Tutto il compleanno minuto per minuto

(A Truckload Of) Pictures from Appu'a birthday!

The day starts slowly, with breakfast on the couch, a soft blanket and a favorite video.

La giornata comincia lentamente, con colazione sul divano, una morbida coperta e uno dei video preferiti.



But soon enough little Rajiv is ready for action!

Ma presto il piccolo Rajiv e' pronto a fare sul serio!




This week Emiliano is staying with us, so we wait for him before opening the gifts.

Questa settimana Emiliano e' nostro ospite, quindi lo aspettiamo per aprire i regali.





Dad shows Appu how to use his new harmonica. Little success so far, but we are working on it...

Papa' fa vedere ad Appu come usare la sua nuova armonica. Con scarso successo, per ora, ma ci stiamo lavorando...



Buy wait, what is that in the bigger box? CARRRR!?! Let's open it right away!

Ma aspetta, che cosa c'e' nella scatola piu' grande? CARRRR! Macchinine! Apriamola subito!









It is hard work, but our chief engineer doen't give up.






Time to get dressed, holding the CARRR very tight of course.

E' ora di vestirsi, senza mollare la macchinina un secondo, naturalmente.












It's cold outside, so we head for the most obvious indoor playground we can think of. It's going to be lunch at McDonald's.

Oggi fa freddo fuori, quindi optiamo per un parco giochi al coperto, cioe' McDonald's.



Healthy food first...

Prima si mangia...






... and then weee!

... e poi si va sullo "scivo".












Mom got a workout too, climbing up with Appu to the highest slide and protecting him from the exuberance of the bigger kids. Then it was time to go home and nap.

We don't have photos of the afternoon, but it involved some time playing at home and a short visit to the bookstore to browse and play with the train table. Our friend Chanda brought us a pie in the evening, but Appu seemed disgusted by it, so the parents and "Miano" had to sacrifice themselves and eat it all. :)

Dopo il parco giochi, dove la mamma si e' fatta onore difendendo Rajiv dagli attacchi dei bimbi piu' grandi lungo la scalata verso lo scivolo alto, siamo andati ha dormire. La giornata e' poi proseguita con giochi in casa e una breve visita in libreria per far giocare Appu con i trenini su un bellissimo tavolo con i binari. La torta c'e' stata, portata dalla nostra amica Chanda, ma Appu l'ha rifiutata categoricamente e cosi' abbiamo dovuto fare questo sacrificio e mangiarcela tutta noi.

We conclude with a very boring video of Appu moving a track back and forth on his new road set. Only redeeming features of the video are a short but remarkable singing performance by Emiliano and a guest appearance of Appu's granparents on Skype.

Concludiamo con un video girato la mattina subito dopo l'apertura dei regali. Appu gioca con il suo cicuito nuovo e i nonni gli fanno gli auguri tramite Skype.

Get ready:

The terrible twos start...

...NOW!

Happy birthday little "terrible" Appu!



Buon compleanno piccolo Rajiv!

Birthday alert

Il compleanno del piccolo Rajiv si avvicina! Speravamo di festeggiare con un picnic nel parco, ma sembra che Domenica sara' l'unico giorno freddo della settimana. Sob...


Little Rajiv's second birthday is rapidly approaching and is finding the mom completely unprepared. A new cool toy has been wrapped and set aside (as if we didn't get him new toys all the time, anyway: I doubt that he will notice the difference), but no other preparation has been made. I am really bad at this and I confess I was hoping that the nice weather we have been enjoying recently would allow us to celebrate Appu with a nice picnic in the park, which is probably what our little one would enjoy the most.
However, please take a look at the weather forecast:



See that temperature dip? Right on Appu's birthday date? Sob...

Celebrating 18

Il piccolo Rajiv compie un anno e mezzo! Per festeggiarlo abbiamo raccolto un po' di fotografie scattate nell'ultimo mese o poco piu' in momenti tipici della vita quotidiana di un kunjappu.

Our little one is one year and a half now! This gives me the perfect excuse to unload here a bunch of pictures that I was keeping aside for posts that I will never have time to write. They were all taken in the past month or so and they do capture a lot of appuness, I think, if pictures ever can...

