Adventures in Mommyhood

Republic Day 2012

2012-01-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Republic Day!

And look how much I've grown in the last year..

Storytime - Guest post for Divya

2011-12-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

Books make a big part of both my boys' life and its surprising that they have never found a mention on this blog before. Inspired by Divya's wonderful blog, I had been considering writing a post about the most loved books in our house but never got around to doing it. So recently, when Divya invited me to write one such post to celebrate the blog's one year anniversary, it was the perfect opportunity!

Although Divya's blog is titled one-story-a-day, in our house the theme is more like one story a week or even a month! In fact, there are some books that are such favourites that they are read over and over again for months.

Adventures of Curious George by H.A.Rey has got to be Kabir's most favourite series of books. Top 4 favourites in this series are: CG gets a medal, CG rides a bike, CG goes to the hospital and CG takes a job. These books are longer than the usual Curious George books and tell the tales of how George's curiosity always lands him into trouble and how he manages to get out of these situations.

Another book that has stood the test of time in our house is the British author Jill Murphy's 'Whatever Next!' This is a charming story about Baby Bear who wants to visit the moon. So he finds a space helmet (kitchen colander), space boots (rain boots) and a rocket (an empty carton) and takes off to the moon to have a picnic. The book leaves much to the reader's imagination and is a great read for children (like Kabir) who are obsessed with the moon. While on topic of the moon, another great book we like is Eric Carle's 'Papa, please get the moon for me'.

I should also mention some of Anurag's favourite books. He likes most picture books where he can point at things and say what they are (Richard Scarry books are great for this). But his most favourite one (which can be used to calm him down during the worst of outbursts) is "Bear on a Bike" written by Stella Blackstone and illustrated by Debbie Harter. This was one of the first children's book that we ever owned and was much loved by Kabir as a baby and now by Anurag. There's something so special about the rhyme and the illustration in this book that it tends to be an instant hit with kids between 1 to 3 yrs of age.

It was hard to pick only a few titles in this post out of all the well-loved books. So I will now try to post more regularly about the current favourite ones in our house. Thanks Divya, for this opportunity. I look forward to many many years of one-story-a-day!

The many faces of happiness

2011-12-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

...in the last 1(ish) year

Sports Day

2011-12-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

Like most schools in Mumbai, Kabir's school had its sports day earlier this month after weeks of practice. Races included - forward running, backward running, hopping, animal walk, walking while balancing a block on the head and lemon&spoon race. Unfortunately, the races happened during regular school hours and parents were not invited. We were, however, invited for their prize distribution on a later date. And fortunately, there were prizes for all kids and not just the winners. Here is Kabir receiving his participation prize (a hockey stick and ball) with his dear class teacher Ms. Harshada on the left.

Weekend away from kids

2011-12-18T02:31:00.001-08:00

Last weekend was the first time ever that I left the kids behind to go away for a trip. It was made worse by the fact that Anurag was sick with cold and a fever when I left early Saturday morning. It was a 3 day work related trip where I got an opportunity to be part of a village micro planning exercise organised in a remote tribal village that has been partially displaced by the Dimbhe dam in the Bhimashankar Hills.

It was hard to be away knowing that Anurag wasn't well. There were no phones or cell phone connectivity where I was, so it wasn't possible to call (except getting some messages from home through people that arrived later). At the same time, the visit was an incredible experience for me, and the stay was most memorable. When I got home on Monday evening, I was greeted with lots of hugs and kisses from the boys, which soon turned into a fight for attention. Kabir had managed well in my absence but Anurag was not in a very good shape. I had to take him to the doctor the same evening, who thought that Anu was suffering from separation anxiety! In any case, he's got much better now. And in spite of all this, I am really glad that I went.

Water play

2011-12-18T02:04:00.000-08:00

The boys enjoyed some water play with their friends a couple of weekends ago. Thanks to Seema aunty for her creative ideas - colouring the water with food dye, having the kids hunt for coins and finishing off with some foam bath. The popcorn and mini-pizzas afterwards made for a perfect ending!
(And how nice to be able to do this even in the month of December!)

Xmas singing

2011-12-06T09:56:00.001-08:00

This weekend turned out to be one packed with action, the highlight of which was the Xmas program at IIT Staff Club organized by some really talented women on campus. Kids had been practicing for this for a month. On Saturday, they presented the program at the Staff Club and today they made a trip to the local Asha chapter for yet another program. The main program included carol singing, dancing and skit by older kids and ofcourse meeting with Santa.

Kabir was dressed as an angel and was one of the younger kids in the group. His favourite songs were: I'm an angel, Go tell it on the mountain and King seekers travelling. After these first three songs in the sequence Kabir couldn't wait to be done. Soon after, he ditched his buddies and ran over into the audience section and sat next to me, which was all the more funny because his friends in the singing group started calling him back as he vigorously shook his head :)

The little angel

This next one wasn't supposed to be an action song, but I guess Kabu really wanted to express himself.

He was visibly bored by this song and can be seen signalling that he wants to come and sit in the audience

The nativity scene set to "Silent night"

And finally, some dancing and giggling with Santa!

Family and friends

2011-11-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

Some family pictures from the Saturday night party at our house
Photo Courtesy: Souvik Mahapatra

Playtime

2011-11-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

The boys letting out some steam after dinner this evening. The show went on for atleast half an hour!

A colourful airplane

2011-11-20T01:36:00.000-08:00

Kabu is obsessed with airplanes and he loves to paint. Put them together and this is what you get.

(I drew a pencil outline at his request and he did the rest)

He kept warning me that the plane was about to fly off, so I'm glad that I was able to click a photo before that.

Open spaces

2011-11-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

I'm frequently asked what I miss most about the US since returning back to India. My answer undoubtedly is "open spaces" which should not be surprising to anyone in Mumbai. However I had hoped that things would be different on the IIT campus.

We live across the street from the IIT gymkhana, yet it is not too accessible to children. It is reserved for students between 5pm-8pm on weekdays and we have been rudely asked to leave the grounds many times. There are other smaller grounds on campus but they are ill maintained. For example, we frequently spot snakes in the Shishu Vihar play ground which is closest to our house.

When I was a kid growing up on the same campus, children would always play in their building compound and grounds were only meant for more organized sports. However, with the large number of cars in every building it has now become dangerous to let children play in the building compound.

So unfortunately, we don't have many options left. Usually, evenings are spent going for walks on the campus road sidewalks with the kids (Kabu usually rides his scooter). Sometimes we go to the guest house which has become the meeting point for most campus kids in the evening (playing on the covered concrete area or on the sloping guest house lawns). On weekends and off-semester days we go to the gymkhana grounds where we play soccer with the kids or just let them run amok.

