Arjun Starts Gymboree!

Just as Krish Bhai started a new activity this year, so did Arjun!  We finally started Gymboree classes this month, and we only wish we could have started them sooner.  Arjun absolutely loved Gymboree!  He had a blast exploring the new classroom environment with various, colorful climbing structures, balls, see-saws, rocking horses, balancing toys, slides, tunnels/barrels, tubes, toys and parachutes.  The first class totally took me back three years ago to our Gymboree experience with Krish in San Mateo.  The songs made me nostalgic as well, and Arjun was just like his brother.  He wanted to continue to explore and climb around during parachute and singing time.  They are both such active, little boys!

The bubbles mesmerized Arjun, and I was just waiting to see his reaction to them since he loves bubbles so much at home.  The second class was just as much fun as the first, leaving us in anticipation and excitement for the next class.  The whole experience was wonderful!  We made new friends, Wesley and his nanny, Jae, as well!  Now, we're looking forward to open gym time with Krish Bhai on Friday!

Arjun and his new buddy, Wesley, on the slides!

Having fun clapping the shakers in his favorite spot!

I caught the cutest video of Arjun climbing to his favorite spot in the classroom.  He was trying to take his tambourine up with him but couldn't hold it and climb at the same time.  It was so cute to see his face when he finally reached the top and saw his tambourine still sitting on the first step.

Krish Starts Ice Skating Lessons!

Since the start of the new year, Krish and Arjun have both started some new activities and classes.  One new activity Krish showed an interest in is ice skating!  We attended a friend's birthday party at an ice skating rink back in December, and Krish was hooked!  Although it was his first time on the ice and he was obviously wobbly, he enjoyed every second of it.  When another mom suggested classes with an available Groupon, we jumped on the opportunity!

At the beginning of January, Krish started his first ice skating lessons and has had two classes since.  Given that I grew up ice skating, I felt right at home at the rink and have felt so proud watching Krish enjoy his lessons.  I'm so impressed at how fearless and dedicated he is.  He has progressed so much from class one to class two.  In just one class, he developed so much confidence and adjusted so well to the ice.  By the second class, he was skating without the walker, he was gliding more instead of stomping, and he was able to get up on his own, without help from his instructor, whenever he fell down.  And the best part was that when he did fall down, he just got right back up and kept going every time!  He never got discouraged and after every class, he told me he had a great time and that he was excited about the next class!  It's been a beautiful thing to see.  So far, ice skating class has been our activity and a wonderful opportunity to spend some exclusive time together.  It's been so exciting to watch him take interest in a sport I was passionate about in my youth, and I've been cherishing every moment of it.  Now I can't wait to take Krish to the rink this weekend so Daddy and I can take turns practicing with him!

First Class

Practice with the Walker - 1st class

End of Class Fun

Stomping the Ice - 2nd Class

Skating Exercise: Throw the toy, then skate after it 

and

Persevering After Falls - 2nd Class

End of 2nd Class

Krish's Yellow-Orange Belt!

Krish has come so far in karate since he started back in August!  He enjoys learning karate so much, and we really admire how much he loves it.  Daddy and I often jokingly fight over who's going to get to take him to class next so we can watch him in action!

He has now progressed through two belts, and on January 8th, he passed his test and received his new yellow-orange belt!  He is so proud of his belts and the progress he has made in karate.  We are also so proud and love watching him practice his techniques, such as "Obscure Wing", "Deflecting Hammer", "Sword of Destruction", "Delayed Sword", and "Clutching Feathers"with such passion.  (I love the names!)  We're so impressed with his ability to do sit-ups and hold the plank position during push-up as well.  However, I must admit, my favorite is watching my little cutie do jumping jacks during warm-ups!

Yellow-Orange Belt

Practicing Kicks

Jumping-Jacks!

Arjun Talking in the Tub!

Arjun is 14 months old, and he loves to talk!  He loves to say "Hi" in the most musical way when he sees you for the first time (in the morning or for the first time in the day).  He also mimics sounds you make, kind of like a parrot, engages in a lot of baby talk, and loves to sing as well!  His two favorites have been Jingle Bells (mainly over the holidays) and Lou, Lou Skip to my Lou.  Some of his first words so far have been: Dada, Mama, Ba, Nana, and Hi.  Here is a cute clip Daddy caught of him talking and singing while taking a bath!

Thank You Dada and Ba for the Bikes for Christmas!

Dada and Ba got Krish and Arjun new bikes for Christmas since they love playing outside and riding around the neighborhood/lake/park when the weather is nice.  Krish has been due for a new bike, and Arjun has been looking for a variety besides his wagon.

