Six quiet dogs

Swimming still his favourite activity

Whenever Raghav is upset and crying, he goes on this random call of pointing to the computer and saying "didi, dadaji, chacha, niti, nani"... the list is quite endless. It's like he will only be calmed when he speaks to any of these people whom he will complain to about us, and who will entertain him in return. He doesn't even speak so often to "didi" (Tanvi), yet she's one of the prominent influences on him when he's upset. I think he truly had a great time with her when we were in Delhi.

He sits perfectly "gentleman"-like on the dining table now, and behaves very well when we go out for meals. Most of the time some food item catches his fancy and he busies himself with it throughout the time that we eat. He can also entertain himself for quite a while with dumping, scooping and counting (in his own language) sugar sachets (at least till the time he starts throwing them about, and then that becomes the game).


Since he joined school he has had a renewed interest in his toys. I had kept them all away because he had stopped playing with them, and would only like to climb tables and sofas and chairs and do monkeyness; but now again he can sit and entertain himself for several minutes, playing with Lego blocks and reading his books.

Eats like a gentleman

He identifies many things in his books; like in this doggie book that he has, every time I say "One dog", he goes "woof!" because that's how he's heard me read it for months to him. Also, at "six quiet dogs" he puts his finger on his lips and says "shhhh" (although currently that finger rests more at the side of his mouth and near his nose.)

New love

He also brings his tiger book (Tiger Who Came To Tea) saying "teya", and the Goldilocks book saying "fin" because he knows that Goldilocks eats all the porridge and that it's finished. He brings the Cave Baby book saying "baby", and finds it hilarious when I read to him the lines "a cracken in the bracken, a hyena's laughing there" in my loudest and most threatening voice.

He likes his Teacher Nana at playschool, and gets worried when he doesn't find her when I leave him. He also goes and puts his head on her knee while sucking his thumb -- which is his way of showing that he likes that person.

He now rushes into his class when I go to drop him, and doesn't look back as I leave. I go in to say bye, and sometimes get a kiss from him when I ask. (He's adjusted well to playschool.)

I took him to Ikea the other day (just on my own) and he started a chant of "icy" as soon as we got out of the cashier section. I had bought him a hotdog, which he did not touch. All the while that I ate my hotdog and cold drink, he continued his chant of "icy", and then uttered squeals of excitement when he finally saw me getting the ice-cream. He holds it and eats it on his own and screams every time we try to take a lick.

Learning new things at school

He likes to sit in the sink and take a little bath, which he calls "nahne". I think in his head when he sits in the tub and has a bath it's called "bath", and when he sits in the sink and has a bath it's called "nahne". So every time I tell him let's go nahne, he's expecting to be put in the sink, and gets very upset if I start filling the tub. (I think this has happened because I used to always say "bath" for bath, and only recently did I start saying it in Hindi for him.)

He has started saying a lot many words, like "wash" for when his hands are dirty and he wants them to be washed. He knows quite a few body parts -- eyes, ears, nose, teeth, cheeks (although he doesn't point this one out every time), feet, hands (these he learnt at school) and belly button. He also makes several animal noises -- bow wow for dog, meaow for cat, raises his hand like an elephant's trunk for elephant, hoo hoo for owl, sometimes mooo for cow.

In Singapore

Helping out with the shopping

Ever since Raghav stepped into our new apartment in Singapore he has been dancing and running around, swinging his arms and generally being excited at all the space available for him to do all these things.

He likes Singapore, I think. Because it's warm and there are lots of people around, no matter what time of day.

He starts getting excited even as we're nearing the playground, and then runs towards it. The first time, he wasn't sure how to climb the steps leading to the slide, and we weren't sure either, and Nalin had to climb up to make sure he was safe; but now he not only climbs on his own, he even slides down on his own and I don't have to stand below to catch him. He turns around on his stomach and then slides down so that he's safer. (I think he's learned it from his school.)

In the first month at school, he used to panic every time we handed him over to the teacher. But then I realised he just didn't like being pick up by someone else while I was around. So I told his teacher to just distract him with a toy as I slipped away. I used to always hate slipping away and not saying bye to him when I left. But now the past couple of times I have said bye to him, and he's said bye back and then continued to play. A couple of times, he's also refused to go home after school, and I've had to give him all sorts of incentives like "where are your shoes", or "let's get the bus".

