Now that I’m one, I do think I am grown up enough to take some important decisions in my life. So first off, I have decided that I’m going to extend that bedtime. I mean, how uncool is it to hit the bed at 7:30! I cannot believe I’ve surrendered to it for as long. From now on, I’ll sleep way past bedtime. Maybe at 10:00, 11:00 or even 12:00. Either way, not before my parents sleep, nope. I want to witness everything they do, whether its watching movies or gossiping. Who wants to waste time sleeping when one can be having so much fun?

The second big decision in my life is not to have any more poop sticking onto my pretty tush. All the poop goes in that big poop-hungry pot. I grunt and have my mom know its time for me to hit the loo and finish up my business to get back to play. Of course these adults can never get enough of their expectations. Now mommy also expects me to pee in there. Oh puh-leeze, do you think I want to leave playing with my toys every hour on the hour to go wait it out in the toilet? I’d do those in my fancy stitched cloth diapers, thank you very much.

The third life changing decision is to express myself more often. Especially when I’m upset. So now I clench my fists and my teeth and shake all over unless my demands are met. Its a bit of a joke now – mommy asks me to get upset and laughs when I do the deed. Sometimes I think they make me upset on purpose because they get a kick out of it. I know, so weird!

So while I’m staying up late, pooping in the pot and expressing myself in a new way – if you meet my mum, just try convincing her to let me drive the car as well. Not the small one they bought me – but the big one she’s always driving around. If I can do so much, I’m pretty sure I can handle the wheel. After all, I maneuver my way around the house all day – how difficult can the road be, eh?

Nemo has gotten a rather bad diaper rash and it feels awful just to look at it. So here’s me putting a ban on them diapers altogether and she’s down to cloth or nothing. The bare bottomed babe just left her stinky mark on the bed this morning and I don’t even want to talk about what happened on her playmat! But its healing, so all’s good that heal’s good.
Of course, its brought out the seamstress in me and I am onto stitching cloth diapers for her. I know you get them in the market and I know they’re pretty durable, but heck I want to make them myself and gleam with pride each time she successfully wets one. Yes I’m weird and all that, she knows by now!

I don’t want to give up the opportunity to potty train her. She’s almost a year and although she hates sitting on the toilet, I do think I can somehow convince her to do her business in the loo when she has to and communicate the same to me. She jumps right up the moment I put her tush down on the seat, and even though we got one of those trainer seats for her, she won’t have any of it. Perseverance is the word I have lived on ever since she’s been born, so what the heck – I’ll persevere.
On another note, Coco is no longer scared of Nemo. She’s petrified. Nemo is forever trying to pull her tail or tear her hair apart. Although she does share most of her food with her, Coco’s not liking the whole ordeal. She tolerates it, yes – but I applaud her for even bothering. Had I been Coco, I would’ve stayed away from the little devil and just maintain a clear distance.
Nemo has graduated to saying ‘Bas’ while she’s eating. Although its supposed to mean enough, for her its just an expression and usually has more even after the Bas signal has been given. She’s also getting exceptionally good at saying her Bye’s, but she hates saying Bye to me, so I rarely get to see it happening.
Nemo now has her mom making legwarmers for her for the upcoming winters and I wonder what she’ll say years later when she sees her legs clad in red and yellow striped home-stitched warmers. Perhaps she won’t be pleased, but I could use it to blackmail her into how much I’ve done for her. You know how those parental blackmails work.

Her birthday is approaching soon and I’m keenly awaiting the smash cake ceremony where she’ll have her own big cake to smash and eat. I have a feeling Coco is going to relish that cake more than Nemo herself…

Nemo started her journey to getting mobile when she discovered mommy is not particularly in favor of handing her yummy things like car keys, newspaper or even the remote control. The issue wasn’t getting where – it was, getting there.

By now Nemo had learnt that staying put in one place was for babies and in order to truly pledge her dominance in this hard-to-survive world, she’d have to get off her cute tush and do something. So began the back scoot – Nemo rolling on her back, pushing herself backwards by kicking her leg off the surface – getting back on her tummy and determining how much more distance she needs to cover before she can reach the object of her desire. After a couple of backward scoots, she could usually get wherever she wanted.

