We are home!!!

Yes, we are home now! Everything went on as planned. Thatha went for a seminar on IQ, EQ and SQ on 10^th April morning and came back around 11. I kept threatening him (jokingly) that I am going to record the fact (in blog) that he didn’t spend ample time with Chittu on the last day. Sentimentally, J paati did not want us to take photographs that day and Chittu also slept soon after bath and got up only when we were about to start. We started from there at around 2 PM after yamagandam and reached here around 3. S perimma and B athai took the traditional haarathi and invited us. The house was decorated to welcome Chittu. Thanks to B athai’s idea and appa’s efforts. Everyone was so happy to see Chittu. P akka and S perippa were around and playing full time. S’s Chithi who lives in the same apartment as ours, her son, daughter and grandsons came in later to see us. Again a fresh spell of new clothes were showered on Chittu. Other visitors included C athimber, his mom and M anna.

We kind of settled down and Chittu slept at 11 PM that day. By God’s grace and with T paati’s help we have got a maami who will be taking care of Chittu. She would come in by 9 in the morning and leave by 6.30 in the evening after preparing dinner for us. Though I will be joining office in June only, I have asked the maami to come from now itself so that Chittu gets accustomed with her in the next 1.5 months. I am still in search of a cook who can prepare our lunch, but no luck on that yet. It is tough to manage kitchen and Chittu in the morning. S is having a great time with his daughter. They play happily with each other and it is a pleasant sight to watch daddy-daughter having their exclusive time in the morning, evening and night.

The very next day we came here (11^th April), Chittu started adeptly moving on the floor. As usual when I rushed with my handycam, she simply refused to move. The colorful non-toxic rubber toys and the camel are her attraction factor. Now after a week, she is moving extensively and even posed for the camera. Last Saturday, with her dark pink colored piggy bank, she moved round the sofa and came to the place she started. A anna came home with V aunty and S papa. He had brought his Nikon D5000 portrait camera and clicked N number of pictures of Chittu and all of us. It was so lovely to see mottai S papa and Chittu together. The photographs have come out beautifully. We met them again at Gangotri, South Boag road a couple of days later. It was planned all of a sudden when A anna called on Friday evening and asked if we could join them. So we got ready quickly and went there. This was the first time we took Chittu in an auto. Both ways up and down, she slept and promptly got up after we got down. M athai and her naughty son V anna are here from Pondicherry for vacation. V anna doing his 2^nd standard, keeps going behind Chittu, plays with her and wants to carry her all the time. Just that I am worried that he is such a small boy and he shouldn’t drop her. So we place Chittu on his lap when he sits down but a strict NO NO to carry and walk around. He has a tinge of fear factor with me (rather only me) so he listens to what I say out of that fear.

In between Vishu came and went. On the Vishu day (14^th April) we started at 8 in the morning and went to Rama Bhakta Samaj. Thatha is a regular visitor there and was also a part of group who were reading complete Ramayanam in 9 days (called Navaaham) which started from the Rama Navami day on 12^th April. During this Navaaham, Thatha wanted me to bring Chittu to the samaajam. So we went there and I put Chittu in front of Sri Rama there. She rolled over and moved there much to the delight of people reading Ramayanam. We offered dry grapes and cashews for the Bhagavathaas and from there went to J paati’s house. Chittu spent a good time with J paati, thatha and S mama. J paati had got a beautiful dark purple coloured frock for Chittu and it looked so damn cute on her. In the little time we spent there, even T paati and C maami managed to take Chittu to their house for sometime. Chittu found it difficult again to move in the vitrified flooring. So J paati placed a cotton saree on the floor and made Chittu move on that. Once she mastered the act on the saree, we shifted her to the floor and she did an excellent job there too. Late in the evening, we went to V athai’s house to see her as she was recovering after her angioplasty. There again A anna took a lot of pictures again

Our 5^th month review is done on Saturday. No vaccination. This time again Chittu has gained borderline weight only. Dr.S has given a go ahead to introduce boiled rice porridge (with little sugar & milk or little salt, jeera powder & buttermilk) banana, hand crushed watermelon and sweet lime juice as supplementary food. We have started with the kanji – gave sugar and milk one for the first two days and Chittu took it well. She is ok with buttermilk and salt. Looks like she doesn’t like it as much as the other one. Once she tolerates kanji, will have to try others too. Fingers crossed that she should take them all in smooth stride. Later that day we went to meet SC papa, our family friend A uncle and L aunty’s son. He is 3 days elder to Chittu. Poor baby, has a born cataract and surgery is the only option to get this cured. Our sincere prayers with him for the surgery to go on well and the marathon post-operative care. We will be going for Narayaneeyam parayanam on 22^nd in PS uncle’s house. So more on that in the next post