Hey Diya challam

Hi Diya,

Raghu mama here ...:)

I really liked the way u enjoyed Swara's bday party...

I am sure u are prepared for a bash on ur bday. But i got to know that papa will celebrate 2nd or 3rd bday only in a grand manner :(

Lets see if I can change Papa's mind.

 

Till then keep rocking :)

 

Sudha's birthday

Today is Sudha’s birthday. Diya also joined her in cutting the Butter Scotch cake. Diya apparently liked the cream layer and had a good load of it. Afternoon, I went home for lunch. Sudha had prepared Veg Biriyani (thanks to Sakthi Masala). To entertain me, Diya was demonstrating me various skills – SIT like a grownup kid, STAND in our legs, and MOVE under the sofa and comeout in style. Then she retired to sleep.

Diya's first electronic message

Diya typed few letters conveying a message. See the text in double quotes. The dots are to be interpreted as spaces. "opl...................................................................................................................................................................."

Meow..meow.

Diya came till the floor steps to give send off to office. Constant complaints from amma and Sudha that she is growing more mischievous. She often poses like baby Lord Krishna in a sleeping pose and giving a pride look at all of us. Goes around pulls all that she spots. Eats newspapers. Enters bedroom, take left turn and pull out all things kept in the last row of the rack. Whenever I sing "meow..meow..poona kutti", Diya enjoys and searches for me. Sudha is annoyed because Diya constantly looks for the corner sticks of the mat and munches them.

Photo of the week

Whole day, Diya

My whole day, whole day went with Diya, diya alone.

Swara's birthday

I woke up when something touched my nose. I woke up to see Diya teasing my nose...hey..hey..she was cutely smiling at me..! Today is Swara's birthday. Our house was getting geared up for the celebration. Kathir, Suresh and myself all went for shopping and were busy blowing balloons. Diya too played role by playing amidst balloons. We took some snaps too. Evening, we all attended the party. Some of Honeywell friends got formally introduced to Diya as she was busy sleeping. Later Diya was awake to see such a big crowd all around. Swara's granny too was taking care of Diya for sometime. Diya got a return gift from Anu. That night, I and Sudha were chatting in the hall. Diya was rolled towards me. I just hugged her and sang "Chinna paapa.."..that was enough to put her sleep.

Our Tamil channel

Today morning, appa left to Erode at 5 am. Later I left to office at 6 am. It was a very successful day because I finished a very major work within 30 minutes. The entire day went in trying lot of exercises and all were successful. I came home with jubilant mood and played with Diya. No Tamil channels, Diya is her only Tamil channel.

More actions everyday.

Today morning I reached home around 6.15 am. Just after I reached coffee, Diya was awake hearing my voice. Then I played with her for sometime and put her sleep. It was pretty cold outside. Then in the evening, when I am back from office, got complaints from my parents how mischievous Diya was. But she is picking everyday new actions...showing in action 'ta-ta', 'vaa vaa', 'kai thattu kai thattu'.

Touring the home

Yesterday it was a very hectic day – so no mood to post blog. Diya was very calm, very calm and I took her walking in the corridor. Though she was drowsing, she kept herself awake. Today morning she woke up with a broad laugh (having wet the bed!). Then we played for sometime. Now she moves a lot crawling in all directions, that my father shifted the phone location. My mom complaints that Diya dashes her head anything she encounters including my mom’s face. Diya goes around and bangs against glass door below the TV. Quite naughty. Yesterday was Girija’s birthday. Today is Adarsh’s birthday. 3 days to go for Swara’s birthday. 5 days to go Swara’s mottai function. By the way, I am staying in office wrestling with a linux problem. Miss my cutie…good night kisses.

 

Getting more active

There was no power supply last night. We called the night shift engineer every one hour but we received the supply only at about 5am. It could have just added to Diya's cold and discomfort. Evening, I was early back from office - she was calling me to be lifted. And two new items - when she was crawling on the floor, she comes towards me when I call her. Also, when I was away to Swara's home with Kathir; that Diya was sitting on her own, it seems - an event which I really missed. Probably, she is catching up...I can recall that this is all what Swara kutty was doing when she was of Diya's age. Diya's just tired and went to bed very early today.

