Thanksgiving began 2009's holiday season (as it does every year) and as always, it was spent getting together with family, shopping and EATING. This was Ranijt's second Thanksgiving, but the first Thanksgiving where he was conscious most of the time and ready to party. We all went to his Prakash Azoba mama's house like last year, but instead of crying and dozing off before the festivities began like he did the year before, Ranjit ran from room to room pointing out all the "a fan"s, climbed up and down the stairs with the determination of Sir Edmund Hillary climbing Everest, and entertained his aunties and Rajit uncle with a riveting dance performance to "Sailor's Hornpipe, Oh Susannah and Turkey in the Straw".
This song, believe it or not is THE song according to my silly son. He insists on dancing to it at least 10 times a day, climbing onto our bed and wildly gesturing to the computer (where the song is always played on YouTube.com) and saying "a DAH aDAH" until we finally give in and play the song. Right before the song begins there is a moment where Ranjit recognizes that his wish has been granted and his face lights up with a grin reserved only for the most exciting of occasions before he proceeds to bounce up and down on his knees on the bed with such great gusto that his grandmas fear that an injury may occur from simply bouncing too much on his knees!
Here is a video taken by Ranjit's mona moushi:
The rest of the weekend was spent with his Dadi, Dada and Booah in Skokie, where Ranjit showed off his new ability to imitate and learn new words. Things that Ranjit spent his time perfecting: 1) Ripping off toilet paper from the bathroom and pretending to blow his nose- loudly. 2) Putting on shoes- his Dadiji's shoes, to be exact 3) Learning and repeating new words like Animal ("Ahmul"), Paper and Dog ("woof woof")
Finally it was time to come back home on Sunday, but the excitement didn't end there- today Ranjit went out in the snow for the first time! It snowed about 3 inches this morning, covering the city of Chicago with a thin white blanket, enough for Ranjit to notice that something was different when he looked out his bedroom window this morning. When we walked out the door, Ranjit pointed at the snow falling down from the sky and cried "bubble!" After agreeing that the snow does look like bubbles, I took Ranjit to the dog park in front of our apartment and set him loose, expecting him to go wild and kick and run in the snow like I saw other kids do in past winters. Instead Ranjit cautiously shuffled up and down the sidewalk, creating little piles of snow with the tips of blue winterboots and looked around him like he was a little lost. Finally he indicated that he wanted me to pick him up and said "o ho" (which I have decided recently means "go home") and let me carry him back into the warmth and safety of our building. I think that he was probably a little confused about how different everything looked, but I think after a couple more snows he'll be more comfortable and be ready to actually "play" in the snow. It is, after all his first encounter with a Winter Wonderland!
