shake that booty

Sheer excitement!

Somebody gave her a cute toy. a dog which barks, moves forward and suddenly flips head over heels to land on four feet. Sanjana was so excited with the toy, her joy was a sight to behold!

check out the videos - its sheer excitement! wish I could be so excited !

Karnataka trip videos

A few videos of her enjoying the trip - playing in the train, sliding down park bench, and playing with a string toy

Karnataka trip - cont 3

We took her to Mysore Zoo - the best zoo in the country I believe - and she saw all the animals. She was particuarly fascinated by the Elephant. Kept on babbling 'Hatti, Hatti' after that.

Her babbling charms people easily - everyone loves a cheerful child i suppose. She has learnt to wave and say 'Tata' and so we are assured of a smiling farewell from any place. On the bus from Hassan to Halebidu, she clambered on my shoulder and stared at a local villager. He was a very dignified figure - black skin, and white hair, white mooch, white shirt and lungi and ramrod straight - and he stared back at her impassively. then she waves and says 'Tata', and he was totally delighted because he thought she was calling him 'Thatha' (grandfather). So she kept on saying 'Tata' and he kept on agreeing - yes, thatha thata.

Karnataka trip - continued

But she is a real sport - touch wood - and enjoys meeting people and seeing things. At every age, there are different pluses and minuses while travelling. Wheh she was very small, she couldnt move, so you keep her on a table or chair and have a meal. then she started crawling so she could amuse herself, but she was still on the breast, so food was never an emergency. Now she is weaned and the convenience of the boob is out, but now she has teeth, and so her food horizon is expanded. and ofcourse she enjoys herself more.

anyway, the great Bharathi looks after the logistics, I am merely the Boswell :)

She saw a lot of animals for the first time close up - check out her patting a cow at the Chamundeshwari temple. She was very excited and kept squealing with joy.

Karnataka trip

Bharathi is free nowadays, so we decided to go on a short Karnataka trip. She came down to Bangalore and we went to Srirangapatnam, Somnathpura, Mysore, then onto Halebidu and Belur.
Sanjana is already fairly well travelled for her age, and now she had the experience of travelling by second class train, unreserved bus etc. She enjoys it thoroughly, and babbles away to the people in the compartment.

She also experienced staying in the backpacker hotels - between 200 and 500 bucks. all she needed was a clean bedsheet and a shit load of diapers :) Food was not as big an issue as Kerala - the cuisine is more baby friendly than in Kerala - softer rice (marginally) and less spicy food :) But then again, breast feeding was not on the menu, so that removes a lot of options

Daddys little helper

Her other favorite activity - climbing on my desk and throwing out all my business cards

Mothers helper

Sanjus favorite occupation - cleaning out drawers.

first birthday ...cont

All the ladies did ovalnee and aukshwan, and then we cut that delicious looking cake.

I never did manage to get a taste tho...sigh. the hungry hordes gobbled it up!!

1st birthday cont

Aaji dressed her up in nice frocks and mama got a delicious cake which set all the kids drooling!

1st birthday

Yesterday was Sanjus first birthday! I cant believe that she is already 1 year old!

Aaji decked her up in nice clothes all day long, and we had a nice party and presents.

unlike most babies, she thoroughly enjoyed her party, and freaked out all through the evening

First chaniya choli

her birthday is approaching, so she gets new clothes. Here she is getting decked up in her first chaniya choli..

bath time

Now she is trying to use the mug by herself, but its a bit heavy...

Getting on and off bed

as her locomotion powers increase, her mayhem potential rises...now she can climb on and get off a bed.

first step

She is now walking a bit..I keep trying to catch it on film

kook kook

Sanju playing kook kook by herself

peek a boo

I love this set of photos. Sanju playing peek a boo!

Holi hai!

sanju baby played her first holi yesterday. We dressed her up in her new frock and splashed her in the most premium holi colours ever - saffron water. Mom soaked saffron in water to get colored water and then we sprinkled it on her.

She thoroughly enjoyed it, and grinned with glee - showing off her 5 teeth!

fending off the terrorist

Baby loves to pull hair, and her mother is the usual target. here she is trying to fend off fend off the little sadist :)

bath time

The maid is absconding, so baby duties are being shared by me, mom and bharathi; and so baby is having a ball.

She used to bawl all the way through her bath when the maid did it, but now she freaks out with mom.

taklu

Bharathi took baby to Chennai and shaved off her locks. They had become unruly and unmanageable, but i really miss those locks.

Little bit more of Kerala

I managed to drop and damage my brand new camera in Kumarakkam, so the photo trail ends there. After K'kam we went to Varkala beach - Bharathi was shattered, as consumerism has taken it over entirely. So we went off to take the backwater tour to Alleppy - an 8 hour trip on the boat, which was totally amazing!

We spent the last day in cochin and were back in Bom on 30th Dec to celebrate the coldest new year in town.