Christmas is in the air...

We may be catching a bit of the xmas spirit after all. With the move and so much stuff going on with that and cleaning the townhouse to rent etc...we have hardly had time to even think of xmas. So, after putting Abhi to bed I came down to K getting all the lights out ready to decorate. Nothing extensive but just on the front door and porch, and some inside. We did not get a tree this year but the lights are something. We are going out of town this wed for xmas so we decided to skip it this year.

We also took Abhi to see Santa yesterday which he was not a big fan of. They had 'visit with santa' at our clubhouse yesterday which was so nice. It was easy and not crowded at all like if you went to the mall and you just take your own pictures. We tried to put him on santa's lap a couple of times but he would not go. We kind of stood around and let him watch some of the other kids sit on his lap. That did not convince him. The only thing he would do was wave at Santa but only from across the room. Of course, our camera died somehow between the townhouse and the house...no clue what happened...so I can't even share pictures of anything!!! I actually bought one of those disposable cameras just to have until we get a replacement camera. I keep holding it up looking for the screen only to remember that I actually have to look through the hole to take the picture!! Of course, those will get developed eons from now...funny how you miss that instant ability to share pictures.

Santa also came by on the fire truck through our neighborhood so K took Abhi out to see that. I was not home. K said Abhi watched with serious interest but did not wave or anything. He can say santa but when it comes to seeing santa he just is not too sure.

I do have a couple pictures I can share sent to me from my friend Sandy. Sandy is Sachin's mom, Abhi's buddy. We have been trying to see them every week when possible. The boys play so well together and it is a highlight for us each week. Sandy took a couple of pix of the boys, one in front of their xmas tree....

Settling in...

We are settling in to the new house. There are still boxes and cleaning and painting to do but I am taking it slowly. No hurry! We have been here just over a week. We have had to focus some some of our efforts on getting the townhouse cleaned up (still looking for someone to rent it!). After cleaning all weekend there last weekend, I did not want to come back and clean this house too! So, the dust bunnies can live happily while Abhi and I go about our life. We have actually gotten out this week to do some of our regular stuff after spending most of last week waiting for direct TV, security, etc... Abhi is having a lot of fun running around everywhere. I have gates up going into the foyer and the dinning room so he is confined to the kitchen living room but not worry, there is still plenty of running space!

My mom and brother came in and helped us do the moving. A big THANKS to them. We couldn't have done it and made it through alive without them!!!!! Abhi had fun with grandma all weekend and we had a great thanksgiving at Lori and Bills.

Abhi is talking up a storm!!! It is unbelievable all the words he knows. He can sing some now too, including ABCs up to I and then some other letters variously after that. He is also watching TV now, much to many of your surprise I am sure. Grandma bought him some Elmo and Sesame Street dvds and sometimes I will turn on SS on TV. This is easy to do now that the TV is in the family room where he plays all the time. I just turn it on a little, not much. But it doesn't take long to get hooked as Abhi was asking for Elmo and pointing to the TV yesterday morning. Course, I am glad to say Abhi is usually busy doing other things while watching so he isn't totally engrossed. He is a multi-tasker, what can I say?

Abhi also completed his 3rd swimming class last saturday. He is really improving with kicking and just enjoying being in the pool. The big thing he can do now is blow under water. I think I mentioned before all he would do is drink the water (he still does sometimes). But, he is starting to get the idea about blowing bubbles under the water. He practices in the tub almost every night. I know I have missed so many things lately...but I will try and keep up more frequently now that we are back online.

We will be going to KC for the holidays. I can't wait for my parents to enjoy some time with Abhi. It is such a fun time seeing him do all his stuff. So, hopefully we will get to catch up with some of you there. Abhi knows xmas trees and wreaths so he is getting there with some it. Not even sure we are going to do a tree this year here, we are kind of beat. Let's see what the next week brings! More soon...

Here we are the night after moving in the new house...

A new house and trip to DC...

It is official, we closed on the house last Wednesday. Abhi will have a brand new playground in about 2 weeks. Well, he is already testing it out as we visit daily to do some things and take small load over. He is having fun with all the open space. It won't change too much even when we move in since we won't have enough furniture to fill the house. Abhi won't mind...more room for toys!!

So, we will be very busy between now and thanksgiving trying to get the house ready; cleaning, painting, moving small stuff. Thanksgiving weekend my mom is coming to help us, she will be Abhi's entertainment and we will get moved once and for all probably that Saturday. So, that means that the posts will probably be few and far between until the end of the year. I am going to try and keep things as normal as possible for Abhi, still doing our weekly outings etc...

