Shagun, My Sweeheart...

I have always had this fascination for babies.. I love them....their innocence...their tiny cute hands..their beautiful eyes...the sweet face like God...

I have always loved babies ....holding them in my arms...pacifying them when they cry, making them laugh, and watching them grow from babies to toddlers and so on...

I don't know why, but kids don't stay in my arms for long..sometimes they start crying, may be because they are too small to understand that they are actually in safe hands no matter how hard I try making them realize that....But no, they only want to be in their Mommy Dearest's arms...

I don't even mind if babies pee or poop or vomit on me...I feel myself sooo lucky :D

The first baby I handled successfully for a long time was my little sister, Tillu. I was seven years old when she had come to our family as a little bundle of joy... I will share more memories of our childhood with you in the upcoming posts...

So, I actually wanted to tell you all about the bond that Shagun shares with our  family. The little angel with an innocent face, bright eyes, curly hair, super-chubby cheeks is the baby who lives next door.

I also call her 'Shaggy', 'Shaggu', 'Golu-Molu'... And have lots of pics of her to share with you..

When the angel had just arrived!

She was 7 months old when Shagun's family, i.e., she, and her Mom & Dad moved into the adjacent flat.

Shaggy with her Grandma..

When I first saw her, she was so tiny and chubby. It was instant love! 

She was a silent baby, who rarely cried, always smiled. Once her mom left her with us for an hour, so she could set her house right. Then gradually an hour turned into hours in the coming weeks. I realized Shaggy liked being with us. She loved to be with me, sleeping in my arms while resting her head on my shoulder. Playing with me. Eating tiny crushed grains of plain rice. She gave me intense pleasure. I loved her so much, and I still do.

Miss Grumpy Swami! ;p

Soon she was the part of our family. She loved sitting and bouncing on my Dad's lap, clinging to my Mom's dress urging her to pick her up in her arms, tearing pages from my books, putting everything she laid her hands on in her mouth and we preventing her to do that... Evening used to be fun. She has turned from a quiet baby into a mischievous toddler.

Her laughter makes flowers bloom in my heart, the touch of her tiny hands on my face soothes me...

Kya attitude hai!

Shaggy started getting teeth when she was nine months old. She might be having a really bad itch, because of which she used to chew on whatever she found, tomato, raw potato, carrot, notebook, and even the mouse pad!

Baby ke paas 6 daant hain...
Tumhare pass kya hai?
HAIIIN?

Two months later she had started walking! But she often felt shaky and felt down like a Thuddd! It was the beginning yet... Soon she perfected walking in one month and could walk by herself.

Oh God! She is such a Toofaan Mail now. Keeps on running helter-skelter and bumping into objects, and making us run after her. Ufff! It felt like I ran a Marathon!

Isn't it Whacky??!!

And I was surprised to see her join hands and bow her head in front of God, and say Jai-Jai! And then she would take some vermilion on her fingers and put it on our forehead! Now how divine is that!

Shaggu is an inquisitive baby. She pick up things, turns them right round, upside down, inside out and if she can't open anything, she would simply come to anyone of us and give that thing in our hand and say 'Kholo' (Open it up)

Shagun doing Jai-Jai!

Shaggy turned one year old on 2nd December last year.It was a moment of joy!

Shagun with her Dad & Mom on her first birthday..

I miss her....staying away for a couple of weeks me gives me such a stabbing pain. :(

Thanks to cell phones! I can atleast hear her talk in the gibberish  way. She has picked on many a words....Paapa, Mamma, Aunty, Uncle, Didi, Tillu, Apple, Aloo, Totti (that's for Roti), Maandu (that's for my name, Manju) Its so good to hear her call my name in her sweet voice... It makes me cry out of joy!

Shaggu: "Ain't I a cool baby? Yo!

Now that I'm away from home, it makes her really happy seeing me on weekends. Once she happened to be sitting on the couch in my home when I had arrived. She let out a happy shriek when she saw me. She crawled down the couch and came running at the door. I threw away my back-pack and picked her up in my arm...Oh...It felt like I was holding all the happiness of the world in my arms. I hugged her tightly and kissed her plump cheeks. She too put her tiny arms around my neck and hugged me tight. She was then patting the back of my shoulder...and bouncing with joy! She licked my cheek when I indicated her to kiss me....Oh! That was the best kiss ever....!!!

She then pointed towards my portrait that hung on the wall of the drawing room and pointed back to me and said 'Maandu Didi'! Awwwwwwww...that was the first time she called my name! Thanks to my Mom, for training her.

Shagun's Maandu Didi.

All my tiredness because of the journey back home faded away... I played and danced on the latest Bollywood numbers with my little angel till the night...

Shaggu's patent dance, Balle Balle!!!

Feeding her khichdi & mashed potato with my hands was feeling so good... She sat on my lap, having tiny morsels of her favorite food and sips of water with my hand and making happy faces telling me how much she is enjoying the meal.... It was sheer pleasure...

After  dinner, my darling wanted to sleep... So I gave her back to her Mom and kissed my baby goodbye and promised her to meet in the morning...

Its a beautiful feeling seeing a child grow...knowing that s/he loves you so much... and you just long to be with each other all the time... Our bond we share with Shagun is deeper than the blood ties...its beyond comprehension how I feel having her in my life...

As I had mentioned in my previous post that I would be going home on the coming Saturday, I would be meeting Shaggy and have same old fun with her! Yay Yay!

I feel so empty when I'm not with her.. My home feels so hollow when she doesn't visit..

She fills my home with happiness, with her love, and her playful shrieks, & chummoo (kisses)....

We are so happy to have her with us....

May God bless Shagun with all the happiness and virtues...

P.S.- Shagun once called me 'Daadi' (Grandma). That was when her Dad & Mom told her to do so!

I call them 'Uncle' & 'Aunty' inspite of they being elder to me by just 8 & 5 years respectively.

So they justified it that Shaggy is straight 20 years younger to me! So, I must be called Daadi, and not Didi!

What a revenge! :p