Fun during festivities

2011-11-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

Welcoming Zoya

2011-11-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Kabir and Anurag now have a little baby sister! Kakku bua gave birth to beautiful Zoya on October 22nd and we are thrilled to welcome her in our family.
Kabir asked to see Zoya's pictures and came up with a long list of names that he will use to call her (Akshita, Ameena, Riya, Priya...and some other names of girls in his class). He even got to "see" her through a Skype videochat. Anurag, ofcourse, has now been elevated to the status of "bade bhai sahab" now that he too has become a big brother.
Zoya - here's wishing you a long, healthy and happy life! We hope to see you soon.

Pictures

2011-10-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the boys taken a couple of weeks ago at Delhi airport

Finally..the biggest milestone

2011-10-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night was the first time EVER in his life that Anurag slept through the night. That's right - he never did that in the last 19 months. Not once. Not even by fluke. Weaning him off last month certainly did the trick, as it had with Kabir. I, however, am yet to get used to sleeping uninterrupted through the night again. My body is still in denial and disbelief!

Remembering mamiji

2011-10-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

Madhu mami passed away last Thursday (22nd Sept). She was one of the strongest women to have influenced my life and was a role model for me in many respects.

Kabir remembers her as "badi nani" who had gifted him his green laptop. We had seen her last in Dec 2010.

Kabir and Esha

2011-10-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some memories from Esha's stay with us in the 1st week of August. Kabir & Esha were inseparable for the 2 days that Esha was here. Esha even went to Kabir's school with him and they both insisted on wearing similar clothes!

Allergy update

2011-10-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Kabir's food allergy symptoms had been gradually subsiding over the last one year. In May this year we realized that he is able to eat baked goods with egg in them (as can Anurag!).
I got very excited when he could even eat chocolates with whole almonds in them without any problem. However, we soon discovered that eating walnuts is an entirely different story. I took this picture to show to his ped - he had a swollen face for 2 days.:(
Hopefully this too shall pass.

Anu talking

2011-09-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have been slow at updating the blog lately with all the craziness at work and home. I will try to catch up by posting some of the pictures taken during the last month and half. For now, here is a video of Anurag that I took yesterday.

Anu has been talking quite a bit lately. His favorite words other than the normal mama, papa, bhaiya etc are hoot (book), jalu (jhadu/broom), ball, fish (accompanied by making a fish face), joosh (juice), joota (shoes), bhau-bhau (dog), barish (rain) and all the animals in his animal book like horse, cheetah, hathi, monkey etc. My most favorite, however, is his loving "mammaaa, aa jaao" even though he usually says that pounding at the bathroom door when I'm inside!

Hiking up the IIT hill

2011-09-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, we did a little hike up the IIT hill. It was the day after Rakhi, and we had some family visiting us. The hike was easy with beautiful views of Powai lake and Vihar lake from the top. This was Kabir's first hike and he managed beautifully. We didn't take Anurag with us since the trail was slippery from the rains. The view made us realize how lucky we are to be living on such a green campus.
Vihar lake

Kabir on top of the hill

View of the IIT campus and the Powai lake

Saurabh with Prafull uncle

Udaipur visit - Monsoon 2011

2011-07-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day of vacation in Udaipur before we head back to Mumbai tomorrow. Ths kids enjoyed themselves a lot this time. Kabir has bonded very well with dadosa and dadisa and can spend the entire day with them without asking for me. And Anurag loves the sprawling house and the yard to walk around in all day and explore new things.
We did the usual things - boating on lake Fatehsagar, coffee and icecream at the lakeside stall, a day of shopping at Hathipol, walks around the house and to the river and eating a lot of good food at home. In addition, Kabir went out with dadosa almost everyday to the local fields and playgrounds and also spent a day at the zoo. As always, dadisa made a whole lot of good food- patre, khaman dhoklas, handva, maki ki dhokle and muthiye to name a few. This was my first time visiting Udaipur during the monsoons and it was beautiful!
On the terrace

Anu and dadisa

Icecream by Fatehsagar

Anu with Mira didi

With Pinky, Meera and Khamani didi in their khet
Exploring the backyard

peekaboo

One year since our move

2011-07-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

It has now been a year since we returned back to India (as of July 10th). In this year we have come a very long way, physically and figuratively, from our life back in Portland. So much so that it is hard to believe that it has only been a year since we moved.

On this occasion, I want to post a really special video. This was recorded by Izabella and Iren last year in Portland. Kabir spoke fluent Hungarian at that time. Recently, when I showed this video to Kabir his response was, "What is this kid saying?". To me, nothing can be a better reminder of how much life has changed for us in the last year.

I get teary-eyed whenever I watch this video. We were packing our belongings in our home at that time and Iren had taken Kabir over to Izabella's house. In the video, Kabir first recites all his favorite nursery rhymes. Then he tells Izabella that he is going to leave for India in an aeroplane and finally he says goodbye to Izabella, Detti, Arpi and Iren - his second family in Portland.

Goa fun

2011-07-18T02:32:00.000-07:00

Playing in the hotel's garden

Trip to Fort Aguada

Playing in the sand at Baga beach

Little champ

Anu takes a ride

Time to head back to Mumbai- waiting for the Konkan-kanya Express

Calm after the storm

2011-07-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Dressed up

2011-07-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

Dressed for Meenal mausi's wedding in Goa

Thumbs down

2011-07-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

Anurag's thumb got caught in the door yesterday. Its something that I am generally paranoid about as I always watch for little fingers on the edge before shutting any door (especially the car door). Yet, it happened by accident, right in front of me. His thumb started to bleed and swelled up. We rushed him to the hospital and got an x-ray done. Thankfully there was no fracture. We were referred to a surgeon since the cut is where his nail meets the skin. Fortunately the surgeon thought that the nail (which is all blue) will come out on its own and a new nail should be able to grow in its place. The thumb looks pretty ugly but the little guy is now oblivious to it now and is back to being merry.

Cars

2011-07-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

Traffic jam in our house

Kabir's new school

2011-07-09T01:55:00.000-07:00

Kabir started Kindergarten this week. I was concerned about how he would like it, considering he has never been very excited about Sishu Vihar. To my pleasant surprise, he LOVES his new school.

Kabir's new classroom. Can you spot him?

When I dropped him to his classroom on day 1, he held his teacher's hand and walked away without turning back to look at me. He came back home with a big smile on his face and many stories about his new Urvi teacher.

