मेरा बगीचा (My Garden)

1st hindi poem written by Kashti on 15th April 2017...class 2B.

My doll crawls now...

7+ months....can you believe it? Its been more than 7 months and my doll has learnt to crawl. She is teaching me to be happy in so very small things...and I am so glad that it is happening.

Last Saturday Kashti suddenly started to crawl. Kruti and I were overjoyed, we would just make her crawl again and again..try capture videos and photos..it was an amazing feeling.

Yes, I do feel sometimes that she is growing so fast and tell her "beta, dont grow up so fast..."..yes thats selfish of me, but can't help it.

Next step....when my baby starts taking baby steps... :)

Kashti learns to sit!

Wow...what a weekend. Kashti started sitting on her own on saturday (25th July 2009). Kruti and I were so happy....proud at the same time. Last few days, we have been waiting to see Kashti try to crawl, sit..do something new. There were signs that she was trying to crawl but then suddenly she sprand this surprise...as if telling me "Don't think I'll do what you want/expect"..

Little joys...these....watching her 2 bunny teeth when she smiles...watching her sit again and again as if she is so proud of her achivement. Its amazing this feeling of watching you kid grow! Sometime you want to watch her grow every minute, sometimes you want the process to be slow so that you can enjoy everything again and again...its a dilemma...but then one can't fight progress, human or otherwise....best is to enjoy the progress and be happy.

Next step...wath her crawl happily .....and then walk.....and run...its gonna be fun for sure!

Happy with the progress..

Kashti is no longer used to sleeping only on our shoulders. Now she sleeps on the bed..of course she just doesn't doze off, she feels uneasy and cribs a little but then sleeps and yes..she needs someone in the room while she is trying to sleep....still it is ok as now we can do our chores while she sleeps on her own.
Great progress....

another thing I am happy about is that we started giving her stage 1 carrot and she loved it. It was fun watching her eat the first few spoons....she was like....what are you guys giving me? But then she ate it...almost the full cup. Today when I left from lunch, Kruti started with feeding her Peas and she was taking that nicely too..amd really glad and happy.

Hope her general growth continues and she remains a happy baby...I know she will. Touchwood........

Confused..how to make Kashti sleep?!

Saturday morning……I and my wife decide to go to the mall, so as that we can just window shop and generally take our 5 month old out. In Lynchburg it rains at will and you never can predict it, so taking out our daughter (Kashti) can never be planned. But last Saturday the weather was good and we decided to go.

We fed Kashti her regular portion of rice cereal and formula and then left……Macy’s first. Wanted to but a bullet mixie and I saw a deal that there was one available for $20 (half the original price). We found what we were looking for, Kashti started getting upset…probably because we were not moving her stroller enough….so we started moving fast. We thought she might have become hungry, so made 3 ounce formula which she drank peacefully, but still she didn’t want to be in the stroller. We kept moving in the mall fast so that she can sleep…but in vain. I put her on my shoulder so that she can sleep, but she won’t…she would just keep looking around. So after 1 hr we decided to go back home.

 On reaching home, we decided that we need to teach Kashti to sleep on her own. Kruti called up Sunilamasi to ask what they did for their 8 month old grand-daughter. She said that their son-in-law made it a point that their daughter slept in her crib, who cried for an hour before dozing off.

We thought of trying that. We put Kashti on the bed when she felt sleepy, put 2 pillows around her and then left the room. She started crying…and kept crying…crying…for about 20 minutes and then we couldn’t pretend ignorance. Kruti was almost in tears. So I asked her to go inside and be with Kashti. After some time Kashti slept. So we now decided that we will NOT make Kashti sleep on our shoulders…so 1 of us will lie beside her till she sleeps. Its been 2 days and we seem to be on track. Kashti still cries for 5 – 25 minutes and then sleeps.

 We are doing this mainly so that she learns to sleep by her own. We will be going to Atlanta this month end and really do not want her to suffer during the 8 hr drive. Next step will be to put her to sleep in a car seat while at home…lets see how it goes. Hopefully she enjoys in the car, that way we can go and show her so many places.

