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

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.

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".

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".

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

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:

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!