The History of First Times ...

15-Jul-2007 (7days): First Bath
22-Aug-2007(1.5months): First set of vaccine after discharge from hospital (the very first vaccines were given in the hospital itself on 3rd/ 4th day)
25-Aug-2007(1.5months): Gave a toothless grin to dad
09-Sep-2007(2months): Started to recognize mom's voice. When she comes around and talks to Freya, the baby stops to cry and pays attention
15-Sep-2007(2months): Out of home for the first time. Roamed around Hiran Magari in mom's lap
18-Sep-2007(2.5months): When put on the tummy, she turned rolled onto her back
19-Sep-2007(2.5months): First ride on a two wheeler, with mom sitting on the back and mom's dad riding the bike
06-Oct-2007(3months): First time rolled independently from back to stomach. However, she gets her hand under her stomach on completing the turn
19-Oct-2007(3.5months): Picked up the rattle that was kept on her stomach and held it for a while
01-Nov-2007(4months): First time rolled from back to stomach without getting her hand stuck under the stomach
25-Nov-2007(4.5months): Food - started to eat papayas (mashed). This is her first "outside" food. Welcome to the world of pesticides.
27-Nov-2007(4.5months): The first fall - fell down from the bed while no one was looking but managed not to hurt herself. Cried for only a minute or so
11-Dec-2007(5months): First travel in a flight (Jet Airways 9W709 Business Class Udaipur to Mumbai)
25-Dec-2007(5.5months): Started to recognize her name
30-Dec-2007(5.5months): Lifted her body on hands and knees and crawled one step.
25-Jan-2008(6.5months): Discovered the joy of exploration. She drags herself on the ground and goes to various corners of the room to look around. After every two drags or so, she turns to look back at you and gives a winning smile. Proud of her accomplishment, isn't she!
08-Feb-2008 (7 months): Sat independently, supporting herself with one hand.
15-Feb-2008 (7 months): Started to try and stand up grabbing anything that she can grab for support. She can easily go to a position of kneeling down on her knees; to stand up beyond that she needs a little lift from one of us. As a result of all this activity, she has now started to bang her head around two times a day (when she loses her grip and falls).
25-Feb-2008 (7.5 months): Able to sit confidently without supporting herself.
8-Mar-2008 (8 months): Stood up on both feet by grabbing the sofa cover. Also started to move sideways by grabbing any furniture she can lay her hands on. She is also able to sit down with a "plomb!" from a standing posture.
9-Mar-2008 (8 months): Okay, this one is not exactly the first time, but today, she fell off from the bed again and landed bang on the back of her head. Ouch! That hurt real bad because she cried like a possessed being and continued to be cranky throughout the day.
17-Mar-2008 (8 months): She has been practicing it in bits and pieces for a while, but today she started to crawl full-fledged. Ah! the joy of mobility!
10-Apr-2008 (9 months): Start of finger movements. She looks at her fingers, moves them and loves the movement!
25-Apr-2008 (9 months): She gets terribly excited when she is all dressed up and carried outside the house door. She starts to chant "ta ta ta ta ta". I guess that's Freya's way of saying "I love the outdoors"
30-Apr-2008(10 months): Shows a distinct affinity towards dogs. She jumps out of the lap as soon as she sees a dog.
02-May-2008(10 months): Starts to say "crow". Actually, all that she ends up saying is "co". Wonder what is so terribly attractive about those birds that she has started chanting about crows ahead of learning how to say "Mom".
03-May-2008(10 months): Its summer time in Mumbai and who isnt hot? Tell the word "Fan" to Freya and she will look at the fan and point it out for you.
07-May-2008 (10 months): Fell with a chair on top of her, resulting in scab formation and first scar on right eye lid.
09-May-2008(10 months): One tooth in lower jaw appeared.
10-May-2008(10 months): Stood independently without any support for 2 seconds ( without prompting, all by herself). Took her first and only step without any support (again without prompting)
11-May-2008(10 months): Climbed down from the bed. Also keeps repeating a new favorite word in 2 variations - “Kaku” and "Kika". (Kaku for the lady maid who works at the house)
