Hmmm, has it been awhile???

For my five readers or so, I know it's been a LOOOONG time since I've posted anything -- sorry about that! I've thought of numerous posts in my head, but I just haven't taken the time to put them on "paper." That said, I'm sure you managed to find other things to read. And I can't promise that I won't take another long hiatus. But for now, I know I'd regret it if I didn't memorialize a few of the things that Kiren is up to these days.

As an aside, Vivek and I are already trying to remember when Kiren did this or that, and he keeps telling me that it is my job to write this stuff down...never mind that Vivek is the much more conscientious emailer in the family (as you all already are painfully aware, I'm terrible at it), which would translate nicely into maintaining a blog; nope, apparently it is simply my job -- so here goes!

--Kiren can walk! Well, he's getting there, that is. He stood himself up and took a few steps on July 3rd, while we were up north for a vacation. These days, it is still pretty wobbly, but he is adding a few more this week; I think the most I've seen in a row is about 6.

--He can say a handful of words. I'd say his first word was uh-oh, sometime before he turned 1, but this is where the faulty memory kicks in because I he's been saying it for awhile. And it was his only word for a very long time. His second word was "this" anytime he pointed to anything. My theory is that we must have taught him that by pointing at things all along and asking him, "what is this?, "what's this?" I think we may have messed him up, but I'm sure he'll sort it out soon. He's now moved onto "mama" (a full week before he learned "dada" -- yay!) And he knows "nana," which means banana, not grandma, but it doesn't necessarily mean he actually wants to eat one, as he ate them for awhile, but now he just takes a small bite and then pitches it overboard. And he sometimes uses "nana" for other fruits too.

--Most recently, he's starting to say "no," but he doesn't usually mean it so far. He does know what it means, though, when we use it complete with the tone. On Sunday, we went over to a friend's house for a BBQ, and they have a 12-month-old who was about to chew on the table. Both parents said no to him fairly forcefully, and Kiren happened to be directly behind the other kiddo, so he thought the no was directed at him. He did a perfect pout and then disolved into massive tears. He was really upset that they were mad at him. Yup, he knows that word!

--Around 8 months or so, we starting doing baby signs with Kiren, but he's not much for doing them back until recently. The first thing that worked was panting as the sign for dog, and he's been doing that one for ages (before he turned one -- again I'm not sure how long). Then he started panting for cats, trees, other things he saw outside. Basically, it was wildly successful. More recently, he learned the sound for cat -- he says "ooow." Late last week he learned the sign for "more," though grunting and pointing at what he wants is still his preferred way of expressing that sentiment.

--He's quite a mimic when he wants to be. Every time we sneeze or cough, he makes the same noise -- so cute!

--For months I didn't think Kiren liked books, but we're getting there. He plays with them all the time now, especially the ones with flaps to open. He still rarely sits still for them, but very occasionally you can get a whole book in, especially if you're reading his favorite, "I See A Monster." In the past few days, he's started giving (open mouth) kisses, and Vivek has him giving kisses to the bears in "Who Do You Love?" It's adorable.

Okay, I think that's plenty for now. And, yes, if you are wondering, this is mostly just a blog about Kiren and our family stories, as I'm likely to stay out of politics, my job, current events, or anything else that might get me in trouble. Yup, I probably lost about 2.5 of my readers there, as I'm sure the world has no need for another blog that discusses what adorable things jr. can do now. However, I'm really doing this so I can remember this stuff, since I have a pretty faulty memory (did I mention that already; I can't remember). And I figured there were at least a few people (Kiren's grandparents, aunts, uncles...that's about it, probably :)) who would want to hear about what's up with us too.