Kavya : Can we go live in the white house ?

Last night, Kavya got a book about Presidents to read as part of her night-time routine. The book had a picture of White House on it. So, Gaurav was explaining to her that the house is called White House and it is in Washington DC which is capital of US, etc etc. Before he could tell her all the details, Kavya interrupted and asked "Can we go live in the White House ?" Gaurav and I both burst out laughing.

Gaurav responded "Sure, if you ever become President of US then you can go and live there." She probably didn't understand it much.

Innocent and funny question :)

Little Kavya is not that little any more :(

I remember little Kavya when she was 2 or 3 years old.. she was so cute and filled with innocence. Now that she will be almost 5, I can totally feel that she is growing up and becoming an individual with her own temperament, thoughts, opinions and attitude.

In whatever we do, she has lots of questions and also an opinion on how and what to do. She also wants to pick her own clothes to wear with matching pins/rubber bands and socks. Sometimes, she also wants to help me pick my clothes and ear rings :)

Lately, if I ask her to get something for me, she retorts "Who needs it ? you or me? Since you want it, you go get it!"

It is also not easy any more to just make up something and convince her. She needs more reasoning and she understands it all. She gets mad if you don't listen to her and makes faces as well. Often times, she is lost in her own thoughts or action or may be just because, and does not listen or pay attention to what you are saying. Her school teacher had also mentioned this in our last meeting.

What's funny is that now she helps me to convince / threaten Ishaan by making up stuff. If Ishaan is not eating or doing some mischief, I tell him that cops will come.. and Kavya will actually pretend that she is calling cops or will knock on the door/wall suggesting that cops are here :) While that helps, I am not sure if that is good :)

The big problem is that while she understands lot of things, she does not understand or cannot interpret everything. For example, we teach her not call other names. Then other day, I was just calling her cute names... and she immediately complained to me "Mommy, you are calling me names". I tried to explain her that these are cute names, something I am using out of love. But she failed to understand.

When kids are small, we often wonder when will they grow up.Now that I see my little girl is growing up, I miss those golden days of innocence. I want my little innocent Kavya back :)

Love Garbage truck - but not garbage uncle !!

There is something about garbage truck that fascinates kids. When Kavya was little, she was initially afraid of the big truck, but then she was fascinated by it and every time she would hear the noise of the truck, she will want to look out of the window and watch the truck collect garbage. Ishaan is the same way at this age. He just loves garbage truck. He has a dump truck that he calls as garbage truck and moves it along saying "Kachro leva" (Truck has come to collect garbage).

While both the kids loved garbage truck, they don't like the garbage uncle character. When Kavya was little, we used to tell her that garbage uncle will come if she didn't do xyz.. or listen to us.. and she would then listen to us. Its the same thing with Ishaan now. He thinks (or may be we might have told him) that garbage uncle will throw him with the trash. So, he is just as much afraid of garbage uncle as he is of the cops :)

It didn't work for too long with Kavya(may be couple of months). Lets see how long does the fear of garbage uncle works with Ishaan :)

Kavya has become very creative..

Lately, Kavya's creativity has increased a lot.

She builds different things with the small legos on her own. One day when she showed me something she had built, I asked her to go build a tree and I figured that would keep her busy for some time :-). However, just 3-4 mins later, she came back to me with a very nice tree made out of lego.. And I was just WOWed by it.

She is also doing a great job at drawing. She has a whole bunch of drawings put up on the wall - she just loves to stick everything she makes on the wall with a tape. Each of those drawing represent a particular item/action. She just draws them directly with crayons and then colors in it. After she finishes her drawing, she explains us what she drew and waits for us to say "Wow.. good job, Kavya !!" :)

One other thing that took us by surprise almost a month back was when she prepared a bunch of different activities on her own. She likes doing the different activities like connect the dots, find the differences, arrange in right order, etc in her books. So, one fine weekend morning, she decided to make up her own activity on a sheet of paper. The activities she drew were to figure out the right path to something, which two of the few items were same, jumbled up letters of simple words like CAT, AMI and then figuring out the correct way, something about a frog jumping on heart shaped and numbered lily pads to get to somewhere, etc.
When she showed and explained it to us, we were just, WOW. Gaurav and I looked at each other and felt really happy and proud of our little girl !!

Ishaan discovered his shadow

Few days back Gaurav took Ishaan for a walk in his stroller. Half way into the walk, Ishaan seemed to be bothered by something. Gaurav realized that he was very upset with his shadow :) Gaurav explained him that the black thing that moves when he moves is called shadow and it is Ishaan's friend and it always stays with Ishaan. However, he did not like it. He wanted it to go away - he kept saying " Shadow no, Shadow no". But since it did not go away, he finally got used to it.

