Three, Three, Love a Parteee!

This is the last post I shall write this year and that makes me feel a little bit blue because it has been the most wonderful year- our first together as a foursome! But we won’t discuss fours just yet because first I must tell you about the magic number three!

Yes, I can count a little bit (at least up to three!).

Bro can count loads more and read some numbers too but then I’ve only just turned one, and being able to count at all, and walk wonderfully well (even up the stairs) and talk with such clarity is really advanced (according to many who are not Mom and Dad)! So I thought, as I can count up to three, let me write about the tremendous threes Syon and I have enjoyed this year, while he digs up some good photos for everyone to enjoy.

Let me start by telling you about the three perfect parties we’ve had this year.

First, there was my Annaprashan or First Rice ceremony (to read about Syon’s, please click here) in Kolkata which everyone helped make an enormous success! Didou did most of the organising with Mommy and Daddy doing their bit from across the seas. Ma-sheep flew in from Bangalore early to help with the prep. She blew up balloons, decorated the cake, and kept the guests entertained. Mommy says that blowing up balloons and entertaining guests might make Ma-sheep sound like a children’s party entertainer but she feels it her duty to point out to interested parents that she’s just a fun aunt!

Daddy did a lot of the decorating, whilst the cook served up a banquet. And Mommy, who had planned everything down to the last detail, was satisfied that she had thrown a party fit for a princess- their little princess, me!

Our long-time cook in Kolkata is excellent and the food was simply scrumptious, and the guests, our closest friends and family in India were as warm and wonderful and generous as ever, which meant that not only did I get the most beautiful array of traditional gifts of silver any tiny tot can hope for on their Annaprashan, but Syon wasn’t forgotten either and received lots of lovely loot too.

My parents and grandparents had also arranged for a big, yummy, chocolate cake with both our names on it and when this was brought out the guests simultaneously and without any pre-planning burst into song for Syon (though his birthday was months away) to very thoughtfully ensure that he didn’t feel left out and he told me later that it had worked a treat!

Of course, it was my party and I had my moment in the sun when, first, a pretty little silver bowl and spoon with which I was to taste my first rice was brought out, and then, a tray of significant objects from which I had to choose items that would foretell my future. None of this is, of course, taken seriously and applause and amusement in equal measure greeted my refusal to have even a spoonful of the milky rice from Dadu (I was only 3 months old after all)! I was far more obliging with the tray and picked out the objects which symbolised health and wealth.

In the summer, we had another splendid party, this time in England.

We don’t really do themed parties but we gave Bro’s very special second birthday a little bit of a secret agent spin with Connery-era James Bond posters for invites (with Syon’s face where Sean’s should have been)! His cake also carried on the theme with 002 candles and flashy, miniature cars sitting atop it. But most of all, my big brother was every bit as handsome as the dashing spy in his dapper, salmon and grey outfit.

He had a whale of a time, running about like a madcap with his English cousins and friends, stopping only to quaff cake and check out his great gifts- garages with swirly ramps for car-cars to whizz down and things to build with!

As always, Mommy and Daddy made sure that I wasn’t forgotten either, and so staged a mini Annaprashan for our English family and friends who couldn't (naturally) attend the main one in Kolkata. This time, I actually ate the rice that was spooned up for me by my Grandma and Great, Great Aunty Nellie, but I was quite a bit older by then- all of five and a half months!

The last but by no means the least important (nor the least fun!) party was just over a month ago- my very first birthday! We celebrated it alongside Diwali and had a rocketing time!

We invited guests to come in Indian attire and to help them look the part, we had a collection of bindis and bangles at the ready, but it turned out they didn’t need our help after all! We were tickled pink to see our English friends and family in their eye-catching Eastern best. Aunty Louise and Cousin Eleanor glittered in festive Kameezes they’d bought specially for the occasion. Both Grandmas looked regal in peacock blues and greens. I myself was resplendent (and a veritable Bollywood Babe) in a gorgeous rose and sea-green Ghagra with spaghetti string straps. And the men were not to be left behind either! Syon, Alex, Felix and Daddy were in smart Kurta-pyjama combos and even Uncle David wore his ‘Hum Hindustani’ t-shirt!

