Pictures!!!

Finally my camera troubles seem to be over! Now I am slowly transferring to my laptop all the pictures I have taken in the past weeks. This one below is one of my favorite, from when Rajiv was two months old. Many more pictures coming soon.

Finalmente ho risolto i problemi che avevo con la macchina fotografica. Ora pian piano trasferiro' tutte le foto di queste ultime settimane sul mio computer e ne potro' mostrare alcune sul blog. Questa qui sotto e' una delle mie preferite, di quando Rajiv aveva due mesi e pochi giorni.

A beautiful September day

We have reached Italy yesterday morning, after a tiring - but less than I expected - journey. unfortunately we again failed to get the bassinet to use in flight, so Rajiv had to sit or sleep on my lap for most of the time. It seems there were again more infants than available bassinets on the plane. I bet this won't happen traveling to Canada: the advantages of low reproduction rates...

My home town welcomed us with a fantastic weather, nice temperature not too hot but pleasantly warm and blue sky with white clouds here and there. The air was clear - and dry! I almost forgot how that feels - and you could see the mountains far away.

My mom picked us up at the airport (with support from a second car to carry the luggage) and we had some sandwiches with her at home before she had to return to work. Unfortunately she is experiencing an unexpected work overload and won't be able to take time off work to spend with us, but she is very happy to see Rajiv again and said she will come to see him every evening after work.

Then we saw briefly my aunt, while Rajiv was asleep, and we waited for him to wake up to go and spend some time outside and enjoy the weather. We took him for a short visit to his great -grandmother (bisnonna Lina) and after that we went to pick up Rajiv's new passport, that we had applied for before leaving to India. It is hilarious: eyes - brown - height -50 cm... By the way, he is much taller now already!

We walked around for some time and went to a bookstore that I hadn't yet visited since it was restructured last year. We got a popular science book on neuroscience by a Kerala guy who apparently is very well known - I suspect this must be the understatement of the century -
and a nice little book for Rajiv about a baby elephant that takes a bath at night and then goes nicely to sleep. Hope he will find it inspiring.

We came back home by bus and Rajiv by now was very cranky for some reason, probably a wet diaper. The people on the bus made every sort of nasty comments about how I wasn't taking care of the little one properly until I found it necessary to inform them that in spite of appearances I am actually Italian and I did understand what they were saying. I hate this kind of things, it almost ruined my day.

We reached home after six. Before dinner my aunt came to see Rajiv awake and bring us some icecream and then my mom came as well, on her way home from work. I am very happy to see that they are bonding nicely with the little one. Some time later my dad came to see us as well. He didn't get to see Rajiv awake, but that will be remedied soon. He commented on how much bigger he looks now and we had a nice chat anyway, in which my husband could finally demonstrate some of his knowledge of the Italian language. By the time he left it was quite late and we were ready to collapse in our beds.

Today looks like another very pleasant day outside and I hope to take Rajiv out for a walk later, maybe in one of the new wraps instead of the usual carrier. Maybe we will also take the stroller one of these days and see if now that he is a big boy he can sit and look around instead on lying down in the pram - which he hates and wouldn't do anyway.

Kerala trip in pictures

We have reached Calicut last Friday night. Unfortunately the trip was not as much fun as it should have been for S., who is only now beginning to feel better after his surgery. His brothers came only two days ago, so we have decided to stay a bit longer and return to Madras by train tomorrow night, accompanied by S.'s mother. Below are a few pictures taken this week by S.'s parents.

Siamo arrivati a Calicut venerdi' scorso. Purtroppo questa visita non e' stata molto piacevole per S., che solo ora comincia a sentirsi meglio dopo l'intervento di due settimane fa. I suoi fratelli sono arrivati solo l'altro ieri, quindi abbiamo deciso di cancellare il volo di ritorno e fermarci qualche giorno in piu'. Torneremo a Madras in treno domani notte, accompagnati dalla madre di Sujay. Qui sotto potete vedere qualche foto scattata in questi giorni.

Jaydev next to the Onam flower decoration that was made on Sunday morning.

Questo e' il mio nipotino Jaydev dietro la decorazione floreale che e' stata disposta davanti a casa domenica mattina per festeggiare Onam.

Un po' di foto di Jaydev e Rajiv.

Some pictures of Jaydev with Rajiv.

This was my first attempt at using a wrap for a back carry. I thought it would be best to try with an older child first and Jaydev kindly volunteered.

Qui sono io che trasporto Jaydev utilizzando una lunga striscia di stoffa acquistata a questo scopo. Jaydev gentilmente ha accettato di fare pratica con me prima di tentare la tecnica con Rajiv.

And below:

Rajiv with his grandmother.

E qui in basso:

Rajiv con nonna Padmini.