Last Friday we made a trip to DC to the natural history museum, Abhi's first time there. We went with our moms group. We got up bright and early (never a problem for Abhi) and met the moms and babies (Everett, Bella, and Reagan) at the VRE train station (not the metro but the va railway express - the train K takes to work every morning) and took the 8:08 train. K actually came with us and helped me get everything and Abhi ready to go. When I first woke, I was thinking it would not happen...I was so tired! But we made it and it was a a lot of fun. we got to the museum finally at 10am when it opened and Abhi promptly fell asleep! I couldn't believe it. So, he missed the animal gallery so many of which he knows from his books. He dozed for about 30 minutes or so and woke up in time to see some reptiles and bugs so he was happy with that since he knows turtle and snake. Then we headed up to the butterfly exhibit, kind of like a greenhouse with lots of butterflies. It is really good! Abhi can say butterfly (or a version of it) and he was also interested in the many flowers and fruit that the butterflies were eating. We then had lunch and headed back to the "choo choo train." It was a fun day with the babies in the capital....

No words necessary...

Happy Halloween!

Well, unfortunately, Abhi is a bit under the weather this halloween. He got a flu shot on Tuesday and he has since gotten a touch of the flu. We are missing our halloween playgroup this week so that is a bummer. I still put his costume on him though, he is a skeleton. Check out this cute (I mean scary) skeleton.



Note to self: Don't get the flu shot a few days before a holiday! We will still head over to our friends Lori and Bills in the evening. I think he is better, I just don't want to risk infecting other babies.

Abhi went for his 15 month check up, that was when he got the flu shot, as well as, one other shot and blood taken. It was rough one! But he did really well. After he got the crying and upset out for a few minutes he was busy saying "hi" to everyone as we strolled out of the doctor's office. He weighs 25lbs and is 30 1/2 inches tall. Both are 50th percentile so the doc told Abhi he is exactly average.

A Trip to the Farm, one nap, and some news...

Abhi and I had so much fun last Friday when we went to cox farm with our new mom's group. This is our second time joining them and we got to meet more moms and babies. Every month they try and do an outing so this time it was to cox farm where they have slides, animals, hayrides, and all kinds of things. We got there about 10 and left about 1 so it was a long fun morning. Abhi got to see chickens, a turkey, sheep, pigs, goats, and cows...which he was most excited about. He knew the cows and was mooing at them. When we went in to see the goats, he was saying 'dog.' That kind of works. He was happily petting them and did not appear scared at all, would you expect anything else from mister fearless! One of the little girls, Adeline, was turning one, so we celebrated her birthday with cupcakes. Her and a couple others were dressed in their costumes, they looked very cute. We finally got around to the hayride after lunch during which Abhi fell asleep. It had been a busy morning and he was fading fast. After that, we were off and he was asleep in the car in no time and had a nice long afternoon nap. Here are some pix from the farm...



We are in the transition from 2 to 1 naps I think. It has been a little rough but I just don't think Abhi needs two naps anymore, or at least it is getting harder to get him to take an afternoon nap after he has taken a morning nap. Then, if he doesn't get that afternoon nap, he is falling asleep at dinner. So, I am purposely keeping him awake and then putting him down at about 1/130 and letting him sleep 2-3 hours. Depending on how early he gets up....like today which was 630am...he can usually stay awake until then without much trouble. Today he was nodding off at about noon. Yesterday, he got up at 8, so that was perfect for the afternoon nap. It is a work in progress.

The news - no, it's not another baby- we are buying a house! We have been looking since returning from India and found something we like at a great price. We are moving about 5 miles from where we are, not too far, life won't change too much. It is in a different city but a little farther out. The house is big...we are sure to be lost in there... and the neighborhood is very nice so we are very excited. I haven't mentioned it yet because it is a short sale. Not sure if you know what that is but it is a very difficult way to buy a house. The contract has been ratified after a month of negotiations!! We settle on Nov. 12 (hoping all goes well) and then plan to move in by end November. Of course, since it is a short sale anything can happen even now and the bank can pull the plug so I hope I don't jinx it buy putting out the news.

Abhi went to the doc yesterday - 15 month check up. I will write about that in a couple of days.

Facing Forward!