A poor picture, but one that captures the mood very well

Toothy grin

2011-07-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

Kabir starts Kindergarten!

2011-06-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

That's right! Kabir has been admitted to Lower KG. His school starts tomorrow. His first day of schooling ever. What a big day!

Except, he's not going to school tomorrow. We're taking him to Goa for a few days to attend a wedding in the family. And after we get back from Goa, we'll soon leave for Udaipur to spend a few weeks with grandparents. This certainly does not bode well for his future. But I don't think Kabir is complaining!

These will have to wait a few days...

A new job

2011-06-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today, exactly one year from the day I quit my last job in Portland, I submitted the official paperwork for my new job. It is an exciting new development, but it also makes me a little nervous.

Last year, when I quit my job, I felt very comfortable with my decision to spend the coming months with the boys and focusing on getting settled in our new home after the relocation. The initial months after our move seemed like vacation time, but as soon as we had settled in, I started feeling uneasy. Being a stay-at-home mother required boundless energy and patience and most importantly, it offered no luxury of personal space and time. Although I was enjoying being a witness to the boys' special moments and milestones, I was also starting to feel the need to start working outside the home.

However, I struggled to understand this urge of wanting to "work". Afterall, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that none of my official work in the past 8 years has directly had any significant or tangible value to the society. At the end of the day raising two kids to be responsible citizens would count as a bigger accomplishment. By wanting to work was I really looking for an escape route - an escape from tending to the needs of my kids to fulfilling my own needs instead? So was I being selfish in wanting to have a job? And why do men never have to grapple with such issues? This was a regular theme of my thoughts which only led to confusion, guilt and sometimes even anger.

In the meantime, I received two job offers. One was a work-from-home opportunity from my previous employer that required frequent travel and another was a full-time offer by a competing firm. Without much hesitation, I turned them both down. The roles were similar to the role in my last job, yet they no longer motivated me. They did not seem worth the time I was going to have to spend away from Kabir and Anurag.

Fortuitously, I came across a wonderful opportunity, right here on the IIT campus. The role required me to work with rural communities, their elected representatives and municipal and administrative bodies to tackle core problems in the area of water, energy, agriculture, infrastructure etc. I started exploring the job informally at first. Surprisingly, the questions in my head started to fade and no longer confronted me. I tried out the role for about 3 months and realized that I had never felt so passionate about any job in the past! I then formally applied for the job and got officially appointed. I'm doing it part time for now, with the option of turning it full time at a later point.

I hope that this is the middle path that I was looking for - one that allows my identity to grow beyond that of a mother while allowing me to meet the expectations that I have set for myself both as a mother and as a working professional. It is probably still going to be a tightrope walk, but I feel ready for it!

Two (many?) cooks

2011-06-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Mother's helper

2011-06-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Anu has turned into a big helper! He was found diligently sweeping the floor this evening. Now this is a hobby he shares with his brother. Afterall, sweeping floors was Kabir's favorite passtime when he was about the same age. It must be in their genes!

Circle of life

2011-06-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

A banana tree fell in our courtyard yesterday. It had a huge bunch of bananas hanging from it, and I suppose the tree could no longer carry its weight. While getting some of the bananas gave much excitement to Kabir, he was sad for the tree and asked many questions about why the tree fell and what would happen to it now.

Today, Saurabh's dadosa (Kabir-Anurag's great-grand father) passed away in a hospital in Pune. The kids had visited dadosa a few times over the past couple of years. Dadosa loved children very much and used to shower his affection on Kabir and Anurag. He had once asked me not to be too strict with the kids and to not raise my voice with them till they are atleast 5 years old! Kabir refers to him as "sabse bade dadosa".
Picture taken in Dec 2009

Picture taken in Sept 2010

Kabir had many questions when we gave him the news about dadosa. We talked about death, rebirth and the circle of life. He even spotted a little baby banana tree growing next to the one that had fallen.

The inquisitive mind

2011-06-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Kabu has now bonded very well with his nana and he frequently insists on going over to nana's house to spend the day and sometimes even to sleep over. In nana's house there are no rules - he can eat what he likes, watch as much airplane videos on youtube as he desires and go to bed as late as he wishes. Apparently, he also has long conversations with nana. Kabu usually has lots of questions about planets, phases of the moon, airplanes and almost everything under the sun, to which Nana usually responds with long and scientific answers.

Here is one such conversation he recently had with nana at bedtime, when nana was trying to make him sleep (retold by nana):

Kabir: Nana, what is a motorcycle? I know what's a cycle.
nana: Motor cycle does not have pedals. It has a motor which makes it run.
K (lying in bed looking at the ceiling fan): Does that fan also have a motor?
N: Yes it also has a motor which runs on electricity.
K: Is it the same electricity which sometimes goes away and then the fridge, microwave and washing machine stop working?
N: yes it is the same electricity
K: Just like my toy car doesn’t run when it doesn’t have batteries.
N (pleased): Very Good. Yes it is the same type of electricity.
K: Where does electricity come from? Why does it go away?
N: It is produced in power stations and brought in wires.Sometimes a tree falls on a wire during heavy rains and that causes electricity to go away for some time.
K: Where are the wires? I don't see them
N: I shall show you tomorrow. You can see them near the fan, otherwise they are hidden in the wall.
K: No I want to see now.

After some persuasion he agreed to wait till next morning. Next morning he asked to see the wires and then stated showing nana where ever he saw a wire. He thought that the gas tube connected to the gas stove was also a wire.

Next day-
K: Nana, does motorcycle have a wire?
N: Not of the type in the fan. Motorcycle has its own electricity producing method, because it has to be portable.

Another time -
K: Do airplanes have motors?
N: Yes they do

Yet another time -
K (sitting on the toilet seat looking up at the tube light): Nana, you said that the sun is very hot so it gives light. Is that tube light also hot?
N: Yes it is also hot but not as much as an electric bulb. It is possible to give light without giving too much heat.

Anurag walks!

2011-06-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Four days after his first few steps (and a week before his 15 month birthday), I think we can officially declare that Anurag can now walk! It is a different matter that it requires much persuasion and motivation to make him do so. I even managed to get it on video today.

First steps

2011-05-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Anurag has taken his first few independent steps! Anita and I both witnessed it yesterday, so I certainly didn't imagine it. He took about 4 steps from the armchair to the wall. He has done that quite a few times again today but I haven't managed to capture it on video yet. All of us, especially Kabir, are very excited about this new development. In fact, Kabir had even been giving him tips and demonstrations to Anu on how to walk :-)
I hope to post a video soon.

