Conversations

Raghav can keep his neck straight for a good time now. When in our lap he arches his back as far as it can go and tries to see everything that he possibly can. He doesn't seem aware that his head cannot turn 360 degrees.

He has started having a full conversation with Nalin and me. He seems to call us, sometimes angrily, when he can't see us or when he sees that we're not paying attention. And when he does catch our attention he smiles his big toothless smile.

He has a full conversation with us, his vocabulary ranging from "aah" and "ooh" to "aago". He likes it when we repeat what he's saying and it seems to encourage him to talk more. He also raises his eyebrows and makes full eye contact when he's talking. He also loves to talk to the toys hung in his cot, as if he's updating them on how his day has gone, and we feel he's moving about his hands and feet in such a way that he wants to just jump and grab the toys.

He also seems to want to go somewhere when he's in our lap. He bends his knees and pushes his body up as if he wants to spring out of our laps.

Whenever we put him on his changing table he gets curiously excited. I don't know if it's the big blue Ikea bag or his bright yellow pack of diapers that get him excited, but he looks in that general direction and laughs and laughs and does his "ooh" and "aah" and "ooah".

He has started really enjoying his massage and bath ritual. He likes it best when his back is being massaged, and tries to lift his head as he lies on his stomach. He likes his bath too, only expressing his displeasure when the water is too hot for him.

He also lets both Nalin and I do anything to him - from feeding him the ajwain ka paani that he dislikes to rubbing aata on his forehead or cleaning his nose with a vacuum pump; he is only displeased when it goes on for far too long than he can tolerate. "Well, I let you do this but don't take me for granted!"

He has established an eat-play-cry-sleep pattern. When he has finished feeding, he goes into a state of satisfied drunkenness, only to arrive at a state of active wakefulness after 5-10 minutes when he does most of the calling and laughing. This can last up to 40-45 minutes. After this he slowly starts getting irritated, and beginning to cry a little as he is tired by now but doesn't want to sleep. He also doesn't know how to sleep on his own yet. he then has to be held and rocked; sometimes he likes to be walked, but all times he has to be literally forced to sleep as he struggles to play just a little longer.

Several times he goes quiet in Nalin's lap after much protest but then still doesn't sleep and keeps having a "blink and you lose" contest with him.

This playing after feeding and refusing to sleep also happens after his 1am feed, but then when I sometimes manage to put him to sleep he only wakes up in the morning around 6am.

He doesn't like the tram very much and cries because it's too hot and stuffy and sometimes too crowded. But he likes going for walks in his pram. When we put a cloth in front to shield him from the wind he doesn't like it and keeps calling from inside till we have to remove the cover.