Eat!

Today Megha made us soooooo proud. We were going to pick something up and I think she was hungry. She said, " Eat", indicating that she wants to eat!!!
This is the first time ever she communicated that she wants to eat! Love you baby.

Tomorrow....

Tomorrow is Megha's second birthday and we have planned so much! Snow storm made its way today. Hope it all goes as planned and everyone shows up.

Terrible two's?

Megha is almost two and is starting to show some preview of how a two year old usually behaves. She gets really upset (not sure if she does this with Anand though; never saw her do this with him). When I say no to something, she pretends that she falls to get attention. If I ignore, she tends to really do something like kick the toys. It lasts for about 5 mins. Sometimes I just give in and sometimes I let her calm down.
This evening her day care provider told that she did this at daycare too. Not sure how to explain to her; she is still very young and would do anything to get complete attention. 

Megha loves to talk!

And I love to hear her talk! Some of the things she says are:

Momma wait! (If I tell her I am going downstairs for 2 mins and will be back)
No momma no momma (when she finished her dinner and I try to offer more)
Momma this (first time she said this yesterday pointing to one outfit in her closet)
I love Oso!

Unbelievable but she picked up 1-10 number is Spanish! By watching Dora!

Diwali 2013 (Nov 03)!

We had so much fun on this Diwali! I cannot believe its already 2nd Diwali for Megha. Last year this time we were in India celebrating Diwali with my parents: Diwali 2012

The day before Diwali, Megha Anand and I went to buy some jewellery for Megha. Anand was complaining that I had blackmailed him into buying jewellery! lol but its Diwali! She is wearing pattu pavadi gifted by my Kumari aunty, Sai uncle (Megha's tatha and paati) and Dimpu mama. Thanks all! As you can see, she looks oh-so-adorable.

 The morning of Diwali, Megha woke up at about 7:30 AM. By then Anand had returned from his night shift and has started cooking. He did soooo much! ALL by himself! I only helped chop veggies...that and I also made payasam but thats about it.

Diwali Menu:
Idly
Rice
Vendaka kootu
aloo-baigan
Drumstick sambar
Rasam
coconut chutney
dosaka pickle
payasam
Meanwhile I setup the puja table.

Megha was running around and it was such a nice, festive and warm feeling with her yelling, Anand cooking and me helping both! She had so much fun taking things off the table as I was arranging them! Here is her tiny hand trying to sneak something to eat :)
After this, I applied oil on her head and Anand gave us our new cloths to wear.

Anand lighting aarathi:

Megha tastes her prasadam

Here is us!

Here is my darling Megha

Here is me, of course...

After puja and a heavy brunch, we all went for a quick nap.
Then Rocio and momma Rocio visited us with her twins to wish us for Diwali. After they left, we went to visit Neeta, Sasha and the little Naomi...She is so very cute! After that we also went to wish Anita aunty, uncle and Vishya..We also lit a few sparklers! We are saving the other crackers I bought for cottage.
Dad and Megha, both ready for a nap:

I forgot to add, Megha also had her very first taste of drumstick leaves dal rice. She loved it.

Halloween 2013

How time flies! Here (ctrl+space) is Megha on her very first Halloween party last year. She was a little pumpkin :)
We couldnt go trick or treating as that was the day we were flying to India.

This year she is little penguin! Here she is in front of our home :)

  This was take at the daycare by her daycare provider, Sherry. She was kind to take lots and lots of pictures of Megha.

Aren't they all looking cute?

Here is megha collecting trick or treat candy! For the first few times I said "trick or treat" and then she picked up. As soon as someone's door opens, she said "tith or teeth"...and when she got the candy she very sweetly said "thanks". yes, yes, she needed a little prompting in the beginning :) By the time we came back home, the little pumpkin bag was FULL!

While we were gone (Anand was working night shift), I left the candy out on the porch so that kids can still help themselves to some candy even though we were not home. When we returned, my lil penguin gracefully gave out the candy to everyone who had come!

And when we finished all the candy, she wanted to give out her own candy which she had collected!! I said No and then she was prepared to give out the Fall decorations instead of candy...lol

God bless you sweety pie!

Oh where oh where the little socks have gone??

Oh where oh where can they be??? I swear the socks come in pairs and within 4 weeks one of the socks magically disappears at my home and I am left with the other pair.

$100 for anyone who can suggest what to do with one sock! Lol

Twinkle twinkle...

As I have mentioned before, Megha loves the rhyme Twinkle Twinkle. It was no surprise to me when she picked up ALL the last words of the rhyme!! I am not kidding! at 22 months, she can actually remember and say every last word of this rhyme's sentence!! But of course I would have sung this song at least 20,000 times to her, even when she was inutiro :)

Bold part is what she says when I stop there mid-sentence:


     Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
     How I wonder what you are.
     Up above the world so high,
     Like a diamond in the sky.

