Astrovelo

Today, Adit is 15 months old.

Here is his monthly progress report. Although I have missed several months in between, I still call this a monthly report. I wish I was as punctual about these reports as I was with Ashwini.

Adit is still very smiley and loves to flash his teeth to anyone who talks with him. He has learnt to blow kisses and his daycare teachers just love that.

Adit likes to walk and run. I think, he learned to walk and run earlier than Ashwini. Sometimes, he doesn’t want to be carried. Especially at his daycare, he wants to walk between the car and his classroom. If he is walking without holding my hand, it is almost random brownian motion. He gets easily distracted by various things that are along the way and chance of him getting to his destination (actually, my intended destination for him) is close to nil.

He is more independent than Ashwini. While playing in the yard, Ashwini always stays around her parent, but Adit just walks away without any care. We’ll definitely need to keep a closer eye on him. He has started climbing stairs, too. He climbs into chairs and beds, but doesn’t know how to come down. He justs lunges down head first. Again, we need to keep a closer eye on him, if we want to avoid big bumps on his noggin.

Adit usually has no problem with eating food. Sometimes, we and his teachers have to stop him from eating too much. Another total opposite from Ashwini. He eats a variety of foods that include Gerber foods (vegetables), pasta, khichdi, cheese, yogurt, all kinds of fruits and yes, ice cream, too. These days, he likes things that he can chew on such as cookies, crackers, apple slices etc. He now has 7 teeth (4 on top and 3 on the bottom) and they came in a strange order that I had not seen before with any other kid.

Lately, Adit has taken a liking for books following his sister’s footsteps. He doesn’t want to put them in his mouth as he used to, but likes to turn pages and look at pictures. He likes to watch TV with Ashwini, too. It is funny to see him wave at the characters on TV when they say “hi” or “bye”. I think he likes to watch Thomas, Dora/Diego and Blue. Well, that is what he gets to watch, because his sister always chooses the shows. Adit also likes it when music is playing in the car. If he is cranky for some reason (mostly for locking him up in the carseat), turning the music on, makes him happy.

Adit can make some animal sounds. Sheep and snake are the only ones that make different sounds, but all the others say “boo” with different amount of emphasis on the “b” or different lenghts of the “oo” sound. He is very vocal when he wants to complain about something. Also, he throws things around or hits us when he gets upset. We should teach him some anger management tricks.

Some things that Adit has learnt at his daycare that he would have missed otherwise:

• Use of sign language to let us know if he wants more food or if he is all done.
• He picks up his cup or plate after he is done and takes it to the kitchen.
• When asked, he picks up books and toys to help clean-up.

Adit’s obsession with the trashcan still continues. These days, he doesn’t want to lick it anymore, but finds things to throw in it. We find all kinds of things such as pens, toys, milk bottles in the trashcan. If we can’t find something around the house, we just have to go to the trashcan to find it.

Adit is absolutely in love with Dora and his teacher, Megan. He doesn’t cry at drop-off time anymore. He just goes to Megan, gives her a hug and starts playing.

Ashwini’s 15 month report for comparison.

Oscar the grouch from Sesame Street is Adit’s most favorite character. He behaves like Oscar too, as seen here with our trashcan. We thought that he likes our trashcan because it is made of shiny stainless steel. But, his teacher commented the other day that Adit is after trashcans at daycare as well. Maybe, it is a sign of things to come. He may take up trash handling/sanitation as a profession when he is a grown-up. He will be in good company with the likes of Tony Soprano. That means I don’t have to worry about my retirement. My “Family” will take care of me in the old age.

Adit looking at the falling snow through the window.

Some photos of Adit sent by his teacher.


eating lunch

lounging with a book

finger painting

out for a ride

smile smile smile

Hey Big Sister, stop embarassing me in front of my buddies

Adit, just a few seconds before he pulled out some grass and put in his mouth.

All through this month, Adit was troubled by a bad cold, but he kept fighting it and was as smiley as always. He started eating a lot of new solid foods. To rice cereal, carrots and sweet potatoes, we added squash, green beans, pears and applesauce.

Rice cereal must be his current favorite. Like Pavlov’s dog, when he is put in a highchair with straps on and with a bib around his neck, he knows what’s coming. In his teacher’s words: “If his cereal is not ready when I put Adit in the chair, he gets really upset”. His eating speed is just amazing. His mouth is wide open even before we can scoop up the next spoonful.

Adit loves green beans just like his sister, but didn’t like the applesauce at all, which was surprising. This was his reaction to applesauce, which is probably sweeter than anything else he eats.

Right now he eats the solids twice a day, and slowly we’ll increase it to 3 times: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Adit likes to put everything within his reach in his mouth. Doesn’t matter if he is hungry or full, everything must go in his mouth. Every object in our house is now officially covered with his saliva.

Adit is starting to roll over and trying to crawl these days. Very soon, everything of value will have to be moved 3-4 feet from the floor. He likes to play with balls a lot. He also likes to sit and bounce in the exersaucer like Ashwini. Adit sits up and plays with his toys. But if he falls down, he can’t make himself sit up from sleeping position and just gets upset. Lately, standing up by holding our hands is the favorite activity. He continues to enjoy being out on the swing. Ashwini is more than eager to push him on the swing-set.

Eventhough Ashwini just tortures him, Adit adores his sister to no end. He is happy to see her around. If she starts to sing and dance, he stops crying immediately. They seem to have developed a special bond already. I can imagine that he is going to learn everything from his sister; good and bad. If she says it is cool, he’ll do anything. Here you can see Adit admiring Ashwini as she does peek-a-boo to him.