On Monday, we finally turned Abhi's car seat around to face forward. You can do this at 1 year and 20lbs but I left it longer since it is safer. It was getting more and more difficult to get him in and out of the middle of the backseat now that he is getting so big. So, he has a whole new view of the world now when he is riding in the car. He can see me in the front seat and he can see really well out the window. That means he can see all the things he is so fond of these days...trucks, buses, cars, trains...he is a happy boy. He has always been good in the car seat and continues to be that way. But, now since we go outside and play a lot when are leaving the house he thinks we are going to the park. Sometimes that makes getting in the car seat not very desirable. But, this will probably help keep him occupied while riding instead of just staring at the back seat and window.

It was a low-key past weekend. On Saturday morning Abhi finished up his six week swimming class and got his certificate. The only two things he did not do well on are 'face in the water' and 'blowing bubbles.' He has been swimming awhile now and he has not been successful yet at either of those things. All he does when his mouth goes in the water is drink it. I try to discourage that. Guess we will start another session in a couple weeks. After that, Abhi went to daycare at the gym for an hour so I could go to pilates (god, I hate that class but it is really good for you!). K had to work until about midnight friday night, so he got to stay home in bed that morning...it was a peaceful one with Abhi slamming pots and pans around for once. Saturday evening, we spent at our friends Bill and Lori's, they got to have fun with Abhi and we ordered Thai food. Lori got colors out for Abhi, so he had fun doing that. He has only colored a couple of times but he seems to know what to do. Who doesn't love to scribble!

The week started off pretty uneventful as well, but picked up towards the middle. We went to babygarten on wednesday, made our weekly trip to Ashburn. He has learned so much from that program (of course I am constantly reinforcing it at home). We have been singing a song in there for the last couple of sessions I call 'the me song.' that Abhi just started singing out of the blue one day. It has a repetitive tune that you sing me, you, we then yes, no, maybe...and Abhi has picked it up so well. He goes around singing 'me,me,me...." all the time. It is very cute.

We went to the gym on Thursday for toddlin time. I swear, once we get there Abhi runs off and never looks back. Well, he does once in a awhile, but he is just so into all the stuff they have there. We also do parachute time, Abhi does not care much for the parachute. But, each week he tries a little more during that time. He did go under it this week when we were holding it up in the air. He wants no part of sitting on it when we pull it around in a circle and all the babies are sitting in the middle. He hasn't gotten there yet. After that, we went to the downtown coffee shop and accidentally met up with one of the moms and babies from Abhi's class, Nicole and Everett. Everett is about 5 days younger than Abhi and I think Abhi has finally met his match! Everett is very energetic and always seems to be having so much fun with everything, just like Abhi. Nicole invited us for a mom's group at her house this morning so the boys got more time together and there were more kids for Abhi to meet and play with. I think he had fun although, he might have been a bit tired. It is great experience for him so he can learn to play with other kids instead of being mr. center of attention at home. Nicole also made a great lunch, pizza with all kinds of roasted veggies and cheese. Abhi loved it! So, we are getting out in manassas finally and making friends close to home.

Nothing else for now. I still haven't organized the India pictures...there are about 300 of them, 299 of them of Abhi probably! It is on my list of things to do. More blog info soon! Hope all of you are well.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

The weather has been absolutely beautiful and we have really been enjoying. Every afternoon we head out the little tot play lot right behind our house and Abhi has a good time. It is a smaller play set, so he is able to go up the steps and go down the slide all by himself. He also keeps himself busy with picking up, investigating, and sometimes still putting in his mouth rocks, mulch, and flowers. He knows these things are "dirty" and he shouldn't put them in his mouth, but the temptation is just too much sometimes. So, when I tell him not to eat it, he quickly throws whatever is enticing him and says "dirty" or "yucky."

Lots of airplanes fly over our house, so since we have been spending lots of time outside, Abhi now knows airplane. As soon as he hears one, he points to the sky and says "airplane." Even if he just sees streaks of smoke in the sky he knows it is an airplane. He also knows bus (we watch the kids get on or off the bus almost everyday), truck, car, and train (we hear the train horn a lot by our house - when Abhi hears it he says"t" meaning train). He also just learned bird which he points to the sky for, and just the other day we took and early evening walk and he pointed to the moon and said that too. We read "Goodnight Moon" a lot...so he must have made the connection. I must say, I can't believe how much he talks!!! And he repeats every thing - we have to be careful what we say. I said something to K the other day and at the end said "good god" and from the other room out of Abhi's mouth came the same!

Since returning from India Abhi has been doing swimming class, babygarten(storytime at the library), toddlin time, and swimming at the gym. He goes to the gym daycare 2 or 3 times a week and they love him there. He is so good. And frankly, I think he gets tired of being with and playing with me that it is almost refreshing for him to get out. When we go to babygarten or toddlin time (it's like little gym), he is off and he barely even turns back to see where I am.

