There's something about birthday girls

Vir was invited to his first ever birthday party yesterday. He made his way to the second floor of our building dressed to kill and armed with a birthday present that he thought was his to rip the wrapping paper off and proceeded to be far from a model guest in this new social situation. He started off by sitting grumpily in a corner in a room full of babies ranging from 7 months to a year in age and completely refusing to chit chat and be sociable. I thought that was fine since he was sleepy from a broken nap. But when he was done with his let-me-take-this-all-in-and-choose-my-reaction time, he proceeded to grunt, make his way to the center of the group, and rip the paper mat all the little guests were sitting on to pieces. The girls in the group were understandably confused by this behavior, but the one other boy there (who is a few months younger but promises to follow on Vir's footsteps) was thrilled and completely understood that this is in fact a fun thing to do. He joined in as best he could and Vir and Jay had fun time with what was once a clean paper mat.

Vir's next target was the birthday girl, who was dressed up as a fairy (or a butterfly?) Her wings were obviously tempting...who wouldn't want to grab and pull at those things? I had to lift him and put him in a little round play pen in the room. The birthday girl, Inaya, joined him there in a bit. He bullied her so much that I had to lift him out eventually. Love was beginning to blossom by this time, so Vir and Inaya spent the next 15 minutes holding hands and "talking" to each other across the wall of the play pen. It was the cutest thing to watch - this little lovey-dovey conversation, and I think they may be friends after all...till she realizes he's too much to handle and dumps him.

The other highlight was a dance performance from him in her honor. Vir has become quite the dancer now with a whole array of steps up his sleeve - from the slow side to side swaying, to jerking his head up and down like a camel and alternating this with a little butt shake. Sometimes, when he's really carried away by the music, he bends down all the way to the floor and does a little jig. I have video recordings which will be fun to show his girlfriend one day.

All in all, he has some work to do on his social skills, but everyone had a good time and that's what counts!

It's official...

Mashui isn't coming back. I was half expecting this, so I'm not terribly surprised. But I'm definitely in a soup. I'm sure this will work out because that's what always happens, but for now I don't know how to make Vir (who has been terribly unwell), my job, my house, our shift to the new house, Vir's first birthday, the fact that my parents and in-laws were both coming for Vir's birthday work together and still be alive to write his 12 month post.

Where's a coffin when you need one?

11+ months

I'm terribly late with my update this time around. Things have been ridiculously crazy, and I'm surprised I'm even alive. Though that is an exaggeration, it feels true enough. In the last 10-15 days, the following has happened:

• Mashui left for her vacation with Vijay and me scrambling to maintain some order in our house - bad
• We bought a house, our first ever - very good
• We tried day care for Vir - okay
• We decided not to go with the day care for now and made a last minute decision to take him to Ddun and leave him with my mom - good (we thought)
• There was a problem with the house we bought - very bad
• The problem is more or less sorted after much screaming and shouting - okay
• I left Vir in Dun and came back thinking I have a week or so by myself, but he went on a hunger srike and I had to return in 2 days - bad. sigh.
• Vir now has a stomach infection - very bad

This roller coaster life will leave a wreck where I used to be. But for now, while I can still think straight, here's the good part...Vir's list of achievements this month! Here's all the stuff he can now do:

• Cruise! He can hold on to things (furniture, my pyjamas, hanging tablecloths, etc.) and walk! He was a little slow at this initially, but picked up confidence in no time at all and, this morning, walked up and down our verandah 6 times pushing a plastic chair.
• Kiss better than ever
• Roar like a tiger
• Boo like a cow (he had forgotten this, but has picked it up again)
• Dance using his head and the rest of his body alternately
• Shake hands
• Wave bye sometimes
• Understand several things like stand up, let's go out, do you want to have milk?, where's biji?, and are you having fun? Some of these are in Hindi and some in English. Curiously, he has not demonstrated and understanding of the simplest of words - "no"
• Spit out food that he doesn't like. This is a terrible development, since it means I can no longer trick him into eating. I can take the horse to the water now, but no longer can I make him drink.
• Jabber in a language I can't understand yet, though I pretend to and even manage to talk back in the same language!

There's more, I know, and I gues I'll just add to this if I think of something else. The best part this month, for me, was when I came back to Dehradun after having left him for three days with mom and dad. The welcome I got from my sleepy little kid simply cannot be beaten. I think I'll smile about that for the rest of my life!