I'm back..

OMG its been more than a year since my last entry...I'm mad at myself to some extent because i could have taken some extra effort to get back here sooner...the thought of all the memories that could have been captured here as they happened...absolutely priceless. Hopefully this rude awakening will keep me on the guard and ensure that i dont fall of the blogging wagon again...

i was just going through the last few entries and Sean and Rhea have grown up so much since ahem! last year...they look like babies in the pictures here...i have to get cracking with some updates soon...text and visual..

Here's our Onam 2008 pictures..
The Sadya Spread..


Time to enjoy the Sadya..


Sean started kindergarten this month also. Can't beleive that our lil boy is strating school ...i was all teary eyed...Rhea also moved to the big day care center from the home daycare..she's been going there since last month and has adjusted really well...



I got him new clothes but he wanted to wear his 'comfortable' t-shirt and i let him. Since it was his first day I thought that its better for him to atleast feel comfortable as he gets used to his new environment.



So NAMASKAARAM to one and all...i'll report back soon..

Rekindling my passion for baking..

My secret sous chef who does all the hardwork!


Chocolate goodness...Yum Yum Yum!


My dream com true - My first self baked white bread !


Going the healthy way with wheat bread!

Happy Onam!

Marunaadan Mannil Oru Onaakhosham
This onam was almost a big washout but creativity and some luck saved the day. By the time we got home from our hectic sunday (see my post below) it was past 4:00pm. We had 2 very over tired kids and mom. Aji was still determined to go for his workout in a hour. Somewhere between flipping Tv channels & having a strong coffee i found a new burst of energy (must have been the caffeine) and felt really horrible that I wasn't doing anything for Onam. Thiru Onam was on Monday and since Aji comes home really late I deceided to make atleast a Daal and Avial and call it the 'Sadya'. I went through the fridge and freezer and found a packet of frozen chena, 2 pieces of frozen pacha managa, drumsticks and some french cut beans. I added some carrots and tomatoes and voila i had enough ingredients to make Avial. I made the rice and a quick daal and the Avial. By then Aji left for his workout. I asked him to get some chips and pappadam to round off our 'Instant Sadya'. I wanted to make some payasam but then was too wiped out so managed to give a bath to the kids and put Rhea to bed. Sean as usual wasn't ready to hit the sack yet. I wore my settu sari to get into the spirit of Onam. Sean was surprised. I changed back to my casual clothes after an hour since I didn't want to accidentally spill anything on it. Aji got home around 8:30pm. I made the pappadam and as luck would have it I found some more curries in the fridge - cabbage thoran, brinjal mezhukkuperatti, black eyed peas curry and vellarikka charu - PERFECT! The number of items on my menu suddenly went up and I was happy. I laid the fake banana leaves and served dinner. So here is what we had finally, Rice, Daal, Avial, Cabbage Thoran, Brinjal mezhukkuperatti, Black eyed peas curry, Vellarikka charu, Pappadam, Banana Chips, Lemon pickle. Pretty impressive huh!

After dinner I told Aji that he could have Gulab Jamun for dessert since I didn't make any payasam. Surprise Surprise...Aji remembered the Kheer I brought from the party on saturday and had it on the banana leaf, Naadan Style. The Sadya was complete.Ellavarkum thripthi aayi!!

Sean and Me did the athapoo on monday after Rhea went to bed. Sean was very excited and cut the stems of the flowers so I could arrange it. He had a great time and had dinner again on the banana leaf tonight.

A weekend to remember!

This past weekend was such a busy one. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun though so it made for a happy and fun filled action packed 2 days that will be remembered fondly for all the sweet memories.

