Hello from India

We are on Kabir's first trip to India and needless to say he is having a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from the past month.

Bua's wedding in Sumerpur, Rajasthan - Nov 09




Visiting Par-Nanosa's khet



Picking Amlas



Camel ride with dadosa in Udaipur

Being mischievous in Dadosa's house


Petting goats outside our home in Udaipur


Getting spoilt by dadosa

With dadisa


Climbing into cupboards

Kabu's high chair for meal times

With nanaji & naniji in Muzaffarnagar, UP

Playing with a 5 day old calf Gopal



music lessons from nanaji

some dharam-gyan from naniji

Enjoying the Delhi winter



More pictures coming up - especially ones covering Kabu's meetings with our extended family members (most notably with his two great grandfathers).

हिन्दी में सीखें क ख ग

आजकल कबीर की मनपसंद किताब है : हिन्दी क ख ग। आइये देखें

Now I know my ABCs..

I would normally smirk at such a video if it were posted by someone else. But when it comes to our own child, we can't help being the typical desi parents! Here's a video of Kabu practicing his ABCs. Papa is a tough teacher (even if he forgets his own ABCs doing this!).

Bhavna's visit

Earlier last month we had some dear friends visit us from Seattle - Bhavna and Shashank. The sole purpose of their trip was to meet Kabir (To my other friends in Seattle and around: hint hint!).
Bhavna is just perfect at playing the aunt role -which she gets to practice quite a bit with her own niece Anaiya. She came with a whole lot of excitement, bags full of gifts, spoiled Kabir rotten, taught him a few things (he learnt to say "uncle" and "aunty" during their stay) and then was back to her envious carefree life! Here are some memories from the trip.


Kabu calling the shots

A stroll around the neighborhood

Showing off his new clothes

Waterfront Park

Icecream "Tuck"

Since I haven't posted in a while, I'm going to play catch-up in the next few posts.

This video one was taken about a month ago. We had an ice cream truck come into our neighborhood every evening this summer and Kabir loved to wave "tata" to the "tuck" everyday. The excitement was more due to the lovely music that the truck brought rather than the goodies that came with it.

Bua's visit

Kabu's bua & phuphaji visited us for a day last week and Kabu thoroughly enjoyed being spoilt by them (and we enjoyed some respite from trying to discipline him).

Papa's glasses are off-limits, but bua lets Kabu try her sunglasses

some cooking lessons from bua

This is the way we eat our food..

Kabu is in the do-it-yourself phase these days....which means that mealtimes have become a nightmare. And the mess that he manages to create is simply unbelievable.
Thankfully, there's one snack that he likes so much that he actually makes an effort to get most of it in his mouth (as opposed to getting it on the walls, the floor and everyone around him). Here's a video of him enjoying his soy yogurt.

Cooling off

Summer is in full swing here and Kabu is enjoying a good share of water activities to cool off. Thanks to my friend Vaishali's suggestion, we joined a parent-child swimming class at a local club. So for the past 3 weeks Kabu has been going for swim lessons! But the truth of the matter is that he clings on to me like a scared monkey through out the class and always makes us leave even before the class has ended. But outside of the class, he loves playing with water and really enjoys the little inflatable pool we got in our backyard this summer. Here are some videos from earlier this month..

Introducing a new face

Do you recognize him?

This is how he looked when I saw Kabu after work on Monday. His nanny had chopped off his curls because they had become a tangly mess and it was an extremely hot day. I'll admit it - I was secretly thankful. I should have done this myself a long time ago but I'm a wimp and couldn't go against the family pressure to wait till his mundan.

So this is the BEFORE pic

And here's another AFTER pic:

Is it just me, or does he suddenly look atleast a year older?

In any case, I love the new look. And Kabu is visibly happy and comfortable in it.

Kabir and Arushi

One of our most enjoyable trips recently was our trip to Chicago about two months ago . The highlight of our trip was the time we spent with my dear friends Abha and Soumitra and their daughter Arushi. Arushi is about three months younger than Kabir and Kabir left no stone unturned in bullying her :)
Although I'm late in posting them, these pictures hold a special place in my heart. I feel they are symbolic of the friendship that Abha and I share and cherish. The two of us have shared our experiences through various stages of our lives - as college students, as roommates, as independent girls working in corporate America, as married women and now as mothers. It was indeed a special feeling to see our kids play together!

Arushi and her beloved dou-dou



Kabu shows off walking to Arushi

Our divide and conquer strategy for meal times

some outdoor play time

morning play time

Twins? Or chaddi-buddies? :-)