23-May-2008(10.5 months): You kiss Freya and she kisses you back
25-May-2008(10.5 months): Became a villian - went bald for the first time. The barber had come home to shave her. Freya found the barber's shaving cream very interesting and kept chewing on that rather than paying attention to her looks ... so she did not cry one bit.
1-Jun-2008(11 months) - Takes four tentative steps to come to pop's arms and is delighted!
9-Jun-2008(11 months) - Starts walking all over the place. Takes your hand pulls you along as she walks and if you play along, she just keeps walking aimlessly all over the place. What a vagabond!
15-Jun-2008(11 months) - Says Mom (with a lot of prompting and without understanding the meaning)
2-Jul-2008(12 months) - Climbs onto the bed and also onto the sofa by herself
7-Aug-2008(13 months) - Two upper teeth begin to appear. Starts to use her teeth to provide leverage to open flip covers of objects like conditioners, moisturisers and toothpaste
9-Aug-2008(13 months) - Freya has an increasing understanding of the language. She knows nose, eyes, ear, NO, sleep, sit, bath and understands sentences like "open your mouth", "look up", "come here", "get me the dog" (a toy, of course!), "where is ball", "look, another little baby", etc.
18-Aug-2008(13 months) - She has started to point her finger to specific things that she wants. It is a different matter that when you take her to those things, she will point to another thing that is in the opposite direction.
27-Aug-2008(13.5 months) - After doing tutu on the floor, she walked to mom and took her back to the "site" of her "doing". The beginning of a new chapter? Well, not quite. If you ask her where she should do tutu or susu, she does point to the toilet, but that is only theoretical knowledge. Practically, she still does it on a "as-is where-is" basis.
01-Oct-2008 (15 months) - First long distance train journey (to Udaipur in 2995 Bandra Udaipur Express). She slept like a baby (of course!)
01-Oct-2008 (15 months) - Weaned off completely and suddenly. It took just one night of disorientation in the train and subsequent nights at Udaipur for her to be sufficiently confused so as to not raise her demand.
04-Oct-2008 (15 months) - Finds a new hobby - climbing a flight of stairs. She is remarkably persistent and climbing over and over again, while we are remarkably persistent in carrying her down. Nice game. In one instance, she climbed the entire flight of stairs unsupervised and was hiding behind the second flight of stairs while all of us were searching around the house for her.
07-Oct-2008 (15 months) - Ears pierced. As expected, she raised a stink about being held against her will while piercing. No blood or pus formation afterwards.
12-Oct-2008 (15 months) - Says "tutu" when she wants to go for susu. She is very inconsistent about saying this - around 3 times out of ten. Wants two toothbrushes in hand before she actually does susu. Now that she knows this, often times she will say "tutu" just to get the brushes in hand.
26-Oct-2008 (15.5 months) - First ride in BEST bus. Bus no. 210 from Chamunda Circle to Four Bunglows, en route to Juhu Beach.
26-Oct-2008 (15.5 months): Sees sea waves and the sea for the first time. Her reaction - a loud cry. Well, actually she fell asleep en route to the beach and never came in the mood to enjoy after she was forcefully woken up. Anybody's guess what takes priority - sleep or new experiences.
15-Nov-2008 (16 months): Sang her first song - Nagada Nagada Nagada Baja (from Jab we Met). Actually, she ends up singing "Nagada Baja" - but yea, she actually "sings" this with variations in her tone.
6-Dec-2008 (1yr 5 mnths) - When told "Count Bebu", she counts from 1 to 5
08-Dec-2008 (1yr 5 mnths) - She just said her first two-word "sentence". She said - "Mummy came" when she saw mummy at the door.
08-Dec-2008 (1yr 5 mnths) - She said her second two-word sentence - "Aaja mummy, mummy aaja". This she said more like a song.
15-Dec-2008 (1yr 5 mnths) - After eating the first spoon of her Cerelac, she realized it was hot. Before eating the second spoon, she started blowing air into the hot cerelac to cool it down.
