- As his pediatrician noted, he has figured out everyone around him by now. He knows who to look at and make what sounds to get what he wants, reinforcing my belief that kids are born psychologists and know what knobs to turn and which buttons to press. This comes into full view at feeding time when he makes it abundantly clear if he is not liking something that we offer him. But there's no rhyme or reason; one thing that he may be gobbling down for days together, he will refuse to eat without a warning. So now we're experimenting with different types of foods at home as well as different brands of baby foods.
- He can sit by himself for extended periods now, which means new toys. We got him a stacking toy as well as a blocks game and an alphabet toy. He's still too young to properly play with them, but he knows how to remove the rings, empty the bucket and bang things together to make noises. The purple cylinder in the blocks game is his favorite. More than his toys though, he likes to play with cardboard boxes, clothing labels, our phones, laptops, and various remotes around the house. Since playtime also means putting everything in the mouth, we find ourselves constantly disinfecting and sanitizing stuff at least once a day, oftentimes more.
- He is learning to communicate. His vocabulary now includes different sounds for hunger, sleep, boredom, tiredness, a dirty diaper, etc. He also uses gestures to communicate - rubbing his eyes and scratching his ears when sleepy, giving a hearty laugh when happy, loud complaining about dressing up post-bath, etc. He even lifts his arms and looks at you longingly with puppy eyes when he wants you to lift him up.
- He still has to figure out the whole crawling thing, but he is mobile enough that he can traverse the entire bed on his own, change directions and navigate to grab objects out of his immediate reach. With increased mobility comes the need to have someone constantly watching him when he's on the bed, or putting him on the floor on his play mat with his toys. He still needs to be supervised all the time though.
- Teething! He now has two cute little teeth popping up - two lower incisors, so everything, including our fingers, is a chew toy, except the actual chew toys that he has aplenty. Thankfully we haven't yet noticed any discomfort commonly associated with teething, and I hope it remains that way.
- He tries to hold actual conversations now. Of course, he can't yet speak actual words, but that doesn't stop him from trying. There are times when it seems like he is reciting entire paragraphs and we actually try to decipher his babbling. The words may not be there yet, but the tones and expressions are definitely there. You get a general idea of what he wants just by listening to the pitch and volume of his blurbs and observing his facial expressions - excitement, happiness, tiredness, sleepiness, anger, frustration, complaint - there's an entire rainbow of those if you look closely.
- He loves time outside the house, which unfortunately is limited due to COVID-19, but he has figured out that being strapped into his car seat or the stroller means either a drive or a walk in the park and you can see the joy in his face when it lights up in anticipation. When we can't go out, he loves to sit in the patio, watching cars drive by, admiring the various kinds of dogs on a walk, or trying to destroy the small wind chime we have.
Coming to the title of this post. It is an old Punjabi kids' song that I remember my bua (paternal aunt) and grandma singing to my sister when she was a toddler. My mom was singing some Hindi lines to Avyaan on a video call when I recalled the song and quoted a couple of lines. It had been a couple of decades since I had last heard it, so I didn't remember much of it and my mom didn't have any memory of the song. So she then went to the source - my bua and learned it from her. She later sent her own rendition by replacing Kuku (name of the child in the song) with Miththu (My mom's nickname for Avyaan) and embellished it with the sounds Avyaan makes. You can listen to it here:
Here are the words to the song and my rough translation. If you happen to know the proper translation, do let me know:मैं हां बालक बीबा राणा, कुक्कू मेरा नाँ (I'm a little child named Kukku)
दादी मेरा मुँह धोवावे, दादा पकडे बाँह (My grandma (paternal) washes my face while my grandpa holds my arms)
नानी मैनूं बात सुनावे, नाना आखे हाँ (My grandma (maternal) tells me stories while my grandpa agrees)
मॉसी मैनूं दूध पियावे, मासण च्योवे गाँ (My aunt (maternal) gives me milk while my uncle milks the cow)
बुआ मेरी चूरी कुट्टे, मार पचाके खां (My aunt (paternal) makes choori (hand crushing and mashing chapati, jaggery, and ghee) which I eat with enthusiasm)