Anurag's first hair cut

2011-05-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

I gave Anurag his first ever hair cut today. His hair had grown really long. We were hoping to leave it intact for a mundan ceremony but since the ceremony can not be held for another year, I thought it was time to give the poor kid some relief in this heat. Here's a mandatory before and after pic that an occasion like this calls for.

The haircut isn't the best, but in my defence he didn't stay still at all. Moreover, Kabir announced that he liked the haircut and in this case his opinion matters most after Anurag's. I think he looks so different and boyish in his new hairstyle that it will take me some time to get used to it. Even though I will miss his lovely soft curls, I am glad to say goodbye to his hairpins and bands!

Bandar mamma

2011-05-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Saurabh recently discovered a voice recording feature in his phone and asked Kabu to recite some of his favourite poems so he could record them. Kabir gladly obliged but soon got a little nervous and got it all jumbled.
Here is the audio. Its an absolute gem in my opinion!

The grass is greener on this side

2011-05-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

View from the boathouse at IIT

Little troublemaker

2011-05-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

This is turning out to be a third post in the "First time" series, and it definitely takes the cake. Today, Anurag managed to lock his nanny in the bathroom. That's right. He can barely reach the lock and by some fluke he managed to slide the little rod which locked the door while his nanny was in the bathroom. And there was nobody else at home. So Anita (the nanny) was locked in while Anurag was locked out. They both panicked. Anita started screaming for help from the bathroom window while Anurag starting bawling outside the bathroom door. It so happened that none of our neighbours were around at that time. Fortunately, Kabir's school teacher from Sishu Vihar heard Anita's cries and came up to find out what was going on. She had my phone number and called me. After some drama (which involved onlookers trying to break our main door down while waiting for us to get home), we could finally get inside the house and rescue both of them. Fortunately, Anu was fine at the end of the 30 mins episode (except that he had red swollen eyes from all the crying) and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Lessons learnt: 1. We need to remove the outside lock on the bathroom door altogether, and 2. Anu is going to give Kabu a run for his money in the area of trouble-making.
But all is well, that ends well.

Another First...

2011-04-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

..but this time, not in a good way. Kabu has been down with fever and has been diagnosed with tonsillitis. I will admit it - last weekend we fed him some really good icecream when he had just recovered from an illness. Kabir even warned us ("the doctor has asked me not to eat anything cold") but we thought the icecream was too good to worry about the doctor's warning. So now his tonsils are really inflamed and he had to start a course of antibiotics. It is his first time on antibiotics ever, and I am disappointed that we didn't take the doctor's advice seriously.
The good news is that he is feeling better since we started the medication. He is happy that he is getting to stay at home instead of having to go to sishu vihar and even tries to push his luck by asking me to take him swimming.

Movie Time

2011-04-23T02:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we took Kabir out for his first movie ever - Rio. He has never been interested in watching TV or cartoons, but we thought this would be a nice change for him. We dropped Anurag at nana-nani's place and headed to the multiplex in the R city Mall.
The movie was wonderful! It was a 3D version but Kabu didn't want to wear the glasses (his reason:"I can see without glasses so I don't need them"). I had already told him the story of the movie, hoping that it would help him follow along. He was surprisingly engaged for about an hour. But then he ran out of popcorn and wanted to leave! So I took him out in the seating area where we played and ate some more. Saurabh decided to stay in and watched the whole movie :-)
We had a good time and the theater experience was amazing. The best part was the food: everything from kathi rolls and chaat to pasta and icecream was available and there were people who came in to the theater during intermission to take orders and even delivered the food at our seats! That was probably the only reason why they provided an intermission in a 1.5 hr long movie! I think I'm going to be watching many more animated movies in the future.

Good morning Anurag!

2011-04-10T03:02:00.000-07:00

Kabu doesn't like to start his morning before playing with Anu even if it means waking him up. These days the boys' favourite rhyme is "ithe ithe bas re mora" in Marathi. In this video, Anu starts to do "ithe ithe" with his finger right after Kabu wakes him up. This rhyme has become such a favourite that even the grandparents (who otherwise don't understand Marathi) can now say this rhyme!

Happy Gudi Padwa!

2011-04-04T01:04:00.000-07:00

A memorable weekend

2011-04-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

What a weekend this has been! India's World Cup victory on Saturday will be etched in the minds of Mumbaikars for a long long time. If the celebration in Powai on Saturday night was as crazy as it was, I can only imagine what it must have been like in the city around Wankhede stadium. The festivities certainly made us grateful to be in Mumbai that night!
Inspite of a late night celebration on Saturday, we continued the merry making today by visiting our close family friends in Santa Cruz and spending the day there. Kabir and Anurag had a great time with Tani and Amu. The day included playing with many toys (toy-kitchen and Thomas the train set being top favorites), running on the terrace, making & eating pizzas and a trip to the Juhu beach. The kids had so much they just didn't want to return home!
Anu and Amu

The busy cooks

Juhu beach on Sunday evening

Kabu and Tani

Playing on the beach

Anu gets his feet wet

Anu and papa

I spy with my little eye

2011-04-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: Renu aunty

First words

2011-03-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

Anu has started saying his first few words. His first word was "tata" (accompanied with a wave), which he has been saying for a while now. The other two words that he says, predictably, are "mama" and "papa". While "mama" is reserved for the rare occasions when he is in distress, "papa" has become a new favourite.

Below is a rather cute video of the two boys vying for papa's attention. Papa's attention, alas, is on the live World Cup Cricket match streaming on his laptop :-)

Rang Barse

2011-03-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

Kabir and Anurag celebrated their first Holi last Sunday. They were a little afraid at first but soon got the hang of it!

Kabu pointed his deadly water gun at anyone who tried to colour him

Anu couldn't stop looking around at all the crazy people

Kabu wants the yellow gulal...

...and the red one too

With nana-nani at Staff Club

Holi with friends from the MicroE group

Holi has always been my favorite festival. I am pretty sure the boys are going to say that too!
PS: Many thanks to Ms. Renu Mittal for taking these pictures and for gladly sharing them

Dear Sleep, my long lost friend

2011-03-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

Where have you been? There was once a time when we were best friends and at the end of every tiring day, I could count on you to be there for me. But since the last three years (ever since Nursing came into my life), you have remained elusive. Please, come back and make friends with me again. Remind me what it was like to embrace you in an effortless manner. Please let tonight be the night when you come to me and leave me rejuvenated.

Amen!

Anurag's birthday parties

2011-03-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

We held a small, informal pool party on the terrace to celebrate Anurag's first birthday on March 8th. It was only appropriate to put the water baby back into a tub of water on his first birthday!

