A big cousin- yet again!!!

Fam and Friends!

It's been 2 months since I scribbled, but I sure have lots to say! Did you know I am yet again a big cousin/sister!?!?!?! This time, it's none other than my sweet Swarna Chitti who got me a baby sister the 'royal' way - yeah she shares her birthday with the Royal baby George!! How exciting is that, right?! Gotta tell Amma Appa to plan a trip to London soon!

What have I been upto lately, you might ask. Oh well, lots of exciting stuff. Between May and now, we went camping, visited Mexico, and I've been a whole lot chattier now that my Baamu Paati is here!!

Here's a video for my kutti thangai Harini (little sister) to sleep better. It's Kanne Kalaimane from Moondram Pirai (Sadma - Surmai Akhiyon mein)

You know I'm quite the globe trotter, but this time we reach a whole different spot...check it out!!

Bama Paati Aa gayi!!!!

Hi everyone!!

My Bama Paati is finally here! After singing the following song that I came up with and sang for the past month, I can finally heave a sigh of relief that my Bama Paati is here finally!!

Sing along in the tune of the famous hindi song that contains the following verse: 'Chowpaati Jayenge ne Bhel Poori Khayenge'

Bama Paati aayegi, bhel poori khilayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, paani poori khilayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, cookie bhi khilayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, ice-cream bhi dilayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, jhoola bhi le jayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, choco-dudhu pilayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, chakli khilayegi
Bama Paati aayegi, car bhi chalayegi (amma says: yeah, right!!)

Here is a photo of Saroj Daadi (my Nihu's didi's daadi therefore my daadi too) and me riding a 'banana bike' at a recent camping trip that I highly recommend to everyone living in or visiting northern California. Enjoy!!

Me and my Thaathas

My Grandpas are the best, and I am sure yours are too. While one pampers me with jewelry of all kind, the other does that and more! 

This is from a couple of months ago, when it was time for Skype chat with my Prakash Thaatha. He promised that if I sang certain rhymes I used to sing at that age(!) he would treat me with chocolates. Now a girl's gotta have chocolates, ya know? I sang my heart out, enjoyed every bit of it and lo and behold, after exactly a day and a half arrived a box of chocolates, JUST for ME!!!!!

Ok, my Thaatha's crazy too, perhaps just like all of yours' =)

Tamil new year wishes

Hi fam and friends,

Here are a few pictures from the 2013 Tamizh Putthandu we celebrated today...view, enjoy and be sure to comment!

Vishu Kani

checking out the Kani

 backyard fun

chillin with Atthai

The full set is right here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/100568846356568269073/albums/5866953630422679985?authkey=CKHj3o6-pr3fNA

Enjoy the rest of the year!

Merry musings...

Note from Amma: Since I did not want to delay long this time, we are back with a post earlier than you'd have expected! 

January was a month full of little surprises, as Amma and Appa had lovely plans for almost every weekend. We celebrated Pongal, my cousin Krish visited us, went to the Discovery Museum in San Jose, and we had soooooooooooo much fun, and we also visited the fire-station at Tarun's birthday - I know the fire-drill the fire-fighter uncle taught us so well. I love repeating - When your house is on fire, Get Down-Get Low-Get Out!! 

Pongal-O-Pongal!

So fun piggy-backing on my cousin!

What's he up to now??!!!!

Totally intrigued...

Amma helping me row a boat

Row row row a boat!

I totally loved hanging by the ambulance. This bed seems sturdy!

So cool, I love squeezing and oozing of colors!

Having fun rolling around packaging-tape tunnel

 Trip to the fire-station at Tarun's birthday - soooo fun!!

Tarun's worried look says it all - I grabbed a big bite to lick!

Belated wishes for a Happy New Year 2013!!

Shal Amma says: I know I had been slacking over the second half of last year and posted nothing on the blog, sorry folks! We will try and be regular from now. Here is the latest attempt on what started as a project end of last year during Christmas and has taken more than a month to post, but at least we are back! 

