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Austen thought it might be more fun to wear her food rather than eating it. Then, she tried to blame the mess on the food-in-hair monster but he used his invisibility powers so Mama and Dada couldn’t see him.

Grandpa Rodey came to babysit while Mama and Dada took the train to Manhattan to see a play. Mama loved the feeling of being in the city again and didn’t realize how much she’d missed it. It was great to spend an evening alone with Dada and wonderful to come home to a happily sleeping Austen.

Helping celebrate Mama and Dada’s birthdays, Austen took Mama and Dada out to lunch.

For Dada’s birthday, we went to Panera.

For Mama’s birthday, we went to her favorite restaurant — Tinga.

And then we had some yummy cake at home.

While at the park this evening, celebrating Dada’s birthday, Austen ended almost every slide proclaiming “Seva!” as if rating the fun she was having. Austen clearly has a favorite number: Seven.

A few days ago, she started counting along to Sesame Street, Mama and Dada. She listens as we count up to six and then blurts out “Seva! Eight! Ten!” skipping past nine. Throughout the day, she continues to yell seven.

After filling up on the slide, she ran to the nearby basketball court as the boys were wrapping up their game. She burst on to the court flailing her arms, almost as if she was trying to say “I’m open!. Pass the ball to me.” Amused, the teens let her hold their basketball while they packed up for the night.

Dada enjoyed the birthday activities (sandwiches and yogurt at Panera), cards (a beach-themed card from Austen), and gifts (fog-free shaving mirror and swim lessons with Austen) but he loved hanging with Mama & baby the most.

Austen now enjoys lollipops, chocolate and cookies. Here she is at our regular Monday lunch with friends.

but often there’s a long delay before she says, “Boo!”

“Baby!” Julia Rose

“Peekaboo!”

Austen got to meet and greet her cousins, Jeffrey, Jonathan, Grace, Julia, Chase and Liza.

Playing with Jonathan and Jeffrey at their house on the Famous Farm:

“Oooo!” It’s a guinea pig.

On Saturday evening, we went to dinner with Auntie Janet at McGerks in Bel Air, MD. Auntie Janet always bring discontinued library books for Austen.

Jumping at Chase’s 2nd Birthday Party (where we also hung out with Liza):

Crawling in and crawling out. Repeat.

On Sunday Austen dropped in on the nursery class at Emory, where she was related to half the students. Mama played play dough with Grace and Jonathan while Dada helped the kids (including Abby) put glitter on their art projects.

Jonathan Becker in the striped shirt. Abby West next to him.

With Grace Underwood.

When we visited Grandma Judi’s grave, Mama did well. She thought about all the Famouses buried at the Emory graveyard, all the way back to the 18th century, and felt a strong sense of history. But on the ride home, Mama got very depressed as she started thinking about how much things had changed since Grandma Judi passed away.

Playing with cows at Grandpa Earl’s house.

Sitting on the “dangerous” yellow chair, watching TV (sports) with Grandpa.

Grandpa Earl took Austen for a ride in his new camouflaged golf cart, riding up and down the hills, over streams and frightening the cows. Grandpa also set up a toddler swing for Austen and took her for a long walk. She loved exploring the farm and rooming free — Just watch out for the electric fence! Those Famous kids have a tradition of crashing into it. Ask Uncle Tod about his scar.

We tried to keep our spirits up on this very sad day (the second anniversary Grandma Judi’s death) by paying tribute to Austen’s Punjabi heritage and the love of music she got from her Grandma Judi.

Mama got out all the instruments and Austen enjoyed the special treat of playing with the sticks.

Mama and Austen had a lot of fun.

Mama used Indian gowns as decoration, along with orange and green from the Indian flag.

The kids (including Riley and Austen) danced to Bhangra in the media room.

The boys dressed up too. But the little girls really shined. Mama handed out bindis and sparkly bracelets.

Mama cooked up a storm — and friends brought Indian food. We had Chicken Tikka, Basmati Rice with Peas, Aloo Pronti, Candied Fennel Seeds, Spicy Lentil Snack, Milky Indian Sweets, Samosas, Nan, Cardemon Cookies, Mango Lassi, and Cholay.

We’re so honored. Baby Theo made his debut.

Here Austen is sharing. Hooray!

A Sikh singing Bhangra on the TV.

A table covered with stickers means it’s time for a craft project.

Ryan works on the craft project. Notice his name on the Bhangra shaker.

A big mess after craft time is over.

Sticker fun in the TV room.

Although Indian dance, food and music were the order of the day, the kids still took the time to play with all the toys.

Dada took Austen for her eighteen month check up today. We waited and waited and waited to be seen (almost an hour), probably because there were so many sick kids in the “sick waiting area” and this was a last-minute rescheduled appointment, but Austen was entertained looking out of the window at cars, reading magazines, climbing on chairs and greeting new kids as they entered.

Once we went into the doctor’s office, things changed quickly. As is par for the course, Austen immediately became upset and cried. Dada smirked at the nurse’s futile but well-intentioned attempts to distract Austen. Refusing to sit on the scale, the nurse weighed Dada and Austen, then held Austen (kicking and screaming), while Dada weighed himself. After some simple math, the results were in: ~23 lbs.

Next was her height check. No chance in Austen standing still so we laid her down on the table. The nurse quickly made a pen mark above her head, then we attempted to hold her down flat and mark at the bottom of her feet. The nurse measured the distance between the marks and came up with 32″ although there was too much squirming for that to be very accurate.

After the nurse left, Austen calmed down a little but still clearly wanted to leave the room. Shortly afterwards, the doctor entered and the screams started up again. The nurse and Dada had to restrain Austen while lying down (yes, it takes at least two people to hold her down) while the doctor checked her ears, throat, etc.

Finally, after that torturous 10 minutes, Mama came in and rescued Austen and after a meeting with the doctor to review the details, took Austen to a scheduled Saint Patrick’s Day playdate (but that’s another blog entry).

While watching one of her videos on the computer, Austen identified herself and Chacha, saying “Babee” and “Chacha.”