Arya on TV!!

On Sunday we went to Winterfest, near Rajeev's parents' house in Vaughan. The Backyardigans were scheduled to perform, and we knew Arya would really enjoy that. She loves the show, which is about a group of friends that get together in their backyards to go on all sorts of exciting adventures using their imaginations. All of the adventures feature lots of fun songs as well.

Anyway, we were excited to be able to take her to see the show before we left Toronto and headed back to Muncie. It was an outdoor show, so all of the little kids were so bundled up! Arya loved it, and afterwards, we just happened to be passing by when RogersTV was interviewing kids. She had no problem taking the microphone and answering all of the questions that they asked her!! She didn't even seem to have trouble coming up with answers at all! (I shouldn't have been surprised, since she is naturally so talkative!!) We didn't get to spend too long due to the fact that we had to drive home on Sunday, but we did love the show and we got to go on a horse and buggy ride before leaving too. (Arya was wondering why we could only do two things when there were other rides and activities all around!!)

Anyway, the clip played on the show FirstLocal on RogersTV on Monday, 2/9/09. If you want to see the clip, the segment about Winterfest starts about 11 minutes in, with Arya appearing right around 12 minutes in. You can view the link here. I am hoping that the link will be good for more than just today!! If it stops working, let me know and I'll try to post another link.

Thanks, Vaughan, for providing such a fun (and FREE!) activity for families!! We're so glad we had the chance to attend!

I want to be the manager now!

While in Toronto visiting Rajeev's family, Arya has had lots of fun playing with Bunu Phupu (Rajeev's sister). Bunu has a laptop, and Arya is a huge fan of laptops (and really of any computer that allows her to access the sesamestreet.org website).

Bunu works in a bank, and Arya also likes to pretend that she is working in a bank. She'll fill her little purse with change and take it to Bunu and ask to deposit or withdraw something. Or, she'll want to be the manager and sit at Bunu's laptop while Bunu comes to deposit or withdraw something. So funny! Anyway, lately she has been really interested in being the manager. We just had the following conversation with her...

Arya: I want to be the manager now! (i.e. I want to use the computer!)
Rajeev: What does the manager do, Arya?
Arya: First someone takes the money and gives it to the manager. Then the manager types the money into the computer. That's how you be the manager.

Wow, being a manager sounds pretty simple!

Arya's First Day of "School"

Last Wednesday, I took Arya to her first day of "school". It is actually a Parents' Day Out program at a preschool/church where several of our friends' kids go to preschool. We have the option of taking her to the program a couple of afternoons and/or mornings a week. She went last Wednesday and again today, and she seemed to have a lot of fun. She says that the teachers are nice. They've told me that she has been a really good girl both days she has been there. She has been hesitant to leave both of the days when I've come to pick her up because she has enjoyed cooking in their toy kitchen so much. She also likes the slide, which is part of their indoor playground. She takes her lunch when she goes, and she thinks that is fun. (She likes me to pack her favorite lunch - a ham and cheese sandwich.) The pictures above are of Arya all ready to head to school with her lunch bag! I still can't believe how she is growing up!!

Recent comments from Arya

Yesterday, we had to drive down to Indy. On the way, I let Arya have a sucker that they gave her the last time we stopped at the bank. It was close to sunset, so the sun was low and shining through the window. I looked at Arya and saw her holding her sucker out in front of her. When she saw me, she said, "Mommy, my blue sucker looks so beautiful with the sun on it!" It was such a sweet observation that I decided I had to write it down. I am amazed at the things that she notices.

Another funny thing Arya said yesterday was this, "Mommy, I'm a sweet girl, but I'm not food."

She comes up with the funniest things. I'll try to keep posting them from time to time here on her blog.

December mini photo shoot

In December, we did a mini photo shoot of our family to use in our Christmas cards. I thought I'd post a few of them so the blog would have some updated photos of our little Arya.

Warm feet AND hands!

I had to post this snapshot that I took of Arya today. We were getting ready to go to the grocery store, and I asked Arya to go get some socks out of her drawer and put them on. Soon, she came back wearing the two sets of socks above. (She didn't roll up her pants like that. I did that so that you could see both pairs of socks!) "Look, Mommy! I put these blue ones on my feet and these pink ones on my hands! That way my feet won't get cold AND my hands won't get cold!!!" Pretty smart! :)

Mommy, where is Barack Obama?

Yesterday, Arya went with me to vote early. I knew that we might have to deal with some lines, so I was trying to get Arya excited about going to "vote". She knows who Barack Obama is and regularly points him out when she sees his picture on the computer, TV, or like last week, in the books on tape section of the gas station we stopped at while driving back from Toronto. "Arya, we're going to go vote for Barack Obama!! Isn't that exciting?" I said to her yesterday. She asked lots of questions, trying to figure out what it meant to vote for president. The best question came when we actually got to the County Building, where early voting was taking place. "Mommy, where is Barack Obama? Is he in there?" Sadly, I had to explain to her that she wasn't going to get to see him in the Delaware County building. She was clearly disappointed.

Maybe the fact that I let her push the red button to submit my vote once I was finished voting was able to make up for some of the disappointment. When her daddy got home last night, she got to proudly announce, "Daddy, WE voted for Barack Obama today! ....And I got to push the red button!"


(I took this photo at the Obama rally in Indy October 8. I was going to take Arya with me, just for the history of the event, but since it was a pretty yucky day she stayed home and played with Hama instead.)