Learning To Walk
Riana is learning to walk and she’s been making some great progress in the past couple of days. She’s been able to pull herself up to the standing position quite easily for a while now, and slowly began to stand without any support whatsoever. Once she got the stage of standing on her own, we began coaxing her to walk while her hands were held.
Since then she’s gone from taking a couple of steps with support to taking half a dozen steps all by herself. With each confidence boosting step she tries harder to go farther. With the quick progression she’s making, it’s probably only weeks before she’ll be nicely walking around.
In one way I’d like her to be able to walk as soon as possible as with her crawling around, she’s exposing her hands to all of the germs that lie on the floor and then promptly putting her fingers in her mouth when she’s tired or hungry. If she’s walking, that immediately takes away one possible avenue of germs getting into her.
Now if we can work on her not chewing on everything and anything, we’d be in great shape. 
Cheers
Last year… Today… In Retrospect…
Last year, today, March 6 2007, we brought you home from the hospital. It was a day filled with overwhelming emotions. The plan was to leave the hospital at 11:00 AM and be home for lunch as your Naana and Naani anxiously awaited your home coming. As we got you ready and bundled up for a brutally cold day, the doctor walks in to the room and says, “We are afraid but it might take a little longer since we have to run some more exams to check for Jaundice”. From there on, things did not progress very fast at the hospital. Thankfully, you only had a mild case of jaundice and they were ready to discharge you by 5:30 PM. It wasn’t until after 7 PM that we actually left. Your father had to go pack everything and lug it to the car and drive up to the front of the hospital entrance as the nurse wheeled me out of the hospital with you on my lap in your car seat. You were such a tiny baby. You got lost in the car seat. It was -18 degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill and we were atop a hill. We found out that the base of the car seat wasn’t installed correctly. Poor daddy had to spend so much time out in the cold to ensure the car seat would be secure for the ride home.
All set… Ready to leave… But are were really prepared for what’s coming?! As we drove down I-190, there is only one thing on our minds. Are you going to be okay? Are we going to be able to feed you? The nurse is no longer going to be available at the push of a button. Thankfully your Naana and Naani were home. I can’t imagine having to go through those first few weeks without having the added help. Your Naani was more than a nurse at that point. I can not thank them enough for their love and care. Barring the lack of sleep, everything worked out well.
Now, 365 days later, I still distinctly remember the day. It has been a wonderful experience and when I look at you today, it still makes me proud to have given birth to such a beautiful person.
Love,
Ma…
Have a 1′derful Birthday!
Dear Riana,
Wish you a very happy birthday. You are very special to Mummy and Daddy. You’ve brought immense joy into our lives. Your first year has been an amazing experience filled with lot of good memories that we’ll cherish for a lifetime. Mummy loves all the things that you do, most of all playing hide and seek with you. You are full of mischief and naughty grins. I bet it is fun to be one.
On your special day, I just wanted to let you know how much we love you and care about you. Thank you for being such a nice baby. Have a wonderful day sweetheart!
Love, Ma…
Riana Turns One
Today is Riana’s birthday and I’m amazed that it’s been 12 months since we brought her home from the hospital as a fragile little baby and now she’s a brute of a year old. Her first year has been a fun and emotional ride with a lot of ups and a few downs. Overall though, the year has been filled with many days of fun-filled memories of various activities and adventures.
Becoming a parent is a big thing in any person’s life and once a parent, it’s amazing to realize that you are responsible for the well being of a tiny little person. Riana, of course, has made it easy for us as parents being the wonderful baby that she is. We could’ve had it a lot worse and for that I’m very thankful. She took pity on us.
We are now fast approaching the age of exploration and independence on her part. This can, at times, be quite interesting and funny, and at times quite frustrating. Watching her learn a new skill and master it very quickly is a great thing to see and as soon as she begins to walk (should happen quickly now) the fun will really begin.
So happy birthday sweetheart and here’s wishing for many fun-filled days..
~ Daddy
A Place of Her Own
February 25th, 2008 by Ashwin § 0
We figured it was finally time for Riana to have her own place where we can catalog all the things that she’s going through in her first year and beyond. Geeta and I both have posts on our websites about Riana’s various activities and milestones, but they’re usually wedged between other things that we might talk about as well.
Both Geeta and I will be making posts on this site and the entries on the first page will have a distinct background color based on who is making the post. Pretty cool, huh?
Cheers