22.7.07

Random bullets about the past week

  • Last Wednesday little one went for his first movie in a theater! Surpassing my wildest dreams, we managed to watch the whole Harry Potter movie and I haven't had to leave the room a single time. He just drank his milk during the first few minutes of the movie and then went to sleep in my arms. I think that he is really associating darkness with sleep now, so a movie theater is a good place for him to nap.

    Mercoledi' scorso il piccolo Rajiv e' andato al cinema per la prima volta. Non avevo molte speranze, invece siamo riusciti a guardare tutto il film - il nuovo Harry Potter - senza dover lasciare la sala nemmeno una volta. Rajiv ha bevuto il suo latte all'inizio del film e poi si e' addormentato in braccio a me e ha dormito fino alla fine del film.
  • On Thursday little Rajiv's grandmother came from Calicut, to comfort him after the vaccination. She stayed until Sunday and they had a good time together.

    Rajiv ha avuto modo di passare qualche giorno in compagnia di nonna Padmini, che e' venuta da Calicut per confortarlo dopo le vaccinazioni.

  • Little one's new diapers have arrived! They are a bit bulky, but really cute. Pictures coming soon.

    Sono arrivati i pannolini nuovi che avevo ordinato! Spero di potervi mostrare presto qualche foto.

  • On Friday I gave a talk at S.'s institute, while Rajiv was being looked after by his grandmother. I think it was the longest separation so far - I was away for more than one and a half hours, but it worked out fine, although the little one was very hungry when I came back.

    Venerdi' ho fatto un seminario all'istituto dove lavora Sujay. Il piccolino e' stato da solo con la nonna per piu' di un'ora e mezza e mi ha accolta felice , forse, ma soprattutto affamato, al mio ritorno.

  • Rajiv now weighs 5.25 kg (with a shirt and a diaper). He has gained about 1 kg in the last month and about 2 kg since birth.

    Il piccolo Rajiv sta crescendo: pesa 5.25 kg, con maglietta e pannolino. E' aumentato di circa un chilo da quando siamo arrivati in India e di circa due chili dalla nascita.



19.7.07

Vaccines update

Little one has received his shots yesterday and he seems to be doing fine. He woke up this morning in a playful mood and spent some happy time with his grandmother, who is visiting us at the moment. He doesn't seem to be uncomfortable and has maybe only a slight temperature. The doctor recommended to give paracetamol, which he is taking every six hours or so, and that probably helped a lot. More later.

Rajiv e' stato vaccinato ieri e sembra stare bene. Gli stiamo dando del paracetamolo, come consigliato dalla pediatra, e questo probabilmente aiuta. Ieri sera faticava ad addormentarsi perche' aveva fastidio alle gambe (quattro punture, povero!), ma poi ha dormito piu' del solito con brevi pause per mangiare e questa mattina si e' svegliato di buon umore. Ha giocato con la nonna, che ci sta facendo visita per qualche giorno, e adesso sta di nuovo riposando.

17.7.07

Happy Birthday Piccolo Rajiv!

Oggi il piccolino compie due mesi. Purtroppo per "festeggiare" il complemese tra due giorni lo attendono ben quattro (mi pare) punture per le varie vaccinazioni... :(

Questa a sinistra e' una foto di pochi giorni fa. A Rajiv piace moltissimo colpire con le mani quelle tessere appese davanti a lui, e' uno dei giochi che hanno avuto piu' successo finora. Gli piacerebbe colpire anche con i piedi, ma per ora e' al di sopra delle sue possibilita'. Vi terro' aggiornati sui suoi progressi!

Today little one is two months old! Unfortunatly this also means that soon he will have to be pricked again for the vaccines... :(

The picture on the side is from a few days ago. We put the mobile that was meant for the crib at a height where he could reach it (he hates seeing it and not being able to touch it) and he played happily for at least half an hour hitting the hanging cards with his hands. What he really would like to do, it seems, is hitting with his feet, but this seems to be a too ambitious goal for him right now. (Deepu: Big feet, but short legs...)

11.7.07

Bajay?

The most unusual advice on how to relieve little one's belly discomfort came from Fiona, out Irish neighbour. She recommended using a mysterious root known as "bajay" (supposedly a translitteration from kannada, language of the helpful mother in law from whom the suggestion originates). Fiona has also provided us with all the necessary material: a few pieces of the root itself and a piece of wood on which the root is to be rubbed to obtain a paste to put (sparingly) in the baby's mouth. This is what it looks like:

Il Grande Sonno - The Big Sleep

La notte scorsa Rajiv ha dormito per quasi cinque ore!!! Ininterotte intendo, da mezzanotte alle cinque meno un quarto, senza neanche un piccolo "ueh"...

Just a small post to celebrate the fact that little one slept for almost five consecutive - this is the key word of course - hours last night!