When we reach his school, he starts saying "shoes shoes", and I take off his shoes after which he immediately grabs them and puts them in the shoe rack. Going back home also he gets his shoes from the rack and hands them over to me. Sometimes when he can't find them, and I ask him where they are, he makes a hand gesture (similar to the one I make) of "I don't know".

Such fun in India!

He has mostly been saying words in Hindi, because he interacts most with me and I talk to him in Hindi. So he says "du-du" for milk and "kha" for khana (food) and "nahne" for nahana (bath), and "pa" for paani and "ba" for bahar (outside). But he's also says both the English and Hindi for many words, like he says "woter" and "ba" for bath. Other than these words, at 20 months, he's been saying sit, car, t (tv), peese (please), so (sorry), patatha (paratha), woofle (waffle), bread, tho (throw), juice, ce-ka (cake), bun, book, baby, more, bottle, rice, nice, potty, susu, monty (monkey), cow, dog, fish, ti (tiger), fla (flower) etc.

At least once a day he demands to talk to didi or dedeji or dedi, or chacha or nani. The demand usually comes when he's crying about something else. When he does talk to them, sometimes he goes crazy with excitement and starts dancing and jumping and showing them the various things that he can do (like attempting a front roll), other times he just sits infront of the computer and "talks", sometimes punctuating every few words with a point towards something else.

He now copies us in everything we do. He sees you doing something once, and that's enough for it to be lodged in his memory. He sees me putting serum in my hair, and now every cream that he gets his hands on first gets rubbed into his palms and then put into his hair (just like mamma does).

He sometimes calls Nalin "nanni", after I've called him Nalin.

Morning exercise

He does know that I'm mamma, but he's often calling many people mamma. Basically, every one in the other side of the door becomes mamma. But when I bring him back from school, he passes the swimming pool and points and says "shim" and "daddy", and I tell him daddy will take him swimming later. Once home, I help him rings the doorbell and he bangs on the door saying "daddy". When we get inside, he looks around for daddy for at least a minute every day, before then asking me to take off his shoes. (He doesn't wear shoes at home, and hates wearing slippers because of the strap that comes between his big toe and the second toe.)

But he understands almost everything now. You tell him to go and wipe himself with his towel after his bath, and he does. He comes and asks you for more, and you tell him it's there on the table, and he goes and sees if it's there on the table. You tell him to go and give something to daddy and he does. You tell him let's get you to wear a diaper and he goes and gets the diaper for you. (It's another story that he refuses to lie down for diaper changes, and wants to wear his clothes himself.)

Tantrums come easily now, as when he wants something he really wants it right now. I have learned to either ignore them, in which case sometimes he gets over them pretty quickly when he realises no one's paying attention, or I try to prevent them in the first place by offering him a distraction before something turns into a tantrum. Usually singing to him puts him in a cheery mood, and he loves the songs "If you're happy and you know it" and "Incy-wincy spider". This usually works after he's had a long time in the water (either swimming or in one of those waterplay areas at the mall) and I want him out, but I know he's going to throw a giant big tantrum and lie down on the floor and kick his legs (something that he's picked up since 2-3 months), I usually start singing to him and he forgets that he's upset and starts doing the hand actions that I've taught him for "Incy-wincy spider".

Trying out Daddy's sunnies

But usually I've noticed the tantrum comes when he's tired or sleepy or has just woken up in the afternoon.
He knows the difference between when he's being taken to school, and when we're just going out, because he wants to be picked up every time I take him to school, whereas when he's just going out with Nalin and me, he simply bounds towards the lift and says "two" (because we live on the second floor and he always thinks that's where the lift is going).

His eating skills have greatly improved since school, and he's often able to feed himself with a spoon without spilling anything. Of course, yogurt still remains an item he loves to mess around with. He tries to "drink" it from the bowl (again, something he's probably seen others do with their soups in school) but it all ends up on his forehead and on his chin. It ends with him mushing his hands together to see how the yogurt feels.

