My little chatter box

Where do I begin to talk about how much talking my little girl is doing?She starts when she opens her eyes and ends when she goes to bed at night and does some night talking in her sleep as well:-)Most of her talking is in the form of questions and her favorite one is 'What this'?She says that term,hmmmm......may be around 50 times in a day:-)Her questions also include 'What Color'?'Who's this?(Yar?)Who's is this?(Yarudhu)Some in English and some in Tamil.

Other than questions,she has started to notice where we go and recalls it later.She got a new toy while hubby was out of town for 2 days,so she was happy to show it off to him.When asked about it,she said 'Amma vayink CVS' (Amma bought it at CVS), all by herself:-)She has fallen in love with the statement 'I love you' and uses it generously.....I hope a lot of us adults would do the same;-))The other day she was left in the tub to play a little before her dad gave her a bath and he was just waiting in the bathroom to watch her,while I was not in the scene.She just looked up at her dad a few times and kept saying "I love you appa".Was it in a way,you are my everything for a while until amma gets back home?:-)On her own,she says it to people that she really adores,like ahmmm,me and her favorite cousin sister.

Ofcourse how can I forget?Nursery rhymes are her current way of passing time while playing.She knows the ABC rhyme and Twinkle Twinkle very well.Instead of 'Like a diamond in the sky' she says 'Diamond diamond in the sky' which I don't want to correct now,since its just too cute.She tried her hand at Mary Had A Little Lamb and a few others.Any song that is being played,she has to know the name and uses it later by asking for that song or for recognizing it.She hums a Kannada and a Tamil song.

She is filled with a lot of words in her mind and mouth and its amazing to see how they pick up on stuff every minute of the day.I have heard that between 2 and 5 is when they absorb a lot of information like a sponge.

Some pictures attached........

A nice,relaxing long weekend

Lake George,NY

Thirty miles of water with mountains filled with trees surrounding the lake on all sides,sunny weather with a slight breeze........this was our mini vacation with hubby's cousin's family.

It had been a while since we set out on a road trip,and this one was even better since we had company.We woke up Saturday morning,had coffee and I made quick Upma for breakfast.Then I packed mine and D's clothes,hubby did his own packing.We have a little colorful bag for miss D,so she is all excited about that.The other family came to our house,we had breakfast,coffee and left home around 10:45.The drive was alright,stopped at a rest area for lunch and reached Lake George around 4:45.Miss D had her share of TV,music,book reading and some entertainment from her aunt during the drive.

The resort we had rented was pretty outside,with a little pond,just outside our room,with some geese and a fountain in the center of the pond.They also had a horse farm with tall black and brown horses.The room itself was a little old,but sufficient for how long we were in doors.D was thrilled looking at the geese making sounds and of course the horses,which is her favorite animal from the time she started learning about animals.

We went on a boat ride on the lake and it was beautiful to see all the vacation homes and the resorts by the water.The next day we went on a mountain top to see the view from there.Then,we did something very interesting-shopping:-).It was an outlet mall and I found real good deals at Gymboree for little miss D.I love their clothes,the colors are so unique,bright and pretty and the quality is awesome.Does not fade quickly.I bought some summer tops,a pretty blue and white polka dot dress and a bright yellow cotton pant.She was fast asleep with her dad in the room and ended up with so many clothes! I found a top for myself and bought a t-shirt for hubby(have to keep him happy,right).

The next morning,we started driving back and stopped in a little town on the way,ate lunch and got back around 5pm.The other family came home,had some coffee before they headed back home.Miss D did not want to let them go,she jumped on to her aunt and didn't come when I called her and started crying loudly to go with them.It was hard to take her away from them,and she kept crying a little after they left.It was something we haven't seen too much of.It was cute how attached she had become to them over the last 3 days.

The biggest boo boo was that we forgot to take our camera,which is the first for us.One of us always remember to take it,mostly being me.This trip,I remembered when we were half way in to the drive.If not,this post would have been with some pictures.Waiting to see the ones taken from the other camera.

Time for a make over.....