Daddy cooked the yummiest Indian spread ever for my party and my star-spangled, chocolate cake had a solitary, sparkly diya burning atop it to mark the completion of my first year. There were also tasty, wobbly, fruit jellies with both our names on them (just like at Bro's party).

In return for the zippy, toy auto-rickshaws I awarded to the best-dressed (for the occasion), I received a heap of wonderful toys and books and gorgeous clothes! Syon got some fun gifts too which he was very pleased with.

My very special evening ended with a bang! We all trooped out into the (slightly nippy) lamp-lit garden to enjoy the bright sparklers and glow-in-the dark hoops Mommy and Daddy had got for all of us kids. I loved every moment of it and was sad it had to end, but I am reliably informed by someone in the know (someone who’s had quite a few parties organised by Mommy and Daddy) that they’ll do their best to make my second birthday extra-special too!

And because all good things, like parties and wonderful first years, must come to an end, so must this post, and I didn’t even get around to wrapping up the year like I promised Bro I would.

Oh well, he’s the eldest and I leave the ‘burden’ of writing that one last post for 2010, with stirring tales of travellers and a magical Christmas, upon his manly, broad shoulders...

P.S. For those of you who've missed my birthday slideshow, you'll be pleased to know that it will be coming soon to a blog near you (notably this one)!

One,Two, Visit the zoo...

I am counting better and better all the time! If there’s ever a number I can’t pronounce properly, I just say ‘more’ so I’m often to be heard counting objects like this- One, Two, Three, Four, More, Six, More...!

I not only know numbers and letters but can read a few too. This is really handy for a boy who likes to impose order on his (very elaborate) imaginary world (except when I’m asked to tidy up; I favour the bombed-out look when it comes to houses)! I do like order when I’m playing though which is why Sis-sis is not the best playmate at the moment as she likes wading into my organised toy world like a galumphing Godzilla!

My burgeoning counting and reading skills really come in handy everyday when I build and animate whole towns and cities made up of the many different but unrelated toys I have amassed.

Lots of interesting things happen in my toy cities- planes take off from the top of the petrol station (as I don’t have an airport and the garage has the flattest roof), the train chugs into town to pick up the day-tripping animals of the wooden ark. The crocodile drives the fire engine to the burning barn and puts it out. Postman Pat and his Doppelganger zip around town in their red van having complex conversations about the parcels they can’t find.

All this does have a rationale of its own (My parents agree that the last scenario is particularly realistic)! But when my sister joins in, the really bizarre take over- Toy Town is suddenly afflicted by hail storms of large plastic fruit or houses levitating- or worse still everything gets crushed under her mighty Godzilla feet (Mommy says that actually Sis has the tiniest of feet as they could not find walking shoes small enough to fit her and had to settle for cruising shoes although she’s been walking six weeks or more now).

Anyway, I digress! I wanted to demonstrate my excellent numerical skills and so I shall, by counting all the fun Sis-sis and I have had this year.

One: One is for how old my baby sister is now and for the number of wonderful years we’ve been together!

One is also the number of trips we’ve made to the zoo together.

We had an absolutely fabulous time at Twycross Zoo with our cousins Alex and Eleanor; running from cage to cage to look at the monkeys, being hoisted up on my Da’s shoulders to see the giraffes close-up, watching the zoo’s new baby elephant have a mud bath (wish I could have baths like that!) and pretending to go on a safari with my cousin Eleanor on the sturdy stone shoulders of a Silverback Gorilla!

Two: Two is for how old I am and for the huge number of fun things that came in twos that I’ve experienced this year!

I’ve been on two trips to the seaside.

The first one with Grandma and Grandad and Cousin Eleanor (therefore, two is also the number of high-spirited kids my grandparents had to manage on that trip)!

I absolutely love the beach, building sand castles, splashing about and collecting rocks and seaweed and such (funny that Mommy doesn’t seem too keen on some of the collections I bring home).

Two is also the number of donkeys that my grandparents got for us to ride on the beach. That was very exciting, I’ve had piggyback rides on Mommy, Daddy and my grandparents before but they can't compare to the real thing!

The other trip to the seaside was the wonderful week Mommy, Daddy, Sis-sis and I spent in a cottage in Cornwall.

