Astrophotos
chugga chugga ... wheesh
Ashwini received her first train set on her 2nd birthday, earlier this year. Since then, I have been buying more and more trains and track components. Last week, I made a table to house the whole set. According to V, this toy is more for me than for Ashwini. But, that is not true. Ashwini is totally and completely in love with Thomas, his other engine friends and the whole train track set. I just like to play with it along with her.
I was told not to make a post without Ashwini’s photo. So, here it is her playing with the trains.
what...tarian?
I always wondered how to describe my food preference. Now, I know the word I should use…
Pescatarian: Vegetarian that eats fish.
Thanks, arunshanbhag
After the floods
Heard on my favourite radio program, This American Life:
First-hand accounts of people from New Orleans during/after the floods caused by Katrina. The program runs just under 1 hour. It is worth listening to in its entirety. Click here for a link to the audio file.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Calling all Calvin and Hobbes fans… The biggest and most complete Calvin and Hobbes compilation is about to be released in a couple of weeks. Pre-order your own copy of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Thanks to Patrix for his post about it.
P.S. The same book is available at Buy.com for a better deal.
Happy 2.5th Birthday, Ashwini!!!
Taken on the shores of Lake Michigan in South Haven, MI.
- Two major changes happened in Ashwini's life during the last month. I wrote a post about one of them, i.e., her move to the preschool class. It has been 3 days since that transition and she is coping very well. She is getting comfortable with new schedule (shorter nap time), new friends (and teachers) and new responsibilities. Ashwini has cliqued with 2 older girls that were in her toddler room last year and they help her do things that she is still struggling with. Overall, we are relieved that this transition has gone well without any problems.
- The other big change is Ashwini's sleeping arrangements at home. She is out of the crib and moved on to a spanking new bed. She even helped me dismantle her crib. She calls her bed, "my beautiful bed" because the sheets have lots of pink, green and white flowers that she likes. Ashwini is quite sure that cribs are for babies and she is a big preschooler who needs to sleep in a bed. Over the last two weeks, she must have fallen from it several times, but, we have a mattress on the floor to soften her fall and she hasn't complained about getting any 'ouchies'. Sometimes, we find her on the floor in the morning and sometimes, she just climbs back up in the bed and goes back to sleep.
- Ashwini has been learning more and more songs and rhymes. We got a new Marathi CD for the car and she is picking up those songs, too.
- Ashwini's jaws probably ache by the time she goes to bed every night. All through her waking hours, she is constantly talking, screaming or singing.
- She is eating more and more new foods like fresh cut tomatoes, sauted bell peppers, sauted okra and eggplant. We are so happy to see her eat all the vegetables from our garden. We have started giving her multiple items of food on the plate at the same time. She also started eating a typical marathi thing: toop-sakhar-poli rolls.
- Ashwini still has problem pronouncing some 'sh' sounds like in shower. She says 's' for 'sh' and makes it 'sower'. If we imitate her and say 'sower', she doesn't like it.
- Ashwini loved going to the beach last weekend. We were in the water for about an hour. She was running in and out and splashing water and sand everywhere. She finally figured out that sitting in the water and letting the waves come to her was much better than running after them. There was a big grin on her face all through that hour. We should make more trips to the beach.
American Heart Walk
Everyone knows someone affected by heart disease or stroke. I have set a personal goal to raise funds for the American Heart Association by participating in the American Heart Walk on Sept. 24th, 2005. We are raising critical dollars for heart disease and stroke research and education. Find Heart Walk events in your area.
You can help me reach my goal by making a donation online. Click on this link and you will be taken to my personal donation page where you can make a secure online credit card donation.
I shall match your donation dollar for dollar and my employer will match my donation. Thanks for helping out.
Evening sky...
It was a beautiful evening sky today. Venus, Moon and Jupiter came together close to create this spectacular view. If you missed it, try again on Wednesday evening. The configuration will be different but, they will still be pretty close to each other.
The sky was clear except for the southwest sky where these interesting objects were. I managed to get a couple of nice photos even with the clouds.
The objects in the photo are (clockwise starting from the Moon): Moon with earthshine, Spica (Chitra), Venus and Jupiter.
A new beginning
When Ashwini goes back to daycare next week, she will be going to Preschool. It will be a big change for her. Her teachers have been preparing her and 3 other kids for this for the last 2 weeks. She will be moving to a new room with new kids and new teachers. One saving grace, is that her current teacher will also move into the new room. That will make the transition easy. We have been really lucky to have the same teacher for Ashwini since the day she started going there almost 2 years ago and I guess that it will continue for another 2 years.
For the last couple of weeks, Ashwini has been getting ready to become a big ‘preschooler’. The kid-to-teacher ratio goes from 4:1 to 8:1. So, the children have to be a lot more independent in terms of putting on shoes and clothes, taking care of their own waterbottles, toys, etc. After a lot of practice, Ashwini can put her sandals on and take them off. Same with t-shirts and pants/shorts. She still hasn’t made much progress with potty-training. She sits on the potty but still doesn’t know what to do next.
I am just amazed at her insistence at putting clothes/shoes by herself even at home. If I help her a little, she takes off the piece of clothing that is being put on and starts all over. So, many times she ends up with her pants on backwards or right sandal in left foot and vice versa, but, she is pleased at herself that she did it all by herself. As per her teacher’s comment we don’t try to correct her as long as it is not causing any ‘ouchies’. It is good to let her be proud of doing things by herself and after a few mistakes, she’ll learn how to do it correctly.
Did I mention lately that I adore this daughter of mine? :)
caterpillar -> cocoon -> butterfly
It would have been nice to have a photo accompanying this post, but, unfortunately I don’t have any.
A few weeks ago, I had made a post about spotting a very hungry caterpillar in our garden. I was planning to catch one and keep it in a box, but, all I found was a cocoon, a few days later. I put that in a box with some mulch. Placed the box in a cool, moist and dark place. Ashwini and I kept checking the box periodically to check the status of the cocoon. Yesterday, we found that the cocoon was broken and a huge moth with beautiful design on its body sitting in the box. Surprisingly, its wings were quite plain. It wasn’t moving and I thought that I killed it. But, when Ashwini and I touched its wings, it started to move. By the time, I could run and grab the camera, it started to flutter and flew away.
The very hungry caterpillar
The butterfly came out of the cocoon, flied away... went in the woods to find some friends... they had a chat, ate dinner, played with toys, read books and went to bed.
Ashwini's photography
These days, Ashwini is getting interested in being on the other side of the camera to take photos. She knows how to take photos.
- Hold the camera in front of your face
- shout cheese and “smayal” (pronounced like Payal)
- press the button to take the picture.
Here is one of her first photos…
Good advice
This morning, I was saying goodbye to Ashwini and she gave me some pearls of wisdom…
“Bye. Go to work, Dada. Drive your car on the road… not on the grass and not on the train-tracks.”
Iron Chef
“Iron Chef America”, the American version of the original Japanese cooking competition show, sucks big time. The original was so much better.
Ashwini went on a field trip today to a waterpark. I went along with the group too. It was too much fun. More pictures later.