My Little Munchkin

A couple of days back we were hit by the strongest recorded cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. Luckily Kolkata escaped the ‘eye’ of the Cyclone, however the winds which hit Kolkata at around 130 kms., did huge damage to the city’s infrastructure.

It was an scary, surreal experience for all of us, specially for Anaya. Although she did not show it outright, she wanted a bit more of our attention than usual. The 2-3 hours the cyclone lasted, Ridhi was with Anaya the entire time trying to divert her attention away from the howling winds and the falling trees while the gents in the house held the windows making sure they do not collapse under the massive wind pressure.

Following are a few pics showing the devastation caused by the Cyclone:

However I have to say considering everything, Anaya powered through like a champ and I would not have expected her to deal with the entire situation any better.

7 weeks into the lockdown, the situation keeps on getting grimmer. There is negativity all around. We are surrounded with news of Corona, with statistics informing us how many people are infected, how many succumbed and news of people breaking quarantine for stupid reasons!!!

One thing that helps me get through all the negativity is a hug from the munchkin. Recently she has taken a liking to just keep her head on my shoulders and not say/do anything. First time ever I understood what the whole concept of “Jadu Ki Jhappi” was.

Hugging has many proven benefits such as releasing oxytocin which reduces stress hormones like cortisol. It also releases serotonin which is more commonly known as the “feel good hormone”.

So my advice to anyone facing lockdown/quarantine blues is go give it a shot. If you don’t have a kid, hug the people closest to you.

Would love to hear everyone’s experience with this agreement. Do feel free to let me know how it goes over Whatsapp, Email, phone calls etc. etc.

So over the past week, I have been at home a lot more than usual due to the Corona virus scare. People on social media have expressed their concerns as to how to spend all the free time with no social interactions and no going to work.

Anaya has made this social isolation very pleasant and entertaining for us. Right from involving everyone in the family with her games and toys, she is a surprisingly good listener and the ray of light which dispels the gloom that surrounds us.

The curfew though has not been easy for her. She misses her daily outings and meeting her friends. Even now when we go off to work, she points towards the main door to express her desire to venture out but never has she made a fuss about it. We just need to explain to her that she cannot go out at this point in time.

Hoping this scare is done away soon so that the munchkin can resume her normal routine once again and start preparing for pre-school.

The one thing I always wanted to do for my kid was make a kick ass baby book. My dad had made a pretty awesome baby book for me (which in 1985 was totally unheard of) and I wanted to do same for Anaya.

Once I knew the sex of the child, the search began for the perfect baby book which would cover all the bases. Now there are basically 2 types of baby books:

1. Off the shelf ones which you can purchase online or at an Archies or a Hallmark store
2. Personalised baby books which are made by a lot of people who do it for a hobby.

Personalised baby books are quite extraordinary with the amount of cusotmisations possible. However, they are crazy expensive as well. The lowest quote I got was for around 4,000 bucks for a bare minimum book (which of course I didn’t like). Any book worth its salt would cost me around 6k. So I decided to go for an off the shelf option and began searching for one. Did not like any of the baby books at Archies and Hallmark stores. Finally purchased one from FirstCry. It’s curated by this company called Tiara Diaries and I felt some thought had gone into designing the book.

Tips for populating the baby book:

1. Purchase the baby book as soon as possible. In India we do not know the sex of the baby before birth, so I purchased the book within the week Anaya was born.
2. Go through the baby book so that you keep an eye out for all the Firsts and other information you would like to share with the munchkin.
3. Click lots of pictures. You never know what picture you would like to put in the baby book.
4. Use Google photos to remind you of the events/celebrations etc. etc.

So I am in the final stages of completing Anaya’s baby book and let me tell all future parents that it is a thoroughly rewarding experience. Highly recommend everyone does this for their kids. I went through what I had put in a few days back and loved reminiscing about Anaya’s first clap or her first crawl. I can only imagine doing it a few years down the line!!!!

A friend of mine shared this post on FB. This reminded me of something which Anaya’s paediatric told us at her first appointment with him. He said your kids are yours for only 18 years. Spend as much time with them as possible. Clean them, feed them, play with them etc. etc. yourselves as after 18 years they wouldn’t be needing you.

Spending time with your babies is the most rewarding experience for a parent. As I am writting this post, Anaya is playing peek a boo with me and waiting for me to take her Pujo hopping. So that’s it from my end for now. Laterz!!!!