Photo of the week

See who is busy reading...

Baby Parrot - Conditions apply

For every word or sentence my mom speaks, Diya returns with a similar sound. But if anybody else tries to make fun, she keeps her face grin and doesnt even show sign of speaking. Very cunning!  Today I gave Dairy Milk chocolate to her. She liked every piece of it.

Home sweet home

When I reached home, I started talking to all my family except Diya. Diya got irked at this and drew my attention. Again when I moved away, she drew my attention. Then we played for sometime. Dad was as usual was trying to make her sleep by playing (and singing along) ‘chinna paapa enga chella paapa’ (that too very loudly). Diya listens to all this and finally gets very fresh making my dad’s efforts futile. It’s a everyday fun at home. I am staying at office tonight to complete an important task. And will miss my little sweetie tonight. Good night kisses.

Glass grabber

Diya is just obsessed with grabbing our glasses. My dad removed his glass and kept it in his shirt pocket. But Diya was smart enough to lift it with her legs. Evening Diya visited Big Bazaar for window shopping. Then I took her to Divakar Pharmacy while buying some medicine. Anu, Rags and Swara have visited home. Today is Swara's star birthday. Then we all sat together to finalize video invitation for Swara's birthday bash.

Photo of the week

This photo was taken in Shatabdi Express from Bangalore to Chennai last week (8th Feb 2007). Diya was just awake from her sleep and she was looking at the moving landscape. The just born sunlight was falling fresh on her face.

Music for ears

Diya talks a lot with my mom. Whatever my mom Diya gets excited and makes a loud laugh. She makes sound like a rat, joins if anybody laughs. But today she made a lot of new sounds as if she is trying to talk. Tailpiece: She tried new potty today and was partly successful.

No Bandh for her!

Bangalore Bandh. Peaceful day. No horrible horn sound. Diya was pretty happy playing with us all, especially hide-and-seek with my mom. She looked very bright on the black top that Minu bought from Orissa. She swims on the floor forward just to grab anything on the line of sight. Papers, anything paper is her play toy. We sacrifice one full page of newspaper everyday or the cover of India Today every week. She tastes remote control too. She uses her legs like her hands to catch things. Gets share of all that we sweet that we eat. Today she got access to laptop (when sudha was accessing her mails) and started hitting the keyboard like a pro. Anything ring will be an ornament on her legs - plastic rings, sudha's bangles etc. Before signing off to sleep, she was playing with a small silky label that was attached to the Snail Toy. No bandh for her!

A dull Sunday

It was a very dull Sunday. India lost the match. Diya was playing as usual. Anu & Rags visited us for a break and gave a gift to Diya. Diya found to be comfortable after back home!

Visit to Chennai - Day 3

10th February, 2007
Morning : It was a pleasant morning and it was drizzling. We got ready and visited Raji's house. We finished our breakfast+lunch there and started off to station
Noon: On the way to Central, it was very hot, lot of traffic. Diya could only enjoy when the car was on the move.
In train : Second Class AC in Bangalore Express was very ordinary. It was only okay for fewer things. I was reading Ananta Vikatan and was reading an article about a Srilankan family Kasi Ananthan.  At Katpaadi junction, I was shocked and surprised to see this personality alighting from our coach. Diya continued to sleep in my mom's lap and played well towards the end.
Night: We all reached home safely and thanks to Leela maami, our wonderful neighbour, we had the dinner on our table.
I didnt have energy to update the blog and went off to sleep.

Visit to Chennai - Day 2

Morning - Diya woke up much before me. She was wearing a new dress. Then, my cousin Maheswari along with her kids visited. We spent time playing with her kids.
Post Lunch - We left to Sudha's periyamma's house in Tambaram. There we met all her relatives and the kids too. The kid Srilakshmi who came back from school was shocked and surprised to see a different kid(Diya) in the place of her brother (Srihari). Late in the evening, when Sudha's cousin came back from office, Diya jumped to her and gave a very strong kiss to the envy of everyone there.
Diya was damn tired and went off to sleep.

