Pinku is starting to sit up – 24 July 2022

We noticed she could hold herself upright on her own for a few seconds 2 days back. This morning, we put her inclined on the bed (against a pillow) and she was able to pull herself up by her abdominal muscles into a sitting position.

I think with some more practice she will be able to get up into a sitting position by herself very soon.

We went to pick up Avi at the airport this afternoon.

Random Ramblings – Baby in the Womb – 23 July 2022

In a mother’s womb were two babies.One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?”The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”

– a parable from Your Sacred Self by Dr. Wayne Dyer

21 July 2022 – Pinku is 5 months 22 days old

Today Pinku had 2 meals. We gave her some steamed baby marrow for lunch and steamed patty pans for dinner.

She is sleeping soundly in my arms as I am typing this post.

I am thinking to start writing daily – sort of like keeping a diary of Pinku and other stuffs going on in our life.

Workwise: we are still working from home (so grateful for that) and it can get a bit hectic but we are trying to catch up after hours.

[ Vic:- Yes, it’s very hectic at times, I’m trying to balance UAT support, SIT and DEV deliverables, team lead responsibilities, the automation design and coding, and everyone else that’s reaching out for info etc during the day. But I don’t mind doing it, I love the challenges, the pay, and especially the ability to work from home and enjoy the flexibility that comes with that. ]

House: It is difficult to keep the house as tidy we would like. We are doing what we can and it’s okay. Today I folded and washed some clothes, and Vic washed the door on the patio where some oil had splashed on top of our day to day chores (cooking and washing dishes)

Pinku: She loves playing peek-a-boo. She loves exploring and loves it when Vic takes her around the house. She loves being with us. She has started using a baby walker since last week and she likes it. She will stay in it for 15-20 minutes. She likes exploring the house on her own.

[ Vic: She doesn’t really like tummy time, but she loves walking and running around while I support her, so I thought I’d try to teach her to start sitting up while I support her. She did very well, she managed to sit by herself for a little bit. I’ll continue with that exercise. And, I think the approach we took to get her used to baths is also working, she seemed more comfortable to get closer to the water today. ]

Pinku – Introduction to Food

Pinku’s First Food

After some research, we decided to start the introduction to food earlier – at 4.5 months old instead of the planned 6 months old.

Main reasons for this:

– Pinku was already showing signs that she is ready for food (ability to sit up, the tongue thrusting reflex had stopped, showing lots of interest in food)

– We had read that some babies do start feeding earlier than 6 months old.

We called her paediatrician as we wanted to get her thoughts on this topic, and was pleasantly surprised when she encouraged us to start the introduction of pureed foods.

We started with some pureed steamed baby marrow…and she LOVED it! We were ecstatic! We were expecting some reluctance from her as that’s what we have heard from people’s experience, even our parents experiences with the both of us.

Second vegetable we tried is steamed patty pans. Again, she enjoyed it a lot. She was reaching for the plate and looking forward to each spoon. There was no need to coax her to eat by doing the ‘aeroplane’ game.

She then tried some avocado. The response was good as well, though she did not finish all. We think that is most probably due to avocado being a heavier and fatty food. But she did seem to like it.

We then made her try sweet potato. We had to mix some baby milk to it as it was too thick but we did not get the same response as with the baby marrow and patty pan.

For the week or so, we will stick with baby marrow and patty pan, and might include some fruits such as banana, kiwi and mandarines.