14-Dec-2008 (1yr 5 mnths) - When told to count today starting with number 1, her brain skipped and she started to count E-L-E-V-E-N, T-W-E-L-V-E, T-H-I-R-T-E-E-N.
19-Dec-2008 (1yr 5 mnths) - Made her first art creation - a fish in an introductory mother toddler class.
15-Jan-2009 (1yr 6 mnths) - She said her first three word sentence - Dabba Gir Gaya. This one when a "dabba" she was playing with slipped and fell on the ground.
18-Jan-2009 (1yr 6 mnths) - Around 10:00 at night, Freya said by herself "sleeping time". This she said factually, without any wrinkles on her skin. When pop took her to do the "sleeping ritual", she slept within 2 minutes, which is quite a record! Great new - so now she has started to recognize when she is sleepy, as distinct from a general vague feeling of discomfort whose source she had been unable to identify until now.
19-Jan-2009 (1yr 6 mnths) - She has started to display distinct control over her bowel movements. When asked to hold, she can hold for around 2-3 minutes until the toilet is free or until we wind up other things.
20-Jan-2009 (1yr 6 mnths) - She' s developing quite a vocabulary! She can now sing at least the first line of the following rhymes (more if she is in the mood): Twinkle Twinkle little star; Johnny Johnny Yes Papa, Soja Babu Soja, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday to you ...
1-Mar-2009 (1 yr 8 mnths): Starts to sit independently for susu/tutu.
28-Mar-2009 (1 year 9 mnths): Bebu gets up early in the morning and says "Paining, paining". When asked what is paining, she said - "Stomach". Then she told mummy - "No Office". Ah, so now she not only has learnt to distinguish her feelings, she has also become demanding and knows what she wants!
1-Apr-2009 (1 year 10 mnths): Bebu says bye-bye mummy instead of screaming when mom left for office. Was it just her mood? Was it a permanent change? Only time will tell!
9-Apr-2009 (1 year 10 mnths): Makes her first demand in Marathi – "Resin paije". This after persistent talk by Dad in Marathi. (A baby can learn up to 6 languages by the time the baby is 4 years old)
9-Apr-2009 (1 year 10 mnths): Starts to drink milk with straw. It takes her four tries to figure this. She tried for the first time, milk did not come. She tried for the second time, milk came. Tried for the third time, and milk did not come. Fourth time, milk came. After that it was milk all the way! (Time will later prove that this is the best mode of making Bebu drink milk - she just loves doing this ...)
13-Apr-2009 (1 year 10 mnths): Does not cry even once since the time mom left for office at about 8.15am until mom reached home at around 7.45pm.
14-Apr-2009 (1 year 10 mnths): Tells mom ‘tutu’ at midnight. This is for the first time that she used the word after sleeping at night. Mom takes her to the toilet which she resists by saying ‘sleeping time’ but still sits down on the WC. Mom was not sure she did susu or not but within 5 minutes she did it on her bed. Now remains to be seen how soon this becomes a habit.
22-Apr-2009 (1 year 10 mnths): While sitting inside the bucket and playing with water during bath, Bebu drops the mug to the floor. The royal blood that this creature is, she calls mom for help and when mom gave her mug back she said ‘Thank you, Thank you Mummy’ on her own without prompting. Phew! Finally ... after thanking her since the past one year or so, she has finally thanked back!
9-Jun-2009 (1 year 11 mnths): Bebu gets nail paint applied at Udaipur on her big toe. She also applies Mehendi.
18-Jun-2009 (1 year 11 mnths): First day at school (play group). She is very excited to go to school. Mom was around the whole time, so she was largely fine and thought school is fun!
30-Jun-2009 (1 year 12 mnths ... errr, thats two years!): First day in the school bus (or rather, a Tata Safari, which is used to ferry little angels to school and back. She was very excited about getting into the school bus, but around 10 minutes before the bus came, she realized that she would be traveling alone in the bus and mom would not be coming along. If mom no come, then tears come. Yea, she started to cry ... but reports are that she was eventually okay when she reached school.
31-Mar-2011 (3 year 9 mnths): First letter to papa on papa's birthday

