Friday, December 31, 2010

Family pictures

The photos below were taken about a month ago. I have been very lazy with my blogging recently, but before the holidays are completely over I felt that I had to at least post these.

And by the way, please don't underestimate the challenge of taking a family photo with a one year old, a three year old, big wrapped presents as props, and a photographer who won't take the shot unless everybody is at their places in a traditional family pose. By the time our photo session was over, the wrapping paper had been ripped and fortunately there was only one more family after us (it was a charity event with lots of families having their picture taken), but they had to hold the presents at strategic angles so that the damage wouldn't show too much.

Happy new year!


Thursday, December 2, 2010

That's how Yo-Yo Ma started too...

This photo was sent to me by the organizer of the music group that Rajiv and Rohan attend together on Fridays. It was taken last Sunday at the holiday party, where we had a lot of fun singing and dancing with the other kids and parents. I just had to post this picture, just look at him!



In other music related news, Rajiv took his first cello lesson this week. He was so excited that he sat through the entire half hour of lesson without fussing and following the teacher's instructions to the letter. I was amazed, although of course I don't expect it to last, once the novelty wears off.

We decided to give this a try because Appu's fascination with musical instruments is second only to his passion for trains, he knows the names of most instruments in the orchestra and can recognize them when he hears them play. When I asked him what he would like to play himself, he always answered "cello", so I looked it up and I found a group of Suzuki teachers in the area. The Suzuki method for teaching music to young children seemed to me playful enough that it would be ok to try for Appu and we are happy so far.

You should see him sitting on his little bench (on the spot marked by a little ladybug sticker) and hugging his cello. We are supposed to practice for five to ten minutes every day, so it is really a minimal change in our daily life so far. Appu is supposed to name his cello before the next lesson, but so far we have only established that he thinks the cello is a girl (and the little guitar that we store next to the cello is clearly a boy, he says). Any suggestions for the name?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Non si puo' fare una frittata...

Mamma and Rajiv are looking at a book. There is a picture with some eggs.

Mamma - Look, eggs! And one is broken..
Rajiv - Yes! It's hatching! There is an omelet inside!

Friday, November 5, 2010

More about Halloween

I'm typing this while eating some leftover Halloween chocolate. At least this year we had the good sense of buying mostly dark chocolate and no nonsense peanut butter stuff.

A short report of our Day of The Pumpkins:

Here are the two little ones ready to go out to the city Halloween event in the public square. The weather had been nice until the day before, but it was now freezing.


There were many activities for kids and Kalena chose to go for face painting first. Appu followed, of course. The face paint artist asked Appu what he wanted. He said he wanted red. As I was trying to negotiate something sensible out of it, the painter inexplicably suggested a spiderman makeup. Appu jumped on board and my protests were useless. However, he didn't enjoy the process quite as much as he thought he would and he decided to end it half way though, before the black webs could be drawn. Here is the result:



As soon as it was done Rajiv said: "I have to wash my face". Right.

After the face painting we had enough of the cold wind and we moved indoor to the nearby food store. A quick snack and then we are on the way home.







So our Halloween celebrations were not a great success, but aren't our little pumpkins adorable?



At home the boys took a bath and Rajiv washed his face. He was supposed to go trick or trick with his friends on our street, but he was happy to just wear his Spiderman pj's (it seemed appropriate) and wait for his friends in the warmth of his home. He was excited when they rang the bell, but he doesn't quite get the spirit of the thing and he was a little disappointed when day didn't come in to play and moved on to the next house instead.

Rajiv and Rohan decided to relax playing the piano for a little while and then they went to sleep. Read: they deafened their parents until we could no longer take it and had to drag them to their beds. But again, aren't they cute?



Sunday, October 31, 2010

The day before Halloween special

Sometimes I underestimate my little Appu. It didn't occur to me that he might have an opinion about his Halloween costume until last week, when I asked him and he surprised me by saying that he was going to be a pumpkin. I asked him what Rohan wanted to be and he said Rohan should be a small pumpkin. The very uncrafty mom that I am, I searched the local second hand listings and found two nice costumes just the right size. Appu was very happy to drive to pick them up and bring them home, but he didn't try on his costume until yesterday.

Today we expect to have more Halloween fun, but for the moment you can enjoy some snaps from the rehearsal.










Thursday, October 14, 2010

A few pictures

Appu dressed up for the birthday party of his friend Kalena, a couple of weeks ago.


And Rohan trying to be cute.






I have lots of pictures of the party as well, but I'm not sure the other parents want their kids on the net, so this is the only one I will show.


Little brothers sleeping in the stroller.


For something completely different, Rajiv skating on two building blocks in the living room.


Baby in a box.


And last but not least, we can only hope, mamma with glasses!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Words roundup

Rohan is beginning to talk. He says "bye", mostly unprovoked. He also says "mamma" and "papa'", somewhat interchangeably, and he says something like "ta-ta" when he is offered milk and he wants to express his enthusiasm (in Italian "milk" is "latte".)
He says "ba" for "ball" and "wawa" for water. The word he uses most skillfully though is "NO!!", exclamation marks included. :)

Rajiv, in the meantime, is getting more articulate and I wish I kept a notebook with all of his noteworthy expressions.

A few recent favorites:

Mamma offers him some pasta with broccoli. The big chunk of broccoli have been of course removed, but a few offending green fragments are still sticking to the pasta. Appu looks at is sadly and then tries: "I want to wash it..."

"I want a new computer!" (wasn't this supposed to happen at least ten years from now?)

Papa': "Are you a baby?"
Appu (with the confidence of who has just spotted a trick question): "No, I am a girl!"

Appu: "Rohan is so cute"
Mamma: "He is, and Appu is cute too!"
Appu (smiling at the silliness): "No, I am big!"

(whithin a few seconds)
"I am sad... I am mad!! .. I'm all better" :)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A tale of three continents

Un sacco di foto che documentano il nostro percorso dall'India verso il Canada a fine giugno.

...

I have some cute photos from our last days in India and then our stay in Brussels and Torino on the way to Canada. All of this happened about three months ago, but "better late than never" should be the official title of this blog.

But first, a disclaimer:

It might appear that Rajiv is always wearing the same clothes in these photos. In fact, he is. He has strong opinions about what looks good on him and purple or stripes are his favorite. However, we do wash his clothes, occasionally, if he allows it.

Here we go:

June 19th 2010 - dinner at Kuttamama's house













June 20th 2010 - Rohan's birthday party at Vanilla Place (these were mostly taken by Anu)











June 23rd - Brussels, Emiliano's home after a long long trip







June 24th 2010 - at the playground near my place in torino







September 30th - very early morning in Torino getting ready to catch our flight



June 30th - in Brussels with Emiliano again - some people very tired, some people not so much




And then the day after we left Europe and finally reached home here in Waterloo.




The end.
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