Enjoying the Summer!

We are enjoying the summer so much I haven't even made time to write on the blog! Sorry about that, here I am finally after a month. I will admit it was just as much out of laziness as being busy. Keeping up with Abhi is not for the weak! I feel like I collapse into bed every night. You know the energizer bunny? That is Abhi!!!

We made our spring trip to Kansas City and visited the grandparents and as many other family members and friends as we could. We went swimming at my cousin Heather's house and Abhi got to hang out with is cousin Grant who is a month older. It was fun getting the boys together. They didn't seem to pay too much attention to one another but did seem interested in this "other person my size." Of course, Abhi was not interested in a toy until Grant was playing with though....always the case. Too bad we live so far away and the boys can't grow up together.









Abhi got to ride on the tractor with Grandpa John and got to sit on the motorcycle with Paw-Paw. We went to the waterpark with Grandma and ran through water Nanny was spraying with the hose. He was poker-faced on the tractor and motorcycle but loved the water! So, he kept the grandparents busy and had lots of fun with them. He also explored and tried to eat lots of rocks, mulch and whatever else was available outside. Inside the house was an adventure too...always getting into something!

Shopping, as always, was on the agenda as was eating, and a trip to the Nelson Art Gallery sculpture garden (Abhi got to play with Sophie), city market, and the Power and Light district (a new part of downtown). Abhi continued with his love of swinging...we stopped at parks every chance we got. I even got to go to a country bar (abhi was asleep at home) with line dancing, 10 gallon hats, and the works...forced by a friend who was also being forced for a bday party. It was entertaining at the very least and no, I did not line dance! Ahhhh, the midwest!

But, anyway, we are back and settled in to the summer in Virginia. Now we enjoy and wait to go see the other grandparents in India in August! More posts to come soon about Abhi's summer adventures, I promise!

Maybe Abhi will be a chef?

Daily, Abhi empties the draw with all the spoons, spatulas, and many other cooking utensils. Maybe being a chef is his calling. He is obsessed with this drawer. I shouldn't even say he empties is daily it is really about hourly! I can't tell you how many times a day I pick it up and he takes it back out. The utensils lay scattered on the floor like land mines I gently have to maneuver through. He has his own drawer, by the way, that I gave him a long time ago with stuff for him. Does he really care about that drawer, not anymore since he discovered this new drawer with lots of fun and interesting things to carry around the house and litter all over the kitchen. He has this thing about carrying things now even if they are a bit heavy. Yesterday, he was carrying two pans around the kitchen and living room and you could tell he was having to work with the weight distribution when he walked. He did though and took them everywhere for quite some time. He has great balance even when he is carrying things. So, chef, who knows...baby discovering everything in the house and beyond...definitely.

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I would like to say we have been busy, which we have mildly, but really I have been a bit lazy. I think I have started a couple of posts and never got back to them. I am going to miami for the spinning conference today for 4 days, so I figured I better get a post up before leaving. That is 4 days of Abhi and appa together without mama!!! Should be a good time for the boys at home! This is my first time away from Abhi, let's see how that goes.

Abhi has learned how to climb stairs now. One day I came in the kitchen and he was up about 3 stairs. We only have gates at the top of our stairs. I figured that would mean he would constantly be trying to get upstairs, but he has either forgotten that incident or just really isn't that interested. I was going to write about all the things he is doing now but there seem to be so many, I can't even keep track at this point. He is just at such a wonderful stage where he is figuring out everything (well, not so wonderful when he is doing things he shouldn't). He watches everything we do like a hawk so he can figure out how to do it himself later. He is busier than ever!



He is talking a lot more now too. He says some words...mama, appa, mumum (food), and a version of duck and ball. He says lots of other things too, I just haven't been able to translate those things yet. But he walks around the house babbling and yelling like never before. He also does it when he is in his car seat. Killing time I suppose.

I will leave you with one last picture. We went to our friends Lori and Bill's for memorial day, really a bday party for Bill. And they have a beautiful backyard that Abhi got to play in on a lovely day. He was busy with the usual, picking up mulch and dirt and trying to eat it and everything else in sight. He is finally comfortable with grass too. I think his first experience with grass was pre-blog - he wasn't fond of it the first few times he was in it. Here is a picture of him with one of their cats Zeebee. She is just sweetly walking beside him as he explores. I just love this picture! Walking off like best pals...

Starbucks poster boy?

Wouldn't Starbucks love this picture? This is exactly what they want; kids to get addicted to starbucks early and come often for life!! Well, I must admit, we do visit the starbucks frequently. I guess their logo is Abhi's golden arches (since I don't go to macdonald's) since the advertising sinks in early. I would also like to say that we do support the local coffee shop (singular) when we can. Unfortunately, starbucks just happens to be within walking distance and on pretty much every corner in northern virginia. NoVa is not like Kansas City which has tons of awesome, independent coffee shops.

