Chittu is my dearest daughter and as the name suggests I will be using this blog to record her activities as she grows up. So, yeah!! This is yet another mommy - baby blog but a new kid in the block. Chittu is 60 days old today and to mark it, I have jotted down 60 characteristics of hers. May be, all infants have similar traits, but she is the first new born I held in my hands & have seen growing from day 1. So, each of these were a pleasant sight to watch, recollect & type :)
1. Chittu – our darling cutie pie came into this big world on 23rd November 2010 at 2.40 PM in Mirugaseerisham star. It was a semi- planned C-section. She was wrapped in a blue Turkish towel and my mom was the first to hold her
2. Chittu wore an old worn out white jabla on the very first day. Traditionally, new borns are dressed with used clothes for the first few days and we followed the custom. Because it was November, she wore V akka's pink winter pajama in the evening and night. She wore a baby pink hakkoba jabla (again V akka's) on the 2nd day
3. She was bathed immediately after delivery after which she did not take bath for the next 4 days. Her first proper bath was given at home on the 6th day - 28th November 2010. My mom gives her daily bath and we haven’t employed anyone for this. It gives my mom a sense of satisfaction
4. She enjoys saambraani, hates orai marundhu mixed with breast milk. It is a heart wrenching sight to see mom pottify the orai marundhu from paalaadai into her mouth. Initially, I used to go outside during these sessions, now am getting used to it. Mom also puts Rasnadhi powder on her head so that she doesn’t catch cold
5. We apply Parachute pure coconut oil for her body & hair massage. She bathes in super hot water with kadalai maavu, payatha maavu, nalangu maavu & kasthoori manjaL mixture. Her mama says "Iva enna jeans Vaishoo Aishwarya Rai-aa??" So she is not a Johnson baby. My mom calls her dharma kattai as we don't shell out a single pie for her cosmetics / food
6. She had a small vaginal tag at the time of birth which the pediatrician said will shrink in due course of time as she grows up
7. She was not given water / sugar / gripe water etc since birth. She is a solely breast fed baby till date
8. By God's grace, she never had a latching problem since day 1.Within half an hour since she was born, she closed all fingers in her right hand (like a fist) was latching on to that and making a drinking sound. Till date, whenever she is hungry, she does this and it is an indication for me to nurse her. If I dont nurse her then, she starts cyring making an "Innnnnnnnngaaaaaaaaa" sound
9. She is a feed by demand baby. If she feels her stomach is full, it is extremely difficult make her drink a single drop beyond that point. She tightly closes her lips and doesn’t open them
10. Earlier she used to drink 20 minutes straight. Off late, she has reduced it to 5 or maximum 10 minutes but with increased frequency
11. In the hospital we used to call her scene raani because she would cry in hunger only when the pediatrician / gynaec visits us and make it look like I am keeping her hungry / making her starve. She used to be silent and calm at other times
12. She is a late burper or never burps at all there by testing my patience to the core. Earlier she used to pass a lot of gas which has considerably reduced now
13. Her birth weight was 3 kg. From then she follows the usual curve of reducing and then increasing pattern
14. She had her first set of vaccines on 30th November 2010 - BGC, OPV (oral polio) & Hepatitis B (HBV) 1st course. Shots were given in the left hand and right thigh. She cried the whole evening but was OK otherwise. Her 2nd set of vaccines were given on 6th Jan 2011 - OPV, Pentaxim & Hepatitis B 2nd course. This time shots were given on both the thighs. Third set of vaccine is due on 7th Feb 2011. The first vaccine had just one variety for Rs. 400. There were two ranges of 2nd vaccine - one for Rs. 750 & other for Rs 2230. We opted for the 2230 one for we were told that it would not give any kind of irritation and very mild fever. When we returned, she had slight temperature - 98.8 F. I gave her 0.5ml of Crocin syrup as per Dr.S's advice after which fever subsided and she was back to normal
15. She gave me the shock of life when she spit a sizeable quantity of milk like a fountain within 3 days after discharge. We called up the doctor and she said it was absolutely normal for babies to spit like this and asked me to calm down. Needless to say, I was relieved. Now, the spitting has considerably reduced
16. Her umbilical cord fell off on day 9
17. She had her punyavaajanam on the 11th day - 3rd December 2010. She has 3 names apart from Chittu and her official name is according to numerology (numbers 5 & 1)
18. She was wide awake and enjoyed her thottil ceremony
19. Her B athai had gifted a piggy bank for punyavaajanam & we make it a point o put all her collections into it. She is a rich lady that with her own money we could buy 4gms of coin within 46 days of her birth!!
