Haiti

Seven weeks post-earthquake, I'm headed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti tomorrow morning. Here is Kiran with the Haitian doll I brought back for her the last time I was there, in September.

Peek-a-Boo

Either she was playing peek-a-boo with me, or she's reaching the age at which she can decide for herself whether or not to pose for a photograph.

Christopher Titus

Christopher Titus has a great riff about this.

If You Give a Moose a Muffin...

...it goes about as badly as if you give a Kiran a book.

Aunt Tata

Kiran wore out her aunt by riding on her shoulders. An okay picture of Kiran -- but maybe the best picture of my sister EVER.

Pink & Purple

I fought it for so long, but I've finally caved -- Kiran is almost constantly in pink or purple -- even when she's not wearing a thing!

Spring

We're really looking forward to Spring now that the snow is starting to melt. We took the Easter hat and the tree-climbing skills for a spin, just to make sure we're ready when the warm weather finally comes.

Pointing

Now that Kiran has learned to point, she sees no value in waving. If you ask her to say "hello" or "goodbye" to someone, she will just point accusingly.

Mental image

If you say, "Kiran," this is pretty much the mental image that pops into my head. I guess I spend a lot of time chasing her around the house!

Cousinly love

Could these two be more delighted with each other?

New Outfit

Thanks for the cute new outfit, Mema and Poppy!

Independence

This morning, when Kiran woke up, she played quietly by herself in her crib and didn't cry to wake us. We are loving her independence.

Meditation

“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.” -Buddha

Reading

Kiran picks out her books based on which one looks best to chew.

Dainty

I love the pincer grip. It looks so dainty.

Yellow barrette

"Yeah, I got a yellow barrette in my hair. Wanna make something of it?"

Eating snow

Kiran's getting so used to the snow that she's eating it with her bare hands. Maybe she'll grow up to be an Antarctic explorer?

Chess

Six days of intense time with over-achieving parents might not be a good thing for a kid. We started out with finger paint, moved on to snowman building and brownie making, and now we're onto chess. Not bad for a ten-month old.

Playpen

We've tried to give Kiran lots of freedom to crawl around the house but, during this blizzard (we are now on day six), we had to break out the playpen in order to maintain our sanity. This morning she played hard and then passed out!

"Psycho" Brownies

Today's snowed-in activity was baking brownies together. Kiran was great at helping to stir until she suddenly decided to flick the spatula out of the bowl and get batter all over the cabinet. I was neither fast enough to stop this, nor fast enough to capture it directly in a photograph, but the "psycho"-esque shadow from the camera flash tells the whole story!

Twins

This is what happens on day four of being snowbound.

Self portrait

I'm always the one behind the camera, so I'm a little afraid that I won't be in any of the pictures of Kiran growing up. That's why I occasionally attempt a self-portrait with the camera's remote control. Kiran's favorite activity is being hung upside-down by her ankles. Richard apparently doesn't mind it too much, either. :-)

Snow

Kiran brought her bucket out onto the driveway to help with the shoveling effort.

Finger Paint

There's a blizzard outside, so we needed a fun indoor activity. This was Kiran's first experiment with finger paint. I think, more than anything, she was disappointed that we wouldn't let her eat it.

Crawling

It was only a few weeks ago that she figured out how to crawl at all, but now she's unstoppable!

Awww

Awww. I know I'm her mom, so I can't be objective, but this is cute.

Sleepy head

Last night she slept for about thirteen hours.

Getting away with it

She's been trying for weeks, so I finally just let her play with the dogs' water bowl. I had to give her a bath and mop the floor afterwards, but it was totally worth it for the faces she made while she was getting away with it!