Astrophotos
A nice collection of Puneri patya.
Mr. Tambourine Man
My favorite verse of this popular Dylan song…
Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind, Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
The imagery gives me goose bumps every time I listen. It is very G.A.-esque. Those who know G.A. Kulkarni would understand.
After a busy playday...
After running around in the yard all afternoon and getting wet while washing the cars, on a warm sunny spring day, everyone was just wiped out. Adit was busy gobbling up some snacks and Ashwini fell asleep in the couch while reading a book.
Adit was happy to see Ashwini asleep and got busy with those special books that she doesn’t let him touch.
Finally, he was overcome by fatigue too and wanted to nap next to his sister.
After a busy playday...
After running around in the yard all afternoon and getting wet while washing the cars, on a warm sunny spring day, everyone was just wiped out. Adit was busy gobbling up some snacks and Ashwini fell asleep in the couch while reading a book.
Adit was happy to see Ashwini asleep and got busy with those special books that she doesn’t let him touch.
Finally, he was overcome by fatigue too and wanted to nap next to his sister.
Goodbye ol' tree
While driving by this afternoon, I noticed that the farmer finally cut down this dead tree that I had photographed on several occassions over the last 2 years or so. Here are a couple of photos that I could find of that tree in two totally different moods…
Harvest Sun
Moonset
Speaking of trees, here is my latest tree photo. I call it the “Oak tree without nuts”. Don’t know how many of you will chuckle at my juvenile humor.
Goodbye ol' tree
While driving by this afternoon, I noticed that the farmer finally cut down this dead tree that I had photographed on several occassions over the last 2 years or so. Here are a couple of photos that I could find of that tree in two totally different moods…
Harvest Sun
Moonset
Speaking of trees, here is my latest tree photo. I call it the “Oak tree without nuts”. Don’t know how many of you will chuckle at my juvenile humor.
Starvation for Sanjaya
Let me start this post by stating that I never watch any reality shows. I think the whole idea just smacks of being fake. Anything that happens in front of a recording camera can be anything but reality. But, that is just my view.
On the current season of “American Idol”, there is a 17 year old contestant, Sanjaya Malakar. He is supposed to be very bad at singing but has a very infectious personality. There are many many hard-core Idol fans that don’t like him being there in the final rounds of the show. One has gone as far as announcing a hunger strike till Sanjaya is thrown off the show and many have joined her in the strike. After watching the video, it is obvious that this fatso lady needs to lose some weight. If she gets off the couch and live a life other than watching TV and obsessing about it, she won’t be in this situation. This hunger strike is actually a diet plan to lose weight. I want to support her efforts to get back in shape. Just for her, I am going to do something that I have never done before, i.e. cast my vote on “American Idol” — for Sanjaya.
Friends, please join me in helping this woman by voting for Sanjaya.
Thanks, Patrix for your regular updates about Idol.
Starvation for Sanjaya
Let me start this post by stating that I never watch any reality shows. I think the whole idea just smacks of being fake. Anything that happens in front of a recording camera can be anything but reality. But, that is just my view.
On the current season of “American Idol”, there is a 17 year old contestant, Sanjaya Malakar. He is supposed to be very bad at singing but has a very infectious personality. There are many many hard-core Idol fans that don’t like him being there in the final rounds of the show. One has gone as far as announcing a hunger strike till Sanjaya is thrown off the show and many have joined her in the strike. After watching the video, it is obvious that this fatso lady needs to lose some weight. If she gets off the couch and live a life other than watching TV and obsessing about it, she won’t be in this situation. This hunger strike is actually a diet plan to lose weight. I want to support her efforts to get back in shape. Just for her, I am going to do something that I have never done before, i.e. cast my vote on “American Idol” — for Sanjaya.
Friends, please join me in helping this woman by voting for Sanjaya.
Thanks, Patrix for your regular updates about Idol.
Saagar kinaare
- V's brother made a CD of assorted Hindi songs for her and it is being played in the car for some days. Ashwini listens and remembers these songs without understanding most of the words. It is funny how we catch her humming "saagar kinaare... dil ye pukaare... tu jo nahi to mera koi nahi hai" or "gore gore... o baake chhore... kabhi mere gali aaya karo" while coloring or solving jigsaw puzzles.
- We haven't seen any Hindi movies in a long long time. Lately, the rented movies come to our house, sit on the shelf for 2 weeks and go back to the store unwatched. Currently, Dhoom2 is gathering dust and awaiting its turn for a ride back to the store. It is just so hard to find time. We never ever watch any Hollywood or Bollywood movies with the kids around. They don't even get to watch SpongeBob or Tom&Jerry. Don't want them to be exposed to all the sex, violence and general bad behavior as long as possible. They'll have a lot of time to do that later on in life.
