Blog links update

Please note that the link in the sidebar has been updated and now points to Shal's new blog at wordpress. It is a bit late for advertising, but those who haven't done so yet should go and take a look...

Appu fa pratica con il cucchiaio

Little Appu practices eating his beloved plain pasta with olive oil using a spoon.

Ecco il piccolo Rajiv intento a mangiare la sua amata pasta in bianco usando un cuchiaio (!!!!).





And naturally he is proud of his accomplishments.

Felicita' e' un cucchiaio tutto per me...



Sometimes it's easier to go back to the old methods...

Ogni tanto si ritorna ai vecchi sistemi...



... and then we need a little bit of help.

... e allora serve un po' di aiuto.



But most importantly, our little Rajiv has learnt to pose for the camera. And he thinks this is his best pose:

Ma soprattutto, il piccolo Rajiv ha imparato ha mettersi in posa. E secondo lui, questa e' la sua posa migliore (mi ricorda un po' mia sorella devo dire...):

Riprendiamo le comunicazioni

We have been in India for about a month now. Unfortunately in this month there was never a moment when none of us was sick, and hence the lack of blogging energy. Right now I am feeling well though, so it is a good time to get started again.

A few quick updates:

Appu has a new word. He says "ca" for "car"... but also for "light", "cup", "I'm hungry", etc.. :)

He is now able to walk up and down the stairs on his own, with one hand on the wall or the railings, and he is very proud of this new skill, all he wants to do is going up and down the stairs. He had a lot of fun with this in Calicut after Christmas, at his grandparents' house.

The Calicut trip was also a lot of fun because of the cousin Jaydev, who is now one of Appu's favorite little people.

By the way, the only picture I can offer you at this point is from the first day in Calicut, early morning, just off the train. Someone was not tired...





Siamo in India da circa un mese ormai. Vari piccoli ma fastidiosi problemi di salute ci hanno perseguitati fino ad ora, ma adesso stiamo tutti bene e non ci sono piu' scuse per trascurare il blog.

La foto che vedete sopra risale alla prima mattina a Calicut, 27 Dicembre. Il piccolo Rajiv ha apprezzato moltissimo la casa dei nonni, con una lunga scalinata da percorrere avanti e indietro fino allo sfinimento (sa fare le scale da solo!), un sacco di giocattoli del cugino Jaydev, e soprattutto... il cugino Jaydev in persona! Il cuginetto ha quasi quattro anni, ma non disdegna la compagnia di un devoto ammiratore un po' piu' giovane. Si sono divertiti un sacco insieme, a parte qualche breve momento di disaccordo subito risolto. La presenza dello zio Vijay (fratello di S., detto "chicha" dai piu' piccoli, che lo adorano) e' stata la ciliegina sulla torta.

Altre novita':

Pian piano Appu comincia a dire un paio di parole comprensibili in mezzo ai lunghi discorsi in una strana lingua aliena che non abbiamo ancora decifrato. Oltre a "ba" o "pa" per "ball" (o "palla"?) adesso dice "ca" per "car". Naturalmente gli stessi suoni sono anche riservati ad un sacco di altri oggetti, come lampada ("ca"!), cereali ("ca"!), e cosi' via.
A Calicut c'era una fotografia di S. e i suoi fratelli e Appu indicava la foto e poi indicava S. e diceva "pa!". Poi pero' indicava gli zii, mostrava di riconoscerli nella foto e diceva "pa!". Anche il tavolino su cui c'e' la foto e tutti gli altri soprammobili sembrano essere "pa"...

Saremo in India fino ai primi di Marzo e cercheremo di mantenere il blog attivo senza altre interruzioni. Buon anno a tutti!

Art time

In questa puntata, il nostro Appu disegna con i pastelli. Non si sa bene quando sia successo, ma improvvisamente il piccolo Rajiv sembra essere capace di stare seduto per un po' di tempo a fare cose tipo giocare con le costruzioni, sfogliare dei libri e farseli leggere, o disegnare. Ovviamente assaggia anche i pastelli, ma molto meno di una volta, e soprattutto... non gli piacciono! Li sputa! Evviva!

Today we had fun with crayons. As some of you know we have been more or less confined at home for a few days because I had tendinitis and we have had to come up with ways to pass the time. Fortunately this coincides with a new phase of my little one's life in which he suddenly seems to have a decent attention span - he even lets me read to him... So today we sat down and made pictures for more than an hour (!!!).



I put on the floor the top of an ex Ikea coffee table and we used that as art station. He sat on it for the whole time, it was amazing. In fact he sat right on his "canvas" for the whole time, I think it might be the beginning of a new art wave.












As I said, he likes to sit on his work, hence only half gets colored, but the result is quite attractive (says the mom...).



The happy artist!

Morning madness

These photos were taken today morning before daycare. We were chatting with S. on Skype (notice the laptop on the table) and Appu was demonstrating his screaming and climbing skills to the dad - you might observe that the climbing performance was not documented by the photographer, but the screaming one was.





A casual observe might think that this is just a chaotic kitchen, but everything in fact serves a purpose. Please notice the rice-cooker box on the floor, strategically located so that little Rajiv can step on it and look at his dad on the screen - and scratch it if that's what he feels like doing. The box is also absolutely necessary to climb on the little booster seat on the chair, and from there the sky is the limit.

Why is the packet of instant noodles on the floor? Well, there would be a beatiful answer to that too, but unfortunately the time at my disposal is too short to write it.




What would you do if somebody were taking pictures of you? You would try to assault the photographer and run away with the camera, no doubt. Appu feels just the same.



More exploration of our kitchen. Please note Appu's personal pot on the floor, he likes to put in the cabinet and then take it out again. You might also wonder if that blue object is in fact a baseball bat. It is. Appu uses it sometimes to play his little piano.



After a last almost successful attempt of the subject to get at the camera, the photographer retires for the day.

We are thankful to Emiliano, but especially to Ilaria I suspect, for Rajiv's outfit.

Celebrating 18

Il piccolo Rajiv compie un anno e mezzo! Per festeggiarlo abbiamo raccolto un po' di fotografie scattate nell'ultimo mese o poco piu' in momenti tipici della vita quotidiana di un kunjappu.

Our little one is one year and a half now! This gives me the perfect excuse to unload here a bunch of pictures that I was keeping aside for posts that I will never have time to write. They were all taken in the past month or so and they do capture a lot of appuness, I think, if pictures ever can...

Winter travel

The blog is back after a sad incident with spilled soup that has kept my laptop at rest for some time...

A quick update on our future movements:
S. is leaving on Monday to go back to his job in Chennai. He will reach on Tuesday night Indian time. Appu and I will follow at the end of the month, with a two day stop-over in Torino to say hello to the grandparents. We will be in India for three months, then we will return to Canada in time to see the bears coming out of hibernation...:)

We are a bit worried about how Appu will take these three weeks without his dad and we wish it were December already. On the bright side, it seems there will be a lot of snow here next week, so maybe little Appu will have fun outside. It is time to try on the new snowsuit!