Nisarga

Author: vidyut

  • This is mom

    Nisarga just patted me when asked where is mom!!!

    I’d been playing this game mostly because he likes it. I ask “Where is Nisarga?” and he just loves the question and gives huge gummy grins. Then I ask “Where is mom?” and I get another huge grin. We can do this for hours and he will not get bored.

    There days, increasingly his grins are more and more huge for Nisarga and he waves his arms for Mom. Today, he patted me on my chest straight when asked “Where is mom?” WOW!!! I thought it was a fluke, so we did this a few more times, and he just grinned in delight for “Nisarga” and patted me a few more times for “Mom”. I guess this smart little guy knows who he is and who his mother is 😀

  • Introductory food

    At Nisarga’s last doctor visit, the pediatrician had recommended that we start giving him a taste of some other foods, like rice water and fruit juices, etc. The rice water was a big flop. Nisarga was much less than not impressed at all. However, the fruits were a different story.

    We began with a tiny piece of banana that I mashed up completely and mixed with breast milk to make very liquid. Gave a tiny taste. Eyes wide open, he carefully considered a taste and obviously approved, seeing as he took as much as I gave him. We did banana two more times, one of which was followed by an upset tummy, so we stopped, though I don’t think the tummy upset was because of the banana.

    I grated an apple very fine, and gave him that once. He enjoyed it, arms waving and wide grins.

    But the biggest hit so far is watermelon. Its crazy hot these days, and walking through the market, I saw watermelons and picked one up. Took one piece and crushed it in a strainer to collect a little less than half an ounce of juice. One taste and this baby was hooked. Lip smacking, coos of approval, mouth opening wide for more, demanding “aaagoo”s if I got late, laughing, babbling, the works, with limbs waving merrily. Okay, we like watermelon beyond anything we have tasted so far.

    When he’d finished the juice, he was nowhere near ready to stop, and kept pouting and crying for more. This is the first time this guy wanted something, but since it was his first time, I didn’t want to give too much. He wasn’t interested in breastmilk, and I had to distract him with a serious session of throwing him up and catching him to help him forget the fruit from paradise and come to a place where he could nurse to sleep for his nap 😀

    He’ll get more watermelon tomorrow for sure.

  • Its a new day

    Nisarga is in great spirits today. Laughing, talking with us and himself if we aren’t around, trying to get his feet to his mouth….

    Its a busy life for a busy little baby.

    We had our first bath in a bright inflatable tub I got from a friend, and Nisarga discovered that water can be splashed, and that it is all great fun. Unfortunately, since I was alone, I was not able to click pictures, but I will try and post some from our next bath. This little guy splashed furiously, and then grinned from ear to ear at what he was able to do.

    I am learning to see the little delights of life.

    When I had my bath after he was done, I splashed a little water too, and it was all great fun. It didn’t have a purpose, so I guess I didn’t do it anymore, but I find that the purpose of joy is good enough for me these days.

  • 6 months old

    Some of the best pictures to date.

    Today Nisarga turned six months. And what a wonderful day it was! The day went fairly well with a morning of play and the little man just didn’t want his nap today. After his Sadhanamavshi and Manjumavshi visited him, he went off to sleep. He slept for a solid four hours and woke up in the most amazing mood. Here are some pictures.

    These pictures are going to be how I remember him years from now.

    Playing infant

    infant listening

    These pictures are pretty much how he spends the days. The nights too…. till he absolutely can’t go on.

    This guy doesn’t like to sleep. My son.

  • Turning from front to back

    Finally, Nisarga has turned from his front to his back. He’s done it twice before, but that was more about him pushing with his legs and his bottom sticking in the air. He lost balance and toppled over.

    Today, the guy very deliberately raised his arm and kept swinging his body more and more and TURNED over. I put him back on his tummy, and there he went, rolling over again, and again.

    I had been worried about him not having any interest at all in rolling over, and when he finally did, he did it effortlessly! I guess he just didn’t need to or something.

    Wow. I called Raka over to see, and before he reached, this little wriggler was on his back already, so I put him on his tummy again, and he happily showed off for dad.

    Wow.

  • Feldenkrais for infants

    I had been worried somewhat about nisarga not being particularly interested in rolling over, reaching for toys, or anything physical. I wasn’t really worried, since he was happy, but I used to get these bouts when his massage woman put those worry trips on me. “Oh, he isn’t taking wieght on his legs, ask the doctor” “He isn’t rolling, trying to sit, ask the doctor” and so on.