When Ba came over last week, we got a chance to take the boys out since the weather was great, and they had a blast!  Ever since we got the bikes, we go out every time the weather is nice, and the boys love it.  We all have such a great time being outdoors and enjoying the fresh air, and Krish really enjoys riding a bike.  I bet he will be ready to learn to ride a 2-wheeler soon!  Arjun also loves riding around in his bike, wagon, and neighbor's buggy.  Both boys are very happy with their new rides!  

Thank you Ba and Dada for the bikes!

Ba pushing Arjun in his convertible bike.
One day he'll be able to reach those pedals
and handlebars and steer himself!

Krish riding his Lightning McQueen bike!

Arjun in his new ride!

The Park with Nani!

After Christmas, Nani stayed back for two days to spend some time with the family.  The weather was beautiful so we got a wonderful opportunity to take the boys to Kid Country Park in Coppell.  It is the closest park to us that has swings (something we really miss from our California days since parks and swings abounded all around us), and the boys love swings!  Actually, this was the second time Arjun had been in a swing (once when he was much younger - around 8 months), and he absolutely loved it!  The experience reminded me of Krish's babyhood and love for the swings.  He was obsessed with the swings and never wanted to get off!  He would protest every time I tried to remove him from them which would lead to another half an hour of swinging.  Arjun did the same thing!  He protested when we were done, but I was able to appease him a lot faster.  It's so interesting to see how similar, yet different, they both are!

The boys had such a blast at the park, and Nani was so happy to see them enjoying themselves there and on the swings!  I can't wait to take them back there again!

Krish on the big-boy swing!

Krish giving Arjun company on the bucket swings!

Boys enjoying Nani swinging them!

Sweet brothers swinging together!

Arjun loving every bit of it just like Krish Bhai did when
he was a baby!

He couldn't get enough and didn't want to stop!

Can you guess who's who?  Twins in the bear jacket!

Krish at 11 months at our neighborhood park - Sugar Loaf Park in San Mateo, CA. We used to visit this park almost daily in San Mateo.

Arjun at 13 months at Kid Country Park in Coppell, TX.  

Both loving every second of swing time!

Thank You Krishna Kaki and Vivek Kaka for my Elephant!

Arjun loves the baby blue elephant that Krishna Kaki and Vivek Kaka sent for him when he was born! It has his name and birthday on his ears, and Arjun loves playing with him!  He has loved playing with him since he was 8 months old, but since an earlier video was unfortunately lost, I just recently recaptured one of Arjun playing with him in his room.  Thank you Krishna Kaki and Vivek Kaka for the memorable keepsake gift!  It is such a great way to remember you by, and it couldn't be more perfect for Arjun!

Holidays with the Shahs Part V: Christmas Day!

Christmas Morning was wonderful!  Ba and Dada came over early in the morning, and the boys (well, mainly Krish) couldn't wait to open their gifts!  Krish got all four presents he requested from Santa and wasn't really interested in much else.  Lesson learned and note to self: Distribute the four items on his list to Santa and gift them from Dada/Ba, Nani/Nana, Dadi/Dada, and Masis/Masa.  Those would be the appropriate amount of gifts for a young child to receive, and he would find so much more value in them.  Nonetheless, the boys really appreciated their presents, and Arjun looked so cute opening his gifts and playing with them!

Christmas with our sweet angels!

                                       

Krish excited to open another gift from Santa;
did he get what he asked for?

He did!  He loved his Frozen character set
and has been playing with his characters
ever since!  He is such a fan of that story!

Krish helping Ba open her gift.

Dada watching

Masis and Masa not quite awake yet!

Now Arjun helping Ba open her gift (electric griddle)!
Krish advising Ba to make theplas on it for him!
He's such a cutie!

Newly-weds, first Christmas together!

Merry Christmas!

 Krish opening his gift from Tricia Masi and Atul Masa on Christmas Eve: A play-dough ice cream maker set!  He loves play-dough and had such a blast making yummy confectionary creations with them!  Thanks so much Masi and Masa!

Arjun's first pair of walking shoes!

Holidays with the Shahs Part IV: Christmas Eve at Ba and Dada's!

Sweet brothers enjoying with Ba and Dada!

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve at Ba and Dada's with everyone including Sanjay Mama, Dimple Mami, Kedar and Sohini too!  We had a wonderful Mexican Fiesta meal of enchiladas, Mexican pizza, tortilla soup, and Mom's specialty, sopapillas!  After eating we played a festive game called White Elephant in lieu of doing traditional Christmas gifts for everyone.

In White Elephant, everyone purchases one gender neutral gift within the agreed price range and contributes it to the "pot".  Then everyone is assigned a number (1 through the # of people participating) and the #1 person gets to choose the first gift and open it.  Then the #2 person goes and has the option of either choosing a new gift from the pile and opening it or "stealing" #1's opened gift.  Play continues in that manner, and each gift can be stolen only up to 2 times.  After that it is the 2nd "thief"'s permanent gift.  After the final person takes his/her turn, #1 then has the final option to steal any of the opened gifts that have not reached their max steal limit or keep his/her current gift.

