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.