- Ashwini also hears and has learnt our marathi bovine words of endearment for Adit such as mhasoba, bail, mhasaroo, redkoo etc. It is funny to hear those come out of her mouth.
BTW, who is the male singer in “Saagar” songs? I thought it was Kishore Kumar, but that doesn’t sounds like him.
Happy 1.25th birthday, Adit!!!
Today, Adit is 15 months old.
Here is his monthly progress report. Although I have missed several months in between, I still call this a monthly report. I wish I was as punctual about these reports as I was with Ashwini.
Adit is still very smiley and loves to flash his teeth to anyone who talks with him. He has learnt to blow kisses and his daycare teachers just love that.
Adit likes to walk and run. I think, he learned to walk and run earlier than Ashwini. Sometimes, he doesn’t want to be carried. Especially at his daycare, he wants to walk between the car and his classroom. If he is walking without holding my hand, it is almost random brownian motion. He gets easily distracted by various things that are along the way and chance of him getting to his destination (actually, my intended destination for him) is close to nil.
He is more independent than Ashwini. While playing in the yard, Ashwini always stays around her parent, but Adit just walks away without any care. We’ll definitely need to keep a closer eye on him. He has started climbing stairs, too. He climbs into chairs and beds, but doesn’t know how to come down. He justs lunges down head first. Again, we need to keep a closer eye on him, if we want to avoid big bumps on his noggin.
Adit usually has no problem with eating food. Sometimes, we and his teachers have to stop him from eating too much. Another total opposite from Ashwini. He eats a variety of foods that include Gerber foods (vegetables), pasta, khichdi, cheese, yogurt, all kinds of fruits and yes, ice cream, too. These days, he likes things that he can chew on such as cookies, crackers, apple slices etc. He now has 7 teeth (4 on top and 3 on the bottom) and they came in a strange order that I had not seen before with any other kid.
Lately, Adit has taken a liking for books following his sister’s footsteps. He doesn’t want to put them in his mouth as he used to, but likes to turn pages and look at pictures. He likes to watch TV with Ashwini, too. It is funny to see him wave at the characters on TV when they say “hi” or “bye”. I think he likes to watch Thomas, Dora/Diego and Blue. Well, that is what he gets to watch, because his sister always chooses the shows. Adit also likes it when music is playing in the car. If he is cranky for some reason (mostly for locking him up in the carseat), turning the music on, makes him happy.
Adit can make some animal sounds. Sheep and snake are the only ones that make different sounds, but all the others say “boo” with different amount of emphasis on the “b” or different lenghts of the “oo” sound. He is very vocal when he wants to complain about something. Also, he throws things around or hits us when he gets upset. We should teach him some anger management tricks.
Some things that Adit has learnt at his daycare that he would have missed otherwise:
- Use of sign language to let us know if he wants more food or if he is all done.
- He picks up his cup or plate after he is done and takes it to the kitchen.
- When asked, he picks up books and toys to help clean-up.
Adit’s obsession with the trashcan still continues. These days, he doesn’t want to lick it anymore, but finds things to throw in it. We find all kinds of things such as pens, toys, milk bottles in the trashcan. If we can’t find something around the house, we just have to go to the trashcan to find it.
Adit is absolutely in love with Dora and his teacher, Megan. He doesn’t cry at drop-off time anymore. He just goes to Megan, gives her a hug and starts playing.
Happy 1.25th birthday, Adit!!!
Today, Adit is 15 months old.
Here is his monthly progress report. Although I have missed several months in between, I still call this a monthly report. I wish I was as punctual about these reports as I was with Ashwini.
Adit is still very smiley and loves to flash his teeth to anyone who talks with him. He has learnt to blow kisses and his daycare teachers just love that.
Adit likes to walk and run. I think, he learned to walk and run earlier than Ashwini. Sometimes, he doesn’t want to be carried. Especially at his daycare, he wants to walk between the car and his classroom. If he is walking without holding my hand, it is almost random brownian motion. He gets easily distracted by various things that are along the way and chance of him getting to his destination (actually, my intended destination for him) is close to nil.
He is more independent than Ashwini. While playing in the yard, Ashwini always stays around her parent, but Adit just walks away without any care. We’ll definitely need to keep a closer eye on him. He has started climbing stairs, too. He climbs into chairs and beds, but doesn’t know how to come down. He justs lunges down head first. Again, we need to keep a closer eye on him, if we want to avoid big bumps on his noggin.
