Neelu turns two!

Neel is quite the little fighter. A few days ago I offered to give them a piggy back ride but it would only work if Neel was in front. Well that was definitely not going to work for Simone, and so she started to fight. Neel had already clambered on my back and so here I was, on my hands and knees, with a kid on my back trying to fend off another kid's attack. But did Neel back down? Did he cower in fear or fright? Noooo. He climbed down and rushed to fight Simone, even though she is almost twice as large as him and has frequently demonstrated an ability and willingness to pound him into the ground. Little Neelu, always ready to fight.

I remember some scenes from his birthday vividly. I had gone to take a bath and I came out after the bath, and they were both quietly playing with their gadgets, Neel with some sort of etch-a-sketch device and Simone with the iPad. Wish they would always be so loving! Neel also decided he wanted 'shiso'. Shiso as I discovered was his way of saying 'cereal'. We had just got some new cereal in and so I fed it to him after dousing it in warm milk. He really liked it and I loved feeding it to him. Later on in the day he wanted it again, asking for it repeatedly. When I put the cereal in front of him, he said 'I want a spoon please' again and again until I gave him the spoon. He has perfect the art of repeating a request until it is fulfilled. But he asks for it so nicely, without rancor or anger, and you can't really say no. He is very mild-mannered child. Neelu then fed himself the cereal carefully and without spilling it. I put a bib on him but not one drop was spilt. I was very impressed.

For his birthday Neel got a vertical racing track that I had to put together. He and his sister enjoyed many rounds of racing cars on the track. I did have to force Simone to share equitably with Neel, pointing it out to her that it was his gift and not hers. Neel really loves his gift. It seems that overnight he has fallen in love with cars.

We dressed both kids and made it out to Costco and they BOTH fell asleep. Simone got the stroller and I had to schlep Neel on my shoulder the whole time. He is still little but carried a good amount of weight. In the afternoon, I took Neel to the storage space where he loved riding the cart that we use to transport stuff from the car to the storage space. He would do a 'dangle-dangle' where he dangled himself from the handlebar. He loved to do that.

He discovered the frame for the little toy stroller and made it his own toy, expertly pushing it all over the place. When it came time to return from the storage space, he refused to get in, saying 'No No No'. He wanted to instead go across the street, to a tree that contains a lot of birds and listen to them chirp. We did that for a bit and then I bribed him into getting back in the car with two goldfish crackers. It's like Scooby Snax for Neel.

We got home and dressed him up in a stylist outfit of a shirt, pants and a sweater and set out for the Grove. There we saw the penguin movie ad area, where both Neel and Simone posed for pictures. Neel was very taken by the trailer for the movie and squatted in front of the display and refused to move for a long time. We made our way to pottery barn where he fell in love with a car and his aunt ended up buying it for him. He never let go of that car all night. I had to feed him by hand because he would not put down the one car he had in each hand.

After Pottery Barn we waited in line at Cheesecake Factory where his Aunt also got him a piggy bank. I gave him a bunch of change and he shoveled it into the piggy bank. We then went up the escalator and down the stairs a few times. By the time it came for us to be seated, he was quite hungry and was clamoring for milk. We ordered water and milk and food. He didn't drink much of the milk but I managed to feed him by hand. He stayed away through his cake ceremony and then promptly passed out. He did manage to eat some cheesecake and especially at the glazed strawberry, or 'strawbie' as we call it.

What a lovely little boy you are, Neelu! I love you very much and love spending time with you. I know you won't stay little forever and that makes me enjoy the current times even more.

Family giggle time...

Neelu on Diwali

Neelu Neelu Neelu....

How cute you are!! How ferociously independent you are becoming! You only wear the shoes you want to wear. You are stringing sentences together. You say - "I am hungry", "didi sleeping", "I want my daddy". Our favorite game to play:
me --- where's my son?  where's my neelu?
You: Right here!!

We laugh! We cuddle!

