3 Days Post Family

To the right: Amiya taking a breather shortly after everyone left Tuesday morning. She was both sad and exhausted and not even playing with all the lip gloss in the world could maintain her attention. She needed a rest and (I guess) the bathroom rug in front of Daddy's mirror is as good a place as any.

Amiya was thrilled to find that Auntie Melody had left behind a box of popsicles for her. To be specific, they are mung bean ice cream pops - an Asian treat. Mommy loves 'em because there is absolutely no temptation factor here - so they can be in the freezer all the time. And Amiya loves 'em because bean ice cream isn't all that bizarre to a two-year old's imagination *and* she can use her teeth to shape them into Christmas trees.

And finally, it's an awful lot of work taking care of Rena, Mommy and Daddy all day long. You can see Dr. Gupta taking a break here - long enough to watch a bit of her new Princess video, but not long enough to take her steffecope out of her ears.

Christmas by Amiya

Christmas was great. I got to spend lots of time with my Uncle Andy, Uncle Mikey, Auntie Melody and my Grampa and Gramma. Mommy and Daddy pretty much took care of the grown-up stuff like food and drinks and I took care of making sure nobody ever had a moment's peace or got bored. My Uncle
Andy and my Grampa came down on Thursday and that was great - I had a whole day of Uncle Andy all to myself. He's in a grown-up body, but I've got my doubts about him - he's really too much fun to be a grown-up. He played horse with me all the time and he even let me wear his baseball hat. He was also pretty good at cuddling - especially when it was a 'cary part in a movie. Uncle Andy was never too busy to pay lots of attention to me and I had a great time with him! The only thing I didn't like was that Uncle Andy wouldn't let me sleep with him. I don't understand this. Something about all my wiggling and giggling! I thought that's what I'm supposed to do!

The next day Uncle Mikey, Auntie Melody and Grandma came to our house. They got to our house really late so I didn't get to play with them a lot. But the next day was really great. We all went to see some manatees and then we went to the beach. I saw lots of birds and even some raccoons. Auntie Melody played with me on the playground - I really love her. Grandma also brought me lots of my favorite cheese and you know I ate way too much of that. That night was Christmas Eve and I have no idea what that means except that I got to open all my presents from Mommy and Daddy, my Grampa and Gramma, my Aunt and Uncles and my family in Rochester. I don't know about you, but I think the whole idea is pretty cool. I got lots of cool presents - a princess movie, a cash register, a fishing rod set, some musical instruments and a doctor set. I like all of my presents, but I like the fishing rod and the doctor set the best. Everyone I know is very healthy because I have given out lots and lots of shots since I opened it up. I also give a kiss after every shot to save my band-aids. Grandma sewed matching pajamas for everybody - check out the plaid!

(Please note that I tried to tell Mommy and Daddy that two different plaids don't really go todeller, but they wouldn't hear it.)

On Christmas Day we woke up and I checked to make sure Santa ate his cookies. He left me some great presents - a soccer ball, Cinderella and a game with some ladders and slides. I don't understand the real rules, so I make them up as we go. Then we all went to Busch Gardens and you know that that means I had to go see Dumphrey the Dragon. We started our day at Busch Gardens with an insanely long train ride, but it was ok because I got to give lots and lots of cuddles to Uncle Andy and Grampa. I also stole lots of Uncle Andy's popcorn, but don't tell my Mommy because I'm not supposed to eat that yet! We saw great big animals and a Christmas musical and then I got to ride on some motorcycles and a train. Finally we went to see Dumphrey and I made sure everyone knew the rules - no going up on the stage before the show. When it was time to dance I was doing my best. I can't really get my feet going at the same time as my hands but I sure do try! I got to go up on stage and dance with Dumphrey again - can you even believe it? I love Dumphrey so much and I gave him a very big hug when the show was over. After this it was time to go home and I was really tired. It's hard to keep so many grown-ups together but I did my best.

The next day was a quiet day around the house. I had to keep doing check-ups to make sure everyone was healthy enough to travel. After many more shots, I could tell that they were. All day long everybody kept telling me that they had to leave and that just made me sad. I love them all too much and I made sure I told them that every time I remembered.

On Tuesday morning I woke up and I knew it was not going to be my favorite day. The first thing I said to Mommy was that I didn't want to say goodbye to anybody. It was really hard, but I know I'll see them again soon. I just love them too much.