Since that day, whenever he sees the shadow, he shouts "Shadow, Shadow". Couple of times he seemed like he was afraid of it, but then we asked him to say "Hi Shadow" and then raise both his hands or do some action to see the shadow move and that has made Shadow his friend :-)

Babu becomes Ishaan

Ishaan has been calling himself as 'Babu' forever now. We have been trying to teach him to call himself as Ishaan, but he just didn't know how to say Ishaan till today. Today, when he called himself Babu, I told him "Nooo.. what do you call babu?", he replied "Ishaan". I was pleasantly surprised. Over the next half hour, I asked him almost 10-15 times "Taru naam shu che?" (What is your name?) and he would smile and say Ishaan :) He actually says Ichaan (ch instead of sh), but hopefully he will get it right soon..

He still calls himself babu, but when I correct him, he says Ishaan. So, hopefully, he will soon forget babu. More importantly, we need to forget it first :)

He actually did something similar with Gaurav. Instead of calling him Daddy, he used to call him Gaurav. But then we would correct him each time he said Gaurav and now he calls him Daddy most of the times.

His vocabulary is increasing and he is able to say/convey lots of things now. He is also starting to sing ABC.. He has reached till D so far. In terms of counting, he can count to 4 and then 6, 7, 8, 10 (skips 9) :) But he is learning lots of new words and things everyday. Its a fun age and it is great to watch him grow.

Kavya (4 years and 8 months) and Ishaan (19 months)

Hello !

Here I am with updates about Kavya (4 yrs and 8 months) and Ishaan(19 months). I know its been a while since the last update, but hey - better late than never :)

Past few months have been very busy with varieties of different activities.

Kavya is growing taller and learning lots of new things. She participated in her first public speaking competition in April. She talked about the recipe for cup cakes:). She also had her first ever dance performance on the stage on the song "All Izz Well" in May. She showed us how brave and fearless she is through her first indoor flying experience at iFly. She had her first ever graduation experience (Pre-K) in June too. Besides that, we went cherry picking in June, camping @ Big Basin during July 4th weekend, Carmel beach and Children's discovery museum in August. She enjoys biking, going to parks and library. She continues bollywood dance (currently dancing on Zoobi Doobi...) and swimming and recently she also started gymnastics. She is getting better at reading and writing in straight line. She enjoys drawing and coloring, building lego structures and watching Dora :). She changed school from Bright Horizon to Stratford since end of June 2010. She is all excited for our trip tomorrow to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Ishaan is getting smarter and naughtier day by day. He has lots of teeth (new ones still on the way) - we have lost count now :) He gave up his bottle and drinks milk with a sippy cup since he was 16 months olds. He loves fruits (like his mom) and vegetables (like his dad). He is a good eater, but he continues to be in 2 to 5 percentile, but since his growth rate is fine - we are not worried. He is learning new words everyday and recently, he has also started saying 2 words together. Even though he is not saying full sentences, he manages to convey everything. He is getting better at shape identification. He doesn't get past A, B when we sing the alphabet song, however, sometimes, when we sing or count, he will say the next alphabet or number and surprise us. So, it seems like he knows and understands, but just doesn't sing/speak. His love for soft toys and dolls is now fading and he is getting more into stuff like cars and batteries :) One thing that we still can't understand is his fascination for the weight (whistle) that we put on the pressure cooker. He loves to hold it and play with pressure cooker. He also enjoys playing with the toy kitchen - may be he was a chef in his past life :) He enjoys bike rides with mommy and going to the park. He greets us every morning with a big broad smile - really great way to start the day !!

Here are few pictures :



Cheers,
Ami

Children's Discovery Musuem is so much fun

We visited the Children's Discovery Musuem in San Jose for the first time in February 2010. It was so much fun that we bought the annual pass hoping that we will come back often for the fun. However, it had been over 5 months since the last visit and we hadn't had a chance to visit it again.

We had read in the newsletter that they have a new section of Bob, the builder and so we had been looking forward to taking Kavya to see that. Today, Gaurav made an impromptu plan to go to the Museum. Kavya got all excited. We all got ready and decided to take the 12:26 pm Light Rail Train. Kids enjoyed the train ride and within no time, we were at the Discovery museum.

We first went to Bob, the builder section. Both Kavya and Ishaan had fun there. We then went for bubbles and water fun. After that, we explored the other areas as well. Both kids had fun. It was almost 5:00 pm and Ishaan went to sleep. Kavya didn't really want to go, but the Museum closes at 5:00. So, we headed towards the station and soon got on to the light rail and got home.

Based on this experience, even 2-4 hours can be sufficient and lots of fun at the museum. So, we need to make smaller (may it be unplanned) trips more frequently - at least while we have the annual membership :)

Here are the pictures :

Day at the Carmel beach

After spending just a few minutes at the Carmel beach with Jinansh and Priya during the July 17th weekend, we had decided that we will come back soon and spend more time there.