Kabir was happy to get the pools ready for the kids

The birthday boy enjoyed his brief stay in the pool (had to be brief because of the cold he is still fighting)

As was expected, Kabir refused to step out of the pool till it was time to eat the cake!

On an earlier weekend, we also held a more formal birthday party.

We felt fortunate to have close family, and good friends - both old and new- with us to celebrate this day. More pictures are on Facebook here and here

Papa's beta

2011-03-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

Happy 1st birthday little sunshine

2011-03-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

Anurag the fish

2011-03-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

This fish likes to swim...and apparently to read too!

Sleeping babies

2011-02-26T09:58:00.001-08:00

Saturday Feb 26 11:30PM

The race starts now

2011-02-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Kabir's playschool - Sishu Vihar -had organized various events this month to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It turns out that Kabir won the first prize in two of the sporting events. One was a running race and the other was a "walking backward race" (no surprises here - I expect him to win any race that requires him to do things backward)!
Kabir getting his prize from Sutapa madam

What struck me most about this was how early competition starts in India. Kabir has already learnt that it is good to come "first" in any race. A few days ago when he told me that he had stood first I did not understand the context and just told him that it was alright to not be first as long as he had enjoyed what he was doing. In hindsight, I wonder how practical this advice is for kids here these days. But I do hope that we can shield him from the pressure that comes with competition for as long as possible.

playtime

2011-02-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

It is fun to see the boys play together. I have a feeling that "sharing" is soon going to be the biggest issue in our house :-)

Anurag stands with support

2011-02-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

For a couple of weeks now Anurag has been pulling himself up to standing and trying to bend down and pick up things from the floor. His little alphabet books are just perfect for this game!

He has also started taking one or two steps by holding on to the couch.

Kabir's dance moves

2011-02-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

This video was taken about a month ago in nani's house. Kabir wanted to show some dance moves. It didn't bother him that there was no music playing. I have no idea where he picked these up from!

Birthday Quiz

2011-02-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

Last year I posted this on Kabir's birthday. On similar lines, here's a birthday quiz for this year. We played this during Kabu's birthday party at home. Here goes:

A. Which of the following did Kabir NOT do in the last year?
1- Empty a tube of toothpaste and paint himself with it
2- Try to roll Anurag off his bed
3- Stealthily nibble on freshly baked muffins in someone else’s kitchen
4- Stay with his grandparents for an evening in our absence

B. Which of the following did Kabir finally start doing this year
1. Sleeping through the night
2. Playing by himself
3. Gladly sharing his toys
4. Eating his meals without a fuss

C. You can tell that Kabir is a great “big brother” figure because
1. He fights with other kids to reclaim Siddhant’s toys
2. He monitors Advait in restaurants and sincerely announces his concerns
3. He cries when Anurag gets his vaccines
4. All of the above

D. What are Kabir's favourite haunts on the campus
1. Coffee shack
2. Sishu Vihar
3. Guest House
4. Sarovar Udyan

E. To go from from Staff hostel to Main gate, Kabir’s most preferred mode of transport would be:
1. His red scooter
2. Nanaji’s car
3. Tum-tum
4. Papa’s bicycle

F. What does Kabir want to be when he grows up
1. Astronaut
2. Chef
3. Doctor
4. Train driver

G. Which of the following has Kabir NOT been obsessed about at any point in the last year?
1. Big yellow dumper truck
2. Mixer trucks
3. The moon
4. Red scooter
5. Cleaning up after himself

Answers:
A-4 :We're still waiting for the day when the two kids will happily stay behind with grandparents to give us an occasional break.
B-1,2,4 :Kabir finally started sleeping through the night this year. I had sincerely started doubting if this would ever happen. He has stopped needing constant attention and spends considerable time playing alone with his toys or "reading". He has also become reasonably good about mealtimes and I have finally stopped worrying about what to cook as he will eat almost anything that we cook for ourselves. For all these reasons, this past year has been a true milestone year!
C-4: Kabir happens to be the oldest kid in his circle of close friends and he certainly acts that way!
D-1: He loves to go to the coffee shack to eat Maggi noodles. Home-cooked Maggi does not cut it for him.
E-3: Tum-tums are small buses that runs on various routes inside the IIT campus. Kabir likes to sit on the back seat and loves it when the bus goes over speed-bumps. At home, he runs his own fleet of tum-tums all day and gladly offers ride to wherever you may wish to go.
F: At the time the quiz was prepared, Kabir wanted to be a train driver. But during his birthday party when someone asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up, his answer had changed to "Pilot".
G-5 He continues to be obsessed with trucks (any kind), planes, trains and rockets. He is simply in awe of the moon and its phases. His red scooter is his favorite ride-on toy and you will rarely spot him outdoors without it. And we have never had a problem of obsession with cleanliness in this house!

beep beep zoom zoom

2011-02-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

Weekend activity: boys racing in our hallway

Kabir turns 3!

2011-02-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

It has been an exciting week in our household. It's Kabir's birthday week! He had three celebrations this time. One party thrown by nana-nani for their friends, one celebration at school and a small get together at our home for Kabir's little friends.

Kabu picked out a Thomas Train cake for the first party.

I used my favorite eggless chocolate-banana cake recipe to bake his cake for the party at home (since its impossible for any cake to not be a hit with kids!)

The kids played and created ruckus like they should.

Dadosa and dadisa also arrived yesterday from Udaipur in time for the celebration. Kabir certainly enjoyed all the attention that he got on his birthday!

Happy Republic Day!

2011-01-26T22:05:00.000-08:00

Random updates

2011-01-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

We have had a rather lousy start to our new year this year with each of us taking turns to fall sick. The boys aren't completely well yet. Last couple of weeks have been especially hard on Anurag - this is his first time falling sick and the poor baby has stopped eating and is quite miserable. After trying the regular medicines we have now moved on to using Homeopathy medicines for him, which seem to be quite effective.

Another unfortunate news is that we discovered that Anurag too is allergic to eggs (inspite of the negative skin test results that we got 6 months ago). We learnt this the hard way when we introduced eggs in his diet. I hope both boys will outgrow this soon.