Onam

Ieri in Kerala si festeggiava Onam, la festivita' piu' sentita in questa parte dell'India. E' un po' come per noi il Natale: le famiglie se possibile si riuniscono e si scambiano doni, in genere vestiti. Tradizionalmente Onam coincide con il raccolto e la data dipende dal calendario lunare. Una volta era il momento dell'anno in cui venivano comprati abiti nuovi per tutta la famiglia. Probabilmente e' tuttora cosi' per molte famiglie povere, ma anche coloro che possono permettersi di fare acquisti in qualunque momento dell'anno festeggiano Onam indossando abiti nuovi e regalando abiti ai familiari, specialmente i piu' giovani. Un altro segno distintivo di questa festivita' sono le decorazioni floreali davanti all'ingresso delle case.

Onam e' anche collegato ad una leggenda indu':

La leggenda del re demone

Secondo la leggenda molto tempo fa il Kerala era governato da un re demone di nome Mahabali. Mahabali aveva esteso il suo regno ai tre mondi: la terra, il cielo e gli inferi. Era un re molto giusto e devoto agli dei, molto amato dai suoi sudditi. Gli dei pero' erano avevano paura del suo potere e chiesero a Vishnu di privarlo del suo regno. Vishnu allora si presento' a Mahabali come un brahmino nano nel giorno in cui Mahabali accoglieva le suppliche dei suoi sudditi. Il re era famoso per accogliere sempre ogni richiesta e quando venne il turno del brahmino nano gli promise qualunque cosa lui volesse. Il brahmino allora chiese di avere tutta la terra che poteva calpestare con tre passi. Mahabali a questo punto sospetto' la verita', ma acconsenti' perche' ormai aveva dato la sua parola. Il brahmino da nano divento' un gigante e con i primi due passi copri' la terra e il cielo. Poi chiese a Mahabali: "Dove mettero il mio piede adesso?". E Mahabali offri' a Vishnu la propria testa. Cosi' Mahabali venne sotterrato e relegato agli inferi, ma poiche' era un uomo coraggioso e rispettoso di Vishnu, la sua preghiera di tornare una volta l'anno dai suoi sudditi venne accolta. Onam e' il giorno in cui gli abitanti del Kerala festeggiano il ritorno del re demone Mahabali.

Piccole scoperte - Little discoveries

A few of the latest developments:

• Since a few days ago little one seems to have realized that he has extremely attractive and interesting feet (of course we already knew that). Sometimes he stares at them and tries to touch them, batting at them like he does with toys. When he manages to touch them he seems fascinated. In fact it is not clear at all whether he realizes that they are attached to his body, it is quite cute to see.
  
  Da qualche giorno il piccolino ha cominciato ad interessarsi ai suoi piedi. Li fissa, li tocca, cerca di colpirli come fa con i giocattoli, e' molto carino. Non credo che si renda conto che sono parte del suo corpo, e' un po' come un gatto che cerca di mordersi la coda - solo un po' meno difficile...
  
  
• He is acquiring better control of his hands: he is now able to pinch mommy, especially when he is hungry, and he likes to grab S.'s hair when S. leans over him.
  
  Comincia ad avere maggiore controllo dei movimenti delle proprie mani: e' capace di dare piccoli - ma efficaci - pizzicotti e gli piace afferrare i capelli di S. quando si china su di lui.
  
  
• He is beginning to smile in response to things, as opposed to just randomly. For example he smiles if we make some unexpected funny sounds and he laughs like crazy if somebody kisses his belly. This morning when we woke up at around six I put him to sit on my belly and he stayed there for some time looking at me and smiling...
  
  Il piccolino adesso risponde in modo piu' evidente alle nostre azioni. Per esempio, sorride se facciamo dei suoni inaspettati o se riceve dei baci sulla pancia. Questa mattina quando ci siamo svegliati verso le sei l'ho messo a sedere sulla mia pancia e lui e' rimasto li' per un po' a guardarmi ridacchiando...
  

Plans - Progetti

We have been spending quite a few days at home now. S. had some minor surgery done last Saturday (nothing too serious, but still not fun) and he needs to take rest, as much as it is possible with a baby in the house. He is not allowed to lift the little one, but he is still helping a lot, so things are not completely out of control, yet.

We had planned for some time to go to Calicut for a few days to spend time with S.'s family and if there are no complications we will leave tomorrow evening. Fortunately we had already decided to go by plane, so the trip should be still manageable. We will come back on Thursday to spend our last few days in Chennai and then on September 4th we will travel to Italy, stop there for another few days to see my family and then continue to Canada, where we will stay until the end of November, more or less. Just in case you happen to look at a map and wonder where we are...


Sabato scorso Sujay ha dovuto sottoporsi ad un piccolo - ma fastidioso - intervento chirurgico e adesso deve riposare il piu' possibile, quindi abbiamo passato gli ultimi giorni a casa. Se tutto va bene pero' dovremmo riuscire ad andare a Calicut domani, come avevamo programmato da tempo. E' la nostra ultima occasione per vedere tutta la famiglia di S. prima di partire e in piu' questo finesettimana coincide con una festivita' locale, quindi ci teniamo in modo particolare ad andare. Una volta tornati ci sara' essenzialmente solo il tempo di fare i bagagli e sistemare un po' di cose prima di abbandonare la casa per piu' di tre mesi. Arriveremo in Italia il 4 settembre mattina e poi il 10 proseguiremo per il Canada, dove in teoria dovrei iniziare a lavorare, Rajiv permettendo...

