Relaxing weekend

We just spent a lovely weekend in Cupertino - where Ananya had so much fun going to the park, going for lots of walks, and meeting her favorite Zayan and seeing Baby Kenza for the first time! Ananya's parents had an equally good time, making use of babysitting and seeing movies, shopping, and meeting up with friends :)


Lots of love between Ananya and the Verma kids!









When we headed back to SF, we decided that - since at her most recent doctor's appointment, we learned that Ananya has hit the 90th percentile for height - it was high time we turned her carseat around. It was a big move for us - Ananya turned around facing forward and I got to sit in the front seat next to Pooneet. I haven't done that since the day she was born! Ananya loved being able to see out of the front and both windows. New year, new carseat position. Good start to 2010!

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:

Holiday Fun

Before heading out to India, Ananya had fun meeting new friends, attending holiday parties, celebrating Tenzin's 1 year anniversary of being a part of our family, and exploring San Francisco in the winter. She even discovered a children's play area in Pac Bell Park and learned to play baseball! We may have the first female baseball player on our hands ;)


A big part of Ananya's daily fun is trying on shoes that don't belong to her:


Ananya and her Ancha:


Some more photos of the fun we had in December:

3 Turkey Days

We celebrated Thanksgiving 3 times this year and we wanted to share some pictures from all the fun (and eating!) that went on.

(Sorry this is a late post - I had laser eye surgery around this time and couldn't be on the computer for awhile!)


We celebrated Early Thanksgiving at Ananya's Thatha & Avva's house this year. Ananya had fun playing with her cousins and wearing her Halloween costume. On the actual Thanksgiving day, we went to Steph & Dan's house for an afternoon of football and food and then visited Ananya's Dadi's friend's house (Noreen Dadi) for a Thanksgiving dinner feast!







Here are some more pictures from our Thanksgivings:

Season's Greetings

Happy Holidays! Pooneet, Ananya, and I are heading to India today and before we left, we wanted to wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday season.

Wish us luck on the flight :)

Fun Friday

Pooneet and I took Ananya to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park this past Friday. The weather was perfect, and Ananya loved looking at the colorful fish, seeing beautiful birdies and butterflies in the rain forest, touching a starfish, and walking around the park, chasing dogs and pointing out the airplanes flying far away in the distance.




Here are more pictures from the day:

Fun with friends

Ananya is having a pretty major social life these days! She has a friend's birthday party every weekend this month and is greeting new friends as they make their grand debut into the world.


Ananya met her newest friend (and future Stanford classmate?), Aman.




Ananya helped celebrate Asha's 1st birthday at Peekadoodle, where she had a blast playing in the many play areas, painting a photo frame, and devouring the delicious cake!




Ananya wished her cousin, Vunshi, a very happy 1st birthday this past weekend!