Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Who made it?
Rian is in this cute stage where he must ask Who made it? for everything that he eats. He also transforms it into Who cook it? Sometimes he will ask the same question several times. Mumma has several answers like "Ila aunty cooked it" or "Mumma made it" or most recently "The chef in the restaurant cooked it".
Yesterday we were having some mango, and Rian goes Who cook it? Since Amit cut the mango, he thought it was right to say "Daddy cook it". Rian promptly replied Daddy no cook it. We bought it from the store, Sonu and Mumma. Also Daddy. He remembered that we bought the mangoes from Costco on our trip a few days back!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Night story
As part of his night routine, Rian gets two stories every night: a creative, innovative, total BS story about something from Daddy, and a ghisa pita roj ka rata story from mommy. Mommy's story is completely predictable and Rian knows it by heart now. Here's how it goes:
Achal dada sleeps in his own room in his own bed with his Star Wars toys all by himself, all night long. Parv dada sleeps in his own room in his Lightning McQueen bed all by himself, all night long. Shayona sleeps in her own room in her own bed with Teddy Bear all by herself, all night long. Kayaan baby sleeps in his own room in his own bed with Ducky and lots of boovs all by himself, all night long. So now, Rian will sleep in his own bed with Tiger and lots of sea animals - Octopus, Fish, Sea horse, Star Fish, Crab, Shell Fish and Turtles. And if Rian wakes up at night, Rian should go back to sleep. When the sun comes up in the morning, Rian can wake up and say "Good morning" to Mumma.
Amit says my story is like a lawyer, water tight, and covers all holes :-) But Rian has started innovating and appending to my story in a hilarious way. Tonight we caved and burst out laughing at this:
Me: Shayona sleeps in her own room in her own bed with
Rian: Mausami mumma
Me: No, with Teddy Bear all by herself, all night long.
Me: Kayaan baby sleeps in his own room in his own bed with
Rian: Hiral mumma
Me: No, with Ducky and lots of
Rian: lots of mummas
Me: No, lots of boovs all by himself, all night long. So now, Rian will sleep in his own bed with
Rian: Mumma
Me: No, with Tiger and lots of
Rian: lots of mummas
Me: No, lots of sea animals - Octopus, Fish, Sea horse, Star Fish, Crab, Shell Fish and Turtles.
Friday, August 6, 2010
25 months
(Fingers crossed, nimbu mirchi and all that)
Maybe it's time to rename Rian's blog from "bawltime" to "funtime" or "balltime" or "badbad ghanta time" :-) This month passed by like a sweet summer breeze. Rian is growing up very fast. Mommy and Daddy can hardly capture the memories that fast (ya ya, mommy's still lagging behind on the month 23 and 2 yr old posts).
Rian loves singing nursery rhymes, and listening to himself. His favorite thing with our iPhones is now to get into Voice Recorder and start recording his own voice! Using Daddy's famed parenting techniques (since Daddy's the natural parent) on how to deal with a two-year old, there is a technique to dealing with Rian now. Brushing has become a bit easier now that there is more routine to it. Mommy has discovered the conversations go this way:
Mom: Do you want to brush your teeth Rian?
Rian: No!
Mom: What does the "Good Habits" book say?
Rian: Brush your teeth twice everyday
Mom: Then let's go brush your teeth!
Rian: No!
Another approach:
Mom: Rian, in five minutes, we'll go brush your teeth.
[Five minutes later]
Mom: Rian, it's time to brush your teeth. Green brush, or blue brush?
Rian: Blue!!
Mom: Okay, let's go dear
For ~4 weeks now, Rian is bottle-free. At his 2-yr well-baby appt, his pediatrician told us to "just throw away his bottles". We started off and had a hard one week with the ceramic cup. A nice story about how we need to help Kayaan baby become a strong big baby and we need to give Rian's bottles to him in order for Rian to become Kayaan baby's "Rian dada" worked very well. We've now settled onto a sippy that Rian is very happy to drink from. No more bottle mess. Occassionally Rian also accepts a regular cup. Over time I guess as his co-ordination increases, and inclination to "pim" (spill) decreases, we'll move to a regular cup.
Rian's Mom and Dad have started major efforts towards Rian trying to eat by himself, not forcing him to eat if he doesn't want to. Dad and Rian have shared some wonderful dinners where all Rian wants to do is feed Daddy :-) and Daddy in turn gets to feed Rian! We have a major move back to the chair and dining table. I guess we have to think long term, even though Rian hates it now, and some days barely eats a bite or two for dinner, over time it will become a habit again, as he used to have all his meals on the table earlier. This has also led us to move our dinner time up to 7pm. Dinner is over by 8pm and we have an hour of exclusive playtime with Rian. I think Rian loves this time with Mommy and Daddy. Milk is at 9pm and if all goes well, Rian is sound asleep by 10pm.
Rian has his very first tent, and loves to hide in it, and do "kook" from inside. His collection of "boovs" keeps increasing, and now Mommy has become the supplier, with a new "boov" every week. (Shh, Mommy has a stock of them from her trip to Target). Our "Cars" themed boovs are increasing and we've collected so far: Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Filmore, Doc Hudson, Chick Hicks.
The highlight of this month is definitely Rian's vocal skills, and how much he loves to communicate. We had this hour of non-stop communication from Rian post-dinner :-) Daddy was heard saying "Please stop now, my ears hurt!" Rian can also identify almost 90% of the cars on the road. He says "H for Honda, L for Lexus" :-) He also knows our friends and what cars they have. You can hear him say "Meher uncle has Mercedes boov, Hiral aunty has Hyundai boov, Gunjan uncle has bangle boov - Audi boov, Maushi aunty has Honda boov, Swati aatya has Toyota boov". Now now, if you're not in this aunty-uncle list, you know what you need to do: come home and play with our talkative little tot, hang out, and tell him all about your boov! Other cars Rian loves to point on the freeway or parking lot: BMW, Acura, Mini Cooper, Infiniti, Subaru, Nissan, Mustang.
Maybe it's time to rename Rian's blog from "bawltime" to "funtime" or "balltime" or "badbad ghanta time" :-) This month passed by like a sweet summer breeze. Rian is growing up very fast. Mommy and Daddy can hardly capture the memories that fast (ya ya, mommy's still lagging behind on the month 23 and 2 yr old posts).
Rian loves singing nursery rhymes, and listening to himself. His favorite thing with our iPhones is now to get into Voice Recorder and start recording his own voice! Using Daddy's famed parenting techniques (since Daddy's the natural parent) on how to deal with a two-year old, there is a technique to dealing with Rian now. Brushing has become a bit easier now that there is more routine to it. Mommy has discovered the conversations go this way:
Mom: Do you want to brush your teeth Rian?
Rian: No!
Mom: What does the "Good Habits" book say?
Rian: Brush your teeth twice everyday
Mom: Then let's go brush your teeth!
Rian: No!
Another approach:
Mom: Rian, in five minutes, we'll go brush your teeth.
[Five minutes later]
Mom: Rian, it's time to brush your teeth. Green brush, or blue brush?
Rian: Blue!!
Mom: Okay, let's go dear
For ~4 weeks now, Rian is bottle-free. At his 2-yr well-baby appt, his pediatrician told us to "just throw away his bottles". We started off and had a hard one week with the ceramic cup. A nice story about how we need to help Kayaan baby become a strong big baby and we need to give Rian's bottles to him in order for Rian to become Kayaan baby's "Rian dada" worked very well. We've now settled onto a sippy that Rian is very happy to drink from. No more bottle mess. Occassionally Rian also accepts a regular cup. Over time I guess as his co-ordination increases, and inclination to "pim" (spill) decreases, we'll move to a regular cup.
