. Daph called the nurse and the nurse said that if we could make it to the hospital in 15 minutes, they would check C. So, we did. C started crying the moment the doc put her stethescope on her. The doc said that C still had ear infection and changed the antibiotics.
We are very fortunate. When we drove around the town in the evening we saw lots of houses without power. We took some pics of the ice. I took chantel to feel the snow and she was very eager to touch it, but withdrew her hands away quickly because of its chilliness. We bought medicine for chantel and some other stuff and came back home.

ER - Las Vegas

Nov 27 Monday
C didnt eat properly. she still had some croup left in her. we left for las vegas in the afternoon. The flight was eventless. C seemed to be comfortable. She didnt have croup but cough and runny nose. She started crying intermittently at night. We called jones at night and he said that she might be little dehydrated and asked us to give her pedialyte. We tried but C would not drink much. We gave her more tylenol.
After an initial hiccup with the hotel reservation, we were alloted rooms at the Venetian. The hotel room was really big with a separate seating area and a big bathroom suite. The view towards North Las vegas blvd was amazing.

Nov 28 Tuesday
C didnt eat properly again. She kept crying intermittently. but looked a little better during the day. So we thought things were improving. But again at night, she started crying and would never stop. She would just nibble the sippy cup but would not suck it and so didnt eat anything. Even food, she would take it in the mouth but would not swallow.

Nov 29 Wednesday
Morning we thought it was good to take her to the ER. She had not eaten much and was very weak and losing weight.
The Sunrise Hospital is for children (lucky) It was the closest from the hotel we stayed in. We waited for sometime at the reception. They alloted a room for chantel and did some tests. We were thinking that C has some throat infection and could not swallow. The doc said that she had some ear infection and asked us if C was trying to grab her ear often. No. C started crying heavily whenever a nurse / doctor came by. The doc decided to give drips and do xrays. The nurses could not find any veins on C. After a lot of rubbing, patting the nurses brought out a light. They put the light beneath C's right palm and were trying to figure out the veins in vain. The senior nurse took a risk and and tried above the knuckles but could not locate it. Later she tried it in C's right arm. For more than 10 mins. C was too tired to cry and went to sleep only to be awaken again by the needling. It was really painful. When they finally got hold of a vein, the nurse was not ready with her syringey thingy and had to put pressure on C's vein for 5 seconds, but by then, the blood clotted and they could not take any blood.
They tried on her other arm again and luckily, found a vein. This time too they were not prepared, and I had to unwrap and pass them the small plastic blood collecting tube. After this they started giving C her drips. Daph was not happy with the speed of the "drips" and wanted it to be faster for some reason!
The nurses said that they can only discharge C if her intake of water stabilizes. But C was not willing to take anything. She took two strands of noodles and little apple juice. The nurses gave us a syringe and asked us to force feed C. C didnt like it at all but had to drink the juice w pedialyte, which actually tasted real bad.
The xrays came out ok. But the doc suggested they took a CT scan too. Later they took us to the CT room and gave us heavy vest to wear. Surprisingly C didnt cry too much. May be she liked the sliding moving in and out movement of the CT scan. CT scans are also turned out ok.
They put her on amoxycillin (?) and motrin.

Nov 30 Thursday
C started improving and started eating food. Daph took her to show the Venetian Queen and the song show on Christmas etc. I got busy with the seminars. C started getting excited about the view and smiling. We were hoping that the ear infection goes away before our flight to STL. Daph said in the evening that STL has a huge snow storm and flights might get delayed tomorrow.

Dec 1 Friday
Last day of the seminar. I checked online to see about the flight status. Fortunately the flights are on time. AFter the morning class, we started to the airport. There was a huge line at the taxi stand. We had less than one hour when we left for the airport from the hotel. C seemed to be ok. We gave her motrin and antibiotics. There was a long line at the airport too. We arrived 15 minutes before departure time and got into the flight. Flight back was fine. C didnt cry much. C was playing hide and seek with the backseat guy. She was generally bubbly and laughing.

Thanksgiving + 1st Bday - Phoenix

November 23 Thanksgiving
We were planning to go to Los Angeles but decided to go to Phoenix to be with Jones and family. Chantel behaved very well along the long queue for the flight and in the airplane. At the phoenix airport, Bill and Judy saw her and said that she has the family "eyes".
C started playing with Jeya and Jeevan. Jeya was quite excited.

