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!