The mornings are the best part of the day with you. Often it is just you and me. It is in these moments that I play - "this little piggy" with you. I also play  the opening and the closing of the hand that always makes you giggle. When you wake up before anyone else wakes up, we start babbling away! The other day - mummy and daddy were sleeping and you were awake and you started speaking --  you said 'raincoat, rainbook, roti etc..". When I heard you say 'raincoat', I got up and started playing with you. It was the sweetest thing - just me and you!  At nights when I want to put you to sleep, you need to snuggle with me. You are my snuggle monkey. 

Little boy loves to squeal and fight

Things I loved watching Neel do recently:

1. Simone and I were playing Hasbro Family Time on the Xbox and Simone would squeal intermittently. Neel would squeal at the same time at her, delighting in the ability to squeal. But it wasn't just the squeal: he would jump on the sofa and launch himself so he would fall backwards on his butt. And then he would squeal again.

2. Neel started to fight with his much bigger sister today during bathtime for a toy. Simone was holding some plastic toy, and Neel said he wanted it. He reached over and grabbed it, and Simone refused to give it, but Neel would NOT stop. He tenaciously held for for what seemed like an hour until I begged Simone to give it to him.

3. Neel saw the honey jar and said 'honey honey honey' until I poured some into his mouth.

4. Neel ate scrambled eggs because he saw his sister eat them. And he ate them without complaint.

5. Neel sat quietly next to Simone in the stroller the entire time we were at the Farmer's Market. Simone sat towards the right and Neel sat towards the left.

6. Neel ate some fruits at farmers market. He insisted on stuffing his mouth instead of taking smaller bites, meaning that his mouth was all engorged like the trumpet player, Dizzy Gillespie. Small bites, Neelu!

7. Neel now lies down quietly next to Simone when I read Simone her three books. He sometimes wants a book of his own to be read. Simone indulges him.

8. Neel asked for fly-flies. Fly-fly is when they stay on my hands and jump off into bed. Neel now asks for it by name.

9. Neel brings out his guitar and we go through the songs "Humpty Dumpty" and "Twinkle Twinkle" on our 2 mini-guitars

Neel recognizes his family members

This video was taken back in May. Neel would often walk by all the photos on the dresser and talk about everyone in the pictures. Here Neelu identifies all his family members.

Neel recognizes members of his family

This video was taken back in May. Neel would often walk by all the photos on the dresser and talk about everyone in the pictures. Here Neelu identifies all his family members.

Neelism.....

Neelism…

Neelu neelu – your vocabulary is exploding.. you have the sweetest little voice. Your words are almost there but not quite which still adds to your babyness. I love to hear you speak. You are slowly forming sentences. Mummy is dreading when you will start speaking properly because that will be the end of your babyness L, but on the bright side we get to talk and play together.

Here are the cutest things you have said lately:

1. “Butt hurts” – yesterday your poopy was really really hard. It was so painful that you were on your tippi toes when you were going. Afterwards when I was cleaning you up – you said – “butt hurts”. It was the cutest little sentence.
2. Your first sentence was – “I like your shoes”. For days you would say that to anyone who would listen. The first time you said it, we were at Kumon and you said it to one of the parents.
3. The one sentence I am always going to remember from this period of your life is – “I miiich you”. It doesn’t matter whether I am in the other room, or sitting next to you, or come back from an errand, you run over and say – “I miched you mummy”. My heart melts. I think everyone who hears that will say their hearts melts. You said “I missed you to Anna” on Tuesday morning when she came in and she immediately scooped you up and smothered you with lots of kisses. It brings a smile to daddy’s face every time you tell  -- “I miiiiched you daddy”.
4. “naaangu singh” – you love this one. You love to take your diaper off and start running around saying – “nannnnngu siiingh”. It is so cute and then one of us chases you all around trying to put a diaper on your before you pee somewhere.
5. Today in the morning you woke you and I was snuggling and cuddling with you. Those early morning moments are my fav. Moments of the day with you. We snuggle, you giggle, we sing, we play, and we talk. Today I asked you how many mummies do you have. You responded – “1 mummy”, and said “1 daddy” when I asked you how many daddies you have. Then you turn over to Simone and said – “didi sleeping”.

Neel and Simone's Second Rakshabandhan

You are her bhaiya
She is your  'oh deeeedi'.

