Count down to 6 months old!

Can you believe than in 3 days my Ranjit will be 6 months old?! I sure can't, where on earth did the time go??? It hit me today- his Dadi, Mona Moushi and I took him to his 6 month doctor's visit. Not only did he get poked around with needles (he was so good though, he hardly cried!), the doctor gave me the go ahead to start solid foods whenever I want. So tomorrow I'll start with some rice cereal (which I tried a couple weeks ago for kicks and giggles and decided to stop when he seemed to get gassy because of it)and then go from there; organic baby food aisle, here I come! I'm also going to start training him to use a sippy cup; this I think will be met with quite a bit of enthusiasm. I tried to train him to drink from a katori (waati?) the other day and the boy couldn't get enough! He would grab the cup with both hands, throw his head back and gulp down every drop of milk- the boy's an eater, what can I say?? It was a little messy, true, but he is definitely ready to get refreshment from a variety of sources now.

The doctor also confirmed that the two bumps that I had felt on Ranjit's bottom gum WERE in fact teeth bumps, much to my relief and annoyance as well (relief because I felt like I was going crazy, thinking he was teething but not getting any confirmation, annoyance because when I took Ranjit to a nurse for confirmation she said that those bumps were not teeth, they'd already been there).So pretty soon his pearly whites will start to show- any day now, teeth! They sure have been taking their sweet old time!

Ranjit has gained 2 inches in the last 2 months as well! That brings him to 27 inches and 14 pounds, 3 ounces... he's a little skinny (he only gained 1 pound in the last 2 months) but he'll catch up I'm sure. In the meanwhile, he's almost outgrowing his 6-9 month old clothes, which means I'll get to outfit him with a whole new slew of 9-12 month old wardrobe pretty darn soon!

Tomorrow is Ranjit's first Thanksgiving! I need to get him a little Indian (native american, that is) headdress or something for the occasion- I wonder if Jewel has those...

Ranjit's Happenin' Halloween and Diwali

Ahhh, the joys of having a baby... not only do you get to play with them and turn them into your very own toy, you get to dress them up in cute little outfits EVERY DAY (until they're old enough to simply say "No more mommy, stop the violence!"). So, the past couple of weeks have been an absolute joy for me. Not only was I able to dress up my little monkey in a monkey suit for halloween, I also got to put him in the cutest little kurta pyjama outfit EVER when his Dada and Dadi threw him his big Diwali party.What a hit he was! He socialized like he'd never socialized before, blowing kisses (rasberries) and drooling on everybody who dared to hold him. Foregoing the open bar, he attentively sat listening to his Dadu and Vikas uncle sing for him, then politely excused himself so that he could go to bed at 8pm(I tried to convince him to sing his rendition of "So Long, Farewell" from Sound of Music, but he wanted to save that for his next party).
That weekend was also very exciting for him because he got to hang out with his Booah and show her what a cute little monkey he could be. No candy for him this year, he had to be a good little primate and eat his bananas instead!


Finally, he met his Arun Azoba mama who traveled all the way from Oregon to meet him. He pulled his nose, hair and glasses and took him to the Shedd Aquarium and showed him all of his favorite fishies... they became pals!