kalloldas.com

Restless Grandparents

kallol — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:23:25 +0000

The last month has been an action packed one with more visitors, moving into our condo, a sailboat ride for Amiya and Kallol and more enjoyment of San Francisco in the fall. Through it all, the remote grandparents have been banging at our cyber-door wanting more pictures. Enjoy them!

Gita welcomes some visitors from the far north

kallol — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:54:28 +0000

Linda and Terry (Nami and Grandpa) flew down for the weekend to see the latest addition to their family. We all spent a couple of days lazing about the house holding the sleeping beauty and celebrating everyone being together with good champagne, Mitchell brothers’ ice cream and some goodies from Tartine. It’s hard to believe that the weekend is over already and that we have so many more pictures to sort through and put online!

Introducing Gita!

kallol — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:27:27 +0000

In the left corner (of the country), in the light blue receiving blanket, hailing from San Francisco, California, the Sister of Disaster, weighing in at 6lbs 2oz, GITA DAS!

Hear ye, hear ye. Get me some milk!

kallol — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:45:06 +0000

The latest member of the Das-Gardiner household, Gita, made her grand appearance on Monday afternoon at 1:42pm. Kirsti amazed (but not surprised) all who know her by having the natural experience she was targeting. The UCSF birthing crew were, however, all surprised by Kirsti’s tremendous effort. There’s no doubt that our positive experience was due in great part to our doula, Amy Hyams. She was a wonderful presence during Gita’s birth.

The rest of our family played a big part in Gita’s arrival. Pishi and Mago were on Amiya duty while we were in the hospital. Nami and Grandpa left town a little early and missed Gita by less than 19 hours.

You’re probably more interested in learning about Gita. Here’s what we know of her so far:

- Has a very curious brother who welcomed her by kissing her nose, her mouth, her eyes and her head

- Likes to sleep during the day and party all night

- Savours the eating experience, unlike her brother who was a speed eater

- Has the lungs of a champion; is apparently in training for a town-crier position.

California here we come… I mean, here we are!

kallol — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 05:20:06 +0000

One day after bidding goodbye to Seattle and my friends at the biggest retail store ~~on the internet~~ in the world, Kirsti, Amiya and I found ourselves in Krates and Natsumi’s place in San Mateo, devouring some good old Mexican food. Pancho Villa, you may not have succeeded in your cross border land grab, but your namesake taqueria is a legacy that most revolutionaries must envy! Tomorrow, it’s back to work in downtown SF!

Smackdab in the Middle of Birthday Month

kallol — Mon, 21 May 2007 06:29:40 +0000

If it’s May, then it’s time for birthday cake, party favours and noisemakers at the Das-Gardiner household! Amiya turned two on the third and I turn thirty five in a couple of days. Amiya had a wonderful party at scenic Carkeek Park in North Seattle. Seattle showed her pleasure for her native son’s second anniversary by liberally providing every weather element save hail, snow and sleet as a backdrop. Owen, Abbie and Achilles were the junior guests and demonstrated a keen ability to keep their parents busy. Owen showed Amiya how to shimmy up the twisty pole (with help from his dad Mark), Abbie was a very successful hider while her dad Peter wasn’t a very successful seeker and Achilles demonstrated almost supernatural peripheral vision in his quest to find cupcakes wherever they were.
Amiya’s loot was plentiful, with a large train, art supplies and a brand new fire truck to add to the gifts that he had already received. Lucky kid. While Amiya got some of his presents a little late, I got my presents early in the form of a Japanese tea set with which to enjoy the best tea in the world and a dinner at Hing Loon.

It’s Been a Long Time…

kirsti — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:39:15 +0000

I have not been very diligent about posting but I have kept up the photo albums. Among the new albums is Amiya’s first day of preschool. The new setting has been fum for both of us. I have met lots of new parents and Amiya is learning that not all toys belong to him. He has also started bringing home his first art masterpieces. I have high hopes on the resale value of the playdough turkey.
Kallol, Terry and I finished the Portland Marathon. I wouldn’t say that any of us “enjoyed” the race but we were all happy to finish. Kallol got the honor of carrying Amiya over the finish line. I get to carry him the next marathon. I shudder to think how much he will weigh by the time I run another marathon.

