Mid July - Mid August
Uncertain about future travel plans, we hurriedly got Aarush’s passport ready. He posed for the camera without much hesitation, making the process smoother.
He can balance to sit unsupported for a short time while leaning forward, spreading his legs out wide and straight for support. Aarush has started recognizing people and responds when called from behind, turning around to find the source of the sound. He’s eager to explore by putting everything from A to Z into his mouth. While moving around on all fours is not perfect, he occasionally wriggles forward on his stomach. Aarush doesn’t like to be left alone in the room.
Dealing with maids in India is another headache. One left without any prior notice, adding to the pressure of taking care of Aarush and managing household chores, especially with my mother-in-law expecting a lot from me at the same time. Finding a satisfactory maid is challenging enough to inspire me to write a book on the subject.
Truly, when you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.
His grandma (thamma) arrived. Aarush spent 2 hours with her in the morning while I finished cooking. Our baby coos and gurgles while looking at interesting things or when talked to, yelling for attention. One of his uncles also visited during this time and played the mouth organ, which he enjoyed while trying to sit up.
Now Aarush likes to listen to rhymes while eating. As soon as the TV is switched on, he looks at the screen. He doesn’t mind repeating the rhymes. Aarush has started tearing paper pages into pieces and trying to chew them. To address this, we got sturdy board books that he looks at for a while and then throws or drops as he can’t chew on them anymore. Once we tried him in a shoulder sling, and he was unimaginably happy. Seeing him in the sling made me laugh loudly, as if a baby kangaroo is snugged to its mom. In turn, seeing me laugh, Aarush laughed for the first time, which was truly amazing, as if he understood. Now he is becoming more vocal and expressive.