Happy New Year 2011 to our Family and Friends!

Welcome the Year of the Rabbit! 

Naina, the Easter Bunny

As we begin our new year 2011 we reflect on the year that is behind us.  For our family, it was our first full year with Naina ("Nana-chan") who is now 21 months old.  We'd like to share with you some of the highlights!

The cool thing about blogging is that you don't have to recap events in detail because they are already posted!  On the right hand side of this blog you can see all of our archived past entries.  Our blog entries are mostly in chronological order, but unfortunately, Haruka has not yet gotten into the habit of blogging in timely manner.  Murali is also working on adding more Flip videos to our site.  Maybe we need to add a few things to our list of New Year's Resolutions in 2011. :-)

Our Travels

Christmas at the O'Reilly's (in New York)

Naina at the Bronx Botanical Gardens, with Obaachan (Grandma) and Ojiichan (Grandpa)

We made many trips, big and small in 2010.  In January, Haruka & Naina traveled to Seattle to visit Kasumi, Ted and Sienna, who welcomed Baby Jonah!  In May, the whole family traveled to Ithaca, NY for Haruka's 20th Cornell Reunion -- even Haruka's parents joined us!  In September, we made an almost month long trip to Kolkata!  At long last, we were able to introduce Naina to her Patti (grandma) and Girija Athai (auntie).  For Christmas, we were in New York again -- this year Tamao was also in town! Skype is great, but nothing beats getting to see the extended family in person! 

I love you too, Patti (Grandma, in India)

Auntie Girija and Naina with Mt. Kanchendzonga in the background

Some of our more local travels included multiple trips to Lick Observatory, where we have been volunteering for 7 years.  Like music?  Like stargazing?  Maybe you can come join us at one of Lick’s Music of the Spheres summer concerts, at Mt. Hamilton, the Bay Area's highest peak (yup, even higher than Mt. Diablo.)

Naina checks out the butterfly on her Dad's head.

We also made it to San Francisco a bunch of times this year, mostly to see some excellent museum exhibits.  We met up with Sammi and Katherine at the Asian Art Museum -- Naina liked the BART ride more than the Shanghai exhibit.  When Haruka's cousin Maria visited from Japan, we went to see the King Tut exhibit at the de Young museum.  The deYoung Museum and the Legion of Honor had multiple Impressionist exhibits from the Musee d'Orsay and we managed to visit both.  But perhaps Haruka enjoyed the spontaneous view of the Japanesque exhibit most of all - it showcased Japanese woodblock prints from the Impressionist era.  In New York, we went to see Picasso at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History.  The highlight was the butterfly exhibit - we were in room with hundreds of flying tropical rain forest butterflies!

Haruka and Naina hiking the rolling hills of Mission Peak

We've always knew that the Bay Area was a beautiful and fun place to live, but with Naina, we see our world with new eyes.  Other places we've enjoyed together include hiking up Mission Peak in Fremont with Naina in a baby backpack; Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose, with the Suekawas; riding a carousel in Tilden Park in Oakland; Children's Fairyland with Jennifer, Jim and Cami; and both San Francisco and Monterey Bay Aquariums.  We've discovered that fish are more interesting than animals at this age.  We also swam (well kinda), and camped in Del Valle Recreational Park in Livermore; visited a pumpkin patch with  Mandy, Ray and Kayli, and took Naina on her first exhilarating bike trip along the Monterey coastline - a full 4 miles!

Work, Work, Work

In December, Murali completed his 10th year at Cisco.  This is the longest he has been in one place so far!  Not sure if this belongs under “Work,” but Haruka completed her 2 year term on the board of the Mt. Diablo Chapter of ASTD.  She continues to volunteer for Cornell, managing a virtual committee of 50 alumni in Alameda County to provide outreach to high school students.  Of course Haruka’s full time job is taking care of little Naina.

Spotlight on Naina:

Most likely, all of you are really only interested in hearing about Naina, so let us shift gears and tell you a little bit about her.  When we got her at 3 months of age, she was a cute smiley blob of a baby.  A year ago, Naina was just about able to pull herself up to stand. Today, she is 1 year and 9 months old and full of personality.  Here are some snapshots:

Naina holds a kabocha from our pumpkin patch.

Favorite Toy:  1st Place: Keroppi Frogs. We have one large and one small, courtesy of Shelli and David (our generous "baby goods supplier,") plus additional frogs purchased for redundancy!  2nd Place: Eric Carle caterpillars.  We have two, coincidentally given to Naina as gifts from Kasumi and Tamao.  We've named one Eric and the other Carle.

Favorite Music: Picnic Playground - Collection of International Children's songs by Putamayo.  She LOVES music and has great rhythm, and even some Cuban motion!  Her favorite Japanese song is Shojoji.  Haruka's mother actually plays 35-year-old cassettes for Naina on Skype.  We had no idea that this song was about a raccoon until we did a search for Shojoji on YouTube.

Favorite Foods: Bread and cheese, when they are cut into flower shapes; Raisin Bran and Cheerios with milk; miso soup with tofu; virtually anything (usually rice, tofu or veggies) with furikake (fish/egg/seaweed sprinkles); udon and soba noodles; strawberries and grapes;  Lactaid (she's lactose intolerant). Yes, yes, we're working on developing her Indian palate too!!  Oh, yes – she loves to munch on ice (she calls it “eyes” by pointing to her own eyes) :-)

Favorite DVD: Signing Time - One of her major achievements is that she is able to communicate at least 75 words using baby sign language.  This includes a dozen animals, a dozen foods, etc.  We can't imagine life without baby signs!  Highly recommended for any of you with kids younger than Naina! 

Favorite Books: Shades of People.  Actually, she likes any books with big photos of babies and kids.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle.  Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes.  ぐるんぱのようちえん (Groompa's Kindergarten) is her favorite Japanese book.

Favorite Animals: Frogs, caterpillars, butterflies, and penguins.  She can sign all these animals and more!

Merry Christmas!

Calling long distance to Patti (Grandma) in India

Favorite Activities: Scribbling with crayons in her Hello Kitty coloring book; dancing to music; playing with water; and walking up to and talking to strangers in restaurants.

Favorite Gadgets: Naina seems to gravitate to anything that looks valuable or important.  This includes cell phones (don't tell her if they don't work!), watches and clocks, and laptops. She even has her own little toy laptop, complete with a "mouse"!

Favorite Places: Gymboree (we have been going to classes in Pleasanton), and Emerald Glen Park (in Dublin).

Favorite Fashion Statement: Sunglasses, no socks.  Such a California girl!

Naptime, with Keroppi(s)

Other Favorites: She loves to point to the moon (she calls it “Mow-oo”) and loves asking for more (“Mo”) of anything she likes!

2011 New Year's Resolutions

So what do we think is in store for us in the New Year?

Naina:  Speaking words (instead of signing); growing more hair so that she isn't mistaken for a boy any longer; and making new friends at daycare (Not sure who will have more separation anxiety -- Naina or her Mom!)

Murali: More work-life balance (tell me something new :-)) and spend more time outdoors, such as hiking and stargazing.

Haruka: Balance. (How Zen  to be able to sum up all resolutions in one word!)

Balance!

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog.  Archived blog entries are on the right side of this blog.  We hope you check in with us again.  Best wishes to each of you for a happy and healthy year.  Hope to see you all more in 2011!

Murali, Haruka & Naina