We took an amazing trip to Japan in October. It was our first family adventure abroad and although I was nervous, Japan was a great place to travel with a toddler. People were very friendly to our little man and he was entranced with all the lights and people, not to mention the plethora of elevators and escalators. We can’t wait to go back.
We just got back from a snow filled trip to Whistler, Canada. The skiing was amazing for us and Amiya went on his first sled ride with his buddy Owen. There are also some great pictures of our trip to the aquatic park.
I hope you enjoy the new photos. I leave you with some new vocabulary words:

Amiya speak: Earlip=elevator, Nah=light, Om=orange

New Pictures!

kirsti — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:15:10 +0000

Summer has been full of trips to the wading pool and visits from family. Didima and Grandpa finally returned from months in Alaska but it didn’t take Amiya long to remember his grandparents. He has been spending quite a bit of time dancing around their living room to various types of music. As long as it has a good beat, Amiya can be seen shaking his head to and fro along with a few hip gyrations. Amiya still finds time to obsess about turning on every light and fan available and he can have a ten minute conversation with himself using only the word apple. I envy the focus that comes with youth.
Grandma Julane came to visit after being away for almost four months. It was amazing to think that Amiya couldn’t talk or walk the last time she saw him. They quickly bonded and we spent lots of time eating ice cream and playing in the park.

Kallol and I are nearing the end of our marathon training. The big 20 mile run is this weekend and then we slow down to get ready for the race October 1st.

I guess summer is over but I am not ready to let it go… Look for pictures of our first camping trip with Amiya coming soon.

On language, a scraped knee and a baby jogger

kallol — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:15:17 +0000

Like everything about being a parent for the first time, watching language bloom in a child is breathtaking. Amiya, Kirsti and I have officically entered the world of baby-speak, conversing in our own patois of signs and single syllable words where context is critical. For example, ‘ba’ can mean alternately, “Baba”, “Where is Baba?”, “pacifier”, “book” and “bear”, among other things. A rotating hand can mean “table fan”, “exhaust fan” and “juice”. His favourite word amongst a burgeoning collection, however, is apple. We’re not sure from where his fascination with all things regarding apples stems, but there are few joys in Amiya’s life that compare with looking for, looking at and holding apples. We’ve even heard him talk in his sleep about apples. No, that’s not a typo. During dreams of what is most certainly Amiya gazing at a downpour of apples from an apple filled sky onto an apple covered landscape, Kirsti and I have heard him whisper his favourite word.
What is particularly fascinating to me is how babies learn to use tone to add context and meaning. Knowing nothing about linguisitics, I would expect that to be a subtle concept, but the difference between Amiya’s “Apple?” (Where is the apple?) and “Apple!” (Oh, there it is!) is as crisp as our own use of tones to specify meaning. Another wonderful experience is seeing him understand the concept of something like a fish (”A smaking of lips”) or a duck (”Duh”) which he demonstrates by identifying fishes and ducks regardless of their representation or form, from stylized bath toys to realistic pictures. It’s all just very nifty.

And so with language and scraped knees acquired through rambunctious play, our little baby has embraced his calling as a toddler, veritably waddling around our house and dancing whenever the slightest bit of music is playing. Indeed, the little baby is rapidly turning into a little boy.

Meanwhile, for those of you who don’t know, Kirsti and I are now just past the halfway point of training for the Portland Marathon. The last time that we trained for a marathon, an incipient little Mr. D prevented Kirsti from continuing to train and compete. This time Kirsti might actually get to capitalize on her training regime.

Father’s Day News

kirsti — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 05:05:18 +0000

Amiya learned to walk on Father’s Day, a great gift for his Baba. I know Kallol would have preferred the traditional breakfast in bed, (which at this stage would have consisted of a tub of applesauce) but it was wonderful to see Amiya tottering around the house. More and more accidents are sure to follow this latest development but I guess it is all part of the experience.

The last month has been a bit challenging for me as Amiya has been very clingy (picture him hugging my legs as I try to unload the dishwasher) and he is not interested in going to sleep most nights until 9 or 10 but still insists on getting up at 6. It is probably all the new things he is learning and his new awarness that when he goes to sleep he might be missing all sorts of exciting stuff.

Amiya has been learning new signs and words almost daily. He is pretty stuck on the B words and has mastered ball, bus, Baba, hat and as of yesterday, apple. His signs include, light, fan, dog, milk, plane, hat, and bunny. He is totally uninterested in learning the signs that might help me out like more or all done but it is still fun to see him communicate.

Amiya had another checkup three months after his surgery and all is well with his head. He is also putting on some weight (19 pounds at 13 months). All that wonderful fat I have been adding to everything is paying off. I won’t mention the weight I have added.

Kallol and I are in training for the Portland Marathon. The last time I tried to run this I got pregnant so hopefully I will make it to the race this time.

I have posted some new pictures. Mithu and Amiya and I spent a few days in Albany, Oregon visiting my grandmother. The drive down was a very long 7 hours in traffic. Mithu was awarded the medal of endurance for her ability to entertain Amiya under extreme conditions.