Art time

In questa puntata, il nostro Appu disegna con i pastelli. Non si sa bene quando sia successo, ma improvvisamente il piccolo Rajiv sembra essere capace di stare seduto per un po' di tempo a fare cose tipo giocare con le costruzioni, sfogliare dei libri e farseli leggere, o disegnare. Ovviamente assaggia anche i pastelli, ma molto meno di una volta, e soprattutto... non gli piacciono! Li sputa! Evviva!

Today we had fun with crayons. As some of you know we have been more or less confined at home for a few days because I had tendinitis and we have had to come up with ways to pass the time. Fortunately this coincides with a new phase of my little one's life in which he suddenly seems to have a decent attention span - he even lets me read to him... So today we sat down and made pictures for more than an hour (!!!).



I put on the floor the top of an ex Ikea coffee table and we used that as art station. He sat on it for the whole time, it was amazing. In fact he sat right on his "canvas" for the whole time, I think it might be the beginning of a new art wave.












As I said, he likes to sit on his work, hence only half gets colored, but the result is quite attractive (says the mom...).



The happy artist!

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!

-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...
  

Mischief managed!

Or, Little Rajiv And The Raiders Of The Recycling Bin.

Tutto tace e la mamma sta lavorando tranquillamente al computer, ma dov'e' il piccolo Rajiv? E soprattutto, quanta carta sara' riuscito ad ingoiare prima di essere scoperto?

And after all that work, time to relax

Here you get a glimpse at our bed-time routine.

So you see, he doesn't ALWAYS smile

Questa foto e' di qualche giorno fa. This is from a few days ago.

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?
  

Drama King! - Arte drammatica

Pictures from the weekend. Little one was practicing crawling - with great effort and little success - on our bed and I was trying to document his progress. But as you can see he couldn't resist doing a bit of acting for the camera.



Fotografie del finesettimana. Il piccolino stava facendo un po' di ginnastica sul nostro letto, ma quando ha visto la macchina fotografica ha pensato bene di esibirsi in una serie delle sue espressioni migliori.



This one above is one of my favorite pictures so far, but the one below is the cutest...

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