Ishaan is learning to self feed

For past couple of weeks, either Gaurav, Kavya or I would feed the finger food (those Gerber puffs) to Ishaan. However, since yesterday, he seems to be learning to self feed. He tries to hold the little pieces in-between his fingers and then attempts to put those fingers (and thus the food) in his mouth. This morning, out of 10 times, he probably did it successfully 9 times... Now, isn't that something ??

It's very funny to watch him while he does this because he does not have a very good grip yet and also he puts multiple fingers in his mouth and sometimes ends up with only fingers in his mouth while the food drops out :)

The best part is that this activity keeps him busy, so we can do some other work or eat while he feeds himself.

Video coming very soon...

Kavya pretends to be a baby ..

For most part, Kavya is out of the jealousy phase and seems to have accepted her little baby brother.. But end of one phase is only the beginning of another :) So, now is her new baby phase. She likes to pretend and be treated like a baby - just like Ishaan. Here are certain things that she does :

* When we go out for a walk in the evening, she would usually ride her bike and Ishaan would be in the stroller. However, for last few days, she would say that she is also a baby and hence she also wants to go in a stroller. So, we end up going with two strollers..
* She had started drinking her milk out of a regular mug with a straw, but now she insists on drinking out of a sippy cup and that too while lying in Gaurav or my lap - as if feeding a baby with a bottle.
* If I play peek-a-boo or something baby-ish with Ishaan that makes Ishaan smile/laugh, she wants me to do the same with her and when I do that, she also laughs.
* She wants to be carried around the house and upstairs for bed time just like Ishaan.
* She likes to eat Ishaan's finger food (those small Gerber puffs). If I give her some when I give those to Ishaan, she will quickly finish hers and then come to take all of Ishaan's. But lately, we have started telling her that she needs to be a good sister and not a mean sister and so she will eat some herself and also feed Ishaan some :)

Hopefully, she will grow out of this phase as Ishaan grows..

Milestone: Ishaan can climb stairs..

Ishaan is growing fast. Two days back, Gaurav saw him sitting on the 2nd step with Kavya and Kavya claimed that he got there by himself. Since we didn't see this with our own eyes, we were still in denial. Today, I was sitting at the top of the stairs (7 steps) and Ishaan was at the very bottom. Gaurav was standing right behind him.. and Ishaan started to climb - one step at a time to reach to me.. Couple of times, it seemed like he would fall, but he did just fine and made it to the top.

Gaurav and I could not decided whether to feel happy about Ishaan's new learning or to feel worried that we need to be constantly watching him now ? But I guess, since we were showing all of our teeth, we were happy and proud of our little bundle of joy!!

Peacful dinner at a restaurant with two kids.. really ?

Yes, today, Gaurav and I were craving for some nice zesty food. So, we became brave and decided to go to Chevy's - a Mexican Restaurant near by. It's not that we haven't been to any restaurant before with two kids, but the key word here is 'peaceful' :-) We decided to go little early, when Ishaan would take his evening nap. We called the restaurant and got ourselves on their wait list ahead of time so as to cut the wait time. We left home as soon as Ishaan started feeling sleepy and we got lucky, he went to sleep on the way. The wait time was only 2 mins. The next 45 mins were very memorable. We started with 'Guacamole by the table', and then went on to get Farmer's market Quesadilla and Veggie Enchiladas for main course.. Ummm.. awesome.. I had taken PBJ sandwich for Kavya - so she was happy. And to add to that, there was a balloon maker in that restaurant who made a nice little butterfly for Kavya. So, she went around with the butterfly. Ishaan slept through the main course and woke up when we were planning to get dessert. We still went ahead and got some fried ice cream and that was amazing too.. We came back home in little over 1 hour after enjoying a great dinner - something we hadn't really enjoyed in a long time...

Looking forward to next such dinner..

Ishaan's progress over the past 3 months

Ishaan is 7.5 months old now. Over the past 3 months, he has learnt to roll over, sit up, crawl (mostly on tummy), stand up while holding as well as get back to sitting position after being in crawl position. It seems like he will start walking soon. It is amazing how fast kids progress during the first couple of years of life.

Kavya's innocence

In the evening, we were having fun in the patio. When it was time to go in, we asked Kavya to wash hands and legs using the garden water pipe. Kavya held her hands and legs out for the wash and then we asked her to wipe her feet on the door mat. After wiping her feet, she realized that she needs to dry her hands too. So, she wiped them on the door mat too :-) Gaurav and I just burst out laughing on seeing her innocence.. Gaurav immediately remarked that we often forget, but she is still just 3.5 years old..