The feeling that you get when you clean up something around the house,which you have been thinking of doing for ions and finally get it done,that feeling is just amazing.
I had that feeling today and it felt damn good:-)I look at my pantry and my kitchen cabinets every day,more than once.Every time I do that,especially my pantry,I tell myself that it needs a big re organization and it saw the dawn of light this morning!

Today, all the morning chores got done relatively early,checking mails,having breakfast,cleaning up the kitchen sink a little,giving D her milk,waffles for breakfast and then it was only 9:30am.So I began clearing up some plastic food storage boxes,which we start collecting and it never stops.You end up bringing others boxes home and it almost never goes back and your boxes almost never come back,so its kind of a balance there....but then you end up with all different shapes and kinds of boxes,which I don't like.I moved on from one kitchen cabinet to another and threw away a few plastics for recycle.

At that point I had an immediate urge to give my pantry a make over,so I put D in front of the tv,which unfortunately is the only way I could have got it done in a reasonable time without having to keep her away from all the masalas and the spices.Then,I pulled out everything,put it on the floor,threw away a whole bunch of stuff that I haven't seen,let alone used in ages.Also,every packet that was out dated,was in the trash.

Now I am all excited to buy a whole new set of plastic see through boxes,some tall,some small and others mid size.Put everything nicely,with labels,so that I use that box only for that.I am pretty bad at maintaining my pantry and other storage areas,so I need to do something solid like this to keep it that way,neat and organized.

Oh,I almost forgot,last week I did that with my clothes closet and ended up with 4 big bags of clothes which I haven't used in a while and will not be using.It's not a great feeling to be throwing away so many clothes(well,its not throw away,but giving away to salvation army),but I know that it will just sit there and occupy space,and I may end up doing the same next year,so why not now! My closet is much better to look at now.

Hmm,wonder what is the next place/room that needs a make over......oh,ya......I need to put up a lot of show pieces on the book shelves.They have been sitting in boxes from the time we moved in to this house,and that would be 4 years back ! So,they need a home after having lived in boxes for years and the book shelves need a nice look.

Ok.

Project Bookshelf.

Good job lazy me,slowly starting to doing things around the house,instead of saying that I don't have time for anything other than taking care of Miss D:-)

Reintroduction

I need a reintroduction to start off this post,since I had disappeared for God knows how long ! No particular reason,just that I have been lurking around on other blogs,enjoying reading them and being too lazy to write on my own page.So here are some quick updates.........

Miss D is 2 years and 2 months now,and the high light is that she can not stop chatting,everything which makes sense and an occasional blabber and some rhymes singing thrown in between.
She is still crazy about books and it can distract her at any time of the day or night and stops her from crying/being cranky/put her to bed.
She loves to spend time with older kids,especially girls and she has a close buddy,her own age who lives across from our house.
She has her moments,trying her luck to turn on the tv,asking for chocolates,to be picked up while I am cooking.
I successfully weaned her off the bottle and she now drinks from a sippy cup,which is a huge relief.
Few things she wants to get done only from me-feeding,falling asleep,diaper change.She used to get it done from hubby at one point ,but now,there is no way,especially the first two.

Hoping to write often,instead of only lurking on other blogs:-)

Holiday Season

The months of November and December seems to go too fast every year.The reasons I can link it to is due to the 2 big holidays in these 2 months and the time off hubby gets.I totally enjoy the last month of the year and the first quarter of the new year,with so many birthdays falling in those months.The only downside of it, the cold weather.I love going to NY city around Christmas time,to see the big tree and feel and hear the nice mood among the thousands of people walking around on the busy roads.

Hubby's sister's family came over during Thanksgiving for a week.Miss D had a blast with her cousins.My SIL's older son,16 told his mom that he wanted to be around Miss D the whole time he was visiting us,that is so sweet of him to say.I can almost forget that I have a daughter,when there are other kids around.She didn't want to do anything with the adults,and jumped,screamed and played hysterically with 4 of her cousins.All much older,but who love to make her the center of attention.

We had a formal Thanksgiving dinner at hubby's cousin's house,we were all made to sit at the table and served every part of the meal by the host.Included clearing our plates!Went shopping the next day with a cousin,leaving the little rascal at home with her gang.All the ladies watched Om Shanthi Om in the theater.Spent the next two evenings eating out and having a relaxing time with family,it was wonderful.

