Being 2 !

You are now 2 years and 2 weeks old...! If you ask me what kind of a two year old was I? I would say you are two year old 'full of beans'. You a rockstar! And if anyone says anything different to you ever...don't believe them. I hope that when you are a grown up...complaining about your life, you should remember you were a pretty awesome 2 year old.  You are feisty, emotional, funny, happy curious and just about the most energetic thing i know. No reason why the older you cant be all those things.

You express your love for Ammi in the cutest ways...and you make me laugh endlessly. You are my joy !

You are still not talking much though, but you communicate with me in so many ways that i forget sometimes about the talking part. I used to worry a lot about this, but i know the important thing is to communicate/emote and to understand which you do a plenty. So i am not complaining....But you did say ma-ma-maam to me the other day and you said ba when Emma at the nursery showed you a banana. You are getting there...Slow n steady ! And here is a picture of you doing what you do best....running around...!

The lil drama queen!

If you ask me what is the single biggest theatrics of yours that i remember from the last two years...i would have to say many:

Most recently yesterday you decided diapers ain't cool...so why not just take it off. And the what followed was my biggest diaper related nightmare...you can imagine !! Yuckkk...and to top it the Cleaner par Excellence... your Abba wasn't home. I don't remember missing him so much in many years like i missed him yesterday. And the whn after cleaning the house, then cleaning you  i went for a bath myself...leaving the bathroom door slightly ajar so i could hear you. You were watching TV, so i was pretty confident of getting a quick bath......Als,you pulled my shower curtain and kept playing peek-a-boo, till i just found my towel  ...You Little naughty monkey ! Lesson learned- Lock the door while getting into the shower...or don't shower!

And then there was the stair the toilet episode with a serving spoon from the kitchen...which was instantly disposed by the way. I cant forget the giggle i got from you when caught red-handed ;-)

And then the rolling on the floor episodes on practically every airport you have been so far starting from Jorhat, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, London....and wait Bristol and Edinburgh ;-) It must be some sort of a world record. I promise...i will get a picture the next time you roll.

Talking of airport dramas how can i forget you simply smashing my new phone at Mumbai airport. And since then i have been smart phone less...I wonder..when your are reading this, if smart phones will still exist. 

The hearing test and the sundry !

Last Thursday we were down at the audiologist at St Michael's Hospital to check out your hearing. You would ask 'why'? Though i am pretty sure your hearing is perfect, it is one of the things that the doctors need to do to figure our why you aren't talking yet. You did say 'de' and 'Ma-ma' today, and someday you say 'juice' or 'kak' aka cake, or 'oot' aka hot...even 'car' and 'cat-toon'...and 'catch'...But its different things on different days and never consistently. I wonder if you would think 'mom is over-reacting', but i just want to be sure that if you need any support with getting your words together, i am able to give you that. That might sound like a good explanation to a 20 year old you. But 2 year old you are clearly not impressed with my attempts and impositions. In other words, the hearing test was non-starter. At 30 i cant stand at a spot for more than a few minutes, that is a lot to expect of you, especially in room full of toys. End result, we have to reschedule your test for the 15th of May...!! lets see how that works out.

When i say you aren't talking yet, don't assume you aren't communicating. You are communication a lot. Just a few minutes back you told me to carry you and to put you to sleep by first pulling out me shawl, then pull my my finger so much that i would have to stand and then you openned your arms to me with cutest lil grin and a background sound that sounded more like uh-uh-uhhhh-uh :-) :-) And in 2 mins you were fast asleep with your head on my shoulder. You just know how to get the job done !!! When you are older that would be a pretty handy trait to have....especially if it works your Dad.

PS you have just gone to sleep on your cot-which has been our everyday tag of war for the last month...You hate it. But we have been trying to have you sleep on your own. Truth be told, i hate it too. And i miss my lil cuddly bunny right next to me. Muwahhhh!  

Your first year!

Darling ! After the lil U turn into our present thanks your B'day on Monday, here we are back to the story of my memories of you from your first year.

You started giving us the sunniest of smiles by the time you were about 5 months old. It used to make my day...it still does !!!!  Awwww...i miss the 5 month old Zayed-who wouldn't run away.

And you also got pretty noisy and super duper curious by this time. You were trying very very hard to sit up on your own. Not being able to sit up used to annoy you a lot. Here, is my lil angry bird trying very hard to sit up.