So, today, when Gaurav skipped his biking practice, he decided to have fun with kids and what better fun than going to the beach? Kavya was all excited. We called up few friends to see if they would like to join, but since this was a last minute plan, everyone had some other commitment/plans. But we decided to go anyways. Initially, we were planning to have lunch at the beach, but since we got little late, we had lunch at home and then left around 1:00. Reached there by 2:15 and spread the mat and laid down the sand toys. We had decided to let the kids do whatever they wanted and not scold or dictate too much. Kavya and Ishaan enjoyed playing in the sand. The weather was perfect. After some time, Kavya and Gaurav headed for the water. Although it was cold at first, Kavya soon got comfortable and she jumped with the waves. She wanted to get fully wet and since we don't go to the beach very often, we allowed her to do so. I then took Ishaan in the water. He first resisted, but then he wanted to be on his own and run around. After falling a couple of times and getting wet, I took him back and changed him. Soon, there after, Kavya and Gaurav got back and Kavya changed too. We enjoyed some light snacks and then blew bubbles and played with beach ball.

It was getting little cold. So, we decided to leave around 5:00.
Although, we only spent about 3 hours at the beach, it seemed plenty and worth while. Should definitely plan something similar more frequently. The drive back was long due to traffic jam. It took us over 2 hours to get home.. But all in all, we had a nice time at the beach.

Here are the pictures :

First camping experience with 2 kids

During July 4th long weekend, we went for camping at Big Basin with 5 other families. We were total of 17 adults and 9 kids (17 months to 8 years).

We were little skeptical about this camping trip with 2 kids at first, but since so many of our friends with kids were also going, we decided to give it a try. We left around noon on Saturday, July 3rd, had lunch at Taco Bell with few friends and then headed straight to Big Basin. It was quite a drive (very curvy and seemed long). Due to long weekend, it was very crowded. Finally, we reached our camping spot and put up tents. Then guys managed to get the BBQ going while girls prepared the stuff to be grilled. We enjoyed roasted corn, Burger with the veggie pattie from TJ along with marinated veggies and paneer. Kids enjoyed marshmallows and smores too ! One thing that kept bugging all of us was the mosquitoes. There were tons of them and despite applying mosquito repellent, they kept on biting us.

After dinner, we went for a short walk. It was getting dark, so we just sat around the fire and chatted. Guys then took off to watch the stars while girls continued to chat and watch after sleeping kids. The kids had so much fun running around, that they were were tired and fast asleep.

It got little cold at night, but was still bearable. Our tent was on a slope, so we had to be careful not to roll over. Although the night was without any incidents and no crying kids, we somehow didn't sleep very well.

Soon it was morning and we started preparing for breakfast. There were lots of stuff including crossaint, muffin, fafda-jalebi, watermelon, tea, khakra, dhokla, bataka pauva, etc. Kids continued to run around and have fun. After breakfast, we went for a short hike. By the time we came back, it was already time for check out. So, we folded tents and laid the table for sandwich lunch along with things left over from breakfast. After nice lunch, we all left for our houses with all the memories of a nice camping experience.

Will we do it again - sure.. hopefully once more during this summer - probably not at big basin though (due to those nasty mosquitoes :) )

Here are the pictures :

Biking is so much fun

Gaurav got his bike in 2008 and soon thereafter attached a child seat to it for Kavya. He and Kavya have been going for bike rides with friends since then. I was waiting for Ishaan to grow up a little so that all 4 of us can go bike riding together. So, finally this summer, I got a bike too and put another child seat at the back. So, now I ride with Ishaan and Gaurav rides with Kavya or Kavya might ride on her own bike too if it is a shorter ride.

It is so much fun. When I used to ride bike as a kid,I was always waiting to grow up and get a scooter/kinetic - never realized how much fun biking can be. Now, I grab every opportunity I get to go biking - may it just be biking to the near by park !!

Cherry Picking in Gilroy

We have been going for cherry picking at Brentwood for past 2 years and it has been lot of fun. So, we wanted to go this year as well. Mummy is visiting us and so we thought it would be a nice picnic with her.

I had heard that there is some cherry picking farm in Gilroy and so I googled it and thought of trying out the Buckley Farms in Gilroy (about 30 miles) instead of driving all the way to Brentwood (about 60 miles) this year.

We called up many friends to see if they would like to join - but for some or the other reason, they all could not. So, we decided to go all by ourselves. I made some Quesadilla for our lunch and packed up everything. We left around 11-11:30 and were there in 30-40 mins. The Buckley Farm is very near by to the Gilroy outlet mall. The farm is family owned and has a very nice setting. They had other fruit trees beside cherry as well. The apple trees had very small and cute apples :)

Mummy and Kavya were very happy and started picking cherries right away. Mummy had a different idea of what the farm and cherry trees would be like and so she was very pleasantly surprised. We soon found some shade under a nice tree and had our lunch. And then we were back to business - cherry picking !! There were lots and lots of cherries on the trees. Some of them were so low that even Ishaan could reach them and he loved it. He would pick cherries with both his hands :) Since he does not understand the concept of seed yet, he would put the entire cherry in this mouth and then when he realized that there was something hard inside, he would spit it out.

We ate lot of cherries there and came back home with 4 lbs of them. They were very sweet and it was a great experience. We will surely go back to this farm next year..

Vicinity to the Gilroy outlet is a big plus too since we can do some shopping after cherry picking (just like we did this time) :)

Here are some pictures :

Our first flying experience

Earlier this week, Mehul suggested this place in Fremont called iFly that offers an indoor skydiving experience in a vertical wind tunnel. It looked interesting and so we decided to try it out. Mehul confirmed that we could take turns and hence it was doable with kids around.

We got the appointment for today at 7:30. We had to report 45 mins earlier to get some training and also get ready with the gears. We got a group package for 5 people which offers some discount as well as free DVD. However, Tejas-Ishaani had to drop out since Tapas was not well. So, we thought Kavya could give it a try if she wanted. She was already excited to see people fly and when we asked her if she would like to do it, she was even more excited and ready.

We reached there around 6:45 and filled up the paperwork and headed upstairs. Our coach was Chris. He took us to a room for some training video and showed us some hand signals to remember. Then we headed out and got the gears : astronaut like costume, goggles, helmet and ear plugs. Priya and I were going to stay with Ishaan and Ved while Mehul, Gaurav and Kavya would go and take their turns first.We had total of 10 flights (1 min each) between the 5 of us.

Mehul was the first to go for the first 1-min flight, followed by Gaurav and then Kavya. I was super excited to see Kavya. What was funny was that she was trying to swim in the air by kicking with her legs. She was confident and no sign of fear. That's my girl ! I was a bit skeptical if she would go for 2nd flight, but to my surprise, she was all ready :)



After they finished their 2 flights each, they came out of the chamber and then it was my and Priya's turn. Priya was quite skeptical and scared. Chris suggested that she go in first and there she went and did fine. Then it was my turn. I wasn't scared, but at the same time I wasn't sure what to expect. As I went in, I felt wind blowing really hard from below. The force of the wind was good enough to lift you. There was a controller in a cabin outside the tunnel who would keep an eye on what's happening in the tunnel and control the force of wind accordingly. Chris was good at helping us control our body position. I kept my mouth open to breathe - that was a mistake. There were a couple of seconds when I felt that I was not able to breath properly due to the wind, but all-in-all it was a good experience. My second flight was much better since my mouth was closed and then Chris also helped by making me fly higher and in circles, which was quite exciting.

Overall, it was a good experience. Would I do it again ? Probably not - I would rather go for the real skydiving.

Here are pictures from our camera and Mehul's camera.

Kavya attained sea-horse level in swimming

Kavya has been going for swimming lessons at AVAC for over 1.5 years now - she started before she turned 3 because I remember Gaurav going in the water with her. She loves swimming and eagerly waits for the day when she has swim lessons. Along with having fun, she is also learning an important skill that I believe everyone should have.

Today, she attained the sea-horse level. This level means that she can do the following:
-Explore water independently
-Have face in water with eyes open
-Knows cue words
-Supported prone float with face in - 10 count
-Supported back float with roll in tummy
-Stands up from prone position unassisted
-Assisted circle swim
-Assisted bobs - at least 5 times
-Climbs out of pool unassisted
-Retrieves object from the step
-Wall walk

She also got a ribbon for this accomplishment.

We didn't even know about these different levels before she got this :)

Kavya's Pre-K Graduation

Kavya has been going to Bright Horizons day care/school since Sept 2008. She started with Pre-K I and then jumped to Pre-K III in Aug 2009 since they merged Pre-K II and Pre-K III classes.

Today, they had Graduation ceremony for the Pre-K class. The kids had been preparing songs for this day for past few days. Kavya was excited about it and had been telling me (as well as her teacher) that she is going to wear a nice dress with stockings and black shoes that day :). The ceremony was from 11 to 1. So, Gaurav and I took couple of hours off to attend the ceremony. I have never been to any of my own graduation ceremony - did not have that concept in India and then for my Master's graduation, I had already started work - so chose not to go. (I now wish it would have been a good experience if I had gone :) ) And Kavya was going to have her Pre-K graduation :)

The graduation ceremony was outside and it was little windy. The parents had all slowly gathered and were waiting for the kids to come out. And just around 11:00 am, the kids lined up and started walking towards us. They all had the graduation cap on and a garland around their neck. They were so cute and especially Kavya - she looked so pretty in her dress with that graduation cap. They all sat down on their chairs and sang the graduation songs and then the teachers called their names and they came forward to collect their diplomas..

