The Frequent Flyer

I remember when we were getting Nikhil's first passport at the ripe old age of 3 weeks. We were in line at the post office waiting to submit his application.  There was a mother there with her 17-year old son.  She was telling the clerk that this was his first passport and first time he's ever flown. While I thought this was strange that he's flying for the first time at such a late age, I realized that there are a large group of people who have never flown their entire lives and some are well into middle-age or elderly.  Flying is a privelege that some people could either not afford, were too afraid to do, or just simply never cared or had a need for.

Then there's Nikhil...our little frequent flyer. In his 13 months of age, he has been to the Bay Area three times (and once more in a couple of days), Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Hawaii (I'm sure I'm skipping a few dozen places in there).  I remember how nervous we were the first time we flew with him at 2.5 months. His first trip was to California and we weren't sure if we were prepared.  We had so many questions running through our heads:

Did we have the right stroller? No. I got stroller envy when I saw other parents with their fancy smancy strollers and us with our cheap umbrella stroller (our other stroller was too big to travel with) so of course, I bought a new one when we got back. Do we really need 3 strollers. Of course! (although Kunal may beg to differ).

Did we pack the right items in his diaper bag?  Yup! We got that right. We had plenty of change of clothes for Nikhil and ourselves.  And we even remembered his diapers, wipes, and bottles. Wow, we're awesome until...

What if he threw up or pooped?  Of course, he did both on our short 2 hour flight. Luckily we were smart about bringing extra clothes when he threw up.  But we weren't so smart about changing his poopy diaper. We had no idea how to change a diaper on a plane. So much so that Kunal, in all his parental glory, accidently tossed the poop-filled diaper into a bucket containing ice for the entire plane. Not the finest moment in parenting.

I was convinced that every flight henceforth was going to be a nightmare.  But, it got better and now I wouldn't call traveling a breeze but traveling with Nikhil isn't nearly as daunting as it once worth.  There's still a long list of items to pack and remember (We still forgot his diaper bag in the car on a recent flight and I forgot his passport on our last flight). But (please find a piece of wood and knock on it) overall he travels really well and sleeps for a good duration of the flight. Now I know I just cursed myself and I'm going to have the flight from hell in a few days. Keep your fingers crossed.

The frequent flyer

The Hardship of Daycare

Every morning we drop Nikhil off at Daycare.  Along with dropping off Nikhil, we're also picking up the guilt of leaving him in the care of strangers for so long who have so many other kids to look after too. He's never happy about being dropped off in the morning but is usually smiling and happy when he's picked up. To ease the guilt, I began looking at his daily schedule and realizing why he's generally happy when he's picked up.  Let's review his hard day:

Breakfast
Indoor playtime with toys/puzzles/etc
Snacktime
Morning outside playtime on the playground
Singing/dancing/instruments
Lunch
Storytime
2 hour Naptime
Art/Cognitive Developement/Sensory Development
Afternoon outside playtime on the playground
Second Snack
Indoor playtime until picked up

First of all, they're constantly eating which probably explains why there is often bits of crackers and other unnamed objects stuck to his hair, face, and clothes when we pick him up (Nikhil is not the neatest of eaters). Secondly, their day is filled with playtime, singing, dancing, and making art. Makes me jealous that I'm not on his schedule. So when I start to feel guilty about dropping him off at daycare, I start thinking to myself, he could have it so much worse.

Nikhil on his first day at Daycare. 

Haa-Choo

I was going through the countless amounts of video we have of Nikhil. It's going to be one daunting task of putting them altogether in a video.  Came across this one.  It's an earlier one taken from Raj Masi's iPhone and it is still by far one of my favorites.  Nikhil was just a couple of weeks old at the time...

Oh what a difference a year makes.  Here's one taken just last weekend.  Nikhil has become quite the talker...

Nikhil Year One

I started this blog when I was pregnant and Nikhil is now just over a year old. Talk about slacking!  In my defense, I had no idea how busy it was going to be with being a mother and having a full-time career (not to mention having an hour long commute to Boulder each day). But regardless, the blog is back in business! Let's just see how long I keep at it now. :)

It's only appropriate that my first blog be about Nikhil's milestones leading up to his one year. He had many....first solid foods, first words, crawling, standing, walking. My only problem is that I can't remember when exactly each occurred (and no, it's not because I'm getting old).  I know when I fed Nikhil his first solid foods (at 6 months).  He began sitting at 6 months too but it was for maybe 30 seconds. It's really hard to say when he began sitting on his own without falling since the process was so gradual.

Nikhil sitting at 6 months

Crawling, standing, and walking were such a gradual process too that it's impossible to narrow down the exact date that he did any of them. He was definitely a late crawler.  He wasn't crawling around until at least 10 months. Before that, he was rolling everywhere,which didn't seem like the most efficient means of travel but it worked for him for a long time. Even when he did start crawling, it would be 2 or 3 steps forward and then he'd lay flat on his stomache and begin rolling. So it's hard to really pinpoint and say he began crawling on this day. He started standing before crawling (around 9 months).  And walking began around 10-11 months. He started cruising along the furniture and using his favorite walker at that time.

Nikhil and his favorite walker

Just recently, he releases what he's holding onto and takes off walking on his own. It still amazes us when out of nowhere, here will come Nikhil walking by. It's really cute too as he still lifts his arms for balance as he walks. He still hasn't learned to go from sitting to standing on his own but I'm sure that's only a matter of time.

Nikhil on the move

As for his words, he began babbling at a really young age. He currently says dada and momma (and he actually means us although Tej Mama insists that Nikhil is talking about him). He also says "ba" for ball, balloon, and when he wants to go outside (bahar is Hindi/Punjabi for "outside"). Being exposed to Hindi/Punjabi, he also says "de" (which means give) when he wants something and this is usually accompanied by pointing to the object of his desire. He hasn't quite mastered "thank you" or "please" but I'm working on it. He loves saying "Bua" and once we caught him saying "Nana" and "Nani". Sorry, no Masi yet. When you ask him a question, his response is always "yea". So if you want to know if Nikhil loves you, now is a good time to ask. He's already confirmed to me that he will grow up to be a good boy and will always love his momma.  One of my favorite things he says is "down there?"  The question mark isn't a mistake. Whenever he says it, it always sounds like a question. This is true for most of the babbling he does. I have a feeling he's going to be a talker and we should start preparing ouselves for the "why" questions!  Oh the joy!