We also started solid food one of those days in preparation for sending you to the nursery. And i was getting more an more anxious as the date of my joining the university drew closer and your date for joining the nursery. The first day i went to Uni you stayed at home with Abba. It was the longest we have been away from each other. Something i just couldn't take. I remember calling your Abba every few minutes to see how you were doing. Apparently, you wanted to be carried all day. On the up side your Abba realized that 'you are a handful'.

You started nursery in the first week of Oct. We started with short sessions of an hour then half a day and so on. You were quite a trooper, my little star getting used to the other children and your carers Debbie & Megan. You started settling into the nursery soon, but not without falling sick very frequently in the first couple of months. I can't tell you how many guilt trips i took for having to let you go to the nursery so young. But i guess, i had to do what i had to do. You first cold was so scary for us. You were little and i was constantly scared if you were breathing well with the lil blocked nose. So many sleepless nights!!! But you kept coming out of every bout of illness more strong and more spunky! And managing to sit on your own too.. Look what i snapped when you sat up on your own for the first time!

 I also remember, an episode from your 2nd or 3rd week at the nursery when Debbie called me  at the University to say, you wouldn't stop crying. That must have been the most helpless i had felt in a long long time. I was over 2.5 hrs away from my crying baby. But your Abba saved the day for us. He came to the nursery and cuddled you to sleep. And just like that when he called me say 'Zayed is sleeping to me don't worry' was the most relieved I had been in ages. Yet i had taken a taxi and was already on the platform waiting for the train back.

And then came the winter, and your cutest bear overall. I am so sad you don't fit into it anymore. It was your first winter after and how well we did being the cutest bear in town. I love your expression in picture below-starring at the camera !

With the winter came your Abba's frequent colds and flues. It was pretty much on and off all through the winter, until he fell really sick in March of 2013. He had to be in the hospital for about 10 days. You & I were at home alone. Uncle Ryan & Aunty Sonia often looked after you when i went to visit Abba at hospital. So did Aunty Manizah, who came over from London to babysit you. I had so much help, from our friends. But most of all it was you with your lil funny antiques who kept me in good spirits. By this time you were crawling all over the house, and trying quite hard to walk. When your Abba came back from the hospital we took a vacation to Devon- where you took your first steps with Uncle Raman. I don't think we have a picture of you talking your first steps...there i a video i am sure. But here is my favourite picture from that vacation!

And after that pretty soon in 21st April 2013 was your first B'day. We had a joint party with your frien Sophia at their house. It was lovely day and uncle Ryan set up the bareque ! And you my dear were already running around all over. 

Goofing around !

Hi Jaan ! Look what we have been up to yesterday. Goofing around was fun....but you were after the life of my lappy. Hitting my keyboard hard got you giggling and smiling mischievously. My cute lil brat !

Happy second birthday my darling !

Ta-da ! Look at my B'day gift :-)

And the cake

First month !

Your first month with us had so many firsts--the first smile, the first walk in the park, the first shopping trip and so much so. And my first serious anxiety about you, when you stopped feeding for a brief period. But after a hospital trip, several phone calls to the health visitors and pep talk from your Nani, i realized heartache is the bitter-sweet truth of parenting.

It was however only after Nani, mahi & mama left in June, that i started learning to be with you alone. It helped that the day they left your Titia Nikki came to stay with us for a weekend, followed my Robin mama. So it wasn't until August 2012 that we actually lived alone in the house-which was actually a lot of fun as i got to make dozens of home videos, took loads of pictures...got a lot of cuddles.

I had also started getting out and about by that time. Our first day of 'separation' since you were born happened sometime towards end of July when i went for my first swimming lesson. And what followed was...chaos to say the least. I remember leaving you and your Abba in the car, and the next thing i remember seeing your Abba waving frantically by the pool-side. You were crying like a really powerful crying-machine. Awww...i panicked so much that that i just dressed on top of my wet bathing suit. What followed was, you stopping your crying in no time the moment i picked you up, dowsing off to sleep even before we got home and me getting a bad cold ! haha...Sleeping peacefully tucked inside Abba's jacket when we reached home from the swimming lesson that day.

And on my b'day in August aged 4 months you had your first day trip with Aunty Manizah & uncle Waquar.  Look how cutely you were napping on our drive to Cardiff! During those days you were not very keen about getting on your pram, so for quite a bit of the day we had to carry you on our laps.