20. MIL presented her a chain. Her 4 athais gifted a pair of bangles, silver kaapu, muppuri kaapu and anklets for her punyavaajanam. My best friend A got her another pair of anklets. But all these are too big for her!! All that she wears are black plastic bangles & vasambu valayal. Old kaapus which were worn by me when I was 11 days old fit her like a glove and she wore them until a week back when they became tight. Now the anklets which her athais got her are kind of fitting though they fall down occasionally. It has become one my routine tasks to check her legs to see if one of the kolusus have fallen down
21. My dad's long time wish was to get aimpadai thaali for his grandchild. So mom & dad bought her a gold dipped silver chain with 5 dollars - Sangu, Chakkaram, Vil, VaaL & Gadhai. We make it a point to make her wear it at least once a day. Also we read Panchaayudha Sthothram & Sisu Rakshanam (from Srimad Bhagawatham) for her every day. Mom also got her an araichalangai but that is also too loose to be worn now
22. She wears black arnaakayiru with Naai kaasu, Soorya, Chandra, Maangai & Thaayathu which has a piece of umbilical cord
23. There is a lot of debate on who she looks like. Only thing that is for sure is that the circular face is her dad's. Some say she is her dad’s photocopy, my colleagues say her features and the way she looks are like mine. Few others say she has mil's eyes. However all her features are going to keep changing as days go on
24. She is A1+ve like her dad. Her first blood report read Age - 0 years which brought a smile into our faces
25. Ceiling fan is her best friend. She coos, smiles, laughs, coys away, talks & at times even complains to it. However she knows when I have a handy cam. She would be promptly tightlipped then. With great difficulty I have shot a video of one of her conversations with the fan. Nowadays she has started looking into our faces and smiles like a beautifully blooming flower
26. I put her a sleep suit which covers her full body except face and Pampers during the night so that she doesn’t feel cold and gets undisturbed sleep
27. She sleeps mostly in the nights. Rarely is she awake for 1 or 2 hrs in the early morning time around 4. Her calm sleep is mostly after 4 PM till 5 AM. Otherwise it is always disturbed sleep during which she twirls & tosses, get up frequently & weeps, needs to be rocked to go back to sleep, opens her eyes every 5 mins to see where she is & goes back to sleep on her own
28. She has a unique way of stretching (sombal murikkardhu to be exact) where she stretches & contracts her body & limbs alternately for a couple of times
29. Her sleeping posture is either lying on the back with hands placed with palm up on either side of the face or she sleeps on the sides. She gives a cross one sided smile during sleep
30. Like all babies she looks adorable when she sleeps. And at times when she cries and wakes up from sleep, my heart just goes out to her and all that I want to do is hold & soothe her
31. She is a strictly NO cradle / NO thooLi baby. She sleeps like a matured adult in the bed between me and mom
32. She has the habit of raising eyebrows - both at times and only one at other times
33. Her latest tendency is holding on tightly to the person carrying her and beating them at times
34. She frequently keeps her hand as if she is talking over phone & often is seen in cute thinking posture (index finger on cheek and all other fingers folded)
35. While feeding, she folds all her fingers except the index finger (Like Rajni’s Baashaa pose). This was the posture that we saw in the scan too and were amazed to see her continue it in the outside world too
36. Her mouth is too small - choppu vaai as I call her. She makes a small 'O' with her lips when she coughs. She sneezes at least twice a day. But doc says she is completely alright and I don’t have to worry about these
37. Her coos, gurgles, hmms, oohs and aahs are our favorite music these days
38. She cries only when she wets her nappy or when she is hungry. Otherwise she is a calm baby. Only on day 1 (23rd Nov midnight - 24th early morning) she cried throughout the night. May be she was having a tough time getting used to the new atmosphere and surroundings. I have made sure not to carry her or keep her in lap always. So, she plays with us or on her own when we put her on the bed until she is hungry or wet
