Standing baby

Let me see how I can get closer to the TV

Raghav has been trying to stand holding on to things. He started with pushing up with his legs when I propped him on Nalin. The next day he held himself up holding a drawer handle in the bathroom while I was there, and tried to eat the handle. By the evening he was trying to get inside the dishwasher, holding on to its door which lay open.

When I put him in his cot that day as soon, as I turned away he was holding on to the railing and lifting himself up on his knees. I had to immediately take him out of the cot and lower it to its lowest level.

And today when I looked up from the computer, he was standing on both his feet holding on to the TV cabinet, looking into the TV. 

Cute as a button!

Thrilled that he's sitting

Raghav the traveller

Eating bread, yes papa!

Taking to Dadaji

On holidays

At our hotel in Nice, Raghav is frolicking at 10pm.

Raghav has become incredibly curious. He doesn't rest his curiosity a second when he's awake. That obviously interferes with his sleep when he's outside of his usual routine. When we went to London a couple of weeks ago, Raghav refused to sleep whenever we were outside. He was just busy taking everything in.

When I knew he was really really tired, but still refusing to sleep in his stroller, I had to carry him in the sling and block his view by putting my stole on his head and over his eyes, so that he wouldn't be able to see everything and then just get bored and sleep. It worked each time.

We were staying at Divya's house in West Hampstead, and I had carried a travelling cot for Raghav to sleep in. We put in on the floor next to our bed and I put him to sleep and went outside into the livingroom where we were having beers. Before I knew it, Raghav was in the corridor, gleefully creeping towards us. He was so full of energy at 11pm, it was as if his day had just begun.

I tried to put him down to sleep two-three more times after that, but once he knew how to climb out of the cot, there was no stopping him. We finally decided to eat our dinner quickly and take him to bed with us.

He also became so social during the trip to London, calling everyone out "ae" "ae" and then smiling at them. He was super friendly with Divya's son, Neev, holding out his hand to touch his face. One time when Raghav tried to do that, Neev cried out to his mum, "Baby attack!"

With Madelaine in London, that's Raghav sleeping under the stole.

He was also super social on our flight back to Geneva. He was standing in Nalin's lap and kept calling out to the ladies who sat behind us. They played peek-a-boo with him, and he smiled and laughed throughout. When the flight took off, the ladies went back to their music or their books, but Raghav still wanted to play. He still kept calling out to them and trying to catch their attention. Nalin had to tell him not to disturb the nice ladies.

He was super curious even during our trip to Nice and to the French Riviera. We had a cot for him in the hotel room, but he thought it was a play pen, he kept turning round and round in it exploring everything. We had to finally put him to sleep in the bed between us, literally forcing him down so that he wouldn't start crawling away.

Twice, in fact, we thought he was finally fast asleep when he woke up and just started crawling again, trying to eat the computer I was working on next to him or creeping up to feel the bed headboard above his head.

He slept for two straight days when we got back from our holidays.

Raghav goes "heeee!"

Two shiny teeth.

There is nothing Raghav likes more than crawling and getting anywhere he wants. When you hold him in your lap, he's always trying to get away. Gone are the days when he used to put his head on your chest and be content with that. Now it's impossible to get him to stay still even for a second.

His creeping has really improved. He's been so thrilled since that he can get anywhere he wants so quickly that he creeps about making gleeful noises. He comes creeping behind you as soon as you leave the room, and then more often than not gets distracted with wires or shoes on his way there. You can keep calling him from the other room, but he will not leave those shoes/wires alone.

We have also started putting him in the stroller, as opposed to the pram with the bassinet where he could only lie down. When he used to be the bassinet, after five minutes of being outside he would start calling out, or sometimes even get very upset and you had to pick him up and carry him in the sling. He loved to watch all the activities happening around him, and would get upset because he wasn't able to see anything if he was lying down in the bassinet.

Chilling out in his stroller

But now with the stroller he can see as much as want, and really really enjoys it. Earlier I had to give him a rattle or a teething ring to keep him occupied in the bassinet, but now he plays with his toy for just two minutes before he casts it aside and starts looking around at the world passing by, both his tiny feet up on the bar in front of him.

In fact, he's so quiet when he's in the stroller that we have to keep checking to see if he's asleep. But he's usually just transfixed, watching the world go by.

He used to gnaw at this small bookshelf in the living room, till I started feeling it's going to come crashing down on him one day. So I moved it behind some furniture. Sure enough, Raghav spotted it first thing the next day and tried to squeeze into the gap between the furniture to get to the bookshelf. He even got stuck between the two couches, but still kept going, determined not to call for help.

