0-3 months flew by!

And before I knew it, RK is...

1. Holding his feet with his hands
2. Putting his feet up (90 degree angle) and turning to one side
3. Bestowing smiles on all at home
   
4. Quietens down when I sing his fav song. (I think this deserves a separate post!)
5. Scratching his head
   
6. Holding on to objects
7. Recognises Roopa - his blue elephant toy
8. Cries when Roopa is taken away from his sight while he is playing with her
9. Smiles and coos for being lifted
   
10. Turns to follow the sounds
11. Plucks the petals from the roses in our backyard
12. Plays with the wind chime in the backyard
13. Grown out of his 0-3 months clothes
14. Grown out of his fist pair of boots. ( I got one when I was past 20!)

Globalization or back to basics?

This is prompted by emails flowing with my girlfriends. The hot topic being what to pack in the kids lunch boxes. It surprised me (albeit pleasantly) to hear that schools in India also are insisting on healthy snacks and lunch boxes. Same solutions across the globe for a problem that is global and growing!
No more chips or cupcakes allowed. I thought it was only in the US that parents had to bring healthy snacks to games etc. Here there is a concept where it is the turn of one set of parents every week to bring snacks to the field at the end of the game their kid is participating in. And nowadays schools are particular that the snacks be low in sugar, high in fibre, low in sodium, high in protein etc. Besides which there are other restrictions like one cannot take anything with nuts in them since some kids are allergic to nuts. If there are kids allergic to gluten or dairy that is ruled out as well. Makes me think that we are going back to basics in more ways than one. Without the introduction of processed foods there would be no need for these regulations. Don't get me wrong. I think processed foods that make life easy are great. I use them myself. But all this concern about kids becoming obese and growing up with bad food habits comes because we have moved away from some basic practices. That of cooking fresh food!
Here are a couple of ways we at home are going back to basics -
1. Taking reusable bags to buy and bag our groceries. That way we avoid collecting plastic bags. (At least till I run out of them and considering the amount of diapers I am buying that seems like a possibility!)
2. Composting kitchen waste in our backyard. Manure - cheap and free!
(Again I am waiting to see if this will work in winter as well!)