Binduben, Harshil and Nehal joined shortly after. We took some pictures and then went into the classroom where they had set up a potluck lunch. We all had something to eat and chatted with some parents/teachers and then came back home with Kavya, Harshil and Nehal. Kavya got rest of the day off from school :)

Kavya will most likely have another Pre-K graduation next year since she is born after the cut-off date and so will be repeating Pre-K at new school next year. But in any case, this first graduation was a nice experience.

Kavya's first dance performance on stage

Kavya has been learning bollywood dance for past 2 sessions now (since end of Jan) from Gurus of Dance company.

The first session was held at Blossom Hill location (KB fitness) and was taught by Miss Rani. There were 5 kids in the class (2 others did not continue). This session was not a performance quarter meaning the kids would not perform on the stage - just in the class. Kavya enjoyed this session - especially since her friend Keya was in the class too. They danced on the 'All izz Well' song from the '3 idiots' movie. Here is the link to the video.

After the first session, I was having double thoughts if I should continue with the 2nd session..but then since it was a performance quarter, I thought of giving it a try. Gurus of Dance did not have enough enrollment at the Blossom Hill location, so they canceled the classes at that location and asked us to move to Evergreen or Milpitas location. Since the class at Milpitas location was on weekend, it was more favorable, but the location was about 17 miles away. However, Leena (Keya's mom) convinced me to go for it. So, Kavya and Keya both ended up going to the Milpitas location. This time their teacher was Miss Tejal and they were dancing on 'Ek thi Ladki' song from the movie 'Pyar Impossible'. The kids (along with the teacher) worked hard for 8 sessions (including the Grand and Tech Rehearsals)

The final performance was at the Campbell Heritage Theatre on May 8th. The dance company provided the costumes and they were so cute. Kavya's group was the first class to perform and they all were so cute. Enjoy the video :


Kavya seems to be enjoying dance. Every time she listens to either 'All izz Well' or 'Ek thi Ladki' song, she starts dance. Also, these are the only 2 songs she wants to listen in the car now :). I have already enrolled her in the next session that starts in July.

Ishaan is off bottle

Ishaan had been showing signs of being ready for weaning from bottle for some days since he would try drinking out of Kavya's sippy cup. Besides, he had also learnt to drink with a straw. When I gave him a sippy cup few days back, he did not like it - probably because he was very sleepy and may be hungry too. But then this past weekend, Gaurav hid all the bottles and we just gave him sippy cup and he was fine.

So, I told masi (his nanny) on Monday to give him sippy cup only and it has been working out just fine. Yet another milestone achieved ! :)

Kavya gave up bottle around 18 months.. but Ishaan gave it up before he turned 16 months. I guess having an older sibling does speed up some learning.

Ishaan's 1 year checkup

Today, Ishaan had his 1 year checkup appointment although he is already 15 months old now :) (Due to the timing and his doctor's suggestion about when he would like to see him, it just turned out to be this way).

Ishaan's height was 31 inches (close to 50 percentile), head circumference was 47 cm (about 40 percentile) and weight was 19 lb 13 oz. He was off the chart in terms of percentile for weight :) This has been the case for past 6 months now.

Ishaan eats well. Infact, it feels like he is eating all day. But he is not putting on weight. The doctor advised me to mix some formula in his food to help him put on weight, but I am going to try feeding him more ghee and butter and cheese :)

Everything else was fine as per the check-up.
Ishaan is healthy, happy and very active. So, I am not worried about his weight.
Most of us are worried about losing weight, while Ishaan needs to put on weight :)

Ishaan's first lollipop

My mom has been telling me for quite some time now to give Ishaan a lollipop and see what he does with it. Finally, I did that today. I was giving a lollipop to Kavya and Keya and decided to give one to Ishaan as well. As soon as I gave it to him, he held it tight and started sucking it. He liked it very much and continued to suck on it. When I tried to take it out of his hand, he refused and held it really tight. He looked so cute while he was sucking it.. His hands were all sticky and he was drooling.. but he continued to suck it. Finally, only little was left when he dropped it on the floor. So, I picked it up swiftly before he could get to it and threw it away. He did not cry or ask for it again, so it seems like he was satisfied and had enjoyed it thoroughly.

Check out the video:

Kavya's first public speaking competition

Today, Kavya participated in Win With Words competition organized by Mahek's school (Genius Kids). For this competition they had different categories based on kid's age. Kavya was in Category 3 which was for kids 4 to 5 years of age. The kids had to select a topic from the list of 20 topics and talk about it for 1 to 3 minutes.

When Pooja mentioned about this competition, I thought it would be a good idea for Kavya to participate and get some experience of talking on the stage in front of audience. When I asked Kavya if she would like to take part, she was ready. From among the topics provided, she selected 'My favorite recipe' and wanted to talk about cupcakes :). So, I wrote up the content for her and started practicing with her. On the very first day, she learnt half of it and then took about a week to perfect it. We used to practice everyday in the car while going to and coming back from school. Then, whatever she would learn, she would rehearse it with Gaurav in the evening. Finally, she had learnt it all and yesterday was the first time when she went on without any mistake.

