Finally ... my first birthday

After what seemed like an eternity, my parents finally celebrated my first birthday with a big party .. about a month after my actual birthday (if this is indicative of how tardy my parents are, I wonder how delayed their taxes are (Editor's note: 4 months)).

Anyhoo, the day I was waiting for finally arrived. We had a nice big party at home with lots of kids and parents and grandparents. I mostly had a bewildered look but took in the colorful scenery and the buzz of activity. Unlike my older sister, I neither pooped nor threw up (see my sister's blog here that commemorated the special occasion.)

My dad ran around in a flurry of activity to keep the kids entertained (although the kids looked mostly entertained when he was not around them), ensure the parents were having a good time (again, the parents looked like they were enjoying themselves when he was elsewhere)and that everyone was was eating the food my parents over-ordered /over-prepared.

My uncle Murali did a great job with the new Cisco Flip 120-minute Flip camcorder (I hope those key words about the camcorder trigger some Google Ad traffic to my blog. I want to start paying down my diaper debt). My dad then stitched the videos clips together and posted it to YouTube. I can no longer tease my dad about not knowing how to post videos to YouTube. Speaking of which, the budding philosopher in me wonders .. "if a video is not on YouTube, does it really exist? " ... BTW, the video is now on YT here and the photos are here

My mom got me a Tigger - Pooh cake, thereby sucking me into the multi-billion dollar world of corporate merchandising. I did not eat much of the cake as I am still allergic to eggs. I asked my parents to save me a piece of cake so I can eat it when I am 5 years old and have gotten over my allergies (after reading about this practice among the British royals) but I am not sure I pressed my case strongly enough ....

I seem to be hitting most of the other developmental milestones like clockwork - I can now scream at an annoyingly loud level to get attention. I got my fingers squished in drawers. I broke a few toys already. I have 5 tiny teeth now and I use them on my dad's shoulder to remind him... and on a more innocuous note, I can finally walk about 20-30 steps and mumble about five or six words (almost) coherently . That's all for now. .....

Almost 11 months ....

If you were patiently waiting for my baby videos to pop up on youTube, there is good news .. my grandpa beat my dad to the youTube punch and uploaded a couple of videos to YT with his new Flip Camcorder before my dad figured how to do it with his old camcorder...i mean... camclunker. And also finally, if you searched for my name in YouTube, you no longer get results for some supposedly sultry and seductive Telugu actress (I will reserve my judgement on the S&S part) called Anushka. Instead you are now presented with wholesome baby videos that you can watch without installing the "Boss panic button".

Things are well otherwise. I now have a nanny called Madhavi and I enjoy being around with her. I am still a super fussy eater keeping in line with my sister's tradition. I finally mastered the task of standing up in a stable manner without wavering this way or that way... next task is to get those baby steps.

I am enjoying the crisp California spring weather with walks to the park and around the neighborhood... Life is good and getting better

At 10+ months

I am more than 10 months old now and I am lot more bubbly and naughty now. I am still way behind the weight percentile curve now (giving endless concern to my parents). My parents have now switched to a high-fat, high-calorie (high-yuckiness in my perspective) diet for me and they are adding butter to everything to help me put on more weight. My mom was like "You will not be able to eat such foods later in life.. so enjoy now, you little bubble". I hope to enjoy my new diet soon and I am still working on getting past the yuckiness quotient of all foods.

My grandpa and grandma left for Dallas (part of soon to be seceded country of Texas) and then on to England and back to India. I think I miss them but my parents are distracting me and keeping me occupied with a dizzying array of toys and YouTube videos. My other grandma and a new nanny Madhavi are taking care of me. The pampering continues....

At 8 months

I am 8 months old and it is time for an another blupdate (Editor’s note - blog update?). Things are generally swell with the little exception of this cold and wet spell in the Bay Area which is limiting my fun outings. I heard my dad complain about how the high cost of living in the Bay Area should entail  guaranteed great weather all year around, and then my mom reminded him of the great stock market crash and he immediately moved into this comfort zone of fretting about the economy instead of the weather.

I am now on the verge of standing up with support from some toys and my parents’ legs. I think I will skip the crawling phase and jump right to walking … (crawling is over rated, anyway). I am also developing a stranger’s anxiety and am refusing to let others hold me for any period of time (Actually, I extend my arms in a welcoming gesture and when they actually pick me up, I let loose a strong cry totally freaking them out and making them feel confused and inadequate – my dad said that was good practice for being a nice girlfriend when I grow up).


I have also expanded the range of solid foods that I am eating now (I hope my parents are paying close attention to that Salmonella scare out there) and I am beginning to develop a good taste for various foods. I kind of like the fruits and veggies (I hope they are not really healthy as I am looking forward to eating what they call “junk” food that my sister seems to eat all the time). Grandma and mommy are doing a great job feeding me patiently while daddy and my sister make goofy faces to hold my attention. I wish my parents would camcord themselves instead of me – I can guarantee that those recordings will be more memorable and “YouTube-able” than mine.