Adit usually has no problem with eating food. Sometimes, we and his teachers have to stop him from eating too much. Another total opposite from Ashwini. He eats a variety of foods that include Gerber foods (vegetables), pasta, khichdi, cheese, yogurt, all kinds of fruits and yes, ice cream, too. These days, he likes things that he can chew on such as cookies, crackers, apple slices etc. He now has 7 teeth (4 on top and 3 on the bottom) and they came in a strange order that I had not seen before with any other kid.
Lately, Adit has taken a liking for books following his sister’s footsteps. He doesn’t want to put them in his mouth as he used to, but likes to turn pages and look at pictures. He likes to watch TV with Ashwini, too. It is funny to see him wave at the characters on TV when they say “hi” or “bye”. I think he likes to watch Thomas, Dora/Diego and Blue. Well, that is what he gets to watch, because his sister always chooses the shows. Adit also likes it when music is playing in the car. If he is cranky for some reason (mostly for locking him up in the carseat), turning the music on, makes him happy.
Adit can make some animal sounds. Sheep and snake are the only ones that make different sounds, but all the others say “boo” with different amount of emphasis on the “b” or different lenghts of the “oo” sound. He is very vocal when he wants to complain about something. Also, he throws things around or hits us when he gets upset. We should teach him some anger management tricks.
Some things that Adit has learnt at his daycare that he would have missed otherwise:
- Use of sign language to let us know if he wants more food or if he is all done.
- He picks up his cup or plate after he is done and takes it to the kitchen.
- When asked, he picks up books and toys to help clean-up.
Adit’s obsession with the trashcan still continues. These days, he doesn’t want to lick it anymore, but finds things to throw in it. We find all kinds of things such as pens, toys, milk bottles in the trashcan. If we can’t find something around the house, we just have to go to the trashcan to find it.
Adit is absolutely in love with Dora and his teacher, Megan. He doesn’t cry at drop-off time anymore. He just goes to Megan, gives her a hug and starts playing.
Kids were in bed by 9:15pm last night as usual. But, somehow Adit, Ashwini and I ended up downstairs in our pajamas at 10:30pm eating popcorn and icecream, which was supposed to be my dinner.
The cat was away and the mice were having too much fun.
Spring is here
Spring is in the air. It is starting to get warm outside. That means it is time to blow bubbles again.
A trip...
- It was the first time for Adit to travel on an airplane. We were worried about how he'll do, but he slept both ways as soon as the plane got ready to take off. While he was awake, he was thrilled to see all the people around and was happy to flash smiles at them.
- It was the first time for us to be separated from the kids overnight. During those 36 hours, all we did was talk about Ashwini and Adit with each other and with all the people that we met.
- It was the first time for my brother and sister-in-law to take care of children for such an extended period of time. I am sure they are glad that it is over. :)
- We try not to travel together when the kids aren't with us for obvious reasons. This time was the first exception to the rule and our car spun out on the icy highway. A guard rail stopped it from turning over. Thankfully, no one was injured but the car will need a lot of body work and a new rim on one of the back wheels.
Happy 4th Birthday, Ashwini!!!
Tangled up in blue and white on her birthday.
Although it is hard for us to believe, a couple of days ago, Ashwini turned 4 years old. She is growing up too fast, learning everything too fast, and talking a lot. I start to hyperventilate when I start thinking about when she turns 14-15 and wants to go on dates or when she turns 18 and leaves us to go for college. Thankfully, those days are still farther away in the future.
As our first child, she helped us learn how to be parents. I still remember being worried about small little things and rushing to the emergency room at the hospital just because we didn’t know what to expect and how to deal with whatever that was happening. After a couple of such trips that ended in us being embarassed because we worried for no reason, we started to get a little more confident in handling Ashwini by reading books and talking with friends. Even after all our experiments with parenthood, Ashwini seems to be turning out alright. Her love of books is keeping her ahead of her class in terms of reading skills. She looks to be ready to go into Kindergarten next year.
It has been an awesome experience to be a parent. Ashwini made it easy for us. Given the troublemaker nature of Adit, if he was born first, I doubt that we’d have thought about having another child.
Tangled up in blues
Bob Dylan was singing, “Tangled up in Blues” while we got out of the house this morning.
Ashwini: Daddy, I am tangled up in blue, too. No. I am tangled up in blue and white. Look at my dress.
Me: speechless