Photo from daycare

As usual I have a huge backlog of pictures to post.


Let me start from this one we got from the daycare center where Appu goes in the mornings. This one was taken on the day before Pongal and hence the semi-traditional dress. I think Appu should wear those things more often, they suit him. If only they weren't so difficult to wash...

Appu is having a good time at daycare it seems, but I feel a bit bad for him. Just as he gets used to a new place we move him again... I hope he doesn't mind too much, at least for now.

Daycare update

Rajiv si sta trovando molto bene al suo nuovo nido "casalingo". Va da una signora di nome Sally, che guarda lui e tre o quattro altri bambini a seconda dei giorni. Da quando abbiamo cambiato nido non e' piu' triste di salutarci al mattino, che sollievo!

Today Rajiv and I had our longest separation so far. We dropped him at Sally's house at around 9 and we picked him up at 3:30. Apparently he was fine, he napped easily at the same time as the other kids and didn't cry at all. He really seems to enjoy this new daycare solution and this is such a relief.

There are three or four other kids there, depending on the day. They are all older than him so he has fun trying to imitate them. For example there is a small toddler sized slide and after seeing the other kids he is now sliding down on his own, without help. Mommy is so proud...

He is going to be at Sally's every day from now on, until our next big trip in December. We are so happy that this seems to be working out!

Bits

Sorry, there doesn't seem to be time for proper posts these days, so bullets will have to do:

• Rajiv has learned to clap his hands. Now if we clap, most of the times he claps back. I know it's a basic skill, but mommy is amazed!
  
  Rajiv ha imparato a battere le mani, dopo vari mesi passati a cercare di insegnarglielo. Adesso se uno di noi batte le mani lui ci imita felice.
  
  
• We think he might be getting some words, apart from "mamamama". Yesterday we noticed he was saying "bukbukbuk" while holding a book and his babysitter Kristen confirmed that she also heard suspicious "b" sounds in presence of books. So it seems that little one is starting with English. What a disappointment... I mean, great!
  
  Il piccolino sta iniziando a dire qualche pezzetto di parola. In particolare ci sembra che stia cercando di dire "book" ("libro"). Vai Rajiv!
  
  
• By the way, Rajiv is happy with the new babysitter and so are we. She helps us out for a few hours three times a week and will stay with us until the first week of August. After that we have a very promising home daycare lined up, with a lady called Sally who was recommended to us by our neighbours.
  
  Rajiv ha subito fatto amicizia con la nuova babysitter Kristen. Lei ci dara' una mano fino alla prima settimana di Agosto e poi Rajiv iniziera' pian piano ad andare ad un nuovo nido che promette molto bene. Speriamo!
  
  
• In the meantime the work on the house goes on. We painted our bedroom, a major effort that involved working late at night while little one slept and camping in the living room for about a week to avoid the fumes. The color turned out to be quite different from what we expected, but we like it (and even if we didn't we would repaint).
  
  Next big project: dishwasher installation. We managed to remove the old one yesterday night. Now all we have to do is remove the small dead mouse from behind the cabinet and install the new dishwasher. That should be fun...
  
  Intanto il lavoro nella casa nuova procede. Abbiamo ridipinto la notra camera da letto - dormendo nel soggiorno per una settimana - e adesso ci prendiamo una meritata pausa dalla pittura. La prossima impresa invece e' installare la lavastoviglie. Ieri sera abbiamo rimosso quella vecchia e domani da bravi idraulici tenteremo di installare quella nuova. Le risate...
  

Woo - hoooo !!!

Yesterday we handed over the keys of the flat. No more going there every day to pick up "the few small things it was not worth asking the movers to take"... No more sorting through infinite junk and finding ways to fit it all in the car! From today on we can focus entirely on the new place.

Now, however, Appu is with the new babysitter, Kristen, and we are in the office trying to work. So enough with blogging and let's try to get something done!

Bye bye Kelly

This is Kelly, the babysitter I have often mentioned in the blog and who saved us from disaster in the past months. Appu really likes her and in fact he is smiling at her picture as I type this (too cute!).