We got to know the farm animals (two is the two horses or ‘neighs’ as I prefer to call ‘em, which grazed in the field next to our cottage), had loads of yummy creamy Cornish ice cream, swam in the wonderful pool in the cottage complex, built sand castles and rock pooled with Da on the beach (while Sis and Mom found a sunny spot to bask in).

I also enjoyed the bustling fishing towns we visited because they had lots of boats and birds and doggies too! Mommy enjoyed the sun (except one day when it was pelting down) and Daddy bought lots of great fresh food and cooked up a delicious storm for us.

We also visited some pointless ruins which I would’ve hated altogether but there was usually a dog or a bird or something to distract (or a toy pirate ship in one instance) so the rubble-rambles (as I like to think of them) which Mommy loves weren’t a complete washout for me and Sis-sis (and anyway, who can complain when you get as many compliments as we did from total strangers while out and about in Cornwall!).

The high point of our Cornwall trip tho’ was a morning spent at a toy train centre where we not only got to watch perfect little miniature trains (one of them looked just like my Thomas, only bigger!) chugging ‘round the tracks but actually got to ride a little steam engine right up front with the driver- TWICE!!

Two is also the number of terrific trips abroad we’ve made this year.

In the summer, we travelled to Switzerland where my Bilky Mashi lives.

This was a splendid sun-drenched holiday where despite having two old fogies along (Mommy and Daddy) we managed to see a lot of lovely places like the perfectly preserved medieval town of Stein am Rhein.

We also went on a big boat to Zurich where I sat in the sun and ate chips and ice cream! Two is also the number of times I’ve been on big boats (please click here if you’re interested in my first big boat ride).

But the best part of the Swiss trip for me and Sis-sis was getting to spend time with family, sampling Bilky-Mashi’s delicious cooking and most of all (for a little boy like me) splashing about in the kiddie pools and fountains of Horgen’s lakeside park!

Mommy and Daddy had been to Switzerland before but enjoyed it in a completely different way this time because they found it a really family-friendly country with total strangers taking a lot of interest in us and constant compliments on how cute we are (which always makes Mommy’s day)! One old man actually stopped us on the streets of Stein to shake Mommy and Daddy’s hand on a job well done in having such beautiful children (I think he should've shaken Sis-sis and me by the hand but who knows how grown-ups think)!!

The second foreign trip this year was in fact, the first in the year, the first ever with Sis-sis and also the first in importance because of all the family members we got to spend time with- Didou, Dadu, Budida, Ma-sheep and Pishi Dida to name a few.

I suppose it’s not a foreign trip at all because we are half-Indian and are just visiting our other home and we do this every year, but it is a heck of a long journey and a gruelling one. Mommy and Daddy seem to find it especially hard but I am a strong lad and I don’t mind all the walking, the piggyback riding and interesting hustle and bustle at the airports. I should make it clear that it's the 24 hour journey that's difficult and not the stay which is, in fact, just the opposite- usually the most relaxed 3 weeks in the whole year!

I had started writing about it in an earlier post and then realised that there was too much to write about at one go! I did mention all the wonderful people we met, all the shopping and non-stop chattering Mommy did, and all the fantastic food we have there.

What I didn’t get around to telling you about was Sis-sis’ magical Annaprashan and that really deserves more time than I have left today. It’s lunchtime and my tum's crying out for some Bob the Builder pasta (or is that Mommy calling me?)!

In the next post, however, I plan to recount the terrific threes we’ve experienced this year- especially the three tremendous parties we’ve had (including the Annaprashan), the three wise women who came to visit us from the East, and much more!

But that's another day, another blog post...

It’s bye for now and do watch this space for more counting fun!

Super Trooper

I just wanted to share our delight over my baby sister's walking prowess with our family and friends. Although she has been taking a few unassisted, wobbly steps from her 11th month, she has only started taking longer walks in the last two weeks since her 1st birthday and tonight she finally allowed the paparazzi (that's Daddy and Mommy when we're at home!) a chance to capture it on celluloid for the whole world to see!

Here she is walking across the room with the remote control firmly in her grasp in an attempt to stop Daddy from changing the channel. She's an intrepid little trooper who'll walk across the room and back with an incandescent smile on her face. Her confidence has grown in such leaps and bounds in the last fortnight that she's not just walking from room to room or across the expanse (vast, for a baby!) of our living room now but also trying to fetch and carry whilst on her jaunts! So, please put your hands together for Ayana's lovely toddle, I know she'll be happy to show you how well she does it come Christmas (or for those in India, 2011)!