She loves you! You love her too! May this bond between the two of you be strong as you grow older and navigate life together.
For now you are playmates! You fight and you love each other. One moment you are pulling each other's hair and the next you are hugging each other and reading to each other.

Together you two make dot.com and play instruments all day long. She wears her disney slippers and you follow right behind wearing heels yourself.
She comes back from school, you run to her and say - "i mmmiiiisssched you".

Here you are celebrating Rakshabandhan with your 'oh deeeedi'!

Neelu dances

This is the first time I ever saw you dance with complicated moves. Till now your dancing involved mostly jumping up and down but now you move! When I saw you shake your hips, I was blown away. It was soooo cute! You are a music baby, instead of cars, dinosaurs, and trains you play with your guitar, your keyboard and all other instruments all day long. You bring a guitar to anyone you want to play and you bring your guitar and you count 1...2.... 3.. and you start jamming!! Fantastic! It is music to our ears! My soul is sooo happy when I see you play music!

What's your name?

I love it..! Every time I ask you what your name is.. you turn around and respond with a cutest accent ------ "NEEEEEEEEELLLLL". I love it! I ask you what your name is about 10 times a day and each time your response is ---"NEEEEEEEL" with the biggest smile across your face.

Daddy talks about Neelu back in May

My little boy!

My little boy Neelu!

You are an absolute delight to me. Whether you are running around holding a DVD box saying "Bheem Bheem Bheem" (the title of an Indian children's cartoon), or trying to fight back against your (for now) physically stronger sister, you always hold your own.

You have recently transitioned from sitting in a high chair to sitting at the table. I can't wait for you to abandon the rocking chair. You already request that, saying "Bed" whenever I try to put you to sleep. I will be so glad to toss that space-hogging machine out the door.

But you won't sleep in the crib. It has turned into a dumping ground for papers, or your sister's birthday presents, laundry hamper, etc. That crib cost us a pretty penny, Neelu. I hope you will reconsider.

You have now mastered the art of getting off the bed. Frequently at around 10 PM, after sleeping for 2-3 hours, you will toddle out of bed and into the living room, half asleep, and collapse in my arms. It is a wonderful feeling but then I have to coax you back to bed.

When you wake up at night, around 2 Am, crying, I have learned to ask you if you want 'doodhoo' (milk). You will say 'Yeah', and I will then toddle out of the bed, into the kitchen to make you your milk. Then I give you the bottle, you drink a bit, hand the bottle back and go back to blissful sleep.

You really enjoy shoving everything into a glass of water. Today, we made an ill-advised trip to a restaurant. You dipped the taco shell into the glass of water. It was nasty but it kept you occupied so we left you alone. The, when the cake came, we fed you most of it, and then you insisted on trying to feed yourself the rest. You did an OK job.

You have learnt many words now. And phrases. You say phrases like "I want it". You also say "this", "song" when you mean guitar, and you even somehow recite the humpty dumpy poem.

Perhaps the cutest thing you do is when you play the guitar. We say '1-2-3' and you start strumming away on your little guitar like a rockstar, with your curls flying. You sing twinkle twinkle little star, as only a parent can love. You even trill the last word, 'sky', like I taught you.

When I come home, your sister and you race to the door. Of course, she beats you to the door and you start sobbing. But I always pick you up first, telling your sister that the little ones go first. I think she gets her revenge by punching you when we are not looking. You gotta fight back, Neel. Can't let women run all over you at this young age. You have to wait until you are much older for that.

Your curls are so pretty, we have never done the traditional head-shaving (mundan). I was never into it anyway, as I didn't see the point. But we now see that your hair is straightening out, which does not bode well for your rock star career.

I love how you have mastered the iPad. You can unlock the device, use your finger to navigate through the screens, find a game that you like and amuse yourself. I am glad we deleted the Netflix app. I was seeing some really sketchy stuff being played, Mr. Neel. We need to have a talk about that later.

Speaking of having a talk, I was hoping to have to save this for another decade and change, but you have developed a fascination with your thingie. You love to play with it. And, you are quite open about it. You even start to pull your diaper off so you can get to it. Do you think you could do us a favor and put the diaper back on, when you are done?

