16 November 2012

Almost there !! I have been wondering that I was going to miss seeing Riya take her first steps. As I have to start work in January, I was thinking if Riya does not make an attempt to walk until then, then I wouldn't be around her to see it. But I didn't miss it because I saw her do it yesterday. Riya took 3 steps on her own and was still balancing on her feet. It's the most wonderful sight. The joy and sense of achievement on her face was amazing. She knew she was doing something which she had never done before and beamed with happiness and excitement when she was trying to walk. I encouraged her and clapped my hands and she was all the more happy. She waved both her hands in the air like a bird which she often does when she is very happy or excited. When I told Vaishakh about he envied me and was upset that he couldn't see it. But she did it again and again today. She is taking a couple of steps on her own and trying to balance well. Nt long now when she will start walking :).

The whole of last week has been both good and bad. Good, because it was Diwali and it was Riya's first Diwali. I and Vaishakh had planned to make it nicer this year. No Aakash butti, no rangoli, no diyas at the doorstep, closed doors and windows, dull lights in everybody's house, no crackers. There is no fun in celebrating Indian festivals here. With no family and friends around it hardly feels like a festival. We miss India the most during these festivals. Specially Diwali. So we decided to try to do everything possible to make Riya's first Diwali special. We bought new clothes, diyas and made all the traditional sweets and savouries. We dressed up and did pooja as well. But the sad thing is Riya was not well :(. She had her first round of cold. Flowing nose, fever, diarrhea. Poor thing, it looked it was viral. But along with her I and Vaishakh fell sick too. It was the most horrible situation. All 3 of us falling sick at once. Who would take care of whom :) ? Wish we had some help here.She was very clingy and cranky when she was not well. I had never seen like that. Luckily it got better by the day. And only today Riya seems to be back to her original self. She laughed a lot and played with us. Hope it doesn't come back again soon.

Riya also had her first accident. I have been trying to protect her from such accidents all this time but I guess it had to happen sometime. There is a reason why they are called 'Accidents'. She fell and bumped her nose. There were a couple of drops of blood in her nose. When I saw that my knees went weak and I had no idea what to do. I suddenly felt like a terrible mother who was careless with her baby.We went to the doctor and it turned out to be all fine but those few moments were very very difficult as a mother.I have to probably get used to these things now.

She is now consciously calling me 'mamma' and Vaishakh 'daddy' (dhadhi, that's how she says it) . She says daddy more often than mamma though :P. She is trying to make different sounds too. A new skill she is now learning is that she is trying to create her own games. She has a few numbered buckets. She puts the smaller buckets into the bigger one's and tries to make noise with them. She puts small balls into the big bucket and shakes it to make a noise or tries to toss it. She holds 2 cuddly toys and bangs them together or hugs them and tries to play with them. It's amazing to watch her do these things and learn new things everyday.