Lily Catarina

Lily (10.5 months old), despite being seldom mentioned on the blog to date, is very much with us, a gorgeous, sweet-natured presence. So that the little cherub doesn't feel left out (I'll do this for you too one day Lily - promise!), here is a special blog dedicated to Lily Catarina.

Since arriving in India, Lily has spent all of her time either ensconced in our brilliant new Ergo baby carrier (the king of the slings - see picture) when outside and when inside, burbling, snoozing, hurling herself off the bed in her attempts to become more mobile and pulling Maya's curls. She is in wonderful spirits and although a constant sheen of sweat always seems to cover her little face, the heat doesn't seem to be bothering her too much yet.

Lily is faring better than her big sister on the food front and in the past week, she has happily digested dosas, mild curries and curd. The other day we bought a blender so very slowly (but very surely!) I'm adding a little bit of spice to her food which she hasn't objected to.

I know I mentioned before that Lily doesn't like wearing her sunhat....well, naturally for the above photo she is wearing it, as if to tell you all that I'm fibbing. But honestly, I think this was the only occasion she agreed to wear it for more than 2 minutes! I plaster her with factor 50 and stay in the shade as much as possible, but there's not too much else I can do. I think her hair has already gone a bit lighter - if she keeps her hat rebellion up, she'll return from India a little blondie.

Something else to mention is that whenever we go to Andy's office, one or another of the ladies working there immediately whisks Lily away. This happens so quickly that she's normally too confused to cry and now seems quite happy to be spirited away, clucked and cooed over. I don't want to imply for a minute that Lily is not aware of her surroundings, but because she is so transportable and receptive to nearly all food and drink, this huge lifestyle change has had minimum impact on her life. Having said that, she really is becoming a liability in her attempts to crawl, slither and pull herself up on various things. I jested earlier about her falling off the bed, but actually, it was a nasty shock for her at the time and today the poor darling is sporting a slight black eye. However, she would be trying to move whether in India or England and the fact that our present apartment is about twice the size of our old pad in Godmanchester in terms of floor space can only be a good thing. But tomorrow we move into a little apartment with lots of hard floors so great for crawling practice but not so great for falling practice! I'll need to keep those eyes in the back of my head switched on...

To conclude with Lily's blog, she's happy, she's healthy (black eye aside) and she's embracing India with both of her chubby little arms.

An ode to books

A new version of 'Here we go round the mulberry bush', sung to the same tune:

This is the way we turn on the fan, turn on the fan, turn on the fan,
This is the way we turn on the fan on a hot and sticky morning!

This is the way we eat our chappatis, eat our chappatis etc
This is the way we eat our chappatis on a hot and sticky MOR - NIN!!

As sung by Maya


This morning we went to 'Crossword', a bookshop a little like Waterstones in that it is a chain and also has music, DVD's etc. A revelation has been to discover that every Sunday morning there is storytime for children. Maya loved going to this at the library in Huntingdon and here in Bangalore, the format is not dissimilar: stories, songs and then some kind of craft activity. The Indian version has an interesting twist though as after the songs, the children are then invited to come to the front and sing a song of their choice. It's like some mini talent contest with pint-sized little people belting out an off-key version of Humpty Dumpty. I was amazed at how confident they all were as there seemed no shortage of hands waving in the air. Perhaps performance is something encouraged in the nurseries and schools here. When Maya was asked if she'd like to come up she froze and peered behind her, feigning ignorance. (Good tactic, Maya. Think I would've done the same.)

Maya loves books. I mean, she absolutely adores them. I think 'book' was one of her first words. I'm sure it's no coincidence that her mummy is also a ravenous book worm, but I need to go on a mission to find and join a library here to satiate her passion. Before we came to India, I bought Maya a book called Elephant Dance (it's a barefoot book - for those of you with sprogs or if you ever want to buy good presents, these books for children are a-MA-zing. See www.barefoot-books.com). It's all about an Indian man who visits his family in England and tells his granchildren all about India, such as the sari-coloured rainbows, the sun which is ferocious as a tiger, the monsoon rains....Anyway, I'm so glad we spent time with this book before coming out here because, okay, Maya couldn't truly grasp how hot it was going to be or how spicy the food was going to be, but images and words are so powerful and evocative and she has been talking about the book a little since being here. Perhaps in her mind she is filtering some of the experiences she saw on paper to the reality she is now living?

'Elephant Dance' has also put me in something of a quandary however as the grandfather also tells his grandchildren about the Indian elephants. Maya keeps asking about these majestic creatures and I'm going to have to produce one soon for her otherwise she'll expose me as a fraud.