Slippery Slope

We've started down the slippery slope of really unhealthy breakfasts around here. For a long time, Amiya's choice was toast, a waffle with jam, oatmeal or a healthy cereal (read grown-up sort - brown, not sugary, etc.). On the rare ocassion she gets chocolate milk it's not even Quik but Ovaltine or soymilk. For the most part it still is relatively healthy but we do throw in a Daddy/Daughter Donut Day a few Saturdays a month and an occasional McDonald's if that's where her pals will be. But not this week. Bad Mommy.

Mommy made a cake for Amiya's little holiday party yesterday and it seemed that Cookie Crisp cereal would make the perfect little accents. And it did - it was super cute (I'm just a bit immodest here). But after using approximately 20 of the cereal cookies, we were left with the remaining 876 to go. Amiya is in heaven! Every day that she's had them I've made it very, very clear that we are not going to buy this type of cereal ever, ever again. She looks at me as if she's already working up a devious plan to divert my attention to the mishmash of Malt O'Meal bags while she grabs all the boxes of Cookie Crisp that she can.

In what is perhaps a more worrisome development, we've been much more tantrum free lately except these past two days when Amiya had this cereal for breakfast and a large tantrum ensued shortly before lunch. Enormous sugar high and then deep crash? I don't know but I'll let you know tomorrow when Cookie Crisp will be out at the curb and she'll be back to her healthier options.

Jumpin' Rope

Someone on Clifford must have been jumping rope recently because it is all the rage at our house today. I'm not silly enough as a Mommy to give the child free rein with rope & hard handles, so she steals my tape measure to try and do her thing. It doesn't work. On so many levels. Amiya thinks that jumping rope is really all about standing on the rope and jumping up and down. For that, a measuring tape is fantastic because it's so thin and flat that it doesn't hurt her little tootsies. Check out her super girl smile here - she thinks she's got it down! And don't be too envious of her stylin' PJs. They are hand-me-downs from a cousin of mine and about as worn as worn can be. But, there is nothing so cuddly for a two-year-old as going to bed with Elmo and Zoe on your tummy and your bottom! If we tell her to go get her PJs we're pretty sure that these are what we'll see 9 times outta 10!

Letter from Santa

Christmas 2005

My dear Amiya Clare,

I'm so proud of you this year. You are almost three years old and you have learned so much. Think of all the new words and meanings that you now know and you will learn many, many more this next year. This year your learned to use the bathroom and now you can wear "Princess Underwear" instead of baby diapers.

Soon a new baby will come to live with you and I know that you will be a loving and kind big sister. Your Daddy and Mommy love you so much and they always will. They'll love the new baby too and each of you will be precious and special to them.

You have made progress this year with temper tantrums. My elves tell me that you are trying very hard to not cry and have tantrums. It's OK to cry when you are sad but not if you are mad or you can't have your way. Then you need to tell Daddy or Mommy how you feel without screaming or crying. You just keep trying hard. You're doing great!

The elves told me that you are a very good sharing friend and that you play nicely with other children. They also told me that you listen to your parents and put your toys away when you are finished playing with them.

Let me see... what else did they say? Oh, yes, they know that you are worried that I'll forget your house because there isn't a fireplace. Ho, ho, ho, don't you worry about that my dear. Santa has magic. I won't forget to bring presents to you. Will you leave a cookie and some milk out for me? The reindeer love baby carrots, too.

See you soon.
Love,
Santa Claus

Weekend Discoveries

This weekend was full of new discoveries for one little miss. The first was Mommy's all-time holiday favorite - cheap white chocolate covered pretzels. (I say cheap because I'm not sure the stuff to make almond bark is even considered white chocolate, but it's not important. It's too good to worry about.) Amiya helped me make white chocolate pretzels, dark chocolate pretzels with peppermint and turtle pretzels. She was dying to eat one and couldn't believe that Mommy was being so heinous as to not allow it until after dinner. When she finally got her little paws on a pretzel (smart girl chose Mommy's favorite), she discovered that she didn't like it all that much. Much like one eats corn on the cob, she nibbled all the coating off and left a pretzel stick.

