Learning to Self Feed

Its been almost 4 months now that we started with solid foods for Anvesha. So far she had been eating pureed fruits and veggies.Over the time I gradually thickened up the consistency of her baby food giving it more of a chunkier look.

Usually the babies let us know they are ready for finger foods by grabbing the spoon they are being fed with and/ or snatching food from your plate. These days Anvesha does exactly that. So, we are slowly introducing her to finger foods. Any food that a baby can pick up qualifies for a finger food. Not only is it fun for babies to eat finger food, it is also a first step towards independence. I know it does get messy and my carpet is full of stains of her baby food, but I let her enjoy this "hands on experience" :)

At first Anvesha would simply play around with the food, hold it with both her hands and try to bring it to her mouth.Slowly she is getting to a point what is called as the pincer grasp ( using thumb and forefinger to pick up food).  As for me, Iam learning to get more patient by letting her get messy with the food. But I can't bring  myself to let her have the spoon and waste the food that I have taken so much effort to prepare :( All I can do is LAUGH as she looks pretty cute with all that baby food attached to her chin and it makes for great blackmail photos when she turns 16 !!!! 

So let me get public with these great photo memories of her meal time fun :)

Happy Children's Day !!!!

January 28th 2013, 10.19 PM- a life defining moment.  Can't believe it's been close to 10 months now. It seems like it was just yesterday when I took Anvesha in my arms for the first time. As she cuddled close to me, I thought to myself, it was worth the pain and worth the wait !!!

 There have been countless sweet memories that I would hold onto for life..... dancing around the house with Anvesha in my arms-I would call it  a rather innovative way to rock her to sleep :)..... the time when she passed that first social smile, my heart still melts to see that smile..... getting her ears pierced when she was still 4 month's old.... running around the house, coming up with funny ideas to make meal time fun for her.... play times at Wiggle Works, Kids' Cove and Gymboree play n learn....making silly poems and singing them out loud ( "Mamma mai to kitna pyara baby hu, kiska pyara baby hu... apka pyara baby hu".... I know this doesn't make sense at all :P ) or  the moment when she would crawl next to me to get my attention while I was busy in the kitchen.  I still dread the regular vaccinations- I rather have me go through all the pain than have her suffer.

Iam sorry for all the times Aanu when you wanted me to hold you, or play with you but I rather have few tasks done before I could give you the undivided attention. I know you are too small to understand all this right now, but over the years when you grow up and if you ever read my blog, I want to let you know that I'll always be right here for you. You are the most adorable daughter in the whole world and I can never thank God enough for this wonderful and cute little bundle of joy that He has given me.

A Very Happy Children's Day to you Aanu... This one's for you.

Happy Diwali

Diwali- the most awaited festival among the Hindus; a time for sweets, crackers, lights, good food and family reunion. This is one day  I feel really lonely in United States and miss home a lot. Three years in a row and we haven't celebrated Diwali with family. Well, this year we had all the plans but as luck ( or rather bad luck) would have it , Anvesha's PIO card did not reach on time. Funny, she needs an official document to travel to her home country.  Ya ya, I know she is American by birth, perhaps that's why it is called a PIO ( Person of Indian Origin).

Not being with family for Diwali was indeed a heart breaker, but we have to deal with what life gives us. We tried our best to get a feel of Diwali here. Here is my Diwali checklist :

• Diyas
• Mithai
• Crackers
• Candles
• Lights

Right on the day of Diwali, Anvesha stood up on her own without support !!!!!! Well, it was just for half a minute though.I guess this was her Diwali gift to us :) Here's her pic standing unassisted

I was curious to see her reaction to the crackers and to my surprise, she wasn't scared at all, in fact she wanted to catch the sparks of the fooljhadi and got really upset when we tried to stop her :) Here's our family pic

I know this wasn't the best Diwali, but this was certainly the best we could do to make it a little India :) 

Wishing everybody a very happy and a joyous Diwali!!!