the five stages of sleeping?

Sitting here, after putting Nandini to sleep, listening to Avinash struggle with going to sleep made me realize this.  For Nandini, going to sleep is as easy as drinking milk and being tucked in.  For Avinash it is an excruciating process, a la the Kubler-Ross stages of grief.

Denial
"Avi not tired" 
"Mommy sun out, moon down"  (Mind you it is like ten or eleven at this point.)
No Avi, the sun is down and moon is out.
"Avi see?"
No seriously, take my word for it.

Anger
The inevitable crying and tantrum

Bargaining
"One book?  Two?  Three? Otay, otay...Five books?"
(He may need a little help on his haggling techniques.  Or we do, since we usually give in...oops.)
"Avi eat!"
"Dudhu!"
"Avi wawa!"
"Oh no! Pee-pee coming!"
(This one is especially effective since he knows that we will never turn this one down)
"Bappi, tak to Avi.  Stories pease?"
"Rub back.  Adack.  Leg!"
(Still have no clue what word adack is supposed to be.)

Depression
More crying and carrying on.  Slowly realizes the inevitable is coming...

Acceptance.
Aaaaaand he's out.  Phew.

Luckily there is little else cuter than a baby sleeping.  And, because no post is really complete without photos prepare yourself for the montage of Avinash sleeping over the years.  (Can you imagine what his wedding slideshow is going to be like??)  Enjoy!

No, we didn't ever dress him in pink.  Just a picture of our good sleeper Nandini.

 A year ago, he didn't seem that big then, but looking back now he seems so huge to be cradled and drinking a bottle.

Sleeping instead of enjoying the scenery at Golden Gate Park last summer.

Fell asleep while we were looking for Shamu.

Tired out after a long night of dancing and eating cake.

 At our anniversary dinner in San Antonio.  This lucky happenstance lasted about ten minutes.

Okay, this is really Nuj mama sleeping.

Conked out amid all the hubbub and people at Garba night.

 Even on the edge of a yacht in Costa Rica.  See that life vest under him?  We are all about safety.

During a trek across hanging bridges in the jungle.

As a dinosaur in Disney World.

Like a baby.

 Trying to avoid the ladybug pictures by sleeping.

 Napping with Mommy post-call.

So tired that I apparently slept through him waking up and grabbing my nose too.

Dozing, in the little doggy house on his first Halloween.

 Sleeping (in Donna's arms) throughout the entire lunch at Donatella and Burks.  Even through the lollipop tree dessert.  Which I'm sure he is now regretting.  ("Avi pop?  Pink pop!!")

Smiling and sleeping.  Best picture ever.  A few weeks old and already we were so in love.   

I never knew I could be this happy and proud...

I have waited so long for this day that I thought that it might never come.  But it finally did and I am even more excited and happy than I ever thought I would be. 

Avinash is out of diapers!  With just a few months to go before he starts school and turns three. 

I started the process on a Thursday and was going back to work on Monday.  I felt like the babysitter could never handle the process and my looming end-date as stay at home mommy was fast approaching.  Somehow the pressure of a deadline actually helped me. 

The first day was just totally no diaper and rushing to the potty every 30 minutes.  Ok, it may have stretched out to 45 minutes.  Now Avinash is very familiar with the concept and has gone on the potty intermittently for a year but has never actually been out of diapers. 

We only had one accident that day.  Luckily it was in our hardwood living room.  Unluckily it was right on top of our little area rug.  Greeeat. 

I used it as a lesson and a reminder to myself to make sure I got him in the bathroom more regularly. 

The next day we did the same thing, no diaper and no bottoms.  Lots of trips to the bathroom.  We did have one brief errand and I put him in underwear and shorts for that.  I put a towel under him when he took his nap, but he woke dry from that anyway.  We had another small accident, but at least he kept off the rug this time.

Over the weekend we transitioned to underwear and kept reinforcing the need to keep them dry.  We also laughed with him about how only babies, like Nandini, wear diapers and that he is a big boy like his Bappi and Nana.  He loved that. 

He had a few more accidents that first week, but has been doing great since then for about three weeks now.  We remind him every once in a while, but for the most part he tells us now when he needs to go. 

And somehow the excitement still hasn't worn off for me and my husband yet when he poops in the potty.  (Wow...never thought I would be typing that sentence...)

If I have any advice to offer it is this: wait until your kid can communicate, be consistent and willing to put in the effort (it will pay off!), wait a few months if you try and it doesn't work, and can't hurt to invest in some plastic sheets!  I think the other trick is that he knows he can always get our attention with the potty and it is one way for him to feel more special than the baby a few times a day at least.

Now, he still pretty much requires our help getting up and down and stuff.  Any suggestions on getting him to be more independent with it?

First food.

Nandini! You had your first few bites of solid food.

I made you mushy bananas

and you HATED it!! 

I love the look of absolute affront.  How dare we put mushy bananas in her mouth, after she has trusted us all this time!

Avinash totally called it too.  'Baby don't eat a bana! Baby drink dudhu! Noooo.'

Of course he wanted to try some afterwards.  Sigh, back to the drawing board.  Your pediatrician suggested we try it, even though you still have your Moro.  You startle VERY easily (and cutely).