Talking of spills, he's very particular about him and his surroundings being cleaned as soon as something gets spilled. Now he says oh-o every time he spills something, and wants me to clean it immediately before he eats/drinks any further. He also says oh-o when he presses a wrong button on the remote, or when something strange pops up on the phone.

Busy little Raghav

Didn't like the backpack at first, but when he
discovered he got a bird's eye view of things
and that he could jump in it and pull daddy's
hair from behind, he loved it! 

Raghav is growing so fast, I already miss when he was lighter, quieter, and slept anywhere we put him. Travelling with him has gone from a very bad idea to something much much more manageable. Both on our way to Egypt this December, and from, we found that if Raghav gets a seat all to himself, he's more likely to entertain himself with discovering, for instance, the tray table or the window shade, the seat belt or the various buttons on his arm rest. He hates sitting on your lap all the time, squeezed in between mum and the front seat, and being forced to stay still. Give him some freedom and he mostly cooperates with you, as long as you don't cramp his style.

It's the same at home while changing him. The more you try to hold him still to change his diaper, or make him wear his pants, the more he wriggles and screams to get out of your grip. So now I just let him stand on the bed, looking out of the window or give him a toy to play with, while I even attempt cleaning his poop like that.

The toughest thing to feed him now at 16.5 months is yogurt. He tries to eat everything himself, and even manages to do it most of the time; with his hand or even somewhat with a spoon, but when it comes to yogurt, you don't want to put a bowl full of it in front of him because most of it will just end up on his clothes (especially since he hates bibs). It's even possible to do it at home, and I do encourage him to eat by himself at home, mess or no mess, but when we're travelling or at someone else's house, you don't exactly want to change his full set of clothes every time he eats.

I now leave his food on a plate in front of him, and he usually eats by himself, with just a few extra spoonfuls from me if it's something like rice or cous-cous that he can't hold in his hands too well. He loves spaghetti, and the way it feels in his hands, and always tries to put big handfuls in his mouth at once.

His defiance for us is increasing every day, as his eye catches the attention of the very same thing that he's been told not to touch every single day. He then directly looks at you while touching it (like the computer) to challenge you as well as to make sure that you're seeing that he will do what he wants to do; let's see if you can stop me. There's nothing really now that you can make him do if he doesn't want to do it. Most of the time his first instinct is to shake his head to a "no" if you ask him anything, even if you're asking him to eat his favourite food.

Playing peek-a-boo

We try to put him on his baby pot every morning, and he used to hate sitting on it at first, so much so that when I would go to fetch him from his cot in the morning, he would shake his head and refuse to come out because he knew I'd put him again on the cold plastic of the pot, wanting him to do something he didn't understand yet. He's more amiable to it now though, and sits on it quite easily, but wants to be picked up soon. We tried to keep him entertained while sitting on the pot at first, but it ended up entertaining him too much to do anything. Then I tried giving him his toothbrush (which he loves) while he sat there, but soon he was rubbing his bum with it and that had to be thrown away. All toys, food and drinks are not allowed either because they just end up inside the pot, usually after he has peed in it. So a few minutes of sitting on it and looking at himself in the mirror next to him and generally keeping himself entertained, and he's asking to be picked up.

He understands more than he lets on, but, almost like a teenager, will not do what you ask him to do. You can go on and on asking him where his nose is, and he will go on and on pointing to his ear and saying "ear", but then one day he will slip and absently point to his nose when you ask him that question again.

Nalin was making breakfast once and he wanted to be in Nalin's arms only, and shook his head vigorously to a no when I tried to take him. But when I said to Nalin, let's just put him in his chair, he immediately bent towards the chair and indicated that he'd be willing to do that.

His favourite game right now is to jump about. He sits on his car, and jumps on it, hoping that it will spring up and down. He sits on our tummies and face, and lifts his hands up and jumps, laughing with delight.

