Nomenclature 101

Our Memorial Day Weekend started with a beautiful Saturday morning. It's a rare treat to have such a nice weather in Minnesota. Ankur decided to take Aadi for a long walk. Diya and I decided to take a shorter "walk" ... we drove to our favorite Caribou coffee shop.


As I was enjoying the weather sitting outside and sipping my coffee, Diya asked "Baba, what is Audi's last name?". I, the omniscient dad, knowledgeably replied, "You know, cars don't have first and last names - only people do".


Diya countered me saying, "Yes they do! Our other car has both first and last names, 'Toyota' and 'Rav4'!"


I didn't know what to say, so I decided to take the next sip of my coffee.

I wish I was 1 again!

I can't resist myself from looking at this picture over and over again ... just to see the pure delight in Aadi's eyes! I wish I could be so happy just to hold an insignificant object in my hand for a few seconds - a camera lens cover!

This picture has made my day - especially considering that I am pretty bad with cameras!

He did it !!! (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 4)

He is walking AND he has popped another tooth .... and there is still a whole week to go before his B'day party !! We are no where close to finishing our side of the preparations. He is rejoicing in his clear victory and teasing us mercilessly.

I am on my way to Party City. We have to salvage whatever is left of our reputation.

Raising the bet .... (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 3)

The fountain is in place. We are still trying to figure out our true feelings for it. While at times it looks gorgeous & breathtaking, perfect fit for the space ... at other times we have second thoughts because it is totally not our style. I guess I can say that the fountain is at home but we are so not !! Some gratification came when Diya exclaimed "wow wow wow WOW !!!" when she first saw it. She also named the lady (yes its a statue!) 'Ariel Rosetta Maya'. Which are the best names in her repertoire.

Meanwhile, Aadi has decided to raise the bet by starting to practice climbing (up AND down) the stairs now that he is getting more and more proficient at walking.

I need to think of a way to surpass that .... maybe we should get a clown for the party !!

Few Steps Ahead .... (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 2)

Aadi walked all the way across the family room today. And once he did that he kept going back & forth many times with minimal casualties.

On another front - after a very long day at work, I came back home to find that the landscaping work has already started. The ugly bushes have been ripped & the base for the fountain is ready. I am very optimistic now that this project will get completed before Aadi's party. Even though we did not have much to do with this progress - except hiring the right guys for the job - I felt quite proud! I have also managed to squeeze in some vacation time in my schedule so I have some time to prepare before Jun 4th.

Despite all this planning and progress on our end - it is quite clear that Aadi is "few steps ahead of us" on his side of the bargain ... no pun intended :)

Putting things in perspective .... (Aadi's B'day Party - Part 1)

Aadi will turn 1 yr old on Jun 4th. Our plans for celebrating this auspicious day have gone from "keeping it short and sweet and private" to totally uncontrollable guest list and complete lack of planning on what the menu is going to be, should we plan any activities, etc .... we are even second guessing whether we should do it at home or at a restaurant. We are succumbing to mayhem and panic as the day draws closer. To increase the chaos we have also commissioned a landscaping project both in the front & back yard which may or may not get completed before this much anitcipated and now much hyped B'day party. To add to the confusion, Golu Mamu is flying in from Boston just for the event and has some ambitious plans to make this day memorable.

I was just wondering this evening how we got ourselves into this - Suvo & I typically being quite organized (which is a gentle way of saying - otherwise control freaks). While I was reeling in the stress - it suddenly hit me that Aadi has his own preparations going on for this important milestone in his life. We have set clear expectations for Aadi that he should pop another tooth & learn to walk by 5pm on Jun 4th. And while his goals for this day are set quite arbitrarily and he has little control over the turn of events, he is not letting himself get stressed out and working towards his target with persistence and perseverance. His dedication has given me a new perspective in life :) As Krishna said in Geeta - "Karmanye wadhika raste; ma falesuhu kadachana" (for those weak in sanskrit and/or mythology- it means - "Do what you have to do and stop obsessing about successes"). I have found a new guru in him!

I will keep you posted on how our respective preparations go .....

Boy finds his passion(s)

Aadi has discovered his 3 greatest passions. Cars, horses & necklaces.

Having an older daughter, our house is full of girly toys. We never really thought that Aadi would mind playing with them or need a different set. He proved us wrong when we visited one of our friends who have a 2 yr old boy. Aadi immediately took to playing with his cars and really enjoyed himself. The second surprise was when he picked out a toy horse out of Diya's Christmas gifts and played with it for days. Goes to show that you can plant an oak tree in an orange grove - what comes out is still an oak tree. Or is it really ....??

My mother's day gift was a pearl necklace with matching earrings. I was trying it out while Diya was patiently waiting for her turn to put it on. Along comes Aadi and pounces straight for the necklace. He fussed and pulled until I put it on his neck. He beamed with delight ! I cannot put that necklace or any other necklace on for that matter. He immediately grabs it. Now that Diya & I have given up wearing jewelry altogether ... he looks for alternative avenues for his passion. He has taken to putting on Maple's leash as an emergency course ! :)

We love this Earth and everything that creeps and crawls in it ....

I found this picture of Diya holding an earthworm while digging through some old folders. It brought back one of my very fond memories.

This was when Diya was about two and a half yrs old. She had suddenly grown a passion for gardening ... taking it, no doubt, from our neighbour (& Diya's best friend) Cathy.

One evening Diya donned her gardening gloves and hat, took her rake and shovel and set out to "work". (By this time I had trained my self to keep "an ear" on her as opposed to 'keeping an eye on her'. This always works as she chatters non-stop - even when she is playing alone. She talks to herself, some times she play acts where she changes voices as she plays out different characters.) Anyways, I realized that I had not heard her voice for few minutes and panicked. I ran outside to find her intently bent on a patch of dirt that she had dug. Relieved that she was fine, I just waited to see what had captured her attention so completely & drove her to silence. Soon enough she pulled out something long & slender from the dirt. Before I even realized what it was - it started wiggling @#$#%#% !!!! She gently put the earthworm on her palm and started talking to it ..... I totally freaked out and started screaming at her to drop the thing. She informed that it was not dangerous and that she LOVES worms. I told her it was very very dirty and she should not pick it up and that her play time was over and she should go take a bath. I went in to get her bath ready and returned 5mins later to find a very curious display on our deck. There were kitchen tupperware of assorted sizes lined up with different levels & different degrees of muddy water in them. I marched out and demanded what was going on - Diya was startled, she looked up at me with her innocent eyes and said ".... but you told me the worms were dirty, I am giving them a bath" !!!

When they don't need us anymore ....

Two episodes in the last few days left me misty eyed as I watched the brother-sister bond growing right in front of me.

Episode 1: Diya came back from daycare cranky as usual and after a lot of fuss I was able to send her to take a shower. Meanwhile Suvo made himself busy in the backyard and I was playing with Aadi. Diya suddenly decided she had enough shower for one day and started yelling for me to come get her out of the shower and get her ready. Now that Aadi is VERY mobile, I did not dare leave him alone and so I carried him to the bathroom. Diya immediately got upset and wanted me to "help her with both hands" which meant putting Aadi down on the bathroom floor where he could feast on all the yuck on the floor. I of course "politely declined" and asked her to get ready herself and walked back to the living room - Aadi still straddled on my hip. Diya followed us wrapped in a towel and bawling. This is when the surprise came .... Aadi started fussing and wanted to get down from my lap. I let him go .... he crawled over to his sister, who by now was sprawled on the floor, he went and gave her a bear hug and planted a kiss on her face (which looks more like licking her face). I was stunned to see how sensitive he is. But this did not stop here. Diya was inconsolable and continued crying. He then left her and crawled back to me and started pulling my clothes and dragging me to her. He wanted me to console her and take care of her !

Episode 2: Suvo and I have been thinking about some DIY landscaping in our front yard for the last ... lets see ... about 5 yrs. Somehow we just don't seem to find the time or energy. Finally we gave up on doing it ourselves and decided to outsource. The contractor came in this morning for scoping the project and giving us some quotes etc. Of course Aadi immediately capitalized on this golden opportunity to be outdoors with nobody watching him like a hawk, and started scavenging for rabit p**p. (Note: Diya was missing from this picture until now as she was "building a zoo" in her room - which involved arranging panels from a dismantled wire rack like a cage and putting her soft toys inside. She even had a little baby toy who was the visiting the zoo.)

Meanwhile it started raining outside and we had to move indoors. Aadi got very upset to have his treasure hunt terminated so abruptly. Once indoors we has to console him by starting a baby einstien video that he loves. Well mostly loves ... there is a scene in it where a cow (real not cartoon) walk up to the camera and moos loudly. Not sure which part of baby's brain is this scene supposed to develop - but it scared the heck out of Aadi and left him wailing. Before we could respond - Diya materialized from no where and rushed to her baby brother and hugged him and patted his back until he calmed down. Aadi watched the rest of the video sitting in Diya's lap !

Some times I can believe that there will be a day when they will not need us so much and will take care of themselves and each other. Maybe we will find time to sit on that yet to be constructed patio after all ... :)

Days of the Week

This happened yesterday.

Diya woke up in the morning around 7am. She came to our room in the middle of the night, and was sleeping in our bed. With sleepy eyes she asked "What day is it today?".

I was thinking of how to plan the entire day's work, the meetings I need to attend (or if I can skip) - and inattentively replied "Wednesday".

Within a few microseconds, her eyes sparkled up! She said, "Baba, you don't even know the days of the week. Yesterday, when I asked you, you said it was Wednesday. Today, again it is Wednesday?".

It took me a few moments to realize that it was indeed Thursday!

- Suvo

Letting go ...

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on - Havelock Ellis

Diya's creativity leaves us googly-eyed !

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words!

Diya keeps coming up with new ways to amuse her baby brother. This is one of her new tricks where she sticks googly eyes one her eyelids and leaves Aadi squealing with delight.

(Edited by Aadi 12 years later on 9/24/22)

Diya With Her Butterflies

Finally it's nice weather! A perfect day to let the butterflies out. Diya decided to let at least one of them out today. Well ... two of them. (She was asking for one more, but we had to stop negotiating :) )

The butterfly sat on Diya's hand for a while, and then gently fluttered away.

I wish I could capture the smile on Diya's face :)

Oh well, some things are just to remember ...

Diary of a Spider

Diya loves to read books. So, I bought a new one for her - The Diary of a Spider. As soon as I told her about the new book, she wanted me to sit down by her and start reading.

But as soon as I read her the name of the book she looked utterly shocked. She said I said a "bad word"! And she won't hear the story at all, especially if it is related to "potty".

I was stunned! What did I do?

I understood what happened a few seconds later. It seems she had recently learnt the word "Diarrhea", but was still struggling with the pronunciation. :)

Now when and where did she learn that word from?