Weaned Child.

The day, 26 June 2014 will mostly be forgotten. But it gains its significance with the first battle that Amy ( or me) won over. It is purely God’s grace, that I now can say she is weaned child. I have nursed her for almost 18 months. As I write 18 mths, I am awestuck, coz I never had the strength, or imagined 1. I will have a baby. 2. That I will be able to nurse for more than 6 mths. 3. I had also wondered if I will ever be able to nurse her atleast for 6 mths. There had been days, when I thought if I will have energy to do it. I had a desire to do it, and prayed that I will be able to do it atleast for a year. And God honored it. I thank God, and thank him more, for his amazing grace that held me through thick and thin.

Most of my friends, relations, told me to stop once we reached the 1 year mark. But Amy and I enjoyed it. It was a special bond that we had developed. I was excited, that I could soothe and calm her instantly. Of her tantrums, or her bruises, or any of her cries. Instant miracle. I remember there were days when she would have had a bad fall, a cut, with blood all over, and crying on the top of her voice, sobbing, and me holding and nursing her would stop all of that, in under a minute. What Magic! It was more so, when she was sick, with cold, fever or an upset stomach. She would refuse all other food, and her only intake would be b.milk.

Lately she had made it more of a habit- rather than actually getting from it. It was a miracle that we had gone on for so long. I had praying for this period for so long, and God helped us to cross over this phase. Neem oil, bitterguard paste, all made her shrink back. Even now, while in her deep sleep, she reaches for me. The other side of it, was how my body had to go through this transition. Lot of pain, discomfort, uneasiness, flowers, toor dal paste.. and finally free. Amy has slowly got used to it, and she drinks a cup of milk and eats rice at night.

And God has been teaching me a wonderful lesson too. To REST in him, knowing that He’s there for me, that HE loves me, and that He cares. Oh what peace! What Joy in midst of all storm!
Psalm 131:2 But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

Amy and the Loo..

When sowing teacher was home, she taught her to run to the loo everytime she has to ‘go’. She had been strict, that amy would run whenever she had to go. But once I got home from work, she would pee wherever she stands, and wud give a sorry face. Well aunty was strict and made her to say that she had to go. We slowly transtitioned it to the night time. Without the diapers, she would at times, wake me up saying ‘bathoom, bathoom, or aaai, aaai non stop. Sometimes, she would pee in the bed, and start playing around. Either way it was funny and sometimes hard, as putting her back to sleep took time :P

We had been to periyamalai with the fshp friends, and whenever I had the diaper on, she would force u to remove it.. it was such a pain to get her to remove her shoes/socks/pants/diaper just to get her to pee everytime. The weather was cold, and she peed often!

Back home, I had the diapers on for some more weeks, when I was stopping my nursing her. I got her a pink potty seat and she was all excited. So now, she enters the loo and points to the potty seat and want to pee/poop sitting in the potty! She loves playing with the water, so she pees few drops and pours cups of water on the floor and also on her! It became a pain after she made it a habit, and wanted to go to the loo every 10 mins saying ‘aai, aai, aai’ . She got herself all wet, and caught some cold, and was adamant, and cried her heart out if u pulled her out of the bathroom.. this was worse when we got her to bed at 10 or even after 11, 12. She is so funny.

Recently when we were out shopping, she wanted to go, and Praveen took her outside, and I got her to sit on the store parking lot, and she went! The next shop wasn’t so lucky, she just went right there inside the trial room! But I am glad, and I thank God, for she is almost potty trained, if not 100%. She says clearly when she wants to go, and directs us to the bathroom.. oh she’s so funny!

Amy and her love for songs!

f she is happy and excited she puts her hands as a c curve and turns left and right.