To get her excited and also to add the extra touch to the content, I had got an apron and chef's hat from ToysRUs. I also actually made the cupcakes on Thursday with her to get her excited and to take some to the competition for other kids.

Finally, the day of competition arrived today. We all got up really early and got ready. We had to report by 9:45 and the location was at some church in Fremont. There were quite a few kids there - may be around 35-40 (all Indians :) )There were about 15 kids in Kavya's category. Kavya was the 5th one to speak. We all waited for Kavya's turn. When her name was announced, I took her to the stage and she immediately started. No fear, no hesitation and no mistakes.. I was so proud of my little girl !!

While earlier I thought it would be nice even if she just went on the stage and spoke something, now I wanted her to win! (Greedy mom :). So, we patiently waited for the results. Unfortunately, she did not win. I was disappointed.. although Kavya was just fine. She probably did not care or understand. So, we kept our disappointment to ourselves. Oh well - she had already won in our view when she went up there and did not make a single mistake. We treated her to her favorite lollipop and she was a happy kid !

Check out the video:

Holi @ Stanford 2010

Gaurav and I had been to Holi @ Stanford over 5 years back before we had kids and it was lot of fun. So, we decided to try it out again this year with kids.

We had mentally prepared Kavya that Holi is about colors and water and lots of fun. So, she was all excited and looking forward to it. Besides, her friends, Rutvi and Keya were also going to come. So she couldn't wait.

We started the preparation today morning - applied oil to the hair as well as on body and got dressed in old clothes which we could just throw away. We also packed a pair of good clothes and some garbage bags so that we can change/wrap in to avoid getting colors on the car seat.

Ishaan slept off in the car and so was not in very happy mood when we got there.. but overall we had a great time. Kavya loved throwing colors on everyone. The crowd there was quite big. The music was good. We danced for a while. And then headed to the food counter. The kids loved the mango lassi and it was then that we discovered that Ishaan knows how to drink with a straw :)

We got to the car and changed into clean pair and got home. It took some rubbing to take the colors off. Except for some red color on Gaurav's face, we were able to remove it all.

We will most likely do this again next year. Hopefully, Ishaan will enjoy it more next year.

Here are the pictures :

Kavya's Easter Egg Hunt 2010

Today, we joined Keya and Leena at the Easter Egg Hunt event held at one of Kavya's former classmate,Tanush's house. I had bought the eggs, baskets and bunny ears yesterday and got Kavya all excited about the egg hunt by getting her to stuff the eggs with candy last night.

I picked up Kavya from her school and reached Tanush's place around 6:00. I had synced up with Leena so we all reached at the same time. There were about 10-12 kids over all (including the little ones like Ishaan). The kids started out by decorating some foam eggs followed by decorating the real, but colored eggs. Then began the actual egg hunt. There were lots of eggs hidden in the backyard as well as house.. The boys were more aggressive and picked up basket full of eggs, while the girls were little slower and could only get 5-7 eggs each. Rashmi then took couple of girls upstairs and gave them 2-4 more eggs each. Overall, the kids were very happy and had a great time.

Then started the food session. Rashmi had prepared so many nice items for kids as well as adults. I liked the paneer puff the best.The kids had a blast with PBJ sandwiches, cakes, cookies, chips, fruits, juices and what not. I also gave flower (spring) lollipops to all the kids.

Kavya had swimming classes at 7:30 pm. So, we had to leave little early. But I know she had a great time at the egg hunt. She is looking forward to eating all the candies from the eggs :)

Here are the pictures :

Kavya(4 years & 3 months) and Ishaan (14 months)

Hello !

Here I am with updates about Kavya (4 years and 3 months) and Ishaan (14 months).
The main event this quarter was the trip to India where we celebrated Ishaan's first birthday and also got his mundan done.
While we all got sick during the India trip, it was really nice to meet all the friends and family. Kids had fun too.

Ishaan is growing up really fast. He is running all around. He has 7 teeth (4 top, 3 bottom) and 1 more on the way. He loves to eat everything. If he sees you eating something, he will come right at you saying "minne minne" (meaning "give it to me) as if asking you to feed him :). He understands everything and is also trying to convey lot of things. He gets very impatient when you don't understand or don't do as he wants. He is very stubborn and already knows how to throw tantrums - he will just lie down on the floor and cry :). He has been climbing stairs for a while now and recently, he has also learnt to climb down. His biggest achievement and my biggest relief this quarter is that he has started sleeping through the night. He loves to go out and often forces us to take him out - I guess he gets bored being at home all day. He is beginning to talk - says words like mamma, mummum, dada, me, cha, ghee, etc. Sometimes, although not very clear, it seems like he repeats what you say. He likes Kavya a lot. If you ask him to give Kavya a hug, he will go and hug her really tight. He also likes to interfere in whatever Kavya does and hence they end up fighting sometimes - but they have also started playing together more so than before. He can point and show you his body parts like nose, ears, tummy, hands, etc.