He got his Tetanus shot the other day, cried loudly but briefly, and then got distracted when the doctor and the nurse started clapping and cheering after it was done.

The doctor wanted to see how he crawls, and as soon as I turned him around on his stomach, he bolted towards the doctor's pad and paper. Even when I massage him on the changing table, as soon as I turn him around to massage his back, he's off, trying to jump off the table and into the tub of water.

We left him for a little while longer in his tub yesterday, and he tried to hold his feet through the water. He was a little confused at how his foot was appearing closer than it was, but he kept exploring. But as soon as I got his bath toys in, all the exploration went out the window and he picked up one toy and started chewing it immediately.

Watching a recipe show with Mamma

We were talking to Nitin the other day on Skype, and for the first time Raghav responded to him despite the laptop, which he's always mystified with (Why are Mamma-Daddy telling me to smile at the computer? And how is Dada-ji's voice coming out of this machine?). I had made him stand on his feet, holding him with both my legs. He was constantly trying to jump and is always thrilled when he's standing. Then Nitin whistled to him, and he went "heeeee!" Every time Nitin whistled, he jumped a little and went "heeeee!"

He also did this whole lap after the computer, chasing it while we kept moving it further and further away from him.

Creeping all round the house

That's his favourite place

Till the beginning of this week Raghav was just curious about Nalin's books lying under the TV cabinet. He would creep up to them and pull them down to the floor. But once they were down, he'd creep away, having spotted something else. But two days ago, he pulled one of the books down, flipped the pages and then tore off the first page! He was really going at it when I grabbed it away from him.

I have had to baby proof the house a little bit now.

He seems to like room corners and also loves to creep under the table. Sometimes he gets under a table and then lies there thumb in mouth, tired with the effort that has taken him to get under the table.

He's been chewing bookshelves and creeping behind tables to get at TV wires.

I took him with me to the kitchen today (because he can't be left alone in a room anymore) and he crept straight to the radiator and started chewing the radiator pipe. Thankfully the heating is off nowadays, and the radiator isn't hot.

Rolling around in the cot

I also leave him on our bedroom floor in front of the mirror when I'm getting dressed in the morning, and he gets very excited looking at himself in the mirror. But that excitement lasts a second, as he moves away quickly, trying to chew my boots that lie there or towards the bookshelf and starts pulling down papers from it.

He crept out of the living room the other day. He's never left the room on his own before. I guess he came looking for me. But then got distracted with the landline wires lying near the door. (I really must baby-proof soon.)

Whenever I lie him down in his cot, I go to check on him after five minutes and he's in the exact opposite direction, playing with his cot bumpers. They've been a waste. Most times when Nalin goes to get him in the morning, he's bumping his head on the cot wall, trying to go forward. Or he's playing peek-a-book with the cot bumpers. Or having a meaningful conversation with his blanket in hand.

I had washed his sleeping bag (which he always wears to sleep) one day, and while it was drying I was just putting a blanket on him while he slept in his cot. But every time he'd wake up, and I'd go to pick him up, the blanket would be off and he would be trying to literally climb out of the cot.

Raghav seems to have sworn never to sleep when he's out of the house. He screams and gets very high-pitched and hysterical, indicating strongly (and very loudly) that he's sleepy, but the moment I try to put him to sleep his cries and screams increase 10-fold.

We'd gone to Rebecca's place for drinks and dinner, and he refused to sleep even though his screeches told me he wanted to. But we went for dinner to an Indian restaurant the other day, and he was happy just sitting in my lap the entire time. Even on our walk back, we could tell he was really tired, but refused to lie in his pram and wanted to be carried back. Finally, he was so tired that he did ultimately nod off in the pram.

"I love it here!"

He also refuses to sleep on his back, like a regular person. Even though he knows how to turn and lie on his stomach (which is the most comfortable position for him to sleep), he doesn't know why he's getting irritated and keeps screeching and calling me so that I would put him on his stomach. The moment I do, it takes him two seconds to fall asleep.

Raghav gets so excited seeing his bowls and his food now. While I'm warming his food in the microwave and mixing his rice cereal and water in it, he's already banging his table and calling out. And when I do sit to feed him, his mouth is already open before I can scoop out a spoonful.

He always gets very upset when the food gets over, no matter how much he's eaten. I have come to a solution of handing him the spoon after his food is over, so that he thinks he's still eating.

He ate a biscuit all on his own yesterday, although I constantly worry that he's going to take a big bite and then not be able to swallow it.