Her favorite list of songs.
Cedarmont Silly songs – this song any time makes her laugh- giggle and jump up with glee. This is one list of song, she has never got tired for the past 8 mths. She just adores them.
Her first love is ‘Skinnymarinky dinky dink- which when sung over and over again, just made her stop whtever she was doing- crying, or tantrums. I have fed her many a times- thanks to the song! This was trick to get her to stop whining in the Mysore DC.
Her other favorites – rocka mysoul in the bosom of Abraham, shoo fly, happy day express, who did, who did, the bear went over the mountain, behold, one door… and many more.. she watches the tv/laptop without blinking! It was quite alarming, so I have got her to see other songs..
Raffi’s songs – I loved them, so played them enough times, to get her to like it :P
5 little ducks.- my favorite
Shake your sillies out – amy’s favorite
Bumping up and down, brush yr teeth, apples n bananans, mr.sun, wheels on the bus.
I have introduced lot other songs too..
Mother Goose club songs—she likes the itsy bitsy spider, dinausaurs have great big teeth
Barney’s song- she loves most of the songs too
Maranatha – Happy day, Today, special special – my favorites
Psalty – Kids praise 5- I love them.. amy watches them too.. and tries to dance.
Adventures of prayer bear – steve greene.
Donut man
Tony- Music man, hockey pockey ( her new favorites!)
So long farewell, do-re – me fa, favorite things, are not something she likes yet.. neither is disney’s mickey mouse, pluto, or any fairy tales… YET!

I got her a tape recorder- so that she listens to them while I am at work. Selvi akka knows to play them, and I have put the songs in the pen drive. She demands the songs, and if she wants to pass the song she says loudly ‘nana,nana’ forcing u to skip the song to her favorite.. she even knows the music of the songs.. J
And boy, does she sing.. she sings in her thotil… and laughs if u spot her singing.. she taps herself on her chest- asking u to pat her or sing to her. She is so little and yet demands in such a stern way!
She makes me play ‘ ring around the roses’ and if u r happy and u know it by saying ‘ashi, ashi’ and ‘appy, appy’J

Amy and the neighbors.

Amy is such a sweet heart that she is friends with everyone in the apartment. She calls them athai, mama, and loves being pampered everywhere. Vivek’s house is where she goes to watch the tv. She eats what akka gives and comes back all happy and excited. She has a balm that she always holds on to, whenever she goes there. She loves the granny in that house and even lies down on her lap and goes to sleep. The ground floor Divya’s family is also another place where she goes and watches tv. ( We have no TV yet)

The parking lot is where the neighbors gather, and amy provides free entertainment. She runs around, the cars, bikes parked there, and they form the perfect hide and seek spot. Our house being the corner, she has ample space to see the cows, buffalos, goats, cats, dogs that go on the street. Not to forget the crows in the area!

Her recent favorite songs are ‘ ring around the roses’ for which she makes me, divya, and granny to play with her. She says ‘ashi, ashi to get me to sing it! She says ‘appy, appy’ to make me sing ‘if u r happy and u know it’ she is one active, naughty girlie! The second floor , has a family, whose relative 2 kids come over to play. She is friends with them too. Deborah, is in UKG, and amy goes and hugs her tight. They play together these songs too. They also play upstairs on the roof. Amy was also friends with tharani , - vivek’s cousin.

Amy and the walk with the goats.

Amy loves cows, dogs. Goats are something that sees at around 6 pm, crossing our house everyday, with an old shepherd. J Yesterday I go home, and I find our neighbours, Vivek mom, Mil, Divya and her mom with amy and dad in the parking lot. Dad had taken her in the stroller since 5.15 pm.

When she saw me, she said ‘nanana’ that I was taken aback. Usually she plays forawhile and then go upstairs, but today, I got her outside with me, and then the goats came. She squealed at them sat on the road and started laughing pointing at them. I let her follow the goats, and off she went toddling along, squealing, much to the surprise of the people on the streets. Everyone’s eyes were on her for sure! So we walked till the goats got into their stall.

I asked the old shepherd, if I can enter their fence to have a look, he nodded. Amy was still squealing and making more noise than the goats and the ducks! Yes there were 4 white ducks and 1 black one. We stood there for sometime and then forced amy back. She saw the hens on the way and was super excited on the way back. Got her a ball and she was on cloud nine :)

We came home and the neighbors were waiting. So we played with amy and her new ball. She wanted us to play ‘ ring around the roses’ and ‘if u r happy and u know it. ‘ and then got back.

