2.75 yrs: Trains, mittens, and flashlights

The big thing this month was that we all took a train ride throug the mountains to Winter Park - we even made the front page of the Denver Post (see the middle photo below)! We went through 28 tunnels, including the Moffat tunnel at the end. I got to try on my friend Emily's helmet (even if it was pink), play in an old train playground, warm up at the fire (even if it was already pretty warm), and go on a short gondola ride a few times. Appa and I went tubing too, which was a bunch of fun (and included time on a magic carpet ride).

I believe I perfected sliding down the big curly slide at the park - I cruise down this thing forward, head first (like superman), or can flip mid-slide. I am practicing for self-arrest flips on snow someday.

Encouraging words are good. So I like to use them, such as: Faster Amma! (when we are driving) Good job Amma! (for example when she dries off with a towel) Thank you Amma. (this one comes in handy most days, and can be used for anything from getting me water or food to handing me Moosie before our walk to the McGregor's.) I am also getting better at my numbers and working on my letters.

In case you are ever in need of them, socks work mighty well as mittens. Now Thambi's socks are a pretty good size for this, but my socks work fine as well. The only trick is getting the second one on, and sometimes Amma helps with this one (and the phrase above "Thank you Amma" comes in handy yet again). I guess this trick is another good one to store for the mountains (in case you loose your actual mittens).

We went on a hike up Mount Sanitas on a beautiful spring day, and my friend Mila (and her dad) came with us too. I made it about two-thirds of the way up hiking on my own, then Appa graciously carried me in the backpack to the summit. Amma learned that it is a good idea to bring apples in addition to bars on a hike.

Thambi continues to be fun, though not quite yet as resilient and I would wish for. Someday I bet he will be pretty tough, but for now if he falls over he cries, so Amma holds him or tries to show me how to hug him and be gentle at the same time.

I hung out with Grandpa, Grandma, and uncle Chris one day. I got to help out Grandpa with a little project at home, and he brought me a flashlight (that was amma's back when she went to camp in middle school). This is pretty awesome, but somehow I see it strangely dissapearing in the near future.

Thank you God for Thambi, for big slides, for friends, for Appa and Amma, and, of course, for trains.

Have you ever...shot the sun?

Have you ever tried putting a carrot on your nose? You should. That's how the snowmen do it.

Have you ever tried jumping off a rock? You should. That's how you have fun on hikes (like when we went all the way to Royal Arch). Though I must admit that it is best to be holding onto your appa's hand (or that of another trusted friend) so you don't fall flat on your face or loose your balance.

Have you ever been so high up in the air that you just couldn't believe it? You should try it. The roads and cars and trucks and houses and rivers are really tiny. It is almost like you are on a rocket! I got to sit next to the window on an airplane when Appa and I went to Atlanta to visit some friends for a weekend. I also was the guest of honor there and had fun.

Have you ever listened to the music in your head or the singing of Kristin or Amma and couldn't help but dance? You should try letting loose. It took me a while to warm up to African singing and dancing with Nii Armah, but Amma and I had a lot of fun with the moms and babes (Tuu wah, tuu wah, mambana tuu wah tuu wah. Awah awah awah a tu, awah a tu).

Have you ever shot the sun? Grandpa has (and Amma too). Grandpa showed me his sextants including the one he used to sail to Hawaii! Maybe some day we will get to shoot the sun.

Have you ever felt so comfortable in the snow you decided to make it your home? With my McGregor's friends we built a cool snow fort that even had a tunnel entrance. As a bonus, you could jump off the wall. We also had fun sledding - I even carried my sled up the big hill at the high school!

Have you ever taken a toy away from a baby? Okay maybe this is one you shouldn't try. I am being helped to figure out that you should try to avoid this, but if you do take one you should give another one in return. And happily most of the time I bring new toys to Thambi Mano. He is also fun to spin in his little Exersaucer, to sit with in his crib listening to music, and to hug.

