Wow its been a year since I updated this site! So much has happened.

 

Mihir was born on August 1st 2006 and has been such a joy and blessing to us. Second time around parenting is both easier and harder. Easier because you have done this once before and would be an idiot if you hadn't gotten any better at it. And harder because you have two of them to care for now.

I had 20 weeks off from work when Mihir was born and loved every minute of it - it was over too soon, though.

 

Rohan is growing so fast. He went through a "Cars" movie phase and simply lived all the characters from the movie. I think we've watched it at least 25 times if not more. He also started pre-school part-time this year at the same time as when Mihir was born. It was a lot of changes for him - poor little guy - but he's such a trooper and doing great.

 

This winter has been kinder on us than the last - health wise and we managed to stay healthy until spring when we all got sick one-by-one with some infection. So we missed out on Memorial Day weekend plans, but ended up having a great time this past weekend with both sets of grandparents visiting us.

 

Work is still busy and promises to get busier for me in the next 2-3 months. Kunal moved jobs within the company this year as well and is now a "Researcher" which oddly enough suits him. Oh and he also grew his hair out over the past year. You would not have recognized him if you'd met him on the street! Many say he looked like Sanjaya Malakar, so he finally got tired of that comment and had a haircut.

 

 

Spring is finally here. Sarah had come over with her mom and dad. She is speaking a lot of English now (a true bilingual) so it was easy to understand her. She and Rohan played well together, unfortunately I only remembered the camera till much later so I only have a couple of pictures. [See May-June 2006 photo album].

 

We also took in a train ride from Snoqualmie to North Bend. It was a very warm day and even warmer on the train. Towards the end both Rohan and Zerelina were very hot and tired.

 

We finished remodeling Rohan's new room. Nana (Zerelina's dad) was here and he made a train table as well as closet shelves for Rohan's room. They look beautiful. He also put up the lights and put finishes on the shelves we got for the toys.

 

Rohan was very excited with his Thomas bed (regular bed with Thomas bedding). He also loved the train table and played with it almost all day today.

 

I also have video, but I'll send that over e-mail.

10 days ago, Rohan, Kunal and I went to the Pro Club for Santa Brunch with Peo, Mari and Sarah. I've added a photo album with some pictures. Rohan was scared of Santa (as expected) so we took a family photo with Santa. I haven't heard back from Pro Club about the picture, perhaps we should ask at the front desk next time we go there.

See new photos of R taken on-around Halloween. He dressed up as a monkey [Our neighbor's daughter was a Princess Barbie]

So over the past several months, I decided to read books from some Indian authors. So I started with Bharati Mukherjee and read two of her books - "Desirable Daughters" and "The Tree Bride"

 

Not really a great read, but a good read. What I wanted from the books was a little bit insight into that which is the old (late 1800's to mid 1900's) Bengali Brahmin family's roots (K's really not mine). These books are more about the old Bengal - Bangaldesh than current West Bengal. But still, some good insight into that which is snobbery of schools, Calcuttan's (Kolkata now) vs. non-Calcuttons, etc.

 

It's amazing how the caste system continues to survive in India - one we almost take for granted but having lived here now for 10+ years, seems so old and of the by-gone era's.

And along with it fall has brought us cloudy, gloomy, overcast, rainy weather. I miss summer already.

K is leaving tomorrow morning to go to a conference in Lisbon, Portugal for a week. He'll be back the following Friday. We're a little worried how R is going to take it. Every morning he wakes up asking for daddy "I go to daddy" and if you don't comply, the tears start pouring down.

 

This morning he inexplicably started crying about "I want to wear daddy's t-shirt". After some time we figured out this was a red t-shirt of his that he'd worn the day before. Daddy also has a red t-shirt of the same kind, so he's calling this t-shirt "Daddy's t-shirt". He got so upset that he couldn't speak and literally lay down on the floor and pounded his fists (I thought that only happened in movies!).