Rian's Mom and Dad have started major efforts towards Rian trying to eat by himself, not forcing him to eat if he doesn't want to. Dad and Rian have shared some wonderful dinners where all Rian wants to do is feed Daddy :-) and Daddy in turn gets to feed Rian! We have a major move back to the chair and dining table. I guess we have to think long term, even though Rian hates it now, and some days barely eats a bite or two for dinner, over time it will become a habit again, as he used to have all his meals on the table earlier. This has also led us to move our dinner time up to 7pm. Dinner is over by 8pm and we have an hour of exclusive playtime with Rian. I think Rian loves this time with Mommy and Daddy. Milk is at 9pm and if all goes well, Rian is sound asleep by 10pm.
Rian has his very first tent, and loves to hide in it, and do "kook" from inside. His collection of "boovs" keeps increasing, and now Mommy has become the supplier, with a new "boov" every week. (Shh, Mommy has a stock of them from her trip to Target). Our "Cars" themed boovs are increasing and we've collected so far: Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Filmore, Doc Hudson, Chick Hicks.
The highlight of this month is definitely Rian's vocal skills, and how much he loves to communicate. We had this hour of non-stop communication from Rian post-dinner :-) Daddy was heard saying "Please stop now, my ears hurt!" Rian can also identify almost 90% of the cars on the road. He says "H for Honda, L for Lexus" :-) He also knows our friends and what cars they have. You can hear him say "Meher uncle has Mercedes boov, Hiral aunty has Hyundai boov, Gunjan uncle has bangle boov - Audi boov, Maushi aunty has Honda boov, Swati aatya has Toyota boov". Now now, if you're not in this aunty-uncle list, you know what you need to do: come home and play with our talkative little tot, hang out, and tell him all about your boov! Other cars Rian loves to point on the freeway or parking lot: BMW, Acura, Mini Cooper, Infiniti, Subaru, Nissan, Mustang.
Rian has started talking a lot more in Marathi this month. At his birthday party, he saw the ball going into the lake. Now he says ball kuthe gela? Ball panyaat gela. Daddy plays a finger game with him Ithun ghoda aala aala, thambla, ithun ghoda gela kuchu kuchu. He pretty much repeats that verbatim.
Rian loves to listen to his nursery rhymes - a mix CD created by Mommy. He has mastered many rhymes now. His favorite songs are Wheels on the bus and ABCD. One day this month when Cely was taking a day off, Amit and me were both surprised by Rian saying the whole alphabet to us in order singing this song.
Rian remembers his friends (playdates) very well now. He met Moksh and Shayona a couple of times this month, and he knows Moksh's Mustang boov so well, and the "mountain" hike we had with Moksh. Mommy and Daddy need to step up on playdates (and hopefully the hikes as well!). Rian also remembers "Kayaan baby, new house, big house..." :-) where he was just running and running (and then slept for 3 straight hours, wow!!). He also remembers Navya birthday in San Francisco!!
Sigh. Fingers crossed and all that. Let this stage last forever. Mommy and Daddy feel very proud of the little one, and his achievements this month.
Some memories from this month:
Rian remembers his friends (playdates) very well now. He met Moksh and Shayona a couple of times this month, and he knows Moksh's Mustang boov so well, and the "mountain" hike we had with Moksh. Mommy and Daddy need to step up on playdates (and hopefully the hikes as well!). Rian also remembers "Kayaan baby, new house, big house..." :-) where he was just running and running (and then slept for 3 straight hours, wow!!). He also remembers Navya birthday in San Francisco!!
Sigh. Fingers crossed and all that. Let this stage last forever. Mommy and Daddy feel very proud of the little one, and his achievements this month.
Some memories from this month:
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
2 year old Rian
I have tears in my eyes as I think about the past month, and the past two years. Rian continues to amaze me as more and more of his personality shows. It's fascinating to see this individual develop, learn thinking models, reasoning, and a whole lot of different things. As a parent, this stage of a child's life is the most rewarding: it's like he's regurgitating everything he learnt in the last two years, now that he has the gift of almost complete speech.
Month 24:
In the true sense of the phrase Change is the only constant, this month saw one big change again for Rian. Amit's Dad, Rian's "Aaba" left for India on 27 June, just 10 days before his bday. Daddy explained to Rian at the airport that Aaba is going to India to meet Aaji. The little one, till date, has not cried for Aaba, and in fact tells us "Aaba gone India meet Aaji". I am floored, impressed! How does a 2 year old know how to handle his emotions so well?!? Or did we just get plain lucky with Rian? Large part of the credit goes to the natural parent in our home, Daddy, whom I utterly hate and love for the same reason :-)
Birthday party:
Planning Rian's birthday party was always on our TODO list, but kept being replaced by higher priority items. Aaba leaving just a week before also kind of threw our planning calendar off a bit. We also wanted to keep is really small and simple this time around. Everything worked out in the end. Cely and her hubby grabbed us two wonderful tables in Rian's fav ducky park (Memorial Park in Cupertino) and we all had a blast. Here are pictures from his bday party. He totally loved the Tow Man and Mc Queen cake, and thanks to Cely for the lovely Mc Queen t-shirt. Here are some lovely gifts Rian received in the form of poems from his closest.
Invitation poem for party from Mommy-Daddy:
A little birdie says cuckoo
Soon Rian will turn two
Our cute little toddler is growing up
A whole new person is showing up
Talk talk talk is what he does all day
You’ll love to hear what he has to say
Aunty, uncle, didi, dada, his stories go on
In a snap, this time will be long gone
So, let us capture a little bit of heaven
Soak in some sun and have some fun
On Rian’s special day, will you join us to wish him Happy Birthday?
Will July 5 or July 11 be a better day?
Poem from Hiral-Meher-Kayaan:
A two year old is so many things.
A tiny discoverer of butterfly wings.
A hugger of teddies, a sweet sleepy head.
And someone to dream for in bright years ahead.
A special new person who right from the start,
has a place in the family and a coarse in your heart.
And just when you think you've learned all the things,
that your dear son is,and the joy that he brings,
a hug or a grin comes with such a sweet surprise,
that love finds you smiling with tears in your eyes.
Two Poems from Parul-Amit-Sona-Pari:
Two years gone by,
How Time has flown
We can't believe
How Rian's grown!
He's such a joy
and much fun too,
Oh my! Rian turned two!!
What are little boys made of:
Boys are made of chuckles & grins
Tousled hair and banged-up shins
Things with wheels & frogs in pockets
Questions, baseball caps & rockets
They're joy & mischief, fun & noise -
That's how it is - boys will be boys!
Poem from Mausami-Gunjan-Shayona:
Rian Rian, such a big boy
Turning 2 is such a joy
Let's toss & turn & jump & run
Let's make this evening so much fun
Look forward to see you @ ducky park
& celebrate until its dark
Poem from Sweta-Dharmen:
Rian is now another year older
walking, talking and getting bolder
Nursery Rhymes and Stories he knows
He's on a trike..look there he goes!
...Turning 2 is so much fun
But believe you me..the fun is just begun!
Happy B'day Rian - Sweta Aunty and Dharmen uncle
Poem from Sweta-Dharmen:
Rian is now another year older
walking, talking and getting bolder
Nursery Rhymes and Stories he knows
He's on a trike..look there he goes!