     When the blazing sun is gone,
     When he nothing shines upon,
     Then you show your little light,
     Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

     Then the traveller in the dark,
     Thanks you for your tiny spark,
     He could not see which way to go,
     If you did not twinkle so.

     In the dark blue sky you keep,
     And often through my curtains peep,
     For you never shut your eye,
     'Till the sun is in the sky.

     As your bright and tiny spark,
     Lights the traveller in the dark.
     Though I know not what you are,
     Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Counting numbers!

We are having a blast of a time at Cancun! Just wanted to quickly update, Megha can found numbers upto 12!! Yippie!

Me: 1
Meg: 2!
Me: 3
Meg: 2!
Me: no no 4
Meg: 4!
Me: 5
Meg: 6!
Me: 7
Meg: 8
Me: 9
Meg: 10!!!!!
Me: 11
Meg: 12!!!!!!
Me: yay Megu!! Hi-fi!!!

And she is not even two yet! So proud of you baby!

First 3-word-sentence!

I got to be quick today but I just have to log this in. This evening Megha said he very first 3-word-sentence...and it's "I Love You"!!!
Megha and I have been playing this game of me saying I love you to her while she closes her eyes like peekaboo and this evening she said this all by herself!

Bless you baby!

First Sentence!

A big milestone for all of us as this is megha's one of the biggest milestones!
On Sept19, 2013, Megha said her very first sentence, "Hi Oso" referring to her favorite cartoon charecter!
So proud of you baby! Just wanted to log the date :)

Here is Oso :)

First few sentences

Megha is totally surprising us these days with her new words. All that worry about starting to talk late was for nothing I guess!

Over the weekend of 28th Sept, I took Megha out to the park. There I was a baby and said, "Hi Baby"..and immediately Megha said "Hi Baby"! thats her very second sentence! I was sooo happy to hear it!
First was "Hi OSO".

These days she says "hi-yaya", her way of saying Hi. This evening she saw Anand and said "Hi Oso"...lol

She also says hi bus, bye bus :)
5th Oct, we were at the doctors clinic getting our shots and she was playing with my handbag and saw a pen. She immediately said "pen" surprising us both. The same evening we were watching the dvd of Baby Einstein and said "snow" when she saw the snow falling on TV :)

Below pictures are taken late last week at the daycare. Oh how she loves playing outside! Pictures were taken by her daycare provider; very nice of her :) Megha was "helping" her clean/rake the Fall leaves :)
one:

 two

three

Four

Dosa.....

Have I ever mentioned before that Megha is a little texture sensitive when in comes to breakfast and having fruit? Just recently I started on giving the omelet pieces without mashing it (like scrambled). Last weekend, 28th September, megha actually ate 3/4 of our dosa! No mashing, no nothing! I gave her small pieces of dosa lightly dipped in coconut chutney and she ate it!! Yippie!

It probably might not be a big deal for many moms but for me, this being her very first attempt with out mashing, is a super big deal :)

Oh NO!

"Momma!! Do I really have to eat everyday? For the rest of my life?!"

So says the expression isnt it? lol
I was going through the old pictures and just HAD to paste this here:) This was taken when I had started introducing solids between 6-7 months.

and that's the way we eat :)

Its already been 21 months since Megha was born? Really? Where has all the time gone? On one hand I want to have an 8 hour sleep (even when Anand is not home) and I really want her to cross the stage where I have to constantly keep an eye on her....and on the other hand, I want to freeze this time, want to savor the memories and want Megha not to grow up too fast.

I am torn between teaching her how to eat independently and on other hand I dont want to lose the bonding we share when I feed her. I wonder if every parent faces this dilemma or is it just me?

Here is Megha attempting to eat on her own over the weekend :)
Normally she doesnt like to spill food on her table and really tries hard not to spill. But on the days she is too involved in watching Special Agent Oso (her favorite cartoon), this is what she looks like when she eats :)
both hands in :)

Momma! Make that stop!

Yes! Its the pressure cooker I am talking about. Megha doesnt exactly love the whistle of the pressure cooker. When she was a baby, she used to cry when ever the whistle blows. As she grew a little older, Anand taught her that its a fun thing and she used to clap when the whistle blows. These days, she closes her ears! I found it really cute :)

My nephew Jayeesh also used to close his ears, Perhaps all kids this age do??

Florida trip- 2013

Sometimes I feel when I want to make a post extra special, there is a possibility it will forever remain in the drafts. Remember the birthday post which took forever to appear? This Florida trip which had happened in May was in the back burner for all these days and I decided it’s about time I write about this trip before the memory fades and all that remains are a bunch of digital pictures to speak of…that and I want to log this down before our upcoming Cancun trip!

Selecting 20 odd pictures from 1000 odd pictures is such a mammoth task!

This trip was actually planned last year but we couldn’t make it because Megha fell sick exactly the day before.

