My first stage performance!! - My 11th month

This month was eventful as we had three birthdays in the family - my dad's and both my aunts'.I got to taste different flavors of the cake and I loved it!

Look at how my dancing evolved over the month :)


Also I love gardening because I can make a lot of mess!

Our apartment's association organized several events in celebration of their first anniversary. One of the events was kids' fancy dress competition and every one instantly decided to give my name for it!

Few days ahead of the event, Mom and Dad went for shopping and bought a Krishna suit for me. The evening finally came and as soon as I woke up from my nap, I was given my regular evening bath and in no time the Little Krishna was ready.

My grandfather and aunt (pinni) also came to see my participation. I was initially totally upset as I did not seem to have enough of sleep. Mom put me on the stage for a trial run and my drowsiness immediately vanished. I was so excited as it looked like a big play area for me. I started crawling in all directions.

And I did the same for my actual performance too. No crying at all, crawling with a broad smile from one end of the stage to the other. I was absolutely reluctant to leave the stage and when daddy forcefully pulled me out so that other participants can come in I became totally upset :(. Yes, I was the youngest performer!!!

In October I am going to turn one...hurray!!

Little gestures - My 10th month

I was now expressing little bit using sign-language. I had learnt waving bye and would love to do it all the time. Till now I would express sadness when mom/dad left for office, but with this new found art, I started waving them goodbye!! But yes, this expression was exclusively for my family only. I was not yet waving to strangers or less kown people.

And I started clapping too! Some catchy music (ads or songs) in TV would immediately draw my attention and I would start clapping excitingly. Few days down the line, I also started moving my hands and body in response to peppy songs - something which my family interpreted as dancing!

I was recognising names of familiar objects and my family members. I was able to point every one by looking at them - mummy, daddy, nannamma, atta/akka, pinni, babai, thathagaru, ammamma and also fan, paapa(a baby's poster) and TV. Towards the end I also started pointing by putting my hand out.

There is lot more to learn in coming months!!

Delhi 6

The occassion was - engagement of my lovable pinni! We were a group of seven- thathagaru, ammamma, Ravi maama, pinni, mom, dad and me.

The onward journey was in a train and I won't say I had a great time. It was a long journey and I had too little space for playing. I couldn't crawl and move around freely, was always held by someone - something which I did not like much.

But still, like a good litle girl, I kept on playing, engaging everyone around and suddenly learnt something new - clapping. Yess!! I had finally started clapping.

We had put up in JNU's hostel. The campus was pretty good and the rooms were spacious. After the train journey when we reached our rooms, I finally got my freedom back. The moment Daddy placed me on the bed, my facial expressions immediately changed. I was so happy, like a free bird, smiling and laughing. I could just move as much as I wanted.

That day was well spent with mom-dad's PUCSD (Pune University Computer Science Dept) friends.


The next day was the ceremony. I had a good sleep for sometime which helped me resfresh myself to enjoy the rest of the eventful day.

Then came a looong day! We set out for a Vrindavan-Mathura-Agra trip that spanned from 5am in the morning till 10pm at night. It was tiring for everyone, I was just a little baby!! But I fared really well and my grandfather couldn't help praising the patience I kept through the entire journey. I enjoyed Mathura's Krishna Janmasthan the most, again for the same reasons - it had a vast open area (kind of a terrace)
very airy, and I could crawl to my heart's content.

We stayed (Mom, Dad and me) one day extra and visited the really beautiful Akshara Dham temple. Following morning was our return flight, and I enjoyed the return journey.

I hope to return to this part of India when I grow up enough to understand things!

I am teething! - My Ninth month

My first pair of lower central incisors had started emerging out! It gave me an advanced ability of chewing food in a better way. And with this I started preferring foods that I can just put in my mouth and keep on chewing for a long time. I tried everthing including pakoda, papad, murukku, roti and puri. Good thing was I would not attempt to swallow food but just keep it inside my mouth and work on softening it.

Many additional sounds got added to my babbling - mama, babbaa, papaa, thathaa, aaaayy, aaabbba. And some new expressions in my face - like wrinkling my nose to either show excitement or displeasure and smiling with a stylish eye-blink.

I could climb stairs pretty fast and guess what?? I could also climb the slide in our park. While the rest of the world did the usual thing of sliding down, I, with the most enthusiastic expression and a naughty smile on my face, would start doing just the reverse!


