Hi Ma

I know you were going through all kinds of funny emotions yesterday - a little dizzy and excited to be going out to a grown up dinner (you're a bit sad you know to get all that kicked about it, but that's me personally), but very worried, guilty, and tense on leaving me behind.

You were looking really pretty ma. It's the first time I've seen you with make up. Are you sure you needed it when you look lovely to me otherwise? I knew it meant a lot to you so I tried to sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon so you could shop for a dress. I really liked the lovely lime green trousers and the smoky top you got with it and I'm proud you got it at 70% off since you weren't keen on buying something that you wouldn't be able to wear for that long.

You were a little naughty too Ma because you decided to get your hair done while you were out as well and since I didn't know that was the plan I got up and was hungry but you weren't around. I started crying but thankfully you didn't keep me waiting too long. Can we discuss these impetuous things a bit before we act on them, huh? It would make my life much easier. Oh BTW, the hair looked really nice too. You should get it done more often. Ok, forget I said that. I don't want you leaving me again and again just to have your hair done. Once was more than enough, thank you very much.

The amazing child that I am I slept again before you had to leave so you had ample time to get ready. Aren't I really a sweet little child? Please remember this Ma for the next time I'm just a tad little naughty!

It was nice to be at grandma's house last evening since we haven't been there all week. Even though she wasn't there I was looking forward to being under Grandpa's supervision to see how he would cope with me all by himself (ok, he did have 2 maids to help him out). Well, just so you know Aunty Y put me to sleep just as you were leaving and the next thing I know is I'm awake and there you were right before me. Didn't you go out Ma after all because you were there when I went to sleep and you were there when I woke up. I'm sorry Ma.

I love you loads and loads. Please say you're not angry.

Squiggles


Ma's reply

My sweet sweet Angel,

You have no need to apologise sweetheart because you were a perfect angel last night. Daddy and I went out for dinner and returned 4 hours later to find you had slept through it all. Of course I kept calling Grandpa to see how you were doing and couldn't believe it that you were such a thoughtful child to keep sleeping till we had dinner. In fact, I even managed dessert which you know I would have hated to miss. It was a gorgeous creme catalan with walnut ice cream. Now I know I should have more control but I figured I should make hay while the sun shines.

Thank you honey for a stress fee dinner. I had loads of fun. And no, I will remember this forever :) especially when you are naughty!

Quirky is Normal

I really don't know where to start. Since ddmom (rbdans) tagged me a few days ago, I've been racking my brains to list 5 quirks for your amusement. There aren't many that jump to mind. I came up with a couple and then drew a blank. I knew that I was obsessing about it when I dreamt about attempting and miserably failing this tag! That's when I decided that I really had to get it out there in blogoland and soon.

I concluded that the reason I was struggling was that maybe I just had a different perspective. Maybe what I consider normal is not normal. After all normal is something that the majority approve or recognise. Hence, I shall just list my 'normal' traits which will hopefully pass the quirky test and leave it to you to decide whether you want to join the 'Quirky is Normal' bandwagon.

1. I simply love food. This is not your average 'I live for food' sentiment. It is my favourite topic and I can talk about it all day. I love knowing what I'm going to be having for breakfast, lunch or dinner and then I spend the rest of the day in eager anticipation. I have loads of cookbooks which I buy for the pure reading pleasure and mouth watering pictures. I love going to supermarkets and this is where invariably DD and I always have an argument. I love strolling through the aisles, looking at all the different things on the shelves even if I have no intention of buying them. The one thing guaranteed to cast a blight over my day is bad food. It really gets to me. In fact I am so in love with food that one of the conditions that I placed before DD before I agreed to marry him was that he would never TRY to convert me to vegetarianism. He had to accept my non-veg habits like a devotee accepts the existence of God. It was fortunate for him that he agreed otherwise I am not lying when I say that I would not have married him. Honestly I am not exaggerating.

2. I wash my hands a zillion times each day. If I accidentally touch the elastic bands of my knickers, an ant, the floor, the handle of the flush - anything can trigger a hand washing session. I have dettol hand soap in the house even for my maid because above all I want her hands to be clean since she cleans everything in the house. When I look at a tap I wonder about which dirty hands touched it and whether it's actually clean. If I weren't so lazy I would be spraying dettol over all surfaces all the time. If I think my hands are dirty then I will keep thinking about it till I can wash my hands especially when I'm travelling. The first thing I bought for Squiggles's diaper bag was a Dettol hand sanitiser!