You are sitting up already and attending Avinash-catered tea parties, but you may need a bit more time. . .

duh, pinning

I have totally been sucked into the pinterest vortex.  I like it so much better than google+, which for the record makes no sense to me.  A second facebook? Why?

I love all the arts and crafts ideas.  I love the fashion, though it does make me wish I would actually follow through with my plans to excercise more often!

I don't like all the stupid Kate Middleton references.  Why would anyone want to act like her?  What is her function?  Does no one remember 2nd grade history class.  The monarchy is bad!  I do like all the great quotes and poems that show up.  The party ideas are great and so are the baby ideas.

The thing I really love and actually use are the ideas about food!!  I've actually been excited about cooking dinner lately.  Though still having a hard time getting jazzed up about grocery shopping and cleaning up.

Here are my top finds:

Source: foodnetwork.com via Nirupama on Pinterest

I make these almost twice a week now.  Ryan and Avinash totally love them.  It is so simple and comes out perfectly every time.  All it takes is a big dutch oven, set on med-high.  Add lots of butter and crushed garlic.  Throw in fingerling potatoes, cover and turn down to low in a few minutes.  Sea salt and fresh pepper. The potatoes are done in twenty minutes, crispy skin on the outside and moist potato on the inside.  Heaven.

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Nirupama on Pinterest

This one was a bit dangerous.  My health goals veered way off track after discovering this one.  One bowl, two serving cupcake recipe.  So easy and so delicious.  I loved adding tons of blueberries to mine too.  Ahh.

Source: eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com via Nirupama on Pinterest

Quinoa burger. You should have seen the scowl on Ryan's face when I told him what I made for dinner. Turned out he loved it, ha! And I didn't even call him tunechanger for that one. Apparently it is second only to Shake Shack. I'll take that. The great part is the edges of the burger get all crispy and the cheesy is all gooey and melty. I add methi to mine and omit the splenda (holy aftertaste batman!). Also, cooked in ghee. I recommend serving it on a brioche bun.

Source: wholeliving.com via Nirupama on Pinterest

Wilted Radicchio and Escarole Salad with Barley and Roasted Pear. I added garlic to mine of course. And roasted the pears in butter.
Another shockingly well recieved dinner. Both boys loved it. A salad. With barley. Will wonders never cease?

choices, choices..

To emulate a friend, just a bit about what's been going on lately.

good idea: watching classic cartoons with Avinash
bad idea: getting Avi hooked on my little pony

good idea: checking out no heat hair curling how-to's on pinterest
bad idea: going to work with weird 70's style half-curled hair

good idea: trying to get a picture of the baby laughing
bad idea: doing it one-handed while holding her

good idea: nursing my infant on demand
bad idea: driving home twice a day to do because princess never learned how to take a bottle

good idea: going back to work
bad idea: see above. and below.

good idea: picking up prints from photo store
bad idea: breaking into tears over pictures of the babies on your last maternity leave outing to the museum

Baby Mozart Bollywood

Nandini intently watching a song from Shree 420.

She usually does not like it when I listen to the radio (especially hip-hop).  When she was just a few weeks old, my Dad decided to test a theory and played some bhajans for her. She was happy as a clam. May have been she just liked being held by her Nana. However, the other day we took her to Delhi Belly (not exactly for kids, but hopefully she won't remember too much) and she sat up in Ryan's lap totally riveted with the movie.  Then the other day I took her to the pediatrician's office for her 4 month old checkup.  Of course we ended up waiting over an hour, so she listened to my *ahem* unique renditions of otherwise popular songs.  (Can I just say, I love how holding a baby makes you look like less of a crazy person for randomly singing in public.  Totally unforseen benefit.  Anyway.)  She actually was really sweet and alert all afternoon, so I thought I would put on some more music for her today. 
Her reaction was so cute that I had to take a quick video and post it.  She was so eagerly watching and kept grabbing for the screen.  It's in her blood, what can I say?

Our weekend

is off to a pretty good start.

Ryan's firm rented out a theatre for family night this year and we brought the babies to see Harry Potter.

Avi was just excited to be getting pizza and popcorn.  There was an open bar there too, but Avi didn't have any since a random lady was kind enough to remind me that he couldn't drink alcohol yet.  Phew, really dodged a bullet there.  How would I ever remember these things if people didn't keep reminding me?!?

He painted his face before we left, but would hardly stand still for a picture.

He was more interested in holding the camera and taking pictures himself.  Particularly of this kid who brought his 'wand' to the movie.  There are A LOT of pictures of him and his dad's legs.  Greeeat.  The kid was really into it and made his dad put on his Harry Potter cloak too, ha!

Looking back, Avi may have been on to something.  How did his wand do that??

He then wanted to hide from the 'baby' so we took pictures without him.

I redid his self-face painting this morning for Little Gym's, the weekly theme was Harry's World of Wizardry.

Nandini did some tummy time on the mat while he played.  She was totally fascinated by all the kids.  And I think they were of her.  So many little girls ran over to see her. 

Avi ran over too for a quick hug attack. 

Rings!  He is getting pretty good at spinning on them.

Lining up for the 'choo-choo' train.  This kills me every time, because he looks like a real kindergardner when they do this.