Lovely Lily

Yes, Lily is still with us. I know that sometimes her voice gets a little lost within all these tales of adventuring Maya, but isn't this always the case - that the second child has to shout louder to get heard??

Before I get on to Lily, since my last birthday blog, the excitement was clearly all too much for both Maya and myself: poor Maya must have devoured too much chocolate cake and it all reappeared during the night. Her cocoa hangover continued the following day and she was pretty glum, sensitive and exhausted. As for her mama, I finally succumbed to my first bout of Bangalore belly and spent the entire day in bed (I honestly can't remember the last time I did that), Deepa looking after Lily in the morning and Andy coming to my rescue in the afternoon. Thankfully, it seems to have been a 24 hour belly bug and am loving the curries once again today.

And so...our lovely Lily. Where to begin? She's turning into quite the little character. Here are a few things she loves doing:

* Climbing as far into the cupboard as she can go and making a little den back there
* Chewing away at any shoes she can get hold of (She must have been a faithful dog in her previous life)
* Munching crayons
* Antagonising her big sister. Seriously, she gives as good as she gets. If Maya annoys her, she goes in for the kill and bites her very hard. And a bite from a teething baby is painful, believe you me.
* When we come to a standstill in trafiic, flirting with nearby motorcyclists and car drivers from inside the rickshaw and making them all smile. She beams at everyone and even smacks her lips at the lucky ones.
* Dancing. As soon as any music comes on, if she's sitting down she sways so vigorously from side to side that she nearly topples over and if she's standing up holding on to something, she bounces her little chubby legs up and down like a proper diva.
* Eating. Lily luuuuurves her food and every single meal time eats twice as much as her big sister. (Though I've discovered one - just one food she won't eat and that's my home-made hummous - hurrumph!!)
* Walking, which she's not far off doing. She now monkey walks around just holding on to one of our fingers. I just hope I'm there to see her first steps (I wasn't with Maya!)

Lily has also picked up a few 'Indianisms' from Deepa. Here's my favourite: Many people here, rather than saying 'yes', incline their heads upwards slightly and say 'uh', which actually sounds close to a grunt. I know that 'uh' is easier to say than 'yes', but it's priceless to hear her say that in the exact same way as Deepa.

Apart from her painful teeth (for which homeopathy BC21 is working a treat), Lily has been a very happy, very healthy little girl, the healthiest of us all in fact. She's changing so quickly, as you can see from the photos and I just can't wait to get to know her better. As I promised a few months ago, Lily - I promise I'll do a Lily blog one day and then you can take the centre stage. In the meantime, continue being the smiling, singing, dancing, gorgeous little girl you are. And please don't grow up too fast.