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. :)

NA Shockers.

While I travelled to US, my friend at work gave me a contact- though she lived in another state. I noted it down, and added her as a friend.. Later a very close friend of mine called me, and we chatted as old days, and we wondered why not call regularly to pray.. And then God gave the idea of conference call. A quick search on google provided free conference numbers. The only hitch was the different time zone. I collected the girls from our fellowship ( very less then), to connect at 9.30 PM CST, everyday. Some couldn’t connect, and Priscilla used to connect from her cell phone. I was quite lonely then, and my only highlight of the evening would be these conference calls. We were bunch of strangers- as few girls, were friend’s friend. We quickly had become close friends- as we started being accountable for what we prayed for, what we did, and well, what we ate, and how we spent the weekend. It was fun.

Once I came back to India, I had the fellowship of my friends at work, but still encouraged the few ones back in US. They are not that regular, but there is a fb group for them still. Often, when I look at it, I see how the energy had dwindled and feel sad. But now I realize, God uses certain things for a season, and we need to honor that.

We had a women’s day special Medical camp set up at work. I was sitting there, waiting, when I spotted Jansi walking out. I stood up, smiled, and asked how are you, aren’t you… Jansi!? I surprised myself as I got the name correct. The rest of the things fell back into my memory,and I asked, weren’t you in Wipro? How do I know you. And then I realized, I had never seen her before face to face. We were fb friends- through ‘NA shockers’ and I never knew she was back in India, and that too in Infosys! Wow! IT was such a surprise!

It was a PM’s meet, in the 10th floor at B7 building. I was there early, and no one had come. So sat on a sofa opposite to the elevator., and was like an usher, directing and informing the folks coming out of the elevator, about the location of the room, and that the meeting had not started. Some sat with me in the sofa, and we introduced each other. She was Deepa. The name is a common name it dint ring any bell. After a few minutes, the meeting started, and my new found friend, tells me that my name was familiar, and that if I was part of fellowship. I said yes and was glad to meet a rocker. But still she seemed to dig deep, and we finaly realized that she was Priscilla’s friend who had joined in the 9.30 calls, back when I was in Houston. 3 years back! What a surprise! I praise God for using each other to build one another. Praise be to his name alone!

Element of surprise.

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately. Tough love- by James Dobson, Boundaries in Marriage- Cloud & Townsend, When pleasing others hurts you, etc. I have been introspecting myself, to find out where and how I’ve been wrong, and one of the findings was I have been quite an open book. And one of the book- tough love says, there should be an element of surprise in your moves..
Pretty interesting.. J

Amy episode..

Amy walks, runs, climbs, and ofcourse babbles few words.. She can say ’switchon/switch off’ as she presses the light switches. She says ‘catch’, ‘throw’, ‘ball’. She can say ‘patti’- it was poppy for some time! She can clearly say ‘thatha’, ‘mama’, ‘appa’,’amma’,’mma’.
She does have a temper, that throws things that she sees. All babies do they say. She can tear papers, books. She can bite.. She is a piranha! She can bite and pull the skin. .She bites anywhere, shoulders, fingers, ankle, toes, skins in the arm, knee, skin in the waist – just anything! Poor athai, bears the brunt.

She doesn’t like me using the laptop, or the phone, so when she does get a chance, she pushes or throws them out. She promptly gets a beating- however small, so this was another evening. I was back from work, and she had my phone in her hand. For some reason, she threw it down on the floor. I was angry,at the way she threw it. So I asked, her to pick it up and give it back, I also told her to put her hand out so that I can whack it. With all innocence, and fear, she looked at me puppy face, and I asked her, with my hands raised – ‘how many times have I told you not to throw the phone’. Amy did something, that I can’t forget. She looked at me and then at my hand. She took her extended hand, and slowly raised it to match mine- ( in the position of a hi-fi). It took me a sec to realize, what she did, and I doubled up laughing!

She’s such a cutie pie!

Amy and athai.

I often wonder, what kind of relationship they have.. From the first time they saw each other, it looks like Amy thought athai was her play friend. Someone to play with all the time.. So they play with paper, clothes, books, toys,and what not... to be contd...