Thumb Sucking - Devagya's time pass..

Right from first month , devagya was keen in sucking his thumb like other children...However, with time it is increasing ...by third month - it is quite clear, evident and Devgya is little stubborn now with thumb....

He wants his thumb in his mouth...if you remove it...he yells like anything...gets angry ...cries....! Fuh...But interestingly if you are entertaining him...talking to him...he himself removes his thumb...! So, it looks like he wants thumb when he feels lonely ...or has nothing else to engage with ....

He often falls to sleep when while sucking his thumb...we allow it...infact often it is a relief ! Her mother will now give his thumb into his mouth if he is cranky or not sleeping...though she does it rarely...as last resort...!

A lot of views came about thumb sucking...some say stop it...discourage it ! Thumb will become thin...teeth will become bad...what all....But what I feel is that child knows best what he wants...so let him do as he pleases....! at worst...a thin thumb or slightly skewed teeth are much better than an unhappy childhood....! We believe that it is natural and with time he will automatically leave it...as it has happened to many...including his sister Dhiyara....!

Reaching out .....begins

Just close to completion of 3 months...a new sign is seen....Devagya is now using one hand (right one...) to reach out to things...! Though the fist is closed and he still cannot catch..but it appears like he's trying to touch something....! He swings his hand repetedly towards one things...! It could be a colorful cloth...face of his mother....moustache of his father , nose of grandfather...earrings of grandmother....! Slowly now ,the other hand is also becoming active...but right had still moves far more than left...! 

First words...

Alright....so just around 2 months and few days and here comes first few "writeable" words from Devagya....


अक्खीं  ......

he says this word so often...with a prolonged "khinnnnn" sound made from his throat ....little bit how we gargle....often with a smile...


Soon after few weeks...he also started saying...Anga.... and many more words that we can spell....like Okay....Haaa.......iiiiiiyaaaa.....only he knows that he says....we can only interpret them from our own little knowledge of language...

The Journey Before the Journey began !

It is as untrue as it can be to say that child begins learning from the moment he is born ! It appears like he learns a lot , a lot before ! May be in womb, may be even earlier ! We as human beings have very little knowledge on this subject. As per a Hindu saint we met - he claimed - what the child learns in 9 months in womb is far more than what he will learn in 90 years in the world.

Ofcourse - information , worldly skills are more evidently learnt after coming in world but as far as his tendencies ,subconcious behavior , behavior , inner state is considered , he claims that it is more influenced by the 9 months in womb. Hence the entire concept of "Garbh Sanskar" in Vedic culture.

We don't know the truth. However ,we did believe that child is a soul in journey. It has a past and a future - beyond what we  will see of him/her in present life. Hence, it does makes sense to work on Garbh Sanskar ! Well, we did not want to overdo it but just ensure those 9 months are pleasant for mother, father , entire family and hence hope that it'll be pleasant for the child inside. So that's what we did ...

Some of the things we did were -

1.) Agnihotra  : We (me and priyamvada) - practiced agnihotra almost regularly for 9 months at sunrise and sunset.
2.) Live closer to nature :  We tried to spend most of the time in farm, village - country side. We shifted to city - Bhopal only in last trimester.
3.) Eat natural - organic :  Food is what makes the child's body and mind ! hence we were little concious to eat organic, natural food and avoid artificial / fast foods. Though no rules here ...Priyamvada did felt like having Pizza ...and we had it too ! Millets, fruits, Coconut water, dry fruits, honey and milk of Indian breed cow was few regulars.
4.) Follow Celibacy :  We both stick to celibacy for entire 9 months. While there were multiple arguments about it both ways - we simply did it because nature made sex for procreation and there was no natural reason for having sex if one was already pregnany. We did get intimate and cozy though...this was our lovemaking...and often we were aware of the child between us.
5.) Ramayana - Bhagwat Geeta :  Priyamvada used to read Ramayana every day, I used to chant Bhagvat geeta Shlokas. We both will often do it together also.
6.) Regular rituals  : Regular rituals like prayers, lighting ghee diya , maintaining cleanliness were done.
7.) Meeting holy souls :  Though we did not know many , few people we knew in our life who were more sorted in life than us - we used to visit them , meet them , talk to them on topics of dharma.
8.) Taking to child :  We used to talk a lot to child...named him/her already....and feel his/her presence already in our family.
9.) Avoiding Rashness :  We did not watch any movie in theatre during these 9 months due to loudness of the music and negative emotions it might induce in us, we avoiding going to places that were loud and sudden sounds were possible like bus stand ,railway station etc..If we had to go, we tried to be in best possible spot in the area. Visits to malls, restaurants, shows were limited. Television was watched but only limited and very selected programs like comedy shows !
10.)  Using Mantras :  We used to chant  OM and Gayatri mantra together. These were known to bring positive vibes.

These were key things I could recollect ! I guess they've had some impact on learning of Devagya.

We can never vow that these will have only positive impacts on learning of Devagya...after all we only know parts of truth...perhaps some of these might have negative impacts ...some may have positive undesirable or negative desirable impacts...who knows ! But we did what our heart felt content with....that's the situation of all us ...with limited knowledge we act...often we are wrong but yet we have no other option...!

Nevertheless...we hope that these have positive impacts oh his learning or at least no-impact...all we wish is that our child's journey of this lifetime and future is smoother and in line with nature's direction...

The Journey Begins....sucking !

The moment, 18th June 2017, 6:38 pm baby is out of mother's womb into the world - he starts sucking mother's breast for milk ! That's something he has learnt even before coming to this world it seems for the seems quite adept at sucking. However over next few days, he does have difficulty sucking milk primarily due to smaller nipples of mother, lack of milk production in her body ( may be due to antibiotics and other drugs administered during the epsiotomy). He slowly gets used to it and soon becomes and expert.

Welcome to Devagya's Learning Pilgrimage

We were blessed with a tiny angel in our life - Devagya on June 18th 2017 ! It's such a joy to see a child grow - all the way from emrboy to baby in our hand to a growing human ! Boy ...what a blessing indeed ...

Being associated with Alternative learning and education - it has always fascinated me how kids learn ! An idea struck me last night as Devagya was learning new things - just in last couple of days he has started exploring different materials - he is trying to touch colorful cloths , things ...not yet able to hold it but trying to hold it, feel it ...! I thought ...won't it be wonderful to record how he's learning new things ?? I dunno if this has been done in past or whether it will be a fruitful exercise...frankly I don't even care ! All i know...it will be an funfilled and awefilled journey to see him learn new things....and to record them here....So...let's begin... :-)