Summer of '11

Summers: ‘perfect’ sunny days for Gianna. By perfect I mean cool shakes & flavored yogurts, countless hours of outdoor plays, sweating, playing & bathing in cold water. Gianna beats the heat by her favorite cool drinks. Day time is spent indoor playing with her toys, coloring, watching tv, seeing me cooking.



She waits eagerly for the evening and tries to finish off her meal on time because she knows that it’s going to be her play time outside with her friends. She runs around one big tree which stands tall in the playground. She likes to catch the bubbles and kick the ball.



Gianna tried her hands first time at water colors yesterday. It was interesting to see, that in no time she became very much involved with colors. She came to me and said “mumma Rapunzel bhi colors karta hai”.



This made me believed that children fancy everything that their favorite characters do either in reel life or in a real life (Gianna has been in love with this enchanted movie “Tangled” and very much cherishes the characters of Flynn Rider, Rapunzel, Maximus, & Pascal. She gets fascinated every time by the sight of Rapunzel coloring and painting the walls in her house). Gianna is so fond of this tale that she wants to listen to its story from her popsy or mumzy. (BTW, that’s her new way of addressing her papa and mumma.)



Gianna has always been fussy about food. She still has a much selected menu for everyday. Crispy food items have always been a preference over soft foods. There is one food item that she has been in love with since the age of two and it is - peanuts. They are her favorite snack. She always wants to eat handful of them before going to bed.

What's going on...???

What’s “NEW” this time?

Gianna turned two and a half years this month. Time is flying and she is gaining a little more of everything –

A little more inquisitive now (mumma, where is the big spider gone?)
A little more responsible (helps mumma with laundry)
A little more talkative (mumma, did u see the big aaannt?)
A little more independent (tries to wear her sandals on her own)
A little more naughty (biting every unwanted thing)
A little more playful (initially swings, now slides),
A LITTLE MORE. . .

God has shown me his love through Gianna. Some good and some not-so-good activities that is worthy to be noted -

1. Wearing a pair of socks as gloves in her hands.

2. Befooling mumma quite often by pretending.

3. Biting everything that she gets her hands onto, nails are her favorite of all. Even biting the velcro of her sandals to soothe teething.

4. Shouting for fun every now and then.

5. Love to raise her piggy balance. Gianna doesn’t leave a single chance to fill her piggy bank with money from my wallet. I don’t even get an idea of when she does all this mischief and after every few days my wallet is empty.

6. Wearing mumma’s jewellery.

7. Playing with papa’s ipod.
8. Jumping on sofas and coffee table.

9. Tearing off toilet tissue roll into bits and pieces.
10. Demanding for her favorite songs to be played on the music player in the car.

May “may” brings some sunny weather –

It’s been more than six months of snow, chilly breeze, and now rains. We are longing to see some consecutive sunny days. Summers have begun but these non-stop rains made it difficult for us to go out and play.

Gianna is learning to cycle these days but more of her efforts go in just looking around than paddling! Moreover, the bad weather is not letting her to practice more.
Despite of unwanted weather, we had some good days to count on.



This month started with a get together of cousins. Gianna met two of her uncles (Vikas and Mohit), aunt (Hemi) and her cousin (Vaishnavi). In not much time, Gianna mixed up well with her Mohit Mama and enjoyed reading book with him the most.





We all spent a weekend at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, where she was amazed to see the underwater world. Out of all sea creatures she fondly remembers the Lobster (“Logster” as per Gianna) the most. She asks us to put the aquarium pictures and asks us, “Did you see that big Logster??”





We celebrated our anniversary (22-May) at Johnson’s Park in Edison where Gianna enjoyed the kiddy rides and animals in the petting zoo.





The month ended with a trip to Atlantic City, where Gianna loved jumping in the water from Atlantic ocean.

A New Recipe...

My innocent girl!

With each day, Gianna’s curiosity about everything is growing! Her question on every character in her books and her story telling to us pleases me. She has started speaking full sentences now and I feel this is the best time because her innocent acts with some little knowledge about things adds to the flavor. Here are few things that caught my attention-

1. Gianna thinks that every toy has a life in it and it holds some understanding. She often talks to her toys and sings her favorite lullaby “rock-a-bye-baby” to make them sleep.



2. Gianna has always been too choosy about food, so it becomes really difficult to bring some new ideas every time to entertain her while she eats. Most of the time she watches rhymes and stories on youtube but when I have to make her eat chappati, I tell her to go and show each bite to “Radha-ji”. According to Gianna eating every morsel is an accomplishment and she feels glad to show this to one of her favorite deity. She says “Radha-ji dekh lo Gianna ne roti kha li”.

3. Santa Claus is every child’s favorite figure. Gianna is also fond of him. It happened at the Indian grocery store. Gianna was sitting in the shopping cart while we were busy buying groceries. After some time she muttered “Santa”. I was wondering as how come she has seen Santa in the month of April? But I was actually wrong! For Gianna, any man with a red turban, a long white beard, and a paunch would make the person “Santa”. She had mistaken Sardar-ji with Santa.:-)



4. Imagination sees no boundary! Gianna shows a liking for the pop king Michael Jackson and his song “don’t stop till you get enough”. Wherever she sees a dark skin along with some curly hair, she feels that her pop divo has come to see her.

5. We say “bless you Gianna” whenever she sneezes. Now the little girl has started saying bless you to herself whenever she sneezes.



6. Gianna knows that her nani loves to knit sweaters. She has some woolen inner wears gifted by her dear grandma. It happens that Gianna never forgets saying “Thankyou Nani” every time she wears those woolens.

7. “Nani teri morni ko mor le gaye” is a song loved by all three of us. Gianna is smart enough to replace the word “nani” with dadi, nana, mausi, depending on whom she is singing the song for.

8. We have a plant in our home and I love to water it. This is the very first plant that I am taking care of. Gianna adores it and embraces it with a good morning kiss.

9. Gianna has a unique way to express her longingness to be in her mama’s arms. She says “mu-ma go-di lelega” and I could not stop myself from hugging her.



10. Gianna has started reading books while sitting on a potty seat. I really wonder from where do these kids get such ideas?

“Newer” me -

As per a Hindu ritual and a belief, babies get their head shaved for better hair growth: A ritual called “Mundan”. We had planned Gianna’s mundan before our trip to India. We both were worried about how Gianna would react to a blade on her head and seeing hair falling down on her shoulders. To prepare her, I took her to a saloon with me to show how I was going to have my haircut done and told her that she too would soon have her haircut.



On the D day I was tensed but to everyone’s surprise Giannu was supportive throughout the process and did not trouble at all. Also, I got her a new set of Barbie doll to keep her engaged. I purposely showed her mirror soon after, to make her aware about her new look. At first she was a little puzzled but then on my telling her that “wow Gianna you got a new haircut and you are looking very nice”, there was an immediate smile on her face and a relief in my heart for a completion of a big mission.