We moved into our own campus flat this week! We still need to do a lot of work in the house to be completely settled, but at least we now have our own place. It has been interesting to see Kabir's reaction to our move. Initially he didn't understand why we were moving at all and why we couldn't just continue living with nana-nani. And then he kept referring to nana-nani's house as "Bombay" ( as in : "I want to take this toy to Bombay"). We haven't become completely self sufficient yet and I have been taking the kids to nana-nani's house in the afternoons, so Kabir is still confused about the transition. But this is a small transition compared to the big move from the US, so I'm sure he'll soon settle in. My biggest task now is to find a good nanny for the kids. How I wish we could have Iren back with us! I don't plan to go back to work immediately, but would like to start exploring some work from home/part time options soon and having good childcare would be essential for it. As of now Kabir goes to a playschool for 2 hours in the morning. He doesn't seem to be quite in love with the place yet, and so I'm not inclined to have him stay there longer. At the same time, I don't know if a nanny will be able to look after both boys for the whole day without going completely crazy. So I'm struggling to find the best childcare solution.

On a separate note, I was thrilled to find a good public library here. What I have missed most about the US (not counting Iren!) is the convenience of public libraries. There isn't a single decent library accessible to us here. Fortunately, I discovered from their website that British Council Library (which used to be located at Nariman Point) has now become an online library which works just like Netflix in the US. We immediately became members and now we have books being delivered to and picked up from our home! They have a good collection of children's books although it is primarily by British authors. In addition to this, I learnt that there are a couple of really good online sites here that sell new and used books for really cheap! They even stock children's books from American authors. So I will no longer need to request our friends in the US to bring books for me!

Ganga darshan

2011-01-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

One of the most memorable parts of our trip to North India last month was our trip to Haridwar and Rishikesh. While Saurabh and I had both separately visited before, it was a first for Kabir and Anurag. We enjoyed the beauty of the Ganga and the peaceful ghats. Of course, having chai and pakoras by the river made it a quintessential Indian experience :-)

Building a nest

2010-12-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

It is now close to six months since we moved back to India and we have now finally been able to get our own accommodation on the IITB campus! Fortunately we can set up the new place while continuing to live with my parents - which has taken the pressure off from us and has actually made this a fun activity.

Our new house is a one bedroom flat in the Staff Hostel. I like the place because it has a hostel-like ambiance complete with a mess, tennis-courts, badminton court and kids play area. It is next to the IIT gymkhana grounds which is a very lively area. But the best part is that our new flat sits two floors above Kabir's playschool! I can actually see him playing in his school from our new place :-).

Last few days have involved more shopping than I have ever done in my life. Our first round of purchases included a cooking stove and a water purifier and getting in line for a cooking gas cylinder (which takes about 10 days!). Today we got our refrigerator, microwave, washing machine, water heater and air conditioner delivered. In the next few days we will have representatives come in to install and give demos for each of these appliances (yes even for the microwave!). Tomorrow we also plan to close the deal on our new car. And we haven't even started on the furniture yet!

We also started unpacking some of our boxes today and it brought that bitter-sweet feeling again. Every time I open a box, I start to remember exactly when I had packed it and the conversations, thoughts and people connected to that moment. Even though we shipped more than 100 boxes, I'm amazed how well I remember each and every detail about what was packed in each of them and when/how I had packed them.

I am excited and looking forward to starting our new life in the new year. I hope it will be filled with happiness, peace and exciting new adventures.

Small world

2010-12-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

This week is turning out to be a special one for us. By the end of this week we will have met three of our close friends from Portland (who are all currently visiting India)!
On Monday, we met Vaishali and Amit at Vaishali's house in Bombay. Both Kabir and Shreyan remembered each other and bonded instantly. They had a great time playing all evening - in the house, as well as in the playground.

Vihan and Anurag got to know each other a little bit too

Yesterday, we had a brief meeting with Ramya and Ashok at the airport, who were in Mumbai just for a day. And we were glad to be able to spend some time catching up with them!

On Friday, we are all leaving for Delhi, and our first stop will be at Pushkar's house to meet Shaifali, Pushkar and little Sahil. Hope to post those pictures soon!

Little had we known while saying goodbye to these friends in Portland, that our next meeting would be in less than six months. Here's hoping that the next meeting isn't very far ahead in the future either!

9 month update

2010-12-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Anurag completed 9 months this week. He continues to be a small baby at 7 kgs (~15 lbs) but is an active and curious baby. He loves being outdoors and joins Kabir and me every evening to go to the playground in his comfortable ergo baby carrier. He doesn't like to have too many strangers around him and always welcomes them with a frown!

He has been sitting independently for about a month and half now and started crawling a few weeks ago. However, he still hasn't figured out a graceful way to transition from a sitting position to a crawling position without banging his face against the ground. He is also starting to pull himself up to a standing position when provided with sufficient motivation :-)

Anurag now has four teeth. The bottom two teeth came in at about 7 months and the upper two emerged just a few days ago. Needless to say, he has been gnawing at everything within reach. He seems to think that slippers are some giant tasty teethers and goes after them with utmost urgency. So Kabir enjoys policing everyone and reminding that no slippers should be left in Anu's play area. He is turning into a protective and loving big brother. He can be heard saying very cute things to Anu through out the day (I'll have a separate post on his quotes).

Meal-times have been going well except when Anu went through an intense teething phase. We realized that he enjoys textured food more than mashed food so we have now started feeding him regular adult food without mashing. He also likes to hold slices of fruit, bread etc and feed himself. But how much 'feeding' happens this way is anyone's guess!

He has started babbling quite a bit - dada, tata, papa, mama etc. and it gets funny when sometimes he waves his hands in a bye-bye-like motion while saying tata (which happens by pure coincidence I'm sure).

Last month also saw the biggest mommy-blunder I've made so far. I left Anu napping on the bed with pillows propped all around him. I had under-estimated his mobility. Anu managed to climb over the pillows and fell about 1.5 feet down on the hard tiled floor. Fortunately he didn't hurt himself but it could have been really bad. :-(

This week we are leaving for a trip to the North - Delhi/ UP/ Uttaranchal - and will be back after Xmas. Anurag will get to meet more relatives and experience his first real winter!

How we love being silly

2010-12-11T00:25:00.001-08:00

Lost and Found

2010-12-10T09:52:00.001-08:00

Ever since Anurag started crawling, "where is Anu?" has become a common question in our house. Here are some of his favorite hang-out places.

Other fun things we did in Udaipur

2010-12-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

Enjoyed camel rides by Fatehsagar lake (with little Ansh in this picture)

Tried many new rides at the Diwali mela, including Kabir's first time on a Ferris wheel

Explored the streets of Udaipur on hamara bajaj

Got cozy with dadisa

had maalish-times..