...Turning 2 is so much fun
But believe you me..the fun is just begun!
Happy B'day Rian - Sweta Aunty and Dharmen uncle
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Month 23
These are some highlights of month 23.
We spent a whole day in SF with Ajoba:
CAS, GGNP grounds, dinner at Osha Thai. Rian saw the small letter n and says it is "u wamba". "Wamba" was Rian-speak for upside down :-) Man, these kids learn so quickly!
We got Rian a Kettler trike, and he's absolutely loving it. Within a week Rian is peddling on his own. Soon we will take the turn lock off too. Wonderfully designed trike with a parent handle. We take it with us to the parks too, it disassembles pretty neatly.
Rian saw a towing sign in our complex - reminded him of TowMan (Tow Mater from Cars).
Rian can say entire nursery rhymes now - his fav one is wheels on the bus. He can say it all, we just need to "stop" in between and he picks it up.
We spent a whole day in SF with Ajoba:
CAS, GGNP grounds, dinner at Osha Thai. Rian saw the small letter n and says it is "u wamba". "Wamba" was Rian-speak for upside down :-) Man, these kids learn so quickly!
We got Rian a Kettler trike, and he's absolutely loving it. Within a week Rian is peddling on his own. Soon we will take the turn lock off too. Wonderfully designed trike with a parent handle. We take it with us to the parks too, it disassembles pretty neatly.
Rian saw a towing sign in our complex - reminded him of TowMan (Tow Mater from Cars).
Rian can say entire nursery rhymes now - his fav one is wheels on the bus. He can say it all, we just need to "stop" in between and he picks it up.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Month 22
Once again this month we saw ups and downs. There was the three week cold that needed antibiotics. Then there were also those awesome moments we had in the parks - he learnt how to throw ball and use a bat :-) Weather has been getting better, and mommy can only think of one thing - buvva! We try to hit at least one park or play area every weekend. Amidst our busy lives, that's one commitment mommy wants to make to Rian. Add to that a changing temperament - a glimpse of the terrible twos. Couple that with an exploding vocabulary, and we have had some of most memorable events. We're done with day-time potty training and we're all happy with this for now - no pressure for the night time diapers - they can stay for a while.
Rian is trying to "sing" aa aa. Daddy says louder beta and Rian raises his volume and changes his tempo to make us giggle.
Daddy and Mummy taught Rian a bunch of rhymes, and Rian would complete few words from each of them. He's not 100% done with any of them, but he knows 20% words for 20 of them! This month though Rian loves being the joker of the family. Wonder where he gets that from ;-) When we say "ten tiny", instead of saying "turtle" he says "baby" in a cute voice and gives a wide grin and hearty laugh and that has all of us in splits!! Obviously intrigued and encouraged by this behavior, Rian is no longer saying any nursery rhymes. Everything is and wide grins after that :-) Oh well, there goes that one. He also used to read all the alphabet, but recently he's taken to looking at any and all written word and saying ABCDD. Since we giggle on that, he's not interested anymore in saying the whole alphabet! Sigh.
Rian is becoming a real person now. If someone sneezes around Rian, he says "Bless You". If he wants something really bad like pitty (pickle) or Goov (olive) and we give it to him, he says "Thank you". He once hit Daddy by mistake and Daddy got hurt. Mommy showed Rian how to say "Sorry" and do Pem Em (prem prem - wali wali) to Daddy.
This month my name was changed by Rian from Mumma to Mummy. Not sure where he got it from, maybe the nanny. He found it cute and hard to pronounce at first, but kept practicing it. Sometimes though when he's very cranky or sleepy, he comes back to mumma.
He can say the name of his favorite boov (car): McQueen. He also says names of other boovs: Tow man (Tow Mater from Cars), Van, Beetie (Beetle), Audi and his fav: mumma boov. Mumma Boov means any car that has the BMW emblem!!
Rian loves his routines. His night time routine starts with dinner, followed/along with a mandatory dose of the movie Cars. I believe we've watched it as a family more than 8 times over now, 10-15 mins every day. Towards the end of this month, as Rian's health improved, we cut down on the TV time too. Now it plays only if Rian is extremely cranky and none of the 4 adults at home as the energy/patience to deal with him.
Rian has a bunch of finger puppets, ~10-12. He knows each and every one and can say all the names: giraffe, panda, lion, elephant, you name it! Mommy is very proud of this. He knows all his animal sounds: cat meow, dog woof woof, horse neigh, frog ribbit. He learns new ones very quickly. Aaji taught him Chiu does chiu chiu chiu :-)
Rian is starting to form his silly sounds vocab. His fav one is "Bucanana" and he just keeps saying the nanana. It's too cute. He also remembers Shayona's Dhama Tapa Tappa from Florida and he completes it if we start it.
We have a bunch of magnets from our yesterdays of traveling all over. He was so fascinated by them. Like they say - you should talk to your baby - Amit and I would always point to each magnet and tell him what it is. There are 20 or so odd ones that he's allowed to touch. Not sure when, but he started picking up the names. Now he can say names of almost all of them :-) The one mommy is most proud about is "Saturn" :) Yes my baby knows a circle with a band of ribbons around it is the planet Saturn. Oh, and he knows Monet and Picasso's work too, and Frankenstein (calls it Franken), and NASA :-) it's a joy to watch him go through each one. We always applaud all his efforts, and it makes him swell with pride - you can see it on his face, the happiness of getting the quiz all right!
Rian climbs the stairs on his own now, walking upright like a big boy. He even carried his toy cars with him and went up. Now Daddy is planning to keep the gates open, so Rian can gain the freedom to practice his downward walk.
He knows all the various names that Aaji and Aaba call him: Shonta, Gunda, Gunju, Sonu. Last month when we asked Rian "What is your name?" he would say Rian. Now if you ask him, he mostly replies Sonu. Grandparents also taught Rian his last name is Butala. He cannot say it that well, but manages to say Butada. When he's in a funny mode, he keeps repeating to make it Butadadada. :-) The fun continues! He loves to hang out with Aaba and Aaji. His fav game with Aaba is peekaboo, and yes he can say that word now "peekiboo". Then Aaba needs to run and hide, then call him with "kook". And Rian is running all over the place. He also loves to sit in Aaba's lap in the family room and play with his cars on the table.
Hope one of these days Mommy can get enough time to post some recent pictures. Till then, here are pictures from our Memorial Park.
[Edit 5/12/10] Rian also reached a new milestone: he can describe how old he is :-) Ask him all this month how old he is, and he says "twenty one".
Rian is trying to "sing" aa aa. Daddy says louder beta and Rian raises his volume and changes his tempo to make us giggle.
Daddy and Mummy taught Rian a bunch of rhymes, and Rian would complete few words from each of them. He's not 100% done with any of them, but he knows 20% words for 20 of them! This month though Rian loves being the joker of the family. Wonder where he gets that from ;-) When we say "ten tiny", instead of saying "turtle" he says "baby" in a cute voice and gives a wide grin and hearty laugh and that has all of us in splits!! Obviously intrigued and encouraged by this behavior, Rian is no longer saying any nursery rhymes. Everything is and wide grins after that :-) Oh well, there goes that one. He also used to read all the alphabet, but recently he's taken to looking at any and all written word and saying ABCDD. Since we giggle on that, he's not interested anymore in saying the whole alphabet! Sigh.