Of course, this method had its downfalls. There was not always room available to rollover.. and sometimes, she ended up getting farther than her fancy rather that getting close. So there, she deviced a new plan – the front creep. Nowadays, she can get wherever she wants by pushing herself up by her arms (like a pushup) and then throwing her weight forward while pushing the surface with her feet. She’s getting so good at it that she can almost jump off the bed faster than we can grab her. So predictably, she’s spending more time on the floor than the bed nowadays.

She usually creeps towards rolled away balls, toys but most of all Coco. She loves to creep all the way to Coco to grab her hair – but Coco manages a neat escape and is usually very scared of the approaching fish.

Nemo can also walk if held and is getting really good at walking in her walker. Its such a bittersweet experience to see her in locomotion and I already have to scan the floor for any undesirable objects that’ll find solace in her mouth.

But still, its noteworthy to remember – she learns to swim much before she learnt to creep, crawl or even walk!

I realized I have been so obsessed with documenting Nemo’s babyhood in pictures, that I’ve forgotten to write about it. So here is my error rectified and what follows is Nemo’s life in all its current glory.

Nehmat is a delight to be around. Her smile is reminiscent of the butter melting on pancakes – its sweet fragrance swells up your heart and makes you content. She’s my maple syrup, though!

I try my best to spend every waking moment with her, to share her laughter, to pacify her tears – to hold her each time she raises her arms towards me, to encourage her each time she reaches towards a toy out of reach. I try to get her down to sleep without making her upset and feed her things she loves, and not just likes. I try to make her a part of my everyday life to the best possible extent – letting her gaze at the computer screen while I work, watch as I clear the room or even sit with her on her playmat and just talk to her about my day. I know she won’t remember any of these days – and they will pass sooner than I’d realize, but I do know these days are to be etched in my heart forever.

I have a feeling she understands everything we say, because she laughs and winces at the right times. Nemo loves to talk to herself and to us. Her repertoire of words include mama (yes, almost her first word), papa and tata. She says a lot of other things that do not classify as words in any language – but to her I’m sure, they all make a lot of sense. Recently, she has started to wave bye-bye even though she has no clue on its utility. She practices it all day long saying to herself, her toys, me and even her bed while she’s dozing off to sleep.

She enjoys eating fruits, her favorite being bananas. I have now introduced egg in her diet and she has scrambled eggs for breakfast along with a bit of buffalo milk. For lunch, she has yoghurt and for dinner she takes any packaged baby food. But what she enjoys most is stuff right off my glass or plate. She is a big fan of ice tea and loves to sip lemonade off my glass. She also immensely enjoys munching on her plastic toys – being her favorite hobby. She munches on my bracelets, necklaces and even newspaper – if given the chance. At least I don’t have to worry about her being a picky eater!

Nemo has an intense love for sleeping. She cannot stay awake for longer than two hours, and starts to get cranky immediately afterwards. She had been sleeping through the night from 2.5 months to about 5 months, but ever since, she’s been waking up at least two times and upto six times each night and won’t go down without nursing. I let her get away with it, because I know before long she’ll be asking to stay up late and watch movies, and I’ll miss these days so much! She takes two naps during the day on an average but is capable of taking many more.

Nemo is a very active baby, though she has not reached many milestones yet. She loves to play with toys and keeps busy with them while I go about doing my chores. Her eyes light up when she sees her stacking rings and especially enjoys playing on her new Disney Playmat. She also recently got a walker buggy that has a basketball-type ring up front which she uses to through little plastic balls in. She doesn’t stick too long with one toy and wants a continual refresh of stuff around her. My cherub’s face lights up like a bulb when I animate her stuffed toys and make them talk to her. She especially loves a monkey we won off Dreamworld in Bangkok, when I make it say ‘Hello, I’m ChooChoo’ and bring his nose close to hers. She breaks into giggles and her mesmerized eyes follow every movement of ChooChoo.

She is fascinated with Coco and calls out to her in excited squeals each time she sees her. Coco is still wary of her and stays clear. Nemo is yet to crawl and yet to get into a sitting position from laying down. But I am in absolute no hurry for her to do all that yet. For me, she can always be the adorable baby that she is.

She loves to take her bath and plays with the duckies Nani got for her – accompanied by intense squealing. She isn’t a big fan of getting her hair washed though, because the water gets into her eyes. But she’s a good girl and lets me get away with it without much of a fuss.

Her favorite person in the world is me – and she shows it each time she’s upset about something or if someone else is holding her. Well guess what – she’s my favorite person in the world as well, so it couldn’t be a better relationship!