I had the day off today and I was finally above to take Akshra swimming today. Before that, we spent some time together in the morning and had breakfast. We watched 'The Jungle Book' and eat Oatmeal. It was a lot of fun. She rally likes the film. It is quite amazing how much she gets the film, the characters and so on. It was so much fun.

Then we went swimming and thankfully the water was warm. We spent about 30 minutes in the water which is quite a lot at her age. She is still quite afraid to be in the water. She would grab be my the neck with her hands and my belly with her legs and would not let go. It was great but also very funny. I would make her sit in her floatation device but that exposes her head above water and makes her cold.

We then went to get some coffee at Starbucks. We have this thing where I get a capuccino and she gets the foam on top! We spent a bunch of time at Town Square and I took a bunch of photos that came out good.

We came back home and I made her walk all the way first from the pool to Starbucks and from Starbucks to our home so that she could get tired and get some much needed sleep, for herself of course :-)

She slept after some struggle and looked beautiful while doing it.

Took Akshra to swimming yesterday and realized that on Thursdays children's hours end at 6.30. We were politely asked to leave. :-(. It was so sad for her. I try to reason with her that we will come back tomorrow and she seemed to be OK with it. I will certainly go today.

We went to the Elephant park after that and she had a ball there as she always does. She is now getting bolder and can play freely in the fountains and runs and also runs around wildly, screaming and just having a lot of fun. It is just such a complete expression of joy. It is so much fun to just look at her.

Left Akshra all day (8 to 9) with Bhavna for our rafting trip yesterday. Felt so guilty after that. Bhavna takes good care of her but it still felt quite terrible.

At 5am today I woke up by the sound of Akshra singing the Saawaria song. Doli main bithake, Zamane se Chura ke le jayege.... She was probably asleep but probably a bit awake as well.

Akshra has been growing thinner by the day or rather just not gaining weight enough. She seems to eat enough but she just seems lighter and lighter. She is also very cranky and overly demanding. Not sure if that is just a part of growing up or a result of not eating enough.

It is also becoming harder and harder to deal with her. We are never sure whether to scold her to lovingly explain to her. Nothing seems to work. She has a mind of her own and does only what she seems right. They tell us it is a phase and we sure hope it is.

Akshra is eating butter these days. Well, she's been eating butter on bread for a long time now but since yesterday she has been eating plain butter. I give it to her and she asks for more. She calls it 'cheese' which makes a lot of sense. She has been eating plain cheese for a while and now when I offer her cheese, she goes...'Nahi, vo vala cheese' [not this, I want that cheese (aka butter).]

She is such a sharp kid.

Akshra had a very tough day yesterday. Seems like she is teething and does not want to eat anything. She cried a lot last night and could not sleep easily. Hopefully she feels better that day.

We went to a birthday party yesterday in the gazebo at East Hampton nearby. Saachi turned two years and was looking very pretty. Akshra was a her usual self at parties: aloof and a bit irritable. Not sure what happens to her but she is quite asocial at these events. Sort of like me. Hopefully she gets out of it.

We also, probably for the first time, saw a lot of kids that seemed about her age and she looked a bit smaller than all of them. It started to worry Puja that our daughter is going to turn out to be a 'shorty'. Well, if that is her only problem in life then how can we complain?

There were many parents who knew Akshu because they've seen her in the park where she plays during the day but those parents did not know us. It was strange to see strangers wishing Akshu although they were not strangers at all. Many of these folks came to us and told us how well Akshra speaks. They are so impressed and surprised that she speaks so well and so clearly at the tender age of 20 months they tell us. We bask in that reflected glory not really knowing what to say.