Rian is becoming a real person now. If someone sneezes around Rian, he says "Bless You". If he wants something really bad like pitty (pickle) or Goov (olive) and we give it to him, he says "Thank you". He once hit Daddy by mistake and Daddy got hurt. Mommy showed Rian how to say "Sorry" and do Pem Em (prem prem - wali wali) to Daddy.
This month my name was changed by Rian from Mumma to Mummy. Not sure where he got it from, maybe the nanny. He found it cute and hard to pronounce at first, but kept practicing it. Sometimes though when he's very cranky or sleepy, he comes back to mumma.
He can say the name of his favorite boov (car): McQueen. He also says names of other boovs: Tow man (Tow Mater from Cars), Van, Beetie (Beetle), Audi and his fav: mumma boov. Mumma Boov means any car that has the BMW emblem!!
Rian loves his routines. His night time routine starts with dinner, followed/along with a mandatory dose of the movie Cars. I believe we've watched it as a family more than 8 times over now, 10-15 mins every day. Towards the end of this month, as Rian's health improved, we cut down on the TV time too. Now it plays only if Rian is extremely cranky and none of the 4 adults at home as the energy/patience to deal with him.
Rian has a bunch of finger puppets, ~10-12. He knows each and every one and can say all the names: giraffe, panda, lion, elephant, you name it! Mommy is very proud of this. He knows all his animal sounds: cat meow, dog woof woof, horse neigh, frog ribbit. He learns new ones very quickly. Aaji taught him Chiu does chiu chiu chiu :-)
Rian is starting to form his silly sounds vocab. His fav one is "Bucanana" and he just keeps saying the nanana. It's too cute. He also remembers Shayona's Dhama Tapa Tappa from Florida and he completes it if we start it.
We have a bunch of magnets from our yesterdays of traveling all over. He was so fascinated by them. Like they say - you should talk to your baby - Amit and I would always point to each magnet and tell him what it is. There are 20 or so odd ones that he's allowed to touch. Not sure when, but he started picking up the names. Now he can say names of almost all of them :-) The one mommy is most proud about is "Saturn" :) Yes my baby knows a circle with a band of ribbons around it is the planet Saturn. Oh, and he knows Monet and Picasso's work too, and Frankenstein (calls it Franken), and NASA :-) it's a joy to watch him go through each one. We always applaud all his efforts, and it makes him swell with pride - you can see it on his face, the happiness of getting the quiz all right!
Rian climbs the stairs on his own now, walking upright like a big boy. He even carried his toy cars with him and went up. Now Daddy is planning to keep the gates open, so Rian can gain the freedom to practice his downward walk.
He knows all the various names that Aaji and Aaba call him: Shonta, Gunda, Gunju, Sonu. Last month when we asked Rian "What is your name?" he would say Rian. Now if you ask him, he mostly replies Sonu. Grandparents also taught Rian his last name is Butala. He cannot say it that well, but manages to say Butada. When he's in a funny mode, he keeps repeating to make it Butadadada. :-) The fun continues! He loves to hang out with Aaba and Aaji. His fav game with Aaba is peekaboo, and yes he can say that word now "peekiboo". Then Aaba needs to run and hide, then call him with "kook". And Rian is running all over the place. He also loves to sit in Aaba's lap in the family room and play with his cars on the table.
Hope one of these days Mommy can get enough time to post some recent pictures. Till then, here are pictures from our Memorial Park.
[Edit 5/12/10] Rian also reached a new milestone: he can describe how old he is :-) Ask him all this month how old he is, and he says "twenty one".
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
21 months old
This post is way overdue. This month has been crazy busy (7 March to 6 April 2010). Aaji-Aaba got here ~end of March, and we were in Tahoe for a weekend after that. The next weekend was catch-up and then Rian's 21 month bday. The cake was Chocolate Opera Cake from Sugar Butter Flour, absolutely yummy, simply amazing, not-too-sweet, perfect balance.
Anyways, Rian has been picking up more and more Marathi this month. Highlight was surely discovering that he could now say 11 to 20 :-) Cely did a great job at teaching him numbers. Every time he climbs up or down the stairs with her, she counts! Such small things help a lot.
Rian was happy to see Aaba and Aaji. A few days before their arrival, we showed him photos and spoke about Aaji and Aaba. I'm sure he too remembers so many small things. When he last saw them, he was 13 months old. 8 months later, Rian was very happy to greet them again.
Rian has made some very good progress in potty training. I randomly started on 28 March, and by the time Rian was 21 months old (in 10 days) Rian was much day-time pee-pee trained with a few accidents here n there. Poo poo was still a challenge though and we needed diapers to go ;-)
Rian a course of antibiotics this month. This was his second one in his life. Cold lasting for ~4 weeks = sinus infection. He was then healthy for two weeks. After we got back from Tahoe, he had a full fledged cold again.
Rian loved playing in the snow. He hated wearing so many layers of clothes - "nineteen", as Daddy taught him to say. Once Daddy got him "jump-started", Rian had loads of fun. Shayona and Parv were very good company for Rian.
Other misc trivia: Rian had his fourth hair cut, and we again sobbed once those long locks were lost. Sigh. He also finished his "Movement Exploration" class and had his "first graduation". That sure was fun. Mom made samosas :-) Okay you can read that as "mom fried ready-made frozen samosas" :-) Rian's room was finally "done".
Anyways, Rian has been picking up more and more Marathi this month. Highlight was surely discovering that he could now say 11 to 20 :-) Cely did a great job at teaching him numbers. Every time he climbs up or down the stairs with her, she counts! Such small things help a lot.
Rian was happy to see Aaba and Aaji. A few days before their arrival, we showed him photos and spoke about Aaji and Aaba. I'm sure he too remembers so many small things. When he last saw them, he was 13 months old. 8 months later, Rian was very happy to greet them again.
Rian has made some very good progress in potty training. I randomly started on 28 March, and by the time Rian was 21 months old (in 10 days) Rian was much day-time pee-pee trained with a few accidents here n there. Poo poo was still a challenge though and we needed diapers to go ;-)
Rian a course of antibiotics this month. This was his second one in his life. Cold lasting for ~4 weeks = sinus infection. He was then healthy for two weeks. After we got back from Tahoe, he had a full fledged cold again.
Rian loved playing in the snow. He hated wearing so many layers of clothes - "nineteen", as Daddy taught him to say. Once Daddy got him "jump-started", Rian had loads of fun. Shayona and Parv were very good company for Rian.
Other misc trivia: Rian had his fourth hair cut, and we again sobbed once those long locks were lost. Sigh. He also finished his "Movement Exploration" class and had his "first graduation". That sure was fun. Mom made samosas :-) Okay you can read that as "mom fried ready-made frozen samosas" :-) Rian's room was finally "done".
