The warrior princess diaries - I

Some of you have asked me how baby Xena has been doing so I thought I'd update with a post every now and then.

• Xena has now reached the regular newborn baby weight. Thanks to the supplements she is taking, she looks healthy and chubby, and has started fitting into newborn clothes. She is on six different medicines/supplements at the moment.
  
  
• We have gone back to the hospital about four times since she came home, for her follow-ups. At the last visit, she met her neonatologist, physiotherapist and dietitian. Wow, check out the entourage. Sounds like she's some millionaire heiress eh? They were mostly happy with her progress, though there are still many more follow-up visits to come. She has her brain and spine scans scheduled in a month's time, and hopefully all will go well.
  
  
• She has recently started very sincere attempts to eat her right hand. Strangely, her physiotherapist was elated to see that. When I asked her why, she said that premature babies have trouble bringing their extremeties to the midline of their bodies. So the fact that Xena can bring her hand to her mouth is a good sign. So if you see a crazy mother telling her baby, "OK enough of the right hand, baby, now try to eat the left hand." that would be me.
  
  
• The trust issues she had as a premature baby who spent two months in the ICU are slowly resolving themselves. She is less startled when we touch her, and readily rests her head on our chests. She has also stopped sleeping with both her hands stretched out smack in front of her face (a defense mechanism in premature babies). Sometimes she does sleep in the Manoj Kumar pose though.
  
  
• Contrary to what they were saying when she was in the hospital, EVERYONE now says that she looks EXACTLY like Viv. She even has his characteristics, such as an unhealthy obsession with tomatoes. (We placed a fake one in front of her and you should have seen how excited she got.) Now I try to look for the tiniest of things she got from me. So far, I have got 1) chin, and 2) rate of growth of fingernails.
  
  
• It is hilarious when Viv turns her feeding bib around so it becomes a cape, and makes her 'fly' through the air. She does look like a miniature Superman then. He also likes to move her legs so it looks like she is running very fast, and then says, "This is Flash Gordon in slow motion."
  
  
• When Xena drinks milk, she likes to do a rowing action with her right hand. Viv calls it her 'right arm fast - delivery stride', whatever the heck that means.
  
  
• She loves her bathtime and has clearly indicated that she prefers her bathtub to her crib. I can't wait for the day she goes swimming with her mommy.
  
  
• She has started to make some sounds other than crying. Her first word was 'Agoo'. My friend Reghu thinks she was caling him. I actually agree. Her second word was 'Igoo' and her third was 'jing', which reminded me of the saying 'Duniya ka har teesra bacha Chinese hota hai.' Yesterday, she said her fourth word - 'hoey'. I think she was calling her Uncle Joey in Spanish.
  
  
• She really likes to look at the ceiling and walls for some reason. We may thrust our faces in front of her all day, but she will find a way to squirm and look past (our ugly mugs?) and gaze at the ceiling and walls. I think she will grow up to become an artist and is currently surveying her canvas?
  
  
• So far, she has only stepped out of the house to go to the hospital and the ICA. Recently, we took her for a short walk downstairs. While we were busy pointing out the trees, plants, flowers and butterflies to her, she was looking at - you guessed it - the sky!
  
  
• I believe she will never forgive Viv and me for the photo on her passport. She looks like a fat, unhappy boy in it.
  
  
• Her paternal grandmother (paati in tamil) is visiting us now. I crack some really bad jokes on that. For example, 'Xena is the life of the paati'. When I put Xena in mom-in-law's arms, I tell her that it's now 'paati time', and she is entering the 'paati zone'. Once, Xena and I were walking around looking for her and we couldn't find her. I started singing, "Where's the paati tonight?" I pity Xena for the jokes she is forced to listen to, both from her papa and mama.
  
  
• And finally, a picture (didn't think the bewdas would let me get away without one). Zillion thanks to Shub for taking this picture with her big fancy camera last night!