Speaking Competition - Show & Tell - Diya

Diya had her first speaking competition of the school year last week :) 

Before the competition began she went around to all of the parents and gave them a special paper and told them:  "Nursery B Welcomes You!"  (There is a video of all of this at the end of the post :))

 The performance began with a few poems and songs.

 This is Diya with her buddies in her class.  There aren't many girls, so they're pretty tight :) haha! :)

It was a "Show & Tell" competition.  Everyone picked a topic and talked about it.  The topics were quite random.  In the pics below, the topics (from LtoR) were:  "My Family", "Rainy Season", "Trees", "Hanburgers" and "Biscuits" (cookies).

 Diya was the last one to go on!  She LOVES that stuffed bunny and decided to use that as her topic.  

  Diya never wants to practice in front of us, so we weren't sure how she would do :)  She LOVES the stage and a microphone though! haha!

 She did great! :)

 After everyone was done speaking, they did a Taekwondo Presentation.

 Diya LOVES Taekwondo!

 Part of the Taekwondo Presentation was an obstacle course.  It was hilarious!

 At the end of the obstacle course they were supposed to jump and roll :) haha!  

 Then a few of them showed some Self-Defense moves.  Diya was so funny :)

 All the kids got Chocolate Bars at the end.  They were so excited! 

The kids then showed off their skills in the Computer Lab :)

And their puzzle skills :)

Here's a  video!!!

 

 Oh yeah, and Diya got First Place!!

Aashini Update

Here's a pic of Aashini that I took just a couple of hours ago :)

 This morning didn't go according to my plans... We were planning on going canoeing this morning.  Aashini normally gets up at around 6:45 AM (no matter what!!)... this morning my alarm went off at about 7:30... we realized she wasn't up and we needed to wake them... Adam went into see them, and Aashini was laying in bed with her eyes wide open.  She wasn't moving, but she looked awake.  We talked to her but she didn't and couldn't respond.  She just stared off into space... We sat her up and she was limp (almost like she was asleep)... The whole time she was just staring.  She couldn't talk either.   So... we rushed her to the emergency room (which thankfully wasn't very far away).  

In the car on the way there, we would ask her to move her foot and she could slightly move it.  I would ask her to squeeze my hand but she couldn't do that.  She couldn't talk either (but she did try to).... 

She also had a normal temperature which is a little worrying...

We got into a room immediately and they worked on getting her IV in.  That took a while (those tiny kid veins!).  She was able to scream during this time, so that made me feel good,  but she still couldn't talk or make eye contact....  After they got the IV in, she finally fell asleep for a few minutes until they took her to get a CT scan. She slept through her CT scan for the most part and then went back to her room.   She slept for about 5-10 minutes and then had to go to the bathroom.  After that we got her back in her bed and she looked at us and said:  "What are you doing?"....  We were so thankful to hear her talk!!!

The nurse in the pic above that is right across from Adam was our nurse.  She was awesome!

 She started to talk after that.  She had tons of meds, so she was very loopy and her speech was slurred.  She was also VERY confused about what was going on.  She had the memory of a goldfish too and asked us about every 10 minutes what was going on or what the IV in her hand was all about... 

The docs and nurses were surprised that she never really slept (the meds were supposed to make her sleepy).  She then watched TV and talked some (some in English and some in Hindi :)).  

All of her tests came back completely normal.  The CT Scan, urine tests and even the blood tests (which usually show something when they have seizures) were all normal.  After that, they let us check out.  We were really surprised at how fast it was to be discharged!  (In South Asia it takes HOURS!).  

We went home, and after Aashini vomited everywhere, put on a movie for the girls (thinking that Aashini would fall asleep... but she didn't).  They watched a movie and then went down for nap.  Aashini only took about a 30 minute nap!!! (she still normally takes a 1+ hour nap!)... The rest of the day we just hung out inside and played.  She is still out of it and not acting like her normal self.  Her speech was almost normal but her behavior was a little crazy.  She doesn't remember anything from this  morning and is very confused about what happened.     

Please pray that this was a One-Time thing and that it won't happen again!  Please pray that there's nothing wrong and that  she wakes up feeling completely normal.  Please join us in thanking God that she's doing good now!!  Praise God that he again took care of our little girl and gave us complete peace through the whole thing :)   Thank you guys so much for praying with us!!

Annual Day - Presidium - Aashini

In December Aashini had her school Annual Day! (yes, I'm way behind in posting!) Her grade was doing the "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme.  They did a fun pirate dance :)  Here's Aashini in her Pirate costume :) 

 The program started off with a famous political leader (who was really late) that came and did a speech to kick it off... See all the Secret Service guys?  There were a ton of them!!

 The older kids band performed the school song :)  (Click HERE to hear the song... it's not your average school song!)... 

 One of the Pre-K groups did a performance called "The Great Punjabi Wedding"... it was super cute. 

Later was Aashini's performance!  They did a Pirates of the Caribbean Dance.  Sadly we sat on the wrong side of the stage, so the pics aren't great!  We'll get the "professional video" soon, maybe it will be better :)

 She LOVED this dance and practicing it!!!  She was a HUGE fan! 

 She was smiling the whole time!  She LOVED it!

 I think this one is cute :)

 I had to post the jumping picture :) haha!

 This was the "Madagascar" performance.  The girl on the left is a sweet little girl at Aashini's school.  Her grandfather gives me rides home (from dropping Aashini off at school) on his scooter some days :)  She was having so much doing her performance :)

My favorite is always the roller skating performances :)  Pretty impressive hunh?  (doesn't look very good on the ankles though :)).

 That doesn't look comfortable hunh?

 ... this looks even less comfortable! haha!!! :)

Anyway, here's a video of Aashini's part :)  It's a horrible video... Aashini is on the far right... you might be able to see her :)

First Day of First Grade! - Aashini

This week was Aashini's first week of FIRST GRADE!  Whoa!  The school year here begins in April.  Aashini was very excited to start First Grade :)    Here is Aashini's weekly schedule:

Aashini is 5 now years old and loves to color and draw!  She is very creative and curious about everything :)

Aashini gets to wear the "big kid" uniform now :)  We got the uniform without her being there... so it's way too big, but she doesn't care :)

Here's a little bit about Aashini :)

First Day of Nursery - Diya!

  Yesterday was Diya's first day of Nursery (Pre-K).  Here's her pic on her first day!  I also interviewed her and asked her what some of her favorite things were and here they are!

Diya hasn't learned to write yet, but I asked her to write her name:

Diya posing :)  You can sort-of see her busted lip in this picture :)  

It was the day before Choti Holi, so they played Holi at school on her first day.  Here is Diya showing Adam her Star for being good on her hand... but I think it looks like she's threatening to punch him :) haha!

Diya after her first day of school!  She had a great time.  She has 2 really awesome teachers this year :)  I'm excited :)

And just for comparison ... :)  Here are Aashini and Diya at the same age (Aashini was 2 weeks older) and on the first day of Nursery :)  I think Aashini was a little taller and her feet were definitely bigger (Diya is wearing Aashini's old shoes and they are HUGE on her!!) :) haha!

Diya is going to learn to write her ABCs this year (as well as many other things).  She's really excited :)

Aashini's First Piano Recital

Aashini has been taking piano lessons for about a year now.  In December she had her first piano recital :)  She is in a group class and they are going through a cute book (Music for Little Mozarts) that is great for kids their age!

We had a party after the recital and Anoop's mom made this awesome cake!!  Awesome hunh?  (That's Mozart Mouse and Beethoven Bear on the cake).

 Here is everyone ready for the recital!

Here is Aashini performing her first piece :)

 After they performed each kid bowed or curtsied.   Aashini did a "bow and bolt" - haha! :)

 The book they are using has lots of different songs that they sing and dance to that teach all sorts of things about music.  Here they are acting out one of the songs, "Hey Mr. Elephant" :)

 Here they are singing the "Do Re Me" song :)

 Here is Aashini doing her 2nd piece.  This one she played with her teacher Mrs. Aimee :)

 Aashini getting her certificate :) 

 Aashini selected her outfit and her accessories all on her own for this event :) haha!

 Here is their class :)

And here's a short video of the performance :)