Here's the scoop ...Part II

.. Continued from here.

Vansh, on the other hand, was much more reserved. Left alone he was shy; if someone tried to come too close too soon he got mad and screamed. He picked up some new Hindi phrases, obviously from what he heard us speak, a classic example of what happens when a child is labeled and himself pronounced "Vansh sharma raha hai" (Vansh is feeling shy) when we encouraged him to say hello or talk to someone. Slowly he kept getting attached to family members he got comfortable with - both his grand-dads - Nana and Dada and Big dada - that's Ashwini's big chacha, who took him out of the house 3-4 times a day, let him sit on the driving seat of the car for as long as he wanted to, one of my cousins - Chinki mama for him who let him play games on the computer and check out the horn and indicators on his bike and a couple of Ashwini's cousins for reasons varying from buying chocolates to taking on long walks and he liked to stay close to these very people when there was a big gathering. All in all it was certainly a huge change for him and being at the age that he is, he took comfort in the company of people he felt secure with.
What was funny as well as heartening to see was that once he did get attached, he was so very nice with them. For instance, he would hold Big dada's hand accompanied by a super cute look on his face, request him in the most innocent tone ever, one that couldn't be turned down at any cost, "Green car mein ja rahe hain?" (Are we going in the green car?), like I said it was more of a nicely worded demand than a question :) He also demanded being fed and getting his teeth brushed and being given a bath by either his dada or nana depending on wherever he was. They were more then happy to oblige.
He was clearly bent towards becoming more attached to the male members of the family. My mother had to actually catch hold of him and give him a tight squeeze before he would concur and then giggle away gleefully.
One thing that was beyond him was why on earth couldn't Nana, Nani and Dada, Dadi and Chacha (set of maternal and paternal grandparents and uncle respectively) stay together at one place. Why did at least one of the two have to go a different way? He tried his best to avoid that by saying things like "Vansh dada ke saath nana ki car mein jayega." (I want to go with dada in nana's car) and left everyone heavy hearted by crying so much when it was time in deed to bid good bye to one of them. We had to lie to him a couple of times, as much as we hated it, about the possibility of his friends meeting us at India Gate, a place he developed a great liking for. We passed it on numerous occasions because its on the way to Ashwini's parents' house and even stopped by on several. He would ask us when we reached India Gate about his friends, but was usually so mesmerized by its grandeur that he wouldn't really mind they not being there.

Well thats what in my head about the kids and their trip. A quick update on the kids' physicals - Vansh's 3 year and Jiya's 9 month after we came back. Among other things, Vansh, at 32 lbs, was after all in the 50th percentile for his weight. Our reaction - he is??? what with taking hours to finish his meals, not to mention the unparalleled effort on the part of the person feeding him. Jiya, at 15lb 5 oz, was in the 3rd!!! Our reaction - we expected the figures to be the other way round!! The pediatrician said that considering her great physical activity (she kept crawling round and round the room in her diaper ...) and her vocal skills (... saying mamma, papa, ba ba and so on), it didn't really concern him. Its just that her bone structure is little and no amount of (over) feeding her can change that. I am glad he said that and I promise to listen to him this time. I say this because on Vansh's 18 month well child visit, when for the first time his weight had been in the 15th percentile I had freaked out, asked the ped 6 times in a period of 30 minutes if that meant I needed to feed him more and despite his telling me "Do not pick that battle with your child", I had gone ahead and done exactly that! And had lost it (the battle) many many times ever since. One thing though I did ask the pediatrician this time was how much milk a three year old ought to be drinking and he said even 12 oz was enough. Vansh was having about 20 oz of milk plus 4-8 oz of yogurt in a day. I have now cut it down to 15 oz plus about 4 oz (at times some more) yogurt and that seems to have made a difference in his appetite.