16 months old

Ananya is no longer a baby, she's a big girl! She walks/runs EVERYWHERE, is so curious about everything, and has nonstop energy. This is such a fun age! She can point to different parts of her body (hair, head, eye, ear, nose, tongue, teeth, tummy, knee, and foot), although she does sometimes get eye/ear and tummy/knee confused. She is starting to finally love stuffed animals, and loves giving them hugs and sharing her bottle of milk with them. As much as I love putting hair clips and bows in her hair, she loves taking them off :) She's getting a little vain - anytime I put a hair clip or a new outfit on her, she immediately runs to the mirror to check herself out! (I say it's because she's her father's daughter, but Pooneet thinks she gets it from me!) She laughs a lot now, oftentimes cracking herself up. She definitely has a sense of humor - she'll pretend to offer you a snack and as she's putting the snack in your mouth, she'll quickly bring it back to her mouth instead! She just started walking backwards, and claps for herself when she does so. And she's crazy about books - she picks out a book, will climb into your lap, and then have you read it to her. And then she'll repeat this 20 times. Fun, funny girl!

Diwali videos

Here are two videos we took on Diwali...the first is a classic Ananya/Dadu video. Everytime she sees her Dadu, she gets into her "Superwoman" position and he flies her all around the room. She loves it and always begs for more! The second video shows how crazy our kiddo becomes when it's past her bedtime and she's hamming it up for her grandparents :)

Happy Diwali!

Pooneet, Ananya, and I just celebrated a wonderful Diwali weekend! We went wine-tasting during the day with our "Tahiti" friends, and Ananya and Gabe had so much fun playing with each other! At night, Pooneet's parents and my mom (dad's trekking in Patagonia) came over to celebrate. We decorated our house with flowers and candles in each room, put the lights up on the deck, did a pooja with our little mandir, lit sparklers (which made Ananya go "ooooh"), and ate lots of sweets. I even made burfi for the first time! It was so nice to celebrate this holiday with our parents and with Ananya, and we wish all of our loved ones a year of good health, happiness, and love. Ananya had a very happy Diwali, especially because she got to play with her grandparents all day and night!










Here is a slide show of some more pictures:

Videos from NYC

Here are some video clips from our trip to New York...

Ananya talking on our carriage ride


Gadget toys are the best!


Squealing with delight in FAO Schwartz


Swinging in the park


If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!


Sliding in Central Park


Stepping out some tunes on the BIG piano


Mommy and baby feeding Marcello the horse

New York, New York

After my cousin's wedding, Pooneet, Ananya, and I spent a fantastic 3 days in Manhattan. We stayed at an amazing hotel right across the street from Central Park and were there the one week where it was perfect summer weather! Pooneet and I were a little skeptical about how much we'd see or do with a baby in such a big city, but it turned out to be the best trip to NYC we've ever had. We devoted our daytime to making sure Ananya had fun and then each night, we got a babysitter to watch Ananya while we met up with friends and belatedly celebrated our 4 year anniversary. Fun times all around :)

Each day, we went to Central Park and played on their numerous playgrounds. We went for carousel rides (a first for Ananya and she was probably the only kid on it not crying!), visited the zoo and saw polar bears, snow leopards, and penguins, fed animals in the petting zoo, took Ananya on a horse-drawn carriage ride of the park and fed our horse, Marcello. We walked around a lot, and saw all kinds of fun things, like FAO Schwartz, Rockefeller Center, Magnolia Bakery, and what was to me, the most amazing and overwhelming Whole Foods I've ever seen (45 cashiers!!). We took Ananya to lunch with Pooneet's cousin, Shveta, to Tavern on the Green (so magical!) and even had a semi-celebrity sighting at Bouchon Bakery (clearly eating was a major part of our trip!).

Pooneet and I had a great time meeting up with our friends, and then he took me to a most amazing anniversary dinner at Jean-Georges for a lavish multiple course meal! So as you can see, we had a super fantastic trip to New York and can't wait to visit again!















Here are some more pictures from our trip:

Mohan Family Wedding

After a wonderful vacation in Hawaii, we came back home to San Francisco and a week later, headed to New Jersey for my cousin Aparna's wedding. Ananya, again, was fantastic on the flights, and made lots of new friends on the plane! The wedding was a fun family reunion - with Ananya's Baby Avva and Venkappa Thatha flying in from India - and Ananya had fun playing with Anjali and Ajay, and seeing her cousin Sonia whom she last saw a year ago in Maui.

We enjoyed being at my Kittu Mama and Shoba Aunty's house for the pooja and then the next day, we celebrated the wedding and reception at a beautiful venue overlooking the Hudson Bay and the NYC skyline. We then got to visit Sarayu and Eshon's house, where Ananya also got to meet Jagannath Thatha and Lily Avva.

This was the last Mohan wedding for this generation....strange to think that Ananya (or her cousin Sonia) will be next!














Here is a slideshow of more pictures from the pooja & wedding: