On his own two feet

I have loads of pictures to share from the Hawaii trip but I'm sure it will take me time to sort through them all. For now, I want to share some really special ones. These pictures are the first ones of Kabir standing on his own. Of course this wasn't the first time he stood without support, but it was the first time that he stood long enough (3-4 minutes) for us to be able to get some good shots. Taken on 11/23/08 in Wailua, Hawaii.

What attracted him in the first place was my colorful plate of veg lasagna. Since I was holding the plate high above his head, he decided to stand up to take a good look. I ended up sharing a good portion of that lasagna with him!

kauai day 1 pictures

My favorite photos from day 1 of our vacation. Taken at Poipu beach and Kekaha beach. The first one is taken in the home that we are renting.

Off we go!

We're off for our first real vacation this year - to Kauai, Hawaii. Hope to experience 9 days of sun, warm beaches, beautiful hikes and lots of relaxation!
I promise to bring back good stories and pictures for the blog.
Until then...aloha!

Hello Kitty

Kabu is fascinated by our neighbour's cat. Today for the first time we got him close enough so he could pat the kitty.

Pat the head



Pat the back


Catch the tail

Desi Fashion show

Our nanny wanted to take some pictures of us in our traditional attires - so this morning we had an impromptu fashion show at home. Some pictures below.
(And thanks to some blogging lessons from Abha, the pics can be now clicked on for a high resolution view)

Goodbye to Nani

Kabir's nani left for Delhi this weekend and the three of us are on our own again. However, this time I feel far more confident of being able to manage on our own. Before leaving, mummy helped me get organized and she trained our new nanny really well. So now I am able to strike a good balance between work and home. Kabir seemed to miss his nani the day she left. He's especially going to miss his morning routine with her when he gave her company during her morning puja.

For the record

A quick post to note that yesterday, for the first time, Kabir was able to stand without any support for about 10 seconds or so. He made at least 3 attempts yesterday. The first time he stood up and left all support, I screamed in excitement which alarmed him and he immediately went down on his bottom. The next time I even had a camera in my hand, yet in my excitement I wasn't able to take any good picture. The third time, he stood for at least 10 seconds and was quite steady too. But then he got ambitious and attempted to start walking towards me. I think that he even took a step or two himself, but it all happened so fast that I wasn't sure at the end if it had really happened or if I had imagined it. In any case, I'm sure that within a month or so we'll see big progress on this front. So just for the record - Yesterday, just shy of his 9 month birthday, Kabu was able to stand without support for the very first time! Yay!!

Halloween special

For his first Halloween, Kabu was dressed as a little bunny. We threw a Halloween party at our home where not just Kabu & his little friends were dressed in their costumes, but also many of our friends who made the evening special by coming dressed in fun & spooky outfits.

warm and fuzzy bunny

swift as a bunny

Here's a side view

with papa-daddy-cool and mommy-the-kitty

you can see who the real devil is :-)bunny's friends: Winnie the Pooh, baby tiger, tiny pea pod and a cute devilAnd a group picture!

Planning for Kabu's first Halloween was nothing but fun. I had always wanted to knit a cute hat with bunny ears for Kabu so this was the perfect excuse. Once the hat was knit though, I began looking for the perfect costume to match the hat (if I were smarter I would have knit the hat after finding a costume). And when no matching bunny costume could be found, I was forced to sew one. I have absolutely NO skill when it comes to sewing, but its not that Kabu could have complained :-)

Notice the paper cutting of my "vision" to help cut the fabricit soon ended up being a free-for-all where even my cousin Mohit joined inBunny's left leg under construction

voila!

Congratulations America..

..on Obama's monumental victory yesterday. The win was historic, and even though I am not American it made me feel proud. We will have to wait and see how his policies and plans unfold in the near future. But as we sat in our living room with our friends listening to Obama's victory speech, I too was filled with hopes for a united world and a peaceful future. The only American in our home - Kabir- slept through the entire speech oblivious to everything around him. But I have the "audacity to hope" that this victory will mark a positive turn of events for him and his future in this country or any other place he decides to call home.

Happy Diwali

Here are some photos from Kabir's first Diwali. Unfortunately, we had some technical issues with our camera after the first 10 pictures, so I only have a few photos to share (and none with nani). We did take more pictures at our friends' place that night, but by then Kabir was already asleep.

Playing with a tea light

Papa tying a mauli thread during Laxmi Puja

Our only family pic from that evening

Last week in a summary

Everytime I tell myself that my life couldn't get any busier, something happens to prove me wrong. Last week was one of those super crazy weeks. It started with a deadline at work for which I worked most of last weekend and past midnight on Monday. Tuesday was Kabir's first Diwali (pictures forthcoming). And then on Wednesday my cousin Mohit was here from the UK to meet his nephew. This gave us the opportunity to celebrate Bhai Duj together on Thursday. And finally Friday was Kabir's first Halloween party! So it ended up being a busy yet fun -filled week. With so much to do and prepare in the last week, my blogging ended up becoming a low priority and so I'm going to play catch-up this week.