Thank god, that unlike your sister, you do not go absolutely bananas in the shower when I was your hair. You are actually quite peaceful as I scrub your ample curls. Simone was an absolute terror at it, but you are very peaceful. Thanks buddy, I really couldn't have handled two kids going nuts over having their hair washed.

You also do cute things when it comes to people. When your mama comes to visit, you wait outside and say 'mymee', 'mymee' until she comes into view.

You figured out how to open the door, and you even made it outside once, so we had to install a security keychain. When you discovered the keychain, you threw a tantrum. That's OK, we'd rather have you throw a tantrum and annoy us than face the sheer terror of not being able to find you in the house. You are far too precious to us.

Finally I'd like to address the issue of "tenk you" and "Yo welcome". We have to work on these, you don't get to say both.

You are only four months away from your 2nd birthday. I don't know what year 3 holds, but I am so looking forward to it, my little boy!

Thank you and yo wecome..

Neelu ... listening to you speak is music to my ears.. your vocabulary is exploding, you are speaking 3 word sentences, you are expressing emotions through your words. You always did say boo boo if you got hurt and put your hand or body part out to get a kiss. You say 'sleepy', 'tired' etc.. when you are tired. It is soooo cute.

The best words I love hearing from your mouth is -- thank you. You are one polite little brother. As soon as you say thank you the next words from your mouth is - you r wecome...

It makes all of us smile when we hear it. Two days before Mummy's bday you started saying sim sim... it was so cute.. everytime you say it - your sister leans in and hugs and kisses you. Now you are saying Simone....

Let's see what other words you say -- this is definitely proud mommy moment -- you can count uptil 10 and you can say the 'abc' sing including the 'now i know my abc.. next time won't you sing with me'.

The other day I was putting you to sleep and I stopped singing so you started singing all your fav songs to put yourself to sleep...

Oooooohhhh Neelu we love you sooooooooo much.

Baby Zakir

My little baby Zakir... you love your tabla... Nana sent it for you and Sim and the moment the package opened you sat down and you started hitting the tabla. So cute! You look like baby zakir --with the kurta (you were dressed in it coz we were going to the Hollywood Bowl for AR Rahman's concert) and your curly hair you were ready to start playing. See for yourself...

The Princess and the Monkey

The Princess and the Monkey

Simone has taken to sleeping in these fancy full-length nightdresses that are made out of silk and have elaborate patterns on them. Much better than my old-tshirt-and-shorts routine. With her hair pulled back, and the elegant clothing, she looks like royalty.

In the morning, both kids are awake quite early. Neel wakes up first, slides off the bed, and mounts a very serious search-and-rescue mission for the iPad. Simone wakes up a bit later and demands to be picked up. When Neel sees her being picked up, he wants to be picked up. Yesterday morning, the scene played out surreally. I went to pick up Simone.

Neel saw her being picked up and frantically ran towards me to also get picked up. Without my glasses, and because his hair is quite long, he resembled a small monkey scurrying towards me, squealing in monkey gibberish. I of course picked him up. So in my left arm I had a princess, demanding that Neel be put back down, and in the right arm, I had a baby monkey named Neel, holding on very tightly to thwart the princess’s demands. Neel also grunts and says 'Go Away' quite a bit by way of protest.

It’s great being their Dad.

Your vocabulary explosion continues

More more more words added to your vocabulary -- honey, 'go vay', hi {name}, bye bye, freeze, jump, mukku, appu, haaaacho, more, I am done (when you are finished with food or anything else), I win (the first person to get ready to head outside can say -'i win'

You know there is this song from Simone's music class that has whales sneezing.. and in the song you goooo haaarcho.. I didn't even realize you were paying attention but you love this song. Everytime we play it, you start doing the harrrcho -- it is the cutest thing.

Neel gets a sicky

Neel's been down with fever the past 3 days. It's just like his sister but much milder. He only has a fever, and is not as hot as his sister. He insists on being held all the time, so I have learnt to get work done by holding him. He also cries incessantly, which has caused two sleepless nights so far. Finally, he likes to sleep with his head on my chest, which is still cute.

