Exactly two months ago today...

NOVEMBER 20, 2006

I met my son Samedh for the very first time on November 20, 2006. The photos above were taken that day. The sunrise over the city of Thane represents a new beginning in a new chapter of our lives. The others were taken in the office at Bal Vikas, when we met Samedh for the first time as a family.

The following notes were taken from my journal from November 20:

Play Time Observations

Samedh played with Fisher Price plastic donuts along with the other kids. He would hold one and throw the second one. He crawled a little among the play mat. He seemed to like the plastic "popping train" toy we brought for him. Samedh sat among the kids and played alone. Pankaj sat next to him. Samedh was comfortable-looking in the company of other young children.

Social Observations

*Samedh sat on my lap while Dharmik, another little boy, sat nearby. Dharmik was trying to show Samedh the album we brought, but Samedh was not too interested.

*When we walked around the courtyard with Samedh, he was always looking back at the other kids playing to see what they were doing.

*Samedh cries whenever he is handed over to someone new, even if it's an ayah. After two minutes, he gets comfortable with who is holding him.

General Observations

*Every time he has to leave someone, he cries.

*Pankaj had Samedh standing with support. He has a firm grip on the floor with his bare feet.

*He has moderate chest congestion, which must be treated soon. You can feel the congestion when he breathes. He is not out of breath, however. He has a runny nose, which could be part of the cold. We will take him to the doctor this week.

*He has two top front teeth and two bottom front teeth. He drooled a little and sucked his thumb often. He may have even been chewing on his thumb.

*I put my finger in his mouth and he bit down lightly on it (like he was teething on it).

Notes from the Evening

When we got home after visiting Samedh, we learned that Mummy and Daddy had been quite busy while we were out. The workers came to finish the china cabinet on the balcony, and when Mummy passed through our bedroom, she encountered a horrible rotting smell from the air conditioning unit. She called the Watchman from the Garima B building and he and the carpenters opened the A/C and found a dead adult squirrel. They disposed of it and sanitized the rom to make the smell go away. The funny thing is, we couldn't get the A/C to work last night. It made a loud thumping noise and shook. That must have been the end of the squirrel...