Suddenly, after trying to train a new babysitter, our babysitter, Bhavna, has had a change of heart and she will continue as she has been! Wow!

We are dreading the start of the next week. We know that if the last year has been difficult then the year to come will be more so only several times over.

Here is our current routine.

1. I wake up around 6.00 am and get my tea ready and do my work or study until about 6:00 am.
2. Akshra wakes up around 6-6:15 and I take care of her for the next hour or so until the babysitter arrives at 7:30.
   
3. Puja wakes up around 6:30 and gets ready by 7:30 and leaves around 7:30. I warm up milk for her and toast some bread.
4. The babysitter takes Akshra around 7:30 and I get ready and leave by 8:20 or so.
5. The rest of the day we are both at work.
6. Puja comes back home at 6:15 and the babysitter leaves. The babysitter usually has rotis or parathas ready for her. She would cut vegetables and stuff as well as instructed by Puja. She would also have Akshra's dinner ready.
   
7. I come home around 7:00 pm. After that we play with her for a bit, try desperately to feed her, have our own dinner. This drama ends around 8:00 pm.
   
8. Akshra now watches a movie and/or we play with her until about 8:30.
9. We start winding her down around 8:30, change her and warm her milk around 8:45.
   
10. At which point we make her wish a good night to everything in the house, giver her the bottle of milk and put her to bed at 9:00 pm. That is the end of Akshra's day. Puja sleeps with her for at least 15 minutes (and sometimes doesn't wake up until morning)
    
11. We proceed to clean up he place and load the dishwasher.
    
12. We watch some TV, an odd half of a movie and are generally in bed by 10:30 or 11:00 pm.
13. Throughout the day, the babysitter, apart from taking care of the baby, does the following:
1. Baby's laundry
2. Our laundry, folding and stacking of clothes in our wardrobes
   
3. General clean-up of the house
4. Dishwasher emptying and loading
5. Gets groceries from Indian market
6. Cooks at least roti/parathas for us, sometimes even an entre
7. Garbage bags, Humidifiers, you name it
   

We pay the babysitter $450 a week. It is expensive but considering everything, it is probably a pretty good deal for us.

Now, the new option we are considering will put Akshra is a pseudo day-care. We will have to drop her at the tiny apartment of this woman who lives nearby not before 8:30 am. So, we now have to take care of her for an extra hour in the morning which eats into my time of getting ready. We also have to pick her up early at 5:30 or pay-by-the-hour if we cannot. We are still trying to figure out how we will be able to not only take care of the baby for longer but also do a load of extra stuff that the babysitter used to do. We are already struggling and our lives as we knew it are over and we barely have anytime for ourselves or for each other and our finances are strained and now we have to put in at least two more hours of work each day. Wow!

Who would every think of having a second child!

So the babysitter just decided to show up again yesterday. However, she was quite clear that this is her second-last week. We are still in a lurch but a little bit better off. Puja is not taking this whole thing well. She took the day off yesterday and is very sad and unsure. It is somewhat disappointing to see her this way. We need to face this relatively small challenge bravely. I expect a lot more turbulence in the times to come.

So the babysitter calls early yesterday morning telling me that she will not be able to come to work because she is very sick. OK, I decide to take the day off as it is not convenient for Puja. I have our usual Tea & Biscuit (or Chai-bikum as Akshu calls them) with her and then I play around with her a bit and give her a bit of breakfast with cereal and bread and so on.

Puja calls me and tells me that the babysitter called her at work and told her that she is quitting. She is very sick and has high BP and her husband does not want her to work and take the stress. She finds the job very stressful specially making Akshra eat really gets her BP high. (What a load of crap that last sentence.)

Anyway, so we are thrown in a complete panic. We did not have a backup plan and we have no idea what to do. Puja is in a state of complete and utter shock. We don't know what the heck to do. This is insane stuff. Out of the blue after working for us for almost an year she just decides to drop off like a fly.

Our firm belief is that she is making all this up because she really wants to start working for another woman who lives nearby. For some reason she had promised that woman that she will start work for her from January even though we had never agreed that we ere letting her go in January. We feel like she knows that she is with us only for a few months more at most. I mean we will certainly put Akshra in Day care starting September so she only has 6 months with us anyway. However, she knows that if the other woman find another babysitter then she might be out of a job in September.

We really are worried about what we are supposed to do with our daughter. Puja made some phone calls and there are is one lady we can drop our child to but that isn't very efficient. The daycare folks have no openings before April-May so we are kind of stuck not really knowing what to do.

We will continue to look for someone and take days off as needed in the meantime.

Akshra has figured out over this weekend to get down from beds and sofas. Initially she struggled because going down face-up seemed too strange and tough to her little self. However, with face-down on the bed or sofa, she can now very easily slide down on her stomach to the floor where she simply just lands softly on her feet and now that she can stand and walk it just feel natural to her. Pretty amazing.

Akshra walked and walked last night. It was a sight that we will probably never forget. It was like a little uncontrollable animal that was floating effortlessly from one place to another. The funnier part was of course that she was searching for Hanuman all this time. She kept saying 'Hanuman Kahan Gaye, Hauman Kahan Gaye...' and kept searching Hanuman in the corners and behind the sofas and by the TV. It was quite an incredible sight. We took pictures and videos but I am sure they will not capture the true tone of what was going on. It was one of the most joyful events in parenting so far. God Bless.

I saw it! She actually did walk! I could not believe it at first but as soon as I saw it -- it was suddenly so easy for her that it didn't seem such a big deal anymore. Oh, she looked adorable when she walked.

Of course, then I begged her to walk so that I could take some photos of her first few tentative steps and she just would not oblige. All my entreaties were discarded and the stubborn little devil would only crawl. Heart breaker!

This just in -- Akshra walked on her own today for the first time. Today she completes 17 months exactly!

I am so excited!

One more hurdle crossed and now on to other problems...walking!

Puja is very sick and has been since the weekend started. I've been scared for Akshu but she seems to be doing well so far. However, still no eating which is sort of driving me nuts. I am OK with her not wanting to eat but what kills me is more a philosophical question -- what could be more important for a kid than food? Why would anyone, when presented with easy food, not want to eat it? I thought it had to do with the fact that it (food) is so easily available but seems not to be the case. Even if we don't give her anything or cut down on her milk -- there isn't that dying urge to eat. Strange. Anyway, as long as she keeps healthy!