7lbs 14oz: November 2005

Aussie attire

This nice little outfit was kindly sent to us by Auntie Sarah, an old university friend of Johanna's who now lives in Australia.

Apparently this comes from a popular line of clothing for babies Down Under. Little Kirin certainly looks pretty cute in it. And if you can imagine him in a Zorro hat and an eye mask, he could even pass for the Hamburglar.

Dog tired on Uncle Sameer

Celebrating Auntie Sally's 30th birthday

Tea at Auntie Judith's

In the blue light of early morning

I'm going huntin' for wabbit

Who stole my teeth?

On one of his trips to India, when he was probably in his sixties, my paternal grandfather discovered that his teeth and glass eye went missing. Now, in India the rule of thumb is that everyone is out to get you. So, Baji rounded up all the men in the village and gave them a day to return his eye and teeth or there would be consequences. Both turned up but whether he just remembered where he had left them or someone really had stolen them I don't know.

Given that little Kirin looks a bit like a cute, dentureless person in this photo, I was reminded of the story.

Correction, correction

I have been told by the child's mother that he is not, in fact, laughing but merely smiling. "He is gurgling," she said, "but laughing doesn't happen until about three months." Of course, I think he is a hyper-advanced child - and his unbiased, child psychologist grandfather has confirmed that he is advanced - and, therefore, laughing. Whatever, we love him.

Oh dear, daddy hasn't updated the blog for ages

It has been three weeks since the last posting which is a bit too random for my liking and probably goes against the idea of a blog. But as the parents out there know, a newborn takes up a lot of time. Between feeding, sleeping, cleaning and working, blogging has found itself a little further down the priority list than I had anticipated. I hope to keep things updated more regularly from now on.

Kirin was six weeks old last Friday (has it really been that long?) and some of these pictures give a sense of how he has been growing and changing. Beyond the physical changes, he is staying awake and alert for longer intervals and is starting to hear and see more clearly - he recognises our voices and when I walk across in front of him, he shifts his eyes and head to follow me (just to be sure, I sometimes turn back on myself mid-step and, sure enough, he follows). And, most important of all, he has started to laugh, especially when you tickle him under the arms – when he does this, Johanna and I are sure that he is the cutest child in the world. (It’s a pretty good bet that every new parent feels the same about their progeny.)

As for us parents, we continue to try our best. It's funny, but we all remember our own childhoods and yet as adults we forget so many of the important details that could be useful as a parent. For me, remembering the names of nursery rhymes is one of the trickier occupational hazards. You always know the first bit (Hush little baby, don't say a word...) but by the second or third verse it's a struggle to remember what comes next. So, you generally find yourself making it all up to the tune of Mockingbird or Rubber Duckie. But so far, Johanna takes the cake on the creativity front. Not only is she great at creating verse on the spot (after she saw 8 Mile, the Eminem movie, she kept on telling me she would love to be in a rap battle) but the other day I heard her singing Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. He seemed to like it.