Tough life

Il piccolo principe si era appena svegliato dal suo riposino pomeridiano, un po' di cattivo umore e probabilmente affamato (non sia mai!). Con prontezza abbiamo messo in atto le misure di emergenza: comoda postazione sul divano con coperta a portata di mano, video preferito con la mucca, orsacchiotti giganti (entrambi soprannominati PA-PI per qualche strana ragione), pasta col pesto avanzata e riscaldata ma non troppo (qui trovare l'equilibrio giusto e' un'arte). Aggiungiamo poi un servizio fotografico completo e la possibilita' di fare varie smorfie e rivederle sullo schermo. Vita dura eh, piccolo Appu?

Our little prince had just woken up from his afternoon nap and he was dangerously cranky and hungry from having almost skipped his lunch. Emergency measures were immediately taken: comfortable seat on the couch with blanket at hand, favorite farm-themed video (COW!), giant teddy bears (PA-PI!), left-over pasta with pesto (PAS!) reheated but not too much (otherwise it's OT and then one has to spit it out, right?) . Add mom taking pictures, giving the chance to try different poses and grins. Tough life, don't you think?

Bye Bye Bed :(

In preparation for the arrival of the new baby we have decided to substitute our trusted Ikea futon bed with a king size bed (american terminology only, maybe? it just means a larger bed). This was an absolute necessity if we are to sleep in four in the same bed. Already now most of the space seems to be taken by just one person, with the other two pushed to the edges of the bed. No need to say who that person is... Anyway, as of tonight, we are sleeping on a regular bed, like everybody else. No more mattress almost on the floor, with frame as mere decoration at 3cm above the floor. I feel sad, although Appu and S. don't seem to share the feeling.

In memory of the older bed (Picture from 25/02/08, ages ago!):

The Great Canadian Spring

This however, should be the last big snowstorm of the season. Soon Appu should be able to start riding his "carrrrr" more regularly.

La primavera ha fatto una breve apparizione e poi ci ha lasciati sotto la neve. Presto comunque non ci saranno piu' ostacoli tra Appu e la sua macchinina rossa!





Note: These pictures were taken today morning. Since then many more centimeters of snow have accumulated and we don't seem to see the end of it. But as I said, this is the last one, so cheer up!

Time to empty the memory card

Un po' di foto dell'ultimo mese e mezzo circa. Nelle prime due siamo a Torino e Appu indossa felicemente le bellissime scarpe verdi della mamma.

The first two pictures are from our Italy trip last month and Appu is happily walking around in his mom's beautiful green shoes.



Ancora a Torino, Appu con il suo papa'.

Do we need to comment on this one?


Le scarpe di mamma hanno tanti utilizzi, per esempio possono servire a contenere la collezione di macchinine. Purtroppo non ho una foto di Appu in queste scarpe, ma vi assicuro che lui cammina benissimo anche con i tacchi alti.

Still in Torino, mommy's shoes put to a more creative use. Appu liked to wear these ones too, but regrettably I don't have photographic proof of it. Nor do I have pictures of the party here in Canada when a girl made him wear her high heeled boots...


Le altre foto invece sono tutte dal Canada, fresche di ieri.

The remaining pictures instead are from Waterloo, and specifically from our kitchen, taken yesterday.




Appu gioca co il suo "tu-tuuuuuu" (sopra) e con la sua "bak" (sotto).

Appu plays with his "tu-tuuuuuu" (above) and with his "bak" (below).



E questo e' tutto per ora. Saluti dal Canada innevato.

That's all from now. Greetings from frosty Canada.

Le prime Superga

Appu loves balloons

Happiness is...

... being fed yogurt by your dad while wearing your new red shoes.



Happiness is also getting the yogurt all smeared on your face, of course...


..,but dad is quick with the napkins!

Ready to go (almost)

Here we are in our trusted babywearing winter jacket. Almost ready to go, because normally mommy likes to wear a hat too, and has her backpack (which is also good for balance... no, not really).





Eccoci qui quasi pronti ad uscire con la nostra giacca per marsupiali. Mancano solo il berretto e lo zaino della mamma e poi si parte!

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.

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?
  

A few of his favourite things

Some things that make Rajiv laugh or smile - Alcune cose che fanno ridere o sorridere Rajiv:

• Somebody smiling at him
  
  Una persona che gli sorride
  
  
• Singing a song to him
  
  Cantargli una canzone
  
  
• Rolling on the bed with mom or dad
  
  Rotolare sul letto con mamma o papa'
  
  
• Tickling him...
  
  Il solletico...
  
  
• Kisses, including flying kisses directed at him
  
  Baci, anche i baci da lontano
  
  
• Taking a bath and splashing the water everywhere!
  
  Fare il bagno e spruzzare l'acqua dappertutto!
  
  
• Meeting again mom and dad after some time with the babysitter
  
  Rivedere mamma e papa' dopo un paio d'ore con la babysitter
  
  
  
• Saying "Bububububu", "Baabaaabaaa" and such very near to his face
  
  Dire "Bububububu", "Baabaaabaaa" e simili guardandolo negli occhi
  
  
• Being transported in a nice blue towel after having going to the toilet and having had his bottom well washed
  
  Essere trasportato nel suo asciugamano azzurro dopo essere andato in bagno e essere stato ben lavato
  
  
• Being lifted by his armpits and cycling his legs in the air
  
  Essere solevato da sotto le ascelle e agitare le gambe per aria
  
  
• The other baby in the mirror
  
  L'altro bimbo nello specchio
  
  
• Rhythmic sounds and movements (he loves it when we make him dance!)
  
  Suoni e movimenti ritmici
  
  
• Red objects
  
  Oggetti rossi
  
  
• The noise of an empty can falling on the floor
  
  Il rumore di una lattina vuota che cade per terra
  
  
• A shelf full of books
  
  Uno scaffale pieno di libri
  

Getting ready for solid food

Rajiv si prepara ad affrontare il cibo solido:

...
...
...

Wrapping pictures

This is from a couple of weeks ago. Not too good, but it was my first attempt at a hip carry. He seemed fine, anyway. We went for a walk in the park and he enjoyed the view from this new position.







These ones instead are from today, with my new "Maya Sling". Again, the technique still needs improvement (the ring is not supposed to be there in the middle), but I think that we were comfortable enough. We inaugurated the new sling at the wine and cheese Friday event at the institute and I think it was a success. We were certainly the brightest!

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.

Musical preferences

When we went to Calicut last time we bought a CD of Malayalam songs and poetry for children. In fact I am quite proud to say that I picked it myself, with my amazing shopping instinct that breaks through the barriers of language... Anyway, it seemed like a good thing to try, since we are always looking for tools to help in the task of raising our child trilingual.


The CD is very well made: it has both religious and non-religious songs, sung by a variety of different voices and you can choose if you prefer to display predominantly on the screen the lyrics or some simple animations that illustrate each song.

Once as we were playing the songs for Rajiv we noticed that he was looking at the drawings on the screen, so we put him on his tummy facing the screen - both baby and laptop on the bed - and he stayed there silently for a long time staring carefully (now maybe I am reading to much into his little focused expression...) at the figures that appeared as different songs were played.

He was quiet until we played what S. tells me is a lullaby. This is accompanied by pictures of a mother with a child and our own little one started trying to reach for the figures on the screen, pushing with his legs behind him and making cute enthusiastic noises. I think that maybe it's because he likes looking at faces, or maybe he can tell it is the picture of a baby? Or maybe he just likes the song?

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...)

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...