Have you ever climbed up a log? You can pretend that it is a horse and it becomes even more fun.

Have you ever seen a baby gorilla tease its parents or uncle? I got to see one do this at the mountainside zoo (in Colorado Springs) and it is quite fun. There were also elephants (yanni yanni yanni!) eating. Oh and a whole lot of giraffes, plus tigers and lions who were roaring. And ... a huge Moose! My moosie still comes with me daily for my nap and I sleep at night with him (along with a new addition - my little Buzz Lightyear spaceman).

Have you ever climbed up a rock? It is pretty fun to do, but you should be careful because it can be slippery sometimes. We visited pretty rocks (Garden of the Gods) and I got to hike around and climb some rocks.

Have you ever encouraged your Appa to "Sit here!" or your Amma to "Sing!"? I guess making your wishes known is generally a good thing. Most of the time the requests are honored, though not always (which I suppose is a good thing for me in the long run, but at the time can be quite frustrating if I really want that piece of cake, for example).

Have you ever had a playdate with your friend? I recommend them highly. I had fun hanging out with King Bailey (see the picture below). And in case you didn't know, I am the Muffin Man.

Thank you God for red rocks, for the spirit of trying new things, for singing and dancing, and for Thambi, Appa, and Amma.

P.S. Don't try to eat a candle. They don't taste very good.

January: Rockets, blanket forts, and snow

The first half of the month I was still in India. Appa and I had all sorts of fun visiting family and friends in Chennai, Madurai, and Bangalore. We did a reverse triangle trip from the way we went on my first trip to India (back in October 2013). In Ayyamma's house there is even a swing inside! Plus it is big so I got to swing on it with my cousin Shukthika as I mentioned last time (check out the video). There were plenty of three of my favorite things on this trip: airplanes, trains, and fruit.

 

When we returned, Amma was really happy to see us. At the airport, I was so happy to see Thambi that after we went through customs and I saw Amma carrying Thambi I yelled "Thambi!", ran toward them with open arms, and crashed into them to give them a big hug (Amma still smiles remembering it).

As a family, we all got dressed up to go into the snow, drove into the mountains (to Brainard Lake), and went hiking in the snow. Actually I was going to try my new skis! I watched a video with some people skiing in it and was excited. I put them on in the parking lot, but it was super icy there, so Appa and Amma held my hands (/pulled me) as we went to the snow, but the conditions weren't quite right for me to try it out (instead I had Appa carry me on his back). We will try it out another time.

When I was gone, Amma says I grew some: physically (I'm kind of in between sizes right now) and in my language (I am very good at repeating new things). One of my favorite recent phrases is "dump it!" Like dump the blueberries and raspberries on my plate! Or dump the goldfish in the bowl. I can tell some good stories with this phrase too - like when the trash truck comes and stops and picks up the trash bin and lifts it up and then... (ready?)... it dumps it! Friday mornings are fun. Another few words I like recently are steam and engine, as in the steam that comes out of a engine on a train! Oh and I like to think that there are a bunch of rockets (sounds like rocket-ball) in the sky (though they might just be airplanes).

I like to read before bed under a blanket fort (using the big green blanket). Amma says it gets hot, but it is fun. I like to try and ride Mopy (my big stuffed dog). And I love to wear my safety glasses. When I have them on upside down, I say "Oh noooo, Flip it!"

I like to eat big scoops of peanut butter. And get it from the jar myself. I like to put raspberries on my fingers and then eat them.

I like to wear my hat backward. I like to sleep with Moosie, and he accompanies me daily to the McGregor's. There I continue to have a bunch of fun playing, singing, running, throwing, drawing, experimenting, hiking, listening, scooping, laughing, constructing, dancing, observing, climbing, and imagining. Stick together, big guys help little guys, be kind.

Thank you God for raspberries, trash trucks, and playtime.