...and play time with dadisa

Enjoyed the open space, farms and fresh air

Went on many nature walks that started right from dadisa's home

Played by the river next to dadisa's house

Enjoyed the view by the river

Played with our new friends Pinky, Meera and Navli

Loved the hill-station like weather (got some use for our winter-collection clothes)

Scaled new heights

Enjoyed a trip to Sajjangarh with Sushant uncle, Archana aunty, Ansh and Anay

And finally, loved the 17 hr train ride back home!

Celebrating dadisa's 60th birthday

2010-12-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

We celebrated dadisa's 60th birthday in Udaipur which happened to be on the same day as Diwali.

The highlight of the celebration was the card that Kabir made for dadisa.

You can see his sketching if you look closely on the card. However, you would be mistaken if you took his art work to be nothing but random scribble. As you'll see below, much thought has gone into this card!

Anurag on the move

2010-11-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

The post on Anurag's crawling is now updated with a video.

Diwali Celebration

2010-11-29T08:28:00.001-08:00

This year's Diwali was a special one for many reasons. It was Anurag's first Diwali and Kabir's first Diwali in India. It was also the first time Saurabh & I celebrated Diwali in India in more than a decade. It was made extra special by the fact that we celebrated it in Udaipur with both sets of grandparents. And the icing on the cake was that this year's Diwali also coincided with dadisa's 60th birthday! Here are some pictures.

Kabir with his first fuljhadi on Chhoti Diwali

The family celebration would have been complete if we would have had Kakku bua and Erroll fufaji with us. Incidentally, we had celebrated last year's Diwali with them in Portland. I realised I hadn't posted Diwali 2009 photos, so here are a few, only a year late!
Kabir, this time last year

Kabu with bua and fufaji

Our last Diwali get-together with friends in Portland

Surprise from Portland

2010-11-22T21:04:00.001-08:00

Last afternoon, we received a wonderful surprise. Our door bell rang and guess who was at the door?

Our friends from Portland - Sujata, Dipto and Sara!

They were visiting the IIT campus and dropped in to say hello. It was wonderful seeing little Sara again and felt great catching up with Sujata and Dipto! What a lovely surprise :-)

On the move

2010-11-20T02:50:00.001-08:00

Anu has started crawling! He is doing a commando-style crawl which is quite funny to watch, but it gets him where he wants to go. He is still a little wobbly when sitting unsupported and I can't leave him sitting unsupervised. But I suppose he decided he was ready for the next milestone without trying to master the last one. Kabir, of course, is thrilled with this development and keeps running to me to say - Mama, Anu is in the balcony! Look, he is under the sofa, etc :-)

My bright spot

2010-11-12T10:11:00.000-08:00

Travelling to Udaipur

2010-11-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

I spent the last three weeks in Udaipur with the kids. We had a big Diwali celebration there and took lots of pictures that I will post soon. This trip had a lot of firsts - first Diwali for Anu, first Diwali crackers for Kabir and the first Indian train ride for the kids (on our return journey).

It was also the first time I flew alone with the kids (Mumbai-Udaipur). They were surprisingly well behaved. I was VERY impressed with Mumbai's domestic airport, especially with how kid-friendly it is! In this regard it beats most US airports hands-down. They had a play area for older kids and a nice and clean mother's room with very helpful staff. Here's a picture of Anu napping in the mother's room (since we had some time to kill at the gate).

More pictures from the trip coming soon :-)

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T00:46:00.000-07:00

Halloween had become my favorite US festival in the last few years (ever since I had Kabir) and one that I'm really missing this year. I used to enjoy planning and stitching Kabir's costume and getting together with friends for a Halloween party. Here's a picture of Kabir from last year as a little pumpkin which I realised I hadn't posted on the blog. This year, I would have had two little kids in costumes had we celebrated Halloween.

To Kabu's dear friends back in Portland - Srimayi, Sahil, little baby Eera, Shreyan, Vihan, Shriya, Arav, little baby Vahin, Arjun, Lilly and Lucy - wish you all a very happy Halloween! We miss you lots.

Good news!

2010-10-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

For the last two years I have been hoping and waiting for the day when I could say this and today I'm absolutely THRILLED to report that Kabir has outgrown is dairy allergy! I started suspecting this a few months ago, when I realised he could eat dairy based chocolates without any problems. Gradually we started introducing more dairy in his diet. We had to be tactful though because Kabir has been conditioned to say no to anything that looks like milk, butter, yogurt or cheese. We tried home baked pizza with a tiny amount of cheese, eggless chocolate cake made with butter and then some khaman dhokla made with yogurt by his dadisa. Since he did great with all these, we offered him some icecream a few days ago. And finally, we had to bribe him this morning to try some plain yogurt. Encouraged by the results, we again bribed him in the evening to try some cheekoo-milk shake. He finished an entire glassful and announced that he liked it! We are SO happy and relieved! I do think he is still allergic to eggs (and potentially nuts) because he recently had a reaction to it, but I hope that with time that will go away too. For now, I am going giddy just thinking of the possibilities that await him - icecreams, kulfi, paneer, dahi-badas, cheesy pastas, eggless cakes, puff pastries, gulab jamuns, rasgullas and all the diwali sweets that he wants to have!

Anurag's Mealtime

2010-10-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

In true Indian style, Anurag was introduced to regular adult food as soon as he was ready to start on solids. He now eats sabzi, daal or yogurt for his main meals and fruit for snack times. Here he's enjoying hand mashed potatoes.

Hare and the Tortoise - Retold by Kabir

2010-10-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

I asked Kabu to tell me a story and he decided to tell the "Hare and the Tortoise" story (he refers to the hare as "Gogol khargosh"). Ofcourse he takes his own creative liberty with the story. I discovered that he is a good storyteller with great expressions and actions, but can easily get distracted. Enjoy! :-)

Kabu the dentist

2010-10-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

Kabir teaches nanaji how to brush his teeth. (Now if only he would start following his own instructions, my life would be so much easier!)

Across seven seas

2010-10-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Our container arrived at our doorstep on September 18th after roughly two and half months (it had left our home in Portland on June 28th). It came to us in a typical desi truck complete with the "Mera bharat mahan" sign!
We decided to store all our boxes in a storage space for now since we haven't been given on-campus housing yet (we are currently staying on the campus with my parents).

We used Air7Seas to ship our belongings and it was a completely hassle-free affair. When we opened it here, the container didn't look anything like we had packed in Portland since it had undergone a thorough customs inspection at Mumbai port. But we received everything in perfect condition and were happy with the service.

