India!

We went to India for two weeks at the end of December to visit family and to prepare for Ananya's Bua's upcoming wedding. Needless to say, given all the scary stories we've heard, we were really nervous about how Ananya would manage in India and I was freaked out about the 22-hour flight. The good news is that all our stress was for nothing - the flight was totally peaceful, Ananya made lots of friends, and we even managed to get a few hours of sleep! Once we were in India, Ananya had the BEST time. India is amazing for kids - the sheer number and variety of animals on the street (cows, elephant, monkeys, dogs), the love that family members shower on you, and the yummy yummy food makes for an excellent time.

India was pretty amazing for Ananya. With all of the new sensations and experiences, her vocabulary immediately increased tenfold, she learned new words, sayings, and songs almost every day, and she really enjoyed going to new places and meeting new people. She became a lot more confident and assertive, and really delighted in being the center of so much attention.

We first went to Delhi/Gurgaon, where Ananya got to meet Tinu Chacha, Anchal Chachi, Dada, Aparna Dadi, and her great-grandmother. She LOVED her daily rituals of going outside to watch the dogs, saying hi to the bird that lived inside the house, praying multiple times an hour, eating yummy food, and getting lots of love and attention.



We then went to Bangalore, where we stayed with Aditi's Avva and Ananya met her Satish Thatha, Lakshmi Avva, and Minu Mausi. Ananya had a fun time meeting all her other relatives at the party that MuthAvva threw for her and loved that Baby Avva came all the way from Hyderabad to spend some time with her. Ananya loved roaming around the house, riding in auto rickshaws, taking baths, and ordering everyone to take her "out"!



Some new words she picked up: bhaiya, aaja, jai-jai, om, auto (pronounced "autoooooo")

All in all, even though the jetlag and flight were pretty exhausting, Ananya had a great time in India and we hope she gets to visit again soon!

Here are some more photos from our trip: