June is growing...

June is now all of eight months. She is no longer an infant - she is now a child. Recently her steady gain of weight has come to a halt. The rigours of having to cope with a new environment has taken its toll. But unfortunately everybody is more focused on the physical aspects of her growth. More fascinating is the steady development of her mind. Its a brilliant experience sitting on the sidelines and watching this magnificent metamorphosis. The more I think of it the more I am spellbound. Its all rubbed on me and I have started to grow again. I am sure sudeshna wiil admit the same.

Each day she is adding something to herself. From a nameless, genderless, personless baby she is growing to be called June. I remmember her first perceivable reaction - a furrowed brow to the flashlight when I took her photograph on her 3rd day on earth. Initially the only thing I remmember was her animalistic cry of hunger. Slowly her eyes opened up. Then she started responding to sound. However every reaction of her's was all to insensate. She was like an alien trying to figure the activities of the earthlings.

But then she smiled one day to her mother's call - her first reaction which did not come instinctively but took some processing. Soon she was replying to our sounds with her own groaning imitations. And one after the other there were the little things each bearing out her steady progress. She is now keenly observant and likes feeling things and touching faces. She observes everything around her trying to drum up an adequate response to each new happening.

And ofcourse she is slowly recognising her near ones and understanding their roles in her life. If she is hungry she will look for Mashi, if she wants to have fun (both of the gourment kind as well as the wild ones) its me to fall back on but all said and done if she is pesky, cranky, sick or hurt no one else than her mom will do.

The first time June fell she cried less out of pain and more out of shock. But then one day after coming to Pune she cried the whole night because of an ear infection - this was a her first recognition and acknowledgment of pain. It was the first time we had to take her to a doctor for reasons other than the occasional poke.

Her most recent development - her ability to move from one place to another. Only yesterday she crawled for the first time. I coaxed her to do the same this morning. She had blithely forgotten. But I am sure she will remmember by the time I am back home.

Sudeshna beware! Our daughter will soon be going places....