Summer fun

Memorial Day Picnic

Mmmmmmm... cupcake.... Can I have some , Mommy?     (Mommy refused.)

Hello, Archer

Wheeee!

But he's younger than me!

Concert in the Park

Dancing baby

Father's Day at the Zoo

Love to be carried by Daddy!



Everybody is at the zoo with their kid!

At Sandia Peak

The top of the world's longest aerial tramway, which we took.


At the top, with Uncle Mike and Grandma.


High-altitude hiking is thirsty work!


Ready to head back.


We stayed past sunset.


City lights from the upper tram terminal.

New Wave Baby

While in Atlanta, Shreya learned a new trick. She has subsequently steadfastly refused to demonstrate it, giving anyone who tries to induce her to perform it a quizzical look and a smile. Nevertheless, here is cinematic proof!



Starring: Pallavi, Shreya and myself (non-speaking role).
Special guest: Tom's knee and Tom's voice.

Atlanta

We just got back from Shreya's second major trip: ten days in Atlanta. This was an exciting adventure for us, as it was the first time Shreya traveled on an airplane. The journeys went pretty well. On the outbound flights, which were in the morning and afternoon, Shreya was very happy, spending the first flight bouncing on Mommy's lap and the second one sleeping. The return flights were in the late evening, and here she was a bit tired and cranky, but after a little bit of hollering, again spent most of the time sleeping. On the whole, I think traveling with her was reasonably successful.

The trip to Atlanta was dual purpose. Tom spent the weekdays attending a workshop at Georgia Tech. Of course Shreya and I need not have accompanied him to Atlanta for that, but my sister is in Atlanta for the year, and since we had not seen her since Thanksgiving (except over skype) we decided to go as well. We had a lovely time. When both Tom and Pallavi were working, Shreya and I lazed around either at home or in the park or the bookstore. Other times, we lazed around with Pallavi and Shreya demonstrated her bouncing, babbling and smiling abilities. Even on the weekend, when Tom was free, we did not go and see Atlanta sights, preferring to walk in the park or take Shreya to the pool. The only touristy thing that we did was to visit the Civil War museum, to see the cyclorama. That was quite spectacular, though I wish that in addition to the guided tour with commentary, the museum had allowed us to walk around and examine the gigantic painting at our own speed. (Shreya was a little disruptive, but once we were in the guided tour, there was no easy way to leave with her. If we had realized beforehand that it would be like that, we might not have gone, but under the circumstances, we stayed put and watched the show. If the other museum-goers were annoyed with us, they were at least too polite to say so.)

In the mad hassle that was packing for this trip, we managed to remember to take the car seat (not hard since Shreya was sitting in it), the locking clip for the car seat (very forgettable, but we didn't!) diapers and wipes, and toys. Alas, what we did forget was the camera! And then it turned out that Pallavi didn't have one in Atlanta and the one belonging to Tom's collaborator, which we might have tried to borrow, was broken. Finally, Pallavi borrowed one from someone for a couple of days, and between that and the camera on the laptop, we did get some pictures. But we missed recording for posterity the bouncing baby on the plane (Are you allowed to take pictures on airplanes?)


Here Mommy and Shreya are startled out of a nap by a big laptop looming over them.


Shreya meets her aunt. At first she was cautiously friendly

but Pallavi is very good with kids and soon won her over!



Sitting on Mom's shoulder is fun!

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!"

Halfway around the sun

This is posted by Tom & Varsha.

Today is Shreya's half-year birthday, which she celebrated by a visit to the pediatrician and some vaccinations. Ouch! She spent the rest of the day being very good.

We dug out some old pictures in honor of the occasion.

When I was Zero!


They used to call me "Spike". Look at all my hair! I think they miss it...


"...and that completes the proof!"


Finally, here is a little poem by A. A. Milne.

When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two,
I was nearly new.

When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more.


When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.