Oh I almost forgot, I finally started mumbling – I can now say “Mamamamamamama’ and “Thathathathatha” and am working on a few others. I gave my parents a few anxious weeks as I was behind the curve in starting to mumble. I was holding out to say a word like “antidisestablishmentarianism” but decided to give in after seeing my mom get all flustered. I hope to expand my mumbling vocabulary rapidly in the next few months and I will keep the readers posted of my progress.

OK then … I have now hit a blogger’s block and will return with more the next time. Ciao

At 5 Months

Another month rolled on and I think I am ready to check off the next set of milestones that I hit (my mom said that I was tracking the curve, whatever that means). I can sit upright now without tumbling (my dad was using me as an example to explain the concepts of stable and unstable equilibrium to my sister) (He lost me at “equilibrium”). I am also testing my ability to get what I want by crying at the top of my lungs. Sometimes, I cry first and then think of what I actually want… (I believe there was an expression out West “ Shoot first and ask questions later..” Sounds pretty simple to me..). Also, a couple of weeks ago there was a change in the grand parents in a smooth passing of a baton (unlike the US Olympic team, my dad remarked). My maternal grandparents went back to India and my paternal grandparents seamlessly took over. It is good to be pampered by so many people at home. I also started going out for stroller walks and I am enjoying the crisp November evenings in Sunnyvale. I feel a little cold but I think it is that exhilarating type of breezy cool … (I am puzzled by my Massachusetts-born sister who does not seem to feel cold and exhibits a winter bravado)

Last week, my parents also did a little Indian thingie to name me “officially”. They wrote my name (in a lot of languages) in rice spread out on a plate and they took a lot of photos. (Frankly speaking, they seemed to be more keen on the photos than my official naming ceremony. Oh hey… here are some photos linked). I am guessing they “officially” named me Anukha and not those weird names that people are naming their kids now.

4 months

As my parents say in that tired cliché “How time flies”… it certainly has been brisk and I am almost 4 months old now. I have doubled in weight and probably quadrupled in functionality since I was born. (My dad said something about babies outpacing Moore’s law in terms of increase in functionality… I hope I never need to learn such stuff when I eventually go to Swarthmore college or some such liberal arts school).

I can now smile at will, burp at will and other unmentionables at will. I think I am beginning to recognize faces and tell people apart (I am still struggling to tell Tina Fey and Sarah Palin apart, though - more work needed there). I am getting stronger all the time and I think my vocalizations are getting louder as well (judging by the rapid response time between the time I start crying and when “attention” arrives). I am also enjoying playing with those fluffy and squeezy toys and my new comfy swing. My parents have slowly eased up on the ambient Bach and other assorted classical music.. (they probably read my previous blog).. but have replaced it with inane chatter from CNN… I cannot wait for this election and something they are calling “Great Depression 2.0” to be over … I can probably watch some Baby Einstein or Nursery Rhymes then.

I am looking forward to my first solid food in a couple of weeks time. I hope it is local, organic and multi-grain… I can definitely use some variety in my food. Also, I am now able to roll myself over from the face down to the face up position.. (except when my parents are trying to record me in action… I guess the camera adds 10 pounds making it more difficult for me). I am also enjoying the outings to parks and other outdoorsy places (… definitely beats the view of the ceiling from my crib)…

That’s all for now.. Be sure to check back in for updates in the future (or sign up for the RSS feed).. Ciao

At five weeks ....

The wheels of time inexorably roll on ... and here I am at 5 weeks. I am nearly 7 pounds now (I now wonder how I managed to be fully functional at birth with only 5 lbs 3 oz) and growing nicely. The last few weeks have been hectic with friends and family visiting, a few trips to the doctor and my parents gingerly endeavoring to go out with me for an occasional dinner or lunch. I have generally been putting on my mild-mannered behavior and have minimized displaying my super powers of pooping and throwing up. I figure there is always enough time in the future to hone my skills and create well-timed consternation for my parents.

My daily routine is similar to resort living that my mom dreams about enjoying herself. I get breakfast in bed (for that matter all meals) and I get to sleep in. When I get bored, I draw attention with carefully nuanced vocal emanations, which usually result in visual or audio entertainment becoming available. (enough already with that Bach... don't my parents listen to Rihanna or something..also, what is it with all those black and white squares for shapes, don't they watch MTV?). Every now and then, I get a nice massage from my mom and I get tucked into a warm bed. I am beginning to wonder what the attraction of growing up is.. (I constantly hear my dad mumbling about global warming, global unrest and impending doom... I don't fully understand the import of those but they don't sound too appealing..).

Anyways, signing out for now. Check out my latest photos here, and when my dad gets around to uploading all the videos to YouTube, I will provide a link to those as well. He said something about the YouTube picture quality not being HD, but I suspect the real reason is that he has not figured out how to upload the videos yet.

Here is a recent picture of me. Feel free to focus your spotlight on me. My sister got enough attention for 4 years :-)