All of One

No, this isn't Syon reminiscing about his first birthday. It's me Ayana- I am one tomorrow!!

I'm a really big girl now. Not in size; I'm petite (and cute as a button, Mommy and Daddy tell me). But I'm not just a pretty face either, I can do loads now! I can walk a bit unassisted. I've been talking for a few months now but my vocabulary is growing and I can make myself perfectly understood (specially when I want food; I always want food!).

I had a really wonderful early birthday party on Sunday and I'll tell you all about it real soon. I know we keep promising action-packed posts and don't deliver but this time there's a really good reason for stalling (much better than my brother's line about sleep deprivation and exhaustion, that would never stop a party girl like me!). The truth is that I'm trying to cobble together pictures from my bash to show all of you because our camera malfunctioned on that fateful evening! I know my friends and family will come to my rescue with some great photos. And should all else fail, my bro and I hope we have a way enough with words to paint you a pretty picture of the proceedings. A report of which I think you'll enjoy because it was quite a good gig. I certainly had the time of my life! I'm definitely looking forward to many more such over the years (hint, hint, Mommy and Daddy!). But now I must say adieu, it's way past my bedtime and I have a MAMMOTH day tomorrow- my very first birthday!!

'Night night everyone and sweet dreams...

The Comeback Kids

As our joint blog has now had its 2000th hit, despite our not having written in nearly six months, we felt we really had to post something new.

Our fans have been simply wonderful, of course, continuing to check our blog in the hope that we’ve written when we haven’t managed a line in half a year, and with ne’er a word of complaint when they’ve had to go away empty- handed.

We could blame the bedlam that is our lives, the result of having two hyperactive parents who just seem to want to play in our playroom all night, but no, I think we should take the blame squarely on the chin and admit that we have been slack. We could’ve been writing instead of doing all the wonderful new things we’ve been doing in the last few months but somehow experiencing life and writing about it rarely co-exist!

So, even tho’ we are still sleep-deprived and exhausted, we thought we owed you an update before the next big thing- Ayana's first birthday!

Since our last post, my baby sister has learnt to turn over, sit up and crawl. And now, even walks with support (sometimes just holding my hand!)and is more and more often to be found standing without any support whatsoever!

She echoes my every word and talks with meaning too (when she can be bothered!) like when she wants to watch Bob the Builder or Postman Pat on TV or when playing cars with me; 'car crash’ being amongst her favourite phrases, as it was mine when I first started speaking. Of course I have gone far beyond that now- there isn’t a word or phrase I can’t say and have complex conversations with the people closest to me. I am shy however (I blame my parents for passing this trait on to me) and tend to be laconic with most people. However, Didou (as I call our Dida) who has been with us this last month will tell you what motor-mouths we are when we are at home (in every sense of the word)!

What else have we been doing over the last few months?

I am a really quick runner, a good climber (Sis-sis is showing lots of potential in this area too), and a promising artist (glowing reports of the cuddly brown bear I drew the other day has now gone ‘round the world)!

Sis-sis is turning out to be the musical one in the family. Although I like music too, she seems to have an innate sense of rhythm and a fine pair of lungs that can only be the result of some sort of combo-gene (No such word? Well, there is now!) from both Grandmas, as Grandma Handley could’ve been a dancer and Grandma Sen is a very good singer who still sings in her church choir.

Both of us also love the water (as we discovered on our trip to Cornwall, more about that later) and books and green vegetables (yes, I know, amazing isn’t it?!). We love building blocks- I love building intricate skyscrapers and colonnades with them and my sister loves chewing on them. The only kind of block we don't like is Writer's Block which Mommy says is what prevented us from writing these past few months!

There’s so much we’re both doing and enjoying now that we didn’t six months ago that I could go on forever. I could tell you about my culinary flair which I’ve definitely got from Da. My chocolate chip cookies, my Nursery Key Worker said, were the best in (play) class!

