Seven months!

Shreya turned seven months today, and I realized that I haven't put anything here in over three weeks! Somehow or other, I got rather behind on posting to the blog. I must have too much to do or something...

Several things have happened since May 3rd, and I probably won't be able to catch up to the present tonight, but here's a start.

We took Shreya for two more swimming lessons. She tolerated them with a long-suffering air. She appeared to have a better time that at the first one, in the sense that she did not spend the entire 25 minutes screaming. Perhaps the presence of her floating toys in the pool helped to distract her from the ordeal. But it would be too much to say that she actually enjoyed herself.


After the three lessons that we had signed up for, we debated whether to go back, since it had not been such a roaring success. In the end we decided to take her to the pool at the university, and play with her in the water ourselves (no more "lessons"). This turned out to be a great idea. The "therapy pool" at UNM has a few advantages over the pool at the JCC that we had been to before. (For starters, it is free!) The water is kept fairly warm, perhaps even warmer than the water Shreya gets in her bath. Also the pool is indoors, so Shreya didn't get into a bad mood while she was being slathered with sunscreen, nor did she have to squint in the bright light while we were holding her in the water. She loved it! We stayed in the water nearly 40 minutes, and she didn't cry at all, not even when we dunked her. She smiled and cooed and kicked and splashed. We had a great time.

Shreya has also tried a few more foods in the last few weeks. Her latest conquests have been pureed roasted red bell pepper and, believe it or not, pureed spinach. She loved both, and ate them with great gusto. Here she is, eating red bell pepper puree. She also discovered the concept of finger paints.


By the time we fed her the spinach, she had developed the technique to a fine art!

Her repertoire of foods that she can eat now consists of avocado, banana, pear, yam, acorn squash, four kinds of dal (toor, masoor, moong, chana), rice, peas, roasted red bell peppers and spinach, the last two in pureed form. She also tried steamed cauliflower but that didn't go down so well.

I realize that Tom never did put up videos of Shreya eating her first foods. He has been properly chastised. Hopefully they will appear at some point.

Well, it is getting late and I need to catch a few winks before Shreya wakes me up (a few times) in the middle of the night to be fed. So more later...

Waterbaby!... not.

Today we took Shreya for a Parent & Tot swimming lesson. She has always loved splashing about in her kiddie bathtub so we thought that she would certainly have a ball in the pool.

We awoke bright and early (for Tom) and headed out to the community center. Once we were there, Tom and Shreya donned their swimming garb. There's a stated rule that only one parent gets in the pool with the tot, which might have led to conflict between Tom and me, but I had only been able to locate a very old swimsuit of mine, which looked a bit like it might fall apart any minute, so, making a virtue of necessity, I had decided to stay out of the water and take pictures and video. I still brought my old suit along, which turned out to be as well!


It was a brilliantly sunny day with clear blue skies above; just the sort of day that causes fair-skinned types to get sunburned. And the pool where the lesson was to be was an outdoor one. We decided to slather some sunscreen on Shreya, but the idea and its execution left her unimpressed and a little fussy. So when the class began and she and Tom entered the pool, I don't know whether the water was too cold for her, or she was frightened by the lack of plastic seat and backrest as in her tub, or she was alarmed by getting in the water with clothes and a diaper on, or what, but she let us know the power of her lungs, and would simply not be consoled. Occasionally she stopped her full-throated screaming (for instance, when the instructor came to take a turn with her).

Presumably all that screaming is tiring work, but she remained unhappy, and resumed screaming when she had regained her energy. Various other babies that we know were also there with their parents, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves, but this did not deter Shreya. Finally, on the grounds that she might feel more secure with Mom, I put on my decrepit swimsuit and got into the pool with them. And it is true, she was marginally calmer when I got in with her and held her very close, but she still did not enjoy herself.


Oh well, hopefully she will have a better time next week... Yes, we definitely intend to bring her again!

Home after a grueling ordeal.

Recognition

For a couple of months now, we have been convinced that Shreya recognizes us. She has been displaying acute "stranger anxiety" where she is perfectly happy to smile at and play with other people as long as one of Mommy or Daddy is holding her, but goes into complete meltdown mode should we try to hand her to them. There are one or two of our friends that she has seen often enough that she recognizes them and lets them hold her, at least for a minute or two, but by and large, she is eager to stay in a parent's arms, or have a parent in her range of vision if she is sitting on the floor. I read somewhere that they think you are giving them away, that they don't understand that you will come back. So sad! I would cry too if I thought I was being given away!


This picture is from day Shreya first showed signs of not wanting to be held by people other than Mom and Dad. She burst into tears immediately after it was taken.

I had always assumed that she recognizes us by our appearances, and so I was a little worried this morning, when Tom was proposing to alter his.

This is me with my Daddy

but who is this guy?


But, actually, she didn't even bat an eyelid. She knew right away that it was Daddy, if indeed she even noticed any difference (or perhaps she is, as of today, perfectly happy to go off with any stranger that comes along. Somehow I don't think so...)


So it seems that she has some other way of recognizing us. Then again, I wonder how she would feel about this guy. I know how I feel.... "Aargh, no! Wake me up, I'm having a nightmare!"