Monday, January 07, 2008

Short notes

There has been a burst of change in Puttachi in the last two weeks.

- She now moves forward - a creeping, nearly-crawling style... and she cannot be held back.

- She babbles a lot more now. There were mostly vowels in her language before, and know there are a lot more consonants. She seems to imitate us. She says "Aye" in the same tone that we use for "Hi". She repeats "Ey" in the same tone too.

- We have been suspecting for about a month or more that she makes a sound identical in frequency to any note that is being sung or played, but we couldn't be sure. [1]

But a couple of days ago, my mom was teaching her music class, and she sang the word "Hariye" in a "Ni-Re-Sa" combination aloud. Puttachi stopped in the middle of play, and immediately repeated the "Ni-Re-Sa" combination (as aa-ee-ay) - perfectly in tune, correct pitch. S~ and I nearly fell off our chairs in surprise.

- She now demands to be cuddled. She nuzzles up to me, and rubs her cheek against mine. And she also gives me what I can only term a kiss. She licks and bites my cheeks, nose, chin, anything that she can reach, and then stands back and smiles!

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Haven't you moms and dads ever felt that we need an extra pair of hands with kids? When one pair of hands is doing the changing or feeding, etc., the other pair could be used for pinning down or entertaining the baby. Showing her a toy, or waving it about, or holding a book - you know, that kind of thing. It could also be used to take photographs of the baby when your hands are full but the child is looking adorable and you just have to have a snap of her and there is no one around.

S~ asked me if I would like a robotic arm to attach to my shoulder. Sure, I said, I would like two, and one should be extensible. What say?

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A couple of days ago, my sis Peevee was watching me contemplatively while I struggled to pin down an extremely sleepy and cranky Puttachi. I was hungry, tired, and sleep-deprived, and close to collapsing with exhaustion.

Me: Peevee, don't have kids.
Peevee: *Thinks* Hmm.. okay. But in that case, can I have more nieces and nephews, please?
Me: *faints*

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Puttachi wants to stand all the time. When she is playing, being changed, being fed, being bathed, all the time. It is impossible sometimes, me with one hand holding her arm, and my other hand doing what I have to. The moment I plonk her down, she pulls herself up and bounces delightedly. Phew.

So my mom came up with a solution. Get one of those stands you find in the chemistry lab, she said, and clamp her up like a burette. Fantastic idea. Does anybody know where three foot tall stands with palm sized clamps are available?

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Did you know that "Shoorpanakha" means "sharp nails"? I didn't, until my dad started calling Puttachi "Shoorpanakha". I cut her nails every five days, yet they grow so quickly, and are extremely sharp.

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Peevee loves her niece. Adores her. Puttachi didn't care much for Peevee until Peevee started taking her to the garden and showing her the bougainvilla. Now, just at the time when Puttachi is finally in love with Peevee, it is time for Peevee to leave. She left for the airport a couple of hours ago to go back to the US. :(

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[1] I didn't want it to be the case as in this joke:

Man: My goat can speak.
Woman: Prove it.
Man: Goat, which month comes after April?
Goat: May-ay-ay-ay.

7 comments:

Shammi said...

Haha... PeeVee asking for more nieces and nephews made me giggle. But really, how about it? :) Imagine a world with more adorable babies like Puttachi! :D

Anonymous said...

your update is hilarious! and I couldnt stop LOLing at the thought of treating a squirmy toddler like a burrette - what an idea! her sense of music is Amazing - I remember your 2 month post when she cooed to imitate your singing.

Wunderyearz said...

LOL!!I'm just not able to hold back my smile,Its like having a peek into Jelly's past.
There are times when I hold some toy of her's in my mouth and entertain her to just change her daipers(Phew!!)

Looks like music is in her blood.

Poor PeeVee must be missing her ....and hey what about the request put forward by her for more nieces and nephews(ROFL!!!)

Anonymous said...

until recently I was also under the impression that 'shurpanakha' stands for sharp nails. But it is'nt. Shurpa actually stands for 'Mora'( in kannada). So, Shurpanakha is one with nails like Mora. Recently during a visit to H S V (kannada poet) he enlighted us on this.

Anonymous said...

Very hilarious.. specially holding her like a burette in chemisty lab :-) couldn't stop laughing! Great updates shruthi.
So puttachi is getting ready to sing in one of those reality shows on TV channels... hmm...

Anonymous said...

Instead of a chemistry lab contraption, ma be you can do something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5xMjxYG3E0 ... may be you can even stitch one with cloth yourself.

praneshachar said...

shruthi
you will have much more interesting yet complicated things to come as she starts picking up words. it is nice she has stated her first singing lessons from ajji and I have no doubt she will have to be like that as I said it is in her jeans music music music
Poor peevee it happens like that any child takes some time to adjust to the new faces seen or new environment but by the time u r close to kid and established a relationship/friendship the time for parting comes so it is the growth tree. but it varies from child to child and how the other person reacts there are people who are not liking to play with kids for their own reason for them it is irksome if child goes and holds them or does anything to them etc. etc.,
lot of store to come continue your write ups and it is a pleasure to read such a treasure.
pranesh

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