Some more cuteness online...

Rhea's less than 3 months old, but she occupies all the space in our hearts and in our computer hard drives :) We have so many pictures, sound bites, videos of her - yet so many of them don't get put up online. When I talk to my mom on the phone, I have a very lame excuse - yeah, we have taken new pictures/videos - they're just not out there in cyber-space. Here's my effort to share some of the cuteness online with friends and family.

Girl in the Mirror

Rhea has a new fascination these days...her own reflection ! Her new friend plays with her tirelessly, smiles back at her when she is smiling and reacts to her instantly. I wonder what is transpiring in her little mind when she sees her own reflection. Does she see herself ? Does she think there is another baby in there mimicking her every move ? What happens when she sees Mommy and Daddy holding the other baby? Recognizing that it is her in the mirror is a very important part of developing a sense of self. At what point does this switch happen? And how?

Very fascinating don't you think?

Rhea Goes Crimson

Last Saturday, being a beautiful sunny day, we decided to take Rhea out for a photo shoot. We ended up on the lush green grass at Harvard yard. Rhea was very excited with all the sounds, the people, and the colors. It was fun watching her bob her head from side to side trying to soak it all in. Wish we had more such sunny days left. The summer seems to have just flown by !

Good Night and Tough Luck

Absolutely delightful blog post by Christoph Niemann. He's a genius, and I can't wait to buy his creative books for Rhea...highly recommend "The Police Cloud". L is so logical with everything - when I told him the story of "The Police Cloud", he said that if the cloud is happy he can't do his job anymore, so he has to remain sad...I hope Rhea is not so logical when it comes to understanding story plots otherwise it will be hard to read her a book.

"Getting a good night’s sleep is actually a lot more complicated than one would think."

In spite of telling everyone how well Rhea sleeps through the night, the "through" part is 5 hours on her best night.

"Next up: a visitor from the kids’ room. They start all sweet and cuddly, but their little bodies become more brazen by the minute."

We're guilty as charged; Rhea sleeps in the bed whereas the co-sleeper and crib lay empty. She can't turn yet to her side yet, but in a few hours, she's managed to snuggle so close to me that I am left with about four inches of space between her tiny hand and the edge of the bed.

P.S.: As you can tell, I have plenty of free time on my hands right now. Hopefully, I will remain diligent with the blog even after I start working.

A matter of perspective...

We get toys & books for little ones that we look at from our perspective. I thought it would be fun to take a series of pictures from her perspective though. I was surprised and quite happy that toy makers actually think about these usability (?) issues and design accordingly. In this rainforest mobile, there are quite a few of these animals facing down. How cute!

More cooing

Thanks to US immigration, L was in India when I went for my second ultrasound in January. He bought this dress for the little one the day we found out it was a girl. It was a very emotional time for us, and we count our blessings that everything's turned out great since. Notice how Rhea goes from being a happy camper to a whiner in a matter of seconds!

Blog Update

The anonymous comment posting is now working properly.

New Discovery!

Rhea has discovered 10 new toys (8 fingers and 2 thumbs). Her favorite is her right thumb. She sucks at it with great interest and I don't have the heart to frisk it away from her mouth. In any case, my pediatrician is a strong proponent of "giving the thumb" so she can soothe herself. So now I have two things to deal with - her little binky (which she doesn't care for too much yet) and her right thumb. Oh well!

** Update: she misses her fist-mouth connection about 90% of the time, so it ends up looking like she's talking on a phone :)

Some Thoughts

This week, I'm going to hold the fort alone with Rhea, with the nanny starting next week, and mom missing from action. Several thoughts that I've gathered in this time (Rhea doesn't give me too much time for introspection, but her feeding sessions give me lots of time to make notes on my iPhone).

• It's not necessary (or possible) to entertain/stimulate a baby whenever she's awake. In that sense, I feel more like being best friends with her than acquaintances. With the latter, one tends to fill up silence with small talk -but with friends and family, you don't need to do that.
  
  
• She really enjoys watching me do the household chores - I carry her in a car seat in the kitchen as she watches me do the dishes/have lunch or clean up.
  
  
• Even after a good two months, it fascinates me that for so many months she was an abstraction; she was inside me, and now she is breathing and soaking in life outside the womb.
  
  
• I understand her instinct to suck, but I still don't get why she scratches her face, eyes and pulls her hair when she's tired.
  
  
• I'm very curious about her dreams and her thoughts, especially when she smiles or cries in her sleep is she dreaming about her jungle gym or Thai curry flavored milk or her favorite nursery rhyme or her boppy pillow and binky?
  
  
• Babies are definitely smarter than we think they are - even at a tender age of 10 weeks. Rhea knows when I'm around and gets up from her nap the minute I leave the room. This happened several times today; I finally gave up and decided to just lie next to her and take a nap myself.

This is the way we wake up...

Before

After

Birthday Weekend

I've been missing from blogging action for a while. We've been interviewing nannies, preparing mentally to resume work and getting Rhea used to a bottle. We finally landed on a nipple design that she's taken to (Nuk for those who care to know), and decided on a really confident and experienced nanny as well.

We took my birthday weekend off to Ogunquit, a beach town in Maine. Rhea was a darling throughout the trip, and let us enjoy our lobster rolls, beer and fried calamari without any fuss at restaurants and lobster shacks. Our hotel room had a jacuzzi, and she had her first swim in it. L just held her head above the water and off she started swimming. She has a strong backstroke! She even beat her little froggie at it. (Will post a video soon. I am still trying to get around to learning some "editing" skills).