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.