Visit to Chennai - Day 1

8th February, 2007
The Train Journey  - We (I, Sudha, m-i-l) all got up at 3 am and started getting ready. Diya woke up around 5 am for her first visit to Chennai. We reached station around 5.30 am. It was the luxiriest train journey we all could have travelled. The First Class Ac in Shabtadi hardly had 10 people including us, so the entire space was all ours. Diya was looking around at the bright interiors. We made a friend of one kid Sanjana who spoke fluent English. We took a lot of photos in the train.
At Kalayana Mantap -  We reached Kalyana Mantap around 11.30 am. All relatives who got the first glimpse of Diya were excited and started playing with her. But Diya was in no good mood; she wanted rest.
Evening Reception -  Evening there was a surprise. There was a music orchestra arranged and the singers were from Airtel Super Singer contest. At the end of the program I spoke to Nikhil Mathew  who was the winner of that contest. I got his friendship too. We didnt get proper arrangment to make Diya sleep. She was crying the whole night. Mosquitoes galore and hot weather put all of us in dizzy.

For Diya From Oriya

Minu got two cute dresses made in Oriya. One of the dresses will be worn in Chennai wedding. Diya is all set to leave for Chennai in another few hours from now. Note: There wont be any blog on Thursday and Friday as we all will be in Chennai.

Living without guilt

Diya is just getting ready for her Chennai trip scheduled for Thursday. But since a bandh had been announced, we were little worried on how to plan. God always sends His angels - Anu called to convey that the bandh has been postponed to Monday. Peace of Mind !!! I am planning to add parental references too in this blog regularly so that fellow parents, parents to be and to be married will reflect back on themselves. Parental View: Diya normally signals when she wants to relieve herself. But occasionally she wets her dress and soil our dress too. She looks at me with a sorry look which makes me interpret in thousand ways. When I start tickling her, she becomes happy and accepts whatever has happened. One parental resolution that I have taken is never make my kid feel guilty. We all have been brought up with bags of guilt by parents, relatives and school teachers throughout our life. The guilt feeling has impeded us in several ways. The Not Ok feeling could shun our lives. So, let us - we parents - resolve not to make children guilty to the extent possible.

Monday winner

After the cauvery tribunal verdict, if you ask me who has won, I would say, Diya. Yes, I was back home 3.30 pm and Diya was all smiles. We played, played and played a lot. She wanted to break my glasses; its about 3 years since I changed my specs. Diya is just hinting. Its going to be 11 pm, everyone is about to doze off, Diya is still active, up and running to full capacity.

Photo of the week

Today I and Diya woke up at 5.30 am and slept in the hall until 7.30 am. She is begining her 8th month today. Happy birthday, kuttu! Almost my entire day was with her only. We played, watched TV and fed the aquarium fishes. Photo of the week: Was taken with Madhan on Friday.

Busy Saturday

Today we purchased a gift for Diya from Khazaana Jewellery. On 4th of every month, Diya gets a gift from me on ocassion of the 'monthly birthday'. Sudha was hasty enough to try it out today itself for Diya. Evening we visited Sathyan's wedding reception at Nandhini. Fortunately, the bride's relatives took care of Diya till we finished our dinner. There were many friends to whom we wanted to introduce Diya, but she became restless towards the end. So, we hurried up back home. Tailpiece: Divya (SCAD) too sent a mail in praise of Diya. Hope we all get together soon.

Visitors galore

Diya was very cranky - we dont know whether it was cold, or looking for her grandparents to be back. Today we had surprise guests from Thencheri - Periamma and Periyappa had come. Diya became close to Periyappa, it seems. Evening Madhan had been home. Diya wept whenever Madhan approached or offered to play with her. Finally they both buried their differences and Diya agreed to pose for photos with him. Madhan was indeed, privileged. Before closing today's blog: Chaya from SCAD had written a mail mentioning that Diya is as cute as her mom. No credits to dad?!

  

Diya at Sandy's wedding

Diya is increasing her social network. Today we attended Sandy’s wedding. Diya was wearing Kerala type dress (cotton material + jari border). We were received by Sowmya (as directed by Sandy). Diya went to Sowmya and was happy to be with her. She also tasted idly for breakfast and paayasam for lunch. Was well taken care of by Sowmy and Raaji maami. She also met Sandy’s group SCAD. On stage, she posed for photo sitting on lap of Sandy. She also looked like admiring the marriage music. In all she was calm throughout.