Maybe it was just as well because we were able to get her to enjoy a few things in Disney as she is a bit older now! We left to the airport early in the morning and we made it to the 5 hour flight. Megha slept for a short period of time and was up and playing. When lunch time came, she had maybe about couple of tsp of her lunch. We tried to force, which we obviously should not have, and she threw up everything she ate since morning! Lucky for me, I brought a few change of clothes for Megha in our cabin baggage. What I didn’t foresee was that she would throw up everything on ME! 18 months of parenthood should have taught me better but I guess it didnt! lol
I was wet, stinking and was feeling awful in general. Luckily, a kind flight attendant offered me one of his T-shirts J isn’t that nice of him?

Anyway…we reached Orlando after 1:00 and my good friend Appu and her husband Ramana were waiting to pick us up :)
Taken in front of their home: 

That evening we went to Epcot. We couldn’t stay for a long time though as all of us were very tired. We did a few things like fireworks, watching things like Megha run around like she would never be allowed to run around from the next day!

 Here is Megha with dad…who needs a stroller when dad is here?

Have I mentioned, this happened on Mother’s Day weekend? They all I believe have arranged with Appu to get the cake. Isnt that nice of ALL of them? Here’s me and Megha with the thoughtful cake! I loved the strawberry cake.

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom….it was truly magical!

And our Disney memories began!

As you know, Disney boasts of having the most magical castle of all time. I always thought they were just saying it, it cannot be that magical. But it was! It truly was! We bought a few things like balloons and Minnie caps to get into that “Disney-spirit”. 

I must say, when it comes to buying stuff from Disney, they quite literally loot you by charging $20 for a $2 dollar balloon. But I guess it’s a part and parcel of going to a tourist spot.

Then came the Theatre where the most famous character of all times, Mickey Mouse, meets and greets you! When we were waiting in the lineup, Megha had surprised me by picking up a few things like learning the art of twisting and bending her body to run away from anyone any everyone trying to stop her from running (that would be me and Anand…lol).

The moment we laid our eyes on him, Megha and I couldn’t help but smile so so much that someone seeing us would instantly know we are super exited by whatever it is in front of us….which in this case happens to be Mickey Mouse! I thought Megha might fidget/cry/go quite when she sees a life size Mickey but no! She was happily clapping and pulled Mickeys nose :)

Here is Ramana trying to entertain Megha with Special Agent Oso while I was feeding her lunch. Appu and Anand went out to get on some roller coaster. 

And then came the “It’s a Small World After All”…where we went round and round in a little boat. It was very good! Megha loved watching all the beautiful “toys” (for the lack of better word) from various countries/cultures around!

Picture taken there:Another: The tune being played was soo good that I still humm the tune: here it is, if you want to listen/see how beautiful it was: 

it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
theres so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all

CHORUS:
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small, small world

By then we were very tired and returned home…maybe at 4 PM. I know! NO one leaves Disney that early and we probably broke a record by leaving that early! But with a toddler with us and a family in Orlando, we didn’t have to exactly rush to see everything on the same trip :)

Appu made THE BEST dinner! I soooo loved the chaaru! I tried it several times like you made but it doesnt taste as good :(

The next day was Sea World day…Megha had a fantastic day! 

She absolutely LOVED the ray-fish pond! She was touching the water, squealing and being all silly.
Here is a picture which displays her enthusiasm.

We went to the world famous Shamu and oh how good it was! We all loved the beautiful show displayed by the wild whales!

During the dolphin show, we decided to sit in the soak zone which was a big bummer. The moment the sea water feel on megha, the poor baby got so scared, she was just refusing to even look at the dolphins any more.

We also did a few other little joy rides :) Oh ya...I also had my first taste of ...I already forgot what that ice cream is called!

The day before we were leaving, we went to Kennedy Space Center, more popularly known as NASA. 

Megha was a little bored here but Anand and I had a good time knowing about various space ships. We had fun looking at the various spaceships, knowing how the older models were, how Kalpana Chawla was killed in a space ship along with her colleagues while re-entering earth’s orbit and so many other things. It’s very very humbling to look at all those achievers. Make us wonder how insignificant we all are when we compare ourselves to the whole universe.

We got to take pictures with an astronaut.

We also got to book a tour which took us to the rocket p launch pad. It was AWESOME! I mean, how awesome can HUGE pillars/platform be be but the concept of the launch pad was so good. We went to the whole tour of how exactly and where exactly the rockets take off from and we also had a chance to talk to one of the NASA engineers. It really was awesome.

The icing on the cake for the whole trip was the actual launch of a rocket! I cannot believe I got to witness NASA’s rocket launch LIVE!

Here are a few pictures :)

Thanks Appu and Ramana for your great hospitality, thank you for letting us stay with you; thank you for the wonderful memories in your back yard! We miss you and we all love you.
Cant wait for another vacation in Florida!! he he he...