Here are few pix of Abhi on the playground behind our house.



Our friends Oscar and Jenn came over for dinner on Saturday night with their daughters Luli and Fiona. The weather was so nice that we took the kids out to play and Abhi had so much fun with the girls. When it started getting chilly, we all headed in. I made pasta, salad, and curried butternut squash soup for dinner. Jenn (with help from the family) made a wonder apple cake from fresh apples they had just spent the day picking at the apple orchard. Here are Abhi's friends Luli and Fiona...



Hope everyone is doing well...more soon!

Yes, we are back!

We got back from India 3 weeks ago! I have been planning to post but life has been busy and I have been lazy! Abhi did great on the plan ride back, he slept the first leg almost entirely; 8 out of 10 hours. The second leg he only slept 2 out of 8 hours but he was still really good. We figured out why he had not slept when he puked 45 minutes before landing...he must have had a bit of a stomach ache. I must have given him too much milk or something....who knows. But that was fun for me being drenched in puke until we got home at 3 that afternoon! He seemed very happy right after getting over the incident, so he just needed to get it out I guess. I am sure everyone near us on the plane was happy that happened at the end, not the beginning, of the flight! I know I was.

So, since then we have been getting back to life as usual. Abhi is back to babygarten at the library, and we went to a new storytime closer to home last week. He is also doing a new class called toddlin time. It is a a gym and they have lots of stuff to do and there is singing etc... He has fun with that. Plus, back to swimming. Except, I signed up for the Saturday morning class, I think I prefer the weekdays...it is a little less crazy at the pool.

The first week back was catch up on sleep...It was a lot easier for Abhi to adjust here with is own room and crib. He would have adjusted just perfect in less than a week except he got a cold and ear infection. So, we were back to getting up at night etc...again. But, now we are all back to normal (we think). Abhi is sleeping through the night and still taking two naps in the day...not sure how long that will last but he seems to still be tired enough for both.

I will update more soon.

The Ganesha Immersion

Abhi did not get to see this part of the festival, he was fast asleep. After the pooja, the idol is to be submerged in water like I said in the previous post. There are 3 lakes in Bangalore where you can go to do this. I wanted to go for sure and I must say I have never experienced anything like it. Govi made sure I was able to go with him and two other guys from the building to the closest lake to immerse the Ganesha (they had one big one from the pictures before and a lot of small ones). So, they put it in the back of the car and as we drove out all the kids and some others followed the car out and were chanting back and forth about Ganesha (I am not sure what but it was very joyful). We drove there with the hatch open so the idol would be on view. On the way you could see trucks with huge idols in the back with loads of people in there having a big party heading to the immersion. I saw and motorcycle pass with a dad and his two kids taking their Ganesha and they were chanting as well on the way.

Finally, we arrived through the traffic to the road right in front of the lake. There were SO many people I was getting very nervous. I am not that great is big, chaotic crowds. People were doing poojas right the sidewalk to idols one after the other with fires and firecrackers...it was totally crazy!! So we got out and got in line to head to the part of the lake that was designated for immersion. It took us about 30 minutes to walk through. It was actually quite organized, despite the mass of people and happenings. I can hardly even describe it, you have to experience it. In line everyone had their idols some tiny up to the huge ones being carried by multiple people. Of course, I was one interesting attraction for everyone as I was the only westerner in sight and I was taking photos and videos. So, finally we made it to the water and there were "divers" who you give your idol to and they immerse it for (at a cost of course). It reminded me of when someone gets baptised in a lake. The Ganeshas were dipped up and down a few times then let go to sink and dissolve into the lake.

The crowd on the way in...


Govi with the Gaesha idol from our building just before immersion...


One huge idol being brought in by a tractor...


It was hard to get good pictures of immersion because of the crowd and it was dark with very bright lights. You can see one huge idol being immersed in this picture, about the best one I got...


The immersion of the idol completes the festival. This part signifies that Lord Ganesha takes away all the misfortunes and will return again next year. Another way I heard it was the immersion is like Ganesha going home but will return next year for the festival.

It was a lot of fun. This is kind of a condensed description of it all but you get the idea.

