rukavat ke liye khed

One of the reasons why my blogging has slowed down is that Kabir has now made it difficult to take good pictures or videos. The camera intrigues him so much that the moment I point it at him, he stops what he's been doing and goes straight for the camera. I'm going to have to be a little creative to take his pictures/videos from now on.

Oh what a night!

I've been having one difficult night after another for the past few weeks- and last night topped the charts. I am baffled by why Kabir keeps waking up at night. In the best case scenario he wakes up every 2 hours, and in the worst case scenario, he'll start whimpering within 10 mins after we think we've put him to sleep. Saurabh & I have been trying to do a root cause analysis and address every possible issue that we can think of. Is he hungry at night? Is it a wet diaper? Gas? Should we make him stay up till 10pm so he gets really tired and sleeps well? Or maybe put him to bed early so he isn't tired and sleeps well? Have him sleep with us on the bed so he's cozy? Or in a bassinet next to our bed so he's not disturbed by us? We have thought of all these possibilities and tried to address each one. In fact, last night we thought we had done everything right. He had a good meal for dinner. We gave him his homeopathy teething tablets (just in case this is teething related). Gave him some gripe water (in case he has gas). I even went to the store and bought a bag of disposable diapers to test if these diapers would make him feel drier and hence help him sleep better (that's right - I feel somewhat guilty about this. I did get the "chlorine-free" disposables - which still have other chemicals/gels so really not that great afterall). But the result was a slap on the face. Kabir kept us up more than he has in the past few days combined. And I am left clueless.
For the last 7 months, we've tried to take this in our stride and not get too worked up when this happens. We figured babies go through these phases, and everything will be fine when he reaches the next milestone (i.e. starts eating solids, gets through teething etc.). But this approach has left me tired and exhausted. I need a better solution to keep my sanity (and my daytime job!). For now, I'm going to call the Pediatrics' office to schedule an appointment. I'm ready to try anything and everything.

Little Maestro

in an energetic performance..

Update: Here's a link to the unedited version of the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQLcbyPZXPo

Flashback

I found this video that was taken about two weeks ago by Nanaji while he was visiting us. This was the time when Kabu was trying to attempt crawling. I think this video captures beautifully how he explored various ways of moving his legs and feet before finding the right balance.

10 Professions he'll be great at

1. Watchman
Ofcourse. It is amazing how alert and curious Kabir is. He constantly scans his surroundings and needs to check out the source of every sound and movement. I often sit on our front porch with him and his favorite pass time is to observe cars coming in and out of homes. He does not take his gaze away until the object is completely out of his sight. No matter whether he's eating, playing, sleeping or anything else, if there is a sound or change in co-ordinates of any object in his surrounding, there will be an equal and opposite reaction from him.
2. Night Watchman
But ofcourse. The later it is in the night, the more alert he is. Alas.
3. Singer
He is a very good singer already. My singing is not good enough for him, so he likes to sing himself to sleep.
4. Drummer/tabalchi
We've seen how he's picked some of that from his father. He even has the hair-do for the right look.
5. Excavator
He will leave no stone unturned. Literally. That's my experience from all the park visits.
6. Actor
He can cry one second and laugh the next. Can act like he is upset just to make you hold him!
7. Food critic
He has some talent for making faces (remember the spinach episode?). He'll certainly make one hard-to-please food critic.
8. Electrician
This is his most recent hobby. He's fascinated by electric cords and all electric/electronic equipment. He's even had experience trying to stick his finger into an electric outlet.
9. Paper Shredder
Ok I know thats not a real profession, but its something he has a ton of experience with. His repertoire includes not just paper, but also magazines, books and paper mail.
10. Baba Ramdev's substitute
No explanation required here I think :-)

sand and beach

This weekend, for the very first time since we had Kabir, we had the opportunity to spend a weekend away from home. Some close friends of ours had rented a cabin at Seaside and we decided to join them. Our friends were nice enough to take care of everything - so all we needed to take with us was the stuff we needed for Kabir (which was enough to fill the car).
Kabir actually enjoyed his time away instead of being bothered by a new place and I got a much needed break from my routine. The highlight of the trip was the time we spent on the beach. The weather was perfect - which made all the difference. Here are some pictures of Kabir enjoying his first experience on a beach.

He started with a power nap (all wrapped up next to Nani)

Then he couldn't take his eyes off the sand

This is what sand feels like

Playtime

Taking some steps with mommyA family pic

Thanks again to our great friends who made this trip possible. Lets hope there will be many more to come!

crawl baby crawl

Yesterday, after Kabir got up from his afternoon nap, he knew how to crawl. It was almost "digital" in nature. He couldn't crawl more than a step or two upto yesterday morning and after his nap, out of the blue, he knew exactly what to do.

Here he goes...as if he's been doing this all along:

now all he needs to do is to work on his landing :-)