Amy and choru

Amy has learnt the new word ‘choru’, dosai. So when I ask shall we eat,she starts singing choru choru choru again and again, the tempo increases, and it goes non stop, and then to a whine, that she wouldn’t even wait for the rice to get heated in the microwave. I have to put some in her mouth to keep her mouth shut!!

The energy fades away soon, so I try to feed her most when she is really hungry. She even sits in the kitchen floor and is ready to eat. The cupboards are accessible to her now, that she removes plates, spoons, bowls and lays them all out on the floor. It gets so difficult to control her when she’s running around like a Duracell bunny!!

Same energy shows up with dosai.She had even tried her hand on making a dosai! She loves holding the spoon, and then the spatula and serving it to dad or athai. She eats dosai with honey, and yday (12 Aug) she says thaeeen, thaeee for honey :)

Amy and God’s grace

Oh, I’ve seen and experienced love and grace of God throughout. It was even more encouraging to see it in amy at office. I got a local bus, I had Priya- Joyce friend to accompany in the bus! I had Anita Nesamalar to carry my bag. I had mano to take care, when I had to work for sometime.

They went around the floor, made lot of friends, and boy was she excited. I had Joyce to hold her while I had a presentation to make for 2 hrs- cut short to 1 hr. and she slept all the while on Joyce’s shoulders! Amy slept for few hours on my desk, which is a miracle! Anitha Gopalrathnam got her a glass of milk for her cerelac. Mano got one the next day. Carolin got her out for sometime. Amy had lot of visitors.

Anto, Arunthomas, Joyce, Divya, Pamela, Nithu, Priyan, Mano, Anitha G, Amutha, floor mates. We met Jansi, Balaji at breakfast, and Nisha at lunch. We also went to the Thursday fshp, where she made more friends! She was running around and even met a cow there. There was a little girl in the school, who played with her and baby sat her, while I could worship and listen to the message! Isnt that cool? I could feel that the entire day, God had cushioned us with so much of love, care and affection.. She did not have one bruise, or any other mishaps the whole day! Praise God! How good could he ever be!

Amy and her tantrums.

Amy dint eat lunch properly. The table we ate, and the floor below had leftovers. She was spitting food, and saying ‘na. na’ to all that I gave her. Finally took her out to the pond, thinking she will like the fishes.

She did like the water. She wanted to step into it. I had to pull her out, and her tantrums followed. She wanted to get into the water so much, that she stiffened and was on the floor. She hit her head, and her cries started. She was hungry, and sleepy and cranky.. Finally I took her back to my place, and put her in my shoulder to sleep.:)

Amy @ my cubicle.

Amy was surprised at the cubicle setting. She was running here and there. I put her in my cubicle, I had a call to attend at 9 AM and had no baby sitters! I opened my draw, took out some old business cards to keep her occupied. She was. She put them out. She put them in. So I turned and took the onsite call. We were done in 15 mins, I turn around to find no floor in my cubicle :P It was all covered with the business cards.

Her toys, her bottle, everything was on the floor, no wonder she did not make a wee sound during my call. She had poured all the water in the chair and it was all wet. 15 mins. That’s all it took :) In the afternoon, she slept on my shoulders, and slowly I tried to put her on my desk, so she can sleep for more time. The hard wood was not so comfy, that she opened her eyes twice and climbed on to me. I had a soft pink blanket for her, but it wasn’t enough.. But God’s amazing grace, she slept for an hour in my desk!

Amy and turnstile.

Amy had no clue on what the turnstile was for. ( ofcourse!) Since everybuilding has a turnstile, it was inevitable that we had to use it.

Couple of times, I carried her over it, and then realized, she can very well walk under it. Amy was happy walking under it, she was infact intrigued by all of it, that she tried running back and forth of the turnstile.

