The number 12 nipple

Years ago, when San was pregnant with Jr., we had a baby shower at my work place for her. One of the gifts was an AVENT bottle set with a few bottles, nipples, cleaning stuff etc..

Glad that the feeding bottles were already given to us, and finding out that AVENT was the most common brandname that newbie parents used, we started using the set with great results. I used to admire the intricate design which would let air bubbles escape through the special lid, the fl oz markings etc. etc.

Trouble started when Jr. was four months old. She used to get extremely furstrated with the bottle. Being the astute observer and experimenter that I was, I concluded that there was definitely something wrong with the bottle or nipple and it was not Jr.'s fault. By then the nipple had become less transparent and we collectively agreed that we needed a new set.

We were promptly adviced by "the parents and relatives" gang on how they couldn't advice us on such problems because in those good old days the breast was the only bottle, etc. etc., this in spite of the fact that Jr. was an entirely breast milk bottle fed baby!

In hindsight, drinking from a breast vs. a bottle would probably be like driving an automatic vs. manual transmission vehicle! The breast probably adjusts flow to the demands of the baby and has some kind of psychic feed back loop between the mom and baby. I cannot prove this, but I am sure the many scientists who have devoted their entire lifetime to the breast, have studies that support my hypothesis! A bottle with a nipple, on the other hand is like driving on a single gear. Readers of this blog, must know by now, that there is always some study somewhere that supports my hypothesis!

So, imagine our surprise when we go to Toys'r'us and the guy asks me, "Which number AVENT nipple would you like to buy Sir?".

San and me looked at each other and went "What number?"

The guy gave us this look which could loosely be translated as "just because some body parts fit, people like this end up as parents! there has got to be a pre-parenthood IQ test".. anyways, I digress and you probably got the drift.

To top things off he showed us a #1 embossed on the side of the nipple. I had washed that thing a few million times without once realizing that there was a "1" on the side. Of course the nipple was 100% transparent and the "1" was 99% transparent and that fact would explain why! Nevertheless, we were branded in the eyes of that salesman and the other parents shopping in the feeding bottle aisle.

Having learnt our lesson, we walked back with some #2 and #4 nipples to prepare us for the days to come. We were also smart enough to start our second child, on #2 right away and went promptly to #4 in a few months.

Trouble has revisited us after three years. Jr. went from #4 straight to a sippy cup and would drink water, milk or anything liquid, through the sippy cup. The little one has somehow identified the "sippy cup" to be dedicated for water only. If we give her milk, she takes the first sip and promptly spits it out on the floor! After writing a little thesis on the impact of spat out milk on various flooring materials, I decided, enough was enough!

Took a #4, punched out a few extra holes with grandma's safety pin and we now behold, the #12 nipple! The holes are not exactly professional and we can see the little one is getting variable flow. We guess this by the way her eyebrows change as the nipple suddenly goes from trickle to flood in under six seconds. The surprise element is helping the otherwise bored child and daddy is considering a patent on the surprise nipple!

Tomorrow, we plan to buy a new #4 and put holes with a hot needle or search for a better solution. We also have promised Pillaiyaar Ummachchi a few rupees worth of Kalpooram if the little one takes to a the sippy cup soon!

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Tantrums 101

Had promised a video of combo #1 earlier..(a special tantrum thrown by baby at random).

This is not that video. This is combo #2.

Let me explain.

The little one did not cooperate with Mommy during her nail cutting attempts.

She(the little one), was smart enough to follow mommy, find out the secret hiding place where the nailclipper was kept, and got them, just as mommy went on to do other things over a busy weekend.

Feeling something along the lines of the crow that stole the Vadai from the old grandma (TOYWAP, this is from the Tamizh equivalent to Aesop's fables!), she was perched on the couch attempting to cut her own knees, fingers, feet or anything that was close enough to her nails, when she spotted "Secret Video Daddy"!

