Long hair

A constant bug bear with aanya these days is not having long hair.  And she constantly points out that I have long hair and asks why she doesn't.

It's getting cold so I've told her not to wet her hair in the bath anymore.  She did it anyways and said that the hair becomes longer when it's wet.... fair point!

Look I'm sleeping by self

Today we started the same pony and dance show of negotiating to make Aanya sleep by herself at night.

First she said one story and she'd sleep by herself.  I said okay if she drank her milk while I read to her.  She said okay but didn't like the books I proposed - crayons one; she said she wanted a new winnie one and picked out a winnie book.

She said that we had to go in bed together to read it.  I sat with her in the bed.  Then she said - "I think we can lie down and read," nodding her head and smiling a little as she said it.  "What do you think?".  I was amazed at her soft skills of persuasion and not letting myself be completely convinced said that we can half lie down, half sit up - propped on the pillow.  She agreed with a smile.

When the story ended she said one more.  I vehemently refused saying I was too tried - which I was.  She said please, what if I finish all my milk, one more story and I'll sleep all by self... everything she could think of to convince me.  I said okay but I choose the story.  She said yes -- do you want the crayons one.  I said yes but she had to finish up her milk.  She finished her milk and I asked her to get the book.  She tried to push back on that once asking me to get it but did get it when I said I was too tired.

We read the crayons book and I said that I'm going.  She said no stay for a little bit.  I said I had to clean up the kitchen before daddy came home but she didn't agree.  Too tired to get up from bed I agreed.  She smiled happily and lay down.  I retired thinking that I'll have a quick nap as well.  Within 5 minutes she says to me mummy go and clean up the kitchen!  I was taken aback... did NOT expect her to every tell me to go!  Happily surprised I said okay and asked for a kiss.  She kissed me three times - on both cheeks and lips, twisting my head this way and other to kiss me and then I went out.

Even more surprisingly later Ashish came back and went to her room to hang some clothes to dry on the radiator in her room and she was up and sat up.  She told her daddy - "look I'm sleeping by self" and asked him a few questions about why he was hanging the clothes and went back to bed.

I think we've finally cracked the "sleeping by self"!

Aanya's first word is... poo

Not the most glamorous update but kinda funny. Whenever anyone passes gas Aanya's goes poo. Well to be fair she does say other things like 'bap' when hitting someone and 'mamma' when she's crying.

Also at 9 months she started saying 'girgaya' but stopped after nani left.

Under my chin

One idiosyncracy of Aanya that I have a hard time explaining is her propensity to take everything and put it under her chin - whether it's clothes, toys. One possible explanation is that she is trying to mimick our behaviour of putting the phone between our ear and neck...

Another one I can't figure out is when she insists on wearing her pink sweater and gets upset when I take it off. The sweater is totally beaten up now, especially since she hates wearing any kind of bib.

Aanya's favourite games

She loves running around and exploring. She goes in my wardrobe and starts pulling out socks etc from my drawers. She knows that she's not supposed to and has this naughty smile and hides inside when we spot her.

When she wants to go really fast she pulls out her walker (which she doesn't really need anymore) and screams 'aaa' while running with it. When she's done she neatly parks it under the table. She gets very upset if something blocks her from parking it correctly!

She loves opening and closing lids... off anything - milk cartons, lotions, boxes... you name it.

She loves sitting on her big bunny. She used to do 'bap' to it but not she head butts it lovingly.

She laughs whenever I hide and suprise her or run towards her.

She's crazy about her DVD on the apple computer. She insists of keeping the laptop in her lap while watching the dvd just like we do. And her hands sprawled on the keyboard... again typing like us. We have to hide it from her. But she still finds it somehow...

Aanya's favourites

Reading - she just keeps rushing through the book so she can clap her hands at the end... I've noticed Ashish reading really fast to get through Aanya flipping the pages quickly. Her favorite part right now is Cheeky baby when the mirror comes on in the peekaboo book.

Eating - She insists on eating herself. She would stuff the things she doesn't like in my mouth and eat the rest herself. Or sometimes she'd make me try something first before she eats it. The favorite things are peas and corn.

Sleeping - She has started making a raucous whenever it's bed time. After taking a bath she would insist on running around naked all over the apartment. She doesn't want to sleep. The only way to entice her is by luring her with mama's milk... which she looves!

Bathing

Aanya loves bath time. She always has except for a 2-3 week period around 8 months. She increasingly wants to do her own thing. Eating herself, walking around, throwing garbage in the dustbin, putting lotion on or even cleaning her nose with a pump. At bath time she tries to put water on herself using her mug. She ends up with most of it on her face. She also wants to put soap herself.

She laughs really hard if I time myself to her splashing the water and do it at the same time.