November 24
Kelly made Turkey today. Could not buy anything reasonable at the Black Friday sales. C wanted to climb their stairs all the time. She would run from the dining and start climbing the stairs. The stairs are carpeted and have two landings. But still Daph would not let C climb the steps. Jeya though wanted C to climb and manage to let her climb at least two times to the top!
Evening we celebrated C birthday. Daph bought funny caps for all the kids. Daph and Kelly filled the balloons. The kids had lots of fun with the balloons. Jeya was more excited with C's bday and wanted to buy the biggest cake. We settled for a medium size one in the end.
C also had this lovely dress from India based on a design from the US?
The day went well.

Nov 25 Saturday
Went to Sedona. Amazing rock formations. Chantel was asleep during most of the ride. Jeya, Chantel and myself were sitting in the backseat of the new Sienna. Jeya was sharing chexmix with C. Jeya also wanted to sit next to C. C had cold and running nose!

Nov 26 Sunday
C woke up in the morning with some deadly sounding cough. Jones said it was croup. Webmd said it was not serious but that it sounded serious. More running nose and coughing. Went to the IKEA store and the Zoo. C was not too excited.

C on steroids

For all these days we have been using Steroid on C for her dry skin / eczema. Yesterday is one of those days she showed some of its symptoms.
When I reached home, she jumped from Daph and was quite jumpy. When I took, her she was kicking her leg. She was too happy to see me and was trying everything to show it off. She was bumbly, jumpy and elated.
Since we had a $10 shop and save coupon, we prepared to go grocery shopping. I put on her her white shoes. AFter 10 minutes of jumping around, she cried and made me romove the shoes. After I removed it, she picked it up and was trying to push it on her feet again! Since she could not do it, she tried to feed the shoe to me and when I grabbed the shoe with me teeth and spit it out, she became uncontrollably happy and started laughing loudly. This went on for a while till mom came and made her wear the shoes.
After we came back from the shopping, we decided to retire. But C didnt want to. She came and tapped me first, then started kicking me, so that I would not go to sleep. She started bouncing around the bed and would not go to sleep. After some time, I was too tired and went to sleep. Daph was trying to feed / make C go to bed.

Head shaker

These days C has leart to gesture with her head. I am not sure where she learnt this. But she tries to shake her head from left to right to indicate "no" or "not wanted" etc.
She has also learnt to shake her head, in a nodding "yes" way, but i am not sure whether she understands it. We used to have a playful "yes" nod (aama), which we use quite often without any meaning. Surprisingly C also does it once in a shile, and it is a mystery how she got that hapit!!
Whenever we utter the words "Good girl", even if it is not directed at her, she starts clapping her hands.

Accosting

C used to be bubbly and jumpy whenever I return home from office. She used to run towards me and make a shrieking sound and all.
Day before yesterday, I returned home late (8:30 pm) after going to the grocery, lecture at the washington univ dept of architecture. Daph was feeding dinner to C. When I entered the room, C just gave a nonchalant look and didnt even budge. When I walked to her and picked her up, she started whining and wanted to go to mommy. I thought because C was busy eating she didnt respond properly!
Yesterday I returned as usual (around 6 after a hectic 11 hour day of Revit Training). She didnt come running. She looked at me, thought for some time, and then "venda veruppa" came towards me!
The pattern does not look nice. May be she has become a teenage girl already and have started rebelling!!!

Pain

C has been walking well. She has almost stopped crawling. She still does not care if the floor is uneven, or if there is any obstackle on her way. So she has been bumping into things and falling etc.
Whenever she falls, if we make a "oops" she starts to cry. If we didnt say and just stare at her, she somehow thinkgs that she should not cry and holds back her pain and tears. It is quite sad to look at. Such a small baby like herself, learning to hold back pain.
Also, she does not know the exact location of pain too.