 

Well he recovered soon enough and was snugly sitting in his red t-shirt (which needed a wash) until I convinced him to change into the "Peek-a-boo" shirt that nani got him from Leavenworth.

 

So this week is going to be interesting. None of us know what to expect. But I want to start explaining to him tonight itself that daddy is going to fly in an airplane and go visit far-away people for a while and will be in a while. He has concept of days, but usually only thinks as far as "soon", "in a few days". Not in terms of "in a week".

 

It was R's 2nd birthday on Saturday. It was convenient to have his birthday fall on the Saturday. We had invited about 56 people of which 34 adults and 11 kids accepted and finally 27 adults and 5 children showed up (8 vegetarian).

 

The cake took all of Thursday night to make - I baked it on Wednesday night and decorated it on Thursday night from 9 p.m. (after dinner after R went to bed) to 3 a.m.!

 

On Saturday I got the house in shape for the party while K went to pick up food from various places.

 

Menu: Cake, samosas, gulab jamun, wrap sandwiches, croissant sandwiches, sushi, shrimp cocktails, egg salad sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, potato chips.

 

R's best friend who he'd been asking for all week long - Sarah - came with her parents. He was very excited. Then other friends who also had children showed up. He didn't like the older kids (about 8-10 years old) very much but enjoyed hanging around the others - 2.5 year old girl, Sarah (2 year old) and didn't seem to mind the baby (10 month old) either.

 

R blew out the candles (he had seen dad do this the previous week and had been waiting all week to "blow out the fire"). As soon as I stuck the candles in the cake, he said "make fire".

 

He had a wonderful party and is still recalling who came to the party - Sarah came, G (another 2.5 year old friend) didn't come, etc.

 

The last guests left just after midnight.

If the person in India has a computer connected to the internet, a microphone and speakers, you can talk to them for free over Skype. I want to try this out.

 

http://www.skype.com/products/skype/windows/?autoload=true to download the client.

 

If anyone is interested let me know. My skype e-mail address is my first name at hotmail.com

Today is K's birthday. After many phone calls this morning, he blew out the candles on his cake and celebrated with us at breakfast. We have planned to go out to dinner this evening. R was a little surprised by the "fire" on the cake.

 

 

These blogs are only read by a handful of very close family members so feel free to leave any comments on particular blog entries.

 

Oh, and if you want to be notified that my blog has been updated, you need to use the MSN Messenger client: http://messenger.msn.com and sign into it with a hotmail or msn e-mail address and add my e-mail address to your buddy list. From then on, you'll get an indicator next to my name every time I update this blog.

Hmm, I'm not sure this is going to work, but I'll try it anyway. Let me know if you can view the video here:

 

 

Rohan's favorite song these days is Stop and Go, by Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell which is on Noggin. Kids hold up stop signs and yell, Stop and then hold up green Go signs and yell Go!

Every time we stop at an intersection where there is a stop sign, Rohan yells, Stop, Gooooo!

 

On the way to Leavenworth was no different. We set off on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. after filling up with gas. We took the scenic Cascade Loop - highway 2 section. We went through towns like Sultan, Gold Bar, Index, Skykomish and ofcourse the ski resort of Stevens Pass (4000 ft. altitude) and then onward downhill to Leavenworth. I had made reservations at the Bavarian Lodge - we haven't stayed there before, it is newly built. The check-in time was 3 p.m. so we were going to grab lunch first (we reached there around 12:30 p.m.). However parking is impossible so we decided to park at the lodge and check if the room was ready. It was. The view from our room was  of the village of Leavenworth and was quite scenic with mountains in the background. I can imagine that in the winter with snow everywhere it would be even prettier. So after freshining up, we went to Cafe Christa on Front St. The meal was okay and we had cherry apple struedel for dessert.

 

After lunch we wandered around. There was a theatre troupe of some girls and guys performing in the square. We watched them for a while - Rohan even charmed one of them into giving him a sequin off her dress. He went around saying "Hi" to all of them.