Bits

We are insanely busy with the new house these days, plus there was a conference this whole week at our institute, so this should explain the lack of blogging. The most I can do at the moment is giving you a list of small things possibly worthy of note:

• Many thanks to everybody who sent a gift or a card or good wishes for Appu's birthday. We are happy to know that so many people think of him with affection, it is a good beginning.
• As for us, our birthday present for him was a wooden pull-toy, a cute snail with funny eyes. We bought this in Italy a few days before he was born and surprisingly managed to keep it wrapped until the night before his birthday. Almost as surprisingly, he is actually able to pull it. Ha, we laugh at the 18 month + recommendation on the box!
  
• Another toy he got recently from us is an easily grabbable ball and he is learning to throw it. We are able to play with him exchanging the ball at least a few times, before he gets impatient and throws the ball away.
• Other favorite games: peek-a-boo, hide and seek (I hide, he seeks), run-away-from-mommy-and-laugh-when-she-catches-me, and so on. As you might have noticed none of this involves sitting down and relaxing, I think we are going to get fit playing with him...
• He is getting a bit more clingy. Today for example I was unable to leave him at daycare, because he would cry desperately as soon as I tried to leave the room. I think he is teething again though, so maybe that's why he needs some extra comfort.
  
• Not that we would complain: we love his cuddly self!

Ordinary daily activities of a one year old

Many thanks to all those who sent their birthday wishes for little Appu, either on the blog or otherwise. I haven't gotten around to writing an appropriate birthday post yet, saying all that is wonderful and irresistible about our little toddler, so I will try and summarize everything with a picture.



Happy first birthday piccolo Rajiv!

-1

11 month update:

Non mi sono dimenticata il complimese, sono solo in ritardo con il blog come al solito...
Cosa dire di questo bimbo che ormai ha quasi un anno? Le ultime novita':

• Appu loves drinking water from a glass. He always laughs when the water touches his mouth. Sometimes he drinks, sometimes he lets the water in and out of his mouth, sometimes he just bites the glass, but it's always great fun.
  
  A Rajiv piace moltissimo bere acqua da un bicchiere o se non ha sete, farsi rotolare l'acqua addosso. In entrambi i casi seguono sempre grosse risate!
  
  
• He loves sucking endlessly on pieces of frozen bread - baguette and similar, sliced and frozen for his use.
  
  Gli piace anche succhiare e mordicchiare pezzi di pane congelato, probabilmente per via delle gengive doloranti. Comunque anche non congelato il pane e' al momento uno dei suoi pochi cibi graditi.
  
  
• He walks a bit every now and then, but he hasn't really progressed past a couple of steps at a time yet. (Note: I wrote that this morning and of course he immediately started walking much more!) However, he is beginning to enjoy talking longer walks holding mommy's hand, both indoor and outdoor - in the late but wonderful Canadian spring!
  
  Il nostro piccolo Appu comincia a prendere gusto a camminare - da solo, pochi passi alla volta, o tenendomi la mano - e in questo caso non si limita a camminare, vuole correre!
  
  
• He has figured out that if the door of a cupboard is closed probably the stuff inside is very interesting - or at least potentially very dangerous, which is the same thing. More baby-proofing to be done soon.
  
  Uno dei suoi hobby piu' recenti e' aprire gi sportelli degli armadietti, specialmente se contengono detersivi, ma si accontenta anche di svuotare la dispensa all'occasione.
  
  
• He now knows what are the things he is not supposed to do, like going in the bathroom or touching some electric stuff and he seems to try and do this things only when mommy is nearby, to be chased. He finds it hilarious and if I don't run after him immediately he normally pauses to look mischievously at me before making a run for it. Lots of fun for both of us!
  
  Sa benissimo quali sono le cose che non puo' fare - tipo andare in bagno a mettere le mani nel water... - e tende a cercare di farle soprattutto quando sa che lo vedo. Gli piace moltissimo farsi rincorrere, anche perche' sa che quando lo acchiappo lo faccio piroettare un po' in aria, cosi' a volte se non lo seguo subito si ferma ad aspettarmi e mi guarda con occhi malandrini prima di riprendere la sua corsa. Questo e' uno dei nostri giochi preferiti prima di andare a dormire.
  
  
• He has learned to raise himself on the tip of his toes to empty shelves that would be a bit too high or reach for things on a table. Endless possibilities here...
  
  Non pago di tutto cio', ha anche imparato ad alzarsi in punta di piedi per raggiungere gli scaffali e i tavoli piu' alti. Qui le possibilita' sono infinite...
  

Ten months and three teeth

I haven't had much time for blogging since we reached Italy, but I couldn't let little one's birthday pass without notice. He is now ten months old and the most recent milestone is biting: yesterday morning he left his first little - but deep - mark on mommy's finger. Lots of fun ahead...