Saturday, Aji woke up around 5 and went for his workout. He got back by 7 so I can get going. Gloria was scheduled to come in the morning too and aji had to go to work for a couple of hours. So i hustled out to the fitness center around 7:45 and got back by 10:00. Gloria was already here.Aji had fed the kids breakfast and he left for work by 10:30. After making calls home and doing some cooking for the potluck party that evening, I put Rhea down for a nap. I chatted with priest for some time and by then it was close to 2:00pm. Aji got back shortly and Sean hadn't taken a nap. Both Dad and son got ready and left for the Redskins game around 4:00pm. Aji had got accenture sky box tickets.I's havce loved to join him but rhea is juat way too young to be left with a baby sitter late in the night. So Sean and dad went for their first game together and Rhea and me decided to go to church and then to the get together at Manish's place. I had to wake Rhea up around 4:30 from her nap so we could get to church on time. she woke up well rested and after church we headed back home to pick up the 'Black eyed peas curry' and left for the potluck. My plan was to stay there for couple of hours and head home before it got too late. Well one thing led to another and Rhea was having a great time playing with all the other kids - 4 girls. They were playing hindi movie songs on TV and Rhea was dancing.She didnt have any qualms and had a fantastic time. It was 10:45pm before we got home. I put her to bed immdiately and then settled down to watch the movie 'LION'. Halfway through the movie, dad and son got back.Sean was fast asleep. Aji mentioned that he had such a great time.He was very excited about it all and had a few of Sean's quotable quotes from the evening,

As soon as the teams got into the field, everyone started clapping, so Sean said - Dad, so who won the trophy? He thought that it was all over esp since they were there a few hours before the game started.

The cheer leaders did their dance moves during the breaks and Sean seeing them said,

Sean: Dad, why are they not wearing clothes?
Aji: They are wearing clothes Sean.
Sean: No they're not. They're wearing underwear!

Aji was also mentioneing how he well he behaved. Just after they got there, sean wanted pop corn and coke and in the excitement of it all managed to spill both on 2 separate occassions. After the second incident, he told aji,

Dad, I'm not doing this right. I need to be careful. Can you hold this (the pop corn and drink) for me and I'll take it from you!

Aji mentioned that Sean did miss me & Rhea during the game and said 'Dad, next time we should get Mom and baby too'.

Sunday morning Sean woke up and when I asked him about the game he was grinning from ear to ear when he said 'It was fantastic, I had a great time Mom!'
We didnt have too much time to talk as we had to get to the zoo for Alex's birthday. On our way Sean would tid bits about his adventures from the previous night at the game.

Our first trip to the Zoo...

This was our first trip to the zoo so we were as excited as the kids. The party was to begin at 10:00am and had a 1 hour tour so we wanted to be on time so as to not miss it. We got there just in time. All the kids got safari hats and they did a quick 10 minute quiz on mammals before we started the tour while they snacked on goldfish and OJ. Rhea was sooo excited when we stepped out for the tour. We saw Sea lions, Lemurs, Alligators, Turtles, Lions, Tigers, Oranguttan and Gorillas. The most interesting of all were the Oranguttans. They were all in their glass enclosed homes doing their tricks to get all the kids amused. Rhea was very excited at first but seeing them a little too close got her a little upset but she quickly got over it. The most interesting part was we saw this oranguttan who was doing some game on a touch screen monitor. It was unbeleivable how easily it was playing the game. We were told that its a game to match identical objects and everytime it got it right, it would get a treat. This was one smart cookie because it seemed to be getting almost an entire meal worth of treats :) We saw a baby Gorilla and I told Rhea it was a 'baby gorilla'. next thing you know, every animal in the zoo is 'Bae beeee'. She was shouting 'bae bee' at all the exhibits..we would say Rhea did you see the Tiger and she would point at the Tiger and shriek in excitement 'Bae beee'. It was soo funny. In think she did recognize a few of them from her animal book.

After the tour and the rest of the birthday festivities, the kids wanted to still see more and so we went to the Amazonia exhibits.It was really cool..there were some really giant fish - I forget all the names and also some water snakes, toads and other small creatures. Sean asked a lot of questions and Rhea was wide eyed absorbing all of it. She did not want to come back and had a huge meltdown. Finally she dozed off on our way back. We will defnitely want to go back since Sean wants to see the Pandas, Elephants, Penguins and Sharks. For the latter we'll make a trip to the Acquarium at baltimore...but our short trip to the animal kingdom was fun fun fun all the way...

This and That..

Random notes..

Sean loves to carry Rhea around.She doesn't mind it sometimes, esp. if she is stuck somewhere and is waiting for dada or mama to come help her. A little help from cheta during those times is warmly appreciated but other times- she starts screaming and shouting 'NA' (for No) for Sean to put her down.