I was able to stand holding onto a wall and walk pushing the traditional style walker. Watch it!


Towards the end of this month I went to Delhi on the ocassion of my pinni's engagement. Read on the next post for the details.

A naughtier Nishita - My Eighth Month

As my playtime and love for playing kept on growing, one thing was getting adversely affected - My naptime! I was hardly taking 3-4 naps during the day and the duration of them was very unpredictable...sometimes 15 mins and very few times extending to an hour - meaning I had a good sleep!

I was extremely alert for two particular sounds - a phone ring (is it mumma calling!!!) and a car's reverse gear horn (is daddy home???). I would anxiously look here and there to locate the origin of these sounds.

Crawling was in full swing. I would hold onto anything I get (a piece of furniture, a cupboard handle) and stand up and sit down, again up and again down - repeating this on and on. But peek-a-boo with curtains was my all-time favourite!

My grandmom would take me to the park every evening and I loved it so much that if I saw her going towards the main door with her spectacles put on, I would start crying to take me along with her. And I enjoyed all the rides in the park, the swing, simple merry-go-round and my favourite - the seesaw.

Mom took me to my maternal grandmom's place on the ocassion of my pinni's birthday. I was anxious for half of the day, not ready to leave my Mom. But gradually I overcame the anxiety and became playful with ammamma, thathagaru and pinni.

More milestones... My Seventh Month

I was growing more and more active and in my seventh month I was mastering the skills I newly learnt in my 6th month.

I could now sit on my own from tummy position effortlessly.I was creeping very fast. And I also started crawling!!

I could pull myself to a standing position by holding something for support. And I loved it so much that it consitituted most of my play this month.

Apart from my family, I had started recognizing another person. Anjana - One and a half year old little girl who is my neighbour. I would instantly display excitement at the sight of her and would want to creep and reach onto her as fast as I can.

I had started babbling...not real words but various kinds of sounds like aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

Around the end of this month, we visited our native place once again and I had a great time as there were many kids of various ages excited to play with me:)

Watch me babble in excitement in this small video:

Multiple milestones accomplished!!- My 6th month

Mom joined office at the start of my 6th month. She would miss me a lot, but I didn't appear to. I was still more engrossed in my own world. But things definitely changed by the end of this month!

I had started reaching out to objects with a sweeping motion. I was uttering ammma, ammey, mumma, booo - only while crying. Ofcourse I did not equate these words with anybody but was enough for mom to get flattered :)

"Stranger anxiety" was creeping in slowly. I was clearly displaying discomfort in the arms of a stranger. I would either become too serious or would start crying.

I was recognizing my name very clearly. Though I seemed to be knowing it from past 2-3 months, I was now responding actively by immediately turning my head to whoever was calling me "Nishu".

By the end of the 6th month, I could sit up properly without any support. And I had become more expressive when mom and dad returned from office - My reaction generally would be a laugh mixed with a cry!!

I started on solids!! - My Fifth month

My fifth month started with my parents' anniversary celebration. Mom had few more weeks to go before joining office. Major concern now was what would I eat while she is away?? Doc suggested various options and thus I was introduced to solids and several new tastes in little quantities one by one -Formula milk with ParleG biscuit, Cerelac (rice), Mashed banana, Orange juice, Mosambi juice etc. While I was very fussy to any new food in the beginning, by the end of fifth month I started accepting them. I rejected bottle-feeding outright though. And guess what I loved the most - water!!

And what were the new things I was doing?? I started feeling the ticklings during massages and they would make me laugh :) I had started screaming loudly - "aaaaaaaa" - signalling that I am not happy and am going to cry in sometime. I could now turn over both sides, from my back to tummy and vice versa. This was my favourite play now, I would start at one end of the bed and reach the other end in no time. If anyone in my family put forward their hands towards me I would try to rise-up (in a situp fashion)...may be telling them that I want to be cuddled.

Parameshwar babai got 10 days holdiays and we went to Nalgonda(a district nearby to hyderabad) to vist my chinna nanamma (grandmom's sister). I thoroughly enjoyed my second road trip and our weekend stay there.

Then came the Ugadi festival (my first Telugu New Year). I wore a new dress and a dry fruits maala on top of it. Dad made me taste Ugadi Pacchadi and I seemed to have liked it. It was a fun-filled and exciting day!!

Last three days I again visited my maternal grandmom's place and had great time with ammamma, pinni and thathagaru.