In the evening, when we were about to leave, and I had to swipe out, Amy, bent over and carefully – slowly walked completely bent over for a few steps! ( I couldn’t help laughing ) She need not bend over and can walk straight, for the turnstile was higher than her height! But that smile on her face, as she finally crossed, and giggled was priceless!

Amy and the switch.

I taught Amy two words- Switch on and switch off. So anywhere she sees a switch, she wants to ‘shwithch ooo, shwitcch oooof’. At home, we hid the switch box, which were reachable to her. So anytime she wants to play, I had to carry her in my arms- and that was better coz I will have a control of what she does.

Back in office that day though, she spotted a switch that was reachable to her, and she did the same dance ‘shwitch oo, schwitch oofff’. She turns left and right, when she does that, and looks around to see which light or fan turns on ( at home). But here this switch was just a plug switch, so she was turning around, bending over, bending on the sides and thoroughly enjoying the switch.

I let her have fun, and went to drink some water- which was some 10 mts away. I knew she was safe in the floor, and wouldn’t run away. Where could her lil legs take her? I calmly came back to where I left her, and there she was, still engrossed with the switch. A friend from my floor had identified that it was my daughter, and seeing her alone, tried to give her company. Amy dint mind :)

Amy and the Lift

When I got Amy to office, we were in the elevator, and we got to the ground floor. Amy turned back, and walked towards the elevator door. That was when the door closed, and she saw couple of them disappear. She bent over, threw her hand one either side ( as if to say, what just happened).
I couldn’t help laughing, and let her watch the nearby elevator come down. She saw a group of people get off the elevator, and few went in, and the door shut quickly. She ran to the elevator, and I got hold of her, before she could run in. But she was completely baffled. We stayed for a couple more minutes, and then decided to take her up and down the lift.
We must have hung around for nearly 15 mins, and I thought I could leave her with my friend Carolin, and atleast catch up some pending work. Amy though, knew the moment I stepped out and put her lil hands on the elevator door, and it kinda jammed. I still cant imagine how her fingers got in. I just pulled it out and we had a lil crying saga that put an end to the elevator saga.

Amy in office.

‘ Bring your Kids to work Week’ – Was another HR initiative in Mcity. A whole week! Age limit was 4 yrs and above they said, so I had no idea of taking Amy. But on Monday, I saw lot of lil kids walking around, and realized, it was not a rule, but a guideline, as kids < 4 yrs would be a pain to handle. I decided to try. With a big drama, in the morning( Amy puking half idli she ate!) , we caught a local bus and got to office. I could see God’s hand in getting us the bus, dad being there to help. Selvi akka to get us ready, inspite of the mess. Amy dint sleep a wink. She was super excited to see out office. I was super excited to bring her to office!

She made lot of friends in my floor, that now many smile at me and ask how Amy is doing. I just respond ‘Naughty!’. She was adorable. She was running around. Everything – the desk, the glass walls, the phones, the chairs, everything was amazing to her. She was one happy kid. My teammates, fellowship friends, floormates came by to see Amy, and I hardly worked that day! I did bring her again on Thursday- as we had Selvi akka on leave..
By God’s grace, we did not have any bad incidents.. Amy enjoyed and was like a Duracell bunny, and did not sleep a wink, while returning too!

Every day is a miracle.

Amy sleeps by my side. If I move she moves, so all night, I sleep still. And she moves, and everytime she moves, she needs milk to go back to sleep. But mornings have always been a miracle. She sleeps and I put her in the thotil. When I lift her, often I am afraid she’ll wake up, but most times, she just goes back to sleep. To sleep like a baby.

There are other times ofcourse that she starts crying, and then me, athai or aunty sings to her to get her to sleep again. But at times she is wide awake and demands that I be with her. And God send miracle through athai- she plays so hard and gets her attention in the other bedroom. Sometimes the miracle is in the form of the duck, sometimes as cedarmont video. But everytime it is a miracle. By the time I get to office and call her up, she is busy playing and I can hear her talk non stop in the background. :)