Sean has started picking some big words from school and tries to use it at any given opportunity. An example is the word 'terrible'. Couple of weeks ago Aji was working late and so after I put Rhea to bed, Sean and I were sitting at the porch waiting for Aji. It was beginning to get dark and Sean was pacing up and down the walk way. Finally he paused and said to me 'Mom,this is terrible. My dad is not home yet!'.

Rhea does not like her pictures taken and will not look into the camera and smile. It is getting very difficult to get any good pictures of her. And if both of them are in the frame - I dont even try. Below is one of the more successful pictures...but then i had to do it so fast,Sean is not fully in the frame.Oh well..I'll keep trying.



These days if i make something special Sean will have a bite of it and tell me 'Mom, this is delicious. Thank you for making this for me!!!' Ofcourse it melts my heart to hear him say that. He did that yesterday when he had the Gulab Jamuns I made. He absolutely loved them and had 4 of them after dinner.

Sean was very excited to see the purple flowers today in the garden and I got a good picture of him next to them.


This summer I got some gardening done (compared to last year). I put some petunias in the front yard and they look beautiful now as they are in full bloom.

The truth about 'Pork'

This happened Tuesday. I was rummaging through the fridge trying to decide dinner for the kids and came across the grilled pork chops from the weekend. I decided its a good choice and asked for Sean's approval. He said yes so I warmed up two-one to go over my salad and one cut in thin slices for him. Rhea was having fish sticks since she would chew and spit up the pork. Week days Aji works late so the kids and I have an early dinner soon after we get home.

So all of us are on the table, I’m enjoying my pork salad. I have been craving for a steak salad for a few days and this seemed to be a healthier option and seemed to satisfy my cravings. Sean seems to like it too since the marinade was sweet and reminded him of the Chinese (teriyaki or General Tso’s) chicken that he loves. I’m enjoying the relative quietness amidst all of the chomping but I can see the thoughtful look on Sean’s face and knew something was coming…

Sean: Mom, what are we eating?
Me: Its pork. Do you like it?
Sean: Yeah
He paused for a minute and then continued,
Sean: Mom, is pork an animal?

My head started racing - what do I say, what do I say.I could picture where this conversation was going and wanted to put a quick stop to it before it got ugly. But with a very calm look on my face, I continued

Me: Yeah, it is.
Sean: Which animal?

My immediate thought was to get up to fetch a glass of water and derail his train of thought…but I decided to be more adventurous and see where this was going.

Me: It’s a pig (no better way to put it I guess)
Sean: So you cut it?
Me: ahem…
Sean: But that’s not right, right?
Me: What is not right?
Sean: To cut the pork?

At this point I really wanted to run out of there. I felt so gross and felt like I had a piglet in my mouth struggling to free from the tight grasp of my teeth…Eww…I could just toss my salad and taken a vow of vegan diet then and there.But I tried to distract myself in my mind saying - Protein, Protein is good for your body.

Me: What do you think Sean?

I was trying to turn the table on him and see what he had in mind. But thank god,he seemed to be quiet for some more time, lost in his thoughts and I grabbed the moment and distracted him with other talk.

I’m sure though that this is just the beginning of a lot of queries he will have on this topic and I’m sure he already knows that some people don’t eat meat and others do since he has mentioned to me before that his friend Rakesh is vegetarian. I will have to think about this a little more and come up with a better way to address his concerns. I guess, part of me does understand …one day we are in the farm Ooohing and aahhing at all the animals and couple of hours later we are enjoying the prime cut of one of them…I wonder if he realizes that the chicken nuggets are made from the same hens we spent so much time looking at the farm the other day.

Its tough being a kid at times..

