The Tooth Fairy has a new customer

I'm a bit behind on my blog posting since I just returned from more than a week away from home (and, ahem, apparently someone can't figure out how to upload pictures, despite my multiple requests while I was away). We both left last Friday to head to New York to attend Salil and Arpita's wedding, which was tons of fun and a great chance to catch up with old friends from HBS. We managed to have a great time eventhough our red-eye flight was 5 hours delayed (departing at 3am instead of 10pm, causing us to miss the ceremony) and the airline lost Sameer's luggage. Thankfully it was an Indian wedding, so after a couple of phone calls Sameer had located an outfit to borrow, and he managed to convince at least a few people that the fact that he was barefoot was "even more authentically Indian." Since there were literally hundreds of other Indians there, and no one else was barefoot, this seemed a bit of a stretch, but was still a better call than wearing the tennis shoes that were his only other option. Sonia stayed at home (her first time with both of us away) being watched by Dada and Bebe, who managed the entire weekend like pros.

On Sunday, Sameer flew back home while I continued on to Kitzbuhel, Austria for a week of training for work. It was hard to be away from Sonia for so long, but it was a great program and always fun to get a week in a very scenic locale that counts as "work." And, thankfully, this morning when I saw her for the first time she seemed very happy to see me, which finally got rid of my paranoia that she would forget who I was and act like I was a stranger when I came back.

While I was away, Sonia managed a few firsts, notably that two of her teeth managed to break through her bottom gums after literally months of drooling, whining, and chewing on everything. But, as the picture demonstrates, you can't really see them yet unless you're looking very closely. Trust us -- if she were to bite you now it would hurt a lot more. Not that she would do that, of course.

In other news, for the first time Sonia managed to stand on her own for a few seconds. According to Sameer, she had pulled herself up on his legs while he was standing in the kitchen (her not so subtle gesture that she would like to be picked up), and then he looked down to see her just standing there next to him. Of course, as soon as she realized what she was doing, she quickly fell down and has yet to repeat the feat. Yet another reminder that our days are numbered before she'll be running around. And also a reminder that even in just a week away you can miss out on so much!

Nine months and counting

Today we took Sonia in for her 9-month checkup with the pediatrician (a bit delayed from the actual 9-month mark as we are always tardy in making these appointments). A lot has changed from her 6-month checkup...we've hired a nanny, I've gone back to work fulltime, Sameer's changed jobs (something I realize I failed to blog about), and Sonia has learned how to crawl, "cruise," and eat solid food. And she's gotten a lot bigger! The stats this time around were that she weighed 20 lbs exactly (68th percentile), she is 28 inches in height (62%), and her head circumference is 45.2cm (81%). So, her noggin remains huge, and her body is starting to catch up. It was kind of funny after the nurse weighed Sonia and said she was 20 lbs and Chuki (who had brought her to the appointment, so was there as well) commented, "That's exactly the amount of weight I'd like to lose." And we both just sort of stared at Sonia sitting there and laughed at the thought that you would have a goal of losing an entire 9-month-old's worth of weight. Ahh, sad, but true.

The doctor said everything checked out perfectly from the physical exam. Sonia performed as if on cue by demonstrating her ability to stand up and her ability to make loud, whining noises whenever the doctor tried to touch her (which the doctor kindly attributed to "typical stranger anxiety"). Thankfully this time around there were no shots, so we didn't see the whining escalate into full-fledged crying. The doctor asked me if I had any questions, and I couldn't think of any. Of course immediately after she left I remembered that I wanted to ask when we should take away the pacifier at night, but by then it was too late. I guess that buys Sonia another 3 months of having it since the next appointment is not until the 1-year mark. Hard to believe she'll be there in just a few months...time flies!

Be careful what you wish for

A few weeks ago we bought Sonia a walker toy, but it turned out to be very anticlimactic. Sonia would sit in front of the toy and play with it, but resisted all attempts to get her to actually stand behind it, let alone push it forward. It seemed destined to be relegated to the dustbin of bad toy purchases. And, yes, I know, I think this is one of those toys they recommend you avoid lest your child figure out how to push it down the stairs. But, we don't have stairs, and our nanny recommended we buy one, and we're suckers for anyone suggesting we get some new toy.

So, we were pretty psyched when in the last week or so Sonia figured out what it is for and began pushing it around the apartment (admittedly, not a very big space). As you can see from the video below, she's not really figured out how to steer the walker, so it's a bit like a demolition derby in our living room. I guess she must have inherited her father's driving skills.

But, now that she is a little terror "behind the wheel," I'm left to wonder why exactly we wanted an unsteady baby cruising around our tiny living room. What were we thinking?! Good thing at this age she has no real memory for this kind of stuff, so if the walker "disappears" I don't think she'll miss it. Anyone in the market for one?

Share and share alike

One last post for today, I swear.

