Tuesday, May 26, 2009

She is one cool girl

Patti has the tendency to call Sophia Jillu. That means cool girl. Somehow, patti has hit the nail on the hed with the name. And Sophia is that... Cool.

She is cool about nearly everything. She has been going out since she was three weeks old and we had to take her to Gymboree. She is a healthy sleeper (although now is showing a clear preference for entertainment than for sleep).

These days, what amazes me more than anything is how much she can recognize and identify with me. Anjali, as I have always said, is a community child. When I was pregnant with her, everyone was caring for the pregnancy, and when she was born, she had no lack of people dancing around her. As a result, her need for mummy was little. When bunica came for a visit, she said that between me and my mom, there is no difference for Anjali.

Sophia on the other hand, is mine and mine alone. There is a strong possessiveness that I feel towards her. It could be because of the fact that when she was in the womb, people were so preoccupied with Anjali. Sophia lacked the father's and the grandmother's touch, that Anjali so often had. With Anjali, husband would put his hands on my tummy for hours to feel her kick. With Sophia he hardly had the time to. Patti had spent hours reading Ramayan to Anjali in the womb. Sophia got her quota of Ramayan from Music India online.

But there were times when I was with her alone. I remember worrying about Sophia not kicking when I was with Anjali. Perhaps she was kicking and I was too preoccupied to feel it. But there were some special times, like the evening in Auckland, the plane trip back, the days in the office, when it was just me and the baby in the womb, and I would feel the kicks, strong and healthy.

And so comes the quite pride and possessiveness that i feel when she is screaming her heart out when husband is carrying her around the center because I am listening to a talk. I pick her up, and she quietens instantly. As night, when she wakes up, she cries. When husband goes to her, she cries even louder. When I go to her, I dont even need to touch her, she can sense my presence in the dark room and quietens immediately, her cries transforming to eager um ums

"You want daddy to carry you when its morning", said husband to her one day. "But at night, if daddy comes near you, you scream even louder."

And the pride goes up, when I see her expressing her desires through actions. The other day, at the center, she had her eye on patti's red water bottle. Patti put it next to her. She tried to grab it, but it fell over her. Afraid that it would hurt her, patti took it and put it further away, out of her reach.

If eyes could talk, hers did. And the message was clear. I want the bottle to play with. And she made all sorts of sounds to get her message clear until we gave her the bottle.

Then there are the numbers. When she is in a good alert mood, she always gets the answers right. Yesterday, I placed the correct card over her head. She lifted her eyes up to look.



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