On another note, amidst all these experiences of new food, new clothes, the heat, storytime at bookshops and staring wide eyed at cows trundling proprietorially down the main roads, our first week has not been without tears and frustration. We mustn't forget that everything that Maya has ever known has suddenly gone and alright, I know she's only two, but she's still a very sensitive little girl who loves her routine and her belongings. There have been several occasions when something in her has snapped and she has become tearful and uncharacteristically agressive. We need to retain some of those things she held dear at home, such as cereal for breakfast, (yes, even if this means it's sweetened with ten tons of sugar - her poor little teeth!), cartoons on the laptop and games of hide and seek whilst gently introducing new sights, sounds and flavours.

Several times last night she padded into our bedroom, saying she needed her nose blown, or wanting to show us how she'd rolled the yoga mat up (thanks Maya, but is 3 am the best time for that?!) But in all seriousness though, the final time she came in she just wanted a cuddle. A plain and simple cuddle. I think she's going to be needing lots of those over the coming weeks.

Apple juice and Appams

As delighted as I am to be here, there are things that I worry about. Here are a few of my worries (in no particular order):

* That Lily refuses to wear her hat. It was 35 degrees today just to give you an idea.
* That Maya has developed a prickly heat rash on her legs.
* That Lily's nappies are often dry, despite trying to get her to drink as much as possible.
* That Maya hates having suncream applied.
* That the girls' diet since arriving has been...well...inadequate.

Speaking of food, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the above photo was taken in a posh restaurant in London. Nope, this is Bangalore (or Bengaluru if I'm being truly PC), a city of both fine dining and roadside street stalls. Andy treated us all today to a delicious meal at 'South Indies' as it was Karnatakan new year (curiously, each Indian state has its own new year). Here you can see Maya tucking into an appam, a lovely thick, bubbly pancake perfect for mopping up curries. But here's the problem...Maya isn't eating any curries. Since arriving, she has eaten an inordinate amount of chapatis, rotis, appams and the like but as far as a balanced diet goes, it's not happening.

Thankfully, and predictably, there is a plethora of delicious fruit which Maya has been tucking into so it's not all bad. But for a little girl who usually eats alot of vegetables, cheese, cereals etc, her options have changed drastically. It doesn't help that at the moment we only have a single flame gas cooker, but when we move into our apartment (next week) and rent a fridge, I'm hoping things will get easier.

As far as drinks go, Maya is enjoying the apple juice we bought in a carton at a supermarket she found. Similarly to chai, imagine a large cup full of sugar being emptied in to a carton of English apple juice and you're probably a quarter of the way to imagining how sweet it is - urgggggh. There's only so much water she's happy to drink so I need to just get over the sugar issue and encourage her to drink - whatever it is!

Maya's had a very up and down day today, but the good news is that we've found a little appartment (sadly we'll be saying g'bye to our present luxury!) and I'm keen for us to all move in, get our bearings and help Maya to feel more settled. Who knows, by the end of our six months, maybe she'll even try a little curry.

La Fashionista Mayita

I have always been amazed that my daughter, aged 2, is so particular about what she wears. She has always been like this and generally, I've had very little say about what she picks out each day. Now that we're in the Indian heat, Maya has suddenly been presented with a new, summer wardrobe and this has played havoc with the little fashionista's sensibilities. For a start, all her beloved tights and jumpers have inexplicably disappeared. And there's also the problem that she has far fewer clothes to choose from. This morning, we had a complete rigmarole before we could finally leave the house. She liked the look of a dress, put it on, posed in front of the mirror for a while but then I watched as her bottom lip puckered and she decided that she didn't like it. Off came the dress. So I suggested a skirt, but she only wanted the skirt she'd worn the previous two days (which was looking decidedly grubby). I relented, but then came the problem of what to wear with it. Everything I gave her was hurled across the bed and when I eventually pulled something over her curly head, by the time I'd finished changing Lily's nappy, she'd pulled it right down so it was now sitting on her hips like a second skirt. Hmmm....

Keen to get going at this point, but rather less keen that Maya should hit Bangalore wearing 2 skirts and a bare chest, I pulled a further summer dress over her head which she sullenly agreed to. Because of the ferocious sun, I was unhappy that it left her arms so bare and convinced her to wear a cotton, long sleeved shirt. By now, she'd grown quite attached to her two bottom skirts so in grand total she was now wearing a dress, a skirt, a top and a shirt. With her hair freshly washed from the night before and standing out on her head in unruly corkscrew curls, she looked quite a sight. But I was too weary to argue with her anymore, so that was that!

Maya's Abuela Paulina has very generously given us some money to buy the girls some new clothes so at some point over the next few days I'll try to take her shopping so madam can choose her own attire. My god, she's only two years old. What on earth will she be like when she's a teenager???!

Namaste Bangalore

We are here. We have made it. We are all still speaking to each other AND, quite amazingly, we are all in good spirits!
Just to rewind a little...