    It wasn’t that he couldn’t, he doesn’t. He can suck his thumb, so he can bring his hands up, he chooses not to. Same with reaching for toys, or turning to his side. He turned from his front to his back around four months, and then nothing. Not once. That’s fine with me as long as its the two of us, but when I am with people who seem to “KNOW” how babies should be, their excessive advice and voices of doom can get me worried. What if I have missed some problem just because he looks happy and my instinct says he’s fine?

    In my search to see ways I could help him do these things, I ran into the Feldenkrais method. It clicked, because of its sensitive, non-invasive, non-manipulative, non-correcting approach. More than that, it seemed very similar to what I used to do with my horses to encourage their health and recovery from any physical problems. I knew that worked. Why wouldn’t it work for babies too? I went over to YouTube and downloaded as many videos as  I could.

    I contacted one of the practitioners who seemed to have done a lot of work with children, and asked for his assistance.

    His suggestion was so simple. Love and touch the guy a lot, and then touching him in a certain way – a kind f touch, not touch, touch, not touch pattern, all over his body.

    Been doing this for a couple of days, and the results are near miraculous.

    Little guy is much more active. Its like he’s discovering his body really fast. He’s started using his hands much more, trying to catch his feet, and what not. Its incredible.

    Will write more details later, but yes, if you know anyone with a child with physical problems, do tell them to try the Feldenkrais method rather than physical therapy and other potentially uncomfortable or invasive methods. If you are in India, contact me, and we can see what we can do together. I am not a teacher ,but hey, I’m a great student, and I can help you learn with what resources we have available here.

  • Old pictures of tummytime

    Nisarga on his tummy chasing his favourite toy.

    This little guy likes being on his tummy. Here are some pictures I found on my phone of him having a good time with his toy last month.
    Nisarga loves this rattle like toy

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  • Transformation

    I have learned living in a whole new way from my son.

    For a long time, I’d been wondering, where do I express this. The transformation is manifesting in my personal life, so it could go on my personal blog, the transformation is manifesting in my professional life, so it should go on my professional blog, and the source of the transformation is Nisarga, so it belongs here. As you see, I am here, sharing this.

    What is this transformation?

    Before Nisarga was born, I had committed to myself that I would not blindly do anything without understanding what I was up to.

    When he was born, I discovered that I pretty much knew nothing. Of course, it was my first child. What did I know? I started finding out. I discovered that if I was paying attention, I understood him very well. Life is simple. Smile is yes, frown is no, intent gaze is interest, show me more.

    I discovered that responses change, and what brought a smile usually, may not be liked at all at some time. It was a learning in constantly seeing with attention, being with caring. This is not as tedious as my description. It is fascinating to discover that like me, like any other person, this little guy is taking in the world around him, selecting what to pay attention to, and has his own opinions about it.

    Seeing how explanations don’t make sense to him, I learned to move away from them, and simply be with what is, however inexplicable, and discovered that it is. It doesn’t need explanations to be possible, because it already is. If he wants to nurse fifteen minutes after he was done, it doesn’t matter why. What matters is that he is hungry. The ‘Again?’ of surprise is irrelevant too. Living in the now means he needs me to nurse him. I don’ need to understand why, just do the needful. He has his own reasons, and no one else needs to know.

    With time, I became so used to this, that explanations are dissolving from my life leaving my mind free to really see the need without analyzing its validity with everyone. Relationships are unfurling from the haze of unnecessary judgments I didn’t even know I used to clutter myself with. I find myself listening, really listening, and the responses I get reflect the new freedom I haves started bringing with me.

    Life is different. Intimate. Rewarding.

    And I can see how a child gives birth to a parent. I’ll go ahead and say that it is silly to focus on teaching your child, when there is so much you can learn.

  • Nisarga's Bornahan

    We had a small bornahan ceremony for Nisarga today.

    For those who don’t know, a bornahan happens for small kids and they get showered with berries and other sweet things to eat. It is usually done some time after the 14th of Jan.baby talkLaughing baby

    The evening began quite well. Baby facesMy parents arrived nice and early and were able to spend a good fun hour with Nisarga before he got tired and wanted to sleep. Nisarga with hid great-grandmother

    So I put him to sleep. The rest of the guests were late, and we figured that my little man could have a nap by the time they arrived. This is when everything changed.

    Nisarga was fast asleep when everyone came, and I ended up changing him as he slept. He got really cranky, but nodded off back to sleep once I was done. The ceremony began with the baby fast asleep, and he woke up startled when the shower of sweet stuff happened. He took it bravely for a while, but soon had enough and wanted to go back to sleep but was too wound up. It didn’t help that I was wearing a sari and he found me strange like that.

    I changed to regular clothes, got baby out of his now sweaty, sticky clothes, we had a bath and finally called it a day. All in all, nice pics, and it wasn’t too bad, but not an experience I want to repeat.