The threesome at Premshala have posted highlights of the year 2012 with a hope and promise to make 2013 more beautiful, memorable and fun! 

Happy New Year family and friends! We love you!

Say it my way!

My lovely family and friends, hope you are doing great! Amma finally got around posting this after sleeping over it for almost two months!! I started saying my first words when I was 9 months old (I said only Amma at that time though!!) but now I talk a lot more.... 

Sana got a boo-boo!!

Amma will post my babbling video soon (and this time soon will come soon!) so stay tuned! Here's how I say it!
People:
Amma	Amma
Appa	Appa
Paati	Paaa-thi
Thatha	Thaath-tha
Mama	Mumma
Mami	Maa-Ni
Baby	Beby
Ashish	Achish
Ani	Ani
Yash	Ash
Arun	Ayun
Ashwini	Achi
Tarun	Ta-tun
Tvisha	Tee-sha
Chitthi	Chitti
Chittappa	Chittha
Sana	Nanna
Maasi	Maashi
Naani	Naani
Aunty	Anti
Prem	Pem
Bama	BA-MA (loud and clear!)
Ummachi (baby talk for God)	Ammaashi
Doctor	Doctow
Suresh	Suesh
Vahini	Nanini
Shweta	Cheta
Swamini	Tam-ni-ni
Swarna	Sorna
Jamie	Jamie
Christian	Krishna!
Shalini	Taani
Prakash	Pakaach
Animals:
Monkey	Mahnki
Dog	Daw
Elephant	Ele
Ostrich	Ostich
Billi	Billi
Owl	Owl
Sleepy sheep(my favorite book)	Peep-peesh
Body parts:
Nose	Mosh
Eyes	Eyesh
Mouth	Mow
Hand	And
Toes	Tosh
Cheeks	Cheeksh
Hair	Air
Teeth	Tith
Food:
Juice	Joussss
Apple	App-pul
Cracker	Caa-ker
Doll	Daw
Dosai	Dosse
Spoon	Poo
Bread	Bed
Yogurt	Yoggurt
Cheese	Cheesh
Food	Mum-mum
Plate	Pate
Milk	Dhu-dhu/Paal
Songs/Rhymes:
Gajanana Shri Ganraya	Ga-ga-ga
Up above the world so hi	Up-aba-the-ho-ho-high
Happy birthday to you	Appy ba-aeh too-oo
Ashes ashes we all fall down	Ashes Ashes aw-aw dowwwn
Bolo Mere Sang	Hands up in the air & Jai Hind!!!
Krishna Nee Begane....	(Will complete the song with) Baa-bo
Everyday items and misc:
Book	Boo
Brush	Brush
Paste	Paste
Watch	Autch
Glasses	Glashesh
Ink	Gink
Clip	Pic!
Please	Peesh
Thank-you	Than-thoo
Bye-bye	Ba-bye
Car	Caah
Close	Cosh
Shoes	Shuss
Socks	Thawks

Thoughtful moments!!

Post from Amma:

Here's what my darling daughter made for Mother's Day (with Uncle Khawoosh and Aunty Parvin's help!) at her daycare. On Mother's day, I was showered with kisses all over my face, thanks to darling Appa and his spell on Sana! Could not have asked for more thoughtful gifts!!

Post from Sahana:

Dear friends and family,


I turned 1.5 years old last week and entered the 'little girl' stage of life!! Amma is going to start a new page on something new...stay tuned!


Here are a couple of videos of my birthday celebrations with Paati, Appa and Amma.




AND

My people!!! I am very excited to tell you all stories from our recent trip! Amma, Appa and I went to Costa Rica and I had many a new encounter and little experience that I'd love to share with you all. 