Shuffles about on his knees. Thinks it's his
version of walking, since he's not crawling
around like babies

He now remembers things from weeks and months ago, and tries to, for instance, play a game like we showed him to then. He used to love it when I showed him soap bubbles, but as he started growing he wanted to do the bubbles himself. He wanted to hold the bottle, and eat the stick (because he can't figure out that I don't actually eat it, I just blow into it). So I finally decided to keep it away from him because every time I took it out, the play would end in tears. After months of it being out of his sight, he spotted it once and pointed to it and demanded that I blow them again. He was the same with them this time too -- delighted at first, but then wanting to hold the bottle and pour all the soap water into the bed.

He also loves only a few particular books that we've been reading to him since he was born. He is obsessed with the book Pants, and no matter where you keep/hide it, he will find it and bring it to you and ask you to read it. He comes and sits on my lap on his own while I prepare to read him the book, because that's where I always sit him down. He also likes this book that shows other kids and names their body parts and what they're doing, like eating and drinking and sleeping. I think he likes looking at other kids. He also like this book called This Little Baby, and when it says in the first page "this little baby says hello", he always waves his hand and says "hi". (He says emphatic "bye" now, in the tram every time someone gets off, or at home when he sees daddy get dressed. He understands the difference though between getting dressed for going out, and undressing for having a bath, and says the appropriate "bye" and "ba" at the appropriate time. He also says "ba" for ball and lies down to look under the sofa for his ball. In fact, he thinks anything that's found under the sofa is called "ba".) He brings me the Goldilocks book to read to him, but gets impatient with the long sentences and the non-rhyme format. (It's the sing-song rhyme format that he loves in the Pants book, and he sways from side to side clapping his hands when I come to "pants to pick a daisy, pants for being lazy".)

Loves to point and gets things, but thinks
everything he points to should be given to him
(that doesn't always end well)

He started getting a bit bored of his bath routine, because his toys were the same, and his tub was still the same, and we thought maybe he was getting too big for the baby tub, but recently he discovered that he could bathe himself using a mug, and he's screaming again at being taken out of the bath.

When I change him for the night, he starts whispering "ba-ba"; that is cue for us to start singing "baba black sheep", and he whispers it because we sing it quietly since it's sleep time. Recently he has also started whispering "baba" now every time I change him; he thinks that's what we say every time his clothes are changed.

He is also obsessed with climbing steps and can keep himself entertained for hours on end climbing up and down stairs.

He's got a keen ear for music, and does a little jig every time I, for instance, mix the sugar in my cup of tea or whisk the eggs. He claps every time someone claps on TV, and again does a jig every time he hears music coming out of the TV.

He has become much more aware of his skype callers, and plays peek-a-boo with them, or laughs when they whistle; once when he saw my brother eat something on the camera, he pointed to him and gestured he wanted what he was eating, too. Every time I sit on the study table or the dining table with him on my lap, he starts saying "nani!" (He also says "dudu" every time the microwave beeps [because that's where his milk gets warmed] or every time he sees food.) He takes out all his toys and shows off to the people watching through the computer. He even took his first steps just to get accolades from his dada-dadi on skype. (He doesn't walk still, but goes about shuffling on his knees, holding his toys/food in his hands. I think he thinks of walking more a show now, holding his hands up as he walks and then collapsing in our arms at the end, clapping afterwards. He loves walking on the sofa, where he knows he will not hurt if he falls, and also tries to do front rolls that his daddy has been teaching him. But the dangerous bit is when he loves to sit on the sofa's arm rest and then jump on it or bend backwards to tease you and see the panic in your reaction.) But he tends to get bored now of skype conversations and doesn't stop play now for them. Often he leaves the room even while a call is on and goes off to do his own thing.

Can spend all day climbing up and down steps.

Even though he knows that sitting in the pram will take him out into the open which he loves, it is still a battle to make him sit on it. He also hates wearing sweaters and jackets, and already starts throwing a fit when you do that and then sometimes completely stiffens his body when you try to sit him in the pram. He hated his mittens first, and handed them over to Nalin and soon and Nalin had put them on him, but soon he probably realised that it was damn cold outside without them and now mostly keeps them on.

He loves being kissed and offers his cheeks for me to kiss him, often at times when I'm playing dead and trying to put him to sleep. Nalin and I were kissing once in the living room, and he saw us and came from the other end of the room, shuffling on his knees, to give me a kiss on my knee!

Toddling around

Early morning with a bump on
his nose from when he fell
while trying to walk 

He's a toddler! Raghav is 15 months now and is well on his way to becoming a fiercely independent toddler who wants to do everything himself.

Eating
He eats only by himself now, even managing to use a spoon (somewhat). The most difficult thing to feed him is cous-cous, when he wants to eat it himself and it's just impossible for him to hold it in his hands. But he tries!

I usually give him some food on a plate, and have a bowl of the same food with me so that I can continue feeding him while he tries to feed himself simultaneously. But it's on very rare days that I get a couple of spoonfuls of food into his mouth. He usually catches on very quickly that his food is just a buffer, and the real thing is in my hands, and grabs the spoon away from me. No matter how many new spoons I get to feed him, they all end up with him, and soon enough on the floor.

He also takes the bowl away from me and then starts dumping his food from the plate to the bowl and then finally from his highchair table to the floor. He keeps experimenting with textures and the concept of putting in and taking out.

I get very angry when he throws food on the ground, sometimes for experimental purposes but mostly when he doesn't want it any more. I try to tell him he shouldn't do that and that mamma will get angry if he does, but he then looks to see if I'm looking and then when he sees that I'm looking drops the food on the floor.

He's also becoming very picky about his food. If he sees a new-looking product, he sticks his tongue out and tastes it. Only if it meets his approval does he proceed to eat it. There are times when just sees something coming towards his mouth and shakes his head to a "no" when he doesn't want it. Sometimes he just spends all his mealtimes playing with his food, and shakes his head vigorously when you try to put something in his mouth. But those are usually times when he's getting sick.

It's when he doesn't want to eat any more that his games start. He starts picking up the food and feeding us. He does the scooping and dumping, and finally starts quietly dropping it off to the floor.

I'll show you how it's done, daddy

Sometimes he's so involved in exploring or practicing his cruising, that he doesn't eat on the highchair, but is more amiable to it when I give him while he's exploring or practicing his cruising.

He still continues to put a big chunk of banana in his mouth, but has started taking smaller bites from a bun.
He also knows which one the snack cupboard is, and when Nalin gets back from work and opens the cupboard to take out something for himself, Raghav makes says a string of baby words spoken in such a manner that it appears he's scolding Nalin for not getting something for him, too. These are usually followed by agitated hand gestures, too. But he's happy when you give him his own biscuit and doesn't mostly insist on having exactly what we're having.

New-found independence
Since the last week, Raghav has even stopped lying down on the changing table for a change of diaper. So one has to literally run after him to change it. I have had to learn to clean his poop while he's standing and exploring the net bag that his hung on the wall behind his changing table. But he is cooperative in a bugged sort of way. He does keep offering his hand or leg when I demand it to put on a t-shirt or a sock. He mostly does it so that the whole thing is over and done with as quickly as possible and he can go back to exploring without mamma running behind him with a sock in hand.

Although he loves going for walks, he refuses to sit in the pram. He stiffens his body or just stands on the pram, refusing to be made to sit in it or be strapped in. Perhaps he wants to crawl all the way to the supermarket.

I usually have to give him a rice cake or a biscuit to keep him occupied till I strap him in. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes it works better if I take him outside and then put him down. But that too mostly depends on his mood at the time.

But once we're out, he just seems like in a trance. If he was having his biscuit/rice cake before getting out of the house, that too lies uneaten his hand. I have to check often if he hasn't gone off to sleep, but he never does. He just becomes very still and just gets busy taking in the world around him.

Even on the tram he's become very patient most of the time. Maybe it's because he suddenly finds more things to notice now. It's only when the tram stops that he makes a bit of a noise.

Sometimes he also waves his hand and says "bye" to everyone who's getting off.

Yet when you ask him to say "bye" at the end of a skype conversation, he gets shy and will often just say it quietly, or even sometime after the call has ended.

Meanwile, he's a perfect showoff on Skype. He understands that he's talking to someone as opposed to a TV which he doesn't try to interact with. He also knows when that someone is talking directly to him (because he smiles every time he's addressed, even though his name might not directly be taken).

