What (& not) is Aadya crazy about?

Aadya has always been crazy about swings in the playgrounds . We started taking her to the park in Bangalore when she was less than 2 years old. Since then, she loves the swing, see-saw and slide. Even today, every day, at least once, she asks, "Parki honona?" In her words, she actually means, "Parkige hogona?" - which translates to "Shall we go to the park?" in Kannada.

In one of her early days in the park, while landing at the base of the slide, she leaned backwards slightly to balance herself & banged her head on the slide. Though she wasn't hurt, that incident had installed a bit of a fear of slides in her. She wouldn't slide down without one of us holding her hand. Now, her confidence is re-boosted, after playing several number of times with her friends in school. If we take her to parks now, she plays on the slide without support.

Here in US, the swings for toddlers have the bucket-like seating, thus holding them safe, just in case they let their hand off. I still do not encourage her to let her hands go, as she should not develop that as a habit when she starts playing on the bigger swings.

Another thing Aadya is crazy for is "shoes" 👡👢👠 - doesn't matter if it is slippers, flip-flops, sandals or shoes. Once she sees it, she asks them to be put on & does not allow us to take them off, even after coming back home! Thankfully, we have a closet where I keep all our footwear hidden from her view! 😉

Recently, she has developed a craze for "frocks" 👗 and "hair ribbons" 🎀! If she spots any of her frocks (& mostly the frilly ones), she immediately picks it out & starts "hakona hakona" - which means "let's put it on" in Kannada. The same is the case for her colored hair ribbons. Once on, she doesn't let me take them off at all. Even while going for a bath, it is sometimes a big sobbing session, as I would have to forcefully take off the frock - I then have to butter her with nice words like "I will put another new-new frock after bath, ok?"

Well, what am I fussing about - she is my cute, pretty, beautiful & darling GIRL 👧, after all!

P. S. - Wondering what the "& not" in the title is? The one thing Aadya is not crazy about, is food! It's a very challenging task each time her breakfast/lunch/dinner time comes. Again, she is a GIRL - maybe she's gonna grow up into a diet-conscious lady...💃👸

My butterfly's last 3 years... in a wink!

3 years 😓!!! - This must be the longest gap in anyone's blog! I can't believe that 3 years have gone by, when it seems like it was just yesterday that I was drafting my last post about my butterfly! So so so many things happened in these 3 years. When I wrote my last post, Aadya had just crawled on the bed for the first time - it was exactly on May 18 of 2014 and I just noticed that it was the same day of my last post here.

Aadya's milestones
From there on, I had started noting down the dates of all her milestones (which I enjoyed & treasured watching her do 👏). Like I mentioned in my previous post, there is always a "first time" for anything, these are some of Aadya's "first time"s, from my journal... In 2014, there were "kicking action with left leg" (May 19), "holding right leg with both hands" (May 21), "fist-ing and un-fist-ing right hand" (June 12), "sitting without support" (June 29), "moving things from one hand to the other" (July 15), "hand movement of the chicken dance" (July 20), "standing by holding on to something" (July 27), "learnt to squeeze her squeezy toys" (Aug 17), "sat upright from sleeping position" (Nov 8)... These might seem like the usual first actions by babies, but they always remain special in a mother's heart. As someone has rightly said "Each child is unique & different", Aadya did not crawl on the floor much - she used to walk on all 4s - like an elephant (well, baby elephant)! As my mom used to say that both me & my elder sister started walking by the time we were 7 - 8 months old (that's what I remember hearing from her), I (over-)expected Aadya to do it earlier than me 😜, but by her first birthday, she had just learnt to walk by holding minimal support - she took her first support-less steps only a couple of days after she was 1 & could walk independently and farther only by the end of December.

Teething
Aadya's first tooth was her bottom left incisor - which she got on Sept 14, 2014. All 4 of her front incisors were out by Dec 9, 2014. Then, she started developing the pre-molars, then the canines & then her second set of incisors - working backwards towards the front - which is why she probably has her canines pointed & slightly outside - like they show on draculas 👹 (couldn't find an emoji for a dracula, so put an ogre with sharp pointy teeth, instead). She has a total of 18 teeth now, the last one of which was her bottom left molar that she got on April 8, 2016. She has got a very cute tooth-set & her smile is so mesmerizing! She now knows that she has to smile when her picture is being taken & grins (rather than smiling) while posing in front of the camera 😁.

