You @ 1: Blabber & Smiles....
THE COUNT begins today, as you turn ONE Niky… You haven’t heard (and don’t react to) your name Niharika much… all of us fondly call you Niky :-)
This has been such a wonderful year… and as I write this note for you, every moment with you and each detail of that moment comes flashing back like it was just yesterday… feels like just yesterday that you came in our life and filled it with so much of tenderness… didn’t even realize when we reached this ‘one year’ milestone together…
It is commonly said that the child’s closest bond is with his/her mother (the first few ‘dependent’ years atleast!!), but in your case, I would say that you share the closest and most special bond with your sister Nithila… you do (or try to do!) everything that Nithila does… it’s a sight to see you standing in front of mirror and combing hair (like Nithila does) or adjusting scarves around your neck (the way Nithila does with my dupatta) or shaking your butts to match Nithilas dance!!… both of you eat most of your meals together, take bath together, sleep together, play together… anyday that you have to eat/play on your own, you make a huge fuss of it… Nithila has also grown to be very possessive of you… Hence it was only natural for me to think that Nithila will boss around and decide things for you, being ‘i-am-your-elder-sister-better-listen-to-me-Niky’ phenomenon… but I am so wrong… it’s the other way… you decide what and how you want and Nithila obeys… all you have to do is inflate your eyes and raise a huge cry and you know you get what you want… You have not yet tried to attempt these tactics with us, maybe because you are smart enough to know it wont work with us :-)
You absolutely love eating (this makes me so glad !!)… eating everything edible or even non-edible (you cant make a difference yet ofcourse between a parantha or a paper or a paint or a pin or pebbles or your own potty even… you have tried to eat all of these at different times !!)… the moment you see any of us eating anything (edible ofcourse!), you come close, stand and stare and make sure that we feel uncomfortable (almost GUILTY!!) and have to share it with you…
Some of the most adorable things you do are:
- When any of us (papa, bua or me) return home, you run to us with open arms, and hug us tightly… almost like a scene fresh out of a KJo film…
- While we are sitting on the bed or chair, you come and rest your head in our lap, as if wanting to be cuddled and caressed
- While Nithila eats her food and drops some of it on the floor, you crawl below the dining table and eat all that she has dropped… we don’t miss having a puppy around !
- When you go to the park, sitting in the Pram, you make loud and funny sounds (I really cant find letters to resonate those sounds!!)… to get attention from other kids...
- When you are caught doing something that you know you should not be doing, you give a very naughty smile as if teasing us…
- When I try to put you to sleep, you inturn pat my back, as if you putting me to sleep…
- When Nithila is being scolded, you sheepishly walk away and start playing on your own to avoid any bit of attention being diverted to you…
When I started writing this, I had thought this would be a short note… what is a one year old expected to do or say anyways that I can make note of… but I realize that’s so not true… you have such a strong character and space of your own already… Many people say that by the virtue of being born on Gandhi Jayanti, there is a chance that you are blessed with some virtues of Gandhi Sr… but this one year with you and I have my doubts… God also, am sure, moves ahead with times… the model he created on 2nd Oct 1869 would not be compatible for todays world and hence with improvisations and experiments year on year, guess you are like his recent version of 2nd Oct pedigree… only time will tell whether you are God’s just another experiment or HE finally managed to create another 2nd Oct wonder :-)
Other way to look at it is you are lucky to have born on a National Holiday… a birthday on a holiday gives a lot of scope to party, invite friends and family over and celebrate spectacularly… we are having a big party tonight with family and close friends… on Nithila’s insistence, we have a Hello Kitty cake in pink and white, ‘pink-only’ balloons, pink dresses, pink shoes, pink candles, pink wrapping papers, pink everywhere… thank god you are a girl too… else you might have been so embarrassed to see your childhood pics all in pink !!
With the chatter-box Nithila around and super-chatter-box Ankoo Bua around, I had thought you would learn to talk pretty soon… but you have decided to take your own sweet time to talk… all you do is blabber, almost construct whole sentences with high and low pitches within this blabber… such an entertainment it is, I wish I could capture that in words in some way here… and it will be much more entertaining as you learn to talk am sure… so while much is left ‘unsaid’ today, nothing at all is left ‘unexpressed’… your eyes and smile are enough to convey your message… and these messages are all about love and joy and warmth and cheer… am learning from you to spread these messages… learning the art of being innocently demanding… learning from you to use the forgotten senses of touch and smell… learning to feel content and secure, with what is offered… I look forward to learning much more from you as you grow…
Today, my most secure and gratifying moments are all about sleeping cosily with you and waking up to you everyday… Love you lots Niky...
