Pari: The second year: III

Continued from the previous posts here and here.

This year has been a roller coaster ride with my little fairy, and we have had lots of fun with some troubles. Pari fell sick a little too much in the last 6 months, has lost oodles of weight and most of her chubbiness. The worst was the chest infection she caught around 3 months back, and she took 15 days to just get rid of the bug, the recovery took much longer. And then the stomach infection which started the day following my brother's wedding, and got cured only after we returned to Bangalore 2 weeks later. Compared to last year, she is much thinner, lighter and just a little taller. I guess she is falling in line with her parents, both me and husband are slightly built and have been underweight all our lives. Again, I shall not dwell on unpleasant subjects tonight. We shall talk happy. And Pari is by all standards, a healthy, active and happy toddler. I use the word for the first time ever in her context, it was very recently that I realised that calling her a baby might be misleading. I mentioned her to a new colleague who replied that she also has a child. Then, she proceeded to add, that her daughter is not 'so small', since she is 2 yrs old. Well.. so is mine, but I still call her a baby. Sorry, I digress again.. Lemme recall some things that Pari did/still does. One of my favourites is the way she had trouble combining syllables. She could say Papa, Mama but not 'Nani'.. that will be either 'Nana' or 'Nini'. In the same vein, she was reading her rhymes, when I heard her say 'Humpta Dumpta wall'. Or the time when she wished somebody a happy birthday with 'Happaa to you'! Now that she has started saying 'Happy', I miss that 'Happaa' sooo much.. Btw, my mom just called up to wish her an early Birthday, and she just replied with 'Happy Happy'. Probably she wants to wish happiness to all on her birthday.
Pari loves dogs, from the time she was 3 months old. Her favourite toy is still Paltu, who she carries along every where all the time. On top of that, our neighbours have 4 dogs, 2 Great Danes, and 2 Pomeranians. She calls out to them all the time through the window and even talks to them by woofing. No wonder 'Bho-Bho' was one of the first words she uttered. Btw, the first was 'Papa', sigh! And Pari is crazy about children. She calls them all babies, and some kids take it really personally. Like this little girl, around 4 yrs of age that we met at a party, she got so hurt at being called a 'baby' by a 1.5 yrs old. She retorted in a haughty manner: 'Why don't you look at yourself first'.. Off course Pari couldn't get it, she just got a little scared and retracted, but we including the girl's parents had a nice laugh. And then, this concept of temperature that is developing by the hour. I seriously regret the times I said 'hot' before her. And now she knows 'very hot' too.. I give her milk, she says 'thanda', I look curiously at her, she says 'heat'. I go and put it in the microwave for some 15 seconds, and come back with the bottle. She takes the bottle, and says 'very hot'. Can somebody please tell me what is the ideal temperature for milk? And what calamity to expect if it is one degree below or above that?? It is not just milk, but everything, bath-water included. She tests the water before getting into the tub, and invariably finds it hot. Offcourse it is hot, that is precisely why we've got the geyser, but it is what we need to take a nice bath. Probably we need to introduce 'warm' to her as well. She usually goes on with this 'hot' business till I really get hot in the head and dunk her in the tub. Once inside, she forgets all about the temperature and starts enjoying it. Bath times are Pari's favourite. Even in her worst temper, you mention 'nai nai' and she romps to the bathroom. But the endings are always teary.. she never wants to come out of the tub and screams when I pull her out. At times, she wakes up early in the morning, and while we are still sleeping, quietly slips out of the bed and goes straight to the bathroom. We often wake up to the noise of running water. The love of water doesn't end here. The water from her sipper is also used for a mini bath, she drops it all over her little body, with clothes still on. And this leads me to another of her oddities. She hates dressing up. I have heard so many people complaining about their kids being choosy about their dresses, but here I have a baby who chooses "no clothes". The little nudist likes her undergarments though, and doesn't want to take off her vest at any point of time. Apart from that just a diaper does her fine, or more recently shorts. Oh yes, there is this one thing about Pari for which I can't praise her enough. She has been practically diaper-free for the last 6 months or so, except off course at nights. I must have done something really good to have her develop this sense at such an early age.
I don't think I am done, but 3 parts was what I promised and so be it :)