I am still here...

Sorry folks for not having updated in a while. Bunch of people have emailed me asking me about KB and in general what the news is at my end. About KB - referral for the derm not here yet. His regular pede says most likely they will not even ask for a biopsy when they examine his birth mark. Just that the doctor who asked me to check it out is not his usual pede and she might have just been cautious. In some ways, I have forgotten about this even. Just one of things that need to be done whenever I get the referral for the derm.

KG is a handful - she is turning one on June.17 - will try to do an update on her sometime. But she is all over the place, puts things in her mouth before we can even blink and purses her lips tight when we try to pry it out...KB still takes a long time to eat even if it has gotten better. So when I feed KB it is quite an effort on some days when she won't sit in any one zone for longer than five minutes. I have to get up and run behind her, put her in a safe spot away from the stairs and resume feeding KB. In the meanwhile somehow try and finish the cooking before that window of time when I can take both kids out for a walk or to the park and then come back and get started on lunch time routines...

Memorial day weekend was spent mostly at home relaxing. My older brother visited us and he dotes on the kids. He has one son who is now quite grown up - so he is thoroughly enjoying my children whenever he visits. Especially KG. She is a charmer with her chubby cheeks and bubbly spirit and she has much less stranger anxiety than KB used to at her age. So my brother was thrilled that she came to him very easily and just stuck to him all weekend (or he to her!). She used to wake him up in the morning by snuggling up to his face (we held her on his back). He just loved waking up to her face every morning that he was here. Reminded me of the times when I was in graduate school and used to visit my sister for X-mas holidays. I used to watch movies or be on the phone and go to bed late and wake up late the next morning. My sister used to send my niece, who was a little girl then, to wake me up and it was such a treat to wake up to her bright smile and sweet voice saying "Wake up Noon Chithi, Wake up". And I used to pull my comforter on my face and she would play around with me by calling out for me again and again.
I used to tell my sister to not come herself but send my niece to wake me up. I used to wait until my niece was up even if I was awake before her.

My sister too visited us over the weekend for a few hours. She (unlike my brother!) dotes on both kids equally. KB is very attached to her and had a great time playing with a remote control car that she had brought along for him. All of us went in two cars to the local park that evening. The weather was gorgeous with plenty of white clouds and birds chirping and kids running around in the park. KB now goes on the small slide "ulta" (reverse) and then climbs a ladder to get on the big curvy slide. That is his latest fancy in the slide area of the park. We had a great time at the park. I had to do a ton of cooking since there were so many people visiting over the weekend (B's cousin also visited us with her parents last evening) - but it was overall a lot of fun.

KG is refusing to nap regularly and it is driving me nuts. One day she is totally fine and drifts off to sleep as soon as I leave her in the crib. And just when I think, "Oh good, things are in order", my dear brother comes and holds her or runs around with her all the time. She is now used to that and brother has left. This rowdy KB now expects me to hold her and take her out at the slightest whimper to play with the leaves and watch the birds in the sky! If you are an aunt or an uncle and think "Oh kids are so much fun, I want to have five of 'em", beware - it is just a trap. You play and pamper and cuddle and squeeze you little niece or nephew and drop a crying bundle on the poor mother and go away with your friends - when you are an aunt or an uncle. Beware, you become a parent and you are the one left with a cranky little one when the doting aunt or uncle leaves after a few days of making merry!

When your siblings come and visit you during the holidays and spend time playing with your children, you just want to say a special thanks to your parents for giving you siblings in the first place. It is such a good feeling to see your siblings shower their love on your children. I just hope KB and KG are there for each other and their children and have the good fortune of physical proximity too - hope they are not in two different countries! But who knows with amazing advancements in technology, it may not even matter if they are in two different planets!