Dental Hygiene

As I was filling in the health insurance forms for next year, I found out that I had already added Priya to our dental plan last year. Since the deductible was paid off already for the year, we decided that it was as good a time as any for her to have her first dental visit. She's been brushing her teeth for a while now, but has never gone in for a formal cleaning. The first time she ever went to a dentist was when she was about 3. The whole set up kinda freaked her out a bit, and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. But the last couple of times that she accompanied me, she got warmer to the idea of getting it done herself. So when the day for her appointment came, she was pretty excited.

Starting this week, Armaan is now also getting his teeth brushed. Like with most everything, he takes everything in stride. There's a video at the end where you can see that he is not the slightest bit fazed with getting his teeth brushed.

Getting ready for cleaning

And all done

As far as my work goes, things are slow. We got the news that there will be a company-wide pay cut of 10% with reduced work hours. Even with that, there are probably no guarantees that there won't be cuts. No one really is to blame for this. The economy just plain sucks, and getting 90% of any salary is better than getting nothing at all.

Restarting an annual tradition

We had been going to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier for a few years before they shut it down. Even Priya got to enjoy it when she was about a year old. I was always a little sad when Armaan got to about the same age, and we couldn't go there last year. This year, the city decided to bring it back. So on a pretty nice Saturday, after Tish got home from work, we got everyone in the van and went down to Navy Pier. By the time we had had dinner, there was only an hour left before the show ended. But as it turned out, that was plenty of time to walk around, and get a good feel for the show. My favorite thing at the show was always the competition entries, but this time either they didn't have the competition, or had removed the flowers earlier in the week.

Before we get to those pictures, we had Grandma visiting us for a few days. She got to see where Priya goes to school. The kids had a really good time with her.

Priya as a future WNBA player

Armaan walked more that day than any other day in his life

Can you see the whole front of his face bruised from a fall? Can you also see how much he cares about it?

It's here, it's not here

I'm talking about spring. Even thought the official start is still a couple of weeks away, we had some nice warm weather this past week. Though I wasn't around to enjoy it. I spent most of the week in Seattle where it was mid-30s and raining. Exactly what everyone expects Seattle weather to be like.

In the most exciting news of the week, Priya had her first hair cut! Her wanting to get it cut has only been a recent phenomenon. Until now she was morbidly afraid of getting it cut. But after seeing Armaan get his hair cut a few times, she got more open to the idea. Her hair's still long, and a lot more manageable.

Nice and trimmed

Tuesday afternoon kid hangout

Superman with kitty boots

Priya's long hair before the the trimming

I think she's ready for roller derby

First time ever

For the first time ever in the entire time that I have been in the US, I have Presidents Day off. This is part of the cost-cutting measures at work. Everyone is required to take mandatory days off to reduce the vacation hours on the books. Can't say it's all that bad since I have over 5 weeks of vacation, but still... it's an ominous sign.

In other consumer news, if anyone is thinking of buying a new American car, it is highly advisable to buy the extended warranty. Our van is sitting in the shop right now with problems in the airbag sensor, automatic door opener motor and track, and leak in the rack-and-pinion assembly. Total cost of repairs: $2,300. Cost with warranty: $100. Cost of the warranty at purchase: $1,600. So does the math work out? You bet it does. And Detroit still claims they make decent, solid vehicles. There's still about 35k miles of warranty left. Let's see what goes next.

Priya's turn to be the "helper"

The dapper boy

Visit to the Chicago Art Institute Museum - the Monet's are always breathtaking

Waiting for the thaw

We are waiting for the weather to warm up. Like last year, winter has been bitterly cold with weeks of sub-freezing temperatures, and many feet of snow. If this is a trend, then it's going the wrong way!

Things at work are a little slow. But that's the economy as a whole. We've had some layoffs, but nothing substantial. We're all waiting for Obama to work his magic! :-)

Kids at Fun-Flatables

Start of a new season

For the followers of this blog who come solely for pictures of the kids - sorry! Nothing this time. This is a follow-up to the post I had made back at the end of 2007 about my commuting situation. For over a year, things worked out fine. We had four people in our van, and that's the minimum you need to keep the vanpool together. Except, one person was laid off yesterday.

There was a brief moment of panic as my head went in a tizzy thinking what I was going to do. Being in a vanpool and sharing the drive is the only way a 130 mile commute is even possible. Okay.. I'm taking a minute to just think about that number for a second. Crazy! Alright, I can't dwell on that... So anyway, as I was saying, I started panicking. Then I got another indication that the Lord has me in the exact right place.

There is another van that goes from the area, but was full. It "somehow" happened that the van got open seats last month, and I was able to get on that one. Hmm.. the skeptics among you can mark that in the "coincidence" column. I prefer to see the working of the Unseen Hand of the Maker (Rom 8:28). Now here's to the good part...

In the vanpool that just folded, there were only two drivers - the person that got fired and me. So that means 2.5 days of driving per week. However, with my traveling and with the other person taking weeks off at a time (for various reasons), it usually meant one person was driving the entire week. Not good for anyone's physical or mental health. In the new van, there are already three drivers, and with me as the fourth, everyone's load gets lightened.

The single challenge that I will have is joining in a group that has been driving together for 5+ years. The group dynamics are set, and constant. Now there's a new person in the mix. My effort will be to keep my head low, and try not to cause stirs. I just hope they don't mind listening to NPR when I drive.

Did I mention that it's me. And five women.

Catching up

Not a whole lot has been going on with us. The year is off to a quiet start. We've had a severe stretch of cold weather, along with many inches of snow. The severity of the weather has been unusual in the past few years.

For those looking for a consumer report on the Bosch appliances, here it is: the stove is incredible; the dishwasher is quiet. The stove really is pretty cool, and I would recommend it any day. The dishwasher is another story. For Tish, one of the problems is how the dishes load (Ok.. maybe that will go away through use and figuring out what goes where). The other, what should I say, "issue" is how the dishwasher dries the load. It doesn't use forced hot-air convection. Instead it's got some weird condensation drying technique where it pumps in extra hot water, and the slightly cooler steel cylinder is supposed to condense out the moisture from the dishes. Works very well for ceramic or metal items. But anything that's plastic is left (sometimes dripping) wet. Maybe the Europeans are smart and don't use cancer-inducing plastic containers and plates and what not. Oh well. At least the washer is incredibly quiet.

The two princesses

Priya's portrait of Armaan

The cocoon

Happy birthday to me