Neel was also kind enough to pee all over my head this morning. He was sleeping and crawling around, and he crawled over my head (I slept right through it), and let loose. He leaked a bit and guess what? I didn't notice it till I woke up.

Neel negotiates his milk and his book

My small boy is learning the concept of negotiation. He picked a large book and screeched "Read Book". We went to bed and laid down. He had his milk bottle. I said "Drink Milk". He said "Read book". I opened the book and started to read, and as soon as I started to read, and not a moment sooner, he started to drink his milk.

Neelu's Vocabulary

Dearest darling darling Neelu…you are one babble monkey. You have been speaking like crazy lately and it is so cute to hear you speak…

Things you enjoy doing at the moment:

1. Carry the numbers book every where and ask who ever can to “reeee” the book to you. It is hard to say no to you little boy. When we start reading the book – I say 1 – and you say 1 baby, I saw 2.. you say 2 babies.. it is the cutest thing.. we love it.
2. You know your NAME. Starting this past Friday you started saying your name – whenever someone asks you, “What’s your name?” – you respond back saying “neeeewwwl’ while squinting your eyes..it is the cutest thing. I love it.. I ask you to say your atleast 10 times a day.
3. Whenever you get a little ouchie.. you come running to anyone who will listen to you and say “boo boo”.. All you want is kisses on your boo boo and once you get it – you run away to the next thing.
4. If you don’t want to sit anywhere – you say “out”
5. When you are hungry you will say “mumum” and even occasionally bring the hand to your mouth to gesture eating food.
6. Every morning you wake up and point to one of our noses and say –“nose”…you love pointing to noses.
7. I think you know a decent part of the alphabet and numbers all the way to 10.. whenever I say a you say b, I say c, you say d.. we can keep doing that for almost half the alphabet.
8. Your other vocabulary is a combination of English, Spanish, hindi and gujrati. Other words you know – night night – when you want to go to sleep, spoon, push, backpack (when referring to the dora book), dudu, more, aqua, appoo, ball, ,didi, daddy, mummy, dada, nana, mama, bow bow, ana, nnnanna, bluebs, shoes, hi, bye, eyes, nose, kiss, baila, upside down, cheese, pee pee, poo poo, phone, pari pari, mouth, teeth, mouth, head, cow, i am done, day gooo, mokey, bread, roti, no, apo, out, kiss, clap, book, pick up, down, yeah
   and ofcouse ipah....

Neelu who's a buddu?

Neelu… you are soooo cute that you crack me up. The latest game we having playing at home is “who’s hungry?”. So your didi jumps on it and says “me”… you are not too far behind you jump on also and say “me”. … the game continues on to who’s silly? Who’s a buddu etc..? Your sister is smart so she backs out when I ask – who’s a buddu.. but you keep saying “me”, “me”…..it is soooo cute….. see for yourself…

Neelu the babbler..

Look how much you can speak... Neelu

Neele Neelu my little man

My little Neelu.. you are growing up sooooo ofast.. It is sooo much fun spending time with you now a days. You are everywhere.. whether it want you to be there or not.

If didi is up on the step ladder cooking, you climb it.

If didi is playing with the ipad you want it. One move from here, you swipe it.

If didi is drinking her milk, you want it.

You love jumping on her, You love to pull her hair. If she pulls a toy from you, you will fight back for it.

You are becoming a little little man! So cute!

You love to sit on my belly and jump on it… its like your little ride.

When I say one – the next thing you say is “two”.

You have the cutest smile…today you were blowing rasberries on my belly.and you were soooo happy. We kept laughing for almost 15 mins.

You love love love to read book. A few days ago, you were up at 3am.. I had to suffer with you too and

And you made me read 25 books that night.. you would keep coming up to me saying – reeeee book. So hard to say no to you neelu…

Neelu Happiness is.....

Babble babble.... you are such a little babbler... and it is the cutest thing ever.. Happiness is hearing you speak. When the phone rings you run to it and want to talk. Regardless of who is on the phone -- you keep saying mama or nana......

Happiness is singing good morning Neelu every morning that ends with an applause from you.

Happiness is hearing you say the word - "huqqq" and you falling in my arms to get a hug. This is something you just started doing today. We spent half hour earlier in the evening.. just hugging and kissing.

