Indoor Safari Park

Our family outing for the month of February was to The Indoor Safari Park.  The name says it all... it is an indoor fantasy land filled with porcelain and life size stuffed animals.  We had very low expectations of this place, but we decided to give it a shot for Dhruvi's sake.  Oh, and the Groupon and 3 mile proximity to our home definitely helped :)

To our pleasant surprise, we really enjoyed this place.  There were multiple bounce houses, trampolines, a mini train, and robotic animals to ride.  

We started off with things familiar to Dhruvi

Soon, Dhruvi indicated he was ready to be more adventurous.

One of Dhruvi's favorite animal is the Panda.  They had a big porcelain Panda and Dhruvi got a kick out of being up, close, and personal with "Pana".

This is Dhruv exchanging pleasantries with the Pana: "Hiyo Panna"

What can I say? Dhruvi's enthusiasm is contagious...

Once Dhruvi realized Pana was not responding, he quickly lost interest in Pana and moved on to the slide.  Dhruvi really enjoys sliding.  We often go to the park in our neighborhood, but this slide was super smooth.  He had a blast going zweeeeeeee!

Hmmmm...to slide, or not to slide?

Wow, this is fun... catch me Papa

Practice makes perfect, so I will slide multiple times...

Now that I have perfected my art, let me try something new

We had to drag Dhruvi away from the slide, so he could experience the other attractions.  Next up, The Trampoline.  This was Dhruvi's first time in a Trampoline... needless to say he enjoyed defying gravity, or at least trying to.

All aboard the "Chug Chug Puff Puff Di Dong" (Dhruvi's name for the train).

We finally made our way to the robotic animals.... This was the most fun part for Mandar and me.  We enjoyed watching Dhruvi go through the negotiation process and finalizing his ride (like father like son).

Patiently awaiting his turn...


We nudged him to ride the elephant..


... but Dhurvi and elephant could not strike a deal, so Dhruvi focused his energy on sweet talking the cheetah..


.. like his Papa, he went through a thorough QA process, and also convinced the Cheetah of being a "Doggie"


Dhruvi finally struck a deal

At first, Dhruvi was a little scared to ride the Doggie, but with Papa by his side he enjoyed himself.  We really enjoyed our outing and will be returning soon.

18 Months Old Today

Today is Dhruvi's 18 month birthday.  I can't believe my little baby is  a year and a half old!  It is bittersweet to watch him grow so quickly.  After our trip to India, Dhruvi has blossomed into a little man that can hold his own and in many instances bully both Mandar and me.

I took a little trip down memory lane today to reminisce our chunky monkey's past six months.

Month 12 -  Our baby turns one!

Month 13 -  Dhruvi loves the beach.  We took this pic on Mandar's birthday trip to Cancun Mexico

Month 14 -  This was a special month for Dhruvi when Pallu (Dhruvi calls Pillu moshi) visited him for the first time.  We were hanging out in the backyard just before we went out for dinner

Month 15 -  I love this picture because I see myself in my baby boy.  Dhruvi drinks a lot of water just like me and is obsessed with my water bottle

Month 16 -  Dhruvi's debut trip to India.  He really had a blast and was so happy to be surrounded by his family.  This picture is Dhruvi sporting his first pair of Kolhapuri Chappals

Month 17 - We have a duck pond very close to our home.  Weather permitting we often go to the pond to feed the ducks.  It was an unusually warm day in the month of January and our little duckling is thrilled to be outdoors.

Month 18 - 18 month old going on eight. Bundle of energy, loves an adventure, spontaneous hugger and kisser, and the joy of our life!

Today being Dhruv's birthday, I wanted to do something special for Dhruvi to celebrate this big milestone, but being a weekday was restricted in what I could do.  I settled for making his favorite dish - Shrikhand and stuck a candle in the bowl. Dhruvi kept calling the Shrikhand cake.  I think he was confused because of the candle.  Dhruvi enjoyed eating the Shrikhand and making a mess.

I let Dhruvi do pretty much what he wanted today which was to watch TV and see the Chipmunks perform Bad Romance on YouTube, not once, but 4 times!.  Dhruvi was also allowed to play for 10 whole minuted on the iPad and pummel Talking Tom .  All in all I think he had a good birthday.

Happy V Day!

