In Which the Text And The Photos Are Totally Unrelated

This entry better not talk about my poop.

We keep track of Saavan's growth not only in the number of months that have passed since birth (7 and a half), but also by the "developmental milestones" he has reached. For example, Saavan now "talking." He says "da da" all the time, which of course means he's trying to say "daddy." (Neha thinks Saavan is just babbling randomly. I think SHE'S just babbling randomly.) He's almost crawling, though not quite. He can move around in a circle on his tummy. It's sort of like breakdancing, which is way cooler than crawling anyway.

Future dentist Kavi checks to make sure Saavan is flossing.

Though we pay close attention to these milestones, Neha and I have realized that we've forgotten tons of things about Saavan that used to preoccupy us to no end. Since they appear to be gone and not coming back, I thought it would be worthwhile to catalog them (remember, this blog is for posterity):

- For the first six months of his life, Saavan couldn't eat anything without spitting half of it back up. Which meant that his clothes (and ours) were always covered in stains and smelled like sour milk. It was bad enough that we considered putting him on Pepcid or some other anti-reflux medication. Then one day, Saavan drank a bottle and didn't spit it up at all. And that was pretty much the end of it. Obviously, this was great news, but it honestly made me little sad. Saavan is no longer barfing all over himself. Our little boy is growing up.

Saavan loves bulldogs.

- Saavan has been adorable since the day he was born, but I think it's alright to say at this point that he's more adorable now than he was in the first few days. Maybe even in the first few weeks. This is in large part because when Saavan was first born, he was covered in dry skin that had to peel off, and peachfuzz on his shoulders and forehead. It was actually pretty weird. Don't get me wrong - he was cute and totally kicked ass, but there was an even cuter and more ass-kicking baby underneath all that fuzzy hair dead skin. To expedite the process of getting the cuter baby out, we used to bathe Saavan with a brillo pad. Ha ha I'm totally kidding! (We used sandpaper.)

- When he was first born, we used to bathe Saavan on a small foam pad that sat next to our bathroom sink. Saavan didn't dislike baths, but he wasn't a huge fan. He would pretty much lie motionless on his back until we flipped him over. Now Saavan bathes in a kid-sized bathtub in which he screams and splashes around constantly. He has waterproof "bathing books" and an inflatable hippo that are fixtures in the tub. As you can see from this photo, Saavan digs his baths:


- Poop up the back. When I first started writing this post, I discussed this in great detail. But I grossed myself out. Let me just say this: in some ways, the poops up the back were awesome. And by "awesome," I mean "not at all awesome in any way."

- At about five months, Saavan discovered his voice. He'd been somewhat babbling and making cooing noises before then, but around five months Saavan realized that he was capable of being loud. And loud he was - Saavan would shriek constantly, beaming with pride at the loud noises he'd made, and the surprised looks he get in response (I mean, I'm assuming he was beaming at all this - he couldn't actually tell me). Given his propensity for screaming, trips to restaurants (rare as they were) were adventures. When we did eat out during Saavan's screaming phase, I'm pretty sure the other patrons thought we were pinching Saavan or poking him or something. (We weren't, I swear.) But one day, as with spitting up and pooping up the back, Saavan wasn't screaming any more. These days he's more apt to break into his "da da" chorus. Which for me, is WAY better.

Hey when are Uncle Mike and Aunt Joann going to get married?

And so it is, Saavan is doing something new and different every day. These new and different things are incredibly exciting, but they always replace something he was doing up to that point, and so it's a bit sad as well. With so much to focus on, we continually forget all of those actions that preoccupied us up to that point. And so to remind myself of the wondrous past, I pinch Saavan every now and then.