December: Hugs, a gingerbread house, and India! (2.5 yrs)

I am a hugger. Amma loves this. I like to hug Appa and Amma and Thambi. And my friends at the McGregor's. Oh and Moosie! Moosie is a new addition to my days and nights (my first 'lovie' that I am attaching to - though Moosie took an extended trip in LA on the way to India, so it is fortunate that Amma found a replacement Moosie at Grandma's house). Anyway, hugs are nice to show love and excitement, share warmth, show that you're sorry and ask for forgiveness. All around great things.

I am also a tiger. Or at least I like acting like one: growling, tilting my head, and walking slowly toward Amma, picking up my knees. This works especially well when I wear my new pajamas that have tiger stripes. Tigers are adventurous and love to play.

I am a runner. I enjoy running in circles around the room (this goes well with the Mulberry bush song as I mentioned last time), or running from tree to tree when walking home from the McGregor's.

Some of my fun new sayings this month were: Cool, Yeahhh!!!!, and "Quiet!"(this last one is funny for Amma because when she is saying something or singing a song that I don't like, I just tell her 'quiet').

December was the season of Advent, culminating in Christmas, though we actually celebrated a little early since Appa and I were in India on Christmas day. We had a beautiful Christmas tree that I liked a lot - it had many shiny balls and sailboats to spin (and break, oops!). We went to church and it was decorated with a million (or so) white lights and everyone was singing good songs.

Amma and I made a gingerbread house over a few days. I love making the dough, where you get to knead, poke, roll, punch, stretch, and roll it (just like making the dough in my book Pizza Party!). I liked eating the gingerbread men cookies we made alongside the house, and of course after we finished decorating the house there was leftover candy!

Me, Amma, and Thambi Mano

I watched a few Christmas-themed movies: Mickey Mouse Christmas and Curious George's Christmas. And when we gathered with grandpa and grandma and opened presents, I got some fun things. Of course the book with Thomas the Train stories (nine of them!) was a hit, the boats for the bath were great fun, and I now have a Lego bear! Also I got some cross-country skis - right away I was trying them in the living room and I look forward to trying them outside in January.

I have fun playing with Thambi (and I am pretty sure that when he is walking we will have even more fun together). Now I bring him a toy if he is crying, get him dizzy in his new exersaucer, and lie next to him when he is on his play mat.

Time at the McGregors continues to enrich me. We spend time discussing time itself, planets, and rotation. We do a lot of singing, eat good (and new) food, play in the snow (building forts and jumping on ice), make music with water glasses, play tennis (at least experiment with racquets), grow little plants (I also like to read the book "The Seed" at home a lot), and create stop motion with strobe lights. We even all wear red hats when it is cold.

I'm getting into the zone where I may not need my afternoon nap. Translation: bedtime is still pretty tough. Amma and Appa were letting things be though since I had a 12-hour time-zone transition ahead of me.

Me on the plane heading to India

Finally, my big adventure this month was that I traveled to India! This was my third trip. Since Thambi is still so little, he and Amma stayed home in Colorado and I went to India with Appa. We went from Chennai to Madurai to Bangalore and met with family and friends. I loved swinging on Ayyamma's swing in her home, especially with Shukthika my cousin. And of course I loved the trains everywhere! I get back to Colorado in early January.

Ayyamma and me in India

November: Songs, movies, and the potty

SONGS stick in my head. Just like Amma. My favorite this month was Ding dong the witch is dead (which old witch? the wicked witch! Ding dong the wicked witch is dead). But you could also catch me going around the house singing Do you know the muffin man? The Mulberry bush song was a fun one because you can dance around in a circle at the same time and then it has an exciting ending (Pop goes the weasel!) One of my stories this month was about the house coming down in the wind and the dog.

Amma made up a very pragmatic song - "Every morning and every night, Kavi brushes his teeeeth." I guess it helps because I protest the chore a little less when we are singing.