Church Crying

Last weekend we went to the St pauls evangelical church. Chantel became restless and wanted to run around. Since the church was in session, we didnt allow her to do that. So she started pulling off the offering covers and the church bulletin and started throwing them on the floor. She tried to pull off the pencil and broke it.
I thought it was not good and took her out to the lobby. A church member spotted me and took me to the baby room. There were some other kids. After filling out a form, I sneaked out of the room. After 10 minutes, the pager they had given me started vibrating. I went down to check. It seem C is crying, sobbing etc. When I arrived, she had stopped it. C had not seen me yet. The caretakers told me that she had been ok for the past 1 minute and it would be ok and that I could return to the service!
I waited for 10 secs and on the 11th second, C started crying again. I went in and took her. She would not stop it. I apologized profusely and left the room with C. Only after walking out of the room, she became alright. Daph came into the lobby and took C from me. C was still crying and sobbing.

Merry Morning

Usually C oversleeps in the morning. Typically she wakes up when I am getting ready to office and Daph is making my lunch. She gets up, and cries to announce her waking up. She also does not respond much for jokes or plays for atleast 5 minutes.
Today tho, she woke up and was very happy. Daph called me and asked me to come from the computer desk to witness this amazing event. C was all bubbly and happy and was playing with D. After playing for 20 mins, C went back to sleep again! Interesting.
Yesterday night, around 8 pm, C climbed on my lap from her amma and made herself comfortable. And went to sleep. She never does that. She would rather go from myself to mommy for a lap sleep and not the other way around.
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Since D reduced feeding, I guess, C realizes that amma or appa does not make a difference!!!!
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Milking Mommy

Yesterday night, Amma said that she would try to stop breast feeding. You started crying and would not eat properly. Amma made great efforts to make you sleep around 11 pm. But in the Drawing room. She asked me to carry you to the bedroom. When I put you down on the bed, you woke up and started crying. Amma didnt want to come to the bedroom, lest you cry for milk. But you didnt stop at all. I could not do anything that you make you stop. It was not even a minute, I was thinking of calling amma. Only she can do something. Amma came in just then, and you stopped crying. Amma had to hold you till you went to sleep.
Amma has been single handedly spending all her energy to raise you! I come home in the evening, play with you, and change a diaper once in a while, play with you some more time and then go to bed. But amma is doing everything. Whenever you wake up in the middle of the night, I just pat you two times, and hope you go back to sleep, and promptly I go back to sleep!!! But amma, keeps holding and rocking you till you go back to sleep.
Yesterday night also you woke and started crying. I remember you did this atleast 3 times. All those three times, I just went back to sleeping (after patting you three times!!!). In the morning Amma said that you managed to get milk once during the night and we decided to keep this going for a week. Lets see.

Words

C has been diligently responding to "Tha". Whenever she has something, that she does not mind parting with, she comes towards us and hands over the stuff. But if she does not want to give that, she would walk around as if she didnt understand the meaning.
I also taught her "Thank you" after receiving the stuff. So, she tries to say it "Thaku". Not sure if she understands the meaning. Especially because, "Tha", "Thank you" and "intha" are similar and must be confusing. I use the "intha" to give back her stuff to her after uttering Thank you.
Sad thing is that she has forgotten the word "Dai". This was her trademark and she used to shout this work whenever she gets angry. That seemed as if she understood the meaning of "dai". That was really cool. But later when we tried to teach her Hi and Bye, she lost touch with Dai and only uses Hi now. Sometimes she initiates a canon of "Hi"s while playing with Daph. Which is also very interesting...elated moments of parent hood. While playing the canon, if we utter two "Hi"s in sequence continuosly, C cannot follow that, for some reason. But if we give one Hi (which in fact is more like "ey") at a time, we promptly get that back.
She is trying hard to say "Appa" and sometimes manages to do it. Most of the time, it ends with "Ap"

Toilet

Chantel has this habit of pulling away the toilet paper. Since she likes it so much, she can pull off the whole roll whenever she gets her hand to it. She likes to play with the WC too and we have to keep the lid closed all the time.
Whenever I get into the toilet to brush the teeth, etc, she would also enter the room and starts playing with her small training potty or the roll or other stuff in the toilet. She likes the mirrors so much tho.
Nowadays, i would lock her out in the morning, when I comb my hair, etc and she starts to wail very loudly. The mere act of excluding her from the toilet is highly irritating for her!!

