Crawling now and watch out for the walking!

Hello everyone, after a long time. When you turn seven months old, you do tend to become busier. Thats why I'vent spoken to you all for a while now. I can now crawl quite fast even though when I am crawling, I tend to stick towards the wall. Perhaps there's a career in Formula racing for me, eh? I can get from our hall to my sleeping room quite fast. My speed usually doubles if I'm alone in the hall and Amma is in the bedroom! The other thing I do quite easily now is to hold on to anything and stand up. If you're sitting next to me, chances are I'll crawl upto you, put my hands on your thighs and stand up and give you a grin of achievement. If you're lucky, I'll even say "Mmmmmmmmmmm waawaaa wuuuuu". In fact, when we're going on our bike, I insist on standing and watching the traffic go past us even as I am in the kangaroo pouch! When I'm being carried and I want to go somewhere, I just sway my entire body in that direction and grunt. Well, if you dont do what I want you to, I'll just cry or scream. So the choice is yours!

I love going out but I hate being left at home and seeing others go out! I know exactly when Appa is leaving for work. The moment he puts on his bag and wears his shoes, I start crawling towards him saying "Hmm hmm hmm", sort of begging him to take me along too. In the evenings when Amma takes me to the play area, I know its time to go when she puts on her dupatta and takes the house keys. I just cant stay at home after I know they are going out, can I?

A couple of months ago, I discovered I had a tongue. Last month, I discovered my own hand and the fact that I can catch a lot of things with it. I try to grab the trucks from my "Toys that go" book and eat them. I also try to catch the sunlight which comes into our house. If you thought catching those were tough, I think catching flies is the toughest of them all. By the time I fix my eyes on the target and move my hand towards the fly, crawling ever so stealthily as a tiger hunts its prey, the fly takes off. I dont give up yet. I find out where it is gone and I try to catch it but it keeps eluding me. Some other time, some other day, I suppose!

Last month, thatha, paati and chitappa had come from Madras and we went out a few times. I did my level best to ensure that none of them ate peacefully by insisting on either sitting on the table or being carried out to see the cars go. Thatha, paati and chitappa were with us for quite a few days and I thoroughly enjoyed the attention I was getting. On Appa's birthday, I slept at odd timings and completely upset Appa's and Amma's plans of the three of us going out and enjoying ourselves. I heard Amma and Appa decide not to take me out for lunch or dinner until I improved my behaviour.

Then we went to Trichy for a weekend. Thatha, Paati and Unnuma kollu paati were all really happy to see me. Thatha showed me the house again, just to remind me about where everything was. We then went to Vidya Chitti's house where I saw Srini mama. He carried me around for a lot of the time and I liked being with him. I showed them some of my tricks and slept for quite a while. Since they were leaving for Delhi and then the US, we said bye to them.

For Pongal, we went to Madras. I was (as usual) the centre of all attention. Everyone who called up wanted to first know what I was doing and only after that, they talked to Appa and Amma. We went in the car a few times and I insisted on standing on the seat and putting my nose to the window and seeing what was happening outside. Obviously my nose did get smashed a few times and Appa and Amma feel that it may have become even tinier than it used to be!

I met Siddharth (who was born last month), Prithvi (who is a month or so older than me) and Prajna akka (who is nearly three years old) and I had a great time with all of them. When I saw Siddharth, I put my hand out to caress him. I couldnt play too much with Prithvi since when he was having his food, I went off to sleep and when I woke up, he was asleep! But I loved the way he kept smiling at me. I wish I could smile like him too. Everyone tells me I've inherited Appa's ability to smile. If you've seen me smile and you've seen Appa when he was a kid, you may be able to confirm that. When I saw Prajna akka, something told me to just crawl towards her when we were at Thiruvanmiyur kollu Thatha-Paati's house. I went at a rapid speed towards her and she was really thrilled and kept saying "Baby, baby". I was really sad to go back to Bangalore and so were Thatha, Paati and chitappa. I think I'll see them quite soon.

Happy birthday, Perie akka, for turning a year old. Another baby smaller than me (and smaller than Siddharth too!) was born last month. Welcome, Vaibhav. Vaibhav is Ashwin uncle and Harini aunty's son. Ashwin uncle is Appa's friend.

Appa took this snap of me just after I had woken up in my cot.