So after everything that’s been going on we decided to take a vacation. The big question was should we take along Anaya or not. All out friends who have kids told us the best way to travel after having a kid is without them. However, we decided we didn’t want to travel without the munchkin. Hence started the search for destinations which are child friendly and do not entail much travelling. We finally zeroed in on Ooty and Bandipur. The reasons for choosing these places were the properties, Glyngarth in Ooty and Wildflower in Bandipur. Both were highly recommended for people travelling with toddlers.

Once the destinations was finalised and all the bookings made, it was now time to plan for Anaya. Most importantly her clothes and food. Ridhi meticulously planned Anaya’s menu and wardrobe for the entire 7 days. Needless to say, Anaya’s luggage weighed more than Ridhi and mine’s combined. Not to promote any brand but these these ready to eat mixes are really convenient when you’re travelling with a baby:

Early Foods – (6 Trial Pack Combo) Organic Porridge Mixes & Dry Dates Powder – 50g Each https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07B3RZ8H2/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_.f.CDbDHJCTDB

I will cover the actual trip in my next blog.

So Anaya got her mundan done this past weekend. Mundan is basically when a new born’s head is shaved off after birth during an auspicious period (in this case it was Navratri). The logic behind this is the baby should not be allowed to grow his/her birth hair and this needs to be shaved off. A few beliefs surrounding this ceremony are:

1. it’s very good for hair growth.
2. It purifies the mind and the soul of the baby
3. It brings good luck to the baby

Legend also states that children become much naughtier after getting their mundan. In Anaya’s case this is definitely true. She’s become much more vocal, loud and now seeks so much more attention!!!!

Over the past week, after reading my blogs, quite a few people have asked me how have my weekends changed after Anaya. That got me to analyse what I did on my weekends before Anaya.

ALCOHOL: I am not a drunkard, but loved to have a few drinks at home on a Saturday evening. Since Anaya, I haven’t had a single drink at home. Well who would want to get high when you can play with the munchkin!!!

TELEVISION: This is the biggest change in my lifestyle since Anaya. Before her you name the show, I would have watched it. Movies not so much. But now I have become super selective in what I watch. No more bingeing at all!!!

OUTINGS: Before Anaya our outings revolved around restaurants and movies. Both have taken a hit (not that I’m complaining). They have now been replaced with drives and visiting cafe’s which are visually stimulating for Anaya.

BEDTIME: With binge watching TV shows out, now my bedtime routine works like a clock. Bed time reading with Anaya, followed by me feeding her, swaddling her (which by the way I am amazing at) and setting her down for the night.

So all in all having a kid has reduced the “bad habits” to a large extent!!!

When I think of Anaya, I think of the Powerpuff Girls tagline. So they were made from “Sugar and Spice and everything nice” and well they behaved that way as well. This applies to Anaya 99% of the times. I say 99% because over the last week she has realised she can scream really really loudly. This has led to her expressing her displeasure in the loudest possible manner scaring the bejeezus out of us the first few times. However, my research on Google shows it’s normal for an infant to make loud sounds as they try and talk to you.

In other news, we gave her fruits mashes the first time today. And the mission was a huge success – PROUD DAD!!!! It is funny how such small milestones mean to you when it pertains to your kid!!!

More on the happy happs soon…..laterz!!!

After the fabulous response and support for my previous post, I thought why not look at it from the fathers perspective and fun facts about becoming a dad which no one tells you:

1. Prepare to be late: I cannot stress this enough. Being the super punctual person that I am (or rather was), nowadays I run late everywhere I go nowadays. A very apt onesie was gifted Anaya by her naani (maternal grandma).

2. Be amazed at how happy a little persons pooping makes you: Doctors say a proper poop is a sign of good health. I am sure it’s easy to connect the dots here on in.

3. You become a pro in baby lingo: Toddlers have this amazing quality of conveying their feelings with their goo-goos and ga-gas. The best conversations I have in the entire day are with the munchkin.

4. You start loving shopping (as long as it for the baby): For a person whose shopping is still done by others, I absolutely love shopping for the munchkin.

5. You learn terms which you didn’t know even existed: I swear I had never heard terms like “onesies”, “tummy time”, “booties” (which I thought meant something else the first time it was mentioned to me) etc. etc.