Wonderful day in my life! - I got promoted to sister :)

My parents had been telling me from past few months that there is going to be an addition to our family. I knew that a small baby is going to arrive soon. I was often asked the typical question, do you want brother or sister and I rarely gave any answer to that :)

Around two weeks after my third birthday, one morning Daddy gave me the surprising news - Mummy is in hospital and your brother has arrived!! The date was Nov 14, 2011.

The happiness and excitement on my face cannot be described in words. I took no time to brush teeth, have milk and take bath (all the activities I generally hated) and I was all ready to meet my brother for the first time. On my way to hospital, I was announcing to everyone again and again, I am going to see thammudu (brother).

I could not see Mom immediately as she was in ICU but saw the little wonder! And I was already possesive. For a while I was not allowing anyone to touch him. I made regular visits to hospital until they got discharged. At home, showering hugs and kisses on my brother was my favourite play now. I am proud to become an elder sister. I already got the feeling that I am no longer a kid :)

Lot of research went in choosing my brother's name. I have also suggested few names that I knew (of course names of my friends). My little brother was named Shreyas in a small ceremony.

I turned 3 !

After an eventful 3rd year, it was time to bid it farewell and welcome the 4th year. So it was celebration time - a Birthday party!! This time it was great fun, why?? Because I was more interactive in social gatherings, much better than last year.



The day before, I went shopping with Dad for my dress and gifts and accompanied Mom for the invitations to my friends and our neighbourhood. On the day, Dad took me to the Temple in the morning and gifted me a keyboard, alphabet blocks and basket ball set.



My near and dear ones (babai, mamas, aunties, dad) decorated the house beautifully with balloons and colour papers. Prashant Mama got a big yummy blackforest cake for me. In the evening, by 7:30 pm home was abuzz with friends and relatives. I had a great time cutting the cake and receiving everyone's blessings and wishes. I enjoyed with my friends to heart's content.

My First Beach Experience

On the occasion of Sivaram uncle's marriage we had been to Ongole. We were six: me, my parents, Rajasekhar uncle, Sandhya aunty and Aryan. We had attended his marriage and by evenining we were back to the hotel in Ongole. The next morning we started to Kothapatnam beach which was roughly 20kms from Ongole.



This was my first visit to a beach. At the first site I got confused and stared at water for a long time. My mind was full of questions: What is this? So much of water spread all around? From where the water has come? I was a bit scared and tightly held my mom and dad. My facial expressions were reflecting my feelings.





The beach was clean with brown coloured sand. There were couple of families having fun with water. We kept our belongings aside and got ready to get into the water. We all started walking towards the water. Initially I was hesitant to get into the water but after sometime I got down and started walking. The tides were touching our feet and slowly I started getting excited. While me and mom were having fun with water, sandhya aunty and Aryan were also having similar experiece.

My dad and Rajasekhar uncle were busy with camera. After clicking few snaps they also joined us and we all enjoyed together. We spent about 2 hours in beach. I liked the place so much that I was reluctant to leave the place. Dad forcefully took me out and we returned back to hotel. Here is a video showing how I enjoyed :)



Apart from beach, I had another first experience: Watched movie in a threatre. On the way back to hotel, we decided to go for a movie. We had lunch and watched matinee show of "Maryada Ramanna". Me and Aryan fell asleep even before we reached theatre. Everyone expected that Aryan might not let us watch movie. To everyone's surprise, Aryan stayed calm throughout the movie and I started crying when the first song started and crowd started making lot of noice. Somehow dad managed first half with the help of Gems. By intermission all the Gems packets were completed and I couldn't stay in the hall. In later half of the movie I stayed out and mom and dad accompanied me in shifts.

My First Birthday!!

Time flies just so fast! My Mom couldn't believe she is mother of a girl who is already turning one:) The journey so far was so interesting, full of fun and learning. The first year of a person is definitely special and the first birthday calls for celebration! My parents decided to throw a party for the occasion.


The preparation for the event started about three weeks ahead of the Birthday. Finalizing the guest list was the first step.Then a weekend Mom, Dad & Babai went shopping for my special birthday dress and a gift. The venue was club house of our apartment and we decided to decorate it ourselves. Things started moving fast in the last week. The caterer got finalized. Mom/Dad composed a sweet invitaion card and sent across to all friends and acquaintances. One day ahead all the required decoration items were bought.


The day finally came. We visited a nearby temple in the morning after which I became busy playing with my new scooter:) (my birthday gift, of course). My babai(s)(paternal uncles), mamas,pinni and all of us gathered at the club house for the decoration. It was a big task and I was actively participating in it - bursting the balloons that were getting inflated:)


Post afternoon nap, Mom gave me a warm bath and aunts did my make-up :) Guests started coming in slowly and I cut the cake at around 8pm. I thoughrouly enjoyed the cake-cutting as I was surrounded by lots of kids singing the birthday song.


While the party continued, I was already tired and hungry. Mom fed me my dinner. I struggled a bit but finally slept and had a sound sleep for the rest of the night!!


It was a lovely evening that my parents will cherish forever! Watch me enjoying in the park :)

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.