Weekend Surprises and Time Savers

The ride (bike for Sean and Wagon for Rhea) to the park on saturday mornings has become somewhat of a Saturday morning routine for dad and kids. This past weekend was even more special. I got home from my workout and grocery starving but to my delight I openend the door to the sweet smell of pancakes. Yes, Aji was making pancakes...chop chip ones made in butter for the kids and for us without all the fat (butter and choc). They were so yummy! I'm sure all the calories i burnt hlaf hour ago got right back in my body...but i justified it as calories for the body to recover :) Well, just when i thought it was the best surprise ever...sean came and got me a snmall bouquet of wild flowers. he had picked them on their walk in the trails and told aji -'This is for mama because she loves flowers'..Aww...my sweet baby...he knows what brings a smile on mama's face and so does daddy with the breakfast :) I loved the bouquet..he even picked different color flowers- there was pink and purple and white and lellow (I mean yellow). He was disappointed that the white had wilted soon and promised me to get more next time :)

In other news, we got the kids enrolled in the fitness center on Sunday. We didn't do it until now since Rhea was still so small. Plus we didn't want to put them again in day care after all the time they spend at school/daycare during the week. But the time seemed right and what a great decision. We went as a family on Sunday and it was easier on them even though it was thir first day at the child center since they had each other for company. They promised to call us if the kids were crying or if Rhea had a dirty diaper. None of that happened and after 4.5 years Aji and me worked out together. The last time was when I was expecting Sean - we lived in the apartment then. Seems like ages ago. Aji went 10 minutes before me and picked up the kids. They spent some time in the basket ball court and when i came down Rhea was attempting to pick a ball to do some hoops.She was smiling ear to ear and seemed to have a lot of fun. This is going to be such a huge time saver for us since until now most of our weekend time was spent in both of us taking turns for our workouts...am so glad we went ahead and did this.

New biker in town.

We finally got Sean his bike - his birthday gift 2 months later. Better late tha never I guess. He absolutely loves it and took to it like a pro. It does have the trainer wheels on but he was very good at steering and maneuvering it. He has been riding on the deck making large circles around the furniture and figured out how to break after some initial hiccups.

Last weekend Aji took the kids to the park when I went for my workout and Sean rode the bike. He was mighty proud of himself and so are we. We have to slowly help him to balance without the trainer wheels. I'll post pictures of him on his mean machine soon :) rhea is very excited too about cheta's bike since she gets some time to figure out cheta's tricycle.

You should see the smile on her face when i sit her on it and push her around...PRICELESS

Weekend of Fun

I'm again late on my updates here...the last i was here was right before aji's New York trip ..

Quick Recap - Aji had a great weekend with the guys in New York.We(me and the kids) not to be left behind on fun and frolicking had our own share of adventures..

Saturday after daddy left we lazed around and played a bit, did some errands and after we got back from Target, I inflated the kiddie dinosaur pool we got last summer...Sean was reluctant to get wet but gave it a try after seeing Rhea having fun..


Rhea took to it like a fish...she had so much fun...


Both of them were very tired after the splash in the pool but we went to the park after a quick nap and both of them had fun. They were tired when we got back and after dinner, hit the bed at their usual time.I got comfy on the couch and watched the hindi movie...'Life in a Metro'. I love the songs from that movie - very 'albumy' tunes but it is stuck in my head.

Sunday we went for the 8:45am mass after breakfast and then went to the farm near Rhea's daycare. It was fun..we saw a lot of animals and birds..Horses, Pigs, Sheep,Cows,Hen,Turkeys,Ducks and a Peacock. We even petted the calves and kids (baby goat). I completely forgot to carry the camera with us. Sean was disappointed and made me take some on my cell phone to show daddy.

Funny conversation at the farm - There was a lady riding a horse and Sean saw that and wanted to ride a horse too.I told him that he'll have to take lessons before he can ride a horse on his own. Pat came his question - Can we ride a Cow?

I burst into laughter and he seemed a little offended by my reaction and asked - What's so funny mama?

Needless to say I felt really bad and quickly regained my composure and explained things in a grown up way. I was smiling about his question on the way home...Isn't it amazing how their little minds work?

Both of them took an afternoon nap and daddy came home around 3:00pm. Sean and Rhea had so much to tell. Rhea was babbling of course and sean wanted to make a trip to New York.I was amazed at Rhea's excitement when she saw Aji walk in the door...she ran to him and was stuck to his hip for the next hour or so :)

All in all a good weekend and fun was had by all..

Going back in time ...

Hard to believe that its over 2 months since I updated my blog…not that I didn’t have anything to say….i was just extremely busy at work and had two episodes of tendonitis….