Ganesha Chaturthi

On Wednesday was the celebration of Ganesha's (one of the Indian Gods, he is the elephant headed God very familiar around the world and he is the remover of obstacles) birthday and of his 'coming home.' It is a very community oriented festival, all family and friends get together and visit each others houses. What happens is you buy a Ganesha idol made of clay. Families buy it for the household and also organizations buy it for each community (condos/apartment/residential buildings). There was one idol purchased for the two buildings in which Keshav's parents live. They set up everything at the ground level (street level, where the vehicles are parked within the community)...decorating the idol, offering fruits, flowers etc... and priest came and held a pooja (prayer) to the Ganesha idol. So, K and I took Abhi for the pooja in the morning and there were many people there from the buildings. Some of the community had idols at home and were doing poojas in their homes as well. After that, prasada (food that was offered to Ganesha, then distributed to us after the pooja) was eaten by everyone. After the local pooja, we went with Ks cousin Govi (you have seen him in a past post) to their college and attended another pooja there. They had a slightly bigger idol. You should see the size of some of them, they are huge. Course, everyone is telling me that these are nothing compared to some of the ones in north India which can be up to 20 feet tall. Here are pictures from the pooja...


And, to my surprise, India is becoming conscious about being "green." Many of the idols have always been painted with oil paints. When those are submerged into lakes and other bodies of water (which is the second part of the festival I haven't gotten to yet.), and probably thousands of them are submerged, they pollute the water. I have seen a lot of adverts for environmentally friendly idols made of clay and not even painted or there are also idols painted with vegetable-based paints that are better. One of the problems is these might not be as desirable because they are rather dull looking compared to the oil painted idols. They really are very pretty. So, how wide-spread it is, I don't know but interesting to see. Idols for sale on the streets...(plastic covers were on some of the bigger idols, to protect them from the rains).


Ks college is one organization that is demonstrating this "green" consciousness. They bought a permanent idol, very brilliantly painted like I was talking about, they will use every year and also bought a small clay, environmentally friendly they planned to submerge in water. Here are pictures from college...


After that, the idol is then to be immersed into a body of water. That was to happen in the evening so I will get to that a little later. First, the food. As with any Indian festival, food is a main event. After the poojas in the morning, we were free for lunch. I had been reading about the specific foods for this festival and wanted to try them. We went to a local restaurant to see about getting some and the line was so long we decided not to wait...I figured we wouldn't be able to try. However, we did end up getting some. Ks parent went back to the same restaurant later to get take out but they said everything was gone. Ks mom told them my daughter-in-law has come all the way from the US and wants to try the festival foods. Somehow, that sunk in and they promptly gave her some....go figure. So I got to try kadubu and modaka (these are supposed to be two sweets that Ganesha really liked to eat) among other things. Here is my plate...


In the evening, there was a show were lots of kids from the building performed dancing, singing etc... to celebrate the event. The girls who are big fans of Abhi wanted to make sure he was coming so he could see them dance. He was a little tired and cranky that evening but he got to see some of it. K was in charge of him that day so I could enjoy all the events. Abhi (and K) did end up leaving a bit early to feed and put Abhi to bed. He did get to enjoy some of it.

I will post about the immersion next time. Otherwise, this is going to become a book!

The trip is almost over!

Can you believe it, we are almost about to return home? Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks and then Sunday night/early Monday morning we are on our way back home!

Sorry, it has been a week since writing. I have been thinking I should get on and write, but mostly I have just been a little lazy. We have also been busy visiting some relatives and shopping. Abhi is having a lot of fun running around the house. Just about every evening he is visiting with the neighbors across the hall - two different houses. They come calling for him to come over and he happily goes to his friends across the hall. It is like free babysitting for a bit and in many cases desperately needed. He can only run around this house for so long then he gets bored and needs something new. He is a such a good boy though (despite all his mischievous ways) and really never cries about much. He has been able to handle pretty much everything here without a problem. He is starting to throw little temper tantrums but only with us (parents). Around everyone else, he is very well behaved. Sometimes he gets a little over tired when we are out for a long time and gets very restless but never acts up much. He still finds joy in everything.

I already talked about him enjoying all the buses here but he is doing so many new things. He is really talking a lot now. Lots of recognizable words like pretty, yucky, "get down," dirty - but also a lot of constant babble that sounds like it has a lot of meaning but we aren't sure what he is talking about. It is really cute. He also now gives hugs and blows kisses. He also knows when going to the God's room to put your hands together in prayer. Paatti and Taatta have taught him that and he knows when they are telling him to do it in Tamil. He has also become very used to having Keshav around and is definitely preferring Appa (daddy) now. He is constantly talking about and wanting Appa to hold him. That should be interesting when we go home and K goes back to work and hardly sees Abhi that much during the week.

Today is the Ganesha festival and we have been busy with that for part of the morning and then in the evening we have more events. I will post about our exciting day celebrating Ganesha's birthday next time.