Aadya's talk, music & moves!
Aadya started blabbering on May 26 - but her first clear words were "taataataa..." on June 6, next was "DaaDaaDaa..." on June 25 & on July 10, she said "Appa amma". She went on to say "paapaapaa..." and "maamaamaa..." on Aug 29. All of Aadya's initial words (& some even now) were in a tune-like fashion - like a raaga or something - little did we know that she would be such a big lover of music 🎶! She was branded to be the "silent girl", as words used to hardly escape her mouth - but those who said that have to listen to her today! The way in which she initially used to flip the pages of books, was with a tuned "aaaaaaaaa..." - which she does even today - & not only with books, she does it for most of her actions - while wearing her socks and shoes, while playing with her toys, while drawing & coloring, while playing with zippers, while doing almost anything! She has learnt 100s of rhymes (in English, Kannada & Hindi and in her own words, but with the right tunes), she has her favorite baby doll (which she herself picked in the store & did not let go even for a day from then) & she LOVES to dance 💃! She picks dance moves like she is a pro!

Milestones continued...
2015 was a year of great joy - Aadya learnt to say "ha ha ha" after I used to sing the "Johnny Johnny" rhyme on Jan 7; she learnt to get down (backwards) from the cot on Jan 8; stood up by herself without any support on April 1 (no, we were not fooled by her); learnt to operate the switches & showed rolling motions by her hand on April 6; tried to jump on April 22; learnt to drink using a straw on May 2; climbed onto a low cot on July 9; climbed onto the sofa on July 16 & also started going to school 🎒 on Nov 1!

Aadya's schooling
I was very eager on Aadya going to school & took her to the school with great joy and pride on the very first day, but came back home crying as I myself couldn't let her go once we reached the school gates. She was all tears every day when we dropped her off at school & I kept thinking to myself if we hasted in starting her schooling, as she looked so cute & pretty in her colorful clothes & school bag, but was tear-eyed both during drop-off & pick-up. Towards her 2nd birthday, the adjustment started & she was much less tearful and more tired by the playing  & jumping around in school.

2016 milestones, overseas move & more...
Aadya's school ended in March and in April, we got news from Chandan's office that we will be moving to US by June or July. Then started the preparation of the relocation, the VISAs, discussions about when I would quit my job in India, etc., In between all of this, Aadya's tonsuring ceremony came in & we even got her first hair cut 💇 before we moved. She cries a lot when her hair is being cut - don't know if it's more scary for her or whether she loves her hair too much to get it snipped off! I personally love her hair (both before the tonsuring & after) &, after these couple of hair-cuts, want to grow her hair long this time (as I always wanted mine to be!). She looks super-cute in the different hair-styles that I try on her 👼👸!
We had a lot of fun in US - moving into different homes in Bellevue and Issaquah Highlands & then settling in Mercer Island. Aadya learnt so many things here too - she learnt to identify many different colors (July 11, 2016), mastered jumping (Aug 15, 2016), learnt to hop with support (Oct 19, 2016), put soiled vessels in the sink (Jan 2, 2017), water gargling during brushing (March 13, 2017), put clothes in the laundry basket (March 14, 2017), showing the flute 🎺 action (March 29, 2017) and also showing the piano 🎹 action (April 15, 2017) - many of them after she started going to school here!

Schooling - part II
🏫 Aadya started going to Creative Learning Center - a Montessori school in Mercer Island - after a year-long gap from her Indian school - Podar Jumbo Kids. I stayed with her for the 2 & 1/2 hour duration that she was at school on the first day (March 1, 2017). The next day, I was apprehensive about how Aadya would react when I dropped her off (recalling our experience from back in India) - but I guess I was the only one being very scared - she adapted immediately - as if she had been going to this school for years already! I guess she just needed time to grow into a school-going girl & here she was one! I was the only one who was tear-eyed 😢 on that 2nd day of her school! As of today, she enjoys every moment of it & it is exactly opposite of what we had back in India - she hops & jumps & gets into school and doesn't want to come back home when I go to pick her up in the noon - she wants to keep playing & jumping & dancing around there itself!

It has been almost a year since I quit my job. With this move, I got to experience a new, different life - of a stay-at-home mom, the life of a housewife. I got to learn so much from Aadya, taught her so many things - not that it is done & over, it is an ongoing process & will continue forever...

Today, Aadya has turned 3 years & 5 months old. I have planned on being more regular to my blog from now on - let's see how much I can stick to it... But right now, it is time for me to go & pick her from school... See you again!