Letter to Santa

Dear Santa thAthA,

How are you? My name is pAdukA and I am 10 months old.I want you to know that I am and have been a very good girl. I did all the stuff babies are expected to do. I tumbled, crawled on my stomach and then on all fours. Now I pull up and stand and walk with support.

I share my toys with my friend Bittu when he comes to play. But the toy he picks up to play with seems like my favorite. So I am compelled to get it from him :(

Santa thAthA, do not think I am a bad girl because I pulled the hair and dress of a pApA in the library. I was calling her and saying "ko koko.." but she did not hear me. So I had to pull her to get her attention. 

All these 10 months I have been pure delight for my parents. I pull out stuff from all the places I can reach, taste anything I can lay my hands on, wake up often at night and eat food after putting up a good fight just to keep my parents' life interesting and exciting.

 A few of the older children I know tell me that you give gifts that children like. Here is my wish list :

(i) Bunch of wires ( preferably USB cable :)

(ii) 3 P-s (paper, pen, pencil)

(iii) Camera lens cover

Above gifts and time without parental supervision will be fun :)

I love you thAthA,

pAdukA

PS:We do not have a chimney in our house, so you can drop it off in our patio :)

        Here is my picture for you to recognize me 

More in this album

Sound of (my) music

More pictures in this album

Tasting all papers and chewing on wire
Reaching for small things kept lower or higher
Taking a nap on my cradle that swings
These are a few of my favorite things

Roaming the kitchen and hunting for litter
Pushups and tumbles to make myself fitter
Clapping and babbling - the joy that it brings
These are a few of my favorite things

Kisses and warm hugs from Amma and Appa
Smiling and cooing on seeing a papppa
Meddling and playing with pajama strings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the mixer roars
When the vacuum blows
When I'm falling down
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel...so bad


P.S. Lyrics of the inspiration.
Video:

IQ test

Hello,

I am sharing with you all the questionnaire circulated in babyland to test Innocence Quotient. You can take this test for fun to see if you have a child inside you :)

Answers indicating highest level of innocence are given at the end of the questionnaire

1. What would you do when parents are eating colorful food in front of you?

a. Stare at their plate for a while

b. Stare at their plate and copy their chewing movement till they finish eating

x. Reach for their plate and spill the food

y.None of the above

2. When your parents repeatedly lure you to do stuff that they want you to do with your favorite

     object like a cell phone, what would you do?

a. Keep falling for this tactic everytime without slightest of doubt

b. Lose interest in that object

x. Find another object to play with

y. Get the object in your hand before doing anything they want you to do

3. When your parent sternly tells you to stop spitting food, you would..

a. Continue to do so

b. Become sad not knowing why your parent is not sweet to you

x. Be sad for a while and smile at you parent to distract

y. Be unaware of the change in treatment

4. What makes you happy?

a. Being the center of attention makes me happy

b. I need the toy/object of my liking to make me happy

x. Leaving me alone to do my stuff keeps me happy

y. A few kisses and pampering will make me happy

Answers in order :- b,a,b,y

If you got :

4 right - You are an innocent little sweet baby

3 right - You are starting to learn the ways of the world

2 right - You are an experienced toddler

1 right - You are an alumni of baby-toddler land

None/looking at the right answers before marking your answers, you sure are an ADULT :)

Here is the link to see the pictures of an innocent little baby 

http://picasaweb.google.com/paaduka.rangarajan/PAdukAOct#5259372844811494354

My First Crawl!

..finally! ~8:30am on Oct 11.

I had been tumbling since Aug 25, but it sure is tiring to do my usual routine - rotate, tumble, reach and grab - to fetch the toy some distance away. Commando Crawling seems lot less stressful. It is so much fun to drag oneself along and rest whenever one wants. All these oldies who are going around with the lower two hands are probably missing the fun. I like both my upper and lower hands equally. Both are tasty, but the upper hands are lot more useful now. I am not able to grab things with my lower hands though.

I asked my dad to time me on Oct 15th: My Personal Record (PR) is 95 secs to go from wall to wall of our big room which is ~14 feet (wrong units! more appropriately ~40 baby crawls) I had to take 4 breathing breaks to achieve this.
Here is a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1zn2pG5b9s

@ 7 Months

http://picasaweb.google.com/paaduka.rangarajan/PAdukASept

Babies beware !

Here are a few pointers for babies who are new to solid food feeding.

• It's best for babies having solid food to know the taste of the food that they do not enjoy very distinctly. Parents invariably mix your less favorite food with the ones that you love. Be firm in rejecting such mixtures so that you get to enjoy your favorite food unpolluted :)
• Often we (babies) open our mouth in excitement (smiling) to funny sounds people make. When you hear funny sounds with bib around your neck, a spoonful of food will be thrust into your mouth. So beware..
• If you do not like the food you are given, show an expression of dislike ( it should not be an expression which will make your parents go "how cute!")
• The next line of defence against food that you do not like is bringing your lips tightly together. If the spoon is still forced, bring your gums together. This technique is a sure success :)
• If you are done eating, make sure you let your parents know it clearly. Here are a few ways which let them know that they cannot force anymore food into your mouth :)

Spit the food (do brr.. brr..)

Look away in another direction everytime you see a spoon coming near you

Grab the spoon and make a mess with the food

Grab the food bowl or playfully knock it off from your amma/appa's hands

For best results, smile sweetly and innocently at your amma/appa after using any of the techniques. You are sure to enjoy more of cuddling and pampering soon after :)

My Research Lab Findings

Equipment:

- wires

- rubber balls

- cloth

- bottle caps

- paper

- any colorful item I can hold on to, or I can pull

- human fingers, hands, face, etc.

Experiments:

- licking and biting on different surfaces

- hitting things on each other or the ground

- looking at shining objects in various gymnastic postures

- grabbing and pulling on objects

Full Disclosure: 

No animal or human adults were harmed in these experiments. No items were broken or burnt. No other children participated in these experiments. :-(

This research is continuously funded and supported by The Rangarajan Family Foundation.