Anyways here’s a quick summary of the last 2 months,

I grew a year older and aji got me a DKNY watch for my birthday just the dial and color I wanted. I convinced him we didn’t need a birthday cake since I always end up tossing it after 2-3 days. We did order in some Chinese food since it is Sean’s favorite.

We celebrated Sean’s 4th birthday at Life Time fitness. He had a pool party and it was fire truck themed. He had fun except when we got out of the pool and he wanted to wear his shoes instead of sandals…we were able to divert his attention after a few tearful minutes and all was well in his world. He was sooo excited about all his gifts.


We went to Lake Anna during Memorial day weekend which also happens to be our Anniversary weekend. 7 years till date and I have to admit they have been memorable ones…and the good thing is both of us haven’t had the dreaded ‘7 year Itch’. Aji and the kids got me earrings. The lake getaway was fun…we caught lots of fish and jumped into the lake and had fun in the water…lots of good memories with friends and family.


Sean now knows upper and lower case letters. He also writes numbers up to 30 and counts till 100. He can spell a few words – boy, toy, cat, fat etc. He is very interested to learn to read so I need to get my act together and help him with that.

He is getting pretty good with some trivia too like the other day he told me all the planets and he missed Pluto. So I reminded him and he shot back…Pluto is not a planet mama, because it is very small…my little genius, I’m convinced now that he is paying attention to the teacher. He was also telling me something frog related the other day…escapes my mind now…oh well, I’m growing old…

Rhea had her 15 month appt. Here are her stats,

Height - (75th percentile)
Weight - 20.06 lb (15th percentile)

I got my first driving ticket. To make the wrong story short, it was the result of me driving on the curb 10 ft to over take the car in front of me who was clearly blocking my way (because the cop was in full view of him). I was totally blind sighted and got caught red handed for a whooping fine of $92. This with both Sean and Rhea in the car…I felt so embarrassed and had a talk about how Mom not following the rules led to being stopped by the cop. I hope they understood the underlying message..Sean kept wanting to see my ticket. So here it is…for the curious minds…



Sean is getting very good at his dinosaur puzzle. he does most of it by himself. here he is with the 'finished product'.


Rhea has had a vocabulary explosion too…she is such a big girl now…she says, Mama, Dada, Teta (cheta), Tu-tuh (turtle), Ta Ta, Hi, Uh-Oh. She gives flying kiss on command – well mostly. She will also get her sandals when asked to. aThe other day though I got the shock of my life when I heard her say – Hi Ma followed by Tha-ku (thank you) Ma…my baby is growing up so fast…

Mommy and Me

This weekend Aji is going to New York to celebrate Anishchayan’s 40th birthday. They leave sat morning and will be back Sun. I have to plan some fun things with the kids…I want them to think that mom does the coolest things

Chillin..

Just Chillin with my trucks


Mmmm...Cool relief

Happy Mother's day!!

The Spread - Aji's handiwork!


I love you mommy!

Picture time..

Sean ready for school


Our lil fashonista showing off her new sandals

Josie uncle's Visit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN & HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABO AMMACHI

Yes, Sean and Mummy share the same birthday. In case you are wondering, sean refers to achachan and mummy as Babo appacha and ammachi since they taught him the babo kuruvi lullaby last year when they were here. Its one of his favorite songs :)

I woke him up today morning as i was rushing out to work and planted a big kiss and wished him. He was grinnign earb to ear when i told him 'You are 4 years today Sean'! He spoke to both the appachas and ammachis. He also wished babo ammachi on her birthday. Ammachi is turning 60 this year. HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY MUMMY!!! Wish we were there to share this wonderful day with you.

Sean was very happy and wore new clothes to school. He also took cake mix and cups. They bake the cupcakes at school and celebrate the birthday. He also wanted to take some of his pictures from when he was little to share with his friends. When i pcked him from school he seemed very happy. He said that as soon as he came to school all the kids in his class started wishing him Happy Birthday. Then later they all helped the teacher to make the cupcakes. During circle time Sean got to show everyone his pictures and then they tunrned off the lights, lit a candle and sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him. All of them then ate their cupcakes and then went out to play...this was how he summarised his school day.

After I picked him up he told me that babo ammachi's birthday is also today and that he wished her in the morning. On our way home we stopped by Lifetime fitness to make reservation for his birthday party.So we will have his official birthday celebration on May 20th. And as per his request its going to be a pool party just like Sarahs. He still hasn't made up his mind on the theme and is going back and forth between spiderman, Cars and his all time favorite Thomas the tank engine or any train related theme...we wil have to decide by this weekend though since i plan to send the invites out by then.

After we got him he listened to birthday messages from Kavya, P-emma, Joecheta and Tomcheta and Ranimama. I also told him that Priya Aunty and Bhavani Aunty had left birthday wishes by email. He was a lil disppointed that Sarah didnt call. Aji came home early and we cut his cake - Ice cream cake. He ofcourse was most interested in the icing.








Rhea seemed to enjoy the ice cream...we have another sugar lover in the family :) We also got chinese food which is Sean's favorite. Just as we were having dinner Pavicha called to wish him. Peppa, sarah and suzanna chechi called and wished sean.Rosiammai called later and then we called babo appacha since he wasnt there in the morning when he called.

Sean had a great birthday and was very happy. Its the first time we've seen him so excited about his birthday. He is waiting for his birthday party and keeps saying how everyone is going to get him gifts..he has gone to enough birthday parties to know that :)We are getting sean a bike for his birthday. We will go bike shopping this weekend. He is looking forward to that.

Sean is 4 years old!

Today Sean turned 4...hard to imagine how fast 4 wonderful yaers have passed by...i still clearly remember us rushing to the hospital at night, the agony and pain i went through for the next few hours and the best feeling ever when he finally made the grand entrance and made us proud parents...our little bundle of joy is now a smart little boy...everyday is such a joy...he has slowly transitioned from the shy toddler to an outspoken, funny and very caring and passionate boy the past year.

Such a difference a year can make...he has matured so much but still has his cute innocence.I love the fact that he comes and gives all of us an impromptu kiss or a hug. Its the best feeling ever. He adores his little sister...its amazing how protective he is of her..even though they have their moments...i love to see him showering her with kisses when we get back home from school...I also love the fact that he is such a total mama and dada's boy...he knows how to make both of us feel special...Seany we love you...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUTTA!!

Sean goes the American Idol way..

Sean has been learning a lot of songs from school these days and on our way back home he sings it for me and Rhea. He always improvises and adds his touch playing with the lyrics a little bit and its funny and entertaining at the same time...so its like watching American idol for me..I'd say its even better


SEANJAYA?
Today he sang 'Six little Monkeys jumping on a bed"...he sang that a number of times and improvised with 'six little monkeys sitting on a branch' it was funny though because after a while he got confused and would mix both the lyrics...Rhea is enthralled when cheta sings and would just watch him in wonder with wide eyes :)

Later today he was playing in the tub and started singing song,

First he started off singing 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SEAN JOSEPH' in english and Spanish..he is soooo excited about his birthday tomorrow. Then he broke into this song below...

Wash your body
With Coconut Soap
Wash your tummy
With Coconut Soap
Wash your face
With Coconut Soap
Wash your feet
With Coconut Soap

Wash your penis
With Coconut Soap

Now this last 2 lines, I dont think was part of the original lyrics...it was so hilarious though I had to laugh out loud...he of course got a big chuckle out of it and then started making a whole bunch of lines for the song...

Rhea's adventures...

Rhea is becoming so mischevious...she has us on our toes all the time...


I love to entertain!

On Sunday, Sean had a minor boo boo and wanted mommy time to feel better so he was on my lap..Rhea was playing closeby and then I saw her walking off. Next few minutes were so quiet i started getting suspicious of her whereabouts. So I put Sean down and started looking for her and where do you think i found her...She ws in the powder room playing in the toilet water..she managed to pull some of the the tissue paper into the water. There was an empty tissue roller and she had that in the toilet. My first reaction was utter horror because it was so easy for her to fall head first into the toilet...Thank God for averting such a huge tragedy.Of course she was completely oblivious to my reaction and seemed to have the best time in the world.We have been pretty good at closing the bathrom door after use but we have to make sure Sean does it too because she seems to be enthralled by water and is soo excited about her new found love..