 

We took a ride in a buggy (the horse was beautiful) and then in a red trolley bus (Rohan insisted). There was also the incident of my slippers. I was wearing a fashionable black slipper that cost me a whopping $10 at Target (yes, yes you get what you pay for!) and the strap broke just as we were leaving the hotel for lunch on Saturday. There wasn't any shop with shoes around, so after limping around, we finally took the bus/trolley which went to Safeway grocery store and I bought a pair of (another cheap) slippers - it was the only one that fit me and is very, very ugly. The bus lady was kind enough to wait for me (we were the only passengers on the bus) while I returned after paying for them. Thats what you call small town hospitality.

 

We returned to the room after that. After everyone was taking a nap, Rohan and I snuck out and went window shopping. I was actually looking for a small microwave-safe bowl so that we could microwave and cook his macaroni and cheese. However I was unable to find one. We ended up buying a mailbox though (toy one and Rohan was very excited about it). Then finally at Starbucks I bought one of their giant mugs and returned to the room.

 

The mac and cheese was not to be however. Following the directions did not really cook it. Oh well. I had a backup meal that I microwaved and gave him instead along with yogurt and aloo tikia. He also pooped in the potty (yes we had carried it with us).

 

For dinner we went to Cafe Mozart - very delicious meal. We heard Miriam Kelly playing the harp there - quite beautiful music. For dinner, we had Dungeness Crab Cakes and Escargots as appetizers. The crab cakes were delicious, but I thought they had put too many mushrooms with the Escargots which was unexpected and unwelcome by some (well, me - I don't eat mushrooms. K liked it). Ma and Baba each had the salmon dinner, Kunal had the Veal and I had the Duck. The Duck was also quite delicious and so was the salmon. The Veal was just okay I didn't think it qualified as a 4-star entre. After dinner we shared a seven-layer cake containing marzipan. I think some would have preferred ice-cream to the cake.

 

The next morning after breakfast and checking out of the room, we drove straight home. That afternoon/evening Rohan played non-stop for 4-5 hours before I gave him a bubble bath and still he fought sleep and succumbed to it at 8 p.m. He was still recovering on Monday with a 2.5 hour nap.

 

All-in-all a great short trip (won't say vacation since it was so short).

 

 

 

After church today, we decided to go to North Bend for shopping - we needed to buy shoes for K's parents. We got some really good shoes, a t-shirt for me, and a couple of shorts for R.

 

R also took a ride in those little rides right outside various stores. Here are some pictures.

 

 

R went to Zak's (2nd) birthday party at Child's Play Cafe which opened last month. They had an area where all the children could safely play with a couple of attendents watching and entertaining them. The moms were able to sit and chat while the kids enjoyed playing with all the toys there. They had a slide, a fish-tank with fake fish that you can fish for, a tool-table with fake tools like screwdrivers, nuts and bolts, a table with a whole train set on it (all the kids loved this), a kitchen with stove, microwave, oven and cupboards full of things, a doll-area with dolls, feeding bottles, baby doll stroller, baby doll changing table and baby doll crib.

 

As usual I did not recharge the battery of my camera so I only took a few pictures before the battery ran out.

 

I'll attach those pictures as soon I've recharged the battery and downloaded the pictures to the camera.

 

 

Every Thursday all the Mukherjees go shopping for Indian/Asian groceries. We first go to Mayuri grocery store. While one of us (usually K) stays outside with Rohan, the other (usually me) goes into the crowded store (at least 25 people in it) to get frozen chapatis, some Indian veggies if they are fresh and other Indian groceries like dal, rice, spices, atta, etc.

K's dad usually goes by himself to the nearby sweets shop to buy fresh chapatis. These are really fresh and good. We try to buy enough to last Thu and Fri.