Half way through the trip!

I am relieved to report that we are getting sleep now. Everyone here was saying it would take a week for Abhi to adjust and they were just about correct. Friday night Abhi finally slept from midnight to 8am...then it just kept getting better from there and he is now sleeping about 10 hours a night...just like home. He is getting his 2 naps as well during the day when we are not busy going out. We have consciously stayed in a few days to help him establish this pattern. He gets very distracted when we are out and about to take a nap. It is very difficult to use a stroller in India, for various reasons. Hell, you can hardly walk down the street looking at things because you have to watch where you walk. Between the uneven sidewalk and the cars, motorbikes etc...passing close by you have to be careful. Crossing the street...a whole other ball game.

We did go out yesterday afternoon to visit an aunt and uncles house and then from there we shopped. It was Krishna's (one of the Indian Gods) bday yesterday so we went to their house to do arathi (making and offering to the Gods and wishing happy bday to Lord Krishna). They had the Gods room (every Indian household has a room dedicated to the Gods with idols, flowers etc...their sacred space - it resembles the size of a closet) and yesterday Keshav's aunt had it decorated very nicely with lots of burning lamps, lights, fruits and flowers. During all this, Abhi did not get his afternoon nap, so we had to cut shopping short later on because he gets very restless almost maniac when he is short of sleep. I just wanted to get him home to bathe and sleep. India is very stimulating as you can imagine, so when we are out he is busy looking everywhere and having fun in the car (without a car seat -please don't dis on me, they don't have car seats here - you see families of 4 on motorbikes!)

Other than that we haven't done too much. The bad news is Abhi did catch a bit of a cold and had a runny nose and a cough. I only got a touch of a stuffy head but Ks mom and him got a cough as well. K went to the doc today and got medicine for his. So, hopefully we will all get back on track just resting at home. This is becoming a much different kind of trip than our past trips to India without Abhi. This trip is all about him so it is hard to get out and just go and go with him because it is not very convenient. We did take him last week in the auto rickshaw and went around for the day shopping but there is so much pollution that when you are in the road in an uncovered vehicle it is not good. So, I was a little worried about him going that way for too long. I seems to take forever to get around here too, the traffic is crazy and there are absolutely NO rules, so you are sitting and basically breathing fumes! There is no emissions testing here. So, we had lots of big plans but we are figuring it is better to just focus on letting Abhi visit with his grandparents and visit with family.

There are so many buses here! Abhi has learned the word for bus and when he sees one he says "bu" not quite getting the "s" on the end. But he knows what a bus is and is very excited to see them. He is repeating words like crazy now, even Tamil words his grandparents are saying to him. I just can't wait to see what he says one day when he can actually express his thoughts. He finally figured out how to climb on the couch and proceed to jump. After 2-3 days of us telling him to "get down" he now happily gets up there and starts jumping saying "get down" the whole time. This is very hard to control. Someone either has to be sitting on the couch at all times or constantly pulling him off. And his grandparents just want him to enjoy and let us discipline him when he goes home. Let's see what everyone says when he goes flying off! You know what happens when they go to grandparents! Well, guess what happens when they go to grandparents for 3 and half weeks!!!! It won't be very much fun to go home!

Anyway, that is the update half way through. We are just doing some shopping this week and not much. What we are doing is a LOT of eating, and the Indian diet is not lo cal!! Plus, we are trying to enjoy ALL the goodies! We are eating like 3 grand meals a day plus. I keep thinking about that spinning class I signed back up to teach starting right when I return...should be interesting. We are getting very lucky and are getting the tail end of the mangoes - we thought we would miss mango season totally. They are SOOOOO good. The mangoes we get in the US are not anywhere near as good as these!! They melt in your mouth like butter and they are very juicy and not stringy at all. I must try in life if possible.

Picture of Appa and Abhi in the auto rickshaw


I also got mehendhi (henna) on my hands, you may have noticed the bday photos. There are these guys sitting on stools down on the street you just have do it. The guy did all this in about 20 minutes and it cost 200 rupees or about 5 dollars. Sorry they are a bit blurry...


Someone was saying the pictures are too small. You can click on them for a bigger view!!!

Off for now....more adventures to come.

Happy Birthday Abhi...again!

Last Thursday, Ks parents organized a function to celebrate Abhi's first b'day. It was a grand celebration with lots of relatives.