The second big discovery of the weekend was 'stashos. That's pistachios for those of you who took Spanish and not toddler in high school. Amiya is a nut lover - she'll eat any and every nut that comes her way. Pistachios were one of the few holdouts, mainly because we rarely have them in the house. But one taste and the chick is hooked! Not only must she have 'stashos, but she must also shell them herself. This means Mommy and Daddy have to sift through the bigger bowl of nuts to find those that toddler thumbs are going to be able to break open and get at the meat of the matter. Heaven forbid she gets one of those that is just barely open. You can see her shelling station here - a bowl, a glass of water and her bench. She won't sit when she's shelling, it's serious work. The lower picture of Amiya in the green sweater is her begging for just one more 'stasho. I gave her just one more and she quickly changed her demand to, "I meant two, Mommy." Little twerp.

And finally, in what is perhaps my favorite weekend discovery - Amiya has forged a friendship with our vacuum. Daddy was vacuuming this morning (what a husband! what a husband!) and Amiya was freaked out - perhaps a sign that we don't vacuum enough.
I assured her that the vacuum only nibbles on the toes of girls who do not have nail polish on and she quickly determined that she did, in fact, have nail polish on so all was well with the world. Somehow, from there, she decided that the vacuum needed a friend. Not only did she take it drinks of (thankfully) pretend water, but she pulled out her Sesame Street dominoes and played a game of checkers with her new friend. How she knew this was the vacuum's favorite past-time or even what checkers are is beyond us.

Do you see the resemblance?

We think that Amiya might actually have been the inspiration for Dory of Finding Nemo fame. Nevermind that we sat with her in the theater when she was all of three months old and the folks who made the movie probably had thought about Dory long before Amiya was even a twinkle in her Daddy's eye. Witness the following exchange at dinner tonight:

Amiya: Why do Kate's Mommy and Daddy not love her anymore?

Mommy: What Amiya?

Amiya: Why do Kate's Mommy and Daddy not love her anymore?

Mommy: Kate who, sweetie?

Amiya: Kate, Mommy.

(Daddy twirls his spaghetti hoping to remain out of this bewildering conversation.)

Mommy frantically searches brain for any Kate we might know. Comes up with Baby Katie and Kate, Arthur's little sister, from the TV show Arthur. Baby Katie is well-loved and Kate rarely has more than an extra role in the show, so they can't be the Kate in question.

Amiya: Kate, Mommy!

Mommy (by some stroke of luck): Oh, Kate from the book with the new baby brother?

Amiya: Yes Mommy, Kate! (Said with as much duh!!! as a two-year old can muster.)

Mommy: Kate's parents love Kate and her baby brother, Amiya. They love both of them because Kate is such a sweet daughter.

Amiya: They love boff of them?

Mommy: Yes, Sweetie. Kate's Mommy and Daddy love both of them, just like Daddy and I will love you and your little brother or sister.

Amiya: You will?

Mommy: Yes honey. Don't worry, Kate's parents love her very much.

Amiya: Who's Kate?

See what I mean? This happens with startling regularity around here - this girl starts a conversation with 14 questions and then when we've finally gotten somewhere conveniently forgets she was ever involved.

Rudolph the 'cary Reindeer

You must think that we subject Amiya to random viewings of Die Hard or Platoon. The truth is that she's never seen anything more action-packed than Chicken Little and that was the glaring exception to our movie "policy." If it couldn't play on PBS, this little one doesn't see it.

We've tried a few others, but they just don't seem to fly. Nemo is passable, but we have to sit with her. Chicken Little didn't work at all (happily, she was free!). And you can see, Rudolph is way too 'cary for her (and she deems to 'cary for Daddy as well). It's about as much fun to watch her watch the movie as it is to see the movie itself.

Big Sister Material

Today has been a day of craziness at our house. We had a little visitor, Tyler, from 9-12 and another little visitor, Carter, from 11:30 - 2:50. Tyler is just a month younger than Amiya and Carter is just two months short of being one. Both of their Mommies needed to take care of some stuff, so we spent the day playing with them. Tyler was a cherub, an absolute cherub. We made cookies, we played at the playground, we colored snowmen. Carter was a cherub, too, but in the way of ten-month olds it was a lot of chasing and building block towers to be knocked down.
A good time was had by all and now good naps are needed.

See Amiya:

This actually is Amiya - you can see a bit of her hair in the upper left section of the striped blanket. She finally fell asleep just a few moments ago and apparently she did so in the midst of playing yet another round of Baby Bird.