Thursday, April 1, 2010
शम्भरावी पोस्ट
शम्भरावी ही माझी पोस्टिंग एकदम परफेक्ट मराठी बद्दल आहे
मागच्या आठवड्यात मी रियानला मराठी शिकवायला सुरुवात केली
त्याने फार छान इंटरेस्ट दाखवला आणि भरभर बोलू लागला
रियान आता हे शब्द मराठीत बोलतो:
दादा
बाबा
आई
पाणी
गाडी
थंडी
आजी
आजोबा (बा)
आत्या (कधी कधी तात्या म्हणतो)
मामा
गागा (गाई गाई)
बाई
खूप खूप आनंद होतो त्याला मोठा होताना बघता बघता
इतक्यातच दोन वर्षाचा होइल
मागच्या आठवड्यात मी रियानला मराठी शिकवायला सुरुवात केली
त्याने फार छान इंटरेस्ट दाखवला आणि भरभर बोलू लागला
रियान आता हे शब्द मराठीत बोलतो:
दादा
बाबा
आई
पाणी
गाडी
थंडी
आजी
आजोबा (बा)
आत्या (कधी कधी तात्या म्हणतो)
मामा
गागा (गाई गाई)
बाई
खूप खूप आनंद होतो त्याला मोठा होताना बघता बघता
इतक्यातच दोन वर्षाचा होइल
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Rian's room
We're finally done with this round of improvements for Rian's room, and we're thinking we'll keep it at this level for a while - at least till he outgrows his crib/toddler bed. So here are some pictures for archival on my blog - Rian's diary. I have to confess, there is no "theme", just a bunch of random ideas thrown together. We've made an attempt at symmetry, but frankly if there is any, it's a co-incidence :D Come on in...
This is the right side of the door, as soon as you enter the room. Rian loves his new stickers, and the new place for his fishie and bear and kuck. Small toys all go in the hangers.
Here is a closeup of his stickers:
Here is the window wall, with two more shelves for his soft toys (and later for books). The magnetic board is for his numbers. He has another one in the family room for his letters:
Special closeup of his music player shelf, and mom-dad photo:
Here is his crib wall, with "blocks" of sea animals, photo frames, and Rian's beloved moon:
Here are closeups of his photo frames and sea creatures:
Finally, here are a few photos of the little one enjoying in his room:
This is the right side of the door, as soon as you enter the room. Rian loves his new stickers, and the new place for his fishie and bear and kuck. Small toys all go in the hangers.
Here is a closeup of his stickers:
Here is the window wall, with two more shelves for his soft toys (and later for books). The magnetic board is for his numbers. He has another one in the family room for his letters:
Special closeup of his music player shelf, and mom-dad photo:
Here is his crib wall, with "blocks" of sea animals, photo frames, and Rian's beloved moon:
Here are closeups of his photo frames and sea creatures:
Finally, here are a few photos of the little one enjoying in his room:
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Bitter Sweet
Last night was one of those bitter sweet, but makes-mommy-daddy-proud experiences. Rian has been a YES-man for a while. We were not sure if he understands the questions, and is just going with the YES reply since it makes us all happy and smiley. Last night he said "bib" pointing to the IKEA bib he got as a gift. So Amit asks "Do you want to wear the bib?" And he goes "No". And we're like - HUH?! Did he just say NO!? So we asked again, and No came the reply.
He's expressed displeasure before by using the words "na na na" but never a clear No like this before. Wow, we were happy - now he knows the questions so well, and at the same time sad. Now he knows how to say No. Sigh.
Another bitter sweet experience last night was with the bitter gourd veggie. Our cook makes this wonderful karela sabji with jaggery in it, so it is literally bitter sweet. Usually Rian loves to pour over the kitchen stove in the morning and taste the fresh fare every day. Whenever it has been karela, he's made a face. Last night Rian had finished his dinner and his yogurt, and we were watching his fav movie Cars, all three of us. Mommy and Daddy were having their dinner on the sofa in front of the TV :D Suddenly our fellow develops interest in mom's plate. Mom says "you won't like it, it is kadu". He reaches for it, and pops one in his mouth. Then goes "hmmmm...." and reaches for a second one :-) After rejecting karela five or six times, Rian has developed mommy and daddy's liking for karela... Nice!
He's expressed displeasure before by using the words "na na na" but never a clear No like this before. Wow, we were happy - now he knows the questions so well, and at the same time sad. Now he knows how to say No. Sigh.
Another bitter sweet experience last night was with the bitter gourd veggie. Our cook makes this wonderful karela sabji with jaggery in it, so it is literally bitter sweet. Usually Rian loves to pour over the kitchen stove in the morning and taste the fresh fare every day. Whenever it has been karela, he's made a face. Last night Rian had finished his dinner and his yogurt, and we were watching his fav movie Cars, all three of us. Mommy and Daddy were having their dinner on the sofa in front of the TV :D Suddenly our fellow develops interest in mom's plate. Mom says "you won't like it, it is kadu". He reaches for it, and pops one in his mouth. Then goes "hmmmm...." and reaches for a second one :-) After rejecting karela five or six times, Rian has developed mommy and daddy's liking for karela... Nice!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tech crazy
I'm not sure what exactly draws babies towards electronics, but babies have a built-in sensor to find and pursue electronic objects. Of course when they see examples of Daddy and Mommy spending every extra moment with their iPhones, it doesn't take too long for the kiddo to catch on.
Rian's early explorations began with chewing Mommy's neoprene cover literally to pieces. Mommy got a new one and decided it is not for eating. Then Rian moved on to the harder parts to eat, and both our iPhones have badges of honor to mark the time when Rian was teething.
Slowly but surely the guy kept experimenting. 6 months back we started guiding his fingers into the apps - Doodle Buddy, spelling games, counting games, shapes, etc. Silly stuff like popping bubbles used to make him giggle and helped keep him calm through diaper changes. He was majorly into photos, and first learnt how to "flick" through the photos. At 16 months, he then started popping the bubbles himself, tickling teddy to laugh. YouTube and iPhone videos kept him busy inflight. Many a tired weeknights, Mommy and Daddy have taken sahara from Rian's favorite video of all time: ek anek. That last quarter of paratha, or bowl of soup, or cup of yogurt vanish so quickly when he's hooked onto the chidiya flying away.
After we got back from Texas though, the guy got into serious business: he could unlock our iPhones with no effort. Quickly he learnt how to start the apps he wanted. With words pouring out of his mouth, he started asking for those apps, pointing to the iPhone. Now he even searches my pockets when I get home, to locate the enchanting toy :-) Reminds me of Parv looking into everyone's pockets for "Kaa kee".
He's been learning on the sly though. Rian learnt his shapes mainly from the iPhone app. Maybe his numbers and alphabets also came from there (although he has two other sets of alphabets and number toys). His fine motor skills have seen a big improvement, trying to "catch" that lion or slide that letter into its box. At 20 months, he's a pro and loves spelling out words. We've now started buying his apps though, else he keeps hitting the ads in the free games or the several prompts to "upgrade now". Paid apps keeps him less frustrated :-)
For the most part we're so thankful for this invention called the iPhone as we've made most use of it for Rian. It has truly been a savior. It is the ultimate kid-pacification device, although we try to limit iPhone time and let Rian know before his time starts, when its going to end. Our iPhones also help with TODOs, grocery lists, keeping track of my WW points, and loooots more. And yet, the one use we are most thankful for - keeping Rian busy when we need those 5-7 mins of peace.
Rian's early explorations began with chewing Mommy's neoprene cover literally to pieces. Mommy got a new one and decided it is not for eating. Then Rian moved on to the harder parts to eat, and both our iPhones have badges of honor to mark the time when Rian was teething.
Slowly but surely the guy kept experimenting. 6 months back we started guiding his fingers into the apps - Doodle Buddy, spelling games, counting games, shapes, etc. Silly stuff like popping bubbles used to make him giggle and helped keep him calm through diaper changes. He was majorly into photos, and first learnt how to "flick" through the photos. At 16 months, he then started popping the bubbles himself, tickling teddy to laugh. YouTube and iPhone videos kept him busy inflight. Many a tired weeknights, Mommy and Daddy have taken sahara from Rian's favorite video of all time: ek anek. That last quarter of paratha, or bowl of soup, or cup of yogurt vanish so quickly when he's hooked onto the chidiya flying away.
