Sweetie

Its intersting to see Aleena starting to come into her own. Over the last month, and even few weeks, it seems like her language skills and play skills are really developing. Her sentences are a lot more complete and thoughtful.

At dinner, I usually have the kids take turns talking about their day. We don't always do it, and its often side tracked by something, but its a nice chance for them to get to share what happened with the rest of the family. Until recently, Aleena wasn't an active participant. I might ask her some questions, but she really didn't say much on her own. Now, however, she is participating, and its kind of amusing. I'll start with her and she'll start talking about her day. After a lull in the conversation, I'll ask Jacob or Nalin to share. Aleena will get indignant and inform me that she is not done. She gets angry when we try to proceed before she is finished. After a few times of this, I finally came up with a plan that seems to work. Aleena will speak for a while, and then I'll tell her that its one of the other children's turns, but that we can come back to her after everyone has had a turn. This satisfies her, although she never has really asked to come back to her.

One word that Aleena seems to have trouble with is the word "white". She pronounces it "wipe". Its actually amusing to hear her talk about Snow Wipe.

Aleena loves to play with her and Nalin's barbies. Sometimes she will play with me, sometimes the nanny, and other times she'll want to play by herself. When she plays, she can be quite bossy. She has certain dolls that she wants you to use and strong opinions about what their actions should be. It is funny to hear her have the dolls talk to each other, having the "mommy" call the children "sweetie". There is usually a mom, a big sister, a little sister, and sometimes a dad.

Aleena's greatest joy, though is her big sister Nalin. She adores her, wanting to do everything that her big sister does. Nalin is actually a pretty good big sister who looks out for Aleena, but her little sister's attention is not always appreciated.