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.

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).

General Update

Well,its been way too long since I wrote a post and finally decided to write an update.No specific reason for not writing,just did not give it top priority.Used my 2 hours of free time everyday for catching up on mail etc.Every time I read other blogs and about other babies,I feel bad that I am not writing about my little kutti girl.

She is all 19 months now and has become a big time talker.I see a big change in the last couple of weeks,she has picked up on so many new words and repeats pretty much every thing we say and that makes it a challenge for us,to not utter any 'no no' words in front of her:-)I am totally, totally enjoying this chatter of hers and its so, so entertaining.Her paati(hubby's mom) and her periappa(hubby's brother) are visiting from India for 3 weeks as a sudden plan.She had not seen her paati in almost 5 months,so we were curious to see how she would react.She cried for 2 minutes when she saw them walk in to the room and approached her and soon she was extra comfortable with her paati and started giving her one book after another,asking to be read.So,we think she remembered her very well and in couple of minutes every memory came back to her.

She loves to take walks in the development,and name everything on the way and repeat it to her appa after returning.The most exciting thing for her is when she has company of other toddlers,kids,teens.....yup,she can play with older kids.She just becomes crazy happy when she meets her favorite akka(hubby's cousin's daughter),who I will call B akka.They live around 20 minutes away and we meet them every weekend and sometimes during mid week.She has seen her since the very beginning and does not even need me when her B akka is around.

I see how happy she is with people around her at home and especially with her paati.This is what kills me,when I think she is not getting that precious grandparents company all the time.Its so limited,feels like we are denying a big part of her growing up.I am so thankful that we have great neighbors who have kids her age,it is a blessing.I set up a play date with 2 of her friends this coming Monday at my place,looking forward to that.

Well,hoping to write more often.........

Imitation Is The Way Of Life

Miss D is all in to imitation.Anything and everything that one of us do, is bound to be repeated by the little monster.She seems to know very well what happens during a diaper change.I lay her down and take a wet wipe and start cleaning,and if she spots a piece of paper or a wipe she picks it up and starts wiping herself.She loves to run in to the bathroom,which I try to keep closed all the time,while in there tears the toilet paper and nicely drops it in to the toilet.All this is OK and I can see the good that she is learning from it.

This is a tricky one-I am not sure if I should be teaching her to throw stuff in the trash.You know where this is going right........she has thrown her hair clip, some papers which were not trash, her pretty flowery hat and the worst(or the best,what ever way you want to take it) is a silver bowl which I use for pooja! I have caught her in the act every time, so was able to save most of it. Not sure what has gone in there with out my knowledge. I was imagining what would happen if she throws something important, like car keys with which she plays often, or cell phone(well, at least you can call and if you are lucky, hear it ring).Well, the important thing to remember when something is misplaced-look in the trash and I can imagine what an interesting and hygienic experience that would be!!!

She was on her high chair and dropped something and I said 'Oh Oh' and the expression stayed in her mind.Then she would drop something by mistake and say 'oh oh' and this happened a few times.Again on the high chair,she had a few things on her table and a napkin in her hand and said 'oh oh' and I did not notice her dropping anything on the floor and wondered why she said that.After a split second she has a grin on her face and drops the napkin that she was holding !

These kids are way ahead than what we think and things they learn is etched in their minds forever and they can make it work the way they want it to,depending on the situation.I can not stop, but tell the people I am close to every little thing she does and says.Sometimes I feel they may not want to hear everything that I have to say, but the 'mom' in me can't keep to myself the most adorable antics of my little Miss D.

17 Month Update

Looking at my little daughter,and seeing what she has been up to recently is making me write this post.Not that I have been writing regularly,which I would love to but am not able to.....since I hardly get around to check my email and respond.The only time I sit in front of the computer is in the mornings and afternoons when she is napping.I don't like to browse in the evenings or night time when I can spend that time with hubby.

Going back to the reason for this post,I feel Miss D is doing/saying a lot of new things in the past month than any other other time.She has been picking up on almost everything we say.

Vocab:She can say around 15 words.She can immitate sounds of 5 different animals.She knows when to say 'akka' and 'anna'.If she sees food in a book,she tries to take a piece and put it in her mouth:-)She did that with strawberries.

Activity:She can point at different objects in a book when asked,and will say the names of things when pointed to.HORSE still remains her favorite.She climbs anything and everything and does not stop at that,she starts dancing after climbing either the sofa,or the coffee table or the bed.

Sleeping:There is a change in the way she falls asleep,a big one.Does not want to be rocked any more,ya....I can't believe it,I thought I would be rocking her until she went to first grade.She has her milk and lies down on the bed,sucks her thumb,and dozes off slowly turning and tossing.It is a big relief.

