मैथिली, आजी आणि आजोबा !

मैथिली आणि तिची मैत्रीण



पाचवा महिना आणि पहिला घास


आजी भरवते आहे



मैथिली आणि आजोबा






आजोबा, हसा हो !!




आणि मी खुश !!




मैथिली आणि विनोद काकांचे पक्षी




भाऊमामा-आजोबा बघा हो !!




मैथिलीबाई एकट्याच !!

Growing Maithilee: learning to sing

Maithilee is growing and is now more than 2 ft long and 5.5 kilos. It is hard to hold her and play while I am standing. Gosh, even my age is apparent to me now :-(

Here are the latest pics (March/ April). The usually good girl...






Oh My My ! I am having a bad hair day!!!





Hey, don't disturb... I am reading (aloud)





See I am teething, so I chew on my toy!




once again, closer look at my bangles, my new, new bangles...






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About parenthood

Dear friends (a couple) from Goa wrote to us thus [added italics are mine]:

How is maithilee? Yes, we saw her pictures in the blog as well as the write ups. It's really a challenging job. And usually talked about so much, one tries to think of it casually (Importance of motherhood and fatherhood, how they struggled to bring you up etc., you hear it all through your adulthood) . But when we have our own then we realise what it all meant!. It's not the heavy work of shifting a big pile of wood from one place to another, but a sleepless night 'cause of the child's fever, or the angst of a giving an injection, or getting hurt while jumping on the sofa, a non-stop cry which at times is difficult to interpret. And, the relief you feel when they stop crying and fall asleep.

Indeed, how true. Our strength will be measured in not carrying her around, but to watch her learning to walk wobbly-wobble, let her fall even when we know she would, wait for her to fall and cry, then let her learn to walk. This same story will repeat with cycling, swimming, diving, driving, being a teenager with angst, and, finally making boy friends and being on her own. All this we have to go through and love it all (only then it would be worth having her in the first place.)

So wish you both happy times ahead and let there be always a shiny mushkann on mithilees face.

Thank you, once again. Being parents of 3 kids, my friends are at a vantage position to lend us a better view of parenthood to come.

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Maithilee's smiles and tears

Howdy!

No update for a long time, but not without reason. Maithilee kept us quite busy, with a short bout of fever and cold. What made it all so good, though, is that she has started to smile, and give us (two of her dedicated servants) some due recognition for our hardwork. That came about 2 weeks ago, 7th/8th Jan.

She is quite a devil now, wants us to pick her up, give her hugs/ kisses, tell her stories and of course sing songs. She gets quite bored with our faces, we think, for, when there are visitors, she perks up instantly. Deepa, for example spoke to her in Telugu, and Maithilee in "Maithi". They "understood" each other perfectly well.

When visitors leave, she is back to tears, YES, she can shed tears (also started around 5th Jan.) I have tested them for salt content, to make sure. And does Mithu know about how to screw up her face, throw her legs/ hands around, and give us a piece (peace?) of her mind.

When we oil her before her bath, she is all happy, curling her toes. Now, who can curl toes like shown below, Mithu can bowl 'leg-spin' using her toes !




Theresa arrived to Holland in the middle of its heaviest snow fall of 13 years. We could not meet, I did not have car then (and what now?) and she posted Maithilee's gifts from Jayanne. Maithilee got two lovely Canadian cats (Stella on her dresses and Alex as her bath pal) all around her now. You have to see her in her after-bath towel !




When we sing for her, she joins the party, like this!




When Maha entertains Mithu ("Hum honge kaamyab! Ek din! "), she looks with studied appreciation !


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Now, with all this effort of photo-shoot, Maithilee is taking a loong break !





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Lessons for my child

Now that Maithilee is here, I would revisit a few postings from my other blog :


Lessons for my child: Curiosity

Lessons for my child: Discovery and Spirit of Observation

Lessons for my child: Logic and Rationality

I have one more post to go in this series, perhaps over next week it will be written down...

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Putting Maithilee to sleep

To put Maithilee to sleep, I need to sing songs, do dance, rock her on my lap. I steal kisses, which she resists. If I'd give her one Euro for one kiss, she would soon be a millionaire!! I call her names (मिठू , ढूमकू, भीमसेन), tell her stories of her parents' greatness... and how it could easily have been much worse :p

If all this fails, I tell her that story from Sholay. Here is the result ! (btw, this photo was clicked at the first-month celebration party, Pandeys came over!)

