...and baby makes four

Hello people - I was out having a baby these past few days. Yeah- I've been sort of hush-hush about the whole pregnancy thing on this blog..didn't want to jinx anything. Me and my superstitions! 

We are now a family of four - I gave birth to our second daughter (let's call her S-2 for now) four days ago. 

Here is the birth announcement proud father A sent to family and friends:

We are ecstatic to announce the arrival of our second daughter, S-2

She set foot in this world on Monday, November 25th at 7:54am - weighing in at a dainty 6 pounds, 3 ounces and ready to rule the world. 

We are glad we made it to the hospital in time - at 7:30am -  with a more than sufficient 24 minutes to spare!

S-2 true to her name, has been gentle and restful - except between the hours of 1am and 8am. Older sister S has been prancing around the house saying 'Kutti Paapa' (small baby) and is waiting to share her Blankie with her. (Or not).

With our best wishes for Thanksgiving and the Holiday season!!

Stay tuned for more on the crazy Hollywood-type birth story later! 

The Teddy Bears' Picnic

Totally corny banner but 
 surprisingly cute and enjoyable show

We went to watch the "Teddy Bears' Picnic" at the Emerald City Theatre in our neighborhood last month. 

When my friend SP sent me an email about this show, I jumped and said yes because I wanted Precious S to have a new experience. Heck, even I was dying to have a new experience for the weekend. 


Toddler theatre seems to be a cool fun thing to do out here. God knows I hadn't even heard of it before S was born. Well, I think I was 16 the first time I went to a watch a play at a theatre outside the confines of my school or college walls (I know, reeking of a third world 'totally deprived' childhood compared to the first world childhood, right?!) so I did wonder how much kids that young would even understand from theatre.

But hey - I figured that anything that involved wholesome fun without a TV screen or an iPad was worth a shot. and come on, teddy bears and picnic seem like a no-brainer sure-shot formula to win a kid's heart. Sure, it sucked that we had to show up by 9AM on a Saturday morning but an early start to the day is the price of parenthood anyway!

I researched the show and the local CBS news website had some good things to say:
Emerald City Theatre’s shows are as pure, ambitious and hopeful as their vision: “To imagine a day when participating in the arts will be considered as critical to a child’s development as reading, writing or math.” (Oh, and they’re a lot of fun, too!)

A simple story line with a 'good for kids' theme. This is a story for kids aged 0-4 and the theme is about sharing with others. Mama Bear and Baby Bear invite you to a picnic, you help set it up and then discover goodies along the way with Baby Bear. 

We all sat desi-style on the floor and kids could freely wander all around. There was no physical demarcation between stage and audience so at some point, there was total chaos and the actors were great sports about integrating the randomness into the show.

Pictures for you:  Proof that A and I did SOMETHING out of the mundane, this is visual ammunition when S grows up and accuses us of being bo-ring parents. HA! Gotcha, kiddo!

Each family got a picnic basket full of  fake goodies like fake honey and fruits 

Hi there mama bear! She was very expressive, animated and totally delightful as an actor.
S couldn't stop looking at her through the show

Yoo hoo Baby Bear - a ventriloquist act. 
He didn't say much but was cute and made all the right kiddie snorts and grunts when he had to speak up

Mama Bear started collecting honey from the audience. 

Best part - S got to converse with a real bear

S had an animated conversation with Baby Bear at the end of the show. 
Because out here, Bears can talk and so can S!

Err...S refused to part with the plastic flower that 'produced honey'

All in all, good fun for A and me. S enjoyed watching and listening to the bears but we thought she was way too young to actually process anything that was going on. We do plan to be back next year, when she will understand way more.

Bumbling into Books - 3

These are the books my 18-month-old-going-on-18-years-old S and I are reading these days:

I picked this up because it's a Neil Gaiman book and I'm a fan of his writing.
S loves the part where Chu is about to sneeze and then she giggles hysterically when Chu sneezes Aaaaaachhhhhhhhhoooooooooo!

S loves the new animals featured in this book: Platypus, Wombat, Dragonfly, Tadpole, Koala
I must say that I feel like the wombat in the story thanks for my lousy swimming skills
Thanks, AJ, for the awesome recommendation!

Thanks, AR and ZV for this cute book!!!
This series is a little advanced for her right now but 
S loves the happy face of Miss Sunshine, the adorable illustrations. I make up a random story that matches the illustrations each time we read the book and she's engaged

The Day Apple Picking became Pumpkin Patch-ing

We almost missed apple picking season this year. Well, that's not a big disappointment, considering I've never ever been apple picking anyway. *snigger*

Somehow this Fall, I felt I really should experience this seasonal adventure along with the family and see what all the fuss was about.

I always had this skeptic inner voice in me saying this whole thing is a smart marketing scheme that a lazy farmer conjured up. My mind shouted aloud:

 "What? We are supposed to pick our own apples and also pay for them? WTF?!" 

Thanks to my friend RMD's excellent advice, we went to County Line Orchard which is a farm and orchard in Northwest Indiana. It was hardly crowded when we got there around 11AM the first Sunday in November, though it was the last day of apple picking and possibly, of decent weather. It was a little chilly but pleasantly sunny, around 49 Fahrenheit or 11 Celcius. 

Brrr! I don't believe I actually used the word 'pleasant' for that temperature...but hey...what can I say - I am a Chicagoan now, once upon a time a Madrasi.

The tractor wagon that carted us to the apple orchard and back. 
What a perfect sky huh?

Turns out, we didn't do much apple picking. We reached the apple trees...

Pink apples against pink Fall trees

...and my parents went absolutely, unbelievably nuts picking fallen apples from the ground. They were SO excited.

Oh how the apples have fallen

"So many many apples. Let's pick them all!"

"No, ma, you don't need to pick them all, it's not a contest. You just pick the ones that look great off the trees"

"But there are so many just waiting to be picked. In Madras someone would have surely stolen them by now"

"But we need to pay for what we pick anyway, ma. They aren't free"

Sigh. 

She wasn't paying attention cos she was picking up apples with this new found inner frenzy. This is what happens to city people who live cooped up in apartments and have never had access to pink Gala apples fresh off the trees. 

Anyway, apple picking abruptly ended when our Precious S ran away from the apples. Err....we sure did some 'Pumpkin Patch-ing' though. She loved carrying pumpkins all over the place.

I pumpkin, therefore I am

Come on, quick! We have pumpkin-work to accomplish today

After her Pumpkin workout, 18 month old S decided she needed some alone quiet time and walked through the pretty woods towards the farm animals. We meekly followed.

Falling into yellow

Falling into red

The farm was the best part. S loved petting the Llamas. If you remember my previous post on her favorite books, you'll know why. She started talking to the Llamas, calling them over, petting them and basically refused to leave them for a whole 45 minutes.

The stars of the show:
Llama, Llama, time to share S

The 'extras': 
My little pony

Picture perfect calves 

The goats couldn't wait to be petted...

...and S couldn't wait to pet them

After all the "one with nature"-ness, I had to spend some hard cash on farm treats. Sure enough, there was a store at the entrance.

Our loot: honey, honey mustard, 4 types of homemade fudge, blackberry syrup, 3 types of salsa and 
a honey lollipop (not for S, for me. I LOVE honey)

Hasta la vista! We will be back next year.