Enough about coffee shops, lets get to Abhi...The cup was in the bag of groceries that I had on the kitchen floor and he pulled it out because it was something new and different to carry around. He has a million toys and books but he generally prefers things like socks, shoes, cords, whatever mommy is reading, paper of any kind (likes to eat-yummy), looking in the pantry or dishwasher, and in this case a starbucks cup. You give them toys and all they want is everything else! That was exactly the same scenario with my cats. I bought them so many toys. What did they play with...rings from the milk jug. The next person who moves our refrigerator will find a ton of those things under there and wonder what the heck.

As you can see demonstrated in the picture, Abhi looks like he can drink out of a cup really well. Course, this cup is empty and if it did have anything in it he would be soaking wet and possibly choking soon after (not to mention burned if there was a very hot coffee item in it). But, he does have the concept of how to put a cup to his mouth. He gets this from the bath because he has cups to play with there and he is constantly drinking the bath water out of them. So, we don't play with the cups much anymore to try and prevent that - his answer - he just sticks his face in the water and drinks. What can I do? He is using a sippy cup now, although, not a lot. He can drink out of it but he mostly chews on the nipple part and throws it on the floor. He is also starting to hold his bottle but he generally prefers to sit back, relax and let us do the work. That's OK, I still love the frequent cuddling time and so does he. No hurry!

So, overall, Abhi is learning all the concepts of eating and drinking. He just needs to keep practicing.

It has been a busy week: mother's day, bdays for J and K, and Abhi with all his activities you have been reading about. We celebrated mothers day with Indian brunch with our friends (mentioned in earlier post) and then I left the boys at home and 'rocked' at the radiohead concert with my friend Lori (Lori and family had cake and sang happy bday for me before the concert). Well, more like, tried to stay a float at the concert since it was a crazy downpour. I got flowers and a stone massage at the spa from Abhi. K is training him well from the start! Not much bday celebrations during the week, just more flowers for me and some little goodies for K. He is working like a dog so he is in need of some R and R this weekend. More next week...have a great weekend!!

Adventures in Eating

As you can see, Abhi is a messy eater. He likes to smear his food all over his face and up into his hair especially. It is hard to get away without giving him a bath everyday now because of these lovely manners. I am still feeding him mostly - the baby mush with some new chunky stuff. He is getting used to it and imitates my chewing... He is really good at grasping food with his fingers and puts food in his mouth. He is a pretty good eater most of the time and eats everything. Although, some things like prunes he rejected. I find if I keep trying, he will gradually accept new things he is not sure of at first. His favorites are sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, pears, applesauce and he has a newly found appreciate of yogurt (one of those new items that took time). The other night he had spaghetti and cheese which he seem to like...so things are getting more interesting. He has been eating graham crackers and toddler cookies for sometime to practice but he is moving on to more adventurous finger foods like shredded cheese, avocado, egg, and cheerios. On mother's day we meet our friends (Jenn, Oscar, Luli, and Fiona) for brunch at the Indian buffet and he got to try all kinds of interesting stuff like paneer (indian cheese), idly (lentil patty), watermelon, and mango. Of course, more ends up on the floor than in his mouth but he is working on it.

Eating does go beyond the highchair. Now that he is learning to put food in his mouth, Abhi picks up lots of things off the floor and does exactly that. This is nothing new, everything goes into the mouth, but this is small pieces of stuff that he thinks are for eating. I have to be careful about keeping the floors clean and keeping the cat food up on the counter. This is really causing a lot of distress for my cat Buster. He does not like his food to be unavailable! My other cat Marble just disobeys all my rules and gets on the counter to eat anyway. Our venturing outside is also providing new things to taste like dirt and mulch. Well, I can't say he is not adverse to trying something once (or more if I would let him).

Abhi loves books. As the child of a librarian, of course, he loves books! What does this have to do with eating you might ask? Well, he recently displayed a new kind of love for his books, he likes to eat them too. See the picture...notice the missing corner. These days he is finding that eating them is almost as exciting, or even more exciting, than looking at them. I am not sure where that corner went...guess he really did eat it. Little nutritional value I am sure but good practice chewing???

Tonight, it's spring vegetables and pasta, another new one. Yummy!

Visit to the Park and going to the Doctor

Wednesday afternoon we went to the park and met our friends Sandy and Sachin. We meet them in mom and baby yoga back when Abhi was around 3 months. We haven't seen them since so the boys have changed so much since then. Sachin is a month older than Abhi. Back in the days of yoga, they used to admire each other from a distance laying on their blankets but now they can sit up and really interact. They also introduced us to swinging and Abhi had a blast! He was smiling and having so much fun especially when I would push him and he would go higher. Lots of new experiences with the nice weather!

Abhi also had his 9 month doctors visit on Thursday. Yes, it is a little late. We missed his original appointment because I forgot! Don't ask... But, he is 22 1/4lbs (gained about 4 pounds since 6 months - all that food!) which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight. He is 28 inches long (grew 2 inches since 6 months) which puts him in the 75th percentile with height. Overall, he is doing well and the doc is happy with his progress. I was so happy because there are no shots for the 9 month appointment but come to find out Abhi still had to get checked for anemia - drawing blood. I hate having my own blood drawn so I got really nervous. But, it ended up going better than I initially thought. Poor Abhi, he thinks every time we go to that place he has to get poked with needles. Next appointment is at 1 year and it is back to 4 shots!