I say "bye bye" in the title because starting next month she will not be looking after our little one anymore, although I am sure we will still have plenty of opportunities to meet. She is giving a try to freelance editing instead, while taking time to finish her novel. So good luck to Kelly - I will post a link to her site as soon as I find it again - and good luck to us in finding somebody else as good as her for our little Appu!



Questa e' Kelly, la babysitter che si e' presa cura di Appu di tanto in tanto da Settembre. Adesso Kelly ha deciso di dedicarsi a tempo pieno alle sue attivita' editoriali e al romanzo che sta scrivendo. Ci dispiace un po', perche' Appu le si e' affezionato molto, ma continueremo sicuramente a frequentarci. Nel frattempo, incrociando le dita, abbiamo forse trovato un'altra persona che ci possa aiutare e che ci ispira fiducia.

Quindi buona fortuna a Kelly con il suo libro e a noi con la nuova babysitter!

Feeling better

At least little one is, the mom will still need a couple of days probably. Anyhow, once again we have survived the terrible curse of the germ-sharing at daycare, what's next?

Stiamo meglio. Appu e' quasi del tutto guarito e anche io spero di essere di nuovo in forma in un paio di giorni.

Daycare arrangements

In case you were wondering, these are our present daycare arrangements:

Monday - No daycare, Rajiv spends all day with mom
Tuesday - Rajiv goes to daycare: I try and drop him around 10:00 AM, I send some time there with him and reach the office by 11:00 for the weekly string theory seminar. I go back and pick him up at around 2:00 PM and then we spend some more time in the office together before going home.
Wednesday - We spend the morning at home and go to the institute for lunch (free buffet on wednesdays!), then we return home and wait for Kelly who arrives at 1:30. She stays until 4:30 and I try and spend some productive (almost too funny...) time in the office.
Thursday - Rajiv goes to daycare again for three or four hours. There is nothing scheduled for me on Thursdays, so I just drop him when we feel like it.
Friday - Kelly comes again in the afternoon to look after Rajiv while I attend the strings group meeting. She comes at 1:30 and stays until 3:30, more or less. Then I pick up Rajiv from home and we go back to the institute where we socialize a bit at the weekly wine and cheese event (neither wine nor cheese for us though, we just go there to hang around and look cute).

Weekend with mom, of course.

----- ----- -----

Per chi se lo stesse chiedendo, la settimana di Rajiv al momento e' organizzata cosi':

Lunedi' - Tutto il giorno con la mamma, a casa o in ufficio.
Martedi' - Al nido dalle 10:00 alle 14:00 circa, cosi' la mamma puo' andare al seminario di stringhe e anche lavorare un po'. Dopo il nido si sta ancora un po' in ufficio e poi si va a casa.
Mercoledi' - La mattina a casa, il pranzo in istituto (c'e' un buffet ogni mercoledi') e poi di nuovo a casa ad aspettare la babysitter Kelly. Rajiv sta con Kelly dalle 13:30 alle 16:30, mentre la mamma e' in ufficio.
Giovedi' - Nido, per tre o quattro ore, poi un po' di tempo in ufficio.
Venerdi' - Kelly sta con Rajiv dalle 13:30 alle 15:30 mentre la mamma partecipa al meeting settimanale del gruppo di stringhe. Poi vado a prendere Rajiv e lo porto con me in istituto dove socializziamo un po' al rinfresco di fine settimana.

Sabato e domenica con la mamma, un po' a casa e un po' in ufficio.

Here we are...

Don't worry, it's not always this cold, but it seems we have a few icy days ahead. We are well protected though, one of these days I might post a picture of how we go around in the great Canadian outdoors (ehm, I mean between here and the office...).

We reached Waterloo last Saturday after a very long journey, 22 hours of flight and many little airport adventures. The trip wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but neither me nor the little one were in our best mood. Rajiv took a little while to adjust to the new environment, but very soon he was happily exploring all the most dangerous corners of the house.