He still seems to have some teething pain every now and then, but three teeth are out, or at least part of them. In fact if you could magnify one of the pictures below you could see them.

These photos were taken yesterday afternoon by dad while mom was browsing the children section of a bookstore (one of my favorite activities of late). For those who know the city, the marble floor is the one of Galleria S. Federico.

Nuove mirabolanti imprese del piccolo Rajiv

This is meant to be a post to celebrate little Rajiv first three quarters of a year of life. I have tried to capture on digital film the new accomplishments of our hero, but I am afraid I did a poor job of that. I still hope you can see how much he has grown up, though!

Buon complimese, piccolo Rajiv! Questo e' un complimese che vuol dire molto per la mamma. Forse perche' adesso hai passato la' fuori tanto tempo quanto ne avevi passato qui dentro, ma mi sembra proprio che a nove mesi tu sia un bimbo grande ormai...
Ho provato a catturare con la macchina fotografica i progressi di questo bimbo, ma il risultato purtroppo non rende giustizia all'originale.

I am just going to list a few things that Rajiv has learned since last month:
Un elenco di cose che Rajiv ha imparato dal mese scorso:

• He can stand, of course!
  
  Sta in piedi da solo!
  
  
• Not only that, but now he likes very much being on his feet and he wants his mom to help him walk around.
  
  E adesso a preso gusto a stare in piedi e vuole che la mamma o aiuti a camminare in giro.
  
  
• He walks well if I hold him with both hands and he can take a few steps if I hold him with only one hand. He also tries to walk parallel to the couch supporting himself with one hand.
  
  Cammina bene se lo tengo con due mani e fa qualche passo se lo tengo con una mano sola. Prova anche a camminare parallelo al divano appoggiandosi con una mano.
  
  
• He can squat from standing without support - but he can't get back up yet...
  
  Riesce ad accovacciarsi da in piedi senza supporto - ma non e' ancora capace di ritirarsi su...
  
  
• I think he is saying "mamma". I'm not really sure he knows it's a word yet, but I'm trying to repeat it back to him all the time to see if he gets it.
  
  Dice "mamma". Forse non sa che sia una parola, ma sto cercando di aiutarlo a capirlo ripetendoglielo ogni volta che lo dice.
  
  
• This is a bit of a private matter, but he has been dry for two nights since we came back here. He complains at night until I take him to the bathroom and twice we didn't use any diapers at all.
  
  Questa forse dovrebbe essere una cosa privata, ma per ben due notti da quando siamo arrivati qui non abbiamo avuto bisogno di usare pannolini. Lui si lamenta quando ha bisogno di andare in bagno e io lo porto. A volte qualche pannolino bagnato c'e' comunque, ma due volte si e' svegliato la mattina completamente asciutto.
  
  
• If I put an object in a box he knows the object is still there and he knows how to reach for it and take it out. He likes to bang objects. He likes to play with spoons, plates and food. He likes mango a lot, but only if it's cold. He drank some water and some apple juice (unsweetened). He is learning to use a sippy cup a bit more efficiently. He knows when I'm trying to remove his pants and he helps me lifting his feet one at a time. He also figured out that sleeves are ok and all you have to do is keep pushing and you will get your hand back. And much more, but I have to stop at some point...
  
  
• Se metto un oggetto in una scatola sa che l'oggetto esiste ancora ed e' capace a tirarlo fuori. Si diverte a sbattere oggetti uno contro l'altro. Gli piace giocare con cucchiai, piatti e cibo. Gli piace il sapore del mango, freddo. Ha bevuto un po' d'acqua e un po' di succo di mela (senza zucchero). Sta imparando ad utilizzare una di quelle tazze di allenamento per bambini piccoli, non so se sapete che cosa sono. Si rende conto di quando cerco di togliergli i pantaloni e mi aiuta alzando i piedi uno alla volta. Si e' anche abbastanza riconciliato con le maniche e ha capito che se continua a spingere prima puo' riavere la sua mano. E molto altro...
  
  
• Oh, and two teeth are almost there, really.
  
  E stanno anche per spuntare due dentini - sono li' che stanno per uscire ma chissa' quanto ci vorra'?
  
  
  

Now I leave you at the pictures and videos. The videos are nothing special, but I thought you might still appreciate a bit of Rajiv "live".

Ora vi lascio alle foto e ai video. Non e' niente di speciale, ma ho pensato che avreste comunque apprezzato un po' di Rajiv "live".