3. I have loads of conversations with myself, about everything. E.g. If I'm going to meet someone then I will have 'n' conversations in my head with this person before we meet up, some will extend into scenarios several years into the future. If some stranger annoys me then I will play out endless scenarios in my mind about how I could have tackled it better, what I could have said etc. for several hours afterwards. It could be something as trivial as the fact that their dress was ugly.

4. I can tell if something is missing in the house especially food. This comes from having lived with my grandma who was an expert at catching thieves. So, if DD has had more than his share of biscuits then I know. If something has been moved from it's place I know. You touch anything in my house and I will know. The most important thing here is that I THINK I KNOW, it's not necessarily true that I DO KNOW. So, sometimes DD will be interrogated for an act which he has not done but which I KNOW he has committed. It doesn't help that he laughs when I ask him such silly questions, it only strenghtens my INTUITION!

5. Until recently I could not leave a book unfinished however bad it was. As a result, I have read some really terrible books. This even extended to my text books. While other students would smartly read the important sections, I would always read the entire text book in case I missed out on something important. Even if I was brave and left a chapter, it would constantly haunt me so I would always give in. Even now while I exert enormous self control to stop myself from reading unimportant stuff, I sometimes give in.

Phew... that wasn't too bad, was it?

For her Maasi Poo... some more pics

In her apple green outfit

Looking like a right little qaidi in her prisoner's blue stripey outfit (credit DD)

We're getting there, DD is such a child and Squiggles sees green

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for all your sweet messages *shy smile*. We're over the worst *fingers crossed* though by no means through yet. The good news is we've avoided the antibiotics *jumps up and down*. Squiggles is still a regular on the nebuliser and we're going back to see the doc on Monday by which time she should be ready to be taken off it. The clinic just called to confirm that she did have a respiratory virus which is why she was so unwell but we don't need to change the treatment. And I'm soldiering on with my cold but that's the least of my concerns though it would be nice to be over with.

Every tough situation has its hilarious moments and I'm going to leave you with this to smile exasperatedly over.

DD has been such a child (no, he hasn't got the man cold...yet). His latest 'fun' thing is to try to make Squiggles see green and so far she has unashamedly obliged. I didn't realise that she had it in her at only 3 months but there you go. This first happened a few days ago and has been DD's favourite 'thing to do' since.

As I held Squiggles in my arms to inhale the vapours from the nebuliser DD came along and sat beside me. He looked at Squiggles fondly, staring deep into her eyes. She stared right back. While she was deeply immersed in this manly vision, all of a sudden DD turned and started kissing me. Enthusiastically. Before I could wonder at what had inspired such ardor he turned back to look at Squiggles intently. She looked a bit confused at first but then her tiny face crumpled and her eyes filled with reproachful tears. Her lower lip jutted out (boy can she pout) and she let out a long drawn out wail. As expected instead of sympathising with her DD sat back and roared with laughter.

Terribly excited that she was showing signs of jealousy he did it again. And again. And again. Loads of kisses. Stop. Reproachful wails. Stop. Kisses again and on and on till I smacked his bum and told him to stop being such a meanie. Since then every evening our home echoes with sounds of evil laughter alternating with what can only be described as tantrum cries.

Lest you think otherwise I'm not complaining *winks*.

All is not well in Squigglesland

Poor little Squiggles is down with a terrible cold. We went to see the doc again this morning. I foolishly thought she seemed a lot better. As we were waiting in the clinic for our turn, I noticed she had dried mucus and thought it would be better to spray some sea salt water so that she didn't look quite so grubby when we went in (I didn't want to come across as a useless mum you see). I did get rid of the dirt but it triggered a coughing spasm just as we were called in. I felt a little angry at Squiggles because until this morning she seemed to be on the mend. But she seemed hell bent on showing the doc her worst (it was only momentary because I felt like a right little meanie for my uncharitable thoughts immediately afterwards). She had been playing the whole day yesterday but I had obviously misjudged because the doc was horrified to hear her raspy cough and was seriously considering antibiotics. I begged her to wait a couple more days because she had seemed a lot better the day before. She reluctantly agreed but Squiggles is on a 24 hour watch now. The doc has threatened me with antibiotics and hospitalisation if Sqiuggles doesn't improve.

