Exploring and getting stronger

What's more tastier than my own hand?

Raghav has finally discovered his hands and now they're always in his mouth. Sometimes he holds them together like he's going to recite poetry at an elocution. When he's not doing that he's constantly munching on them, sometimes with both in his mouth, pulling his jaws apart like Joker. Sometimes he's got two fingers in, like he's trying to whistle. He brings has hands together and sometimes tries to take them above his head.

When he notices someone else's hand he looks at it real close, and then tries to grab it and put their finger in his mouth. His motor skills are still not perfect, but he does manage to hold your finger and guide it towards his mouth; and doesn't like it if you cheat him and put his finger in his mouth instead.

He's started wanting to grab everything that comes close to him; whether it's the balloons hanging from his door, or the paintings in our hallway, when he goes close to these things while he's in our lap he bends to touch them with his hand and feel them. (He's probably wondering how he can put these things in his mouth, too.)

When we put our face close to him, he grabs it too. With Nalin he grabs his nose and tries to twist it, or tries to hang on from his mouth. With me he grabs my hair or my glasses. Once when I was kissing him on his cheeks, he tried to eat my chin.

His latest form of communication: "razzing", when he blows out spit and makes little bubbles with it. He has a razzing competition with Nalin on who can do it better -- Raghav wins hands down. Sometimes I hear him razzing away from his cot when he's just woken up.

He rubs his feet vigorously, making it very difficult to make him wear pajamas; he also manages to rub his socks away, even if they're the long ones that come up to his knees.

He has immense strength now; he's constantly creeping up and down. Earlier he had been mostly creeping down; we would put him at the top of his cot and by the time he fell asleep he would be curled up at the bottom corner of it.

Loves his Ikea arch

I found him hanging off his cot the other day. He'd been sleeping when I heard him call out to me. It's usually his way of telling me that he's up now and that he wants to be picked up or fed etc. I was still in the loo when I heard him call me. By the time I reached his cot he was hanging from it, holding the sheet with his hands, half his body up on the cot, and half hanging from it.

We put up the fourth side in his cot that very night.

He also keeps rotating, usually in a clockwise circle, when he's lying down. So, soon enough his head was hitting the bars on his cot. We had to put the cot bumpers to prevent that.

He has now started creeping up, too. When I put him on the fur rug with the Ikea arch over him to play with, soon enough he's crept up and off the fur rug and onto the carpet. He also tries to push up with his foot, one bum at a time. He almost turns, and has turned a couple of times randomly, but doesn't do it regularly yet.

Mash for lunch

Raghav had his first solid meal today - mashed potatoes.

When Nalin sat him down on the couch while holding him and put the bib around him, Raghav was quite confused about what was happening. Plus, his grandparents and Nitin were on a video call, and were talking through the laptop (which already confuses him quite a bit and he always looks at it curiously, not sure why he's been asked to smile at the computer or talk to it).

I gave him a little bit through a spoon, and as is now his habit with anything he sees coming towards him, he extended his hand to hold the spoon. He wanted to probably put it in his mouth and chew it a little. Which is exactly what he did throughout the meal.

I thought he won't have more than half a spoon or so of the potatoes, but either he liked his meal or just wanted to keep chewing on the spoon, he had more than a few spoons of the mash.

We knew he was ready for solids as he'd been paying much more attention to what we're eating or drinking. He's been looking curiously at our plates and then at our faces.

Holidaying in Gran Canaria

First time on a train -- to Zurich airport

Raghav had an exciting first holiday in Gran Canaria. We took the train to Zurich from where we were to catch a flight the next morning to Las Palmas. Raghav was very curious during the train ride -- looking at his reflection in the train window, looking outside at the lights or, finally, feeding and sleeping.

We had dinner at the Radisson's resto-pub, and Raghav was fascinated by the big orange chandeliers. He slept in his pram soon after, and slept through the night at the airport, even though we had an unusually tough night trying to find a place to sleep at the airport.

During check-in he was up again when we put him in the sling and checked in his pram; slightly irritated at being woken up for nothing at 5am, but quickly became alert and curious as to where he was.

He was perfect during the flight, feeding and sleeping and playing with Daddy a little bit before sleeping and waking up to feed again.

Throughout our stay in Gran Canaria, Raghav was perfectly curious and alert, sleeping whenever he felt tired and not once being difficult. He could sleep in his pram at the very noisy hotel dining room, of course after a little bit of cursory crying that he still does to lodge his protest about not wanting to sleep.

The sun's in my eye!

Raghav hates the sun, but is very cute while hating it. As soon as the sun comes in his eyes, no matter whether he's in the car seat, or his pram, or even in our laps, he wriggles and winces and frowns and moves his whole body in order to get away from the sun. A tunnel would come and his eyes would be wide open in "night vision" as we call it, and then as soon as the tunnel would end he would be wriggling his body again trying to get away from the sun.

We had him wear only onesies during the holiday because it was pretty warm there, and he looked awfully cute and chubby. We don't often get to see him like this in Geneva where he mostly wears long-sleeved onesie as well as pants, which hide his chubbiness.

But one day we started calling him Chubrinder Singh Plumpy, nicknamed Chubby, and both Nalin and I bent over backwards laughing at his new nickname, while Raghav looked at us suspiciously and probably thought his parents had gone crazy.

Holding on for dear life. God knows what they're up to now.

We would give him a bath in the bathroom sink at the hotel during our stay. It was quite small for him. Throughout his bath he would have a very suspicious and wary look on his face, and he probably wondered what his parents were up to now, dipping him in this godawful washbasin. For safety from his side he would hold on to the ledge where all the toiletries were kept. "Let me arrange for my own protection; these people can't be trusted."

Every morning instead of letting him sleep after his morning feedings, we'd pack him up and spend our day outdoors on a beach or shopping. He must have thought we'd gone crazy driving him around like that everyday: "And where's my damn bed?"

He did sleep a lot less because as soon as he was outside, in the sling or in the pram, he was looking around curiously, forgetting about eating or sleeping, till we forced him to take a break.

We'd taken all these books and toys for him to feel a sense of familiarity while on the holiday, but he didn't need anything or anyone more than his Mamma and Daddy.