It was a strange feeling to be reunited with our belongings after 2.5 months in a completely new setting. The first box to be unpacked (even before the container was completely unloaded) was the one containing Kabir's big Tonka dump truck. He had been pining for it over the last 2.5 months and used to frequently ask how much longer it would take for it to arrive. He was very excited to see his dump truck and didn't ask for anything else from the shipment. Over the next few days as I got some more of his old toys out, his excitement reached new levels. However, the day I took him to the storage and unpacked his red scooter (which he used to ride practically everyday in Portland during his outings with Iren), it brought a wistful look on his face. He spontaneously asked me - mama, where is Iren? If there was ever a moment when I noticed any sadness in Kabir regarding our move to India, it was this. On seeing everything come back to him from Portland, perhaps he expected to be reunited with Iren too. I told him Iren was still in Portland. And before I could say anything more to make him feel better, he had already moved on and was off riding his beloved scooter!
Most of our boxes are still in storage and in a way it feels better to open them bit by bit and experience the excitement over and over again. Even though it has been a few months now, it still feels unreal to be back home. Perhaps it will be the day when we have all our boxes unpacked that we will feel truly at home.

Nappy time

2010-10-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist taking a picture of our clothes-drying-stand this evening which has Anurag's cloth diapers on display. They include cotton prefolds, cotton diaper covers (Nikky and Niji brands), Indian langots and some soft cotton wipes. I've got some wonderful use out of them - first for Kabir and now for Anurag! They are especially useful in this bad Mumbai heat. Anurag seems to be cool and comfortable in them. We are now down to one disposable diaper per day for nighttime use and plan to introduce him to Kabu's old Baby Bjorn potty soon.

7 month update

2010-10-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Anurag completed seven months yesterday. There has been an explosion in his activities in the last month. He's become increasingly alert and doesn't want to miss any action. He's now rolling both ways and getting very good at grabbing objects. He's also getting good at annoying Kabir by constantly trying to touch and grab his toys. He can sit unassisted for a about half a minute before tumbling head over heels!

He's now started teething and I suspect we'll see a few pearly whites appear pretty soon. We have started feeding him 2 to 3 solid meals everyday. His favorite food includes papaya with milk, papaya with banana and papaya just by itself. He also likes cheeku milk shake and simply loves Natural's icecream (Pediatrician recommended!). We've already introduced yogurt and are glad that he isn't showing any signs of dairy allergy.

With all these changes, Kabir is suddenly finding Anurag to be a lot more fun. It is lovely to watch them interact and even play with each other!

chandi ki cycle, sone ki seat

2010-10-04T02:46:00.001-07:00

aao chalo papa, chalen double seat!

We got our new bicycle yesterday. Saurabh can now drop Kabu to playschool and get to work in just 15 minutes!

(Thats right, Kabu has been going to Shishu Vihar for 2 hours everyday since the last 2 months. Will post pictures of his school soon.)

Some Pictures

2010-10-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Vikram for taking these pictures. Taken on Siddhant's first birthday at Appi's house.

On chocolates

2010-09-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

As I had predicted, Kabu is now a chocoholic. I have been trying hard to limit the amount of chocolate he consumes everyday. And he's been finding his own ways to get the most he can.

Every morning we have a person who comes to our house from the local grain store to take grocery orders for home delivery. Today morning when he came, Kabir opened the door and immediately asked " chocolate है? एक ले आना." (do you keep chocolates? Bring one for me!)

Before bedtime, he was sucking on a "Mango bite" candy. Saurabh impatiently asked him to chew it and finish it quickly so he could brush his teeth and go to bed. Kabu looked at him innocently and said "काट के खा लूँगा तो जल्दी खत्म हो जायेगी. इसलिए चूस कर खा रहा हूँ" (if I bite it, it will finish soon so I'm sucking on it).

More Kabir Talk

2010-09-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

-This afternoon Kabir slipped on some water that he himself had purposely spilled a minute ago. He came crying to me: मम्मा आपने ये पानी क्यों नहीं साफ़ किया? मैं गिर गया न. (Mama why didn't you wipe the water? Now I've slipped.)
- On seeing me wearing a T-shirt instead of a kurti or a kameez that I usually wear, he says
मम्मा यह आपने क्या पहना है? यह अच्छा नहीं है। आप dress पहनो। मुझे वो बोहत अच्छा लगता है।
(Mama what is this that you are wearing? Its not good. Wear a dress. I like that very much.)
Although both these statements made me laugh at first, they've now got me worried if I'm turning him into a TNIM*!

*TNIM =Traditional North Indian Male

Happy 6 month birthday!

2010-09-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Anu completed six months yesterday. We celebrated by introducing him to his first taste of solid food - rice kheer and some moong daal. He lapped up the kheer but didn't seem too excited about the daal. We also baked a cake that Kabu was more than happy to try on Anu's behalf after singing happy birthday to him.

Here is Anu trying some daal. Although it looks like he's mistaking the daal for mouthwash :-)

Brothers conspiring?

2010-09-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

"So here's the plan.."

"shhh...don't tell mama"

"hehehee..."

"wasn't that fun?!"

"uh oh...no we didn't do anything!"

Meeting great-dadosa

2010-09-05T12:00:00.001-07:00

Some pictures from our trip to Pune last weekend where the kids got to spend some time with their great grandfather.

The mischief maker

2010-09-05T06:54:00.001-07:00

I should know by now that if the house has been unusually quite for more than five minutes, it is a good sign of imminent trouble! Kabir apparently found better use for toothpaste today.

Reliving old times at the shack

2010-08-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

The IIT campus has a little coffee place popularly called the coffee shack. The place has barely changed in all these years. The menu is largely the same and its the same person who runs it. Saurabh and I had spent a lot of our time (although separately) here and now Kabu seems to be enjoying it as well. Afterall the main item on their menu is Maggi :-)

Pics from Anurag's first rakhi

2010-08-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Rakshabandhan!

2010-08-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Anurag rolls

2010-08-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Anurag rolled from his back to his belly for the first time two days ago. It came as a surprise to me because he wasn't showing many signs of trying to turn until this time.

Anu is a pretty 'laid back' baby that way. He is happy to stay in any position (mostly) and rarely complains. I had to motivate him to turn by offering him a toy or my finger which he loves to put in his mouth. We were all very excited and cheered him on but he didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal (note the yawn in the video). Kabir too wondered what the fuss was all about and promptly demonstrated how easy it was to roll!

Happy Independence Day!

2010-08-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Attending the flag hoisting ceremony and singing the national anthem aloud after more than 10 years brought forth unknown emotions in me this morning. The ceremony was held in true Mumbai style!

Happiness

2010-08-14T12:30:00.000-07:00