Celebrating Ramona's Birthday with her Father and our Daughter Apra

Today is the 19th March, my wife Ramona’s birthday. It is a special one: it is her second birthday with Apra and after many years a birthday with her father again! Yes, Ramona’s father has come to visit and we are having a great time together, especially with Apra, whom he had not seen for a year.

The last time that Ramona’s father was here, she was just three months old and had started to lift her head on her own. She could turn around onto her belly and look at him in front of her and even push herself forward with her feet. She was however still sleeping a lot of the time – and that is a great difference to today!

We had been telling Apra that her grandfather was about to come and she had seen him over Skype online every week, as well as on photos, so we were all just very excited to see how she would react on seeing him again, this time in 3D and real life! We were not disappointed: when he got out of the car, she looked at him and we could see in her eyes that she recognized him. She started smiling and was very happy – but at the same time a little bit shy!

It did not take long for her to lose her shyness though! By the time her German grandfather unpacked all the great presents he had brought for her, she was all around him, taking the sand toys out of his hands, holding the books and finally being fascinated by the small red car which was now all hers! Her legs are still a little bit too short to reach the floor but that doesn’t matter – the boys at the Ashram love driving her around and she will squeak with joy, not getting tired of it.

Apra’s grandfather notices how active she is! The whole day long she keeps the whole Ashram busy. The boys play cricket with her, her uncles show her cows, lizards and other favourite animals on the computer, her mother reads out to her, I let her hide under my clothes and then come out as though she surprises me with it, Naniji feeds her the one or other little extra which she especially kept aside for her, Babbaji lets her help him arrange his various small boxes and every now and then someone of the Ashram family takes her out to the back of the Ashram, visiting the neighbours’ cows. There she has found a special friend: a small white calf that has about her size!

While she is doing all this, she keeps on babbling along, sometimes Hindi words, sometimes German words, a few English ones and often a mixture of all three, together with attempts of words that we cannot understand. She has no difficulty telling us what she wants though as she already mastered the most important words: come, open, look, various animals, ball, water and of course milk. There are many more and we have the feeling that she will keep on picking up words and sentences in this speed, soon being able to communicate in three languages, Hindi, German and English.

It is still the most incredible feeling to have our little Apra. When she sits on my lap and I start talking to someone else, she demands my attention back by calling me ‘Pa!’, reaching up to my cheek and turning my face towards her again. When she has seen a lizard, she wants to show it to me and comes, takes my finger and pulls. Of course I follow, whatever I was doing. Who could refuse such an invitation?

So now this is Ramona’s birthday and we are not only celebrating Ramona, my wife, anymore but Ramona, the mother of Apra and with this of course the next generation of our family. We are very happy that Ramona’s father is here to celebrate this day with us!

In the next week, more friends are going to arrive here and several of them also have birthdays in March, which is why we are planning another, big birthday party in the time of Holi.

See more photos of the celebration