Baby Baby Baby - Light My Way: April 2011

The munchkins got their first hair cut! Geeta and I had the barber at Chiquicuts do a small trim so that their hair is out of their faces. We still want the babies to grow their hair out long so we didn't have them take too much off the sides or the back - we find long hair so cute on babies. People do sometimes mistake Kailen ad Jaiden as girls but that's okay...we find them so adorable. To sum their hairstyles - Kailen's got wings, JJ's got curls, and Ariya looks like a little boy with her new haircut :)

Contrary to Indian/Hindu tradition we've decided not to do a Mundan (an indian tradition whereby we shave the babies hair). Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on what that's about: “In tradition, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. Thus at the time of the mundan, the child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future. The rite is performed as a special ceremony in most homes, for young girls and boys.”

Video of KK walking below.

Aunty Ros & Uncle Ben visit the munckins

JJ gets a trim

Let me out!!

Ariya not liking the barber!

KK gets his wings clipped

Kailen is walking!!

The munchkins and us just got back from our first family trip to London, England where we got to spend time with Daddi & Dadu (Grandma and Grandpa Gera) and meet Uncle Oliver, Aunty Gouri, and cousin Adrian for the first time. Daddy had a business trip to Turkey in between so the kids got lots of quality time with Mommy and the rest of the family in England.

It’s amazing to witness how much kids learn from travelling and interacting with family. We witnessed a lot of development in them over the course of the trip: i) they were much friendlier with strangers, ii) they were stimulated by new environments, and iii) their vocabulary grew. They bonded with their grandparents and their aunt/uncle/cousin. Mommy and daddy realized how important it is for us to ensure that the kids get plenty of time with their family – there’s no substitute for family love! While we were staying with Daddi & Daddu in central London, the kids developed a new favorite activity – they loved sitting by the window and watching the busy street below. They absolutely enjoyed watching the double decker busses and taxis go by. Seeing a bus go by was often accompanied by words of excitement..’bsss’ ‘bsss’…their attempt at saying ‘bus’. It has been a long while since we last posted an update, so there are tons of new developments to report on.

Ariya: Our little Bella princess has cracked her first two teeth. She’s got a couple of shiners popping out of her bottom gum – finally! She is also standing on her own now and is becoming more and more vocal. She’s smiling a lot these days and has become quite good at posing for the camera with her ‘smile on demand’ technique. She also acts extra cute for daddy and even did so for Daddu – she does this head-tilting smile that just melts your heart.

Jaiden: Jaiden is walking everywhere now – he is starting to choose walking over crawling more and more frequently. It’s really nice hearing the pitter patter of his feet around the house. He has also picked up a few words – his favorite sayings: ‘oh wow’, ‘yes’. He also makes it very clear when he says ‘no’ by shaking his head and arms back and forth.

Kailen: Kailen is also starting to walk and can take a few steps at a time (will post video soon). Kailen is expanding his vocabulary and sound library – his most recent favorite baby talk is ‘ba ba jabba jabba’ or ‘jibbi jibbi’. We have yet to figure out what ‘jabba jabba’ and ‘jibbi jibbi’ mean but he tends to talk about it a lot at sleep time. Kailen is also showing a lot of affectionate characteristics – he loves giving hugs and love bites (he likes biting our toes and even his siblings – it’s not out of aggression but rather affection)….those little shiners tend to be sharp and it’s not uncommon to hear a shriek in the household from mommy, daddy, or his brother/sister.

All the babies love their bath time! Typically you hear of babies that hate bath time, but our little munchkins can’t wait for it. They love the water. Once those diapers come off and they hear the tap running, they are usually trying to climb into the bath and tend to get quite upset with us if we take too long.

Some recent pics and videos below.

We love playing in the kitchen