Vyom's Annaprashana

Today we had Vyom's annaprashana and it went off really well. I am just putting one pix of Vyom because I am leaving for Belgium for Interspeech and will write in detail about the Annaprashana when I return on 2nd Sept.

This is also the first time that Vyom is going to stay without me for more than the office-day, so, all fingers crossed..

Its the night before...

..the annaprashana and Vyom is asleep in his COT!! Yes, it is Vyom's annaprashana tomorrow morning when he will taste food other than milk for the very first time, and his Sri masi has got him his very own cot for this special day.

She spent a long time trying to fix the cot well.

And was occasionally helped by baba

And when they had the cot all ready, masi put Vyom into it.

Doesn't he look totally Happy!

A Taste in Literature

In this family we believe that you are never to young to start on books. Masis are a lifelong source of books for children in our family and Vyom's are no exception. His Purva masi had got him two books even before his eyes could focus properly.

He loves reading The Squishy Turtle and Friends with his mamma.










And like a good (half) Bengali he knows that yummy food can come from the sea.

But he wants to grow up fast so that he can read grown-up books like Baba which have no pretty pictures at all.

Uncles, Aunts and Other Little Creatures

Last Sunday, Vyom talked to Pinka masi for the first time. Rather, Pinka masi spoke to him while he drooled intensely into the phone receiver.
The same afternoon Sashu didi, Skanda dada, Radhika mami and Srig mama came to visit Vyom and got him loads of lovely new clothes.

He was really excited to learn that there are people in the world nearer his size, and Sashu didi and Skanda dada were equally excited to see how tiny Vyom was compared to them.

Skanda dada put on the twinkling musical star that is Vyom's most favourite toy in the gym.

Later in the evening, Bishwaroop came with his parents especially to see Vyom.

And today he met another Kaka, Pavel's cousin Laltu came visiting this evening and saw Vyom for the first time.

It's good that Vyom is getting to meet people other than his parents, grandparents and masis because when he goes to Delhi next month he will be meeting इतनी सारी मासी, इतनी सारी नानी , इतने सारे मामू, इतने सारे नानू।

Baby Talk

Vyom is really talking these days. He can hold a conversation for upto ten minutes at a time and can go from really soft to really loud ,

as in "oy" look at me I am flying.

His really favourite word remains "ingay" that comes in different tones and timbre that range from a very soft and gentle "how are you" to a very long drawn "oh please stop" in total disgust.



Over the weekend, he expanded his vocabulary from the usual ooh, aah, aye, gaye and surprised his mom with an " aaee wervoo". But before the ecstatic mom could go overboard she was brought to earth with a loud and clear " goway".

Any attempts to record Vyom's chattering results in total clam up and a non-cooperative movement that would be the envy of satyagrahis.

Vyom is totally bored with my attempts to get him to speak to the camera.

My Little Big Boy

Vyom's getting bigger every day and not only because he has graduated to size medium diapers :-)

You know your baby is a big boy when he can hold his bottle all by himself with both his hands

wanderlust

Yesterday we took Vyom to IIMB to visit his Sri masi. Sri masi has just finished her first term exams so we decided to go and check on her before she got busy with the next term classes and papers and assignments and yet more exams. We also thought that Vyom would enjoy a ride in his stroller through the sylvan surrounding of the institute. Unfortunately, it started raining as soon as we got there. But Vyom had a nice nap and jabbered away with his mamma thereafter.

He also had fun seeing Sri masi again.

But on the way back the traffic was so awful that it took us two hours to cover 15 kms. Thankfully, Vyom slept all the way back except for sometime when hunger pangs struck.

To make up for yesterday, today Vyom had an outing with his Tha'mma, Dadu, Baba and Mamma. The adults were hungry so went to New Krishna Bhawan in Malleshwaram for some yummy south indian snacks. After watching the green masala idli in some wonder, Vyom decided to get some shuteye. He enjoyed the long walk afterwards around Sankey Tank and as usual attracted a lot of attention from fellow walkers.

He was a happy baby after so many compliments

But being cute is hard work and he needs his beauty sleep.

Singing Smart Symphonies

Yesterday evening we played "Smart Symphonies" for Vyom. Our friends Srig and Radhika had given this cd to us when Vyom was born and it contains short snippets from various Western classical music compositions, including the flight of the bumblebee and the dance of the sugarplum fairy from the nutcracker. I don't know if it actually had any effect on Vyom's ability to think, learn or relate to others (the music in this cd is supposed to make him "smart") but it definitely encouraged him to practise singing along with it. He got very excited ( the music was also supposed to calm him down) and started coo-ing and then burst into loud "aahs" as the tempo increased. He has been listening to music on Internet Radio (favourite station: Hip Young Parents) too but this was his first attempt at singalong.





He has been trying to sing solos for a long time though!