Happy Birthday, Arya!

Our little Arya is turning 3 years old today. I can hardly believe it. She is such a fun little girl. She loves to talk, talk, talk, and tell you all the things that she is thinking. She loves singing songs. (I need to post some videos of her recent favorites.) She loves painting at her easel in the kitchen, which she does nearly every day. Some of her favorite things to paint include fish in water, Sesame Street characters, ducks, and the Lion King. (She has a Lion King book, and likes to look at the book and have me help her copy one of the pictures in it - where Mufasa and Sarabi are standing on the big rock with baby Simba.) She loves to read books and to go to the library, where they have a big wooden boat to play in.

One of her other favorite things to do is to play games at one of the two websites we let her go to - sesamestreet.org and nickjr.com. I am amazed watching her navigate the sites, pick the games that she wants to play and work the keypad or mouse to do the things that she wants to do! At Nick Jr., some of the games ask you to type in your name, which she excitedly does, and then at the end they'll make a little card for you that you can print out that says something like, "Arya saves the day!!" with a picture of the Wonder Pets or other characters. She has to ask to use the printer, but really loves it when I let her print something!! We definitely have to limit how much she plays because I think she'd play all day long if we would let her!!

Arya is very excited about the Spring flowers that are starting to pop up. She wants to pick them all! She is very happy that it is getting warmer and that we've been able to play outside more lately. We like to walk down to the "duck pond" at the retirement complex that is close to our house, and she always asks if we have any old bread she can take to feed the ducks and swans. She likes to plant rocks in the yard (which I discourage), but also likes to plant leaves too. She'll push aside the dirt, stick whatever she is planting into the ground, and cover it with more dirt. She'll water it too, if she has any access to something that will hold water! She likes to look for what she calls "beautiful leaves", and likes to point out the different colors that she notices in the sky when the sun is getting low. She'll say, "Look, Mommy, the sky is SO beautiful!" I wish you could hear it!!

I wanted to write a little about these things so that I can remember exactly what this stage in her life was like, but there are so many things that I love about her that it is hard to write them all down. Needless to say, we can't imagine life without this precious little girl in our lives. We love you so much, Arya!! Happy Birthday!!

Arya loves chopsticks!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Japanese restaurant (where they cook at the table in front of you) for Rajeev's birthday. Arya was a little nervous about being that close to the fire on the table. (I think that means we're doing our job as parents, right? Don't get too close to fire! It can burn you!) However, she LOVED using the chopsticks that they gave her. (They had those little plastic things to hook the two sticks together and make them easier to use.) I took a video of her using them. It is a little dark, but I think it is pretty cute!!

What should we name the baby?

We have had trouble coming up with the right name for the baby that is about to arrive. Arya, however, has had no trouble at all. At the beginning of February, we were talking about name options, and Arya said, "I think a good name for the baby would be Walden. Walden is a good name and it is a boy's name." She's pretty much settled on that name ever since. (In case you're wondering where "Walden" came from, no it isn't a reference to Henry David Thoreau's famous book. It is a reference to a character on the cartoon Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! She doesn't even get to watch that cartoon very often, but apparently the name of the silly scientist on the show has made an impression on her!!)

Getting ready for a new baby...

Arya is getting very excited about the upcoming arrival of her baby brother. She likes to curl up next to me and talk to my belly to say hi to him. She'll often say something along these lines, "Hi, baby! I'm your big sister, Arya! I love you! I can't wait to meet you! I think you will like the Dumbo ride at Disney World!" That last part cracks me up, and it is something that she tells the baby quite frequently!!

Arya has liked hearing the story about when she was born. The story of her birth that I tell her goes something like this: Before you were born, you grew in Mommy's tummy. We waited and waited as you got bigger and bigger and bigger and my tummy got bigger and bigger and bigger! (This is a phrase from the book, God Gave Us You, which she likes to read.) When it was time for you to be born, Daddy and I went to the hospital and we spent the night. The next morning, the doctor told us you would be coming that day!! Everyone was so excited! We waited for you all day long and then you were born! So many people that love you came to meet you (I then tell her everyone who came to see her that day). They were all so happy that you had arrived! (Wow! What an easy birth, right?!!)

Well, we've also talked to Arya about what will happen when her baby brother is born. She knows that Mommy and Daddy will go to the hospital and that she will get to stay with Grandma or Aunt Sara and Uncle Landon. Then, after the baby is born, Grandma or Aunt Sara and Uncle Landon will bring her to the hospital and she'll get to see Mommy and Daddy and meet her new baby brother!

The other night, I was cooking dinner when Rajeev and Arya came into the kitchen. Rajeev looked at me and said, "Arya has a question for you!" They had evidently just had the following conversation:

Arya: When the baby is born, will Mommy's tummy break?
Rajeev: No, Arya, the doctor will be there to help. Don't worry, Mommy's tummy won't break!
Arya: (laughing) But Daddy, Mommy doesn't have a hole in her tummy!! How will the baby get out??!
(That's when Rajeev turned to me for some sort of great age-appropriate explanation!)
Me: Well, Arya, the doctor will help the baby be born and Mommy's tummy will be just fine!! It won't break! You don't need to worry!

Fortunately, that seemed to be enough detail for her for that day!! I'm sure this is only the start of the questions that we'll have to answer in the years to come though!!

Arya on TV!!