My first mail

My dear doll Kashti,

This is your Papa's first letter (email) to you. These days letter writing has become almost extinct. Though I maintain that letters are the best way to convey..they are fun reading..and gives a sense of nearness.
I would admit I have started writing this after reading an article in rediff.com today about the letters Nehru and Obama wrote to their daughters. It is such a novel idea....the different is that they wrote to their grown up kids while I am writing to you when you are still just 18 days in age :)

Beta, you have brought such joy to our world. No money, no job, no vacation, no person would have made us feel so complete...but you. Cliché it may be, but you are the apple of our eyes. your mother has undergone immense pain to bring you into this world. She kept you and nurtured you in her womb for 9 months..she got drained but never let you go hungry or uncomfortable.

We dreamt about you right from the day we got married. We always wanted a baby girl and God gave us one...that too such cute one. We want to give you the best beta...the best in the world. I promise that we will try our best to do that.

You know the happiness I feel by just holding you in my arms...you are so little...you may not understand this but  just by holding you in my arms all my fears, tensions, anger, everything melts away...you bring serenity to my life...I sometimes want you to grow up fast so that I can play with you...and then again I wish you do not grow up so fast so that I can play more :) I know I sound stupid..but that's how ur Papa is.

you know I sometimes think of the time when you will get married and feel sad that after 25 years or so you will leave us....hehehehe...but why think of that...you are still with us for a loooong time..we want to enjoy our time with you. We want you to imbibe the best of values so that you can be happy and spread happiness all around.

I love you Kashti beta..more than anything in the whole wide world....God bless you. See you in the afternoon :)))

Lots of love,
Papa

Time with Kashti

Its been a great 1 week. Time zoomed past. Never realised when Kashti was born and in my hands...it seemed all like a miracle. I think of her all the time now. Whatever I do I see her cute little face. I've no problems keeping awake for her, but the sweet little girl allows me to sleep enough. she is a darling....the most beautiful kid in the world.

She is so quiet. She gets a bit restless when she is hungry..once fed she is fine and mostly sleeps or just stares at things in the room. she enjoys light and attracted towards it....keeps staring at any light. Its great to see her calm specially since Kruti is still recovering from the C-section surgery.

Yesterday Thompy-sheeja, Devan-Bharvi-Harsh-Nand, Mohti-Jinal had come home and Kashti was extremely calm. Everyone took her in their arms and played with her.

I enjoy taking her in my arms....I do not like to leave her on the bed or crib. I feel like holding her forever. When I put her at my shoulder, she folds her legs up like a monkey on a tree...thats so cute.

I just want t give her the best in life and all the good things she wants. God bless her with all the health and wisdom.

Kashti....MY baby...

Finally...finally..after all this wait last Sunday, I became a very very proud father of Kashti. Frankly I was numb when she was born and the nurse and the baby crew showed her to me..I was like..I dont know what to say or react...then they took her to nursery and and standing at the window of the nursery watching her being checked by the nurse...sent in thoughts into me....I was like "She is MY daughter"...everybody was praising her silky air and her eyes and how gorgeous she was...but for me it was just..she is our daughter. Kruti and I had waited so much for thsi day...

Kashti Kashyap Shah....when I wrote that for the first time on a form my hands wereshivering ..I was checking again and again the name..it looked so different...so new...a dream come true.

These were the stats when she was born:

Place: Birth Center - Virginia Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg VA

Date: 28th Dec 2008

Time: 22:16 hrs EST

Weight: 7lb 4oz / 3.3 kgs

Length: 20 inches

We brought Kashti and Kruti home from the hospital on 12/31/08..the new year's eve and the new year is really going to be extra special for us. I can't wait to play with her....take her to different places...treat her like a princess and give her the best in everything....God bless her and thank GOD for giving this angel to us.

[caption id="attachment_44" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="Kashti after being brought home for the 1st time"][/caption]