ONE - 21.12.2020

Dearest Athiyan,

Yayyy!!! We've reached the magical number ONE. Kudos to both of us for this milestone. You've grown from a teeny-tiny goofy little ball to a dynamic infant who is learning to communicate through actions / expressions and occasionally through an array of sounds (which is not understandable to grown-ups)

I'm not sure what triggered it, whether your own realisation that you're going to be a year-old or the constant nag or pressure from the people around you, you managed to sit up on your own, finally. After almost about 3-4 months of trying and failing and almost giving up. And oh, even this sitting up, you do it only when you want to, and almost never do it when people request you to. Mostly you are happy swimming (read crawling) around the house grabbing and throwing out all that is within your reach.

Thanks to the training of your thatha and paati, you have learnt to identify quite a few things in the house, and touch your head, ears, bangles and anklets when we ask where it is. Also you recognise Giraffe, Zebra and bunny from our wild animals which we see through almost every night before bed. 

We got a shape sorter for you when you were about 10 months old. You used to throw away the lid, take out all the pieces and use the box as drum and make sounds with it. 2 months later, just when I had given up all hopes on you using it for its intended purpose, one fine day, you got the Eureka moment seeming to have finally figured out that the lid is to be put on and the shapes need to be put through the holes in the lid. You are yet to learn which shape goes in through which hole, which I am sure you'll figure out in another couple of months. 

Dogs and Drums are your best mood boosters. You reserve your happiest of the shrieks for the dogs on the road. The way your eyes lit up when you spot a dog on the road and the way you call out to it is too cute to miss. As for Drums, I have already described in previous posts about how much you love it and how you make everything that you get your hands on (from bubble tops to random household utensils) as a makeshift drum.  

Your naughtiness and playtime has increased manifold. There are times when you play on our own trying to pull / push / poke / move around something. You seem to be so involved in it that you don't care if anyone is sitting near you or keeping an eye on you. You seem so independent. But then, there are other times when you demand people play with you / entertain you. You love it when people do something to make you smile and make a joyous cry. And once they're done with it, you demand they keep repeating it over and over again and again.

Your birthday went by quite smoothly. We did a small cake cutting with just the grandparents and neighbours. We decided to cut the cake at about 6 in the evening, and by 5.30PM you started feeling sleepy and turning a little cranky. But thanks to the grandparents, all the balloons and candles, you managed to stay awake for another 15 mins to cut the cake. When people around started singing Happy Birthday, I thought you'd be shocked with all the noise and start crying, but guess what you did.. You started clapping your hands in joy. That's probably the best moment that'd stay etched in everybody's memory about your birthday celebration. 

We went on our first roadtrip post your birthday. For all my worry on how are we going to manage you in the car for 6 long hours, you surprised by sleeping through most part of the journey and hardly caused a tantrum. This surely made your dad the happiest, and as for me, I finally have gained some confidence that we can manage travelling with you. 

To more of such fun trips, sleepless nights (this is going to take years to stop), random people watching, more growing up with you... 

Love, 

Amma. 

P.S.: Sorry for the late post, got quite held up with the birthday decors, that I didn't find enough time to write out this post.