These first three months (a Very Long Story)

Little one is 3! Months, of course, but he has really grown up a lot since we first met him.

Rajiv was born on May 17th in Torino, Ospedale Mauriziano, at 2:29 AM. The first thing that S. told me after he was born was that he had his ears, as I had hoped. That made me quite happy. I only saw little one properly when he was brought back to us in his little baby bed wearing the red baby suit we had given. He had his eyes wide open and looked very aware and a bit intimidating. Of course he wasn't aware at all and he couldn't see a thing, but the impression was there anyway. He was also very cute, I didn't expect him to be so cute just after birth.

We were separated almost immediately and we met again at around 5:00, when the babies are usually brought back to the moms after the night. Giving birth is very disorienting and seeing your baby on a schedule doesn't make things easier at all, so I was looking forward to going home soon, so that we could get to know each other. Unfortunately Rajiv had high levels of bilirubin and had to stay in the hospital for a few days for phototherapy. It just means that the baby spends many hours exposed to a lamp, but it was quite unpleasant for me and S. because it meant that we could see our baby even less and we were getting very frustrated. So we were very happy and relieved when on the sixth day we were allowed to take him home.

The first day at home was marked by fruitless attempts to quench the thirst of the little monster, I mean, the little bundle of joy. I didn't have milk yet, so we were alternating attempts of feeding at the breast and larger and larger quantities of formula. Rajiv only slept for a few hours when we took him to see his grandparents and especially his aunt Francesca, who had not met him yet. She was surprised to see how small he was and showed him to Nero, Piccolina and Peppino, the cat formerly known as Kichu. When we returned home the little one resumed his expressions of discontent and cried until 3:00 AM. During this time his dad's favorite phrases where "He can't possibly still be hungry" and "I don't like this greedy side of his personality". But eventually it was over and we all slept until morning - one of only two times so far that I was able to sleep for five consecutive hours.

During the next days we practiced feeding at the breast, which proved to be harder than I had expected. Little one seemed to think the milk was going to come out from my elbow and it took every sort of tricks to get him to face the right direction. Still, within a few days we managed to stop giving formula supplements. At that point little one was eating every two or three hours at most, and usually more frequently during the night, but we got used to it and soon S. stopped waking up during the night so that he could be more rested and help during the day. In particular since the beginning he took over burping duties, which is a great help because our son needs to be burped almost constantly (Maybe beacuse he eats constantly? Uhm...). S. takes great pride in his burping skills, and likes to be known around the house as the Burper Supremo...

For the whole first month of his life little Rajiv couldn't bear to be put down to sleep on his own, so somebody had to hold him while he slept. At night I could only sleep if I managed to put him to sleep on my chest. When he wasn't sleeping he was usually eating or trying to eat or crying, at least until he started enjoying playing a little. The two things that saved our lives were a CD with womb-like (or factory-like, as you prefer to call it) sounds and the baby carrier. The CD would calm down Rajiv within seconds. Unfortunately the sounds are a little less pleasant for an adult ear, but fortunately we could reach a compromise playing the Rain On The Roof track of the CD, which is tolerable. However, for a really cranky baby there is no compromise and only factory sounds will work.

And the baby carrier. We tried it when Rajiv was about ten days old and he fell asleep in it instantaneously. Thanks to this wonderful discovery we were able to handle all the excess of bureaucracy that usually surrounds our lives. We could stay in line day after day at the passport office, at the health care office, at the visa office, the passport office again, and so on. We even went for half a day to Milano for the Indian Visa and Rajiv was amazingly well behaved.

(This is one of the pictures I took while trying to get a decent shot - mouth closed and eyes open - for Rajiv'e passport. The background is one of S.'s shirts spread on the bed.)

When he was two weeks old he started getting a bit more interested in small toys and we could put him down to look at toys hanging over him for a few minutes. He especially liked looking at a small mirror that is attached to his playmat and moving the mirror around. He also enjoyed his "tummy time" and was able to lift his head for a second very early. It seems that we have an athletic kid...

When Rajiv was almost one month old we moved to India. My mother came with us for the first couple of weeks to help while we were getting started with things. While she was here we also traveled to Calicut to spend some time with S.'s family and so Rajiv took his first long train trip. I kept him to sleep between me and the wall during the night, all wrapped up to fight the air-conditioning and it was not as bad an experience as I had expected - although the woman that was sharing the compartment with us must have thought it was pretty bad...

After this I started writing the blog, so you already know a bit of how little one's life developed until now. He is much bigger and taller of course, he lost part of the black hair he was born with, but some thinner brown hair is growing underneath. The jaundice has subsided and he has been generally healthy all this time, in spite of all the germs that his parents have spread around him. He doesn't try to eat from my elbow anymore: we have every sort of other small feeding problems, but he does know where the milk is now, because a few times he has attempted to lift my shirt when he was hungry. He smiles in the most charming way and seems to recognize us. The baby smile clearly carries a great evolutionary advantage, because it makes it impossible for the parents to donate the baby to the neighbours, as otherwise they might sometimes be tempted to do.