Valentine's Day is now one of my favorite Hallmark Holidays.  Mandar and I have not really cared much about V day before.  Okay, I lied.  I have "claimed" to not care much for V day, but would be very upset if Mandar sticks to what I say and not buy me flowers on V Day.  Having Dhruv in our life makes this day very special.  It is one more day to remind us how much he fills our heart with love and joy.

I was really excited about this Valentine's day because Dhruvi is at an age where he probably understands that this day is different and involves flowers, balloons, and sweets .  Oh, and did I mention cute picture opportunities?  Here are a few shots that I captured right before V Day.  Dhruvi was thrilled about wearing his Papa's tie, being constantly kissed by his mamma, and eating a rose :)

My favorite one from our photo shoot

Mandar loves mishti doi ( a Bengali sweet dish) , so this year instead of doing the traditional chocolates or cake, I experimented making mishti doi for my two boys.  The verdict?  Mandar loved it and Dhruvi promptly spat it out :(  Mandar thinks Dhruvi's palette needs to mature.

We spent the evening celebrating with our dear friends Ashwin, Sav, Aditya, and Arjun.  All in all it was a great day and we feel lucky to have baby cupid in our life.

Story Time

We love story time.  Every night before our little munchkin goes to sleep he will very sweetly point to his books and say "mamma book".  What he means by that is can you please read me my four favorite books:

1. Curious George

2. Good Night NY City

3. Baby Animals

4. The Little Train that Could

We have no idea why he prefers these 4 over others.  These are not the most visually arresting books, nor do they make any sounds, so it must be the way we narrate the story. Dhruvi knows some of the words and pages in the book very well and will often skip to that page and say the words he knows.  A few days back he picked up his baby animal book and said "Ackoon" which means Racoon.  Out of all the animals Dhruvi had to pick the Ackoon.  My theory is that the dark circles remind him of Mandar's dark circles :)

But I digress...Today's pics are not about reading him his 4 favorite books, but reading books on the iPad.  In the spirit of full disclosure, the pics are about me testing my new camera's low light capabilities.  He actually does not care what we read to him on the iPad, he will happily watch the screen as Mandar gets his daily dose of CricInfo.

It started off reading a real book under a blanket fort and a torch...

And soon we settled on the iPad.  This one is my favorite shot from today..

And we finally ended up in bed snuggling with Papa..

Dhruvi loves all electronic gadgets, but the iPad by far his is most favorite, like father like son.

Cupcake Mess

Mandar and I always bicker amicably about which side of the family Dhruvi represents.  Is he a carnivore Puranik that prefers savory and spicy foods over sweets? Or does he have the decadent Bapat sweet tooth?  The truth is he is perfect blend of both ( at least that is my official story).

Dhruvi never really cared for cake earlier, or so we thought until we went to India over the winter break and discovered he really likes icing more than cake.  We had a cake smash for Dhruvi on his first birthday, but despite the encouragement he refused to indulge.   This weekend we let Dhruvi have a cupcake and loved the mess our little munchkin made.  We are really looking forward to his cake smash on his second birthday.

The Beginning

Let the Mess Begin....

Yummmmmm

Papa to the Rescue

Here Papa, Your Turn

Sugar High

Finished

Done, baassh (means finished in Marathi), no.  Dhruvi's way of telling us he is done having his cake and eating it too!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Today was the second snow of this season.  The first one was on Christmas day, since we were in India we missed the wintry wonderland.  So lucky for us that we had another snow day in the big D.

This was Dhruv's first experience with snow, and I was really excited to see his reaction. A picture speaks a thousand words....

Once he saw the snow he was curious to touch it and put it in his mouth :)

We don't have the right snow gear for Dhruv, so I really did not want him playing in the snow for a long time , but could not resist the temptation of making a few snow balls for him.  He had a quizzical look on his face at first...

Typically when Dhruv throws something on the floor it is an edible product or the "bone" (iPhone), and this act is quickly followed by Mandar or me saying "no Dhruvi... we don't throw whatever it is on the floor".  He did not hear those known words and appeared confused initially. 

He quickly realized I was encouraging him to throw the snow balls and found it rather amusing.  I am really thankful for the flexibility I have with my job and the ability to work from home.  It really gives me an opportunity to enjoy these precious moments with our little monkey.