Ishaan can sit back from crawling position

Starting this week, Ishaan has learnt to sit back up from crawling position. So, now he can go from sitting to crawling to sitting very easily. It is fun to see him learn these new things and also see him tumble down sometimes in the process :-)

Ishaan has started to waive bye-bye

On Sunday evening we had some friends over and when they left, Gaurav noticed that Ishaan was also waiving bye-bye, but then thought it was just a coincidence. But Monday morning, when I was leaving for work and waived bye-bye to Ishaan, he reciprocated. I didn't realize this, but it caught Gaurav's attention. Since then, we noticed that Ishaan has started to waive his hand in response to the words 'Bye-Bye'. So, now at any time, if we say 'Bye-Bye Ishaan', he would smile and start waving his hands.. Its so cute..

We are getting excited and looking forward to all his new learnings (except running around :) )

Kavya (3 yrs and 7 months) and Ishaan (6 months)

Here I am with more updates on both kids. Kavya is little over 3.5 years and Ishaan is little over 6 months already !!

This past quarter has been very eventful for all of us. We did a long road trip in mid June to LA (Disneyland) and San Diego with both kids, Koki-ba went back to India in June, and then we also flew to NY two weeks back - first flight for Ishaan.

Ishaan started turning over when he was just a week shy of 5 months. And then just before turning 6 months, he started to sit without support for good amount of time. In past 2 weeks he has also started to crawl a bit - In Gaurav's words, he moves like a caterpillar - goes forward a bit and then gets back on his tummy and then goes forward again. We also started solid foods (rice and oat cereal) for him at 4.5 months and veggies just over this past weekend. He demands lot of attention and likes being carried around. If you put him down, he starts crying. He is very active and gets very restless easily. He likes to put everything in his mouth - almost seems like he will start teething soon.

Kavya is also growing up fast. She is learning to read and write. She can also identify all the car brands (Toyota, Honda, .. and more than 20 others ...) through their symbols. She likes to play and take care of Ishaan, but she still has some jealousy issues. She also does not like to share her toys and books with Ishaan - she would shout "No, don't touch.. that is mine, bhaiyu' :) Her English has improved a lot. For more than half of times, she now speaks in English and we have to remind her to speak in Gujarati. She had a blast at her first disneyland visit and at grand parents house in NY.

Looking back, it seems like Kavya was much easier to handle than Ishaan at this age:)

Here are some of their pics :

Kavya : School dilemma

Kavya has been going to Bright Horizons, which is like a school as well as day care since Sept 2008. She started out with only 2 days a week, then we increased it to 3 days a week in November and then 5 days starting April 2009. She took few months to adjust and get used to the school. Now she also has a good friend, Keya Shah, that she usually hangs out with.

We had planned to start her with Challenger school which has more academic focus from Aug 24 2009. We were determined because we were thinking that she is smart and so she needs more academic challenges than what Bright Horizons offers and besides, since we have been brought up with academic focus, that's bound to affect our thought process. Also, at Bright Horizons, she spends about 2-3 hours playing outside everyday (even in winters) that we did not like too much due to weather/health issues and also it came across as lack of academic activities.

Ever since we told her teachers at Bright Horizons that Kavya will be moving to Challenger in August, they had been suggesting that we reconsider our decision and that change is hard on kids and that Kavya is comfortable at Bright Horizon. But so far that did not affect our decision.

This week we got a letter from Challenger that the first month fees are due by August 3rd and then the reality sank in. We are seriously reconsidering if this is the right thing for Kavya as well as us at this time . Kavya and I went to Challenger yesterday to check it out again and I also wanted to see if Kavya likes it. She liked it but said that she wants to go there after she gets little bigger :)

Here are some of the thinking points :

As her teacher had mentioned, she is very well adjusted to the routine and place at Bright Horizons. Also, it took her so long time to get used to there. So, is she really ready for a change? Will she adjust to Challenger ? What if she takes such a long time again? Can we handle that struggle and resistance at this time with little Ishaan in the picture? Would it be better to let her spend one more year at Bright Horizon and let her get more matured and develop more understanding before making the move? Should we just let her enjoy as a kid before throwing her in the academic pressures?

Other minor point is also that they offer lunch at Bright Horizons, but at Challenger, I will have the added task of packing her lunch every morning. Do we really want to add more work in the fully-packed morning schedule at this time ?

Although not the most important thing, but Challenger will be overall about 300$ per month more expensive than Bright Horizons considering the flat fee difference plus the added tax benefit we get for Bright Horizons since it falls in day care category.

We are still discussing and reconsidering, but leaning more towards letting Kavya continue in Bright Horizons for another year. We will loose the $320 application fee + deposit at Challenger, but that's not a big deal at this time.

Any Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?