This has been such a wonderful year… and as I write this note for you, every moment with you and each detail of that moment comes flashing back like it was just yesterday… feels like just yesterday that you came in our life and filled it with so much of tenderness… didn’t even realize when we reached this ‘one year’ milestone together…
It is commonly said that the child’s closest bond is with his/her mother (the first few ‘dependent’ years atleast!!), but in your case, I would say that you share the closest and most special bond with your sister Nithila… you do (or try to do!) everything that Nithila does… it’s a sight to see you standing in front of mirror and combing hair (like Nithila does) or adjusting scarves around your neck (the way Nithila does with my dupatta) or shaking your butts to match Nithilas dance!!… both of you eat most of your meals together, take bath together, sleep together, play together… anyday that you have to eat/play on your own, you make a huge fuss of it… Nithila has also grown to be very possessive of you… Hence it was only natural for me to think that Nithila will boss around and decide things for you, being ‘i-am-your-elder-sister-better-listen-to-me-Niky’ phenomenon… but I am so wrong… it’s the other way… you decide what and how you want and Nithila obeys… all you have to do is inflate your eyes and raise a huge cry and you know you get what you want… You have not yet tried to attempt these tactics with us, maybe because you are smart enough to know it wont work with us :-)
You absolutely love eating (this makes me so glad !!)… eating everything edible or even non-edible (you cant make a difference yet ofcourse between a parantha or a paper or a paint or a pin or pebbles or your own potty even… you have tried to eat all of these at different times !!)… the moment you see any of us eating anything (edible ofcourse!), you come close, stand and stare and make sure that we feel uncomfortable (almost GUILTY!!) and have to share it with you…
Some of the most adorable things you do are:
- When any of us (papa, bua or me) return home, you run to us with open arms, and hug us tightly… almost like a scene fresh out of a KJo film…
- While we are sitting on the bed or chair, you come and rest your head in our lap, as if wanting to be cuddled and caressed
- While Nithila eats her food and drops some of it on the floor, you crawl below the dining table and eat all that she has dropped… we don’t miss having a puppy around !
- When you go to the park, sitting in the Pram, you make loud and funny sounds (I really cant find letters to resonate those sounds!!)… to get attention from other kids...
- When you are caught doing something that you know you should not be doing, you give a very naughty smile as if teasing us…
- When I try to put you to sleep, you inturn pat my back, as if you putting me to sleep…
- When Nithila is being scolded, you sheepishly walk away and start playing on your own to avoid any bit of attention being diverted to you…
When I started writing this, I had thought this would be a short note… what is a one year old expected to do or say anyways that I can make note of… but I realize that’s so not true… you have such a strong character and space of your own already… Many people say that by the virtue of being born on Gandhi Jayanti, there is a chance that you are blessed with some virtues of Gandhi Sr… but this one year with you and I have my doubts… God also, am sure, moves ahead with times… the model he created on 2nd Oct 1869 would not be compatible for todays world and hence with improvisations and experiments year on year, guess you are like his recent version of 2nd Oct pedigree… only time will tell whether you are God’s just another experiment or HE finally managed to create another 2nd Oct wonder :-)
Other way to look at it is you are lucky to have born on a National Holiday… a birthday on a holiday gives a lot of scope to party, invite friends and family over and celebrate spectacularly… we are having a big party tonight with family and close friends… on Nithila’s insistence, we have a Hello Kitty cake in pink and white, ‘pink-only’ balloons, pink dresses, pink shoes, pink candles, pink wrapping papers, pink everywhere… thank god you are a girl too… else you might have been so embarrassed to see your childhood pics all in pink !!
With the chatter-box Nithila around and super-chatter-box Ankoo Bua around, I had thought you would learn to talk pretty soon… but you have decided to take your own sweet time to talk… all you do is blabber, almost construct whole sentences with high and low pitches within this blabber… such an entertainment it is, I wish I could capture that in words in some way here… and it will be much more entertaining as you learn to talk am sure… so while much is left ‘unsaid’ today, nothing at all is left ‘unexpressed’… your eyes and smile are enough to convey your message… and these messages are all about love and joy and warmth and cheer… am learning from you to spread these messages… learning the art of being innocently demanding… learning from you to use the forgotten senses of touch and smell… learning to feel content and secure, with what is offered… I look forward to learning much more from you as you grow…
Today, my most secure and gratifying moments are all about sleeping cosily with you and waking up to you everyday… Love you lots Niky...
2 comments
Happy B'day Niharika !
ReplyDeleteYou have the coolest mum a kid could dream of ! ;)
Wonderful thoughts . Are you gonna laminate it for your daughter as first birthday gift !!!
ReplyDelete