Long before his first shuffle, hop, toe- Nishad danced his way into my heart. While I was pregnant with him, I would glide across the living room with my hands wrapped around my tummy doing a duet with him. For the first month of his life, he only heard our voices, and classical music. The combination of having dancing in his blood and an early exposure to classical music (pre-natal) is why I think he is so musical.

I enrolled him in a dance class for two sessions. He wasn’t as excited about it as he was dancing in the basement with Mom- little does he know Mom’s connection to dance.

I had to laugh though, as he knew more than he let on while in class… I have videos that would have made his teachers head spin. haha… Now, that is the bias, proud Mamma in me! 🙂

Full steam ahead to the Jackson Street Roundhouse and Museum. Nishad loves trains, hence his 2nd birthday was a train theme. We thought this would be a fun destination on yet another cold Minnesota day. Where else can you ride a caboose for $2 a ticket? http://www.mtmuseum.org/jsrh.shtml

We don’t want our kids to be slaves to commercial products and marketing, so we take special delight in showing him ‘real’ trains. He really has no idea what Thomas the Train even is- and we like it that way. Occasionally, we encounter something ‘Thomas’ and I just make a silly face and say, “That’s so silly. Trains don’t have faces.” And he laughs and says, “That’s not a real train. We don’t like that.” Woo-hoo. Or should I say, “woo-choo!”

Our kids don’t watch TV programs either. Occasionally, we do let him see ‘real’ animals…or if he is sick, an episode of this or that, but that just started a few months ago. Nishad does have a “Curious George” stuffed animal that he knows as “Bunder” (which means monkey in Hindi). People will come up to him and refer to “George” and he’s often quiet as he isn’t quite sure why they are naming his monkey.

An inspirational article that Ashish first read at Oak Hill Montessori was exactly about how children 3 and under shouldn’t watch TV. TV takes away from their sensory skills. It also allows marketing directly to your child- watching ‘shows’ cuts out the middle man. This makes marketing so much easier as they manipulate your child and tell them what their needs and wants are. Here is a great article on this topic: http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/blog/2007/10/television-and-montessori-child-part-1.html

All in all, I think Ashish and I have done pretty well so far at sheltering our kids from the Batman’s, Thomas’, etc. I don’t think we are alone in our beliefs either. Ashish made me feel so good when he commented, “I’m glad that our son learned how to count from you teaching him- not a DVD.”

Fun for ages 0-100! We all piled into the suv and headed to the Minnesota Children’s Museum today with Krista, Jaxson and Vada! Bugs and animals were Nishad’s thing, while bubbles and water were Jaxson’s cup of tea. Baby Vada and Baby Arun pretty much slept the entire time despite the noise from a ton of field trips. The museum does post “quieter times” on their web site. http://www.mtmuseum.org/jsrh.shtml

Nishad enjoyed dressing up like a fireman as well. He thinks his Daddy is a fireman because he ‘puts out fires’ at work. I think he’ll be a little disappointed when he visits Daddy to find he doesn’t have a pole you can slide down, nor a firetruck to ride…just a desk and a computer!

We ate lunch and headed back home around 2PM. Before we knew it, the giggles stopped and our precious angels napped their way back…of course! Only to be up and ready with more energy by the time they arrived home! This Momma was pooped! I think after Arun turns 1, we’ll get a membership. It’s a neat place to spend the day!

Sometimes I feel so undeserving of the life that God has blessed me with. In specific, Ashish and two of the most incredible blessings; our boys. Sometimes I think that all the pain that I endured with my mother’s passing, and hurt I encountered with my ‘out-laws’ was God’s way of showing me that hope prevails and love conquers…

It’s because of my love for Ashish that I was capable to love more than I ever anticipated. That’s when Nishad entered our life. It was because of Nishad that I was able to allow my heart to over-flow with even more love…then Baby Arun arrived.

I recall a friend of mine asking me while I was pregnant with Nishad, “With the world in such turmoil, why have a baby now?” I replied, “A baby brings hope- hope is exactly what our world needs.” Little did I know Obama would coin my phrase of ‘hope’! ha,ha! 🙂

I can’t imagine our lives without Baby Arun. Nishad made us a family and Arun completed the picture. Oh, I do so love our family!