Happy New Year 2005!

Happy New Year Everybody!

The kids are doing great. They went on their second trip in as many months and returned home yesterday. Yes, their parents are still in one piece. We left for New Jersey on a red-eye flight on the night of the 22nd and came back on the night of 1/1/2005.

Medha and Pavan really enjoyed their time at their Uncle and Aunty's home in Warren, NJ. For the first couple of days, almost the entire Koneru clan was there along with the Saggurtis. Vani and Vivek didn't make it because of the small matter of college application essays. Silpa wasn't there due to prior work commitments. We missed them a lot.

Although the first day out, the kids were suffering due to sleep deprivation and anxiety due to new environs, they settled down really quickly. Medha, in particular, took to Vini and Rani really well. Pavan latched on to Athamma and my brother so tight that they began to mutter about our in absentia parenting. Samanta (Jogi-Pankaja's daughter) was another one who was terrific with the kids. The Vinster (aka Vinita Saggurti), ultimately, was our HERO. She single handedly took care of Medha and Pavan even during the times when they were being Cranky McNanky. Vinster For President, i say!

Medha and Pavan developed a lot in these 10 days. Medha actually has started to vocalize a lot more now. With Maavayyagaru prompting her, she started off with "Taataa" and then moved on to Maama and even Pedda (short for Pedamma and Pedanaanna). I was only able to get her to say "Naana" just 2-3 days ago, though. She has started to routinely babble.

Pavan, on the other hand, has learnt to stand for atleast 5-6 seconds without holding on to anything. This prompted Vijaya and Rajani to proclaim that he will start to walk in the next couple of weeks. "Not a question of months anymore", Vijaya said. Even he has started to say stuff. Mostly non-consonant stuff, but stuff nonetheless.

Thanks to Vijaya, Annayya, Vini, Anita and all their friends we had a blast in New Jersey. Got to introduce the kids to a lot of the Family, and enjoy someone else taking care of them. Got to see Radhika-Markandeya's terrific new home. Their twins Ashok-Vivek have grown up so much now. Found out that they're not identical anymore. Fraternal. Got to see Jogi-Pankaja-Samanta-Shravan as well as Rajani-Veena-Nikki. Srinath-garu is in Hyderabad visiting family. Bujjakka and Vijay uncle came over on the 31st to see the kids. That was nice. Also saw Jyotakka after dunno how many years. Her daughter Mamata and Ravi lent us some of their son Roshan's toys and play-pen so that we didn't need to carry it all the way there and back. That was very nice of them.

All in all, it was a very nice trip. We need to do these trips periodically for the kids sake so that they can keep in touch even with family and friends that are out of the immediate area. Next step India. Look out Vizag and Hyderabad! Here come the Saggurti Twins!!