Anyway, the point of today's blog is that she is as ready as she is going to get for her debut as a big sister. She was fantastic today with Carter. She shared when she didn't want to share. She was gentle. She was concerned. She let Carter play with the same block forever (or at least forever in toddler time) even though she really wanted it. She understood when Mommy couldn't play the o-rolling game with her. She really was just fantastic!

About the stockings....

Why did I ask you might wonder.

Vinay and I attended a holiday party this past week (mentioned below) and we were told to bring a funny or whacky (read naughty) gift for a gift exchange - sort of a white elephant thing. I'm feeling creatively-impaired lately and left our gift until the last minute. And so, to Target I went.

Four million people in Super Target does nothing for the imagination.

That might be stating the obvious, but I wanted in and out of there not thirty seconds after I entered. So, the whackiest thing I could come up with was a stocking filled with coal with a tag that said "For someone very, very naughty." Someone (ahem) didn't think it was funny and didn't think anyone else would think it was either. I wasn't expecting people to clutch their sides from cramps, but I didn't think it was a complete waste. Anyway, I'm glad to know a few people get that a stocking full of coal is culturally relevant.

And just to clarify - there was also a pretty cool CD in the stocking, so it wasn't a total waste of a gift!

The Parents

Someone keeps asking us why we never post our pictures. Mainly because this blog is about Amiya and Ob. But also because we're usually chasing after Amiya and rarely take a moment to be together, much less on that side of the camera. This is a self-portrait, so you'll excuse the fact that it is not photographic magic.

Nonetheless, here we are. We've turned a corner in our lives - Mommy and Daddy are trying to go out more without our out-of-utero child. Saturday night saw us on our way to a holiday party at a friend's house. Amiya did not understand why she couldn't come to the party much less why someone would even have a party that is not for children. She didn't understand why Mommy went to an "only Mommies" party tonight and she'll surely be baffled again this Saturday when we go out yet again.

You can say it because I know you're thinking it: "Live it up, Guptas. The end of all this frivolity is just 12 weeks away. Then you'll be stuck at home, not sleeping nights and smelling of baby burps." And so we are, in our simple Gupta way.

My Darling Daughter

Dear Amiya,

Someday, when you read this, I know you'll be old enough to understand. It may be that you are a seven year old big sister who wants your four-year old little bro or sis to clam up for four minutes so you can read the Goosebumps novel you're engrossed in. Or maybe you're a fourteen year-old who is babysitting the neighbor's toddler and you'd like to get a word in edgewise about changing her diaper. Or maybe you are a new Mommy (better not be before you are 25 and in a long-term relationship, young lady!) who only wants a moment of quiet to try and clear the fog from her brain. It doesn't matter, really, it only matters that you know that I'm writing this to you in love.

WON'T YOU EVER STOP TALKING?

I know, I know, you look at these cherubic photos and you can't imagine why I might be exasperated. But I am, sweet little child of mine. I am. We went to get these photos taken the other day - a twenty minute drive both ways, plus an extra long wait at the picture store. You did not stop talking even long enough to take a breath. Truly. The happy news is that you are starting to entertain yourself more, especially when you're in your car seat. You sing beautiful songs about your imaginary daughter, Rena. If you only love any children in your future as much as you love Rena they will be lucky ones indeed.

You also spend a fair amount of time singing to the baby in my "you-ta-rus." You sing about how much you love babies, how much you love this baby and you throw in, for good measure and clarification, that you love Rena, too. Daddy and I are confident that you're going to be a good big "sisser," although we're a little concerned about you forcing your little brother to play Cinderella and the like. That's all fine and good, as long as you play trucks with him, too. But maybe it's a little sister and all our worries are for naught.

Finally, my little girl, you've gotten into the swing of the holidays. You're planning on which cookies to leave out for Santa and you've started to worry how he'll get into our chimney-less home. We read The Night Before Christmas daily, as well as Elmo's version and a few other holiday books. You've already spilled the beans on what Daddy bought Mommy and what Mommy bought Daddy. And, it hasn't occurred to you to open up all those packages under the Christmas tree. You know that they're presents but you haven't gotten into them. Uncle Andy would be disappointed, but Mommy and Daddy are proud of you and we're hoping you won't start peeking until at least next Christmas! Maybe the cutest thing about you this Christmas is your insistence that we go to the store and buy some "'now." You tell me over and over that we really have to buy some and you don't believe me when I tell you that it can't be bought. It's cute and you're cute, Peanut.

Love you,
Mommy