Day 167

While we've been noting how Vidhi is progressing and crossing various milestones of infant life, today I want to talk about what she is not doing. This provides opportunity to differentiate nature/innate origin of certain actions/reflexes versus nurture/learned behaviours.



For example, among adults, yawns are highly contagious. In fact, you are probably yawning right now, just by reading the word. We don't observe the same with Vidhi yet, at age of 5.5 months and she can ignore yawns just as well.



It's obvious that language is a learned, yet it came to our surprise that following direction (when we point at things with out fingers or raise our arms) is also learned, even though, as adults, we cannot think otherwise.



My notion that infants will readily mimic whoever is around them is also shattered when Vidhi fails to open her mouth or move her palms/hands as we do, despite our obviously oversize gestures. It's been observed in kids a little older than her so I expect it will happen sooner or later, but it will be interesting to note where the boundary is.



As of now, Vidhi is unperturbed by her refection in mirror and isn't attracted to it. In steps of development of conscience, it is said that she will regard reflection as another person, until she come to realize that it's her, at about age of three.

Day 165

Vidhi got a tiny-tiny first tooth...a barely visible canine tooth on her bottom left!

Day 158

Vidhi now turns around quite frequently and seems to enjoy her new posture. She can also stay longer on her belly without crying though ultimately she does cry. If fascinated by new object then she tries hard to move herself. Currently she hasn't achieved any mobility but her efforts seems have seen progress from trying to grab things by her palms to trying to push herself ahead by lifting her bum.



Her efforts however do lead to her changing rotation and shifting slightly - an event which almost lead to her fall last Wednesday, twice! Once we overlooked her on sunbathing table beside our swimming pool (height 2 feet) and next time we just caught her in nick of time falling from kitchen counter (height 4 feet). We promise to be special careful now that she has shown signs of partial mobility. Her mom has already started putting heavy pillow at her side so that she doesn't slide off the bed when sleeping. Further, her relish at eating anything has only increased and she eats newspaper or even her own clothes. At times she makes chocking noises though no known cause could be observed. We really need to be more careful now.



She takes particular interest in our conversations now and will even pause her feeding if her mom starts talking to look around. She has also learned to make deep guttural grunting sounds which can be described by adults at what made when attempting to do a particular tough #2 job. She smiles a lot these days and shows genuine happiness at seeing her parents and Chachu. Her chuckle and laughter is loud and more fun filled. Her crying for no reason is little less than usual and she has become an more fun person to be with.



Some pictures from fifth month of Vedika i.e. Vidhi....

Day 152

Happy first Independence Day Vidhi!



Baby has learnt to follow what her mom lovingly calls Gandhigiri in not drinking milk She clenches her lips so resolutely and tightly without making too much sound or crying that feeding spoon into her mouth becomes a challenging task. Video will follow.

Day 151

Our suspicions of yesterday turned out to correct. Vidhi did learn to turn around and was observed (but not recorded for she failed to deliver under third eye) twice to turn over on her hands. Yay!



Excited dad soon sent an SMS to all near and dear ones which was chided as being little over the top by mom.

Day 150

A upturned ceiling facing Vidhi was found facing floor on her backside today while her mom looked away. It's not observed by anyone but it's possible that today marks the day when Vidhi learnt to turn over!

Day 141

We had some shopping to do and had to go to City Market for day long outing. City Market is a very crowded shopping destination famous for variety, price and no parking and walking space. If we took Vidhi with us then walking with her (even with help of maid) in narrow streets would have been difficult. If she was made to stay in car then cramped parking would not have provided best of places to spend whole day. For the first time we decided to leave our baby darling alone at home in care of maid and her Chachu while we went out for shopping. Maid did make some fuss about leaving such young infant alone at home and Chachu was exhausted from caring/playing/keeping a eye on her. We took about eight hours to return though to our surprise Vidhi behaved well during this period and didn't cry exceptionally bad. Sweet girl!