Happiness is you giving me a kiss....

Happiness is watching you fight for your right with your big sister.. you are assertive and you are strong.

Happiness is watching you shoot basketballs in your new hoop.

Happiness is watching you run around in the diaper....

Happiness is spending time with you....

Happiness is you holding my hand when I say something that we need to go to bed, or go to the other room, or go change your diaper...

Happiness is me reading books to you -- the other night your "reeee booooohk" made me read 25 books to you.....

Neelu says no-no-no-no-no

The latest word you have picked up is "no", and you use it quite well. Anytime you don't want something you start saying - - no, no,no, no.. and keep moving your head from side to side. It is the cutest thing as you say no, no, no and your curls keep flipping around.

Here you are -- the little tease.. I kept asking you to blow me a kiss and you kept shaking your head - no,no,no,no.. and when I turned the camera on.. you blew me a kiss right away...

Neelu loves to dance....

Neelu loves to dance.... where there is music there's Neelu dancing away....

Your favorite activity

Neelu…. This is one of your favorite activities to do with didi. Whenever you go to her school, she brings out her double bike and puts you in the back and both of you go biking all over the school property. She is so proud of you... she is very careful on navigating around so you don’t get hurt. You just sit in the back and hang on to your dear life. You both bike for about 15 minutes or so... and once that’s done she bikes you over to the gate and she gives you and me a hug and a kiss…

Neelu the kisser....

My little stud muffin you love love love to blow kisses. Any opportunity you have you start blowing kissed. Today you just melted my heart when you came running to me and started blowing kisses to pick you up.... you are tooo cute. You love blowing kisses to all the girls around.. such a charmer already....

Neel's antics

If there's water , there's Neel somewhere close by. Perhaps we did pick the right name for you since Neel means blue.. boy oh boy my cute little boy, you have become so cute and adorable! Now your antics have also increased. If we are not watching you are doing one of the following things:

1) eating something in your mouth that you are not supposed to.

2) taking bowls from the bowl drawer and moving it to the dinning table one by one.

3) pulling toilet paper from the toilet paper roll.

4) sticking your hands in the toilet bowl.

5) playing with water somewhere or the other...

See......

Neel's vocabulary

Things you can say by now:
baaaaa -- for ball
dudu -- for milk. You got up yesterday and for the first thing you said was dudu coz you wanted some milk.
ddddiiii -- for didi
nana
up
aqua
booooo -- for book...
hi....

Happy Valentine's Day Neelu....

Hi hunny --- This was your 2nd V day. The last one you had no idea that you were even born as you were only 6 weeks old. This V day we celebrated! You see Myme asked you to be her Valentine..!! How fun! Daddy asked you to be his little puppy.... On the actual day we were alone as daddy was traveling up to SF for work. We stayed home and it was a quiet dinner for the 3 of us. But on Sunday before.. everyone got together to celebrate Vday.

First Myme asked you to be her valentine:



She also bribed you with a t-shirt. Are you going to be her valentine for life?



Later daddy wanted you to be his gee puppy!!! See how he bribes you:

Come on now set the table Neelu

HI Neelu... yes you have another name now - Neelu. You are soooooo cute and naughty that sometimes I just there in awe watching you do your things. You are growing up way too fast, I wish you could be my little Neelu for ever.

Lately you have this funny activity that you do several times a day - you go open a kitchen drawer where all the bowls are and start taking them out one by one. You take the first one, walk over to the dinning table, put it at the end, go back to the drawer and repeat and repeat..

It is so much fun watching you carry all these bowl to the dinning table. You are on a mission, when you are doing that no one can interrupt you.

My little baby... read what you have been upto....

Little toddle –you have become too cute for words! You have the most beautiful curls that flap around your cute face. You are so vocal it is amazing that you can do with your little finger that you point at everything. You cannot speak any words clearly – but you can say bye and do bye. When I say hug – you collapse into my arms. Recently when you want to be picked up, you say – up. When you want me to sing on particular song you gruntle if I switch songs on you.

