Mouli

I first met Mouli when she was eight months old. The door opened and I saw an adorable little child sitting on the floor engrossed with something. As I walked to her, knelt down and said "Mouuuuliiiii!", her face froze in an expression of alarm, a few quick frowns appeared, and then she turned into :-( as she looked around for her mamma. She bawled, we were strangers after all and had intruded her familiar world. It took a while to get acquainted. She was a delight from the moment I saw her, making her way with single minded determination to plates, glasses, cutlery, cans, bottles, anything other than her toys, that the bunch of grown-ups was using and she wasn't allowed. Her favorite act was slipping under the low table, lying on her tummy with eyes glued to TV, fascinated...Charu would fret about the effect of TV on her eyes on finding her there! We've spent many weekends with Mouli since then. Every weekend she would have learned something new. She is slowly becoming an individual now. With definite likes and dislikes. She likes certain kind of food only...Likes to have it herself...Preferably sitting or standing...Not in mamma's lap. She's also learnt to seal her lips and refuse eating what mamma thinks is healthy if it doesn't appeal her palette. There's a clear distinction between "I like this :)" and "This is yuck :|" these days. With all her effort she has learnt to climb the table, where earlier she would just circle around it trying to reach out for those interesting taboo things grown-ups eat and drink. She communicates with new sounds and expressions now, gives the most delightful smile from time to time and enjoys the adoring attention she draws from all of us. Everything goes in her mouth these days, from tissue paper to remote batteries. She loves pulling out CD's from the TV stand and tossing them around(thank god for the CD covers!). She loves cell phones. She loves pulling off the power chord of the laptop and then looking around for reaction.

She'll be an year old next month. It's amazing to see children grow. It's amazing to see how quickly they learn to emulate us. :)