Marriage Anniverary

3rd March 2009 - My mom-dad completed 3 years of marriage! On the occasion all of us went out and visited couple of places. First we visited the famous Birla Temple. It was me who put dakshina in all dakshina petis.

It was hot and sunny outside but I didn't seem to complain. I was enjoying fully!! I got tired and fell asleep after which we set out for a restaurant for lunch. "Angeethi" had a fine ambience and I had lots of space to roll over (in a sofa) and amuse myself playing. Finally we went to Mothercare for some shopping (for me ofcourse :) ) before calling it a day!!

I love rolling over! - My Fourth Month

My fourth month had a lovely start. It was mommy's birthday but it was me who had cake all over my face!

I had become an expert in rolling over and would hate to sleep on my back.I prefered sleeping on my side. I would trouble everyone as I would turn over on tummy but couldn't do the reverse. And if I rolled over in sleep, it would disturb my sleep and I would start crying loudly. Till 3rd month I was simpler to deal with and could easily be left alone playing for a while, but not anymore.

All my play now was reduced to doing one thing - Grab objects and lick them:) The ceiling fan was gradually becoming an old friend that would interest me only occassionally.

My first summer had began and I did not have to wear my sweaters/caps all the time. Couple of times I was bathed by Uma and Purna aunties and mom too attempted to bath me two or three times!

I went to visit Paramesh babai(uncle) in his Sri Chaitanya residential college. It was a surprise visit for him and he was all excited to see me and all of us at his college. I also visited my maternal home again and my grandmom had invited all her friends to introduce me.

Mommy says that from my fourth month she started feeling that I recognize her. In fact I had slowly started recognizing everyone in my family and guess who made me smile the most?? Dad:) I would smile in different ways to Dad - sometimes excitingly, sometimes blushing and many times with the broadest possible smile keeping the tongue out!

Another art that I had mastered was, if I was given two hands for support, I would hold the fingers tightly and would instantly rise up and come to a sitting position.

And I had also started giggling, have a look!!

My First Trip

I had my first outdoor trip in my third month. It was also the first long drive in our new car for my family. We were going to our native village Mannegudem. In the morning I was given a warm bath and put to sleep so that everyone could peacefully prepare for the trip :P

I was asleep half the way until we took break at a place for lunch. Daddy stopped the car at a place that had farmlands around. Everyone took out newspapers to set our dining area! I was comfortable and cozy in my Uma aunty's arms. This was the first time I got real exposure to Mother Nature. Mommy had prepared pulihora (tamarind rice) and after lunch there was a big photo session. Everyone would pose with me in their arms!

I smiled a lot in my village by looking at all our relatives. We had to visit a temple and a river for which we drove to a neighbouring village (my paternal grandmother's native place) called Sangem. All three of us had to take bath in the cold water of the river. As the water was very cold my grandmother just applied the holy water to my body with her hands. After bath all of us visited the temple and had prasadam and lunch which was prepated on the site.

We were back from Sangem by noon and later in the evening hosted dinner for all our relatives . I received several gifts that included dresses, gold and silver ornaments. On the way back, we visited all our relatives in Korutla (a town nearby the village). It was a one week trip full of excitement and fun!

A smiling Nishita - My Third month

My third month is special for various reasons.

It coincided with the begininng of a new year. I welcomed the year 2009 in style. While my usual bedtime used to be 9pm, on 31st Dec 2008, I slept at 1 am!! I exchanged wishes with everyone in my family before retiring to bed.

I finally got introduced to my dearest Ravi mama in Jan 2009. My mom took me to my grandparents' place so that we get to spend some time with him. His favourite hobby now was to take my snaps! He tried hard to capture me with a smile and was successful few times.

I had my first outdoor trip in the second week of this month. The trip was to my native village Mannegudem. This trip deserves a more detailed description and hence a separate post is dedicated for it.

Once back from the village, I again met Ravi mama who gifted me a beautiful pram. Most of my playtime was now spent in my pram. I bid Ravi mama farewell while he went back to Germany.

I could now hold objects with better grip and would try to take them into my mouth. I smiled a lot in the third month by looking into people's faces and things that I found interesting. I would look straight into the camera whenever my snap was taken. I was already following Daddy's footsteps in this regard - giving poses for photographs. I had a grand finale...on the last day (Jan 29) I rolled over completely for the first time!! It was a celebration time and Nannamma and mummy prepared bobbatlu (an andhra sweet dish) on the occassion.