39. She has her amma, appa, mama, thatha and both the paatis neatly wrapped around her little finger. I wonder how I will go to office in June leaving this cute little bundle of joy. Her dad travels 20 kms to and fro every weekend just to be with her. Whenever her mama enters the house, he voices out "Ammulu, ammulu thangam, adi en jilku". Her thatha calls out "Aajlu baajlu" as soon as he is back from office. He speaks to her with respect as if he is talking to an adult. She is the world to my mom and her daily routine activities revolve around Chittu. Mil is just content holding her in hands and looking at her silently
40. All her cloth nappies have been stitched in the corners. Also two multilayered beds have been stitched using mil's old silk saris. Courtesy: U athai
41. She had got N number of frocks, shirts, trousers as gifts. Me & her dad haven't bought her a single outfit till date
42. She is a tall baby & has already outgrown her first set of frock, rubber sheet & quick dry sheet
43. Thilakam suits her better than circular dhrishti pottu. Every evening mom does haarathi for her with a Sloka from Narayaneeyam
44. She has a lot of hair. At times she catches hold of her own hair with her hand & cries as she doesn’t know how to leave it. Same is the case with the rod in the roof of her mosquito net
45. She also has a lot of hair in her arms & back - which mom calls sonai. My bro calls her Sathyaraji because of that
46. She doesn't belong to the kashku moshku category. She is a lean baby but is gaining weight as expected. She has chubby cheeks and has a dimple on both the cheeks when she smiles
47. She has long sharp nails and scratches us & herself. Dr.S has advised not to use even a baby nail cutter. So I use my teeth to remove them once she finishes her bath
48. Whenever the force of milk is high, she cries & beats me as she would be unable to bear it. It would look more like the poor thing is angry & hungry at the same time. At times, she also smiles while drinking milk
49. We make her sit and stand but not more than few seconds as I am scared if her spinal cord will be able to support it
50. Her head is kind of fixed - almost 75 to 80% and the uncontrolled oscillation has reduced to a great extent
51. She tracks objects which move around her and cranes her neck to follow that object - be it a moving hand / colorful object or one of us sitting next to her and walking out of the room
52. In the initial days, there was nothing call pee pee alone. It was always accompanied by poop. For the past 4-5 weeks, it is regularized with either 1 or 2 poops a day. She makes a peculiar and easily identifiable face when she poops
53. Chittu & sun bath are disjoint sets. It either rains / is chill most of the days since she is born. She has taken just 3 sun baths in 60 days
54. Pedaling without a cycle and swimming backstroke without water are her favorite exercises
55. She enjoys car journey and sleeps most of the times when the car is moving
56. All-out & Goodknight gel is switched ON 24 hrs in her room, she is inside the mosquito net when she sleeps during the day, I am seen with the mosquito bat thrice a day killing mosquitoes, still she gets bit by mosquitoes occasionally
57. Sentimentally we did not buy her anything before she was born. However I had identified what all had to be bought - mittens, booties, cap, rubber sheet, blanket, mosquito net, etc. On day 2 her dad bought her all these selected items
58. Mom & Mil were sentimental about Chittu’s photographs. We had permission to catch her on camera only after 1 month (not even during punyavaajanam or thottil ceremony). However her dad didn’t know about this restriction and he took photos of her on day 2. After that it was only on 23rd Dec - her first month birthday that we took her photo
59. Chittu’s birth had helped us smoothen relationship with a couple of relatives which was otherwise strained
60. Aajlu, Baajlu, Aadhlu, Baadhlu, Aadhul, Baadhul, Jinklu, Jippli, Jilku, Mochani are some of her pet names