After we got back from Texas though, the guy got into serious business: he could unlock our iPhones with no effort. Quickly he learnt how to start the apps he wanted. With words pouring out of his mouth, he started asking for those apps, pointing to the iPhone. Now he even searches my pockets when I get home, to locate the enchanting toy :-) Reminds me of Parv looking into everyone's pockets for "Kaa kee".
He's been learning on the sly though. Rian learnt his shapes mainly from the iPhone app. Maybe his numbers and alphabets also came from there (although he has two other sets of alphabets and number toys). His fine motor skills have seen a big improvement, trying to "catch" that lion or slide that letter into its box. At 20 months, he's a pro and loves spelling out words. We've now started buying his apps though, else he keeps hitting the ads in the free games or the several prompts to "upgrade now". Paid apps keeps him less frustrated :-)
For the most part we're so thankful for this invention called the iPhone as we've made most use of it for Rian. It has truly been a savior. It is the ultimate kid-pacification device, although we try to limit iPhone time and let Rian know before his time starts, when its going to end. Our iPhones also help with TODOs, grocery lists, keeping track of my WW points, and loooots more. And yet, the one use we are most thankful for - keeping Rian busy when we need those 5-7 mins of peace.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Two words
Yesterday 3/16, Rian hit another small milestone. Just as we were entering our garage, he pointed to my car and said "Mumma boov", then pointed to Amit's car and said "Daddy boov". For a minute, I just stood there and wondered, wow, did he just say two words together?! Yes he did :-) for the first time, and it happened just too naturally... Sometimes I suspect he must be practicing in his mind, because it came out from his mouth so perfectly...
Since then he's been going crazy about mumma boov. All his toy cars are mumma boov and daddy boov. Today he could identify my car from a bunch of ~10 cars or so. I've also been trying to teach him "I wuv you", and I thought he almost said "wuv you" together today, yet to get that magical string of three words from him.
Gotta make him a Bambaiyya boy right? So we were casually saying "Shanyaa" today, playing with him, kissing/tickling him, and pop comes from his mouth "Shanyaa" with that familiar wide grin which tells us he's so proud he's said a new word.
Oh loooooooooooove this stage of Rian's growth. He's so happy happy all the time since he can communicate what he wants now. Every day is worth those awesome 5 minutes just before bedtime when mommy and daddy just want to cuddle him and whisper sweet nothings into his ears and do naka naka with him and huggie him and kissie him, and he responds back to each and every one of them with more gusto than us... Life in those moments is perfect.
Since then he's been going crazy about mumma boov. All his toy cars are mumma boov and daddy boov. Today he could identify my car from a bunch of ~10 cars or so. I've also been trying to teach him "I wuv you", and I thought he almost said "wuv you" together today, yet to get that magical string of three words from him.
Gotta make him a Bambaiyya boy right? So we were casually saying "Shanyaa" today, playing with him, kissing/tickling him, and pop comes from his mouth "Shanyaa" with that familiar wide grin which tells us he's so proud he's said a new word.
Oh loooooooooooove this stage of Rian's growth. He's so happy happy all the time since he can communicate what he wants now. Every day is worth those awesome 5 minutes just before bedtime when mommy and daddy just want to cuddle him and whisper sweet nothings into his ears and do naka naka with him and huggie him and kissie him, and he responds back to each and every one of them with more gusto than us... Life in those moments is perfect.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
My darling
Rian said "darling" :-) couple of nights back. Yay, my darling said "darling"!!! I couldn't believe it, asked him to repeat it so many times, and he complied, giggling every time... It was so cute.
I've been trying to get Rian to complete my rhymes, get the last word kind of a thing. His first was:
Twinkle Twinkle Little "Star"
and he loves to say it out loud with a wide grin :D Then came the phrase:
I Love "You"
Then we graduated to:
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Won't you be my "Darling"
Around a month back we asked Rian casually: Rian, what's in the sky? "Moo", pat came the reply. I followed up with "what else is in the sky?" and the fellow goes "Taar" and my heart swelled with pride. Who taught him that? Neither of us or Cely did. He just figured it out on his own from the Chandoba cartoon he watched post dinner. Now, he has added on the "sun" and is also trying to say "clouds" :-) This month the "moo" sounds perfect - he can say moon very clearly now. Also the letter "N" is not "nnn" anymore, it is "en"... too good!
I've been trying to get Rian to complete my rhymes, get the last word kind of a thing. His first was:
Twinkle Twinkle Little "Star"
and he loves to say it out loud with a wide grin :D Then came the phrase:
I Love "You"
Then we graduated to:
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Bumping Up and Down in my little red wagon
Won't you be my "Darling"
Around a month back we asked Rian casually: Rian, what's in the sky? "Moo", pat came the reply. I followed up with "what else is in the sky?" and the fellow goes "Taar" and my heart swelled with pride. Who taught him that? Neither of us or Cely did. He just figured it out on his own from the Chandoba cartoon he watched post dinner. Now, he has added on the "sun" and is also trying to say "clouds" :-) This month the "moo" sounds perfect - he can say moon very clearly now. Also the letter "N" is not "nnn" anymore, it is "en"... too good!
Monday, March 15, 2010
First hike of 2010
On Sunday we were out and about, finished our first "hike" of the year. Well, not sure how many people can call it a hike, it's more like a trail, in fact a fully paved stroller-friendly loop: the Stanford Dish trail.
The odds were pegged against us this day. Due to changes in daylight savings, we'd already lost an hr. Mommy had thrown her back on Saturday, so we were not sure how she'd feel in the morning about the hike. The morning was slow and lazy, with Rian as usual refusing to eat much breakfast. But we pushed through, and Daddy made sure we didn't change plans, that we went. Our thinking: even if we walk only for half an hr, it is still worth it.
We left from home at 12:50pm, well past Rian's lunch time. Rian was hungry, and ate a few of his favorite ginger cookies. Theplas came to the rescue. We started the hike ~1:15pm, and Rian must have been hungry, as he happily agreed to hold thepla in his hand and munch munch munch. The first 45 mins went by quickly and smoothly since Rian was busy with the thepla. He loves the outdoors, wants to point to aeroplanes, birds, everything. Squirrels kept him totally hooked, and he stayed in his stroller.
Then he got into this "pick me up" stage and didn't want to be in the stroller anymore. He settled on Dad's shoulder as a close second, after walking/running for 15 minutes. It was new and fun to walk on a hike at Rian's walking pace :-) Almost funny! He of course took many scenic detours into the "gin gaas" (green grass) chasing squirrels and birds and storks. This was arguably the best part of our hike. We agreed this is what we stay in the Bay Area for - proximity and availability of so many great trails, and of course the awesome weather. It was in the 60s, perfect spring weather.
Rian had loads of fun when the downhill parts of the hike came by. Daddy promised him a ride, and he sure as hell delivered. Off went the two of them, down the hill at full speed, with Rian in his stroller. Wow they almost went off the road and toppled over at some point, but the little one was all giggles all the time.
The first and the last few hills had mommy and daddy huffing and puffing. The middle 50% of the trail is a walk in the park. All in all, a good time to be outdoors. Rian had his lunch on the trail :-) and was much less "fussy" as he was super hungry :D Daddy and Mommy came down by 3pm and headed to a sushi restaurant. After ages, we had lunch outside, and Rian too was well behaved. I guess we're getting to that point when we should consider starting to travel again.