Rhea is transitioned into mostly walking now...this week i hardly saw her crawl..This is a good thing but it has also widely opened the doors for her getting hurt during her various adventures...yesterday i was clearing the table after dinner and all of a sudden i hear a big bang and she is on the floor screaming..i knew she had hit her face on the chair when she lost her balance...the RESULT..a big blue patch on her left cheek under the eye...Ouchie Ouch..poor baby...i iced the spot but today it was still a lil blue.When I went to pick her up from daycare, Ms Noori asked about her bruise. She wanted to make sure that i knew that the the bruise was not from day care..I assured her that it was from home..

Today evening..after we got home..I went upstairsto change my clothes. Both Sean and Rhea were near the toy box in the family room and i was certain it was pretty well 'Rhea Proofed'..Oh Boy was I wrong...I went up and no later than 2 minutes i hear them screaming and my first thought was that they were fighting for the same toy and I was beginning to tell sean to give in when he said 'Baby is putting the pen in her mouth'. I noticed that she had one of the markers in her hand wouldn't let go..sean being the big brother was trying to get it out of her hands. She had her grip so tight on it even distracting her with another toy was not working. i finally went down and took it from her and to my utter amazement she is green all over. She looked like she had just walked out of St Patty's parade. She had managed even to chew on it so her mouth was green. I immediately took her and scrubbed her down..even her tongue..its surprising she didnt throw up but i didnt care...she was just recovering from diarreha and i didnt want this to add to it...

I'm sure going forward everyday will be filled with fun, amazing, funny and hopefully not too horrifying experiences...

Baby Steps..

Rhea has been a very busy girls the past couple of weeks since her birhday. She has been practicing walking on her own...she stated with baby steps...and has walked from the fireplace to the ottoman which is a good 9-10 steps for her on more than one occassion.




We are so proud of her. She seems to be really happy with her progress too and everytime she makes it successfully to the other end will smile and screech in excitement!

To Mom and Daddy with love..

Yesterday when I picked up Sean from school his first question as usual was,
‘Did you get me something special?’ which usually means a candy. I told him I didn’t bring any candy but have teddy graham crackers and he seemed to be pretty happy and settled into his seat.

As I was buckling Rhea in her car seat Sean said,

Mom, I have something special for you!

I was so surprised and with a big gleam on my face (as I handed him the packet of graham crackers and asked him to share it with Rhea) I said,

Me: What is it?
Sean: It’s a flower

My immediate thought was that they must have made it for craft in class. By now were on our way home..

Me: What color is it?
Sean: Its Lellow (he still says lellow for yellow. It is so cute)
Me: Mmm…I love yellow… its my favorite color.
Me: Sean, did you play outside today?
Sean: Yes, I played with Joseph and Aashish and I got the flower for you.

That’s when I realized he had gotten an actual flower…it was such a sweet moment…

My sweet baby getting me flowers for the first time on his own. I was so happy and was smiling ear to ear.

Me: Sean, you got me a flower from outside from the yard?
Sean: Yes
Me: Where is it?
Sean: Its in my backpack and I have something special for Daddy too
Me: Wow, daddy is going to be so happy

I didn’t want to ask him what daddy’s gift was ..what if he did not want to share it until daddy go home…but I was pleasantly surprised when he said,

Sean: I got Daddy a leaf.
Me: Wow! Daddy is going to love it.
Sean: I got you a flower and I got Daddy a leaf.

I just couldn’t believe his thoughtful gesture. I told him I wanted to take a picture of the gifts he had for us when we got home…As soon as we walked in, he opened his backpack and got a slightly bruised dandelion flower…it was such a beautiful feeling…my heart welled up..it was the most beautiful flower I ever received…I gave him a tight hug and kiss. Later when Aji came in he got a leaf and gave it to Daddy. You could see the surprise and happiness on Aji's face too :)

I’ll post pictures today….

Sean is growing up so fast…his thoughts and actions are maturing as the days pass…..i do miss his baby years but am cherishing and loving every bit of his transformation as he journeys through his boyhood years….

I walk around with a 70mm smile plastered on my face today as I replay the entire incident in my mind over and over again…