Evening

It seems C keeps waiting for me near the gate in the evening. Since she knows people usually dissapear down the staircase hole, she thinks they would come back from there. Sometimes, she "ulukkuthal" the gate so strongly that we are afraid that the gate will come loose.
When I arrive home, C shtarts shouting "hey" if I make some noise downstairs. After she sees me, she makes a kind of shrieking sound "eeeh". She does it real vigorously and one could make that from the expression of her face. Dont know why she is doing that.
She knows all about switching on the keyboard. She does it quite often, whenever she feels like it. She likes to play the keyboard by siiting on the keys. We are trying to teach her to use the fingers instead. She also knows to play the "song bank" from the keyboard and starts dancing to the tune.
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Somehow she knows to play all the songs from the "song bank" one after another automatically. Daph and myself cannot figure out this option, and can only play one song repeatedly forever!!!!
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Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween and we went to Galleria again. There were lots of kids in costumes. chantel was afraid of something and didnt want get down at all. Daph got us some Cinnabon. After eating this, Chantel became quite energized. She started walking around. She particularly liked to go and sit on the steps for the Fuzio restaurant. Whenever we picked her up and made her sit next to us, she would get up and go and sit on the steps. We could not figure out why she did that. Later a kid, twice the size of her walked by in a superman costume. Chantel started walking (running) directly towards him and the superman guy got shocked and ran away. Hilarious!
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placed an order for canon a 630
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Sore Throat

Chantel didnt sleep neither eat properly for the past few days. We were wondering and could not figure out the reason. Daph thought that C has cold or fever.
Yesterday morning when I woke up, i realised I had a terrible sore throat. Ditto daph. So, it seems, after all, C had sore throat and could not tell us! Today daph has slight fever and i have severe sore throat. Hopefully, it will go away soon...
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appa and amma have got 10 year visa!
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Patting

Sometimes when we hold chantel, she puts her arms around us and "pats" us. I guess, she has learnt patting from us...whenever we do it to calm her or while rocking her, etc in a parental way in an assuring manner. It is interesting to see her doing it to us. Yesterday she was doint it to the computer. Not sure what she meant.
Daph started showing chantel pictures from books. Eventhough C could not understand much, she has picked up the "pointing". So, now, whenever we open a book for reading (photo album) C comes and points the pictures or anything with her forefinger!
Last weekend, I taught her to switch on the keyboard. I tried to show her the difference between the switch on and off position. (sound coming or not coming!) It looks like she has understood this and started playing the keyboard by switching it on by herself! Nice.
I hope she would learn to switch if off too!

Naughty

Chantel pushed over the TV antenna for the 20th time. It was really bad. The antenna is not broken yet but whenever she pushes it over, the channel alignment gets lost and it is very difficult to get the channels with quality reception again.
So, I told her sternly not to touch it again. She seemed to have understood it. She circled the room for a bit with a sullen face and came towards me. I thought it was still not time to be smiling. My stony visage bounced her back to Daph. After a minute, Chantel started circling me again and this time I thought I will do a show and tell demostration. I picked her up and took her close to the antenna. And placed the antenna in the correct place and told her in stern voice that the antenna should not be moved around, etc, animatedly waving my hands (othai kaedaikkum!)
When I finished, C was oblivious of my polemics, and started waving me goodbye! Funny, she thought all I was doing waving my hand was just bidding goodbye! I guess, I have to wait for another 6 months to talk to her about causality.
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got some toys - moving train - for chantel for her bday
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Hugging

Whenever Daph come and sit close to me or if we are hugging, Chantel would come running "chinunkkikondae". She also wants to be hugged or kissed. I am not sure why she is doing it but is usually satisfied only after she got sit in between us.
C also does not like Daph to hold or lift other babies in town. C gets uneasy and starts to jump with a typical slur cry meaning that C wants to be held.
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We bought a samsung 7.1 digital camera / mp3 player.
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Dinner at 10515

On last Saturday we had invited Mohit and Amit for dinner. Chantel was asleep when they came. When she woke she was quite aghast seeing all the new human beings in the house and took some time to get used to. Mohit's mother put bindi on Chantel. It was cute. I guess, Daph would not have liked it.
During the dinner, C took mohit's wallet and pulled out a credit card. When we took the credit card from her, she started wailing. Mohit didnt want C to cry and so he offered to give her another card. I knew C liked things that made sound. I told them she would give the card, if we gave her something more intersting, like a "use and throw" plastic bowl. Others could not believe it. I tapped the bowl on the floor to make some rattling noise and gave it to C. She liked it so much, she dropped the credit card at once and picked up the bowl. It was quite interesting to watch!
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mowed the lawn again...i hope this is the last for this season!
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Computer

