Kyra - 2 Years

Your second half of second year started off with a nasty illness. You were down with severe cough and cold for almost a week. You had been sick before, but this was worst by far. After taking utmost care, finally extreme cold weather took its toll on your body. You would not eat, sleep or play by yourself. Due to cough, you had hard time talking and that made you more miserable. You being cranky through out the day left me tired, frustrated and sleep-deprived. At times I lost my patience and that made me feel guilty of not being a good mother. You lost a little over half a pound. Anyway, your weight growth had become slower and this was like an extra bonus! 

You started speaking complete sentences! It was not like that your vocabulary became richer, you would just add 'Kyla-Nu' as prefix and 'Chhe' or 'Aayee chee' as post fix for almost all the words. Kyla nu dadda aayee chhe was the very first meaningful sentence you uttered which was a grammatical disaster. I repeated it for Nana-Nani and Nani nearly fainted. Everyday you would add new words to your dictionary. Gadhu (Donkey), Gaba (Ladybug), Chappa (Knife) are few to name. Any question that ended with 'Konu chhe?' would be answered as 'Kyla nu'. And all the questions with 'Kevu Chhe?' would be answered as 'Saras Chhe'.

Orange juice and strawberry milkshake became your lovey-dovey. I literally had to hide strawberries and we could not utter word 'juice'. If you hear it, you would stand near the refrigerator with the book in hand showing picture of oranges!

I bought a potty seat for you when you turned 19 months. Still it was a long way to commence an official potty training, but I wanted to make you familiar with bathroom. Also, I heard from friends that kids really get scared sometimes. You had started like this Dora character, so I bought a seat in red color with Dora pictures. Initially you were uncomfortable, but within couple of days you would want to sit and play there. So I explained you that you could not sit fully dressed. So later on, as soon as I changed your dress/diaper, you would rush towards bathroom screaming 'baby-baby'. You would sit and right away start making 'shh' sound.

We started craft work to keep you busy inside the home especially on a cold day.

You had been always a great observer that you imitated our friend's cranky baby! But I was pleasantly surprised to see you following my exercise steps and almost predict the next one.  You could clearly recognize voice and faces of both sides of immediate families.

You started identifying few basic shapes (star, heart, triangle, circle, rectangle, square) and basic colors (red, green, orange, blue, yellow) by 20 months mark. You started helping me with arranging dried dishes. I would show you the utensil and you would put it near/inside the respective cabinet/drawer. Also, you loved mopping the floors. It was fun to watch you holding the swiffer that was almost double in size. You understood the concept of celebrating the birthday. Everytime you would clap your hand and I had to sing "Happy Birthday' song. And it was always your birthday only. You loved to ride escalators and trains. You would always look for train in our local mall. We had a supermarket just across the street with escalator and you would start shouting just at the sign of it. We started frequenting Romp N Roll. By 20th month, you started speaking 'Naa', 'Nahi' and 'Aa nahi'. And unfortunately, that became your instant response in almost all the matters.

Your vocabulary increased like in afairy tale.
When you turned 22 months, out of curiosity I searched how many words a baby of your age should know. It was anywhere between 20 to 80 words. Well, yours was 300+!! Here is the list:

Names of mumma, dadda, nani, mamu and dadi
Fruits: apple, pear, banana, strawberry, grapes
Vegetables: tomato, carrot, broccoli, onion, potato, doodhi, peas, corn, carrot, cum (capsicum)
Taste/Senses: tikhu, khatu, thandu, gamam(garam)
Animal: cow, meme(goat), baba, dugu (horse), lion, cheetah, ephant(elephant), foo-foo(monkey), bunny/saslu, chu chu (mouse), billa (cat), zebra, bhaloo (bear)
General: aunty, uncle, baby, kachro, gandu, potu, freeze, sofa, khurshi, door, bari, lamp, tik tik (clock), mananan (rubber band), pin, kapda, topel (towel), cream, dava(medicine), pani, doodh, coffee, spoon, glass, cup, plate, bowl, papam (bathroom), plant, kholo, bandh, bag, purse, paisa, socks, shoes, flowers, ghas (grass), star, moon, sun, ice (slide), tanan (tunnel), car, bus, istri (iron), bed, pillow, blocks, vaseline, chhab chhab, bubbles, marbles, baa -bee (bumble bee), fish, key, card, photo, biju, fla-fla, button, box, pack, colors, pencil, bottle, wipes, kansko (comb), katar (scissor), chappu (knife), gulu gulu (round), saras, chako (swing), stool, bhajan, mot (remote), bannoo (balloon), potty, trekk, dots
Food: cheese, pizza, bread, pasta, rotli, chokha, bhat, lot (flour), rotli, sev, frymes, khakhro, biscuit, bhoonha (bhoongla frymes), mamra, pau (poha), cake
Verbs/sentences: aayu, gayu, lo, aapishu,
color: red, yellow, blue, pink, purple
number: 1 to 10

When you turned 20 months, we found out that we were expecting again. You would be a big sister! So we decided to spend quality time with you during the summer and make it an eventful one. Also, we started making you ready for the new arrival. You would touch and hug my tummy to talk to the baby and identify yourself as her/his 'didi'.

We went to the zoo, bunnyland, beach and explored several new parks in the area. Also, mumma had her first movie night out with her friends after you were born. We became close friends with some local acquaintances and you too loved the company of their kids.

The most difficult project we undertook during this summer was moving to a bigger apartment. Though we were moving just across the hall, packing and unpacking turned out to be a daunting task. You were so curious and asking tons of questions about almost anything and everything. You loved the space and new furniture. But of course, you loved to spend most of your time sitting and reading on a swing.

Our frequent outings made you obsessed with parties. Till date I have no clue how you managed to figure out that it was Saturday. As soon as you woke up, first thing you asked about was party. For you, party meant, cake, dance and balloons, not bad! And after leaving the party, you would immediately say, 'Party Gayee'!! You clearly started asking when we would be taking you to the park, mall, pool, train or carousal (chitah).

Your another obsession was pens and colors. I started keeping different varieties of colors and papers to keep you entertained during meal times. Just like daddy, you also developed keen interest in music. However, it was only for extreme genre like bhajans and hip-hop songs like lungi dance and hookah bar.

We decided not to have a grand birthday party for you as you would not be able to enjoy in a large crowd. Instead, we cut the cake and arranged get together with couple of friends whose birthdate also fell around the same time. We decorated the house with usual ribbons and balloons. Made a big '2' with your photographs and dedicated a wall for Mickey based stickers, your favorite character. We gifted you with books, easel and colors, stickers, dresses and ruby jewelry. We had also planned a mini vacation at Virginia Beach, but due to inclement weather we cancelled it last minute. Instead, we went to the local beach and boardwalk, your first time ever. Fortunately (or unfortunately), this turned out to be the wise decision as just after two days of your birthday you caught viral infection. You were red and itchy all over and would not stop throwing up. Your fever was out of control that we had to rush to ER. Ironically, you loved the hospital. This is the first time you were real sick that we had to give you something more than tylenol. Daddy and I had never been  more worried and restless!

Birthday Card for Dadda

Star is her favorite shape. In fact, that's the first shape she started recognizing and speaking too. So this is what we made to surprise Superstar Dadda on his birthday.

Kitchen Towel Pipe

My LO loves these pipes. She blows into it and makes different kinds of noise. So this time instead of throwing it away, we made little something out of it.

Cut half of the pipe vertically making about 1/4" of stripes. Draw a baby face on top. It looks like a baby with the skirt. It has been more than a month we made this and she still plays with it.

Make equal height cylinders, paint them with her favorite colors. Staple them together and write her name with glitter pen. That's how she learnt to recognize alphabets 'K' and 'A' by 19 months!

Fun with Boxes

My LO has always loved empty boxes of Pasta, Cereal etc. In fact, she loves them better than her toys. So instead of throwing it away, we wrapped it with a plain paper and then drew different shapes with crayons. And bingo! I never had to teach her the shapes again.

Similarly, when I wanted to teach her colors, we made circles of different colors on wither side of the box. And then we also had all the alphabets written all over the box.

Fun with Cherrios

Cheerios were Kyra's very first finger foods and she simply loves them. So I thought why not make a little twist and have fun with them.

We painted cheerios in different colors and let them dry overnight on plastic. Once dried completely, we glued them in shape of flowers.

My little on enjoyed both holding the brush and sticking it on paper. Although, I had be cautious to make sure she wouldn't eat them :)

Our first Craft-Work

I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned to me that she was sending her kid to day care because he got bored at home?!?! I would understand this for an older kid, but I think its parents' fault not to know how to keep them busy. My little one is 19 months now and things are becoming challenging for us too. 

Even though it's winter, we try to remain 'actively active' on at least 3-4 days. We frequent Malls' Playarea, Little Gyms, Bouncing Zones and Library. But things get tougher when you have to stay home. It's not easy to come up with so many activities by remaining restricted in four walls. Usually, we read books, play with Blocks and Lego, watch rhymes, watch stories together, listen to music and dance and so on.

But then I thought to try something different, Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I thought we could make a card for Mommy and Dadda. And I was surprised to see her interest and patience level.

At least we can do this once or twice a week, whenever I have energy to clean the messy floor and messy baby!

1. Make a square folded card

2. On front side, I drew a heart. She filled it with different color dots using Q-Tips. (I wanted her to do with finger tips, but was not sure about her reaction after looking at messy hand). And then glued buttons on all four corners. Silly may it sound, but buttons her all time favorite chewables.

3. Inside we made a flower using finger tips. Success!

4. One step further, we also took a print of her hand. Voila!

It's difficult to come up with different ideas with limited craft supplies; ideas that are simple yet creative and engaging for kids. But we can take one step at a time. We are not doing this everyday so in between I have ample of time to think about next project. 

It's also difficult to clean the mess as that's what stay home moms do all the day. But it's all worth when you see your little one running merrily carrying her latest creation!

Kyra - 18th Month

I have to summarize 6 months just in one post. Now that's a tough task but I shall try my best.

And the first and most important milestone is that you started walking. You had started pulling up and walking with support when you were about ten and a half month. You enjoyed this activity but later on you stopped trying further. As if you lost interest and we got little worried. Because even when we insisted on walking with support, you simply refused. We spoke with the doctor and she said to wait till 16 months. If you still didn't start walking by then, we should consult a specialist. However, she assured us that would never happen. And she was right, you started walking one fine day just like that. It was around Diwali and you were about fifteen and a half month old. Once you gained confidence, you were literally running within a week. And everyday, before bedtime, I would give you massage and rub your feet. Within few days you started walking holding things that were bigger and heavier than you. You would also move  your hands while walking as if you were carefree and least bothered by your surroundings. So we started calling you 'Lehrati'.

Another important milestone was that you started talking. You could utter about 25 or so words and understand a lot more by 18 months. You would point your finger and say 'ooo...oo'. Mostly I would understand. When you started talking 'Mumma', it was a sheer poetry to my ears as if I had been waiting just for this day. At times you would utter 'Mumma' no less than 100 times a day. However, by end of 18 months your tone changed. The affectionate tone was replaced by order and demand :).

Other words included dadda, dada, nanna, lullu, kyla, siya, star, giraffe, billa, bhow-bhow, fish, hi, bye, hello, baba, tha (throw a ball), kissi, sha (socks and shoes), aa lo, haa, kaka, yum-yum, mamra, je-je, ghantdi, tissue, tikhu, be-biju, fla-fla-fla (aka fly). We were lucky that you started speaking 'haa' (yes) before 'naa' (no). Whatever we asked you, your response would always be 'haa'.