After that the doc got us to visit a physiotherapist at the local hospital. She basically thumped poor Squiggles all around the chest for 10 mins to ease the congestion and then took a couple of samples from her nose for a culture test. Oh how she howled through the whole thing. I think it really takes a lot of courage to hear those pitiful wails and not snatch your child from such ministrations... I was cringing throughout. She did like the thumping though and dozed off during that. I've been shown how I can do that for her in case she has trouble sleeping through the night. It seems a bit cruel to kind of beat her (it's not really beating but it sounds like that) but she clearly found it soothing.

We're now under house arrest. Squiggles needs to be given the nebuliser (to inhale medicine) every 4 hours even during the night. We have steaming bowls of water in the room to help her breathe better and a de-humidifier. She's dropped off to sleep on me as I want to keep her upright to help her breathing. As I look around I'm surrounded by a tray full of medicines - decongestants, throat drops, cough syrup - you name it and we have it, anything that is suitable for a 3 month old is in our house.

I didn't realise I would be facing this again so soon after the last time when she was just 3 weeks old. My mom was telling me about a family friend's son who kept getting colds because of the humid weather. She suspects Squiggles might be allergic. I hope not. Anyway, we're now on the watch till we see the doc tomorrow morning.

She's a right little trooper though. She keeps wanting to play and smiles when she feels better, my brave little girl.

Oh and I've caught the bug from her too and I'm self medicating with endless cups of adhrak chai (ginger tea). Sigh.

Hi Mommy, I'm awake

Since the last few days instead of wails Squiggles has adopted a different waking up routine. And shameless that I am, I indulged in taking some pics instead of going to her as a good mommy would.

A little grunt, a moan accompanies the little head with the gorgeous eyes looking for mommy.

'I can't see her. Where is she?' The head lifts up a bit more.

A little bit higher and she can spy her mama.

Good morning Sweetheart!

It sure beats waking up to a wail every morning.

And as I sit here typing she has done massive you know what. Diaper change time folks. See ya later alligator!

Names galore

I felt a little cocky after reading Kodi's Mom's post on embarrasing nicknames. After all she seemed to be winning on both the number and the embarrassing quality of her names. Therefore, when she tagged me I didn't view the upcoming post as onerous. In fact, it was more like 'give it to me baby', this was going to be easy. That is, until sanity returned. Squiggles is only 3 months old. Atleast Kodi's Mom can take refuge in the fact that Kodi has been around for much longer. Sigh, maybe I will need to eat my words.

So, here goes... you decide on who loses... Kodi's M or I? Anyone voting for Kodi's Mom gets a free glass of champagne.

Honey Puney Pie - This has been there from day one. I guess it reflects my obsession with food, especially sweets.



I didn't think I was an animal person until we came up with this one.



Froggie - because since she was born (dunno about the womb) she would jut her roly poly bum in the air, scrunch up her legs and sleep on her knees. Any attempts to straighten her legs would be fiercely resisted. She looked like a tiny frog. When she was really tiny she was also referred to as a tadpole (Yes, I will be deleting this post soon).



Bandar (Monkey), Bandariya (female monkey) - No, I don't know why we think she looks like a monkey. Maybe it's to do with the fact that she sort of leaves herself and lays there helplessly. Here judge for yourself.






Bandar ka baccha (Monkey's child) - I would like to clarify that here we were referring to DD ONLY. When referred to as my child she is usually called wonderful names like um... um... Sexy ki beti (Sexy's daughter) (Oooh blogging is so powerful... sexy sexy sexy mujhe log bolen).

Pumpkin - This is the most recent one really. And no it has nothing to do with her weight. I think it has to do with her cheeks. Touch wood.


Gappu - Again a cheeks thing. I think I am obsessed with her cheeks. I keep kissing them. In fact she's asleep now but I am seriously tempted to give in and smother her yet again... help me someone. What has happened to me??? I was weird but never this bad!


