Progress report on how the Saggurti Twins are coming along...

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Trying to keep the tykes out of trouble on the lawn...
Pavan grabbing someone else's goody bag...
Medha and Pavan playing in Vasu-Seshan's living room. Kalyani's birthday...
Medha out to mow the lawn in Seshan's backyard...
This town could sure use some cleaning up, pardner

Sunday, March 27, 2005

This baby happy about getting a bath is none other than our Medha. She was splashing about more than normal and it had to be captured. Yep, the kid is 13 months old plus a week. As is her brother.
Today, Medha decided to use her snowman as a pillow. She was actually so happy about it that she's constantly hugging it. Along with her other cuddly things like her tiger, blue bunny, little leap and baby tad.
Medha and Pavan are both now very comfortable climbing on to the futon. We have to keep a close eye on them or else they're up there in a flash and look to use that as a launching pad to new ground. Here Pavan is about to...
Always pushing the limits of safety, Pavan trys to jump off the futon...
Pavan "Atlas" Saggurti trying to push troubles out of the way for his Mom. He's going to start on the pillow first.
Medha is so careful about her consumption that she decided today to only use one half of her high-chair to sleep. Check it out...

Saturday, March 12, 2005

They're One!!

They're one, and it seems like it was just yesterday that we were complaining about sleep deprivation and wondering how long we can wait before diapers just have to be changed...

Check out the pictures below to see how they're doing. They got their MMR, Varicella and Prevnar shots two weeks ago. Medha went through two bad days after that, but it was Pavan who had the rough week after the shots. He was also fighting the flu around that time and as such the shot took a bite outa the kid. Happily, though, he came through just fine and is back to yelling at everyone in the house. Especially if he doesn't get his way.

Stats wise, this is how the doctor's office listed them:

Medha:
23Lbs, 7 oz [90th Percentile]
30.25 inches [75th Percentile]

Pavan:
25Lbs, 12 oz [90th Percentile]
31.25 inches [90th Percentile]

They're now on cow milk (Organic and full fat, of course!) and have bid good bye to formula. Today they even had popcorn. They've graduated to fun foods like lentils, spinach, squash, but their favorite is Trader Joe's brand of cheerios. And yogurt. It makes their Telugu nationalist daddy very, very proud that they take to yogurt with such lip-smacking passion. But more on that later...
Medhoo getting all cute for her closeup....
Lap one of the race...
Pavan just won the sippy cup race. You'll notice the sippy cup being a recurring theme over the next few pics.
Medha getting ready to go shopping...
Medha figured out how to remove her zipper and wants to show it off every day....
Pavan on his Pooh Bear Tractor
More sippy cup happiness...
Medha running toward the camera with her sippy cup

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Finally decided to take a short break...
Pavan with Jyoti wondering if he should walk towards his Pedanaanna.
Medha after a whole night of partying...
Purna, Bhagat Singh Uncle, Pavan, Vasakka, Medha, and Prasad
Cake #2 - Tiramisu Cake
The kids with the twins...
Cake #1
medha talking a walk...
vinster, pavan, and medha.
posing with white socks and black shoes....

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

They're standing up!!

Egads! They're standing up now!! Nine more days and they will be 11 months old too...

As of this weekend, Pavan took his first steps. Medha is also standing on her own for close to 10 seconds. She's babbling a lot, and Pavan a little less. He yells out his words while she takes a more gentler approach to speech.

My mother-in-law has taught her to point at herself when asked (in Telugu, of course) "Where's Medha?". To the uninitiated that sounds something like "Medha ekkada?". She has now progressed a little to occasionally point at Lakshmi for "Where's Amma?" and at Pavan for "Where's Pavan?". She still hasn't figured out who the heck i am, although she did call out to me yesterday with an extremely clear "Naanna".

Eschewing the basic words, Pavan suddenly repeated back to me on Sunday "Lean Back" when I was asking him to lean back in his high chair. This after repeatedly asking him to say Amma, Naanna and Taataa, only to fail. :-)

Medha in another of her pensive thinking moments trying to understand how her sippy cup works. She knows her dad hasn't figured it out yet.....
Hey, why does Medha get the spotlight?
Pavan demanding that I take his picture too.
The Pavan-meister decided to go a-walking over the weekend. Here are the three phases that he displayed on his trip.

Standing and then proceeding into Walking. Step 1, Step 2, and then fall into Mom's arms...




Yeah! Mission Accomplished!! One small step for Pavan. One Giant Leap for his parents!!


Pavan happy about his walking accomplishment.
Medha and Pavan with their Syam-taatagaru. They literally jumped on him when he came over this morning.
Pavan trying to change his Mom's hairdo.
Medha and Pavan enjoying the new duckies that Padma bought for them. The duckies are supposed to be used during their bath, but these guys use every other place.

Sunday, January 02, 2005

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!!

Pavan enjoying his time with Ammaji and Peda-Taata. Actually, he was quite happy until I took this picture...:-)
What do you do when it's 20F and snowing outside? Well, you get a nice oil massage and then take a hot bath.
The Tree itself!
Medha and Pavan with Murali and Vini
Medha learning the art of the deal from her Pedanaanna while Vini-akka watches...
The twins learning how to move a train car from their Murali-Pedanaanna.
Pavan with Lakshmi...
Samantha with Medha and Ravi.
Maavayyagaru and Sarat enjoying the snacks..
Jogi and Murali...
Ravi sharing his pongadaalu with Roshan