Once you started walking, you wanted to explore all the closets and cabinets, especially in the kitchen. You would want to touch and feel almost everything in all jars and bottles, especially the ones from refrigerator. Whenever I cooked, you would bring your small chair or a stool from the store room and sit in the kitchen to supervise me. Other times you would play with dish washer or magnets on refrigerator. You would know when I was making roti/paratha. You would stand near the stove so I would give you small bites. Whenever I turned on the mixer, you assumed it was your food and you would sit and ask for mumm-mumm. You were rarely cranky in the kitchen while I was cooking. It was me who got tired answering your questions and singing almost nonstop! So sometimes I would sit you up in high chair and give you snacks to kill the time. You ate almost all kinds of dry snacks. Sev, Mamra and Moncao biscuits were your all time favorites.

Though your vocabulary was limited, you understood a lot more. You were definitely ahead than other kids of your age. Maybe we used to talk to you a lot from day one and you were so much into books. When we asked you, you could clap your hands, give hi-five, give a hug and a kiss, give a flying kiss, play adko-dadko, play aam-chori, join your hands in prayer mode, play garba and dance on your favorite songs. Lungi dance was your favorite song. You loved pretending talking over the phone especially with daddy. You would help me by putting dirty clothes in laundry basket and transferring clothes from washer to dryer. You would get things ready for your bath and you could wipe your mouth if I asked you to do so. You could move your hands to imitate swimming and flying. 'Star' was the first shape you discovered when you were about 15 month old. Thereafter you could find stars anywhere and everywhere. We loved making starts and other shapes on our frosty balcony door. You had some knack for the music. After watching rhymes you could easily identify them with only music. You would play music for particular song in your toys if I tell you the words/lyrics. And we were simply amazed as this was not something we taught you. We just accidentally discovered it.

You loved going out like any other kid. Though we complained about cold weather, we went out at least 4-5 times a week. we frequently hit mall's play area, library and grocery stores. Your latest crush was riding the escalator. You loved shopping with us as well. You would explore toys, clothes and shoes on your own and let us shop, at least you would be good for an hour or so. Later, I would have to bribe you with your favorite snacks. After a while, as soon as we entered the store, you would ask for snacks and water :). Also, you started recognizing your clothes and shoes. If you thought that we were to go out, you would come up with jacket and cap and shoes. You also developed fascination for hairpins and rubber bands like any other girl. Though you would lose them real quick so I started cutting your hair. I would undress you and make you sit in the bathtub and you would let me do my job.

Like any other parent, we too got excited when you learned something new and showed signs of a fast learner. We would not let you watch TV for other than nursery rhymes and stories. That helped you a lot to identify birds, animals etc. and also to build a vocabulary. Baa..Baa...Blacksheep was your favorite rhyme and at times you would utter 'Baa Baa' literally 100 times a day. It was your way of asking permission for watching TV. You loved books more than anything. We would frequently go to library and get the books from there. You could easily identify all your books. We would also go to Discovery Room every Wednesday and you enjoyed 'learning with playing'. We also purchased some start-up books for babies and by 18 months, you could identify more than 60 objects from those books. We participated in Brain Stimulation Program for babies called Little Gems. Under this program, I would show you different words and pictures which will eventually help you increase memory and concentration. It's too early to see the results but we can see definite improvement in your ability to remember things.

You were bit late in teething and hence I still had to grind the food. On a positive side, you would eat almost everything as long as I could grind it. Pav-Bhaji and Idli-Sambhar were your favorite dishes. As long as food was tasty and not on sweet side and I had good books to keep you busy, feeding lunch and dinner was not a big problem. On the downside, I had always had hard time with milk.

We faced some tough days to put you to sleep. You would want me lie down beside you all the time but you would refuse to fall asleep. As soon as I came out, you would start crying out loud and follow me. We tried almost everything ranging from sweet talk to harsh scolding but nothing seemed to work. And then one day, I got really tired and frustrated, I became so determined that every time you came out of the room crying, I would console you and put you back in the crib. That day was a trigger and since then you started sleeping on your own. 

Over all you are a happy go lucky kid, quiet and polite. We wish you all the best!