Oh, milord, note kiya jaye: Daddy's camera had a very nice outing too, IN IT'S BAG. The poor thing never saw the sunshine and the blue clouds. Well o well, maybe next time ;-)
The odds were pegged against us this day. Due to changes in daylight savings, we'd already lost an hr. Mommy had thrown her back on Saturday, so we were not sure how she'd feel in the morning about the hike. The morning was slow and lazy, with Rian as usual refusing to eat much breakfast. But we pushed through, and Daddy made sure we didn't change plans, that we went. Our thinking: even if we walk only for half an hr, it is still worth it.
We left from home at 12:50pm, well past Rian's lunch time. Rian was hungry, and ate a few of his favorite ginger cookies. Theplas came to the rescue. We started the hike ~1:15pm, and Rian must have been hungry, as he happily agreed to hold thepla in his hand and munch munch munch. The first 45 mins went by quickly and smoothly since Rian was busy with the thepla. He loves the outdoors, wants to point to aeroplanes, birds, everything. Squirrels kept him totally hooked, and he stayed in his stroller.
Then he got into this "pick me up" stage and didn't want to be in the stroller anymore. He settled on Dad's shoulder as a close second, after walking/running for 15 minutes. It was new and fun to walk on a hike at Rian's walking pace :-) Almost funny! He of course took many scenic detours into the "gin gaas" (green grass) chasing squirrels and birds and storks. This was arguably the best part of our hike. We agreed this is what we stay in the Bay Area for - proximity and availability of so many great trails, and of course the awesome weather. It was in the 60s, perfect spring weather.
Rian had loads of fun when the downhill parts of the hike came by. Daddy promised him a ride, and he sure as hell delivered. Off went the two of them, down the hill at full speed, with Rian in his stroller. Wow they almost went off the road and toppled over at some point, but the little one was all giggles all the time.
The first and the last few hills had mommy and daddy huffing and puffing. The middle 50% of the trail is a walk in the park. All in all, a good time to be outdoors. Rian had his lunch on the trail :-) and was much less "fussy" as he was super hungry :D Daddy and Mommy came down by 3pm and headed to a sushi restaurant. After ages, we had lunch outside, and Rian too was well behaved. I guess we're getting to that point when we should consider starting to travel again.
Oh, milord, note kiya jaye: Daddy's camera had a very nice outing too, IN IT'S BAG. The poor thing never saw the sunshine and the blue clouds. Well o well, maybe next time ;-)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Bye Bye month 20
This is by far the busiest month we've had with the little one, and the most exciting one so far. Our bonus room carpet was found wet this month, and the repairs (and home refi) has increased mommy's todo list and stress levels to a new high :-) Here's a quick recap of Rian's month 20.
- First time eating out: i.e. we didn't carry lunch for Rian from home. 20 Feb lunch at DeeDee's for Swati and Jigga's party
- First time mac n cheese: 28 Feb lunch at IKEA. Asked for cake by name. It was amazing to see him "point" at the cake, and say "cake". The glee in his eyes was unmistakable!
- Started calling Cely by name Yeyi: 2 March. Rian also calls Aatya as Tatya, Ajoba as Baa and Aaji as Jee.
- Can count from 1 to 10: all the numbers :-) This one makes mommy and daddy real proud.
- The alphabet is almost there too: He now can say: A B C D E F (says Fuf) G H J K L M (says mm) N (says nn) O P Q (says ku) R (says aa) S (says sss) T U V X (says eww) Y Z. So we're missing: I & W, and then comes the task of putting them in order.
- Can identify 8 colors and says the name of 7: Red (says noon-noon), Blue (says Flu), Green (says Gin), Pink (says correctly!), Yellow (says correctly!), Black (can't say yet), purple (says pupple), white (says why).
- A true YES man: This one is totally Daddy's genius. Daddy taught Rian how to say yes. Now ask Rian "Do you love Mommy?" YES, pat comes the reply. For a few days everything was yes :-) But now he "gets it" and a few questions get a no, for e.g. "Do you want to brush your teeth?" Nanananana ... :-)
- Rian has become a true popat now. He can say many many words, and some by just observing our lips as we speak. The list of words he speaks is amazing long now :-) and we're proud of every little bit that he picks up.
- Rian's room is picking up bit by bit. Now there's a shelf, and we have a CD player, but we're still not quite "sure" about the music player (such few options for what we're looking for). We have a few shelves to go, and then we'll be done with iteration one and ready to welcome the grandparents.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
19 and counting
It's hard to believe that Rian is already 19 months old. It feels like it was just yesterday when we celebrated his 18 month birthday. The little guy has surely been keeping us busy, but its such an enjoyable phase that the month has flown by pretty quickly. So many things keep happening and every day I think at least once "ah, I should add this to my blog, this should be in Rian's diary", but the busy, stressful life that I'm leading leaves me with little time to visit my blog as often as I'd like. Let's hope I can at least add one entry every month, with all the major things to remember. So here's a quick recap of the last month, in an approx chrono order:
- Rian had a blast at Shayona's bday party in The Jungle in San Jose. He was wary at first with the ballpit and the unstable surfaces, but Daddy got him finally started and involved. Rian and Shayona were sliding from a 3ft slide and we absolutely enjoyed the last 10 mins when they held hands and went down sliding.
- Rian chipped his left front tooth. A visit to the dentist was more traumatic than the tooth chipping itself, as Rian was restrained: hands, legs and head. Fortunately Mommy wasn't there to see it, Daddy braved the visit with Cely.
- We moved Rian's crib out to his own room. He's been sleeping fairly well on most nights, but it's not a smooth road. Mommy thanks Daddy for all the efforts, and continuing help.
- Mommy and Daddy went to IKEA to buy stuff for Rian's room. Turned out we need to return 80% of the items we brought home :-) It's all good though, coz we got a pretty good idea about what we want to do with his room, once we got into the process of thinking about it. Rian's room now boasts an alphabet and numbers mat (waiting for its stink to go away!).
- Mommy has been cooking more n more for Rian. I made dosa for the first time in my life and Rian loved it :-)
- Rian started going to a class on Saturdays in the morning for an hr. It's a "mommy n me" kind of a class. He's have quite some fun seeing others his size and the indoor play is good for this season. Daddy joined us for the second class to take some pictures. 6 more classes remain, the series is of 8 classes.
- Rian has been spitting out water very well now for more than a month, at brushing time. Recently though Rian has taken to spitting out everything liquid :-( It's been 4-5 days now. Hope it's a phase and it gets over quickly.
- So far I've cut Rian's nails while he was asleep. Now that Rian sleeps in his own room, I don't have that luxury. I tried getting him into our bed, and cutting his nails, but he kept waking up and I wasted an hr!! Finally the next morning, with a lot of cajoling and explaining (half an hr again), I finally cut Rian's nails for the first time when Rian was wide awake! So far only did the hands, the toes still remain...
- Rian has picked up more than 20 words, and his vocabulary increases every day. This weekend he said three new words (teeth, wow, baby) in addition to lots of alphabets and numbers (A, B, C, D, E, O, P, T, U, 2, 3, 4, 9) and he's catching on to "aaji" and "ajoba" too!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
And so it begins...
... A different phase of parenthood. One that involves many heartaches for the mommies and daddies.
The first few months' worries were about Rian's feeding (milk). Then came the struggle with solids, then the teething wave hit, then toddlerhood, followed again by the molars and some more hunger strikes. Now a new wave of independence is sending my little one into fits of super energy. Some of it was witnessed by us at The Jungle while celebrating Shayona's second birthday.
