I read a lot of mommy blogs and always wonder how they manage to get a blog post out every other day, have a spotless home, manage bosses from hell, soothe a sleepless infant, and climb Mt. Everest--all at once. Well, the Mt.Everest part I made up but the rest is there for all to see on their blogs.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, I started this blog with the noble intention of recording everything our little wonder decides to grace us with--including the occasional colorful poop.
Well, as I've lately realized, superwomandom is not an affliction I suffer from, so I must console myself with one blogpost a year (no kidding!), a house that looks like a disaster zone, and a rumbunctious toddler with six super sharp teeth.
Yes, our boy wonder is now officially a toddler. The months came and went in a speedy blur and he went from tentatively tasting baby cereal to chewing on cables and eating paper.
Oh, what have I missed to record (only everything). Well, here's my valiant attempt to atleast capture some of the cool stuff.
At exactly three weeks old, Vishnu decided to sleep through the night, yes through the entire night for 12 hours (woke up twice to quietly nurse but since we co-sleep it was no hassle at all). He's continued the pattern ever since, now not even waking to nurse, and drags me to bed by 8 pm everyday. So now I sleep for 11 hours too. For someone who'd never go to bed before 1:00 am this took some getting used to. Anyway, I've begun to read with a vengeance.
The Daytona 500 moved and landed in our living room when he was 5 months old. Well, we bought him a walker and he would cruise along at breakneck speed in his Totrider 2 and smile at us as if to say "I bet you can't do that, now can ya"
Mommy wanted to pass her love of literature to the boy and so took him to the bookstore when he was six months old. All my hopes of reading Wordsworth to him were dashed when he picked Pirate Mack instead. So every evening we religiously learnt how Pirate Mack found his treasure under a rock in some dark cave.
Fast forward to 8 months and grandma and grandpa had to go back to India. And daddy as usual was away at work about 500 miles away. And mommy turned into a maniac.
The cold and bleary Illinois winter was upon us. My day would go something like this. Get out of bed, puree fruit, express milk, feed Vishnu his fruit/cereal concontion and then get him ready for daycare. Haul him and his gear to the daycare, drop him off there and run back to the car blinded by tears. I couldn't bear to look at his tear stained little face, his large eyes uncomprehending, trying desperately to get to mommy. Darkest days of my life.
I couldn't take it for long (about six weeks), so I switched our childcare arrangement and hired a nanny to stay at home with him. Peggy was her name. It worked out well pretty well. He liked her instantly. She had been an ER nurse for over 30 years and was very knowledgeable about a lot of things.
Christmas rolled around and Muru was home for the holidays. Life got better. We celebrated Vishnu's first christmas by getting a little tree. A couple of friends stopped by to decorate it. Food and friends, yes it was a good time. But Muru had to leave and I was back to essentially being a single mom.
The new year brought grandma back. Her joints hurt and she had vowed to never endure another 22 hours of inflight entertainment. But I guess the pain of seeing both her babies struggle was too much. With grandma back, we were back to having fun.
We celebrated Vishnu's first birthday on January 28. Muru drove for about 10 hours straight and then got right to decorating. It was more of a we-survived-the-first-year party than anything else. Vishnu got a lot of toys and books.
This whole executive summary of the first year would be incomplete without me explaining the picture below--the defining trait of his first year--the "mean face". It was something to scare me away so I'd stop stuffing food down his throat. He'd inhale and exhale noisily for added effect. But mommy isn't easily scared child. So here's more food!
He hasn't patented it yet so feel free to try it. It probably is some type of yoga. :)