8.7.07

Sunday activities - attivita' domenicali

After a long and tiring night, this morning we went to have breakfast with S.'s uncle and aunt (kuttamama and meenammayi) who live nearby. Rajiv was quite well behaved: he sort of slept while we were eating (puttu, by the way, one of my favorites, thank you!) and socialized afterwards. He had a nice conversation with S.'s uncle and gave him his best smiles. Apart from this small outing we tried to have a lazy Sunday, as much as possible. We even slept a bit in the afternoon. I tried to take some pictures of the little one playing with the carillon that he got from his Italian grandmother, but unfortunately they didn't come out so well.



Dopo una notte tormentata, questa mattina siamo andati a fare colazione dagli zii di S. che abitano qua vicino (i genitori di Anu). Rajiv si e' comportato bene: ha dormicchiato mentre noi mangiavamo e dopo colazione ha intrattenuto graziosamente gli zii. Ha mostrato una certa preferenza per lo zio e gli ha fatto dei grandi sorrisi. A parte questa piccola uscita abbiamo cercato di passare una domenica tranquilla, per quanto possibile. Siamo anche riusciti a dormire un po' nel pomeriggio. Ho fatto alcune foto del piccolino mentre giocava con il carillon regalato da nonna Laura. Non sono riuscite molto bene, ma faremo meglio la prossima volta.

7.7.07

Baby essentials: the Lufthansa blanket



The best thing S. and I did since Rajiv was born was stealing a blanket from the Lufthansa flight on the way to India. He was so cute all wrapped up in it in the plane that we decided to keep it, but only some time later did we discover the magic powers of the blanket. With it little Rajiv would sleep anywhere - ok, careful positioning and wrapping and patting and caressing rhythmically his head keeping the other hand on his belly are also necessary, but still... In fact we wouldn't mind starting a small airlines blankets collection, so if you happen to be traveling long distance by plane, think of us...


6.7.07

Highlights of the week - Fatti salienti della settimana

  • After a first unsuccessful day spent at home, Rajiv and I have decided to join dad in his air-conditioned office. Since tuesday we have gone every day and it seems to work out better than at home. The little one is quite cranky these days, partly because of some belly problems he is experiencing, but it seems that he also minds being too hot and sticky (sounds reasonable, but we took a few days to figure it out).

    Io e Rajiv abbiamo cominciato ad andare in ufficio con S. invece di rimanere a casa e per ora va abastanza bene. Sembra che il piccolino gradisca l'aria condizionata, visto che in questo clima anche i neonati sudano...

  • I'm pretty sure that yesterday my son smiled at me when I entered the room!

    Ieri il piccolino era da solo in camera da letto e sono abbastanza sicura che mi abbia sorriso (proprio a me, riconoscendomi intendo) quando sono entrata!

  • Of fundamental importance and far-reaching consequences: yesterday the little one managed, not without effort, to empty his bowel without external help for the first time in two weeks. Great celebrations followed.

    L'evento piu' atteso: finalmente, dopo due settimane di supposte ogni tre giorni, Rajiv e' riuscito a liberare l'intestino senza aiuti esterni. Cosi' finalmente sebra stare un po' meglio, anche se lo stomaco gli da ancora fastidio.

  • We are now able to have articulate conversations with little Rajiv. He can say "GE!", "NGHE!" , and we think we heard him say something like "B", but we are not completely sure.

    Le nostre conversazioni con Rajiv sono diventate piu' vive e interessanti. Ora il piccolino sa dire "G!" (con grande convinzione) e "NGHE!". Una volta si e' anche sbilanciato con un sommesso "BU", ci sembra.

2.7.07

Happily rolling

On friday, at six weeks and one day, the little one rolled over for the first time on his own. He then apparently repeated the performance the next day when his dad tried to put him to play on his tummy on the playmat instead of giving him food. Now he already is an expert roller. Sometimes we put him on his belly on a pillow on the bed, because it helps soothing him when he seems to have some belly disconfort, and he does his push-ups (see below) and then rolls away.

The little one is also smiling more frequently these days, not only in his sleep after food like he used to do, but looking straight at us (so we like to think...). Here is a rare smile for the camera:



Per gli italiani: ecco una rara immagine di Rajiv sorridente! Il piccolino comincia a sorridere piu' spesso, non solo nel sonno come faceva prima, ma anche da sveglio e guardando verso di noi. Come potete vedere ormai tiene su la testa senza troppi problemi e da venerdi' ha cominciato a rotolare: se lo mettiamo sulla pancia, lui si spinge un po' su con le braccia e poi si lascia cadere da un lato, finendo a pancia in su.

Messaggio di benvenuto

Ciao a tutti! Io e S. abbiamo deciso di iniziare questo blog per raccontare ad amici e parenti che cosa succede nella vita di nostro figlio Rajiv. Scriveremo in italiano o in inglese, a volte entrambi. I commenti sono benvenuti, nella lingua che preferite. E comunque vada sara' sempre un successo...

Welcome message

Hello everybody! S. and I hope to use this blog to keep relatives and friends updated on what is happening in the life of our newborn son Rajiv. We decided to keep the blog public for the moment, just to keep things simple. It's going to be a bilingual (at least!) blog and comments are welcome in every language that at least one of us can read...

More soon.

peanut progress

pregnancy week by week