And I haven’t even got started on our fantastic parties, trips, days-out and many firsts in the last half-year, but in the interests of actually finishing this piece (the first to be finished in many months), I’ll wind up here and leave my tales of our travels, revels and great times spent with family and friends for the next post.

In fact, dear readers, I promise not stay away for so long ever again because I’ve missed you guys (and a promise on our blog is binding, not at all like the toys me and Sis-sis sometimes give each other and take back)!

So, toodloo and pip-pip and I hope you return for the the next instalment because the two of us have had such fun together this year, that we’d love to share it with you, and we’ll line up some extra-cute photos too, for you to look at.

See you soon!

Missing you, Great Grandad.

Love
Syon & Ayana
xxx

I Am Two Today!

Mommy and Daddy say I'm now double the trouble but also double the fun!

I can do so many grown-up things that I'm practically an adult.

Building stuff, playing elaborate games of imagination, jumping and climbing higher and higher (when Mommy's not looking!), bathing and feeding myself (and the table and the floor) with confidence, and chattering non-stop with my parents (though usually dropping the last syllables of words that just have too many of 'em) and knowing how to work every gadget in the house are amongst my favourite things in all the world!

I read (from my extensive collection of fairy tales), sing and dance and draw (abstracts or family portraits mainly). I help my parents change and dress me (though I might seem to hinder), I can copy their gestures and words, tone of voice and actions to a T (I don't know what that means exactly but I think it means 'exactly')!

I love building things with Daddy, I enjoy gardening with him and riding my tricycle or playing ball outdoors, I like running non-stop playing tag with friends or just exploring in the garden (as Mommy and sister watch me in wonder; I'm sure the look on their faces is one of wonder at my prowess with mud, I can't imagine what else it could be)! I also adore animals and cars (that's pretty much anything on wheels including vacuum cleaners)!

But most of all, I love my family to bits, especially my sister. There's nothing I like better than playing with her but Mommy and Daddy always seem to get in the way of the best games of rough and tumble, although Sis is more than a match; no-one does a nice, sharp kick in the shin quite as well as she does when I get a tad carried away!

And I just luuurrve a good party and I had a fantastic one yesterday- tell you all about it very, very soon!

Advanced Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Mommy had big plans for your 35th birthday, which she has now deferred to your 40th because she says we keep her busy 'round the clock, but we're hoping you won't notice the absence of a big bash with big people because small people can partaaay too!

I bet we can make as much noise and as big a mess as big people at a party (Mommy certainly seems to think we're equal to the task). In fact, we plan to stay up with you tonight, well into the wee hours, to usher in your 35th in style- Syon and Ayana style (I know you're wondering how that's different from any other night)!

Whatever happens, we know it'll be special for all four of us because it'll be your first birthday we celebrate together as a foursome.

And so, from the three small people (including Mommy) who love you more than words can express- here's wishing you a very happy birthday tomorrow, and soooo much more!

Kolkata Kalling

I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for our report on our Indian adventure and I’m sorry it’s taken us so very long, but you can breathe easy now, because we are over the jetlag and earache and various other hurdles, and ready to delight you with details of our derring do!

Let me tell you all about our first week there, culminating in the wonderful party our family threw for us, and then my big bro will pick up the thread of the narrative and run with it, all the way home.

Do, also check out our new slideshow (on the right hand side of this blog page), so you can see for yourselves how much fun we had!

I haven’t used the phrase ‘derring do’ lightly. It was incredibly brave of us (some may call it foolhardy) to attempt to travel the 5000 miles to my Mommy’s home, with people of a certain age. No, I don’t mean me and my bro, at 4 and 21 months respectively, but my parents who are now in their mid-thirties and have begun to feel their (dot)age.

Luckily, the day-long journey was relatively smooth with my parents on their best behaviour, though my mommy did get rather upset when they refused to serve my brother food on the flight claiming he wasn’t entitled to any! As it turned out he was supposed to get a hot meal but the airlines had messed up, so my bro had to make do with the crisps and chocolates and jammy dodgers which we had with us. Even co-passengers felt sorry for him and chipped in with yummy snacks from their stash - poor Syon!!

I have to commend him for his hardiness though, while I was carried everywhere (well, you can hardly expect me to walk at 4 months!), he gamely covered long stretches of airport on his little toddler legs as Mommy and Daddy tottered under the weight of bags full of baby paraphernalia!

