The day she refused to walk

It was a long week. 3 days were gone in attending the graduation ceremony, hosting a surprise party, attending a pooja and a birthday party. A lot of socialising so to say the least ... met atleast 60 odd people. So, the final day of our long weekend, we wanted to go "Cherry picking". BP's allergies had bothered him a lot the previous night. So, postponed visiting the farms and headed towards the beach.
It was sunny and a nice bright day when we left home. Cantaloupe and I promptly fell asleep for most part of the drive. (the beach is about an hours'drive from our house) We took route 1, beside the Pacific ocean. The wind and the grey clounds were hanging above the ocean, promising to ruin our sunny day. We parked our car in a nice quite place, and were greeted by the chilly winds as soon as we stepped out of our car. We wasted no time in putting on our jackets. Headed to the sand and spread out our tent. Cantaloupe was as excited as she ever has been everytime we are at the beach. She soon found her castle making tools and headed in the direction of the wet sand. In no time, she was busy with her grand parents building her sand castles. In between castle making, BP would take her to the water and dip her legs in the cold pacific ocean. She didn't mind that, but was too busy instructing her grandparents the layout of her castle. In between, she would check on me. BP and I took advantage of the time we had and played with a beach ball. Cantaloupe didn't show any resistance when offered lunch and finished it without a hint of tantrums. As soon as she finished her lunch, she went back to her castle making self.
It was almost 6:00pm when we reached back home. I was clearing our picnic basket, BP was making tea and Cantaloupe was playing with her toys. She asked for some juice. I poured the juice in a cup and gave it to her. She drank it and wanted to put the cup into the sink for washing. Thats when she must have realised that she just couldn't walk ... forget walking, she just couldn't stand up. Initially I ignored her thinking, she was too lazy to walk up to the sink and was making excuses. When she repeated it a couple of times, I was sure she wasn't faking. I didn't know what to do, but still maintained a calm and bold face. (didn't want to psyche her). BP and I gave her several massages, tried to divert her attention ... she was her playful self but complained of pain when asked to stand , walk.
I searched the net about similar experiences ... sometimes being ignorant is bliss. Anyways, one of our family doctors came over to examine her. The doctor assured us that there was no cause of worry. The pain was all a result of exposure to cold and muscle stress. I just couldn't sleep that night. First thing in the moring, took an appointment with her doctor. The pediatrician took a close look at her leg and ruled out anything bad. Its a different thing that Cantaloupe had been walking / running / jumping all along since morning :)

Mother daughter bonding

Cantaloupe is growing fast. Her dictionary is expanding by the minute. Its as if she said "amma amma amma" only yesterday. I still remember those days ... she was a darling with just 4 teeth and grinning all the time. (you know the baby talk .. they repeat everything like papapapa, dadadada, tatata etc)
2 days back, I was annoyed about something very inconsequestial. Didn't want to create a scene in front of Cantaloupe coz I know she is observing / learning. So I sank myself on the rocking chair and was staring outside quietly at the blue sky. She was playing in the same room with her toys. One would think she didn't observe her mom's presence or her mood ... nop, my cantaloupe is not that kind.
She came to me, gave me a warm hug, turned my face towards her and lovingly asked "Amma ... whats the problem? Are you sad ?" I was spellbound. My little angel is growing so fast and is concerned about me. I pray the bonding between us remains intact and grows with time.

Flooded House

It was 10:30pm ... we had just finished a nice dinner and cantaloupe and I were happily popping cherries from fresh farm. I love red juicy cherries especially from this time of the year. Had never tasted them when in India except in some cakes ... never the fresh / ripe ones. I was in my pleasure land when a sudden yelling of my name brought me to reality.
BP had been calling me out a couple of times ... but I was not to be bothered. I found BP soaking wet in our bathroom ... the bath tub tab was broken and the water was gushing out of the pipe. BP was trying hard to stop it ... but that was not to be. The scene was hilarious in a way ...I controlled my laughter / anxiety for a moment and decided to call 911
BP reminded me that I could use the emergency water repair facility and that 911 was not the order at the time ... he tried to hide his sarcasm as much possible. Stupid me, I cursed myself, browsed the net and called a plumbing service. It was close to 10:45pm and they asked me details of the damage. As soon as I said that the water was not overflowing from the tub, the person on the other end, felt it was no longer and emergency and offered to send a plumber early next day morning.
The constant questioning of the system from various people around (sister, BIL, mother, father, friend, cantaloupe) was just adding to my already nervous self. I managed to find another plumbing agency who was ready to send their personnel home. Phew ...that was an achivement I thought. A flooded carpetted house was not going to be an easy place to live in. By then BP had spotted the water pipe with the help of our neighbour and had turned it off ... so the leak was temporarily stopped.
BP assured me that we were going to be ok till the next morning and I wouldn't have to fret about being a non-swimmer :) I was glad we had temporarily put off the floods and was about to catch up on some pending office work. Just when I turned on the laptop to continue work, vision of the emergency services bill poped my mind. I wasn't going to pay huge amounts for just a tap repair. I was determined to reach the emergency services again ... thankfully was successfull. I explained the situation to them and they agreed not to come. Phew ... saved atleast $500 :)
Now BP believes in "Do it Yourself" phrase to the core. Now, he has sworn, he will fix the tap ... its been almost 12 hours since the damage ... it remains to be seen, if he will indeed have success in fixing it or we have to shed few dollars ...

Welcome aboard Cantaloupe's amma ...

I have been wanting to blog about my cutie's progress and other relevant (??) details about myself ... but it took longer than expected ....
Anyways ... I am finally here and vow to contribute to this blog regularly !

Here is to myself .... goodluck and happy blogging CA (Cantaloupe's Amma)