Happy eight months!

Ritratto di un bimbo di otto mesi...

Daily wonder

NOTA: La versione italiana e' in preparazione. Un po' di pazienza: stiamo lavorando per voi...

Warning: in this post I rave shamelessly about my child.

Just because I haven't been diligent in reporting little one's progress it doesn't mean that he has been quiet, on the contrary! In the last month and a half we have witnessed truly amazing changes - you have to be there day after day with a baby to appreciate how incredible it all is.

I wanted to post this for the seven month birthday, but I am late as usual. Still, you can sort of consider this as a seven month update.

• Rajiv started crawling around his six month birthday and in a few days he was already moving quite fast, especially towards sharp corners, hard obstacles and such. After about two weeks he was able to get off the bed on his own (I remind you once more that we are taking about a height of the order of ten centimeters here, but also consider that he is not much taller than that when he crawls...). He attracted lots of comments at the office for his early skills - good moments of motherly and fatherly pride! ;)
  
  
• But of course his real dream is standing and walking, we have an ambitious kid! He pulled up to stand once in his early crawling days, but he only started doing it consistently after we came to India. Now when he is in the playpen he spends most of the time standing against the walls and looking mischievously at us - and biting the edges of the playpen, of course.
  
  When we put him on the floor he practices pulling himself up using every piece of furniture he can find or the walls. He used to be quite unstable at first, but now he doesn't fall down very much - although it is painful when he does, so we follow him closely.
  
  If you take his hands he immediately stands up and enjoys being walk around.
  
  
• The next step in baby development should be "cruising", i.e. walking sideways holding on to something like a bed or a table. He attempted a couple of steps this way only once with some success. Sometimes he looks like he is trying to do it, but when he releases one hand he falls backwards. Fortunately he attempts this only when he is in the playpen, so his falls are well cushioned...
  
  
• I mentioned in my six month report that he seemed to be taking his time with "speaking". Well, about a week after I wrote that he started babbling, saying "BABABA" and even "BLABLABLA"! (Kelly interpreted it as a bored reaction to her chatter...) His favourite sound is still "G" though and you can tell he is happy if he says "GHIIIIII!".
  
  
• He definitely distinguishes between different songs now. If I sing something he hasn't heard before usually he will look puzzled, but if I sing one of his favorites almost invariably he smiles. We also have different songs for different purposes: "La gatta" to relax at feeding time, a counting elephants song for sleep, "Volare" for playtime and, for some reason, an over the top version of "La paloma" seems to have become the toilet song...
  
  
• I kept for last what is to me the most amazing fact.
  
  In the playpen there is a music box that has a plastic fish hanging from each side. If you pull one of the fish, two similar fish start swimming in a circle inside the box (you can see them through the transparent plastic screen) with a funny music accompanied by laughing sounds (the fish are having fun and so they laugh).
  
  Anyway, the point is that I thought this toy was way too advanced for a child his age, but instead about a month ago I saw that he was trying to pull the fish himself. At the beginning it was frustrating for him, because he knew what he wanted to do but it was hard for him to reach the fish and he wasn't very precise with his movements yet. Soon enough though he got it and even in the middle of the night if I put it in the playpen to take a break he would "jump" towards the fish and pull them to start the "fish dance" inside the box.
  
  In short, this is called understanding cause and effect. Now isn't it amazing?
  

Another birthday already

We have now officially overcome jet-lag! I am very much behind we all the things I wanted to post about, but I hope to catch up with at least a few now that we are all in better shape.

For the moment, here are our first picture of little one (and mom) in Chennai, from our walk at the beach early morning a few days ago.



Le prime foto del piccolino (e la sua mamma) a Chennai. Queste sono state scattare qualche giorno fa di mattina presto durante una passeggiata vicino alla spiaggia.



E tra l'altro... Buon complimese piccolino!

The six month report

Weight/Peso: 7.9 kg
Height/Altezza: 68.5 cm

(For those interested in graphs, growth charts and percentiles, go ahead and click on the picture below to make it bigger so you can actually read it.)



Just to have something to compare with, here below is the baby development table from Babycenter. For every age it give a list of things that most, some or a few babies are able to do. I thought it would be fun to compare the list with our own, based on our observations of little one's progresses. (Again, if you want to see the table just click to enlarge it.)