Turning One

Cake shaped in the no. 1, made by James

Raghav enjoyed his First Birthday in London with family and friends. No sleep and super excitement was proof of it. Nalin and Nitin took him to the cricket, where (I'm told) he was more interested in watching the crowds and making friends than in anything going on on the field in front of him.

He had a small party at his playschool two days before, where they cut cake and wore party hats and sang "Happy Birthday" to Raghav.

In London we got together with friends at a very nice restaurant and Raghav enjoyed his number 1-shaped birthday cake.

More fascinated with Gergana than with Nitin initially, Raghav finally warmed up to Nitin as well, as the two of them constantly spoke to him in cute baby talk. He has also been quite obsessed with the tambourine that Nitin has bought him as a birthday gift. (He has developed a recent liking towards toys that make noise, or that play music.) Initially he tries to eat it, but now he usually shakes it and loves to make a big noise with it.

At Lords with daddy 

When we went for dinner to Nitin and Gergana's place, Raghav fell asleep on the walk to their place, but soon awoke and was instantly curious about the new place where we'd brought him. As I tried to put him back to sleep on the bed, he would constantly keep rolling around and trying to crawl about. Finally, I had to bring him out into the living room with us, because he just wouldn't sleep.

There, after crawling around everywhere, cruising about and sitting on Gergana's lap, I finally took him again to sleep and he slept after much crying and protesting in the pram.

The next day we went out for dinner with them, and Raghav again refused to sleep in the pram. The main road where we were walking him was very noisy, and he would be quietly sucking his thumb till you patted him, but the moment you stopped he would start screaming. Every time I brought him inside, having given up, he jumped with triumphant excitement and stayed a bit more to eat something.

Watch me grow!

He has learned to climb on the centre coffee table in our living room in Geneva, but doesn't know how to climb down yet. So he sits there practicing his newly-acquired skills of clapping, flying-kissing and waving, and then crawls round all corners of the table feeling thrilled that he can do this.

Since the time I taught him to give flying kisses, he kisses with his palm on his mouth every time I kiss him. It's the most wonderful thing!

He has also developed an interest in his books, or any books or magazines lying around. Perhaps it is because he sees me read, or that he's practicing his skill of being able to flip the pages, but he is more fascinated with his books nowadays than with his toys, which he seems a bit bored of.

He has started sleeping only when I make him sleep in my arms. With Nalin, he just lies in his arms sucking his thumb but with his eyes open; sometimes even beginning to cry and search for me. With me, he finally manages to drift off, and only then can I put him in his cot.

I tried to give him regular cow's milk when we got back to Geneva, a little warmed up, but he didn't seem to like it. he would get excited seeing the cup, maybe because he likes drinking from a cup that resembles a grown-up's glass, or perhaps because he likes water and thought I was giving him water. But after a few sips of the milk he would run away from it. But I then gave him cold milk, which he seems to like better, but still only has about a couple of ounces before he wants to hold the cup himself and then it only goes downhill from there.

He has also started showing great interest at feeding himself, and when his initial hunger has been satiated, he tries to grab the spoon himself, and turns his face away when I feed him. Once he has the spoon, he throws it away pretty quickly and then continues to feed himself with his hands, rather, stuff his mouth with his palms.

At the Museum of Childhood with
Madelaine and Harry

His eagerness for food continues as he wants more and more when he sees us eat something, even if he's himself just finished his meal. And then he starts crying when our food gets over and when I say there isn't anything for him any more.

He has been fascinated with Rohitpal's son, Anant, while they're here for a few days. He keeps following him everywhere and laughs whenever he sees him. He tries to hold his hand and to generally keep poking his face like he does ours. He has to play with the same thing Anant is playing with, which usually means that if Anant has built a house of lego, Raghav breaks it apart and then continues to eat it. He also started having milk when he saw Anant drink milk.

We ordered a kid meal for him for the first time at a restaurant when we went to Yvoire the other day. A strawberry crepe, and he managed to polish it all off, and then kept calling out to be fed again while I ate.

Raghav tries to say a new word at least once when he hears it. He might not be good at it yet, but at least he gives it a go. So bath becomes "bth", banana is "anana", baba black sheep becomes "bship", fish becomes "ish" and so on.