Her nanu uncle has also coined a name which is a play on her name which means rice and meat. It's not funny until you know the language but DD's reaction was "So, he's named her after a dead carcass. How disgusting is that?". Typical vegetarian brahmin reaction. The true non-veggie that I am, I can truly appreciate what a compliment that is since there can be nothing more divine than a delicious piece of mutton with rice *drool drool*.


Her Appaammai also calls her (name) kutty. My mom calls her (name) putty. Both mean a small girl (apparently). Her Atthai calls her Annie Baby.


Kuchie Moo, Kuchie Poo, Kuchu Muchu Puchu - Yes they don't make much sense to me either.


Imagine if she becomes famous and then this post finds it's way into the media. Oh what a laugh that would be.. for me!! She WILL kill me for this. Adieu friends, let's blog while we still have the chance.............................

First Quarter Results

Squiggles turned 3 months old on Saturday. Delays in first quarter reporting can be attributed to this.


We can report a fantastic result. Success was achieved both by parent and child. Parent managed to get child out of body and keep it alive for an amazing 3 months. No physical harm meted out to child by said parent... as yet. Sorely tempted but amazingly restrained. Child has successfully developed an 'attitude'. Said 'attitude' is making life interesting in this household.. so interesting in fact that the parent has no concept of time, days or life. But more than anything else, the parent seems to have developed a soft spot for the child.. so soft that you could sink in it pretty quickly. It's taken 3 months for the parent to realise that the child is the best thing that could have happened to her. No one claimed that she was quick.

We can proudly claim that Squiggles smiles a lot.

However, we have had some difficulty in getting her to appreciate mortals other than her mom. She is definitely smitten. If her favourite person isn't around, a calm situation can rapidly develop into something a little difficult for the management to control. However, we have found a solution to this problem - she is promptly deposited in her mummy's arm where she quietens down as soon as she started up. This has proved an effective remedy. Although we have had a few complaints from the mom, we are so far choosing to ignore them.

We have also noted that if the favourite person is in the room, Squiggles follows her around with her eyes, gazing with undying devotion. Mummy is reportedly very pleased about this as she claims she has not felt so cherished even by DD :). She's very pleased to be the centre of someone's world! She responds by smothering Squiggles with kisses forcing us to intervene to prevent long term physical damage to her cheeks.

There have been a number of developments recently in line with our expectations. She lifts her head, trying to look to her left and right, determined not to miss out on any action.

She has also managed to roll over from her tummy to lie on her back. Unfortunately the event was not recorded on camera but we have received confirmation from several reliable sources. She has achieved this feat twice but seems to be struggling with retaining the technique and has frequently been observed trying hard to repeat the feat.

Squiggles can also learnt to sleep on her own. Our strategy has been to place her in her crib when she displays signs of sleepiness (yawning, what else?) After a few protests and a lot of head tossing, she does settle down and mummy has been observed peeking frequently to ensure her darling is asleep.

We are particularly proud of her scholarly pursuits of which we do have proof.

And we're pleased that our investment in her chair which at one time seemed to be a dud is finally reaping dividends.

Our charge has displayed signs of turning into a chatterbox just like her mum. We have received a few complaints from some animals residing at the residence that she is chattering nineteen to the dozen without giving them a chance to respond. We are confident of allaying their concerns somehow.

The picture of the month is of Squiggles in her car seat. Suprisingly because since the day she was born she has hated this monstrosity from the depths of her little heart. Each venture has been vehemently protested. But this time round a long drive on the way to Sentosa found favour and Moppet's Mom has captured her in a beautiful moment. Touch wood.

That's all from us for now.

Moppet comes to visit

Did you ever have a favourite story book when you were a child? Was there a favourite character, one that you wished you could meet? Meeting Moppet was a bit like that :).

I hadn't met Moppet's Ma and Pa for over 6 years and really only knew as much about Moppet as anybody else in blogland. So, I was pretty excited when Moppet's Ma emailed to say she was planning on tagging along on Moppet's Pa's work trip. Several emails later and it was agreed that they would stay with us.

It took Moppet a day to get used to a new place and the many new places. Squiggles was of little interest.. too small a creature with no abilities to walk, talk or do anything which she termed as interesting. I have a feeling Squiggles didn't mind too much.