Kavya seems to have become more tolerant of Ishaan. She is also becoming more understanding and caring big sister. She continues to improve her reading, writing, math and logic skills. She can count till 100 in English as well as Gujarati. She is now learning the Gujarati alphabets. She enjoys doing the different learning activities in her activity book. We are now facing the dilemma of choosing the right school for her starting next school year (Aug 2010). She likes when we have friends over or when we plan some outing. She is enjoying her swim and bollywood dance classes. She also likes going to the library. Recently, we took her to the Children's Discovery Museum and she had a great time there. Summer will be here soon. We are hoping to go for biking, hiking and camping this summer.

Here are some of their pics for past few months :


Cheers,
Ami

Kavya is a fast learner

Kavya picks up whatever we do/tell her in couple of days.

Lately, we often put some conditions for her to get things done. Conditions like if you go wash your hands, I will give you a cookie. Or if you don't clean up, you will not get any more toys, etc.. So, she started to do the same to us. For eg: She would tell me : Mommy, please come and feed me otherwise I will create a mess. Or if you don't give me candy, I will not take you out :)

Since her conditions are usually not reasonable, we would tell her that she should not give such 'dhamki' to us. And guess what ? Within two days, she started telling us the same thing when we lay some condition for her. We were in the car the other day and she was taking forever to get in her car seat and put the seat belt. So, I told her that if she doesn't buckle up by the time I count to 3, I will not give her some card that I was holding for her. And her immediate response was " Mummy, don't give me that 'dhamki' " :)

I burst out laughing.. definitely not a good thing... but she was so cute and innocent and it is amazing how fast she picks up what we do.

Food - mummum - yummy yummy

Ishaan loves to eat. Anytime he sees someone eating something, he will go and make noises as if asking to feed him. If he sees something that he really likes, he will not rest till you give it to him.

As soon as he wakes up, he wants to get out of the bed and go downstairs. As soon as I begin to take him downstairs, he starts chanting mum-mum, mum-mum. Infact, his first words after he wakes up are mum-mum :)

I wish if his body would show how good of an eater he is.

Ishaan loves going out

Lately, Ishaan likes going out of the house a lot. The other day, Gaurav was sitting in the living room and Ishaan got his slippers and tried to put it on his feet and then pointed towards the front door. If you don't listen to his request (or may be demand :) ), then he starts crying or even lies down on the floor. If you tell him to wear his socks or shoes or sweater before going out, he will go and get those and cooperate very well while you put it on him.

Two days back, when the gate between living and dining room was open, he went down the stairs and came back up with slippers in his hand and brought it to Gaurav suggesting that he wanted to go out :)

I guess he is bored of being in the house all the time. I am glad summer will be here soon and then we can take him out more often.

Khichadi ma shu nakhvanu ?

Ishaan has khichadi (with different daal and veggies) almost everyday for lunch. He watches and waits as his nanny puts ghee into the khichadi. In the process, he has learnt to say 'ghee'. If you ask him 'Khichadi ma shu nakhvanu?' (What do you put in Kichadi?), he smiles and says 'Ghee'. He's such a cutteee.

Ishaan knows how to clean up

Ishaan is growing up so fast.. He seems to understand lot of things.

The other day he made a mess on the floor by dropping some food. So, we gave him a paper towel and asked him to clean up and to our surprise, he did clean it up :)
Then yesterday, he went to Taco Bell with Gaurav. While standing in the line, he noticed something on the floor. So, he picked up a paper napkin that was lying near by and began to clean up :)

It is amazing how fast they pick up certain things although they cannot talk much at this age.

Is Ishaan sleeping through the night ?

Well - may be ..
So, the first time he slept through the night was on Monday (2/15) night.
And then on Tuesday night he woke up around 3:00 for milk.. but then last night again he slept through the night.

So, I am going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that sleeping through the night becomes more of a habit than exception..

I am a happy, well-sleeping mom :)

Jan 2010 India trip

We were little skeptical about our Jan 2010 India trip with 2 small kids - especially after our last visit with 1-year old Kavya in Jan 2007. However, our excitement started to build up as we did some last minute shopping and packing. We weren't sure how the kids would do in the long flight.. but we had heard of good things about Emirates Airlines and their helpful staff and good service.