On Sunday we went to Winterfest, near Rajeev's parents' house in Vaughan. The Backyardigans were scheduled to perform, and we knew Arya would really enjoy that. She loves the show, which is about a group of friends that get together in their backyards to go on all sorts of exciting adventures using their imaginations. All of the adventures feature lots of fun songs as well.

Anyway, we were excited to be able to take her to see the show before we left Toronto and headed back to Muncie. It was an outdoor show, so all of the little kids were so bundled up! Arya loved it, and afterwards, we just happened to be passing by when RogersTV was interviewing kids. She had no problem taking the microphone and answering all of the questions that they asked her!! She didn't even seem to have trouble coming up with answers at all! (I shouldn't have been surprised, since she is naturally so talkative!!) We didn't get to spend too long due to the fact that we had to drive home on Sunday, but we did love the show and we got to go on a horse and buggy ride before leaving too. (Arya was wondering why we could only do two things when there were other rides and activities all around!!)

Anyway, the clip played on the show FirstLocal on RogersTV on Monday, 2/9/09. If you want to see the clip, the segment about Winterfest starts about 11 minutes in, with Arya appearing right around 12 minutes in. You can view the link here. I am hoping that the link will be good for more than just today!! If it stops working, let me know and I'll try to post another link.

Thanks, Vaughan, for providing such a fun (and FREE!) activity for families!! We're so glad we had the chance to attend!

I want to be the manager now!

While in Toronto visiting Rajeev's family, Arya has had lots of fun playing with Bunu Phupu (Rajeev's sister). Bunu has a laptop, and Arya is a huge fan of laptops (and really of any computer that allows her to access the sesamestreet.org website).

Bunu works in a bank, and Arya also likes to pretend that she is working in a bank. She'll fill her little purse with change and take it to Bunu and ask to deposit or withdraw something. Or, she'll want to be the manager and sit at Bunu's laptop while Bunu comes to deposit or withdraw something. So funny! Anyway, lately she has been really interested in being the manager. We just had the following conversation with her...

Arya: I want to be the manager now! (i.e. I want to use the computer!)
Rajeev: What does the manager do, Arya?
Arya: First someone takes the money and gives it to the manager. Then the manager types the money into the computer. That's how you be the manager.

Wow, being a manager sounds pretty simple!

Arya's First Day of "School"

Last Wednesday, I took Arya to her first day of "school". It is actually a Parents' Day Out program at a preschool/church where several of our friends' kids go to preschool. We have the option of taking her to the program a couple of afternoons and/or mornings a week. She went last Wednesday and again today, and she seemed to have a lot of fun. She says that the teachers are nice. They've told me that she has been a really good girl both days she has been there. She has been hesitant to leave both of the days when I've come to pick her up because she has enjoyed cooking in their toy kitchen so much. She also likes the slide, which is part of their indoor playground. She takes her lunch when she goes, and she thinks that is fun. (She likes me to pack her favorite lunch - a ham and cheese sandwich.) The pictures above are of Arya all ready to head to school with her lunch bag! I still can't believe how she is growing up!!

Recent comments from Arya

Yesterday, we had to drive down to Indy. On the way, I let Arya have a sucker that they gave her the last time we stopped at the bank. It was close to sunset, so the sun was low and shining through the window. I looked at Arya and saw her holding her sucker out in front of her. When she saw me, she said, "Mommy, my blue sucker looks so beautiful with the sun on it!" It was such a sweet observation that I decided I had to write it down. I am amazed at the things that she notices.

Another funny thing Arya said yesterday was this, "Mommy, I'm a sweet girl, but I'm not food."

She comes up with the funniest things. I'll try to keep posting them from time to time here on her blog.

December mini photo shoot

In December, we did a mini photo shoot of our family to use in our Christmas cards. I thought I'd post a few of them so the blog would have some updated photos of our little Arya.

Warm feet AND hands!

I had to post this snapshot that I took of Arya today. We were getting ready to go to the grocery store, and I asked Arya to go get some socks out of her drawer and put them on. Soon, she came back wearing the two sets of socks above. (She didn't roll up her pants like that. I did that so that you could see both pairs of socks!) "Look, Mommy! I put these blue ones on my feet and these pink ones on my hands! That way my feet won't get cold AND my hands won't get cold!!!" Pretty smart! :)

Mommy, where is Barack Obama?

Yesterday, Arya went with me to vote early. I knew that we might have to deal with some lines, so I was trying to get Arya excited about going to "vote". She knows who Barack Obama is and regularly points him out when she sees his picture on the computer, TV, or like last week, in the books on tape section of the gas station we stopped at while driving back from Toronto. "Arya, we're going to go vote for Barack Obama!! Isn't that exciting?" I said to her yesterday. She asked lots of questions, trying to figure out what it meant to vote for president. The best question came when we actually got to the County Building, where early voting was taking place. "Mommy, where is Barack Obama? Is he in there?" Sadly, I had to explain to her that she wasn't going to get to see him in the Delaware County building. She was clearly disappointed.

Maybe the fact that I let her push the red button to submit my vote once I was finished voting was able to make up for some of the disappointment. When her daddy got home last night, she got to proudly announce, "Daddy, WE voted for Barack Obama today! ....And I got to push the red button!"


(I took this photo at the Obama rally in Indy October 8. I was going to take Arya with me, just for the history of the event, but since it was a pretty yucky day she stayed home and played with Hama instead.)