Let's start from the things he can clearly do. Yes, little one mouths objects and makes bubbles. His dad in fact will be very pleased to know that these are considered "milestones". He rolls, sits without support (but still keeping a hand on the floor to lean on), does every sort of push-ups and is beginning to crawl. He reaches for objects and drags them toward himself. He is also attracted by sounds and stops whatever he is doing if there is a sudden noise or a new interesting sound. He responds ("G!") if we talk to him. He seems to distinguish colors.

Then we come to the things that maybe he can do. I am not sure if he can pass objects from one hand to the other,I haven't really paid attention. We think he can recognize his name (we call him "piccolo", "little one" or "aaaaaapuuuu" in private), but only he knows if we are delusional.

Things he does not do. He doesn't really imitate sounds. For example, if mom says "G!" he says "G!", if mom says "ba ba ba" he says "G!" and so on. For the moment he is only using the consonant "g" and maybe occasionally "b", but mostly that happens if he tries to speak while keeping his mouth in contact with some object. He is also not really babbling yet, he doesn't put together syllables, but he still manages to make the cutest sound, especially when he wakes up in a good mood.

That's all for the moment. Have I forgotten anything?

6!

Little Rajiv has celebrated his first half year of life having his first introduction to solid food. It was only raw carrots, so he can't have ingested more than a few fragments and some juice, but I think he got the idea and liked it very much. So this is going to be carrot week. Cooked, next time...



Il piccolino ha festeggiato il suo primo mezzo anno di vita con un primo assaggio di cibo solido. Gli abbiamo dato due pezzi di carota cruda, quindi e' stato piu' un gioco che un pasto e non puo' avere ingerito piu' che un po' di succo e qualche scaglia. L'idea pero' sembra essergli piaciuta, quindi questa sara' la settimana delle carote! (Cotte, la prossima volta...)

Not a good birthday... :(

Riassunto per i lettori italiani: Purtroppo il piccolino e' dovuto andare dal dottore oggi, perche' il sito della vaccinazione anti-tubercolosi sembra essersi infettato. Sapevamo che un po' di reazione e' normale, ma oggi abbiamo visto che c'era del pus. Il dottore non era molto contento, ma ci ha detto di tornare tra qualche giorno per decidere se dare degli antibiotici. Vi terro' informati sugli sviluppi.

Today little Rajiv is five months! Unfortunately, we celebrated his birthday with a trip to the doctor. His BCG vaccination spot has been looking red and swollen for some time, but we got reassurance from various sources that it was to be considered normal.

Netdoctor.co.uk says:

The BCG vaccine usually causes a hardened lesion that may ulcerate and occasionally discharge. It heals over several weeks or months leaving a small flat scar. You should keep the area dry to allow it to heal, but it is not necessary to protect it from water during washing or bathing. Avoid covering it with waterproof (airtight) dressings or tight clothing, unless for short periods such as during swimming. If the ulcer starts to ooze you can cover it with a dry dressing until a scab forms, but you should still allow the air to get to it. Airtight dressings may delay the healing of the ulcer and cause a larger scar. If you get a more severe reaction or the ulcer persists seek medical advice from your doctor.

So we were not too worried, but today S. noticed that the lesion had turned green! There is clearly an infection going on there and it could be the explanation for some of the recent crankiness - maybe instead of the phantom teeth that never show up, who knows...

We went to see the doctor and he didn't seem too happy about the situation. This could also be because the BCG vaccine is not usually given here in Canada though, so maybe he hasn't seen so many cases. Still, the visit didn't make us feel better at all. The doctor suggested to apply warm compresses on the spot and to check little one's temperature to make sure he doesn't get a fever, but no matter how things evolve we plan to go back on Friday for a check up. We also could not see the usual doctor today and we would feel better if we could talk to him as well. Maybe little one will have to take some antibiotics, but hopefully he will not have to be too uncomfortable. I'll keep you updated.

Little one is four months! Il piccolino compie quattro mesi!

These first three months (a Very Long Story)

Little one is 3! Months, of course, but he has really grown up a lot since we first met him.

Rajiv was born on May 17th in Torino, Ospedale Mauriziano, at 2:29 AM. The first thing that S. told me after he was born was that he had his ears, as I had hoped. That made me quite happy. I only saw little one properly when he was brought back to us in his little baby bed wearing the red baby suit we had given. He had his eyes wide open and looked very aware and a bit intimidating. Of course he wasn't aware at all and he couldn't see a thing, but the impression was there anyway. He was also very cute, I didn't expect him to be so cute just after birth.