You are naughty too – you want everything didi does. You even fight with her for her ipad. I am pretty sure we will have to buy you your own iPad. You are quite the pro at moving the ipad screen. Your favorite foods are: broccoli, kiwi, blueberries, dal and rice. You do not like chicken much, but other than that you love eating. You love to eat food that has flavor. Because of you, your sister has actually become a good eater.

Today when I was putting your didi to sleep – I hugged her with both arms. You were so naughty that once you saw that – you collapsed into my arms so that I could hug you too. I held you both trying to put both of you to sleep and you would keep pushing Simone away so I could only hug you.

We have this funny ritual with you – every morning and every night we sing a song to you. The morning one goes like – “Good Morning Neelu, Good Morning Neelu, We are glad that you are awake”. The night song goes like – “Good Night Neelu, Good Night Neelu, We are glad you had a good day”. Your face just lights up when the whole family sings the song for you… it is such a happy moment.

Upside Down...

Everytime I see you do this... my heart just melts. This has to be one of the cutest things....

Neel's SF bday Celebrations

Here's a video of how we celebrated your actual bday in SF.

Neel's birthday party

Today was a very special day for all of us, it was Neel's very first birthday party. His mom had been planning this for several weeks, even months. She had set up a jungle theme with masks, and hanging monkeys. Both sets of grandparents were on hand. Most of our friends came to join us. As we looked around, we marveled at how long some of us have been friends: we counted at least 5 friends whom we have had for a decade. Old friends and new friends, we all enjoyed it. Neel was very well behaved. We could not find his shoes, but in true toddle fashion, that did not stop him from toddling all over town. His dada kept a good eye on him, making sure that he did not get his little feet cold.

The highlight of the party were the puppies. Neel's mom had found a woman that brings puppies to parties. She showed up with nine puppies, set up a tarp on the floor, and a fence, and let the puppies loose. A lot of the children really enjoyed themselves, and many of the adults also got into the act. Your sister kept trying to get a puppy to come near her, but the puppies were wary of her. Maybe they know that she sometimes smacks you around. One of the dogs was very affectionate, ready to lick anything and everything. You sat inside the pen with your Dada and then with your Mama (uncle).

The cake came from Buttercake Bakery. It was a vanilla cake and it was delicious. It had a nice graphic on top of it and in true fashion we ordered too much, which means we will be eating cake for a few weeks. We also ordered a lot of Vietnamese sandwiches in both chicken and veggie fashion. I ate a veggie after the spicy and boy it was spicy. Your sister, dada and I made an early trip to pick up the sandwiches. Your sister enjoyed a croissant and Dada and I shared a Vietnamese coffee, which was sweetened with condensed milk.

The party was a lot of fun and it started to wind down at 3 PM. We found out that two of our friends were also expecting, which made the party even more festive. The kids discovered Snowball the fat bunny, who is so tame that he loves to be petted by everyone. After the party everyone pitched in to clean up, which was good, because it was a huge task.

So, onward and upward, my little gee-puppy! For your next birthday party I am sure you will be talking and running around and even fighting your didi.

Toddle a new name to your long list of names

Toddle toddle… this is your new name now in the long list of chunmum, babuji, dhiru bhai, vir, neelu, neel, gee puppy, duhkhi das, raddi wala, monkey monkey. You are the cutest little toddle. Over night after taking your first steps on diwali night you have started to toddle everywhere…you climb up and down the step ladder, you fight for your turn on the ipad and when big sister isn’t around you love carrying it around. You point your finger everywhere… and when I say hug hug.. you come running into my arms. It is very difficult to hold you for too long as you are always running away.

The cutest thing you do is – upside down. Whenever someone says upside down.. you walk over and put your head on the floor in a downward dog position. It is soooooo cute. You play by yourself.. often times you disappear into the other room and play with the toys there. Yesterday we went into the room and took all the books out of the bookshelves and brought them to the bed one by one and then tried to read all of them!! Smart little toddle! You love books – you are always carrying one book or the other and will sit down in any lap that will read to you. You love play with the toilet bowl. If the bathroom door is open and we are not looking – you will invariably find yourself in the bathroom playing with the water in the toilet bowl. You love it!