The plane journey was, well...long. Last time we were on a plane Maya decided to take all her clothes off and run up and down the aisle naked. Now I have no problem with this but I'm not the one running the show and I guess some people would be a bit shocked to see a two year old streaking past them in the middle of their plastic aeroplane meal. So we discouraged her to do this and this time only the socks, shoes and t-shirt were removed. We had hoped Maya might sleep a little as we were meant to be pretending it was night time (India is five and a half hours forward) but this was not to be for either her or her babbling, bouncing little sister, Lily. So yes, as I said, the journey was long. But thanks to the cartoon-spouting tv, an endless supply of snacks and a bag full of emergency books and games (thanks to those of you who contributed to this!), we touched down in Bangalore with our sanity (more or less!) in tact.

Incredible - walking out of the airport the smell of the humid, scented night air hit me instantly and brought back a tumult of memories from my last time here. Nowhere smells quite like India - the earth, the spices, the choking traffic, the jasmine and jacaranda blossoms, the mass of humanity... Maya was pulling along her little prince luggage case with admirable energy, despite it being almost midnight back at home. But once we got into the car (we were thankfully collected by Gopi, the office driver), the tears began because she didn't want to be strapped in. Eventually, Maya fell into a hot, exhausted sleep and we made it to our appartment (which is really very pleasant) where she passed out on the bed next to her daddy. I couldn't resist taking a photo of this. (See above)

The next day (or rather, the same day, just a little later), we went to the office where Maya and Lily were the recipients of much clucking, cheek pinching and gifts of lovely bangles. We also ate lunch there and Maya tried her first ever dosa (there's my girl) - a pancake type food made of rice and chickpeas, typical of South India. She also tried some coconut chutney which I was pleased to see. When the chai came round at the end (Indian tea is much milkier and sweeter than it's British cousin), we chuckled to see Maya asking for some too. She has never shown an interest in tea back at home . What is it about toddlers and their uncanny knack of sniffing out the sugar??! Needless to say, she loved her first ever chai as well and finished off every last drop!

Later on when Andy was doing some work, we went down to the park in front of our appartment. (It took some convincing that she didn't need her welly boots and coat!) This may not be similar or as child-friendly as the park back in Godmanchester BUT it is a park nonetheless (ie some open space) and this is a major bonus. There is a pagoda-type structure with shade, a paved circular path and a low, narrow wall which Maya enjoyed balancing along. We played hide and seek for a little (Maya's latest craze - there was nowhere to hide but this was beside the point) and then she walked around picking up the enormous leaves from the ground to 'take to daddy' (they really are huge - I must find out the name of the tree they come from). Maya laid them down on a bench under the pagoda where we were approached by a couple of kids. Sadly, our Kannada's not up to much (the local dialect) so communication was stilted but we stayed with them for a bit which was great until two things happened. Firstly, Maya wanted to take her shoes off like the kids. I wouldn't let her and she was not happy about this. Then, completely unwittingly, the little boy brushed her leaves off the bench so they fell off the ground. And that was it, poor Maya's distress and exhaustion finally got the better of her and she flung herself to the ground and wailed. I decided enough was enough and it was time to go back, but at this stage a nearby family decided they'd like to take Maya's photo and hurried over with their mobile phone extended (this being the 21st century) for a snap. I looked down at snotty, dust-covered, howling Maya and then back at the family in bewilderment - why on earth would someone want a photo of a child in this state?! No, this was definitely not the time nor the place for posing and I whisked my children back to the apartment.

After eventually going to bed, completely shattered, we were woken around half past midnight by Lily's cries after Maya had unzipped her travel tent, climbed in with her and zipped herself back up. Poor Lily! We extricated her from the tent but Maya clearly was not tired. Instead, she was pacing around the apartment in her nappy, vest and sunglasses singing nursery rhymes. I had to sit outside her room like a prison guard, telling her to lie down again each time I heard her start bouncing on the bed again and starting her musical repertoire. Quite amusing in hindsight!

She has been amazing though, dealing with this sudden change far better than I could ever have hoped. I know it's early days, but so far she has (tiredness aside) been in fantastic spirits. Long may it last.

Ready to go!

The last week has been an emotional whirlwind for Maya - she has had her final day of nursery, watched her bed being carried out of the front door and the contents of 13 St Ann's Lane slowly vanishing, been given food she's rarely given to finish up the contents of our cupboard, seen numerous friends, neighbours, family members and both sets of grandparents (which almost never happens).
Today, on our last day in England, she played happily outside in the deliciously warm spring sunshine and I even heard her say on the phone to her 'Auntie Nu-Nu' that she was going on a plane to India to see elephants and cows! Bless the gorgeous girl. She has very, very little concept of how dramatically her life is about to change. But then again, it's been a long time since I was last in India also...I think it may be a case of us helping each other. She was over-tired and over-excited this evening but eventually was coaxed to sleep after we found her wandering the corridors several times, inexplicably moving the potty around and stacking bath toys up on her bottom bunk.
I hope she will be alright. She will be alright if she has all her family around her. I hope you enjoy reading Maya's adventures and I hope you, my darling Maya, will one day enjoy reading this. xx