Lily gets attitude

From the pictures, this may look like a cherubic, blue-eyed babe with not a grumpy bone in her chubby little body. Do NOT let her kid you. Lily has, since my last posting about her, got feisty. In a big way. Here are a couple of examples:

- When we went to the park last week, a group of elderly ladies gathered around Lily, all cooing and clucking over her. (She has often been likened to a Barbie doll but yeeeeuuk I say to that.) Lily put on her best 'I am not impressed face (she has honed this to perfection: brows knitted and lowered and bottom lip puckered.) One of the ladies then made the mistake of trying to stroke her cheek and the sound that came out of Lily can only be described as a snarl. And this was accompanied by her little fist swiping out in much the same way that a cat does with their claw if they are irritated. The elderly ladies all sprang back in surprise with their arms outstretched in surrender pose and expressions reading Whoaaa! Calm down, now! We won't come near you again - promise! So yes, Lily is asserting her independence and clause no.23 in Lily's Personal Human Rights declaration reads 'The right to not have my space invaded. Even if it's an old lady who just wants to stroke my cheek. My cheek is not public property thank you very much.'

- When I am tap-tapping away in the morning, doing my writing and Lily is being looked after by Deepa, I often hear little outbursts coming from next door. There is quite a lot of screaming and protesting going on, but I have learnt now that this is normally not as a result of having a nasty fall or hurting herself, it's more likely to be because Deepa does something that Lily doesnt like eg take a pen out of her hand that she's trying to stab herself with or take the packet of cumin powder from her hands that Lily is trying to douse herself with. This little lady just does not like being told 'no'. Ok, it's no different from any other child her age, I'm sure, but it seems that in the blink of an eye, Lily went from the most laid-back little girl imaginable to a feisty madam! Deepa is pretty much unflappable, but often when I come out of my room to relieve her, she laughs despairingly that Lily is a changed baby from the one she first started looking after or, in Deepa's words, 'she's a naughty girl now.'

Speaking of Deepa, you can see from pictures one and two that Lily has a dab of red powder on her forehead. Whilst I am writing and Maya is at school, aswell as being chased round the apartment by an uncomplaining ayah, Lily is also attending the Deepa beauty parlour. Several times, Lily has been returned to me with her hair slicked sleekly into hair clips and bunches with coconut oil, her finger and toe nails painted pink and be-decked with every imaginable bangle, anklet and neclace. She is a sight to behold.

As for walking, because she's been crawling for a long time now, I thought she'd want to get going on her legs. But she feels safer closer to the ground and does plenty of finger walking with us. She is barely holding on and when we try and put something else in her finger that might feel like a finger (?!) she will not be fooled and instantly howls. I suppose one of those baby walker's would help but because we've got less than 2 months left here (I know, where has the time gone??), I'm loath to buy one.

Having commented how feisty Lily now is, I have to complete this by saying that she is also truly adorable - fun loving, very very cheeky and brave (she hurls herself down slides with wild abandon without a second thought) and also very funny. When we get home and leave our shoes by the door, she takes them, one by one to the cupboard and arranges them neatly in there as if to say come on people, stop being so slovenly! She also seeks out her pink sunhat whenever we're at home because she likes to have it on at all times, even when she's as naked as the day she was born. Lily loves water, music, hiding from us and playing peekaboo, food, going for walks in the sling and being thrown up and down in the air to Maya's favourite 'jumping song' (see last weeks blog). I think we're going to have to watch this one... feisty she may be, but she is also a squidgy little bundle of pure fun and delight.