Catching Up

I feel a bit disconnected from the blog - it feels like a long time since I posted regularly. Looking back at the posts from our trip to the States, it seems like all of the facts were covered, but that there was so much more. I will try to be better about more regular updates. That being said, we leave tomorrow for a four day trip to Rajasthan to spend 2 days at a tiger preserve and 2 days in Jaipur...

Luis is growing everyday. He's almost walking now; he can take up to about 10 steps at a time. He's not completely convinced that walking is better than crawling, but he seems to be willing to give it a try. He still loves to play with the broom. And Pavarti is still very sweet to humor him with it when she comes. Everyday. Here, Luis takes the broom for a stroll - one of his longest single walks yet. I still can't quite imagine Luis as a walking boy. I can only see him as the crawling guy he is now. The other big new thing is how vocal he is. Luis doesn't have any actual words yet; at least not words that anyone understands. But he seems to have his own language and he's very proficient in it. He has a running commentary going on most of his day. He just babbles and coos and giggles and goes on and on. It's fun to listen to. Though, I'm a bit nervous about what life will be like once he actually masters words...

He's also getting better at climbing. Yesterday, he figured out how to climb up onto the divan by himself (previously, he always needed a boost up). This picture actually captures the first time he made it up. Now, he tries to climb onto everything. And once he's up on the sofa or a chair, he tries to climb up the back of it to get to the top. I don't think he's thought about climbing out of the crib yet, but that may only be a matter of time.
I'm guessing that he's a bit taller too. Now, he can easily reach the things that are on the kitchen counter. Yesterday morning, he reached up, grabbed the handle of my coffee cup, pulled it down, examined the contents and then poured it all over the floor. All in about 10 seconds. This new ability is definitely going to require a new level of vigilance around here. We hand wash all of our dishes, and tend to let them dry on a towel on the counter. We'll all have to be more careful about pushing back the edge of the towel. I don't like the idea of Luis grabbing hold of the towel and pulling an entire "load" of dishes onto his head.


Diego took Luis down to play on the slide in our little yard, while I threw the frisbee for Ashely. Let's just say that EVERYONE had a good time. We tried Luis on the swings, too. I think he liked it - but he doesn't quite realize that he needs to hold on (it's more of a big-kid swing than a little-kid swing). All things in good time, I suppose. There is a nice playground at Joggers Park with swings, slides, climbing things and things to ride on. Once Luis gets a bit better at walking, I plan to take him there more to play. But for now, I'm not too excited about Luis crawling around there and putting everything he counters, including his fingers, in his mouth...








I was curious about how much of our Mumbai life Luis would remember. How would he react when he saw Pauline, Pavarti, Shabina, Babu - his Mumbai friends? I got my answer the moment we walked through the door. He was super, super, super, super excited to be home, to see his room & crib & toys. The next day, he was beside himself to see Pauline, Shabina & Pavarti. We went for a walk on the Promenade on Wednesday morning and he was excited to see those sights as well. I was a little amazed that a one year old kid could be so homesick. Though, I should add, that as we got closer and closer to Mumbai (on the plane), I got more and more excited to be home - to see MY room & bed & toys. And Diego. It was great to see him. He very sweetly had a porter and the terminal manager meet Mom, Luis and I the instant we stepped off the plane. Ahhh, the advantages to being married to a muckety-muck airport guy! :)