Facts of notice in the past week:

• We seem to have overcome jet-lag at last! At first little one was going to bed "for the night" around lunch time, but yesterday evening he slept a little after seven.
• We went to the daycare center a couple of times and I left Rajiv there alone for a bit more than an hour. He loves the place, at lest now that it's still all new. There are lots of toys and the kids are mostly older than him (they keep together children up to 18 months), so they are quite interactive. There is a kid that likes pulling his hair though, and made him cry twice while I was there. It's horrible, but little one didn't allow this to keep him sad for more than a few seconds.
• Rajiv also met again his babysitter Kelly and seemed to recognize her. He is very happy when he sees her and they seem to be having a good time together.
• Yesterday we went to an "open house" social event at the institute and there were lots of activity for kids. We took part in a demonstrative music class for babies and children and we had fun. Little one liked a little drum very much and played it for a while (and chewed on the stick naturally). Overall it was a very nice afternoon.
  
• Even at home Rajiv is expanding his musical talents. He plays the xylophone by lifting is and letting it fall back on the ground. He seems to be very amused by the sounds he can produce this way. I am also showing him how to leave the xylophone on the floor and drop small blocks and plastic objects on it instead. He likes that, but not as much as dropping the instrument itself. (By the way, I really wonder what we did with the xylophone stick...)
  

That's all for now. I still have lots of pictures from India to show, so I might post those next.

Giovedi' scorso

The pictures below were taken last Thursday. That expression on little one's face is normal these days, another sign that the teeth are almost out. We can see some whiteness under the gums, but who knows how long it will take to surface. Hopefully it will be over soon, because poor little Rajiv seems to be very uncomfortable.

Le foto qui sotto sono di giovedi' scorso. L'espressione da pesce e' abbastanza usuale in questi giorni, probabilmente per via del fastidio alle gengive dovuto ai denti che stanno spuntando. Si vede del bianco in trasparenza sotto le gengive, speriamo che manchi poco.



Thursday was an eventful day, because little one went to hear a talk by his dad. As I mentioned at some point, one of the baby-sitters has abandoned us under very shady circumstances and we haven't been able to contact her again. Not that at this point we would leave Rajiv with her anyway. So this week Rajiv came with us to the group meeting, because his dad was speaking and his mom didn't want to miss it.

Fortunately the meeting is quite informal and is held in a place with a lot of room to walk around, so Rajiv could sit in his carrier for about half of the time and sleep or explore the room (only drawback: mm had to be in constant motion). After a while Rajiv decided that he had seen enough of the room and asked to be taken out of the carrier, which I did, and we went away from the meeting for a little while - missing unfortunately the most interesting part. We went back towards the end and little one gave a couple of comments during questions time. Not too bad overall, he didn't scream or cry, just occasionally "talked". I think most colleagues were ok with his presence.

Giovedi' e' stata una giornata densa di eventi. Come ho accennato in precedenza, abbiamo avuto dei problemi con una delle baby-sitter, che e' scompara senza lasciare traccia in circostanze sospette. Non e' stata ancora sostituita e probabilmente non lo sara' per questo semestre. In conseguenza di tutto cio', il piccolino ha assistito al suo primo seminario di fisica, con oratore niente meno che il suo papa'! Era un seminario informale e io e il piccolino abbiamo potuto camminare per la stanza liberamente, cosi' Rajiv ha potuto distrarsi quando c'era qualche parte del seminario che lo interessava un po' meno. Nel complesso l'esperienza e' stata un successo, anche se purtroppo abbiamo dovuto lasciare la stanza per un po' proprio in un momento che era particolarmente interessante per la mamma (ma chiaramente non per Rajiv).


Another important event last Thursday was a visit to the daycare center that we might use part-time starting in February, when Rajiv and I will be back in Canada without S... :(. After the bad experience we have had with the last baby-sitter we have reconsidered the idea of the daycare center, because it seems a safer and more controlled option. We liked the place, at least compared with what I have heard about other centers. I wouldn't want to leave Rajiv there for the whole day though, we might just start with one or two days a week for a few hours, at least until he is a bit older.