The gifts were great, we had a ton of fun playing, and we figured it would be a fun alternative and family activity to do over a Secret Santa.  However, in the end, everyone requested Secret Santa for next year so there is an opportunity to make the gifts more personal and meaningful.  Both ideas sounded great to me!

Krish was pretty much the designated
"gift unwrapper" during White Elephant!
He definitely loved his job!

Dadi ended up with the electric power drill!

The Week Before Christmas...

The week before Christmas, we were all still healthy, and I got the courage to start taking big outings with the boys by myself!  We went to the Gaylord Texan by ourselves to check out the Christmas decorations and exhibits, we met Santa at North Park Mall (the busiest mall) all the way in Uptown Dallas, and we went to Grapevine Mills Mall with Ba!

Loving the Nutcracker after reading the story!

Mama and her boys: Ready to see the
ICE! Display soon!

Meeting the Famous Dallas Santa everyone raves about.
He looks just like him and has been the North Park Santa for 20+ years!
Got a ticket to see him, early in the morning, thanks to Tanya Masi!
Most of the time, visits are almost impossible for most families.

Enjoying the Carousel ride with Ba at Grapevine Mills Mall!

Krish loves Legos!  Posing next to Lego Dirk
at Legoland in Grapevine Mills!

Frozen! Krish's First Movie-Going Experience!

Frozen at Grapevine Mills AMC Theater:
December 7th

When we heard the new children's Disney movie that came out over the holidays was excellent, we couldn't resist the chance to take Krish to watch it in the theater!  It was quite the experience since we watched in the Dine-In theater for the first time, and we went to watch a movie about snow during the one snowy weekend we had here in Dallas.  Daddy and I were so excited to take Krish to the theater for the first time, and he absolutely loved it!  Frozen instantly became his favorite movie, and the little snowman, Olaf, became his favorite character.

Since watching this movie in early December, Krish requests to read the story every night before bedtime, and he loves all the songs from the movie too!  For Christmas, Daddy even got the soundtrack for us to listen to at home and in the car.  Surprisingly, Krish already knows all the words to most of the songs!  I will randomly hear him start singing while he's playing, and I'm so impressed to hear the words he remembers from some of these songs!  It is beyond cute!  He really loves singing and dancing, and it's such a joy for us to watch him enjoy what he loves!  Listening to his sweet, little sing-song voice throughout the day just makes my heart melt!

Krish reading Frozen with Daddy.  He has most of the story
memorized at this point and typically ends up reading it to us!

Holidays with the Shahs Part III: Family Time!

Over the holidays this past year, the whole family came from Houston to visit!  Nana, Nani, Dada, Dadi, Tricia Masi and Atul Masa were all here to spend Christmas and the holidays with us.  The boys were surely happy about that!  Krish truly has such a blast with his masis and masa as well.  He just loves playing with them.

While the family was here, we took everyone to the Gaylord Texan to experience some holiday magic, Texas-style!  Every holiday season, the Gaylord Texan is decorated beautifully with festive lights, Christmas trees, train villages and the theme for the ICE! display.  Every year, the ICE! display changes, and this year the theme was the Nutcracker.  Krish really got into it this year because we also got him a book about The Bernstein Bear's (his current favorite story book series) Nutcracker, and he knew the whole story!  The Gaylord also has ice slide tubing with Kung Fu Panda and gingerbread decorating with Gingy from Shrek.  All the characters appear and the kids really love seeing them.  Unfortunately, Gingy fell sick while we were visiting and we didn't get a chance to see him.  We kept our ticket for a while but never got a chance to head back there to see him after that.

Arjun hanging out with Nani and Nana!

Krish with Nani at Gingy's House!

Enjoying some candied pecans before ICE!

Standing Tall next to the Cowboys Tree!

The ice slide scared Krish, so we mainly spent our time at the ICE! display.  Krish absolutely loved it!  We saw 2 million pounds of ice carefully sculpted into the characters and story of the Nutcracker and a display of NYC's Time Square during Christmas time all in an 8 degrees F climate!  Although we were freezing, we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We didn't take Arjun since he already had a cold, but Krish had actually been before to see the Charlie Brown Christmas ICE! when he was 10 months old!

All Bundled Up and Ready to Go Inside!

Godfather giving Clara the Nutcracker Doll

The Nutcracker Fighting the Mouse King!

Waving bye with Clara and her Nutcracker Prince!

 NYC's Time Square: All Made out of Ice!

Nativity Scene