Baaaarisstttaaaa

Joy is truly a kid of this age....He is the true Gen Next. What does he like doing most.... ? Hanging out at a nearby Barista....

My mum finds the whole thing quite hilarious.... she cannot believe that I take Joy to a Barista to kill time.. on and off.. actually quite regularly....

We go very often... sometimes we are joined by friends.. some times by family .. but most of the time we go by our selves.. Just Joy and me... and if the husband can manage it.. he joins us as well....

Why do we go to Barista....? We go for a number of reasons...

1) Joy likes to go out...

2) Joy likes people...

3) The Baristas.. are not too crowded like the other coffee places.. like Cafe Coffee Day and Kosta Coffee....

4) I Like Barista..

5) They are the only place which has a High chair for lil kids..

6) They make an amazing Mango smoothie....which Joy loves...

7) In 45 degrees heat.... which sane mum would be caught outside with a lil baby... hence we seek refuge in a Barista.. which is Air conditioned...

8) The staff are nice and courteous.....

9) They give Joy freebies..

10) There is a very nice corner book store which lets Mummy read a book while... Joy is entertained by the young girls in the place or by the staff of Barista...

So !! Barista and Joy zindabad....

The other day Joy was spending the day at his D'shona's place .... so what does his Mamu do.... he takes everyone to the Barista... saying he wanted to hang out with his lil nephew... there... and also coz he thinks .. Joy is a total "chick magnet"...( his words not mine)....The husband will also vouch for this now.... cos the other day he too suddenly had lots of very cute girls coming up and chatting with him while he was carrying Joy around...

These are some pics.. of Joy and us at the Barista....

Joy with his D'shona and Mamu

Looking around

What should we order buddy?

The two of us

Joy in his high chair with the menu card

Matching....matching

I have heard of sons matching their clothes and mannerisms like their dads..... but have never heard of the other way around.....

Off late the husband has been doing just that....

Check out Joy and his Dad posing on our new antique couch .....don't miss the matching outfits... both father and son are wearing red Tshirts and dark blue jeans....yes ....the father... checked out his son's outfit and then went to check his own wardrobe to see if he had something similar...cute..na?

Here is another picture of them wearing similar clothes... both are wearing white vests and blue shorts.... look at them doing kaata-kooti.....adorable....

Summer time with cousins and friends

This summer has been quite bad...the weather has been pathetic....there has been no respite from the heat...despite a few showers on and off...


However, Joy is lucky to have spent his first summer ever with friends and cousins..who have been dropping in .... or to whose houses he has been visiting.....and has been having a blast....







Here is Joy..with his cousin... Sunaina didi..... She came visiting with her grandmom... my aunt and Joy and she played the whole afternoon.. and then we went to the park as well.... Look at her protecting her lil cousin brother.. so cute...

















































Then at the park... Joy also met up with his friend Leela... and then they all walked around the park and the two girls played ..while Joy watched....




















Joy...also was visited by his older cousin Meghna Didi..and Kunal dada... who came to spend the day... While Kunal Dada was busy watching the India -Bangladesh Match and on and off keeping an eye on Joy... Meghna Didi had a lot of fun.. rolling around on the floor with Joy and playing with his toys....

Tubby car

Lately Joy has started emptying out one of the tubs which holds his toys and then getting into it. He makes the maid drag him around the house as if it were his car.... he is such a funny kid... and goes Aaaaaaaa all the while.....

Yesterday , I found that not ony was he inside the tub....so were a few of his belongings....

The maid informed me that....."babu(she calls him that)...neeje ei shobh tub e dhukiyeche.." (apparently ..Joy had put these things inside the tub himself...and refused to budge unless they also made their journey in the tub around the house with him.) When I heard this .. I was quite amused.... these things were ... a pair of his shorts.. yellow ones...a yellow rattle...a yellow stuffed toy and a teether......yellow must have been the colour of the day.

The maid is quite happy to drag him around or push him around ..whichever is required.. coz it also permits her to finish her work and keep an eye on him... put him into it... and he still can't get out... though at the rate at which he is going.... it wont be long...

Then we will just have to find something else to keep him occupied with....so untill then....Joy and his Tubby car are all over the house...

Water baby!!!

After our two lil holidays we have realised that Joy is a water baby.... he loves the water....

From when he was a few days old... he loved being bathed... he would sit still in his bath chair.. while we bathed him....only deciding to slide his lil chubby legs off when he didn't like what we were doing.. which would usually be .. scrubbing behind his ears... or rubbing shampoo on his head....

Look at him enjoy the water..... when he was lil....

Joy being bathed by his Baba at 2.5 months

Joy sitting like a king in his bathing chair at 6 months

The first time we put him into a swimming pool... we did so with some apprehension... we weren't worried about the water being unclean ..or... that he might get a cold.... actually those thoughts didn't even come to my mind... I had to hear a lot from people later, saying that I shouldn't have taken the risk of putting him into a public pool ( it was the hotel pool ..but whatever!!!) at such a young age....

We were more worried .. that he would be scared and yell his lungs out.. and then never want to go into a pool after that.....but thank god.. he didn't do any of the above....

He loved the water... almost dived in.... and refused to come out....

Check him out in Surajgarh :

This was his first time in the pool

We found him to be a natural swimmer.... his legs moved automatically..... we even bought a set of arm floats for him....but they were a lil too big... hence we had to hold on to him....

