A New Year

Greetings remaining faithful blog fans!

Seems like just a post ago we were talking about holiday traditions. Well...the holidays have come and gone, and believe it or not, we are in the midst of planning a little gathering for a certain almost three-year-old!

We have a huge backlog of pictures and updates to make. Over the holidays Terri transitioned to a new camera and hasn't had the time yet to figure out some of the logistics of uploading from the new fancy thing.

Thanks for your patience, and just know that life in Radha's world is pretty darn great these days, and there is never a dull moment between: daycare (3 days/week), music class with her favorite teacher Tyleena "The Fairy Funkmother" (1 day/week), swim lessons (past 8 weeks and wrapping up soon), and all sorts of play dates with playgroup and other friends.

Dancing (especially bhangra), singing, reading, counting (up to 20 in English, and up to 10 in Hindi and Spanish), Play-Do, and making muffins are some of her favorite activities lately.

Current favorite songs:

"You Can Call Me Al" (Paul Simon)

"Shake, Rattle & Roll" or "All Shook Up" (Elvis)

"Paw Paw Patch" (Sharon Jones)

The biggest milestone which we are THRILLED about is that over Christmas break Radha made the transition to being fully potty-trained. No more diapers, not even at night! We didn't expect it to go as quickly and smoothly as it did, but just like that it happened. Sheer luck, definitely! She has a lot of pride in this new level of independence, and we are thrilled to be done with that whole mess.

We Have Lift Off

(from Terri)

It's official...Radha started walking last month and has been enjoying her new sense of mobility and independence since. Granted, she is still walking with a bit of a drunken sailor swagger but she can move from Point A to Point B if she is determined enough.

We just had her year and a half check-up this week. She has grown an average of one inch a month in the past three months! No wonder the 18-month pants seem to be fitting like capri pants on her.

Radha was also very happy to be reunited with her Dadima last weekend too, as Dadima had finally returned from a several weeks long trip to India. In this video Radha has fun with a wooden flute that Dadima brought from India, and she has been having fun showing her teddy bears how to "play" it. We have recently started a music class and maybe she's getting some new ideas from class.

Zoo Tunes, Family-Style

(from Terri)

Ro got us tickets to see Tears for Fears for my birthday (yes, the same band known for 80s hits such as "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", among others).  I was super excited to not only get to see Tears for Fears on my actual birthday, but also to see a concert at the Oregon Zoo with the whole family.  

Radha got to check out some of the zoo exhibits before the show, but not all of them as there was a long line we had to go through to even get to the concert lawn.  We will definitely be visiting the zoo again soon.

Once we finally made it to the lawn we quickly grabbed one of the seemingly last pieces of lawn real estate and got Radha and ourselves fed during the opening act.

Radha enjoyed the crowd scene, and also provided some entertainment to us and the blanket "neighbors" as well.  She had a blast dancing to the music, crawling onto other people's blankets (everyone around us was incredibly kind and commented how well behaved she was), and making herself fall down on purpose (total comedian!).  She devoured her dinner (vegetable pasta, turkey, peas), a banana, some blanket neighbor's crackers and watermelon, and some of our baked beans.  I think she was inspired by the Asian pig she saw earlier that afternoon.  *oink oink*

Ro had picked up some earmuffs for Radha's hearing protection earlier in the week.  Although she didn't keep these on the whole time, and the concert wasn't especially loud, I think it was a good idea.  I suspect these will come in handy for more family concerts down the road!

The concert was great!  Tears for Fears played nearly all of their hits (80s and beyond) and after all that rockin' out and huge dinner, Radha fell asleep in her dad's arms (notice the multi-tasking that Ro is doing here with his new iPhone).

Even despite the long wait for the shuttle bus after the show, it was pretty much a perfect birthday celebration with fun music, friends, and most importantly, family.

Little Drummer Girl

Little Drummer Girl
Originally uploaded by MookieLuv

Happy New Year!

Although it's a couple weeks late, Radha wanted to ring in the New Year with a catchy beat. This drum and her little egg shaker instruments were definitely her favorite gifts from Santa. Both are sure to bring lots of fun and noise mayhem to our household for years to come.

Note the boogie dancing she does.

Next week Radha turns 9 months old. We've been hearing a lot from friends how "grown up" she's looking these days. It'll be interesting to get her stats from the doctor next week to see just how much she's grown.