Eating:She has been a good eater right from the start and has not changed much.A good change is her fruit eating habit,she never used to eat fruits other than a banana once in a while,but from the last couple of weeks she has been eating water melon,strawberries and oranges.Her dad has never been and is still not a good fruit eater,so hoping she does not get that from him:-)

Dancing: I have to make this a separate category,since this girl just LOVES to move her body.It does not have to be an actual song.....it can vary from a mini song from a commercial or a ring tone from a cell phone or any other tune that has some music.Her current favorite is the song 'Tara Rum Pum Pum' from the same movie.

All in all,she is our main source of entertainment & does things the whole day that are way too cute:-)God knows how I would spend my day with out her running around in front of my eyes:-)Love You D !!!

Life As A Nomad

This morning I was counting the number of days we would be at home in the month of July and the number I came up with......9 !!! It started with our Pennsylvania trip for the long weekend during the first week of July.Got back home that Saturday and left the following monday to go and stay at my hubby's cousin's house for 3 days(Hubbs was away on work),got back middle of the week.Left again that sunday night with hubby to give him company during his stay in Hartford.We are heading back home today(after 4 nights),and guess what?yep,we are leaving again this sunday afternoon to Atlanta,to his sister's house and will be back on August 1st !!! So can we officially be called as Nomads,even though we have a single family home of our own?I think so.........

Our stay in Hartford is not bad at all,much better than what I expected.We are staying at a 2 bedroom,2 bath hotel suite,which is similar to or bigger than most apartments I have seen.There is a full furnished kitchen,so I have been making meals for Miss D and some for us too.The weather is nice,so we go out for walks in the evenings,and check out the local action after hubby gets back around 6pm.The best part,no cleaning,no doing the sheets,no worrying about messing up the room.....well,a little;-))

Looking forward to out trip to Atlanta,first because they have moved in to a new house with a nice big swimming pool:-))Best part.Second,to all the help I will get taking care of D,my SIL has two teenage boys and she adores Miss D and would love to hold her 24/7.Third,I am hoping to comfortably leave D in their care and get some time off to ourselves,catch a movie or a nice sit down dinner.

Now the question is -am I enjoying all this traveling or is it too much time away from home,routine and my comfy zone?Yes and no.On a general note,I love to travel,see new places,meet people,enjoy the days of no cooking,cleaning...but at the same time,I will miss my home,and miss my swimming classes,Miss D's Gymboree classes and everything else that happens while we are home.When we were a couple,its a different feeling to be out and not care about where we are.With a kid,its not as easy or may be we take longer to adjust to their routine in a new place than themselves adjusting.I have been packing and unpacking a million times and its no fun.

I am able to do all this since I am a SAHM.Soon Miss D will be ready to go to pre-school and I will hopefully be back in the working world,and will not be as flexible as I am now.So,I should enjoy these carefree days with her and let her enjoy the time with me.

I know when I go.

It happened once,it happened twice,it happened again and now I think ,my almost 16 month old can say 'kakha' when she goes khakha.I am so very proud of that fact.First few times,I thought it was just a coincidence that she said that word and soon after I would have to change her diaper.But she says it as soon as she goes,so it ain't no coincidence,my baby knows :-)I consider this as a step in potty training.

I am making her sit on her potty everyday for a few minutes,but nothing has happened after that one time when she went.I am not breaking my head over it,its not going to happen any time soon,I know.She loves to sit there,for her its 'book' time when she's on the potty,she reaches to the book in the basket as soon as she sits down!

On an other note-yesterday we had a barbeque at our house.There was a little girl,aged 7 or 8 and her favorite second cousin who is much older, but loves to play with her the whole time we meet.Miss D is so happy when there are other people around and loves to get entertained by them.There were 3 other families and I hardly saw Miss D for the whole evening,felt a little weired,but nice.We were in our backyard,enjoying the nice weather and good food being grilled by hubby dear.Then our neighbors sprinkler system went off and Miss D went running right in to the spraying water ! I ran and caught her ,of course she hated me for that.We tried to distract her for a few minutes,but she kept fighting us and running back to the water.So I decided to change her in to her swimsuit,but by the time I put her bottom on,she ran to the water and just before she could get wet,the sprinkler stopped !!! Gosh,she must have thought it was a big scheme that we planned:-)

We didnt want her to think of us as mean,scheming parents.......so we turned the water in the garden hose and she had the time of her life with water being sprayed by her dear cousin.The look on her face by being all wet and water dripping everywhere,was priceless!!!
Picture attached.

A smile is all it takes..............

There was a long silence in my blog world.I was reading other blogs and commenting,but never spent enough time to write my thoughts.While I was away in my own world,Miss D tries to repeat almost everything we try to teach her.She knows to say the word 'Horse' very well and any 4 legged animal is a horse in her eyes.She saw a dog at a friend's house and it became a horse.Any picture of a zebra,giraffe makes her say the word.Now if she hears the name of her cousin,who taught her that word,she has to say 'Horse'.So concluded-Horse is her favorite word of the month !!

Going back to the title:-),I think all parents will agree with me when I say "A smile is all it takes to melt our hearts".It is a little trick they learn from the early days to make us forget everything else in the world and smile back at them.We can be upset,angry,'not in the mood' ,depressed......and the only thing we need to see is those precious little lips move closer to the eye and all those feelings go away,at least momentarily.I can be wild,if she is doing something she is not supposed to and the very next second if I catch her smiling at me,I can not do anything but smile back and hug her.Like,this afternoon I was trying to make her sleep when she was sleepy,but didn't want to sleep.I was rocking her for a long time,she almost dozed off and then started moving around to get up.I was restless and got upset and forced her to sleep,she didn't like it and started crying.So I pacified her and put her on my shoulder,after a couple of minutes she looked at me & gave me the big smile.I felt so bad about what I did,but I know that she forgot in a few seconds and we just hugged and kissed.

So innocent and simple is the mind of a child,they are so upset and mad one minute and the next minute they get over it and move on.The world will be such a better place,if we adults behave in a similar way.There are so many reasons I want to freeze the age my darling daughter is in:
The innocence in everything she does.The sound of all the words she has been saying,so new and so unique.
The way she sucks her thumb and holds on to my shirt with the other hand or when I am in the kitchen doing work,she squats down sucking her thumb and holds on to the end of my pant/pajama.
When we wake up together and I pretend to be sleeping,the way she moves my hand from my face and smiles.
When I pick up her shoes to go out,the way she runs to the stairs to sit on the last stair,for me to put on her shoes.
Small things make her so happy,when I run fast towards her,she has this crazy laugh which sounds adorable.
One of my favorite is all the nice bear hugs and the cute kisses she gives me when I ask her to and when she wants to.
Oh oh,I almost forgot my other favorite,any music she hears and the immediate reaction is to start shaking her butt from left to right and lifting her hands up in the air and dancing.My babe has got her moves!She even came up with this new step of tapping her legs like a salsa:-)!

I know I missed a few points,but if I don't post it now,it will go in to the edit mode for a few more days:-)
The above picture was taken last month.

How much TV is too much TV?

Do you allow your kids to watch television?How long do they watch?Miss D's pediatrician suggested no TV until 2 years.I have been letting her watch some TV during early afternoon,and sometimes while eating her lunch.I get 'escape time' while see watches,which is a big help when I have to do other work around the house.But I dont feel good most of the times when I let her watch TV.It is one of the biggest addictions for the kids at a young age.Thankfully she loves to look at books and be read to,so we read her a lot of books.She also plays on her own with her toys,for sometime in the mornings and evenings.

She used to watch only when I turn on her channel,now,she takes the remote and hands it to one of us and kinda starts whining,for us to turn on her channel.Soon,she will start asking verbally to do it and before we realize she will figure out how to do it all by herself ! I am sure we will try all the tactics,like 'No TV,until you eat your food,no TV until you finish your work,no TV until I tell you to watch'.But the question is,how much should we restrict them from an early age,the age where they still can not understand if we tell them 'No TV'.......

The toddler shows that come on TV are educative and informative,so in one way it is a learning tool.Miss D loves 'Blues Clues' ,her other favorite is 'Dora The Explorer'.She has a selective liking even among those cartoon shows,the other shows dont hold her interest for too long.

We,as parents try to balance their lives in the best way that we can....but always wonder what is right and what is wrong....more so with the first child(I assume).

Behold,here comes Potty Training !

Yes,Miss D has been sitting on a 3-in-1 cushy,comfy potty every morning from the last 4 days.I consider it as one of the big milestones when they can tell that 'its time to go':-)She sits there all happy,its like a new toy for her.I've been reading a book to keep her entertained for a while.Its all in the family,we all read something while on the P:-)

Today was the first occurrence,well, a kind of an occurrence.She was sitting on the potty and then got up,and while still in the bathroom,started peeing on the mat,and I made her sit on the potty immediately and the rest continued in the potty.But still,I was all smiles and very proud that the Potty Training has officially begun.Brought out the camera and captured it for the record !

It is going to be a long procedure,hopefully not too long.So what are your stories of potty training.Would be nice to get some tips on it.