My mum picked up the cutest pair of trunks for her grandson.... from Mumbai.... I haven't seen a baby look cuter before...

In Nalagarh.... he took one look at the pool and let out a WHoop!!!!of joy.... he was so thrilled... we put him in the water everyday..... his floats fit this time and he splashed around and teased both the lil girls who were in the pool with him.. show off!!!!

Joy in the water in Nalagarh

We plan to take him to the club so that he can swim and beat the heat..... but then also felt ..that he needn't wait till his parents took him to the pool... so we made the pool... ahem a paddle pool come to him.....

In his paddle pool

Now whenever he passes the paddle pool kept in his bathroom... he screams out in Joy... he is now usually seen dragging the maid towards his new found form of fun.....

When the husband heard how much of fun his son had in his lil paddle pool...I was called to keep everything ready.....he wanted to be there for his son's evening bath and playtime yesterday....
They looked so cute.. I was quite sure father and son would both get in to the paddle pool... but I think the husband realised ....he wouldn't fit into the pool ....whichever way and however much he tried....LOL.....

Baba and Joy at bath time

Look at my water baby......

A trip to Nalagarh

Some time in March I had written about this trip the husband, Joy and I had made to this heritage fort called Surajgarh.....and I had ended by saying that I was hoping we could do it more often..... well... We did....

We went to this heritage for called Nalagarh.....Its at the foothills of the Kangra Valley about 40 mins from Kalka....and this time we didn't go alone .. but with some other like minded friends and their lil babies...

On the 11th of April....Two other couples... close friends and us... along with three babies reached the New Delhi Railway Station at 7.40 am... to catch the Shatabdi Express looking forward to a much needed two day break. All of us had had a tiring time the past few months and wanted to unwind ...which also meant..no answering doorbells... giving maids instructions... no relatives and families to please... just us and yes our babies... so actually it wasn't going to be too much of a dream holiday.

The three of us on the train

Anyways... for two of the babies on the trip it was going to be the first time they were going to travel by train.... so more than them... we were excited and also a bit apprehensive.... Atleast I was.... It had been some time since I had been to the station let alone get into a train.... but ....The train was spic and span... and the waiters very very courteous...


The trip to Kalka was quite relaxing in itself....we were finally off.. for our holiday.... the train was on time... the kids were behaving themselves... in 5 hours we would be at our destination... it was bliss..





Upon reaching Kalka ...the 6 adults and 3 kids got into a Qualis and drove off for a 40 min drive to our heritage hotel.





Nalagarh was this place I had come across while trying to kill time when I was preggie... and I had it saved in a list I had made last year,.... After our Surajgarh trip I was just going through the list to see possible places to visit with babies and not to far away.....Nalagarh seemed like a good place to begin.

Early morning walk with Joy

Our friends.....two couples... one with a baby girl 6 days younger than Joy and and one with a 2 year old toddler.





The kids... enjoyed the pool and so did we... the food here was ok.. like home cooked... the service... courteous..and more than anything we were just let to be ourselves.. with no schedules to follow and no routines to go by..... we did what we wanted....( actually what our babies wanted)......ate, slept...swam..sat around and chatted.... the ones with a bit more energy played a few games of badminton... took a few walks... otherwise.... after dinner... we just sat and enjoyed our selves... we even tried a round of dumb charades.... which was fun....


Here are some pics... of the trip.....

Joy in the water...don't miss his new floats

Evening Chai

Leela and Joy bonding

The sunset from our terrace....the two of us pose.. while Joy looks on

5 years.....

Two days ago.....I don't knowwhat came to my mind..... but I just felt... it would be nice to get pampered.... so... I sent the husband an sms mentioning flowers and chocolates... knowing that he must have had a pained expression on his face when he read it... he is so not the flowers and chocolate type.... but I thought.... what's the harm in trying....

I honestly had forgotten about that sms.....

That evening ... when the door bell rang ...I was looking like a rag ...still in my kaftan and an apron .....we were going to have some surprise relatives stay over for dinner..I had been informed of their plans after the cook had been shooed off for the day saying ..."aaj kuch nahin banana hain" and I had sent over Joy and the maid to my mums for some peace and quiet...as well as a chance to make a few presentable things to put on the table...so I just about managed to open the door and sight that greeted me ... was someone I loved standing there holding on to a beautiful spray of the most pretty yellow carnations and a box of After Eights...my favourite.....with a silly smile on his face..... what more could cheer up a harrassed mom...on a stressfull day....

The husband had stopped on his way home from work and picked up my favourite flowers and chocolate for me... he called on his way home and checked where I was... and despite my telling him to pick up the baby and the maid on his way back came straight home to me.....

Now, I haven't had the time to check my mail or even go online in the past few days.... what with Joy getting a slight heat rash.... teething .....the weather making him cranky and trying to entertain him indoors and finding things to do when he looks at his stroller at 5.30 pm.....waiting to be taken to the park is quite tiring....hence despite my computer staring at me.... I wasn't online...

I read his blog today and read something he had written.....on the day he got me my flowers..... it had really been 5 years since we had first met......It had completely slipped my mind.... but apparently not his.....

I am glad I met him...I am glad my mum buldozed me into considering his family's proposal.....I am glad I married him..despite finding his name weird....I am glad we were able to give each other love and also the most precious gift of all.....

our Son....The Joy of our lives....