And then came Jan 10th - we were all packed and ready and excited. Parthiv gave us a ride to the airport. SFO to Dubai was a long flight, but it was uneventful. We all could get some sleep (although not as much as we would like), the kids didn't trouble too much and to our pleasant surprise, Gaurav and I could also watch a movie or two. So far so good. The 3 hours halt at Dubai airport also wasn't too bad. So, we were hoping that the short flight from Dubai to Ahmedabad would be relatively smooth - but we were so wrong. Kavya slept off as soon as the plane took off and then she woke up with pain in her ears. On one hand she was so tired and sleepy and on the other she had ear pain. She also threw up (good thing was that she gave me enough notice that I could take her to the toilet sink). She was crying badly and wanted to be held. Ishaan also didn't want to sit. He pooped twice during this short flight - requiring the tedious diaper change in the small toilets with very active Ishaan and bad smell :(. Both Gaurav and I were totally occupied with cranky kids - not even getting 5 mins of down time.

Finally, we were glad to land. Ahmedabad airport was a mess with passengers from 4 flights and everyone in rush to get their luggage and get out. We wondered what happened to people's civic sense when they argued and fought over the airport staff's decision to let people with kids (like us)jump the line. Both Kavya and Ishaan were very tired and wanted to be held and crying and we had to go through immigration and pick up luggage. One of the officers had pity on us and allowed me to go out and hand over kids to bhai-bhabhi who had come to receive us. That was a big relief (although 20 mins later Saumil came in with Ishaan crying at the top of his voice). Finally, we got our luggage and got home.

It felt very nice to meet friends and family. They were also very happy to see all of us - especially kids. It took us around 4 days to get over jet lag especially due to kids schedule - but eventually we got settled.

We had 3 main events in India : Ishaan's mundan, his first birthday party and Jigi's marriage. We did some shopping in the first 2-3 days. The arrangement of cook and a driver were big help. Also, my mom was in Ahmedabad for the wedding - so she helped with shopping. Uttrayan was also nice. The wind was good on both the days. We also got to see the new cool thing called gubbara (something like mini hot air balloon).

Then on 15th, Ishaan got diarrhea. We felt like dejavu. We got Dhara's dad's contact number and went to see him. Ishaan's stool report did not reveal any infection. So, Rajesh uncle said it was only indigestion. We stopped all dairy (except my milk) and all other foods except rice and banana. So, Ishaan got better very soon. We continued to control/monitor his diet.

The mundan and birthday party on Jan 17th were big success. Although Ishaan cried during mundan, it was overall very smooth. We had lunch at Toran (Gujarati thali) that morning. That turned out to be the only time we had food in a restaurant during that trip. We did eat to-go food at home, but the experience is definitely different. The birthday party was awesome. The decoration, the food, the people, the activities - everything was too good. The only regret is that we didn't get lot of time to spend with everyone. But at least we got to meet all those people who we wanted to meet while we were there.

Next day, I got diarrhea :( We could not go for my mama's surprise birthday party at Rajvadu. We decided that Kavya can go with my mom. So, she got all dressed up - but on the way to mom's, she threw up in the car. Kavya took a while to recover. She also got diarrhea 2 days later. She pretty much stopped eating - but after last trip's experience, we were not too worried about it.

In between, we could attend grah-shanti and the wedding. Missed couple of other functions, but we were happy we could atleast go for 2-3 hours for the wedding.

Few days later, Ishaan got diarrhea again. We were getting tired of kids' sickness. We also realized that we would need more time to settle down when we get back - for jet lag adjustment as well as for the kids to recover fully. So, we started to inquire if we could prepone our tickets. However, earlier tickets were not available. We continued to enjoy our time there with friends and family. Kavya loved going on a ride on a 2-wheeler. She also enjoyed watching all the animals on the streets like dog, cat, monkey, camel, horse, cow, elephant. She had love and fight relationship with Khushi. At times, they would be like the best sisters and play and share together and then at other times they would fight for their things and even hit each other. But that's how little girls are - its like they understand everything, but not really :). Kids had started to feel better. We also got to visit Kankaria and the zoo there. It was a good change. And then Kavya again threw up in the car when we were going to Bawarchi restaurnt for some nice punjabi food on the way back. And, we went home - continued to monitor/control her diet.

Finally, on 23rd night, when Gaurav called to inquire for tickets, we learnt that tickets for 26th are available. We were in a dilemma about what to do. We wanted to spend the time with friends and family members. We were also making plans of going to Shreenathji and mummy was also busy with some social activities due to the demise of Anandwala masaji. But at the same time, we thought that the extra time back home would help with getting settled. So, we decided to leave on 26th. The next two days were very busy with last minute shopping and packing and meeting everyone.

The flight back was uneventful. We took 3-4 days to settle down. Jyotsnamasi was out of town. So, we continued to stay at home and enjoy our vacation. Kavya started school on 28th. It took us almost a week to get over jetlag. We were glad we had the extra time to settle down.

Overall, the trip was a mixed experience. Kids getting sick was the worst part. Getting to meet everyone was the best part. Getting some shopping done was also good. We have decided that the next trip or two would be either Gaurav travelling alone or just the two of us with kids at mommy's place in NY. The next trip with kids will be probably 4 to 5 years later.