20-Jun-2011 (3 year 11 mnths): Can write from 1 to 10 in letters as well. Knows spellings of 3 lettered words and can write those too (using phonics).
25-Jun-2011 (3 year 11 mnths): First 3-D movie - Cars2. She got quite bored in the movie, because for one, the plot was too action oriented and also because the 3-D glasses were too big to fit her. She kept on commenting that she could see the movie even without the 3-D glasses.

26-Jun-2011 (3 year 11 mnths): Got first water color and brush and finished her first coloring - an ice-cream cone. Very nicely done.

1-Jul-2011 (4 years): First vacation with papa. Freya and Papa went to Udaipur, Beawar, Ajmer, Pushkar for 9 days. As usual, she did not talk to anyone back home on the mobile phone.
7-Jul-2011 (4 years): First birthday celebration at Udaipur. There are around 12-15 chldren from the neighborhood who had come in, and Freya has a ball of a time.
1-Aug-2011 (4 years): Started to wash herself after passing her fecal matter. Of course, someone has to pour water while she does the washing.
7-Nov-2011 (4.5 years): Freya is a published author. Her poem was published in the "Magic Pot" magazine. Here's the letter and the cheque (which obviously is not en-cash-able given the rather lengthy name on the cheque!

07-Dec-2012 (4.6 years): Freya can finally say her 'r's र in hindi, and she is loving it. So she keeps saying words with an extra emphasis on the र. Like - I am going to "rrrrrun" or "Frrrreya".

12-Feb-2012 (4.8 years): Freya was selected for inter-school poem recital. So she went on this Sunday to Mahavir Vidyalaya near Golibar Maidan in Pune and sung her poem on the stage in front of teachers. She was given an "Alpenlibe" toffee for her effort.   :)
26-Mar-2012 (4.9 years): Freya was selected as the "all-rounder" for her division (Junior K.G. - Orange). When she got a medal for this, she was not happy, because she also wanted a "Teddy Bear" along with the medal. Here is the notice that was stuck on the class boards with the announcement.

5-Apr-2012 (4.9 years): Freya can now write hindi words. So Dadi tells her a few words in hindi, and she writes them down after a little help from Dadi in breaking the words down. Freya is delighted with the results!!
16-Jun-2012 (5 years): Freya went to Matheran and went Valley Crossing. This is basically travelling a distance of approx. 900 feet from one side of a U-shaped mountain to another (from Honeymoon point to near Louisa point) on a rope hanging approx. 1000 feet above the valley below! It took mom almost half hour of convincing to get Freya to give it a go, but once she did it, she did not want to get off the rope! Ended up going 4 and a half time and had to be dragged away after that amid tears!!

30-Jan-2013 (5.5 years): First day at School in Australia - St. Kilda Primary School. Freya said that other than one poem, the day was kind of boring and also that she did not make any friends at school. Her teacher here is Ms. Price. Freya said she first addressed Ms. Price as "Teacher", but then another classmate called her "Ms. Price", so she too started to address her as "Ms. Price.

08-Jan-2014 (6.5 years): First painting after learning MS-paint

16-Feb-2014 (6.5 years): Freya broke her first tooth. That was the bottom middle left tooth.
06-Jun-2015 (8 years): Tried her first night out with Kyra. Both slept at 2:30 am after mumma asked them to go back to bed.
21-Aug-2015 (8 years): Got to host her first Japanese guest - Yuri and Hitomi

5-Sep-2015 (8 years): Bounced off a trampoline and hit the edge of a concrete step. Earned her biggest cut so far - 5 mm deep and 2 cm wide. Looking great!

19-Apr-2016 (8.8 years): Started attending secondary school presentations, starting with Melbourne Girls' College (and now this is where she wants to go!)
08-Sep-2016 (9.3 years): Freya's pen license from school (in Term 3 of Grade 4)

29-Oct-2016 (9.4 years): Officially beats mamma at typing, measured typing speed is now 24 wpm. (update: Speed is 57 wpm as of May 2022)
15-Mar-2017 (9.8 years): First time starting the car and nails it!
15-Apr-2017 (9.85 years): First self-portrait, drawn at school

15-May-2017 (9.9 years): At her first AFL match - Melbourne Demons (104) vs Collingwood Magpies (100).

18-Sep-2021 (14.3 years): First COVID vaccine at Sunshine Hospital, St Albans

1-Nov-2021 (14.5 years): First ever earnings - dog-walking a Cavelier named Misty (owned by Chantel)

4-May-2022 (14.9 years): First acceptance to an international student exchange program Yey! Freya got accepted in the WEP program to go to France August to October 2022.