Little birdie:
Every morning, we would go down to the hotel's open garden restaurant for breakfast and I would enjoy looking at fish, touching butterflies, smelling flowers and playing with birds. One day, just as Amma and I were entering the restaurant area, a little birdie that Amma called a 'humming bird' flew straight to a glass window and came crashing to the ground. I was right there walking in when this happened. I could not get my mind away from the little birdie that lay there gasping for breath. While we all thought it will not wake up, someone came and lifted it a bit and it flew right away!! Yayy, I was glad the birdie was not hurt and would come back and play with me again!


Smoothies:
I was excited to be traveling around Costa Rica and did not really care to eat food. But the one thing I decided to indulge in were the tropical smoothies. Like my Mala Paati, I love juices and loved sipping the yummy fluids! Fruit punch (a blend of fresh tropical fruit juices) was my top choice, followed by watermelon and mango smoothies.


Hola!:
Amma had taught me to say 'Hi' to anyone that appeared in front of me, so I would say 'Hi' to everyone and they would say it right back to me. Interestingly some of them would reply and say 'Ola', so I learned that I had to customize the greeting and say Ola to some people. Appa says he will learn Spanish from me some day, yay! 


Monkeys:
I took keen interest in spider monkeys, but more interesting was the fact that they would only play with me and move wherever I went. There were many other people in the jungle tour that tried to take pictures of the monkeys, but they would constantly follow me. I think Appa is right in calling me a 'little monkey' after all ;-)


Soak time:
Would you believe if I said I soaked in hot springs for almost seven hours? Yes, we got in and out of the 14 different hot springs, but all in all I was in the water for over six hours and loved it!


Big brother/Anna:
We met with another Indian family at the resort. Their son, Govind soon became my 'Anna'. Anna was really sweet and played with me one evening and let Amma and Appa peacefully chat up with Nandita Aunty and Harish Uncle. We met again for a nice dinner, and my new Anna let me play games on his iphone!


Girlfriend:
Amma, Appa and I went to this pizza/sub takeout place located close to our resort. There was a girl named Alexis that was about 2 years older than me. I'll call her Lexi. The aunty that made the subs for us took a long time to make it, so in the interim Lexi and I played while Amma chatted up with Lexi's mom. Apparently, Lexi's mom left the United States and came to Costa Rica when Lexi was in her tummy. Amma and Aunty talked for a long time and Amma even bought jewelery that Lexi's mom had made herself.  She used to be a jewelery designer in New York, but left all that to live a life for Lexi and herself and decided Costa Rica was the place. Everyone in the area helps her out with doctors' fees and small loans for the little shop. Amma calls Lexi's mom brave and inspiring.


Flight journey and nice lady:
Who ever likes flight travel!?! I sure did not like it, but did not mind it as much as Appa and Amma. As Amma was trying hard to get me to nap, and I had decided to play rather than nap, this nice lady sitting in front of us turned around and asked Amma if she could talk to me. Pat came a big nod from Amma. She had magic in her voice and touch, for I slept within seconds!! Then Amma, Appa and the lady chatted until we actually landed! Her oldest kids (2 of them) were biological while the youngest was adopted from China. She and her husband are both practising lawyers that travel around the world on long-term assignments. She had a lot of interesting stories that kept both Appa and Amma entertained and less troubled from the long flight journey!


Note from Amma:
We meet so many interesting people, characters and beings and forget them along the way in our busy lives. This was a little attempt to remember those people and moments that helped make this trip so special.

Belated wishes...

for a Happy Valentine's Day and even late Indian Republic Day!!!

Here's what Amma-Appa got for me this Valentine's but we were late in opening the gift so I enjoyed it the day after. At first I didn't quite 'get' it, but later my daddy dearest showed me what to do, and ho ho ho, there was no stopping me after that! I fell in love with the crawl tunnel, and refused to go to bed without playing in it for one-last-time for the day!!! Amma recorded it and posted a video. Here it is:

Here are a couple of pictures from Republic Day - January 26. Thatha got me this Neta (politician) outfit from Rajasthan! On the picture to your right, I was folding my hands to say 'Namaste' but Amma clicked the camera too soon! In any case, 'Jai Hind'!!!