We were separated almost immediately and we met again at around 5:00, when the babies are usually brought back to the moms after the night. Giving birth is very disorienting and seeing your baby on a schedule doesn't make things easier at all, so I was looking forward to going home soon, so that we could get to know each other. Unfortunately Rajiv had high levels of bilirubin and had to stay in the hospital for a few days for phototherapy. It just means that the baby spends many hours exposed to a lamp, but it was quite unpleasant for me and S. because it meant that we could see our baby even less and we were getting very frustrated. So we were very happy and relieved when on the sixth day we were allowed to take him home.

The first day at home was marked by fruitless attempts to quench the thirst of the little monster, I mean, the little bundle of joy. I didn't have milk yet, so we were alternating attempts of feeding at the breast and larger and larger quantities of formula. Rajiv only slept for a few hours when we took him to see his grandparents and especially his aunt Francesca, who had not met him yet. She was surprised to see how small he was and showed him to Nero, Piccolina and Peppino, the cat formerly known as Kichu. When we returned home the little one resumed his expressions of discontent and cried until 3:00 AM. During this time his dad's favorite phrases where "He can't possibly still be hungry" and "I don't like this greedy side of his personality". But eventually it was over and we all slept until morning - one of only two times so far that I was able to sleep for five consecutive hours.

During the next days we practiced feeding at the breast, which proved to be harder than I had expected. Little one seemed to think the milk was going to come out from my elbow and it took every sort of tricks to get him to face the right direction. Still, within a few days we managed to stop giving formula supplements. At that point little one was eating every two or three hours at most, and usually more frequently during the night, but we got used to it and soon S. stopped waking up during the night so that he could be more rested and help during the day. In particular since the beginning he took over burping duties, which is a great help because our son needs to be burped almost constantly (Maybe beacuse he eats constantly? Uhm...). S. takes great pride in his burping skills, and likes to be known around the house as the Burper Supremo...

For the whole first month of his life little Rajiv couldn't bear to be put down to sleep on his own, so somebody had to hold him while he slept. At night I could only sleep if I managed to put him to sleep on my chest. When he wasn't sleeping he was usually eating or trying to eat or crying, at least until he started enjoying playing a little. The two things that saved our lives were a CD with womb-like (or factory-like, as you prefer to call it) sounds and the baby carrier. The CD would calm down Rajiv within seconds. Unfortunately the sounds are a little less pleasant for an adult ear, but fortunately we could reach a compromise playing the Rain On The Roof track of the CD, which is tolerable. However, for a really cranky baby there is no compromise and only factory sounds will work.

And the baby carrier. We tried it when Rajiv was about ten days old and he fell asleep in it instantaneously. Thanks to this wonderful discovery we were able to handle all the excess of bureaucracy that usually surrounds our lives. We could stay in line day after day at the passport office, at the health care office, at the visa office, the passport office again, and so on. We even went for half a day to Milano for the Indian Visa and Rajiv was amazingly well behaved.

(This is one of the pictures I took while trying to get a decent shot - mouth closed and eyes open - for Rajiv'e passport. The background is one of S.'s shirts spread on the bed.)

When he was two weeks old he started getting a bit more interested in small toys and we could put him down to look at toys hanging over him for a few minutes. He especially liked looking at a small mirror that is attached to his playmat and moving the mirror around. He also enjoyed his "tummy time" and was able to lift his head for a second very early. It seems that we have an athletic kid...

When Rajiv was almost one month old we moved to India. My mother came with us for the first couple of weeks to help while we were getting started with things. While she was here we also traveled to Calicut to spend some time with S.'s family and so Rajiv took his first long train trip. I kept him to sleep between me and the wall during the night, all wrapped up to fight the air-conditioning and it was not as bad an experience as I had expected - although the woman that was sharing the compartment with us must have thought it was pretty bad...

After this I started writing the blog, so you already know a bit of how little one's life developed until now. He is much bigger and taller of course, he lost part of the black hair he was born with, but some thinner brown hair is growing underneath. The jaundice has subsided and he has been generally healthy all this time, in spite of all the germs that his parents have spread around him. He doesn't try to eat from my elbow anymore: we have every sort of other small feeding problems, but he does know where the milk is now, because a few times he has attempted to lift my shirt when he was hungry. He smiles in the most charming way and seems to recognize us. The baby smile clearly carries a great evolutionary advantage, because it makes it impossible for the parents to donate the baby to the neighbours, as otherwise they might sometimes be tempted to do.

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...)