Kolkata airport was a bit of a nightmare too and Mommy gave the masked man at the Swine Flu checkpoint a piece of her mind (but he wasn’t havin’ any)! I can see why he was so keen on concealing his identity as he made us wait a whole hour in a mosquito-infested hall and got us all in a lather! Talking of soap, it was a steamy journey home as Kolkata was experiencing an unseasonably hot spring (hot spring-ha ha!) and Syon and I jumped into a big blue tub of refreshingly cold water the minute we got to Dida and Dadu’s.

It was great to be in Mommy’s home city though, because the weather only accounted for 10% of the warmth we experienced. The rest came from the interest taken in us by family, friends and sometimes total strangers!

From the great big bear hug that Dadu’s best friend gave us at the airport, to the smiles and helloos of strangers along the way, to the welcoming cuddles and kisses from Budida and Pishidida when we finally arrived at our destination, we got VIP treatment all the way!

The best bit for me was, of course, meeting Dadu and Dida for the first time, being scooped into their arms and cuddled. Syon got cuddled too but as he’d met them before, he was a bit more blasé about it.

The most exciting thing for him, I think, were the many different types of colourful and noisy vehicles along the way. He must have shouted ‘cah’ a thousand times in my ear on the way to our Kolkata home (I have to hear that word so often I have a good mind to expunge it from my vocabulary altogether when I start speaking)!

The super-high point of his ride from the airport was the policeman who drew up his car with flashing lights alongside us and waved to Syon. Syon was really tickled; he continued waving to the policeman long after the latter had disappeared in the distance, in a cloud of dust. And then we were there- at D&D’s.

My first week ever in Kolkata was wonderful- getting to know people, playing in the sun, and basking in the admiration of the many who came to see us.

Mommy and Daddy enjoyed catching up on their sleep (I don’t know why they don’t sleep at home, it isn’t as if we ever disturb them!) and eating lots of yummy Indian food (Not even a morsel came my way, despite making it as clear as day that that was what I wanted)!

We stirred ourselves occasionally to prepare for my Annaprashan. Our strenuous bouts of shopping at the shiny, new South City Mall left us too sapped to do much else (luckily there’s never any housework to be done in Kolkata)!

Mommy and Daddy got us some lovely clothes from the mall with the gifts of money we received from our family, the rest of the time they just chilled. My parents claim that it takes a whole village to look after us and they had to do plenty for us even if they didn’t have the mountain of chores they usually have at home, but as far as I could see Mommy’s most pressing task in Kolkata was chattering away with friends on the phone and inviting them to my Annaprashan.

Then, finally, my Big Day dawned bright and clear, and I couldn’t wait to sink my gums (I don’t have teeth yet though they are on their way and oh, how they irritate me; but that’s another story!) into my first solid food. It was the Saturday of my Annaprashan and what a day it turned out to be...

(Please come back for the next installment of ‘Kolkata Kalling’ from Syon’s perspective)

Sisters are doing it for themselves...

Well,I can't stand on my own two feet yet (I'm only 2 and a half months old) but I now feel ready to write my own posts and will start with this wee declaration of intent. It may seem a small step for a writer but it is a giant leap for baby bloggers everywhere.

My big brother (now all grown up at 21 months) was a pioneer amongst baby bloggers- he started the trend of babies writing their own blogs instead of letting their parents do all the talking (yackety yackety yack yack and rarely a word of sense!).He gave us a voice. Before his groundbreaking work, how many of you listened when we talked about the universe, or expressed our interest in Pointillism or Calculus? Admit it, you'd sooner pinch our cheeks and coo gibberish at us than have a meaningful discussion about the things that matter to us such as regime change or carbon emmissions(the latter being a BIG part of a baby's life as any parent would attest)!

He struck the death knell for that sort of parental high-handedness, and here I am ringing my own bell(as Annie Lennox would say)! This sister will be doing it for herself, along with my brother, and all the other baby bloggers who have in recent months wrested control of their baby blogs from the dull grown-ups who used these to tell a cringing world of the colour of their baby's poo and should they administer one or two drops of dipsydoo when Baby pukes?

So, although it is a bit too early for that overwrought all-encompassing Oscar speech, there are people I want to thank for getting me to this point where I can do my own blogging.