Like any baby, C is quite fascinated with the computer (or any electronics) She wants to play with the cellphone, tv remote, etc. She pushes over the TV antenna almost everyday and that changes the setting everyday. She also can switch on the computer that is sitting next to the TV and we had to unplug the computer so that she could not switch it on anymore.
I could not work on the computer at all, if she was around. She sits on the floor and cries a lot to be picked up. But while sitting on the lap, she tries to tap the keyboard, move the mouse, pull the sheet and doess all sort of noranatyam. Some how she just likes to keep banging on the keyboard. But if I play winamp or windoes media player and run its "visualization", which is similar tot he screen saver, she looks at it with her eyes wide open and does not take her eyes off it! She keeps looking at it so much, I am afraid that she would be mesmerized by it or something!
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My vacation got sanctioned and we might go to California, after all!
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Water, water

Daph said she was tired yesterday and went to bed and asked me to give C her dinner. Which was a Gerber precooked product, pasta and tomato sauce. C took some but was not too eager to eat more. Then after some time she started crying. Usually she plays this crying game, whenever daph is not around, expecting someone will take her to daph.
She kept crying, I help her for sometime, she would stop and then start again. Then I thought she might be sleepy and tried to help her to go to sleep. She was still crying on and off. After sometime, daph came and saw C was still crying and gave her some water! C gulped them very fast! After this, she became calm and didnt cry much. Still not sure whether Daph's nearness made it happen or the absence of thirst.
Whenever eating spicy food, C makes a hissing sound and starts waving her hand (meaning the food is v spicey and she needs water...) It was easy to figure out what she wants then. But it must be very difficult to understand that she wants water without the hissing!
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Daph is trying to teach C the "flying kiss". All C could do is to "vaayila adiththal" herself
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Independence

These days C has gained some confidence and independence. She tries to venture into rooms and spaces on her own. Even if we are in the drawing room, she does not stay there, but goes into unchartered territories. The moment she escapes our eyes, no one knows whether she is pulling down the trash and skimming through it or whether she is opening the cabinet doors to disperse all its contents on the floor or whether she is pulling vehemently the stair gate to remove it off the bolt.
Some part of the day she does not mind us and keeps playing with the chappals here or the spoon there, etc. But during some other time, she does not want to be left alone but wants to be picked all the time. Even if I put her down while brushing my teeth, she crawls towards me and put her arms around my legs and looks at me earnestly. She might also think that I am playing with her by moving my arms fastly across my face.
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Shiela sent info that GAP is looking for babies for their ads. hmm...i have to just send Chantel's pic without D's knowledge!
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"Tha"

Chantel understands the tamil work "Tha". Whenever she has something, if I say, "Tha" she brings it and hands it over to me. But, I guess, she still does not understand the difference between "tha" and "thank you". She also says tha.
She also brings stuff if we point to something thats lying on the floor and tell her "tha". She is just learning "pointing to something"...usually she looks at the tip of the finger and does not project her view towards the thing the finger is pointing!
She has been quite nice with this tha thing...even if she has a toy, she would give it to me...but eagerly look at the toy to see if I would return it to her.
Yesterday she found a biscuit and was about to eat it. And I said "tha".
"labak!!"
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duane and treena came home yesterday. Watch Antwone Fisher movie with them.
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Galleria

Daph was bored yesterday and told me that C wanted to go to Galleria. It was already 8. However, we went there. By the time we reached Galleria, C went to sleep. We broke the cardinal rule of not waking up the sleeping baby. But C was ok. We went into the Macy's new store (in place of the old Famous Barr) There was not much change. C was eagerly looking at all the jewelry. C was trying to pick the jewelry with her hand...luckily the had all the jewelry stacked inside the display cabinets safely...
We managed to video tape C walking today. But could not videotape her shaking her butt for the Swanlake prerecorded music from the Keyboard. She likes to dance for any kind of music. While sitting or crawling, she used to sway her butt. But since she has been standing or walking (with her balance always in limbo) it is very interesting to watch her dance.
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We found the mechanism behind the "adjustable cleavage bra" at the Victoria Secret store.
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Junior Nic Dress

