Today when we went out for a walk, Nisarga had already been suffering cabin fever at home (which is a normal state of being) and was desperate to go out. Once out, he was in a grand mood, excited and all. Met kids in the compound somewhat reluctantly – he wanted to be on the move.

On the road, he was happy, animated. Enjoying. When we passed a dosa stall, he almost fell off the pram as he turned to keep it in sight. I have started recognizing this – he does it with rickshaws too.

Dosas being made on a street food stall.

So I treated him to a dosa at that stall. Butter cheese dosa without chutney. Parked his pram on the street facing the traffic for entertainment, and squatted right next to it and we shared our first street food looking at cars come in.

Was good fun, if unorthodox – this squatting next to a pram, and talking with a kid and sharing a dosa, but I found it very charming. Good fun to do on an evening walk.

Good fun. Here is a pic of the dosa guy from another day.

Really like this dosa stall, because they make yummy dosas and are clean

At Nisarga’s last doctor visit, the pediatrician had recommended that we start giving him a taste of some other foods, like rice water and fruit juices, etc. The rice water was a big flop. Nisarga was much less than not impressed at all. However, the fruits were a different story.

We began with a tiny piece of banana that I mashed up completely and mixed with breast milk to make very liquid. Gave a tiny taste. Eyes wide open, he carefully considered a taste and obviously approved, seeing as he took as much as I gave him. We did banana two more times, one of which was followed by an upset tummy, so we stopped, though I don’t think the tummy upset was because of the banana.

I grated an apple very fine, and gave him that once. He enjoyed it, arms waving and wide grins.

But the biggest hit so far is watermelon. Its crazy hot these days, and walking through the market, I saw watermelons and picked one up. Took one piece and crushed it in a strainer to collect a little less than half an ounce of juice. One taste and this baby was hooked. Lip smacking, coos of approval, mouth opening wide for more, demanding “aaagoo”s if I got late, laughing, babbling, the works, with limbs waving merrily. Okay, we like watermelon beyond anything we have tasted so far.

When he’d finished the juice, he was nowhere near ready to stop, and kept pouting and crying for more. This is the first time this guy wanted something, but since it was his first time, I didn’t want to give too much. He wasn’t interested in breastmilk, and I had to distract him with a serious session of throwing him up and catching him to help him forget the fruit from paradise and come to a place where he could nurse to sleep for his nap

He’ll get more watermelon tomorrow for sure.