 

This Thu, Ma, K and R were outside the store waiting for me to pay (it is a loooong line) and some crazy show-off Indian guy just guns his car (that he was idling) and shoots into the parking spot right next to Ma at 60 miles per hour and screeches to a halt and stays in his car. We thought for sure that she was going to be hit. And ofcourse in true Indian form some people saw this and quickly looked away ("none of my business"). This annoys me to no end. Why do seeming perfectly normal Indians behave so badly amongst their own people, but are very polite and courteous at other grocery stores like Safeway, Larrys Markets?

 

There is also the usual pettiness to get in line ahead of everyone else, or score on chapatis by cutting ahead in the line because your need is obviously greater than that of the guy who came before you... now I remember the reason why I don't go for any Indian cultural events or Indian movies/events at halls.

Every year our company has a picnic on the last weekend in July. This past Saturday, I went to the picnic with K's parents, K, R and myself. It was a very hot day. At its hottest it reached 90 degrees F (which is 32 degree Celcius).

The picnic was a lot of fun though. We had good food, good drinks, lots of ice-cream. K had some beer and I had some wine too. We also met up with our Aussie friends whose parents are also visiting and their 1 year old daughter Lucy. Unfortunately we were leaving as they were arriving but we'll catch up with them later.

Now it is time to start planning R's birthday which is on the 27th. He will be 2. I'm thinking of a train theme since he's into choo choo's a lot. Let's see how it goes. The guest list is looking huge right now - mostly adults.

Sunday I took R to his church daycare and stayed there with him (and other kids) to babysit. There was one other dad and a babysitter (teenager). Between the 3 of us we had 8 children, but they were all in a good mood and very manageable.

R declared "play with babies" as soon as we entered the church. Next, he ran straight to the toys without a backward glance at me. He did glance occasionally to make sure I wasn't leaving, but that was it. A few months ago, he would have clung to me and only watched the other kids playing and would not have played himself - he's growing so fast.

 

We took R this Sunday to ride on the Snoqualmie railroad which is a diesel train that goes from Snoqualmie to North Bend (3.5 miles each way) - a 70 minute round trip. He loved it. He's being saying Choo Choo since then.

 

The day was sunny and warm - not too warm and everyone really enjoyed the trip.

 

R is teething again so the last night had its interruptions but otherwise he slept okay.

Today was the day R had really been looking forward to all week. He wanted to "go see Sarah" and "go see Gavin" - his two friends that he made on a recent camping trip. Sarah is 2 and Gavin is 2.5 years old.

 

I took off early from work and took him to Sarah's place at 3 p.m. There were many children ranging in ages from 1 to 3 years old and many many balloons (which R loves).

 

He sat down at a table with all the children and painted for a while. Then he was "all done" and ran around playing with a ball and various balloons. Later he even sat down again at the table and had dinner.

 

After Sarah opened her gifts (she got a train that all the kids wanted to play with) we all saw her blow out the candles and cut the cake. Her mom had made her a Care Bears cake and decorated it herself. It was beautiful.

 

Rohan was really tired by the end of it and slept in the car on the way home. As a result it is 10 p.m. now and he's still awake with no sign of sleep.

 

He's feeling better today, but still has a night cough and a morning runny nose. Hopefully he'll have a restful night's rest in his own room if not his own crib. It's been another hot day (even though it rained this morning) and I'm hoping his room is not too hot. Last two nights his room was really hot as well as he was unable to sleep because of his cold, so he slept in our bed.

Bummer, R caught whatever it is I had and is now sneezing and coughing the past 2 days. He's much better today, but he's had two nights that were not restful. Tomorrow, Friday, is his friend S's 2nd birthday. He loves being around her and her friend G (2.5 years old). He's been looking forward to this all week - "I see G, I see S". Hopefully he'll be well enough tomorrow to go to the birthday party.

 

I'm checking online to see what kinds of classes R can go to with his nanny Iris. Once he turns 2 he'll be past the age requirement for the library reading - which he enjoys a lot every Friday.

 

Its again a very hot day outside and inside (we don't have air conditioning). R is going with Dida to check mail. Then we'll go shopping to the Indian store and Uwajamaya store.