SVD, feeling the same thing a National geographic photographer feels when he is about to videotape a poor Gazelle just when it is being ambushed by a lioness, was in two minds. Do I continue the video? or do I stop and go pull those clippers out of her hands before she injures herself! SVD decided to do both, at the cost of the video not being secret anymore and the possibility of incurring mommy's wrath on being irresponsible and proving it to the world on video! He kept rolling the tape and tried to use

1. sweet talk
2. scolding
3. threats

and when all failed, resorted to calling in the marines, a.k.a. Jr., who has a strange hold on her little sister. Sometimes, Jr. is able to get things out of the little one's hands when the adults have failed. Last week she got daddy's tea glass from the baby, just when she was going to drop it on the concrete in the backyard, looked at the adults and said "see, that was easy. all you have to do is ask nicely!". If you read carefully, I said "sometimes". Today was not Jr.'s day. She pulled out the clippers on the pretext of asking nicely and the little one promptly went on to combo #1...

SVD does not think the world is ready to see Combo #1! That will have to wait.

SVD also thinks he has no chance of controlling these girls by the time they become teenagers. He is wondering if he will be alive to see them reach their teens at this rate!

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Nutrition conscious kids

Conversation overheard today between Jr. and Periyappa ...

P : What did you eat ?
Jr. : two servings of Idli
P : You ate Idlis! Wow.. What did you say before the Idli part ?
Jr. : I said two SERVINGS of Idli
P : !!!!

Me : One Idli is one serving. Don't you read the nutrition label on the Idli!

she used to say "I ate two Idli's".

When four year olds talk of Servings and Calories it means two things.

1. The daycares are obsessed with reducing obeisity in kids (which along with childhood diabetes, has apparently reached epidemic proportions in the USA, thanks to all the French fries, burgers, sugary sodas, etc. that are part of lunch menu's across the country!). So the daycares, solve the problem by teaching awareness to kids by telling them that they should watch calories and servings! The menu still stays the same, and the message is sent loud and clear : "Drink Coke. Just make sure it is caffeine free diet coke"!

2. They are watching too much TV or have started to put the alphabets together and read words on their own. In the absence of good reading material in the van, they start reading labels at the back of cookies, candy boxes, goldfish crackers etc. and before you know it become nutrition experts who know words like Fat, Sugar, Calories etc. This could lead to more trick questions from the kids like "Will I get fat if I eat this ?", "What does Sodium mean ?" etc. for which we may not have readymade answers.

We are better off teaching them nutrition at home, earlier the better!

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Naughty Naughty Naughty

Pictures of the little one at her mischievous best during an afternoon spent at the local park!

I had just gotten out of a serious headache that afternoon. So I parked my "you know what" at the edge of the slide area and started taking pictures.

Jr., a happy go lucky kid who is always smiling, sat down on the bench for a second between her running around. For a fleeting moment I saw a serious side to her that I have never seen before. Do not know what made her so thoughtful for a few seconds. She was off and running again in no time.

Wishing all Americans a happy 4th of July! Let us hope this year brings better things for the US of A. Oil independence, an end to the war, better politics, and everything else the majority of Americans are said to want in opinion polls but somehow never happen!

Surprisingly, Jr. is being taught in school that 4th of July is America's Birthday(not Independence day!). Maybe they are trying to rewrite the history books and remove the "I" word. Maybe they dont want people to think that Independence implies a dependence at some point prior to the Independence?

Jr. came home and declared that it is America's birthday and we celebrate it with fireworks and no school for tomorrow. I did not want to explain the concept of Independence or dependence to Jr. after a long and tiring day. That can wait for some time later.

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Random Photos..

It is pretty late in the night (by middle aged daddy standards).

So why not let the mind wander and just pick some photos from the last few days and post them ?

First, a nice graduation shot of Jr. thanks to another parent's camera.

Next a tip for people who suffer migraines in the middle of a hot summer afternoon. If you ever said to yourself, "If only I could chill my head", I have the perfect tip.

1. Take some crushed ice in a Ziploc (or other local brand name) resealable plastic bag (the sandwich size bag works best).

2. Wrap it in our Indian towel(aka thundu). This does not work with the turkish bath towels!

3. tie it around your head so that the crushed ice bag ends up just above your neck in the back of your head, and lie down so your head is pressed against the pack and in a few minutes, the headache is gone! At least this works for me.

Actually the last three pictures were taken in reverse sequence. San took a picture of the "sick me", and that prompted me to take the other two pictures as I unwrapped the towel.

Finally, to complete the randomness(?!), a picture of a squirrel at our local park, which took off just as I had him in focus..

I did not know that squirrel ears were that intricate. Did you ?

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