I tried to bribe Moppet's Pa to attempt another Baani episode but since his wife had obligingly left Baani at home, it was a tad difficult! Mighty upset I was I tell you.

Since I relegated the role of cameraperson to Moppet's Mom, read more about the action packed weekend here.

Be careful what you wish for

If you read this post you must be aware that I was a tiny weeny concerned that everyone thought Squiggles was a big baby.

A 3rd month check up with the paediatrician told another story. While she has gained height her doc is concerned that she hasn't put on enough weight in the last month. A mere 200gm. If you compare her growth overall since birth, it's fine. But the weight gain month on month is low. So, not too concerning but enough to require some changes.

I have to banish all dairy products from my diet as it could be causing reflux in her. Plus no onions or garlic which is the staple of all Indian cooking. The doc has also given some medicine to see if her tummy feels better. I have to increase the number of times I feed her. And I can no longer use my breastfeeding pillow but have to hold her vertically while feeding her.

Sigh.. too much weight or too little weight. Is there ever any peace for a parent?

The killer instinct

What does a child decide to do when you take away the soapy water so she can no longer blow bubbles from her plastic toy gun? She goes for the jugular.

The target is identified and the chase begins...... James Bond ishtyle.

Unfortunately her mission is aborted by Madam M pretty soon!

Losing my Virginity

Now, now children, there is no need to get too excited. No, I am not about to reveal all, thank you very much. Have you recovered? Good. Because this is the title of Richard Branson's autobiography. I bought it on Friday evening and casually opened the first page when I got home to see what it was like. I am not exaggerating when I say that I am finding it really hard to put down. It's as exciting as a thriller, but funny and riveting at the same time. In fact I find myself chuckling at regular intervals and reading out passages to DD because I want to share it with someone. Since he isn't home 24*7 and I want to go gaga over it, I decided to do a post instead.

This is a really candid autobiography. I know that autobiographies are meant to be but you read some and get the feeling that it is just another PR exercise. I'm more than half way through and I'm really impressed by what he's achieved both on a professional front as well as personally. He comes across as truly honest, brave and above all a man really out to live his life to the fullest. He talks about his early days, how he was dyslexic and often beaten for faring poorly at academics. How he was great at sports but his sporting career came to an end after an accident. And really his journey to where he is today. His love for his family shines throughout the book.

There are two reasons I like this book. One it's extremely funny. He doesn't hesitate to narrate incidents even though he may be the butt of the joke. And the second is that it's almost like a thriller. His hot air balloon flights are amazing to read about. You read his narrative and think he must be extremely foolhardy to have attempted all of this and yet he survives despite terrible odds. He talks in detail about the campaign that British Airways ran to discredit him and to run Virgin Atlantic to ground. Did you know that he sent a Virgin plane to Baghdad during the first Iraq war to remove foreigners to safety only to find BA upset that he had volunteered.That in itself could be a movie. He's also very candid about his personal life and his numerous affairs and two marriages. It's also a fascinating insight into the world of music. All the shenanigans behind record deal and artist signings. Really interesting stuff.

To give you a flavour, here's one of my favourite passages from the book.

'I finally found a girl who was reputed to go the whole way, and at one party we slipped upstairs into a remote bedroom. I was amazed when she let me push up her skirt and take off her knickers. As we began to make love, she started to moan and groan. She was clearly having a very erotic time. I was pretty pleased by how well I must be performing since she was panting and tossing her head from side to side as she fought to control her breathing. I put up a great show and finally came with equally impressive gusto, roaring and shouting and huffing and puffing. Then I rolled off her. To my astonishment she carried on panting, apparently having what I took to be ecstatic multiple orgasms. Just as I was beginning to feel a little bemused and somewhat redundant, I finally realised that she was panting for a reason.
"Asthma!" she wheezed in breathless panic. "Inhaler! Ambulance".'

Here's another priceless gem.

'One day I was probably feeling rather self-important with all this floating around in my headd when I hailed a taxi and jumped in.
"Where to, guv?" asked the driver.
"Billingsgate, please," I said.
As we set off he looked quizzically at me in the mirror as if he half recognised me, and said, "Give me a clue?"
"You know," I said modestly, "a record company, an airline, Heaven nightclub, record shops..."
"No," the taxi driver said. "Give me a clue".
"The Atlantic crossing," I went on, "The Sex Pistols, Boy George, Phil Collins..."
"Excuse me, sir," the driver said, completely non-plussed. "I don't understand what you're rabbiting on about. Give me a clue as to how to get to Billingsgate."