In just the last few weeks Sonia has started to demonstrate that she might actually understand what we're saying, and (better yet) actually act on it. She definitely suffers from "selective hearing" in that she cannot seem to understand "stop touching the stereo" or "please don't eat that magazine." But, we've been working on "sharing" and she seems to now get it when we ask her to give us something she is holding. Truth be told, I think she has no idea what we're saying, but she has figured out that if she hands the toy she is holding to one of us when we stick our hand out, then she will be praised. Close enough, I guess.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Since I recently wrapped up a project at work and have yet to start my next one in earnest, I have a rare bit of down time (or at least "less work" time). So, I'm working on catching up on my blog posting among other things.

One thing I've been meaning to write about is that Sonia is definitely starting to exhibit "separation anxiety," or more explicitly, she is noticeably sad when either Sameer or I leaves the room / house. Sometimes this is cute, like on Sunday when I was in our room getting ready and she crawled down the hallway and pushed open the closed door, and then looked all happy and proud of herself that she had succeeded in "finding me" (a feat that is not so impressive, I suppose, when you consider how small our condo is). Other times it is just plain sad, like this morning when she cried when I left the house. Admittedly it was the perfect storm of separation -- Sameer left early in the morning to go out of town (so wasn't home either), and since it was Monday she had just spent two days basking in our undivided attention. And every Monday is always a bit tough as her almost 9-month old brain has to remember that not only does she know who Chuki (our nanny) is, but half the time she prefers her to us. To make matters worse, Sonia got up very early this morning so was already cranky and tired by the time I was walking out the door. So, given all of those factors, I shouldn't have been surprised that she would cry, but it was still sad. Mind you, I have zero doubt that within 30 seconds of my departure she had forgotten all about it. And it's funny how I would probably be equally upset if she didn't seem to care if I left -- I guess there's no getting it right.

But, in general, things are going really well. Everyone keeps asking me how it is to be back at work, and while my (truthful) answer is always "hectic," so far it has actually been working out reasonably well. Chuki has been great, and even though every now and then she will do something with Sonia that I wouldn't normally allow (e.g., let her try strawberries, which are not recommended before 1-year of age because they are a common allergen), those moments are pretty few and it's obvious that Sonia completely adores her. Having Sameer work at home most days makes the logistics much, much easier (a fact I remember again each and every time he goes out of town), and also alleviates a lot of the "mommy guilt" knowing that he is around to take a break every now and then and check on her. Plus, it's great to hear about the day she's had with Chuki (going to the library for storytime, enjoying a summer concert in downtown Palo Alto, joining a playgroup at the park, etc.) and to know that her days aren't just spent playing with the same 5 toys in our living room. And, despite her well-deserved reputation as a master pouter, Sonia is a pretty happy kid, which is all that we can hope for.

Below are some photos of our outing to the park yesterday that show off some of that happiness -- I love that first one where she is just so excited that she closes her eyes and grins.

For my belated photos from the month of July, click here. More posts to come!

Finger food

For the last few weeks, we've been trying to get Sonia to start eating more solid food (or, I would argue, solid food for the first time since baby "solid" food is still pretty much liquid). Anyway...on the advice of multiple people, we started with Gerber "Graduates" which are kind of like Cheerios, but a bit easier to eat (slightly easier to pick up, and dissolve in your mouth quickly -- which is important when you have no teeth). At first, Sonia was pretty excited about these new small toys we were placing in front of her. She would indeed pick them up and look at them, before casually throwing them on to the floor. Despite my efforts to demonstrate to her that they were food by eating them myself countless times (for the record, they taste pretty good), she seemed to have no idea that they were something she could / should eat. Multiple times she sat in her high chair and cried because she was hungry while grasping 3-5 pieces of cereal in her hands.

But, somehow, in the last couple of weeks she finally figured it out and now eating the Graduates is her new favorite thing to do. As the video demonstrates, her dexterity has not quite caught up with her desire to eat them, so each one takes 5-10 seconds to slowly get shoved into her mouth. And perhaps we have been a bit too zealous in our praising of her efforts, because she is so used to our excitement at her success that she now claps herself each time she successfully gets one into her mouth. Needless to say, there is no such thing as "fast food" at our house these days.

Cruising along

Sonia continues to become increasingly mobile, which is giving Sameer renewed hope that she might actually turn out to be coordinated (although with my genes in the mix this seems highly unlikely). Her latest trick is starting to "cruise" (sort of walking while holding on to something). As the video below shows, she only does this when she's really motivated, like by a chance to get her hands on the phone, the remote control, or (the ultimate triumph) a laptop keyboard.

A couple other things to note from the video:

• We finally broke down and got a cover for our coffee table to make it at least slightly less dangerous to Sonia. This officially completes the transformation of our living room from a place where we could entertain adults to a baby playground. (Although it is possible to remove the cover from the table, so there is hope yet.)
• Sonia's hair is starting to really grow in, and as the video demonstrates you are never too young for bed head.