Along with this super energy comes the hurt. Sigh, the hurt. It's getting worse and worse now as the falls are harder, and Rian is taking more risks.
Rian chipped one of his front tooth today morning. He leaned over asking for something from the bathtub, and he was leaning on a step stool. Suddenly he lost his balance and his mouth landed on the bathtub exterior which is tiled :-( It all happened so suddenly and in an instant, there was very little that could be done about it.
The next moment, all I knew was how hard I was crying, seeing that some part of tooth had been damaged, and blood oozed from the broken lips. I quickly called Daddy and quickly tried to cool the wound with some water, in the process washing away the cracked pieces of tooth (I think there were three). My mind dreamed up lots of scary thoughts as I handed him off to Dad, since I didn't see the extent of the damage. My first responses of panic were ... Oh My God, Rian lost BOTH his front tooth! How will he eat now? His speech will be affected! He's gonna look horrible in all his photos. God... this was the worst ever I must have cried.
Turns out 15 mins later, after a good cool down from Daddy and his favorite teething rings soothing his lips, Rian was a happy camper. Mom though was still in the ditches. Finally calmed myself down to get closer to Rian to see the damage. 1/4th of his front tooth - gone. A very sharp edge remains to the tooth - this is bothering Rian's tongue and causing him to wake frequently at night. Here are the before (3 weeks back) and after pictures.
The first few months' worries were about Rian's feeding (milk). Then came the struggle with solids, then the teething wave hit, then toddlerhood, followed again by the molars and some more hunger strikes. Now a new wave of independence is sending my little one into fits of super energy. Some of it was witnessed by us at The Jungle while celebrating Shayona's second birthday.
Along with this super energy comes the hurt. Sigh, the hurt. It's getting worse and worse now as the falls are harder, and Rian is taking more risks.
Rian chipped one of his front tooth today morning. He leaned over asking for something from the bathtub, and he was leaning on a step stool. Suddenly he lost his balance and his mouth landed on the bathtub exterior which is tiled :-( It all happened so suddenly and in an instant, there was very little that could be done about it.
The next moment, all I knew was how hard I was crying, seeing that some part of tooth had been damaged, and blood oozed from the broken lips. I quickly called Daddy and quickly tried to cool the wound with some water, in the process washing away the cracked pieces of tooth (I think there were three). My mind dreamed up lots of scary thoughts as I handed him off to Dad, since I didn't see the extent of the damage. My first responses of panic were ... Oh My God, Rian lost BOTH his front tooth! How will he eat now? His speech will be affected! He's gonna look horrible in all his photos. God... this was the worst ever I must have cried.
Turns out 15 mins later, after a good cool down from Daddy and his favorite teething rings soothing his lips, Rian was a happy camper. Mom though was still in the ditches. Finally calmed myself down to get closer to Rian to see the damage. 1/4th of his front tooth - gone. A very sharp edge remains to the tooth - this is bothering Rian's tongue and causing him to wake frequently at night. Here are the before (3 weeks back) and after pictures.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The bird has left the nest
Sigh... Happiness and sadness, a hollow feeling takes over Dad and Mom as we moved Rian's crib today into his room. In pictures, the empty space in the master bed and the final place of the crib.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Word explosion
This is so cool, I have to jot it down for my own memories. So January 1 Rian opens his word bank with three words, and it's literally an explosion so far. Here are all the words my little one can speak (some are Rian-ized variants of course!):
- Bappa
- Bubba (for bubble)
- Moon
- Star
- Fish
- Dirty
- Boov (for car... think vroom vroom)
- Buvva (for bhoor jaa... wants go out)
- Mumma
- Deddy (for Daddy)
- Tatya (for Aatya)
- Ball
- Tuttle
- Guava
- Nana (for banana)
- Dudu (Marathi word for milk)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
TT ... and it's not an Audi
TT = Tantrum Time, and sadly it's not an Audi...
Since the past couple of days, Rian has started throwing tantrums. It's that time of the age, developmentally, I guess. He's able to communicate partially with his words, but I'm guessing gets so frustrated trying to piece together the rest, he bursts into tantrums. He gets really loud and shrilly, and waves his hands back n forth. His face is a sore sight and I can literally see the anger and frustration. Sigh. Poor thing.
Luckily we've been able to handle the first few fits with decent amount of patience and firmness. Affirm to him that - no, you cannot get to see the TV now, it is dinner time. It's okay if you refuse to eat. TV is after dinner, for 5 minutes.
It's not easy to distract him when he's in a tantrum, so we try to give him a few things he wants e.g. you want the belan, take it. But you won't get the knife. Let's go see the moon and maybe we can see a few birds flying, but no TV.
Wish us more power for continued patience :-) Toddlerhood is a whole different ballgame, we see now.
Since the past couple of days, Rian has started throwing tantrums. It's that time of the age, developmentally, I guess. He's able to communicate partially with his words, but I'm guessing gets so frustrated trying to piece together the rest, he bursts into tantrums. He gets really loud and shrilly, and waves his hands back n forth. His face is a sore sight and I can literally see the anger and frustration. Sigh. Poor thing.
Luckily we've been able to handle the first few fits with decent amount of patience and firmness. Affirm to him that - no, you cannot get to see the TV now, it is dinner time. It's okay if you refuse to eat. TV is after dinner, for 5 minutes.
It's not easy to distract him when he's in a tantrum, so we try to give him a few things he wants e.g. you want the belan, take it. But you won't get the knife. Let's go see the moon and maybe we can see a few birds flying, but no TV.
Wish us more power for continued patience :-) Toddlerhood is a whole different ballgame, we see now.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The 18 month mark
Unbelievable as it is to us, Rian is 18 months old today on 6 Jan '10. A quick recap of the last few weeks to record how Tuggy keeps us continuously amazed:
- Our Austin trip to the Dave home gave Rian loads of time to play with Aanya. I think Rian has picked up the nthu to talk from her, just like he seemed to have picked up the interest in eating from Shayona during our Florida trip.
- Rian started the New Year with a bang and lots of words: dirty, star, fish. He added to that till date: daddy, touch, ball. He had mastered Bappa, mumma, mum-mum long time back.
- On our 7th anniv yesterday Rian gave me the gift of calling me mumma :-) He had his vocabulary constantly growing and could say the word mumma for some time now but could not say the word to call me to get my attention. He would say it of I asked him to say it. Today though, 4-5 times he called out for me and looked for my response :-)
- Rian did the unthinkable today: he was able to climb out of his crib to a point where he can fall and hurt himself. Note that the crib is in it's lowest position and Rian did not use the bumper to get the extra height. Mummy and Daddy are wondering what to do now since we were thinking of moving his crib to his own room! Any suggestions?!
- When do these critters STTN???? Last night was better than most, slept in his crib from 9:30pm to 5am but refused to sleep from 5am to 7am :-( and that too in our bed. This is one of our roadblocks for moving Rian out to his own room. Lately Rian has taken to staying awake for an hr or so when he wakes up in the middle of the night. He loves playing with our fingers and unconsciously slapping dad and mom.
- Rian has started responding to the word 'smile'. When mumma says 'smile beta smile', Rian does this cute shy smile that is unbelievably sweet. I'll try to upload a few photos if I can find them. Many of our friends have told us that Rian's smile melts their hearts, and imagine this lava at your command for disposal :-)
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