Amma and Appa were pretty good at avoiding TV and movies with me when I was little (even if the occasional Wheels-on-the-bus YouTube did sneak in). Their goal was to avoid movies for at least my first two years. So having met that milestone a while back, they thought it would be okay to introduce the occasional movie (especially during strategic times). Soooo, this means I got to see a few fun movies! My first movies were Planes (zooooom), then Turbo (a story about a snail that wanted to go zoom), then Cars Too, all of which were animated.

For the past few months I was introduced to my little potty, sat on it regularly, and even pee'd a few times. But in November I did something that caused Appa and Don and Barbara to do a little dance and clap - the thing, of course, was my first few poos in the little toilet. I still use diapers, but this marks the beginning of the end.

As my language continues to expand, I'm using longer sentences. Example: man sitting (in the) chair.

Thambi continues to get bigger and more fun to play with.

Unfortunately, I've had some trouble sleeping. Especially when Appa travels occasionally for work. But we will soldier on.

I wore a few nice outfits this month - the first was for when it snows! I've got an integrated snow suit that zips from my feet to my neck and keeps me nice and cozy warm. Amma and I made tracks through the snow (kinda like a train). Another one was a beautiful Indian outfit that I wore on Thanksgiving (check out the middle top picture below, thanks Tonje!). Thanksgiving itself was a nice gathering of family at Eryn and Steve's house (I also got to hang out a little with my cousin Jayce who is my age).

Finally, a lot of fun was had at the McGregor's: drawing and drums, fire and seeds, Thanksgiving stories, always music and singing, sledding and running, exploring ice and melting snow, and the Wizard of Oz (this is where that song came from initially). "Get your shoes on and let's go see the world" is Don's call to arms.

Thank you God for snow suits, for Thambi, for books, and for friends.

Sleep, games, and words

The big thing this month was sleep. As in getting me to sleep more regularly. As I mentioned last time, we got a lot more regular about my sleep routine. When I sleep the whole night in my bed I get a sticker. For the most part, it has gone well (don't ask Amma or Appa about last night though). We will continue to work on it so it goes more smoothly.

Games are wonderful. I have a lot of fun playing 'choose which hand it is in' - like when Amma has something to give me and she puts her hands behind her and then I get to choose one. I prefer the left hand, but occasionally will go for the right. Then I try playing this with Amma or Appa and they think it is cute. I also like to hide. For example, I like to hide in the hall closet and surprise Amma or Appa, or get wrapped up in the shower curtain and surprise Amma. With thambi, for now our games consist of me saying googoo gaagaa to him, but I am sure they will get more elaborate over time.

I still love telling stories, and they are getting more involved daily. Especially ones that involve cars, trucks, and crashes. Or of course ones that involve trains and cabooses (one of my newer words). Some of my favorite words and phrases this month were: PUMPKINS! (both the kind on the ground and when you make them into bread, which I call cake), come in!, faster, and "no please" (Amma thinks this variation on 'no thank you' is cute), sorry, and hug (these last two sometimes go together). I'm becoming more expressive with sentences, such as "get it" (say, referring to a book on the ground or an apple), or "Va (come), sit down bed" (which I say when Amma is trying to sneak away before I am asleep). Appa keeps teaching me more Tamil words (like counting, through enje-5-up to batey-10), pointing out the nayees (dogs), etc. I expect to learn a lot more Tamil when Appa and I visit India over Christmas break.

Time spent at the McGregor's is really great. I now walk there on my own (most days), instead of being carried by Amma. I have good friends there. I love our excursions and singing and adventure modules (like space!). Of course we play a bunch of fun games. And there always seem to be freshly picked apples.
 
As a family, we went hiking (in the snow and in the mountains without snow), visited two pumpkin patches (and carved pumpkins), and visited the TRAIN museum again (which I don't have to tell you was great). We rounded out the month with visits from friends, dinner parties, birthday parties (I love singing the happy birthday song no matter the day), and a fun trip to the mountains with friends from Appa's high school.

Thank you God for this month, for family, and for pumpkins.