Lots of fun. And now back to the book for me. Ta.

Our weekend family lunch

We share my parents car and this Saturday they needed to drop someone off at the airport so we decided to take the opportunity to head out for lunch in our own unit of 3 (actually it was more like I refused to cook and couldn't stomach the idea of a greasy pan pizza).

I couldn't take pictures but here's how our weekend family lunch went.

12.30pm - Squiggles has been fed and burped. DD is trying to put her to sleep before we head off and while I get ready.

1pm - She has just snoozed off. I decide to wear the baby carrier and hold her in it so that we don't disturb her when we head out. (Umm...the pram is in the boot of my dad's car but we don't let that deter us). DD goes to get ready.

1.40pm - DD has taken only 40mins to sort himself out but we're finally ready to leave. Squiggles is snoozing away in the baby carrier. I then realise how smart DD is to have gotten me to wear the baby carrier before he got ready. There is no way I can pass Squiggles to him without waking her up. Humph.. so I head out with my bundle of joy while DD is just trudging with NOTHING in his hands (I think this clever piece of maneovering has to do with the fact that he has been to the gym and has been complaining about his arms aching ever since. Men!).

1.50pm - Squiggles is awake but quiet. We find a cab almost instantly and give him directions for a Mexican restaurant that we've seen from the outside but never been to.

2.05pm - We reach the restaurant only to find it closes at 2pm. Great. Squiggles has fallen alseep so we decide to do some exploring before we head out to find another restaurant. There's an interesting looking deli nearby.

2.25pm - After some clever piece of sales by the deli owner (comments like 'your baby is so cute' are always good for sales), we head out with a loaf of onion bread and eggplant and orange jam (DD's idea not mine).

2.30pm - We hail another cab and head further east to a place where we know there are a number of chain restaurants which are likely to be open through the day. The clouds have started looking ominous and it's quite likely to start pouring soon (and yes weather does change that dramatically in Singapore).

2.45pm - We're near the restaurant but there's a slight problem. It's pouring and we don't have an umbrella or anything to protect Squiggles except her blanket (yeah we're really organised with stuff like that). DD asks the taxi driver to take us to the parking so that we can enter the restaurant without getting wet. We promise to pay him extra to cover the cost of entering the parking area.

2.50pm - After some hemming and haawing I choose the restaurant (there's a bunch of them in the same place). We head in and it looks really cheerful and is very busy with people lunching even at this late hour. Our stomachs are rumbling.

2.52pm - We settle ourselves in the booth and decide not to take Squiggles out of the baby carrier (she's now awake). I open the menu and oh.. the food looked so yummy. Now I am a foodie and I love reading menus and always find it difficult to decide.

3pm - I've almost chosen what I want to eat when Squiggles lets out a tiny whimper. Oh.. I quickly chose my main (while still keeping the menu open in case I change my mind in the 5 sec it will take DD to tell the waiter his choice).

3.01pm - The whimper has turned into loud crying (which is polite for screaming). We're both looking at each other.

DD: Do you think she can stay quiet for the meal?
Me: I don't know. Maybe she'll quieten down in a bit.
At this point Squiggles is wailing and flaying her hands.
DD: Does she need milk?
Me: I don't know.
Like why should I always have all the answers here?
DD to the waiter: Is there a feeding room here?
Waiter: No.
Me: Should we do a take away instead (there's nothing to eat at home).
DD: Ok. (starts ordering)
The wailing is now amazingly loud.
Me to the waiter: How long will it take?
Waiter: 10-15 mins.
DD and I look at each other and decide to bail out.

We hail a cab to go back home but then decide to pick up the car from my parent's home which is enroute. With little persuading we find ourselves eating at Chez Mom.

Rewind back to 12pm.

Mom: Why don't you guys have lunch with us?
Me: No Ma. We're really not interested in eating the same ghisa pitta (boring) food for lunch. We're really not in the mood. You should have made something more interesting. I can't eat Indian everyday... blah blah blah.

Need I say more?