We got up at 6am to get ready, which was a little hard since we have all not been sleeping well. Indian coffee really helps in this situation. The hall is located next door to the the building so we did not have far to go. We arrived about 830. K and I need to be there a bit early so I could have help putting on my sari and K could get his veshti (same Indian garb talked about in previous post) on. I was supposed to wear a 9 yard sari for this occasion but I wanted to be grand and wear one of my wedding saris which is only 6 yards (the regular length). One of Ks moms cousins, Vasanthi auntie, helped me put my sari on...there is a way you can wear a 6 yard sari in the style of wearing a 9 yard and she knows how to do it well. A 9 yard sari is only worn for special occasions and it is worn in a different style than a 6 yard. Abhi also had Indian dress for the occasion. He also wore a veshti (ready made for a baby) and a kurta as a top (long sleeve Indian top). He looked so cute and everyone was so impressed.

The event is called "Ayusha Homam" - basically a prayer event to ensure that good things happen, and is done at some specific times in a person's life - 1st b'day, 60th b'day, etc. Specifically in this case, it involved prayers to the Gods to bless Abhi with good health and a long life filled with happiness and all things good and successful. There were 3 priests there and things got under way (a fourth joined later). We started with a puja (prayers), the main event which lasted about 2 hours. There was a fire (controlled, and very significant in Hindu prayers) which K had to feed with sticks and ghee (clarified butter) to keep it going - it is a integral part of most Hindu events.





While K was busy saying the prayers, Abhi and I were also asked to come along and sit with K as he was saying those prayers on a few occasions (but not for more than 10 minutes in all). Other than that, Abhi had to do a few things; his involvement in the whole function was as follows:
1) Of course, he had to not only look cute, but also had to behave in a cute manner and impress everyone - which he did very handily, running around the entire place and making his usual cute sounds! He was also busy stealing the fruit from the prayer area which entertained everyone. There were cameras going off all the time trying to take Abhi's pictures - almost made it seem like the paparazzi were chasing the celebrity (Abhi)!!
2) K had to place a garland made of jasmine flowers around Abhi's neck, and Abhi did not like it at all - I think we kept it on just for a minute or two, and then were forced to take it off.
3) K and I had to feed Abhi a few bites of cooked rice mixed with ghee (clarified butter) and sugar. We were circumspect that Abhi would not like it, but to our surprise he liked it and ate more than a few bites. According to tradition, the 1st birthday (and this event) is when the child eats rice for the very first time - while not the case for Abhi and most kids these days, the significance was not lost on us, and it was nice to see Abhi eat it without any problems/hassles.
4) Abhi also had to bow with K and I to get blessings of the elders and the Gods - we did this a few times during the course of the entire prayer sessions. While Abhi does not know how to do this, K held him and got him to do this. The folks enjoyed it immensely, and Abhi doing something new also got a kick out of it.
5) Last but not the least, at the end of the ceremony, all the guests came one by one to give gifts to Abhi (and of course, all of them wanted Abhi to be the one receiving it) while he sat on my lap. Luckily for us, most of these were just envelopes (with cash, which is typical in the Indian setting), and there was one large toy. Abhi very graciously opened his right hand and grasped the envelopes and made it seem like he had done this many times before. This again thrilled K's relatives/other guests and impressed them very much as to how "smart" Abhi was. K let him hold these envelopes for a couple of seconds, before taking charge and piling them behind us. Here are some pix...Abhi stealing fruit, eating rice and accepting gifts...



The women were all there in there beautiful, colorful saris... (Ks mom is 3rd from left in first pic and Ks sister first in 2nd pic)


An Indian function/celebration would not be complete without food. Breakfast (catered out) was served early in the day as the event started. K, his parents, his sister and her family and I all ate quickly before the ceremonies commenced, while the guests ate as they arrived. Breakfast consisted of upma (kind of like cream of wheat made with veggies and spices) carrot halwa (sweet) and coffee. Then again, once the prayers were said, it was time to move on to lunch. Lunch (again catered) was served around 12:30 pm, and we ate off of plantain leaves with our hands - which again is typical of Hindu ceremonies. It was a delightful spread and all of us ate heartily and were stuffed at the end of the meal. For lunch there were just too many items to name here -plus I don't know all of them. It is interesting to eat rice and runny items with your hands on a leaf. If it gets to watery, you have to keep it from running of the leaf. Here are a couple pictures from lunch, the spread and me eating...

Sleeping, eating and bathing...oh my!