We will be in Atlanta for 2 weeks with my SIL during the beginning of December, since hubby has a project there.I love staying at their house,get along very well with her and she makes delicious desserts,and loves to make them while I am around:-)More than anything,I know D will enjoy every minute with their family.Now,its almost like I don't want to stay by ourselves for the sake of her.I feel like I am depriving her of something,if I don't take her out to be with other people,especially kids.

My Little Wobbly Pumpkin

Halloween being such a big tradition here in the US,we(Indians) are kind of pulled in to the whole celebrations as parents and especially as a new parent.I was excited about it from the last few weeks,because it was my little angel's first Halloween,last year we were in India on vacation.I got her a cute pumpkin costume,with a nice head gear and little orange booties.My concern was if she would wear it at all,she did when I tried it on and then when we took pictures in the studio,but I was waiting to see what would happen on THE day.Well,she could not wait to wear the costume once she saw it before her bath.I wanted to wait for sometime until we were ready to go trick or treating,but she could not wait even for a second,so she happily sat in her costume from early evening.That gave us time to take pictures and video.

The door bell started ringing around 4:30PM onwards and I saw all the little kids dressed in a variety of adorable,cute,scary and some very easy to wear costumes,like this 10 year old boy who was wearing a jean pant, Jets(football team) sweat shirt and a hat and when I asked him what he was,he plainly said "I am dressed as a Jets Fan".I also saw a few complicated costumes,little girls dressed as fairy princess with big decorative wings on their backs and this 8 year old boy who was wearing a nascar costume with a full suit and a car sticking out of his stomach in the front and which extended on the back too!

Miss Pumpkin,hubby and I headed out around 5:30 and went knocking on neighbors doors and started filling the little pumpkin pail with candies.Miss D enjoyed walking around,even though it was not the easiest thing to do in her costume.Once she was handed the pail and started collecting the candies,she did not let go of it even for a second.As it was getting heavier,I offered to help and she refused it right away,pulling the pail towards her.She had it by her side for a good 2 hours or more,holding on to it in her car seat as well,as we drove to our cousin's house.

There she enjoyed the company of her favorite B akka and her friends who were in costumes.All in all,the rolly, polly, wobbly pumpkin had a fun Halloween and for my luck:-) she had only 2 candies out of the many she collected!She kept talking about pumpkin through the night and this morning as soon as she woke up.We had a great evening looking at our little princess growing up,and having her own kind of fun.

Grandma's Visit

Miss D had a fabulous time during her grandma's(hubby's mom)visit the last 3 weeks.She recognized her in a few minutes after seeing her and from then on it was fun,fun and fun for the two of them.She was confused as to how to address her the first few days,the last she had seen her was around 5 months back,when she was not saying a lot of words.She started calling her aunty:-) and it took her about a week to say 'naini' (short for dad's mom in Tamil).From then on every morning as soon as she woke up,I had to tell where 'naini' was,what she was doing.She was happy all day,playing with her.

Her grandma would read to her,built stacks with her,ran behind her,where ever she pulled her to.They would sit by the front door,and get entertained by what is happening outside.Miss D black mailed her by throwing tantrums to get candy everyday,which she never knew existed before !If it was time for her to take a nap or a diaper change,she would run and hide behind her 'naini',which was the cutest.She doesn't do that with her dad,its such an unique relationship they build with their grandparents.She got anything she wanted with her.One day she took her naini's saree and pulled it back and forth all the rooms, rolled around on it,played pikaboo with it and just spent a good 20 mns playing with it.We took some pictures of the two in a portrait studio,to remember this special 3 weeks she spent with her grandma.

I was feeling bad for them on the day she left.She sure missed her grandma,asked a few times in the morning and then again in the evening.It repeated the next day.Thankfully she is not of the age where she knows the separation too well.Hubby and I felt her pinch,and tried to spend more time with her than usual.

We have to understand and accept that its part of our lives now,since we are away from home.The pleasures of spending time with the people we love are limited and we have to make the most of it.Waiting for our India trip early next year,more so to see Miss D with her other grandma(ammama).