Shreya's world: 2009

Monday, December 14, 2009

Thanksgiving

Well, I'm getting a little behind in updating the blog... it has been more than two weeks since Thanksgiving break, and I still haven't posted about it.

This year we spent the holiday visiting friends Eric and Soojin and their kids in Atlanta. The trip was not entirely pleasure since Tom and Eric have ongoing unfinished research that has been haunting them since something like 2003, and so they planned to spend at least part of the weekend working. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time.

We left for Atlanta early on Thursday morning (much cheaper than flying on Wednesday before Thanksgiving!). For the first leg of our journey (to Phoenix!) the flight was very full, and for the first time in my life, we were upgraded to first class. The experience was somewhat marred by the consequences of a decision made earlier that morning. We took Shreya to the airport without waking her up, and in in particular, we did not change her. Partway through the flight something warm and wet made its way out of her extremely full diaper and onto my lap. Fortunately we were able to change her and dry me off at Phoenix airport and the rest of the journey was uneventful.

We arrived in Atlanta in time for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that Soojin had prepared.

Eric and Soojin's kids Alexa and Casey are two (and a half) years and two months respectively. They are both big kids though. Casey in fact is off the charts, and at two months he is over 16 pounds -- nearly as big as Shreya! Alexa was excited to have Shreya visit and wanted to play with her all the time. I was very impressed with her behaviour; she was very friendly towards Shreya and showed her all her toys even though she did have occasional sharing issues. (On Monday, when Alexa went to daycare, Shreya had a gloriously unsupervised day with all her toys!)

Soojin's mother is visiting them for an extended period, to help with Casey, and we also met her. Tom and I weren't really able to communicate with her much, since she doesn't speak any English, but this did not faze Shreya, who got along with her splendidly.

The rest of the holiday was spent lazing around and enjoying ourselves (except that Tom spent part of the time working with Eric, of course.) We went to the playground and the Natural History museum. We took walks in the neighbourhood. We watched Ratatouille. We chilled. It was uneventful, but relaxing and fun.

Daddy time!

Look, an airplane!

Chillin' with Mommy

Me? I thought you were driving!

Riding a horse at the playground

And another one indoors!

There is no spoon! (The cereal on the floor is also an illusion.)

Hmm. I wonder what's in here?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Cranes

The city of Albuquerque has a number of areas in and around the city called "Open Spaces". These are public lands which, according to the city's website, are "managed to conserve natural and archaeological resources, provide opportunities for outdoor education, provide a place for high and low impact recreation, and define the edges of the urban environment." Basically, they are what they sound like: open spaces -- vast expanses of undeveloped land that are deliberately maintained as such, and open for recreation to such members of the public as enjoy the great outdoors.

Los Poblanos Fields is one such Open Space about ten miles from our home. Once a 138-acre farm, this is now winter home to Sandhill cranes. It is still farmed as a "community farm" and a quarter of the crops grown there are specifically geared towards attracting and feeding these cranes.

Last week, Shreya and I went with Archer and Sarah to explore Los Poblanos and see if we could spot some cranes. It was a gorgeous afternoon, warm and sunny, perfect for wildlife viewing and lazy walks through rows of cottonwood trees and desolate wild grassy fields. (Although how can a place be desolate when it is in the middle of the city?!) The trees were resplendent in their fall colors. We wandered around, chatting and enjoying the sunshine, and greeting the occasional other person who was there to see the birds. And yes, we saw birds -- hundreds of grey cranes just hanging out on the farm.

Did I say this farm was their winter home? To be more accurate it is their winter daytime hangout. We were told that every evening they fly further south to spend the night at a place on the river called the Bosque del Apache, returning to Los Poblanos in the morning. Upon mapping it later at home, I found that the Bosque del Apache is about a hundred miles away. Do these cranes really commute two hundred miles each day? Seems a bit incredible to me! At any rate though, they do fly somewhere for the night, for even as we watched, as the sun got lower in the west, suddenly flocks of them took flight and headed south, filling the air with their cries. It was an amazing sight!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

We survived!

This past weekend has been an interesting one. For the first time since Shreya's birth, it has been just the two of us, for three days. Tom left for Atlanta on Friday afternoon, and returned Monday night, just a few hours ago. And, As I said in the title of the post, we survived!

(Update, 11/13: Forgot to post this... )

Friday, November 6, 2009

Halloween

After Thursday's snow, we were a little worried about the weather, but Saturday dawned bright and clear and warm and sunny. Not that snow isn't beautiful, but we are a little prejudiced against it when hosting an outdoor party.

Yes, that is what happened on Saturday. Shreya and her friends Megan and Emmalene (who are both exactly a week younger) had a Halloween party to celebrate their first birthdays. It was held at Hoffman Park (which Aai ,Tom, and I had previously spent several hours scouting out) about a 15 minute drive from our home.

Since it was a Halloween party, costumes were encouraged. Shreya went dressed as a white mouse, a costume which her mother and two grandmothers made on Saturday morning, in the midst of all the other preparations for the party. She was as cute as a button!

Other costumes in attendance included two pumpkins (twins), two butterflies (unrelated), a turkey, a black-eyed pea, a panda, a dog, a dinosaur, a fish (Nemo), a ladybug, a cat, and my personal favorite, a kangaroo, complete with baby kangaroo in pouch. (Click to enlarge the images.)

Most of the grown-ups did not wear costumes, or if they did, they were minimal ones like Varsha's cat ears and tail. Notable exceptions were Shreya's grandparents who brought their costumes all the way from Ann Arbor!

The "boo"thday cake made for the girls by Megan's mom probably deserves to be mentioned earlier, as it was very yummy (and spooky!)

The birthday girls were largely unaware of it being their big day, even when we sang to them!

It was a fun party and everyone had a great time, even though they hardly made a dent in all the food we had provided.

Our scary friend Jack was there too. (He looks less scary in daylight.) Jack came home with us and patrolled our porch to greet the trick-or-treaters.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Unexpected Pleasures

On Thursday, we were just relaxing at home when the phone rang. It was our friends Marie and Adelaida to say that since they were in the neighbourhood, could they come over for a playdate. Of course we were delighted, and a few minutes later, here they were.

Shreya and Adelaida had fun playing duets on Shreya's music table.

Later in the afternoon it started snowing! Yes, snow in October. It had already snowed in the mountains the previous day, but now it was actually snowing in our yard. It melted very quickly, of course, but for a few hours it looked very pretty.

Still later, in the evening, Shreya's grandparents arrived from Michigan for a brief birthday and Halloween visit. This was of course not unexpected, but it was a pleasure nevertheless!