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!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Birthday Quiz
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!
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!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Kabir turns 3!
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!)
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!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Random updates
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!
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!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Ganga darshan
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 :-)
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