Un altro evento importante di giovedi' e' stata la visita al nido. Abbiamo deciso che affidarsi alle baby-sitter riserva troppe sorprese e potrebbe essere meglio mandare il piccolino al nido per qualche ora al giorno, un paio di giorni a settimana. L'idea non mi rende felicissima, pero' e' una cosa che dovrebbe succedere a Febbraio, quando Rajiv avra' quasi nove mesi. Credo che a quel punto si annoierebbe a stare tutto il giorno in ufficio o a casa con me, quindi potrebbe essere alla fine essere una cosa positiva per lui.



Note: I wrote most of this post a few days ago, but there are still no good news about the teeth. The only change is that now Rajiv cries at night as well, which is very unusual for him.

The neverending babysitter pain

This was going to be the first week in which we managed to have somebody looking after the little one on all four days that we need, two hours per day, for a total of eight hours by the end of the week. This has never happened before, in spite of all our efforts. And it is not going to happen this week either, because today the babysitter didn't show up at the agreed-upon time, so I had to miss a meeting and stay home with Rajiv. It is so frustrating...

What's happening around here

I haven't posted for some time, so I feel I owe a few updates to my faithful readers...

• The nanny problem seems to be close to a (temporary) solution. We are meeting on Tuesday with a candidate baby-sitter, which we have already decided to hire no matter what (well, unless she looks really unreliable, as in more unreliable than us...) because we are desperate. So we will have two different baby-sitters, covering four hours a week each. It is not ideal, but it's a start. We sort hope that next semester the first baby-sitter, Kelly, whom we love more than words can say, will ditch her current employers and give all her availability to us. Otherwise the hunt will go on...
  
  
• Little one is beginning to get acquainted with the Canadian weather. The temperature has suddenly dropped and he has a cold. Probably our trip to the Italian Consulate Toronto on Friday with too long walks at too early hours didn't help. We are going back tomorrow - Indian Consulate this time, for even more fun... - but this time there will be more clothing and less walking in the freezing wind, at least in our plans.
  
  
• Cold aside, Rajiv is really cranky. I am having more and more problems feeding him, even when he is obviously very hungry. He also cries more than he used to, even at night. This is new because although we were used to frequent awakenings through the whole night, he was always very easy to handle. Now even that seems to be gone. Maybe he is teething. I know we have bee suspecting this for a couple of months now, but the doctor said it could be a very slow process and maybe it is culminating now. I really hope to see some teeth soon, although S. and I feel sad at the idea of losing his charming toothless smile...
  

Nanny update (an excuse for more pictures)

This is how we found little one yesterday coming home after our two hour long separation from him. Not only he seems to get along well with Kelly, and - perhaps more importantly at this stage - she with him, but she is also able to put him peacefully to sleep when he needs it. She also doesn't mind using some cloth diapers, which is not to be taken for granted. (By the way, new nappy post coming soon...)



Unfortunately our search for another babysitter for the days when Kelly is busy is not over yet. We thought we had a good candidate (where by "good" I just mean that her schedule more or less meets our needs) and we were supposed to meet her today, but she called five minutes before our appointment to cancel it. Last minute cancellation tendencies are not exactly what I look for in a sitter, but we will meet her tomorrow anyway and see how it goes. We will probably end up giving her a try no matter what, because we don't have any alternatives. And to make matters worse, the schedule of seminars at the institute keeps changing... ;(

Childcare

We are trying to figure out the best child care solution for our situation. We need to find something for now, just for a few hours to be able to attend meetings and seminars at the institute, and something a bit more extended (but not too much) for when I will return to Canada without S. after Christmas.

As I said before, there is Kelly, the wife of another postdoc, who does babysitting at the moment, but unfortunately the schedule of meetings was changed last week and now it doesn't fit with Kelly's schedule anymore. She was able to help us this week though. We left Rajiv at home with her twice, for about two hours each time, and things seemed to go well. He didn't seem to be scared of being with a stranger, I think he is too young for that kind of reaction. I left some of my milk in a bottle for him both times - the expressing and storing milk part of leaving him with someone else is more difficult and stressful than I would have imagined - but he didn't seem to be interested. The first time he drank only half of the small quantity of milk I had left for him and the second time apparently he didn't want to drink from the bottle at all. Of course these were very short separations, but this is going to be quite important if I decide to leave him with somebody else for longer periods of time.

