My baby's new friend

Its a teddy bear... no, its a ball... no, its a toy.... no....It is a fridge! Yes, my kid has recently befriended an electric refrigerator.

How can I be sure of that? Well, during our countless attempts to calm our crying kiddo one specific sunday, I felt that his mood got alleviated everytime I took him in my arms for a few minutes. Initially, I kept giving credit to my super ability to handle babies, but pretty soon my wife took my pride away by stating that even a lifeless fridge has more consoling power than me.

Actually, it wasn't my ability to handle babies, it was my inability to resist temptation of munching over snacks that led me to kitchen every now & then; and my kiddo somewhat liked the maroon coloured refrigerator giving me a feeling of false pride.

PS: This doesn't surprise me much because I know that my fridge is capable of alleviating even my mood most of the times. All it needs to do is to have some tasty stuff stored in it :)

Feed quest

If you're thinking what this subject means, then this is about our ongoing hunt for new ways to ensure that our 6-month old toddler gets his share of nutrition.

Want more details? Here I go - once upon a time ... naaah, just kidding. Actually, our kid has developed some kind of dislike for milk at this early age; & since milk is the main source of nutrition for babies, so we are left with only one alternative - find new ways to get him to drink milk!

The trickiest part is that he keeps on learning from our techniques... now I know what do they mean when pediatrics say "babies are fast learner"; and that is a hands-on practical experience!

Here are some of our futile attempts:

We tried to confuse our baby by using bottle covers, but he started recognizing those within 2 days;
we switched to spoon-bowl combination, he caught us again;
we tried playing soothing music while feeding, he started enjoying it (the music, not the milk);
I tried to use force a couple of times, he retorted with regurgitation;
we tried giving him sweet-lime juice, he denied after 3 days;
we added pomegranate juice to that, he denied that too after 3 more days;
I switched ON the idiot box (TV), he got lost in that (ok, I can't blame him for this one; even I get lost while watching TV);
latest discovery - our baby still takes feeds while sleeping; however I think that this won't last long because he is getting into a habit of making us fall asleep before we can do the same to him & get up earlier than us!

Now our strategy pool is nearing exhaustion (our baby is winning once again), so currently we're trying mix 'n match techniques. Any suggestions?

Is it morning yet?

Have you ever slept dreaming about something where your dream has a background sound/music, and you wake up to realize that the sound is not part of any dream; instead it is coming from somewhere around you. It happens with me often; and it happened today too :)
While I was sleeping today morning, I started hearing little thumping sound which grew louder & louder... when my sleep was light enough to be broken I found that my 6 months old kid was trying to kick the hell out of thin air... & the sound was being produced by his legs hitting the bed. So, while I was sleeping like a baby, my baby wasn't asleep at all.
I gathered all of my energy & tried to open my eyes to find out the time, but could only figure out that clock's small hand was somewhere around 4. Strangely, the larger hand decided to remain invisible & succeeded in doing so.
For a moment I thought about getting up because I hadn't woke up at 4 am since ages, but on second thoughts I remembered that I have never ever woke up at 4 am; so I immediately put my mind to rest & decided to put my baby back to sleep again.
Taking decision was easy, but acting upon it wasn't. I tried various methods to get him back to sleeping, but the kid was adamant. It seemed, as if both of us had made the same decision - to put the other person back to sleep.
This battle lasted almost 15 minutes, and I don't know who won finally; all I remember is that at some point of time, while cradling my baby, I was rocked back to sleep :)

Quilt Vs. Pyjamas

Yesterday it was little cold here so we decided to put on pyjamas onto our 6 months old son, Piku.
Till now he was only used to wear nappies, so he thought his pyjamas to be some kind of quilt & started trying to remove it by his regular method - kicking. Soon enough he realised that this "quilt" isn't going to get away so easily so he took another approach - pulling; and again within sometime he realised that this has to be done the hard way... so there I was, watching my baby lifting his foot to get hold of the cloth in his toothless-mouth so that he could chew it with his gums :)

Fun with my baby

I've been proud father of a baby boy for last 6 months, 4 days, 1 hour & 2 minutes approximately; and have went through so many cute / precious / fun moments that I could write an entire book about it.
There is so much to see, hear, learn or in one word "feel" that no one can express fully.
Every day, every moment is worth remembring, recording, capturing, sharing.
Now I can understand what my dad must've felt the same way as I do; he must also have spent sleepless nights watching me, thinking & smiling over my activities, making plans for my future.
I'm gonna keep this in my mind next time I argue with him :)