I have been meaning to write a lot more, but I just haven't gotten to it. Firstly, we are majorly sleep deprived at this time! Even after one week, our sleep schedules have not adjusted. Abhi has not slept longer than a 6 hour stretch since we arrived and usually it is much less. He wakes up a lot during the night and since we are all sleeping in the same room he has become used to us being right there and does not easily go back to sleep. Plus, he is going through some teething as well which is only adding to the problem. I have also been struggling to sleep because once I wake up with him, I can not go back to sleep. I have been surviving some days on about 3 hours sleep. I need my sleep generally so that is very hard for me. K has also been doing a lot of night duty so he is also lacking sleep. He is keeping up a little better than me. This does not slow Abhi down during the day though. He is on the move like never before. He just has big black circles under his eyes which reminds me he needs to sleep!!!! He, however, is not interested. This past week has been very reminiscent of having a new born baby, not days were were hoping to see again this soon. We just hope the next week things look up.

Secondly, we have been very busy this week spending time with K's sister and family and having Abhi's first bday celebration on Thursday (I will post about that this weekend). We have also been doing a bit of searching and shopping for baby food and formula. Baby food is not an easy thing to find in India. Cereal is ok, but finding baby food in jars has not been easy. We have found it in a couple of stores (specialty baby shops) that we had to go a little ways to find but I was happy to find it somewhere. Then, we also decided to put him back on formula because the milk is a little different and we just haven't been able to find one he is adjusting to well. So, finding formula that you find in the US is also hard. We did find some today, not exactly what he was on before but I think it should work. The worst thing is everything is double the price. If you know the price of formula in the US (I think of it pretty much as powdered gold), you will understand that double the price is a big hit. At this point, I am just happy to find the stuff and don't care. Although, I was very happy to be done with the formula days so it is a bit of a bummer to go back to it.

We also bought him a high chair. Feeding him on the go was just not working. You know how busy Abhi is, he needs structured eating time! He needs to be able to focus on his task of eating. When he is running wild, he is not interested in food. We thought about following him around for 3 weeks with a spoon saying "bite" while he could care less would drive us all mad! So, he is doing well eating again. Teething has been a bit of an interruption lately with that but he is doing much better in the chair.

One thing Abhi is really enjoying here is taking baths. Ks parents don't have a bath, just a shower, so Abhi gets to have his bath in a bucket. I heat the watter and fill up one bucket, put him in the empty bucket and then I use a small cup to pour the water over him. He loves it! It is just like going to the water park and or something similar where the water splashes him. Here is a little glimpse of bathtime...


So, that is all for today. I will post some of the fun things we have done this week over the next few days. Hope all of you are well!

First weekend in Bangalore

The weekend was a typical Indian weekend - couple of festivals, tons of home-cooked "festival" (a.k.a. large spread, not recommended by your physician) food, along with friends and family (and neighbors) visiting.
Saturday was ஆவணி அவிட்டம் (Tamil - reads "Aavani Avittam"), the day men change their பூணல் (Tamil - "poonal", a.k.a. sacred thread) every year. So K's dad and K did their prayers and changed their poonal in the morning, and then had more prayers to follow in the evening. Tradition calls for the men who change their poonals to eat rice (the Indian staple) just once that day - so the men ate a typical Indian meal (with rice) at lunch, but had to settle for idlis (steam-cooked rice cakes) for dinner. K changed into a typical Indian outfit to say his prayers - reminds me of a skirt, except full-length (to the ankles), and in white. He had to go "topless" and bare his under-built pecs!
Saturday was also the day to celebrate the brother-sister relationship. The official name is रक्षा बंधन (Hindi - "Raksha Bandhan") - literally means "band/tie of protection". On this day, the sisters tie a "Rakhi" (simple, or very fancy - many different designs/twists to these Rakhis these days) on their brothers' wrist, thanking their brothers for the security/protection they offer. In turn, the brothers profess their commitment to protect their sisters from any harm, and tell their sisters to rest assured. While this security/protection might not be very relevant in this day and age, this was the basis of how this festival started back in time, and the tradition continues. So K's sister, Lakshmi tied rakhis for K, and his cousins (Govi and Suddu), while Nithya (Abhi's cousin) acted as sister and tied a rakhi on Abhi's wrist. Of course, Abhi immediately removed his and wanted the string off! Here is the big event...


Sunday was Part 2 of the poonal changing ceremony - while the poonals were changed on Sat, the prayers continued on Sunday. The men had to recite the "Gayatri Mantra", a renowned and revered prayer in Hindu circles. They had to say it 1,008 times. While K's dad got done with this early in the day, K was late to start and slow to finish.

Also, here are more pix. I wanted to post these with yesterdays posting but I did not have them loaded yet. Abhi busy playing with cousins Nithya and Nikil...


Abhi with Appa...