Maithilee's Birth: some afterthoughts (Ashish)

Here is an excerpt from my recent email to a dear friend:

Maha did well, it took 9 hours of labor, after strong contractions started till birth. i was, of course there. It was quite scary to watch, frankly. ... she was shouting, breathing, humming, generally everything very well, so birthing was smoother. wish we could use hot water tub for 'water birthing', because hot water showers during labor made it much easier for Maha. We had one set up ready in our house, ultimately we just used it for a hot bath later on.
there was total bliss n exhaustion on Maha's face when Maithilee was finally kept at her chest. and, later on I held Maithilee too, she was the smallest bundle of warmth ever. It is such a surprise to hold a baby with its shallower-than-spoon-full breaths and louder-than-room-full of cries. And, she makes you run, jump, do things that you would not do otherwise. Man, i thought i had enough of poop with all kittens/ puppies in my life, but nope ! :-)


Maithilee would get Indian citizenship, the European laws do not grant citizenships by birth. if we stay for more than 5 years continuously, she can apply for citizenship, and she would get it...

we had lots of snow over week-end and it will continue over X'mas. so, Maha got to play with it, a little bit. tons of pics, of course. Maha even managed to fall on her bum once! Maithilee slept through two long rides during snow so far, damn...

On a related note: I always very much admired my women professors: having kids, taking care of them, then teach, have a PhD student, post-doc, then 2/3 grad students, and manage thrilling research. Now that I have a first-hand experience, my admiration has only grown. Ultimately, it is the 'fire in the belly' that pushes one, i have to ignite/ preserve it...

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Maithilee: Day 12 -- can steady her eyes

Today (12th day) we notice that Mithu can focus her eyes towards her mum. i wish i could say to my direction too :-( but, she does seem to co-ordinate eyes with sounds.

She seems to say things in her own language, which are drowned in usual whines that preceed her bowel movements. She can also tell when we are going to give her a bath, when we are about to change her diaper and when she is about to be dressed again (so goes quiet again...)

For now, she has to be content with her baba's (bollywood) singing skills, his collection of Hindustani classical music, and assorted silly things he blabbers to lull her during 'burping' sessions. She has sworn her revenge, I am sure.

Maithilee (Day 6-9)

Here is the famed babe from day 6 to 9. sorry, the videos are damn too big to send via email or put them up on blogger. be patient, will upload them elsewhere :-)

Here we are with Yolanda (L, with Maithilee) and Kim. Yolanda works with Groenkruis, a post-natal-care agency in Groningen, and is a trained nurse. Kim was an intern, who will soon become a nurse herself. Both were helping us for the first one week, trying to understand what Maithilee does, may do and what we should/should not do with her. It was a blessing that they were there, since we would have really struggled with their generous help. Dank je wel, Yolanda en Kim !




While Maithilee is put to sleep, I do the dishes (the hard working, and only, man of the house)



As a payback, on the Day 9 Maithilee gave company to her baba. If Maithilee would not sleep, the pacifier would be in baba's mouth instead :-)






Here, Maithilee is put to sleep on the bed.




and Maha shows the relative sizes of their palms.




You can start working on palmistry by looking at her hand, her life-line, heart-line, and wealth-lines are VERY strong. So, I am going to really pamper Maithilee. So, when she gets rich, she can repay that back. Well, if she does not, I have her pictures a bath tub :p

Coming next, birth chart of Maithilee Asgekar, radio astronomy style...

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Maithilee Day 5: Bath

Maithilee was tested for hearing ability, and her ears are fine. As the nurse said, that did not mean Maithilee was going to listen to us all the time :-)

She had her second tub bath. Although she hates getting ready for it, it's rather cold for her, she has enjoyed it in the water. On that front, she ranks right along her 'aai' (mother, who i suspect is a ex-mermaid.)









Mithu hates being dried, but when done, she is looks so adorable.



So, we have done her up with new top, and... The favorite maushi will notice something after a keen look at the pic, perhaps.



Maha is glowing as she did Mithu's hair...




Finally, time for a family picture !

Maithilee, Day 4

Maithilee's pictures on Day 4 (26 Nov):

Admittedly her mother does not appear here. I promise to rectify that mistake at the earliest.