One Little Monkey Jumping On The Bed

We've been terribly remiss about posting videos of Deven (not unrelated to the fact that he refuses to rollover whenever we get the camera out, although he has rolled over several times).  But, tonight we managed to catch a bit of him "laughing" (or at least a good baby snort or two) thanks to his tireless sister who jumped up and down on her bed for a good 15 minutes just to keep the good times going.

Hard to believe that just a few months ago he was so tiny, and now he is a smiling, happy little guy!

Mother's "Weekend"

We had a great Mother's "Weekend" (my shameless attempt to suggest the holiday should span both days, not just Sunday) and even managed to take a few photos that I appear in.  Somewhat miraculous given during a recent attempt to complete my classbook page for our upcoming reunion I could find only one photo of me taken in the last 5 years that I did not hate.  But I digress...

On Saturday, we met up with Sanjay, Melissa, Maya & Kai at Filoli Gardens.  We had never been there before and the place was absolutely beautiful with the flowers in bloom and the sun shining.  Sonia enjoyed running around with Maya, and Deven even managed some big smiles when close to his cousin Kai.  We attempted some family portraits, with the usual results of at least one person not looking at the camera (typically Deven) and one person not smiling (always Sonia).  Oh well, A for effort.  Here are a few highlights...

Sonia & Maya

Moms and kids

An attempt at a family portrait

Stars in the making

For Mother's Day itself, we decided to motivate to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium since we hadn't been there since Sonia was 18 months old (and it was a good indoor activity given some dicey weather). While we left an hour later than scheduled (things run a bit more slowly when Dad is doing the packing), we made it down there with plenty of time to tour and enjoy lunch at the Aquarium's sitdown restaurant with a view of the seals lounging outside.  Sonia's favorites of the day were the sun fish (a prehistoric looking fish that is really flat and "looks funny" according to Sonia) and the seahorses.  She even talked us into getting her a pink stuffed animal version of a seahorse that she intended to "keep forever" (but has already been abandoned in our family room).  Best of all, both kids collapsed in exhaustion in the car on the ride home and slept the entire way, making it an easy drive back.

Sameer gainfully made sure the camera was around his neck most of the day, so here are some rare photos of me and the kids (and maybe a couple where Sameer managed to sneak in)....

In case you forgot where we were going...

Deven managed to actually be awake for some of the visit

Someone enjoys being the center of attention

Remarkably, we are both looking at the camera

Sameer teaches Deven about fish and warns him there will be a quiz later

All smiles in the splash zone

Last year Disneyland, this year the Aquarium...Sonia is quickly deciding that Mother's Day may be her favorite holiday of the year.  I have my work cut out for me for Father's Day!

Life (and death) lessons

Sonia, like every other 3-year-old, likes to ask lots of questions.  Her favorite question is "What are you saying to Daddy/Mommy?" which she will repeat over and over if you dare to have an adult conversation in front of her that does not include her.  But the other day her questions ventured into new territory as we were discussing Christmas.

We were going through each Christmas she has been alive ("When you were one, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's..."), and as part of that the topic of whether we would again go to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas came up.  Out of the blue, Sonia says, "But if we go, the dog won't be there," and I say, "That's right," (because my parents' dog passed away last summer, and Sonia remembers that there was no dog when we went there for Thanksgiving last year).

I thought that was the end of the story, but little miss inquisitive then busts out with the obvious follow-up question (never before asked), "What happened to the dog?"  I debated for a split second going with some elaborate story about going away to some mythical "farm", but decided just to go ahead and tell her that the dog had died.  She looked a bit confused by this, so I launched into a description of how great the dog's life had been and how happy she had been ("got to sleep on the bed!"), etc., etc.  The subsequent exchange was classic Sonia:

Sonia:  "So the dog won't be there if we go."
Me:  "That's right.  But Grandma and Grandpa are thinking about getting a new dog, so maybe they'll have one by then."
Sonia: "But it won't be the same dog because that dog is died." [sic]
Me:  "That's right, it would be a new dog."
Sonia: [long pause, looks thoughtful] "Maybe the new dog could be pink or purple."

So, in the end, she appears to have accepted the notion of death and moved immediately on to how this might allow her to upgrade the dog to be one of her favorite colors.  I subsequently explained that dogs do not come in pink or purple, and honestly she seemed more upset by that revelation.

Oh, to be three years old again.