It seems Daph has bought a dress for chantel (apparently for the Winter - jeans) that has "Junior Nick" logo. Sounds interesting. I have not seen it myself. Yesterday Daph had taken C to "Shop and Save" to get groceries for the Saturday dinner (which Mohit has already backed out from!) After they came back from the groceries, we went to the Indian store. Chantel is picking up all the stuff and trying to throw them to the floor. Had to be very careful.
Daph gave bath to C in the tub yesterday. C is getting used to the water and was enjoying it a bit.
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dearth of Dal in US because the Indian govt has banned all exports of dal till March 2007!
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Chantel Waiting

Now a days Chantel realizes whenever I leave the house to go to office, that I wont be home for some time. She still has not understood the idea "dressing to office" or "wearing a shoe" to go outside. But when I am about to leave, with the office bag, she realizes.
Daph says that around 5 pm, chantel waits for me to come and starts crying. She also turns around bouncingly, if asked "Appa engey?", thinking that I have come home in the evening.
After I reach ome, she starts crying if I dont pick her up rightaway. She does not even allow me to change my clothes. I dont want her to smudge my office clothes with all the food she has been eating. However, once i pick her up, she is all happy and doesnot want to go back to Daph for sometime! Thats nice. When I put her down in the bedroom, so that I could change, she starts crying without realizing that I am changing clothes to stay at home rather than to go out.
She has started doing her moon walking steps quite often. One of these days we might be able to videograph it.

Chantel Walking

Yesterday Chantel walked again. Three steps. Daph was fortunate to witness
this with me. It was very interesting to watch Chantel walk. Like the guys
on move... wide, big steps...
She has two teeth now. Quite sharp.
Yesterday we went to the forest park. The water basin in the park is very
big and really well maintained. Being in the park, amidst the huge art hill
and the water and the trees makes St Louis look like a very different,
better city! We wished we had visited the park often and made a pledge that
we should visit it often. And we would forget about it tomorrow!

Bath

Yesterday I got a chance to give chantel a bath. For some reason, Chantel does not like water and starts crying whenever we give her a bath. Yesterday though, I didnt put her in her small tub but held her and poured water over her. Even though she didnt get very happy, at least she didnt cry. However, it scared her so much, she held me very tight.
chantel is also very fascinated with mirrors. Whenever i put her on her potty, she is very happy if I pulled her closer to the mirror. She touches her image in the mirror and smiles and laughs. She is more excited when her (and our) images is mirrored million times in both the mirros in the bath room that are parallel to each other. She keeps looking both the mirrors.

Shiela's kid Eric

Shiela told me about Eric's sleeping habits today. She said that he
went to sleep at 8:30 and wakes up around 6:30. Which is very good.
But it seems they persevered for a long time to get him to do that.
She says that the key is to develop a routine for the baby. Like after
dinner, play for sometime, then bidding good bye to various objects and
thing (TV, Cat, drawing room, etc.) then give a bath, and put him to
bed. She also said that the baby will cry for sometime and then go to
sleep in the middle of the night. If the baby has fever / cold / other
discomforts, we could bend the routine little bit and hold her for some
more time, etc.
I hope we can try something to do like this for Chantel. That will free
up lot of Daph's time. Lets see.
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Revit training second batch today!
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Creve Coeur Lake

We went to the creve coeur lake yesterday. The sun set was just wonderful. The whole lake looked orange, etc. etc. Chantel didnt seem to be very interested in that. She was quite excited to see the vast expanse of water. Eventhough it was warm when we left the house, it was a bit cool around the lake. When we were about to leave, i took chantel to the water to let her feel it. But she would not. She was very afraid and was holding me very tightly. I made some tapping sounds in the water, yet she didnt get interested.
When both daph and myself go for a walk with chantel, she does not want to sit in her stroller. She does not like the seat belt. Then she sits up and then stands on her stroller seat!!! So, we had to pick her up. Then she is all happy and wants to go from me to daph and then daph to me. Again and again. I guess, when she leaves daph to come to me, she does not realize the she is *leaving* daph. The moment she is with me, she realizes *that* and then wants to go back. Vice versa. Nice.
Interestingly, when we put her in her car seat before driving, she does not cry at all. (In fact she does not mind the car seat as long as she is NOT hungry!!!!...which is very good!) I invented a game in which, i put her car seat belts, etc and then count one, two, "thee" before closing the car door. For some reason, she is very excited about the game, and cannot control her laughter and tries to jump from the seat!!!
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looks like, there is a girl *varan* for C from Blore. Send the pics first!
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First Steps

