About the saris...

Vinay likes these indoor pictures better, so I'll post them, too. Notice the bangles?

Here's the rest of the story. Amiya first started wearing these saris last Wednesday. She walked around all afternoon with it on and then decided that she would speak to Vinay in Hindi when he came in the door. So, she practiced her namaste all afternoon.

But no.

That wasn't nearly enough.

Then she wanted to know how to say, "My name is ....." But Amiya wasn't a good enough name. We ran through the names of all the Indian girls we know, including her Indian Barbie doll. She only liked Nisha, but she decided that she couldn't use that because that is her Didi's name. So, we ended up back with Amiya. From there I heard (apologies for the spelling) "Mira nam Amiya hain." all afternoon. Her pronunciation was absolutely adorable and probably much more authentic than her Polish/Irish/American mother's pronunciation.

So now we're at "Namaste" and "Mira nam Amiya hain."

You know that isn't the end of the story.

That still wasn't enough.

Now she wants to know how little girls greet their Daddies when they come home. So, I told her the only thing that I know about greeting an elder in India. I said you kneel down in front of Daddy and touch the tops of his shoes and then touch your forehead. (That's probahly not exactly right, but the specifics can come later!)

And so that's what she did. Vinay came home to an absolutely adorable little sight. Amiya namaste-ing and kneeling herself even more deeply into Daddy's heart. She looks absolutely beautiful in these saris and to see her so interested and excited about half of her heritage is wonderful.

She tells us now that her next birthday party is going to be an Indian party so that all her friends can learn about India, too!