He is also getting quite stubborn as he grows. When he doesn't want to do something, you can't make him. If he doesn't want to sit in his pram, he stiffens his body so that there's no way you can make him sit in it. Sometimes, he'd rather fall on the ground than sit in his pram. Also when he's having fun in the park, or in the big toy car at the supermarket, or even when he's having a bath; he resists as soon as you end the play and take him away. He cries till you offer a distraction, and at the lack of one, he just sulks and sucks his thumb.

Sad when we leave

Pick me up! Pick me up NOW daddy!

Raghav seems to be going through separation anxiety. We went to visit Pallavi and Frank over the weekend, and Raghav, who's usually very happy to meet new people and constantly keeps smiling at them and charming them, didn't want to go to anyone's arms. We thought he was getting a bit overwhelmed with all the new things happening around him -- new place, new people, new toys.

When Pallavi tried to get him interested in a push cart, he started crying even though Nalin and I were standing just in front of him.

He played a bit with Frank later, and was very thrilled sitting on Neel's bobby car. When Frank pushed the car, Raghav was very excited. But a little bit more contact with Frank and again he seemed upset. So he was fine as long as the other person was playing with him from a distance.

But he was very interested in little Pia and tried to climb on her as she sat on her bouncy chair. He tried to grab her face and eat her hands.

However, he was very happy sitting on Neel's high chair and play with his toys while we ate our lunch. For the first time he was not demanding for us to feed him as Neel's little toys kept him busy.

He was similarly irritated at Mahesh's place when we went the next afternoon. He was happy to play by himself there, and was even playing with Mahesh's daughter Vilsu, but as soon as someone tried to hold him or things got too overwhelming he'd look at us and start crying.

It was only today that we realised that it was really separation anxiety when Nalin took him to the playschool -- where he goes twice a week and is very happy and very friendly with everyone (they always say they wished every child was as non-fussy as Raghav) -- and he started crying as soon as Nalin handed him over to the carers there. He wanted to stay in Nalin's arms and probably realised that Nalin was going to leave him and go.

They advised Nalin however to leave and that he'd be fine after he left, which is what happened. He was happy, distracted and playing in a few minutes.

When he doesn't want to leave your arms, and you put him down on the floor he stretches his arm out really long and gestures for you to pick him up again. And when you still insist you can't pick him up, he sometimes grabs hold of your leg and pulls himself up, still wanting to be picked up.

11 months

Raghav has started bending and picking up things from the floor while he's standing. It's the cutest thing he does nowadays. He stands with one hand on the couch (or whichever furniture he's holding) and then bends gingerly to pick up something with his other hand. He even prances around, crawling with his toy (or pen, phone, remote..) in his mouth between his teeth.

He's become very quick on the uptake. After seeing us do something only once, he tries to copy us, and successfully -- unbuttoning the change pocket of a wallet, removing the battery cover of a remote...

He LOVES bath time and even said "bth" the other day when I asked him if he was ready for his bath. He could be wailing over something, but as soon as I take him into the bathroom and he sees his little bath tub getting filled, he gets very impatient and then immediately starts laughing as soon as he is placed in the tub.

He has a variety of bath time toys, from rubber balls to squeezy cars and boats and a watering can. He loves them all, and squeals with delight especially when water oozes out of them. He tries to "catch" the water when it comes out of the watering can. When at the hotel in Barcelona, when Nalin had him in his arms in the shower, he tried to "feel" the water with his hands as it came out from the shower head.

Raghav has started flipping pages of books. It lasts a few minutes before he tries to eat it. Even hardcovers and board books are now given to him only under supervision.

The first time he asked for something

We were in a mall one day and were passing an area for children that had those big cars which rock and roll if you put money in them. As we were passing that area with Raghav in my arms, for the first time he bent towards something he wanted (apart from wanting to be picked up). When I put him in the driver's seat, he steered the steering wheel like he was a natural.

I put him in the sandpit the other day at the park, and he played with the sand for a good 10 minutes, first digging in cautiously and then finally going at it with gusto. After about 10 minutes he grabbed some in his hand and was ready to put it into his mouth when I intervened timely.