Yesterday Chantel took her first 3 continous steps. She was playing near the door between the kitchen and drawing room. When I showed her a jewel box like stuff and made a tapping sound, she started walking towards me. She took 3 full steps and and then continued walking. It was interesting to watch.
Whenever we go to walmart or something, lot of people, usually strangers come to us and tell that chantel is very beautiful, precious, etc. This is very nice and quite strange. In "educated" india, not many people would accost like this. Today Liz at office said:
"<10:33:58>:
You know, every mother thinks "she" has the most beautiful daughter in the world, but I have to pass the torch to you. Your daughter is breathtaking!
<10:36:51>:
Thanks so much, Liz! That is very nice of you to say that.
I will pass the torch to my wife!!
Did you see any of her recent picture? which one is it?
<10:37:54>:
Yes, I've seen recent (picnic) but there is no particular one.
<10:39:52>:
Thats good. But you should have come to the picnic too!
<10:40:47>:
My daughter is a "Raven" Symone fan (she has a show on Disney channel), anyway she was in concert at Six Flags. We have been waiting for that day since announced in April.:)
<10:43:12>:
oh...i hope she enjoyed the concert.
The picnic had lots of pretty kids all over the place!
<10:43:43>:
Yep, she had a blast. I agree about the kids."
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very interesting. I want to explore options to make chantel act in TV ads...but mom is not iinterested!!!
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Vomitting

Yesterday we went to Duane's house. His mom had prepared an amazing Soul Food for us. It was wonderful. After the meal we were watching Antwone Fisher movie. While daph was feeding chantel, she suddenly vomitted all over daph and duane-treena's comforter. Duane and Treena didnt worry too much and said that they could wash the comforter. The previous night Chantel had been very restless and crying a lot. So we guess the vomitting must have relieved her a lot.
Daph also told me about the first time chantel did this in Scotland. It seems after vomitting, chantel zoned off and would not respond to nudges or talking. (?) They took her to the hospital and the doctors checked if anything is stuck in the lungs. But they later told that the baby (4 months) was very tired of vomitting and should be ok.
Yesterday, after we returned home, I just went to sleep, but amma stayed awake - bathing you; applying the skin cream on you; taking bath (chantel had vomitted all over daph!) etc. In my half sleep, I heard chantel keep crying.

Pink chudithar

Amma dressed Chantel in a pink chudithar yesterday when we visited Mohit's house. The chudithar bottom seemed to be very long and very tight!!! We roll the ball ont he floor and Chantel goes and picks it up. She still cannot roll the ball back. But she brings the ball back and hands it over to us.
She was pulling the power plug off again and again the living room. Yelling at her doesnt help. She does not understand and keeps doing it again and again.
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Amma made biriyani yesterday.
We are going to Duane's house today.
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First Rash

Yesterday Yazhini had her firs t rash. Atleast that is what I guess. (amma could have hidden the other ones!!!) However, yesterday, after I changed her wet diaper, I washed her. With *hot* water and she immediately screamed. I thought the water was not *so* hot and checked it again. But later we realised that she had rashes. Amma applied some ointment and she was crying intermittently. Luckily after sometime, the ointment started working and Yazhini cooled off. Today morning, amma says that Yazhini kept her awake till 12 midnight. Hmm...
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India lost to Australia today by around 20 runs...
at office I am training some people in Revit!
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Chantel dancing

When there is music on the TV, Chantel sways her butt as if dancing. It is funny to watch, especially when she find it difficult to even stand without holding anything! Wonderful!

Yesterday we took her to the Tiemeyer park. She got really excited. She had lots of fun while swinging on the “Swing” and was laughing uncontrollably. The whole evening she was hyper and we don’t know whether it was because of the swing.