We might still use Kelly's help in the future, but we need to find some other solution as well, so we are looking into daycare centers, with no luck so far. Typically one needs to be on the waiting list for a couple of years before being accepted by one of these centers and most don't seem so attractive to me anyway. They have things like diaper changing schedule, meaning that all children are changed every so many hours at the same time. So what is "something" happens five minutes after the changing time? They sit in it until it's time again?

Small home childcare centers are also an option, but we haven't found anything good yet. We were referred to one lady who is apparently very experienced and accepts infants but she still has to return my call after a few days and anyway the same person who gave me her name now seems to have changed her mind and is actually discouraging me from choosing this solution. Apparently when she was checking out the place last week a child fell down the stairs... lovely.

The institute is supposed to help us sorting this out, but I think that our situation is quite unlike others they have had experience with. They promised to come up with some suggestions by next week, so we will have some updates then. For the moment the conclusion is that finding good daycare is very very hard and finding not so good daycare is very very hard anyway... :(

Primi giorni in Canada

Here is what we have to report about our first days here... :)

• Rajiv seems to like his new house. When we came in I immediately showed him his room and I put him down in his crib where I had arranged some toys for him. He played happily and he seemed comfortable. He will sleep with us at night, but the crib is a good place for him to take naps or play without risks of him getting hurt if we are not in the room. I am having fun showing him all the little things that we had got for him before he was born: little toys and books and so on. The clothes that seemed so big when I bought them now fit him just right!
  
  Rajiv sembra contento nella sua nuova casa. Appena arrivati gli ho mostrato la sua stanza e l'ho messo nel suo piccolo lettino bianco a giocare con i giocattoli che avevo preparato per lui prima di partire. Di notte dorme con noi, ma ha fatto anche gia' qualche sonnellino nel suo letto e sebra che stia abbastanza comodo.
  
  
• We have introduced Rajiv to most of the people we know here and he has been adorable with everybody. Mostly we received comments about his bright eyes, which is also what I like the most...
  
  Rajiv ha gia' incontrato molte delle persone che conosciamo qui e ha fatto grandi sorrisi a tutti. Riceviamo soprattutto complimenti per i suoi occhi vivaci e la sua aria allegra.
  
  
• We are having a few difficulties in getting around, because the rules here are very strict and a baby is not allowed even on a taxi without a car seat. Anyway as I already mentioned, we have bought a used car - and a new car seat that costs a significant fraction of the price of the car, so soon we should be able to move more easily.
  
  Abbiamo avuto qualche problema a spostarci, perche' qui le regole sono molto severe e i bambini non possono viaggiare neanche in taxi senza seggiolino. Abbiamo comprato il seggiolino e per il momento lo spostiamo da una macchina all'altra. Abbiamo comprato una macchina usata (Honda Civic 1997) e dovremmo entrarne in possesso tra qualche giorno. Nel frattempo andiamo oggi ad informarci su come ottenere una patente di guida valida in Ontario.
  
  
• We have discovered one more way to make the little one laugh: he goes into hysterics if his hands - or feet - are rubbed against his father's beard. He says he won't shave anymore.
  
  Abbiamo scoperto un modo nuovo per far ridere il piccolino: impazzisce se le sue mani - o i piedi - vengono strofinate sulla barba di suo papa'.
  
  
• Yesterday morning I went jogging with Rajiv for the first time. It was very cold so we stayed only for ten minutes (mommy already has a cold) but now that we have taken this first step I am sure we will go again soon.
  
  Ieri mattina sono andata a correre con Rajiv per la prima volta. Faceva molto freddo e siamo rimasti solo dieci minuti, ma il primo passo e' fatto!
  
  
• We might have found a babysitter for Rajiv. Her name is Kelly and she is the wife of another string theory postdoc at PI. We haven't met yet, but our email exchanges so far seem promising.
  
  Forse abbiamo trovato una babysitter per Rajiv. Si chiama Kelly ed e' la moglie di un altro postdoc. Dovremmo incontrarlala settimana prossima, ma sono gia' convinta che sia una buona soluzione, almeno per un po'.
  
  

The rest later...

Il resto a un'altra volta...