First, I must thank my brother who has been a real brick (that's B-RICK, except when he sends his toys whizzing past my ears). He fetches things for Mommy when she feeds me, brings me my nappy when it's time to change, vacates my vibrating chair without (much) fuss when it's my turn, plays with me, kisses me lovingly (less saliva would be good though!) and has written dozens of thank you notes to all the generous folk who sent me gifts and good wishes, on my behalf. Where would I be without him?

To my parents, I say thank you for all their tender loving care and for giving me this tool and the skill to express myself freely, and (hopefully) well, at such a young age.

Finally, I say thank you to all my family and friends and random readers who happen on this site (especially to those who return!); I hope you will carry on reading as I take my first tentative steps as a scribe, and continue to support my brother on his juvenile journalistic journey (oh the joys of alliteration!).

Syon and I are travelling to sunny India in the coming months and will bring home stories of it's many wonders, for you, very soon!

Babes R Us

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Beyonce is a babe. I am a babe of nearly 20 months (and kinda cute too, I'm told) and my 6 week old sis is a babe in every sense of the word! So, it was only right that us 3 babes got together to rock the joint on New Year's Eve (Mommy and Daddy were also there, to keep an eye on us, and quaff some champagne) and usher in our new-look blog. Beyonce turned out to be a good egg (Daddy agreed enthusiastically) although not the most punctual ("Typical Diva", Mommy muttered, but rather cheerfully, as there were big, heaped bowls of chocolate everywhere at our wrap party).

But once the chocolate, the champagne and Beyonce had all gone, what remained was our brand new joint blog which Ayana and I had worked through the night to produce (Just the two of us, and not Mommy and Daddy, as some would libellously suggest). We have a new look and a new name and we'll both be reporting on the events in our lives from now on. Do post a comment to tell us what you think of it all. There's always room for improvement, so constructive criticism is certainly welcome (but do be gentle as Ayana's only very ickle).

To celebrate the passing of the previous year which was fun and eventful, we have posted a new slideshow so all our friends and family can join us in reliving those special moments. As I was fairly regular with posts and photos right up to my birthday last year, the photos on this slideshow start with the fabulous holiday I had with my Dida, Dadu, Mommy and Daddy in the Bath-Stonehenge area (Ayana was there too, in Mommy's tummy, but she doesn't remember much). This was followed by my very first visit to the seaside with Grandma and Grandad which was great fun too.

Though Dadu and Dida had to leave and I was sad to see them go as I wouldn't see them again for months (though we have been having wonderful webchats almost every weekend since), the Summer ended on a high as I won the neighbourhood's first ever fancy dress competition. In October, I went Trick-or-Treating for the first time in my very first Halloween costume. I'm reliably informed I made a very cute pumpkin. I also amassed a stack of sweets which have since gone missing! Mommy looks strangely guilty everytime I enquire after them, though I couldn't tell you why...

In November, my little sister was born, which was the biggest event of the year. It was also the biggest event of my life, right after my birth, of course! I wrote about it in my last post and I am sure my sister will relate her side of the story sometime soon.

The year came to an end with a bang as Christmas was celebrated with gusto at my Grandparents'. There was a lot of frenetic christmas shopping and tree-decorating leading up to the Big Day. It was a White Christmas this year and my first real experience of snow which I thoroughly enjoyed playing with (and rolling about in, when Daddy's back was turned). Ayana wasn't allowed to play in the snow this year, but that's because she can't sit up yet (though she can write!) and might have got a trifle cold.

I woke up to a beautifully decorated house and a Himalayan heap of gifts on Christmas morning, way too many to list. Santa had clearly listened when I visited him (twice) in the run-up to Christmas and I had obviously been a very, very good boy (Mommy and Daddy seem sceptical about this). Ayana got a load of lovely gifts too. After brunch, we drove over to my Grandparents' for a magical Christmas Day with my family (and another mountain of presents). Boxing Day was an endless whirl of activity with my cousins, but the very last day of the year, I spent quietly snuggling, being read to, and fed treats by Mommy and Daddy (and living it up with Beyonce in a parallel universe!).

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too, dear reader. Wishing you a fantastic 2010 from Daddy, Mommy, Ayana and me!