She is repeating the sounds. Which is interesting. But she is doing it only after the TV. Somebody in TV said “Hey, Dad” and she repeated “hey da”. Numerous tries to make her repeat after us failed. But whenever I make a belching sound, to irritate Daph, Chantel promptly repeats. She also seems to enjoy the belching sound. Doing the “laughing uncontrollably” thing.

Whenever someone says Hi in walmart, she repeats them.

August 13, 2006

Chantel’s Christening. Appa and amma came by Nellai express in the morning.
It started raining in the evening. We were planning to reach the church by 5:45. But could only reach at the last minute. Didn’t welcome or seat anyone at the church personally. Duane and Treena sang a duet during the ceremony. Duane, Treena and Varna were the God parents.
Lovely food and lots of photos after the ceremony. Sadly could not take good pictures of Chantel in white dress.

Monday August 14, 2006

Packed the whole day. Left around 7:30 pm to the airport. Lot of new security measures because of the London bound travel. No carry on baggage. Problems with the no of bags while checking in. Airline lady graciously helped. Left to Bombay – 1 hour late.

Tuesday August 15, 2006

Bombay flight left only at 1:30 pm instead of 5:45 am. Slept at the common lounge chairs. Got free breakfast. Didn’t take the Rs 3000 executive lounge! Chantel was doing fine and didn’t cry a lot. Flight didn’t get a Gate in Heathrow. 1 hour. Had to go through security again. Flight didn’t take off for another two hours. Reached Chicago at night 11:30. Cleared immigration and customs without problems. Connecting flight to STL missed. Long queue for getting new flight ticket assigned. 1 Hour.

Wednesday August 16, 2006

We were pushing two carts of luggage. Airline lady said that they would not take the luggage and we had to manually take it to Terminal 3 from 5. Ate more. Airport shuttle said that carts were not allowed. But we took the carts along anyway, otherwise we could not have managed. A nice Indian helped pushing the carts to the Ticket counter in Terminal 3. None of the ticket counters were open. We were thinking that we could just check in all the luggage and be free. They would open only at 4 am. Were just sitting around. Again Chantel didn’t give any trouble at all. Long queue for checking-in at 4. Checked around 5:30 for the 7 am flight. Lady didn’t like 8 luggages. Said she would allow only 5. We had to juggle liquids into the checked in suitcases.
After checking in the luggages we realized we still had lots of medicine in liquid form. We put them in a transparent polythene bag for security screening. Security padded searched even Chantel. Reached STL at 8 am. (12 hours late!!!) Jannet came to pick us up. One of the five checked in luggages didn’t arrive. Waited till 9. Then stood in a queue to report lost luggage. Reached home at 10 am! Jannet graciously brought us food.
Chantel was very happy in the house. Smiling and playing. Called home. Put athai on speakerphone. Chantel heard her voice and started crying and was gloomy for the rest of the day. We were too tired to do anything.

Thursday August 17, 2006

Still tired. Went to work. Chantel felt very lonely. Kept hanging onto daph and didn’t leave her alone. Took Chantel to Shop and save in the evening. The S&S lady gave a $10 discount! Welcome to America!!! Fell asleep at 7pm. Chantel gotup at 1 am and didn’t want to go to sleep!

Friday August 18, 2006

More jetlag and tiredness. Chantel was getting better. She started smiling and tries to understand some of our verbal cues. When we gesture that we are about to leave or getup, she flings herself at us, without wanting to let us go. Carried her for a walk in the evening. Chantel got up at 3 am again.

Saturday August 19, 2006

Tamil picnic. Could not get ready till 12. Chantel was happy to see the other kids and people. Started crying when Ratnaraj uncle lifted her up. It took a long time to bbq. Chicken thighs didn’t get cooked properly. But the food was good and lots. Left early to go to walmart. Bought some child safety stuff.
Chantel got up at 3 am again but was forced to sleep till 5 by daph!!!

Sunday August 20, 2006

Went to Grace church. We used the children play room. Chantel was crawling all over. Went to Duane’s house at night for dinner. Lovely dinner with chilli, corn bread, greens and ice cream! Chantel slept around 10. She woke up around 4 but then slept till 5:30.