The normal self

The true tree-tamil girl (word courtesy: Neha Visvanathan) Avni cannot differentiate between ba and pa. She interchangeably says abba and appa (appa means dad in Tamil). Balan was pleased.. He was over the moon actually. When Avni’s fascination for sounds has found a new sound thatha (maternal grandpa (nana?)) and athae (paternal aunt), he was little disappointed that appa/abba is no longer heard but he is pleased that his daughter’s vocabulary is improving.

Avni can say dada and mama. she even says amma clearly sometimes when crying. unga is still her favourite sound which she says it now and then. When left alone, she makes several complicated sounds. When the Cbeebies is on, she goes totally excited and starts talking to the TV. Doesn’t show that excitement for Law&Order or for other similar programs.

As we are on updating milestones, let me just note it down that she can eat her own finger food. She drinks from her beaker on her own. We introduced the beaker after she turned six months old. She got the hang of it within a couple of days. At the moment water and juice are given in beakers. but I am still feeding milk in her bottle. I am looking to change that too to beaker in a few days.

Avni 7 months and 3 weeks or 33 weeks and 3 days (freaky number!) old

Meeting up with local play mates was fun. Avni’s squeals scared E. It was M’s 6 month birthday and R’s eighth month birthday. Avni met L for the first time. L was all crawling backwards. M has got two teeth and R has one already. G couldn’t come. he already had got one tooth when we met him last time itself.

Avni enjoyed her play date Tikku. Loved Tikku’s lovely smile. Aunt Ammani is her role model. not to get stuck in the motorway until midnight though.

Avni’s first big London trip. Thanks to Avni’s lovely aunties WA and Neha. Idlis and Ilayaraja rock, totally. No stranger anxiety and no any separation anxiety either. She was happy with WA and Neha. I even thought that she had forgotten that she has a mum for the whole time she was with them.  

Oh yes, Avni moved forward almost like crawling at Neha’s place.

I have started dealing with the separation anxiety. Avni is responding well to the nice good byes.

Avni showed symptoms of stranger anxiety a month ago. She started crying when unfamiliar people took her. She was ok for few minutes but burst into tears after a few minutes. It was also that many didn’t take time to be friendly with Avni before taking her. But, I decided to check that and deal with it if it is stranger anxiety. I took her to baby groups and regular meeting with antenatal group ladies and their babies. Avni is quite fine with them. She enjoys the company of other babies. She is fine to be left with other mothers too.

Avni is seven months and six days old or 31 weeks and two days old.

I had C section. I didn’t hold the baby for a complete four hours after delivery. I didn’t exclusively breastfeed my baby. I stopped even that bf after 3 months. My mother was around for the the first four months. Though she wasn’t the main carer for my baby, she spent quite a good amount of time with my baby. I have been the main carer and only carer during the day for my baby for the last three months. now, the bonding my baby has with me is really too much that I wish she tones it down a bit. She has this separation anxiety (more reading) with me. She wants to be sure that I am around her. She screams at any sign of me leaving her. stairs screaching sound, putting her in her walker, leaving her on the mat… I go to her to give her finger food or a toy, then she sees that as an opportunity to come to me, and throws away all her toys and finger food and lifts her hands asking me to hold her. It is sweet, but I want her to come out of this separation anxiety.

The other day she had her nose blocked. she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t sleep. She cried. but when I held her she stopped crying. She is associating any discomfort to me leaving her and associating my holding her to relieving her off her discomfort.

any suggestion welcome. thanks.

Avni is seven months and five days old or 31 weeks and a day old

Bouncer used to be my safe bet whenever I needed to leave her on her own. now, after her over exploring enthusiasm, it is not safe anymore. she cannot be left lying as she rolls over all over. sitting position isn’t safe either.

Thanks to the Hemel_Freecycle group, we are safe again. We got this walker from a kind person who decided to give it away. Thank you.

Avni is seven months and four days old or 31 weeks old

Avni is pushing herself up trying to stand up from sitting position. this is the latest thing she is upto. she doesn’t crawl, though she tries to be on four sometimes. But I think she will not crawl at all, as she can reach any place just by rolling over in all directions. Nothing is safe around her. she cannot be contained in the activity ring anymore as she knows how to get out of it! And can reach anything kept any far away from her.

bouncer is not for bouncing either and pram is her best teether

Yesterday drove around the Newforest area and stopped at Burley for few hours. Avni enjoyed the stroll.

Avni is 7 months old today or 30 weeks and three days old

Aphoovaa is a word. As in, Avni says aphoovaa. see! my girl has started talking, you know, properly! her first word is aphoovaa. other than her baa baa baaa ha ha and similar words

Avni is 7 monhs old today