Throwing balls, dancing like Travolta, and creating stories

So lately I have been getting into playing with all kinds of balls. I definitely love kicking soccer balls around the house or outside on the ball field. I can even dribble! But my favorite ball to play with right now is a tennis ball. First off, they fit well in my hand. We can play inside with them, either kicking, throwing, or using the racquet (which sometimes I call a bat). Or outside on the tennis courts or just on the grass. Sometimes Appa throws the ball waaaaay up high which I love. I am pretty good at throwing the ball, and Amma says I've improved a lot with the racquet - I connect sometimes with a 'serve'. Most of the time I throw the ball overhand, but I've got a good underhand too (see the pic below).

Singing and dancing makes me happy. Sometimes I'll request a song, and my requests have moved beyond just the Wheels on the bus to ones like Baa baa black sheep, Monkey chased the weasel, Twinkle twinkle little star, or the ABC's. (And by the way I am able to sing more parts of more songs now, which is fun.) And associated with singing is dancing! This is encouraged by Amma and people like Kristin who comes weekly to the McGregor's for music class, or friend Nii Armah who teaches me (and Amma and tambi) African singing and dancing (a dondo pweep a dondo pweep pweep, you no go put you no go chop, tu man ge ley). I can throw in a somersault in the middle of a circle, and I dance like (and I quote) "Travolta in Grease with some withering moves" (per Don).

I try to connect to people through stories. The good news is that it is slightly easier for Amma and Appa to figure out what I am saying this month (maybe up to 15 percent of the intent gets across?). A few of my recent new or favorite words and phrases are spicy, catch it, dark, cool, careful (especially cute when said to Amma carrying tambi down the Sanitas trail), camping, shovel. I love to say moon and to point out the full bright moon. I am working on my numbers and months. I will repeat anything you say to me. And I am especially good at finishing the parts to Goodnight Moon when you pause and wait for me (like saying moon, house, mouse, brush, mush, Hush!, socks, etc.). I will also point out that the fire is hot even if you don't talk about it. My Tamil also continues to expand, like working on numbers up to batey (sp?, aka ten).


Thambi, my little brother, is pretty cute. I get excited to see him, especially in the morning when he is playing on the floor in his 'play gym'. I try to fist bump him, but he doesn't yet get the exploding bit yet. I guess I will have to teach it to him when he gets older. For now, I hold onto his hand or foot or kiss his head or pat his belly. Amma and Appa have to say 'gentle' or 'careful' less frequently now. And I like our morning walks to the McGregors where Amma carries me on her back and tambi on her front.

The main issue I had over the past few months was sleep (in that I wasn't going to sleep at a reasonable time in the evening). But over the past few weeks Amma instituted a more specific routine and talked to me about it (I even have my own sleep plan book complete with pictures). As a result, my sleep has improved dramatically! (It still isn't perfect, but is moving in the right direction). Right before I fall asleep sometimes I say things which reveal my thoughts - for now they are on things like dosai, or tunnel, or tani (water). Amma loves hearing this.

I am interested in people (especially the young kind) more than playgrounds. I like to offer others food before eating it myself.

Recently I have gotten really good at moving on my scooter - inside though since I haven't learned to brake yet. I can push off with my left foot and then balance very well on my right as I cruise down Appa's hallway.

I love to sing happy birthday and blow out candles. When we celebrated grandma's birthday I kind of thought the candles were for me.

I continue to love spending weekdays at Don and Barbara McGregor's with my friends. There we do all kinds of fun things. Like hear great stories from Don, or pick apples from the trees, or build train tracks, or do science labs, or go on mini-expeditions to pick apples or plums or grapes, or dance with scarves, or eat yummy food that Don makes, or learn new songs from Barbara, or play soccer or with tennis balls, or cook vittles on the fire. Occasionally we even have a treasure hunt in the back yard. Amma says I am picking up a lot of great things.

Thank you God for friends and Amma and Appa, for scooters and balls, for tambi and hiking, for seasons and corn, and for music and dancing.