Videos of Karuna & Tiana

*** NOTE: These files are large, and should only be downloaded by people with fast internet connections. The are also not very professionally taken and/or edited, and are probably only interesting to people like Karuna's Grandparents who really want to see moving footage of her. You have been warned . If you have trouble with the "streaming" (i.e. the video pauses while you are trying to watch it), try right-clicking on the link and choose "save file/link as" which will allow you to save the video to your computer.

*** NOTE: I recently started using Quicktime format for uploading videos. If you want to see the photos in "full screen" mode, then right click on the videos and save them to your computer. When playing back the videos, press control-f in Quicktime for full screen (or control-2 for double size).

Video Date Size    Comments
Comfortably Walking
Jun 19, 2007 3.7MB Tiana is getting much better at walking, has no problem turning, and now only occasionally falls down. She even bent over and picked something up off the floor today while still standing. Her main source of falls is her bigger sister who still has trouble learning to be gentle with her younger sister. Tiana still needs to put up her hands in the air for her balance. Now that she is standing, it shows how much Karuna has grown in the past year and a half. Tiana is so tiny
Happy Birthday Ji-Ji
Jun 12, 2007 2.5MB A video of Karuna singing happy birthday to "Ji-Ji" (Grandpa in Japanese).
Balloon
Jun 11, 2007 2.5MB Tiana is having great fun playing with a balloon from a local grocery store called Trader Joes.
Holding Hands
Jun 10, 2007 2.9MB Tiana is holding hands with Karuna while in her car seat (Tiana's car seat is rear facing while Karuna's faces forwards). She is also sucking her finger as she likes to do.
Bhaa Bhaa
Jun 08, 2007 6.9MB Tiana is now experimenting with more and more sounds, and in this video she is saying an emphatic "bhaa bhaa". At the end, Hitomi starts our "robot vacuum cleaner", and Tiana crawls away at top speed.
Walking
Jun 08, 2007 7.4MB Tiana walks over to her favourite "push toy", and then pushes it around the room.
Chickens
Jun 08, 2007 6.2MB Karuna is visiting a nearby farm with Grandma and Grandpa where there is a chicken coop.
Water fun
Jun 06, 2007 2.7MB Tiana is playing in the water at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Tiana enjoyed seeing the fish, but her favourite part by far was the children's area where she loved splashing in the water. Mild mannered Tiana showed her "other side" when another little girl about 2 butted in, and Tiana started beating on her. Fortunately, Tiana isn't very strong yet and the other girl didn't even notice.
Water fun
Jun 06, 2007 5.6MB Tiana and Karuna playing in the water in the children's area at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Fishing
Jun 06, 2007 3.4MB Tiana trying to catch a fish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Sunfish
Jun 06, 2007 1.1MB All of us watching a large sunfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Holding Hands
Jun 06, 2007 1.9MB Papa and his two daughters are walking hand in hand at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Bhaa Bhaa
Jun 04, 2007 1.5MB We showed Tiana the video of herself saying "Bhaa Bhaa" (see the video below), and she immediately copied it and started saying it again.
Bhaa Bhaa
Jun 04, 2007 6.5MB Tiana making funny noises while playing.
Swing
Jun 03, 2007 4.1MB Tiana playing on a swing we just installed in our yard.
Walking
Jun 03, 2007 1.7MB Tiana taking some slow and deliberate steps.
Walking
Jun 03, 2007 0.8MB Tiana walking with a toy baby sticking out of her mouth.
Walking
Jun 02, 2007 8.1MB Tiana walking between Grandma and Papa. Today was the first day that Tiana managed to walk more than one step without falling down.
Coast
Jun 01, 2007 4.6MB We took a trip to a nearby beach. Papa is trying to take some photos of Karuna playing in the water, and Tiana gets annoyed at the camera that is almost resting on her head. Tiana hates anything on her head and won't wear hats.
Backpack
May 31, 2007 4.0MB Karuna wearing her backpacka and going on a "trip", waving bye-bye to Grandma.
Cookies
May 30, 2007 0.8MB Karuna making some cheese cookies with Grandma.
Pool
May 26, 2007 3.6MB Karuna and Tiana playing in the pool. Tiana enjoys the water even more than Karuna. She also doesn't mind getting wet as much as Karuna. Karuna doesn't really like water on her head, while you can see that Tiana is soaked.
Chair
May 26, 2007 1.6MB Tiana loves climbing up into Karuna's chair and sitting back with a big grin on her face. She also climbs up the back to look out the window.
Maracas
May 26, 2007 5.1MB Tiana playing with her Maracas.
Playing
May 22, 2007 4.1MB Tiana loves walking around with support (anyone's hand or a push toy), and both Karuna and Tiana had a great time driving around the Winnie the Pooh push toy with Karuna steering and Tiana pushing.
Laughing
May 21, 2007 4.9MB Tiana is giggling at Karuna who is chasing Papa and Tiana. Unfortunately, by the time we started videoing, Karuna was getting a bit tired of the game and a bit jealous, so she is not too happy here.
Ba Ba Ba
May 21, 2007 3.0MB Tiana crawling while making one of her favourite sounds.
Tent
May 13, 2007 3.5MB We bought a tent for the girls at Ikea, and they have a great time in it. Here, Karuna is enjoying things a lot more than Tiana. Karuna and Tiana are starting to play together more, but unfortunately Karuna doesn't know her own strength, and doesn't seem to understand when she is bothering Tiana.
Drinking
May 12, 2007 4.8MB Tiana drinking water from cups, and having great fun blowing it back. The water in the clear cup is sparkling water which she seemed to enjoy.
Walker
May 09, 2007 7.2MB This is another video of Tiana walking with her two favourite walking aids. Toward the end of the video, Tiana starts falling backwards. I put my hands behind her, but I never actually touched her. She managed to keep herself upright (and seemed to have a good time doing so).
Walking
May 09, 2007 0.8MB Tiana walking quickly and having a small fall.
Walking & Screaming
May 08, 2007 2.3MB Tiana walking and screaming at the same time (which she often does when she is having fun.
Walking
May 08, 2007 3.2MB Tiana enjoys walking a lot, and has learned to use various toys as walking aids.
Drinking
May 06, 2007 1.5MB Tiana surprised us by finding one of Karuna's water bottles and picking it up and drinking it (we didn't know that she knew how). Karuna was not pleased at having Tiana drink her water.
Cage
May 02, 2007 10.1MB Tiana in her cage.
Cage
May 01, 2007 3.3MB Karuna playing with Tiana, and putting themselves in a cage. They are starting to play together more, although Karuna still tends to be a bit rough.
Close-Up
May 01, 2007 5.4MB A close up of Tiana showing some of her facial expressions and sounds.
Back in California
Apr 25, 2007 7.0MB Tiana is now back in California, and enjoying an old toy from a new persepective (standing).
Stroller
April 22, 2007 4.4MB Karuna having fun with her baby stroller in front of Hitomi's family's house.
Crawling
Apr 09, 2007 4.0MB Tiana crawling over to the table and pulling herself up.
Cheerios
Apr 08, 2007 0.8MB Tiana in her high chair eating cheerios.
Baba & Jiji
Apr 08, 2007 8.2MB Tiana talking with her Grandma and Grandpa. Tiana makes a variety of interesting sounds. Here she is doing a sort of "grunt".
Tokyo Friends
Apr 04, 2007 8.0MB Soon after arriving in Tokyo, we attended a 2-year birthday party in celebration of all of the kids that turned 2 recently from Hitomi's circle of friends.
Pulling Up
Apr 03, 2007 3.0MB By this time, Tiana was "pulling up" quite frequently, although it proved a challenge to get it on video.
Playing in the Rain
Apr 03, 2007 10.3MB Karuna had great fun wearing her boots and playing in the rain. She loved it so much that she insisted on wearing her boots for most of our trip to Tokyo, even on sunny days. Mom didn't really approve of Karuna's fashion sense :-)
Happy Birthday
Apr 02, 2007 4.2MB A video of Karuna singing happy birthday to Grandma. At least it started out as a happy birthday to Grandma, but towards the end changed into a happy birthday song for "froggie".
Tiana in Tokyo
Mar 30, 2007 5.3MB Tiana reached a couple of milestones soon after we arrived in Tiana. On the flight to Tokyo (3/28), we noticed that she had her two bottom teeth coming in, and soon after we arrived, Tiana started crawling on her hands and knees and pulling herself into a standing position.
Easter Card
Mar 25, 2007 11.8MB Karuna opening up an Easter card from Grandma and Grandpa.
Tiana Playing
Mar 18, 2007 5.3MB Tiana playing with one of her toys.
Playing together
Mar 11, 2007 4.5MB Tiana and Karuna playing together.
Crawling
Mar 06, 2007 1.2MB Another video of Tiana crawling.
Crawling
Mar 06, 2007 3.1MB Tiana starting to crawl a bit more.
Solid Food
Feb 24, 2007 2.6MB Another video of Tiana eating solid foods.
Playing
Feb 22, 2007 1.8MB Karuna having great fun playing with a friend until they bumped heads.
Solid Foods
Feb 18, 2007 6.5MB Tiana's first solid food (fed by Grandma).
Back on Stage
Feb 16, 2007 1.7MB Karuna back on stage ... this time with a friend.
Bagel
Feb 16, 2007 5.4MB Tiana starts out crying in this video because she found a piece of a bagel, and I took it away. She hasn't started eating solid food, but clearly wants to try eating the bagel.
Chewing on fingers
Feb 13, 2007 1.4MB Tiana chewing on her fingers.
Birthday
Feb 12, 2007 3.1MB Papa's 40th birthday.
A Snake!!!
Feb 11, 2007 4.8MB Karuna likes to imagine things, and went through a period where there were snakes everywhere. The sound they made was kind of like the sound of clearing your throat.
Almost crawling
Feb 11, 2007 3.8MB Tiana playing on the floor and trying hard to crawl.
Winking
Feb 05, 2007 0.3MB Grandpa and Grandma taught Karuna to wink.
Seattle
Feb 04, 2007 8.8MB Having fun on a ride below Seattle's space needle.
"Sleeping"
Jan 29, 2007 2.1MB Karuna went through a period where she like to pretend she was asleep. She just never realized that she was supposed to close her eyes.
Tiana Playing
Jan 26, 2007 6.3MB Tiana sitting on papa's lap and playing with things on the counter.
Baby Bjorn Chair
Jan 21, 2007 2.4MB Tiana in her new Baby Bjorn chair, and smiling a bit.
Reading instructions
Jan 20, 2007 5.1MB I was trying to read the instructions to the bread machine we just got, but Tiana was having too much fun.
Cell Phone
Jan 19, 2007 5.7MB Karuna answering a cell phone.
Cleaning
Jan 07, 2007 3.4MB Karuna cleaning the floors.
Dancing
Jan 01, 2007 16.4MB Yet again ... Karuna dancing to "I like to move it".
Christmas Day
Dec 25, 2006 5.3MB Everyone opening presents.
Christmas Day
Dec 25, 2006 11.9MB Karuna opening her stocking.
Dancing
Dec 24, 2006 3.7MB Another video of a very excited Karuna dancing to Madagascar's video "I like to move it".
2006-12-24-MVI-4145
Dec 24, 2006 8.4MB Description
Riding a horse
Dec 24, 2006 1.5MB Tiana riding the horse.
Giggling
Dec 23, 2006 3.2MB Grandpa playing with Tiana and Karuna and making Tiana giggle.
Winter Wonderland
Dec 20, 2006 3.8MB San Jose's winter wonderland.
Presents
Dec 20, 2006 4.2MB Opening more presents
Opening presents
Dec 20, 2006 2.3MB Karuna opening one of her presents.
Birthday Cake
Dec 19, 2006 2.0MB Karuna blowing out the candles.
Tea Party
Dec 19, 2006 3.5MB Karuna playing with her tea set.
Birthday Party
Dec 19, 2006 10.1MB Another video of Karuna's birthday parting including Karuna dancing.
Birthday Party
Dec 19, 2006 5.1MB Friends over for Karuna's birthday party.
On Stage
Dec 15, 2006 0.9MB Karuna dancing on stage at Rancho San Antonio Park.
Shoulders
Dec 14, 2006 2.9MB Karuna giving Tiana a ride on her shoulders. Karuna is having a great time, although Tiana is not so sure.
Christmas tree
Dec 11, 2006 1.2MB Karuna helping to decorate the Christmas tree.
Candles
Dec 09, 2006 3.0MB Karuna practicing blowing out candles (this is identical to the video below, but from a different angle / camera).
Candles
Dec 09, 2006 3.4MB Karuna practicing blowing out candles (this is identical to the video above, but from a different angle / camera).
Grandpa
Dec 08, 2006 3.0MB Tiana and Karuna visiting with Grandpa
Big Shoes
Dec 03, 2006 1.7MB Karuna walking in Grandma's shoes
Dancing
Nov 23, 2006 2.7MB Another video of Karuna dancing to "I like to move it"
Talking
Nov 23, 2006 7.5MB Another video of Tiana talking to Grandma
Talking
Nov 21, 2006 1.6MB Tiana talking to Grandma (until she notices the camera).
Sitting Up
Nov 19, 2006 6.5MB A 3-month old Tiana sitting on Grandma's lap with Hitomi and Grandma trying to get her to talk. As usual, she mostly freezes in front of the camera.
Walk
Nov 08, 2006 7.8MB We are going for a walk at a nearby park, and Karuna is helping push. She was having fun until she noticed another little boy behind us about Karuna's age. She became very upset that he had the nerve to hike on the same trail at us, and is basically telling him to go away. She went through a phase where she really didn't like other kids her age, although thankfully that phase didn't seem to last very long (knock on wood).
Dancing
Nov 05, 2006 5.7MB Karuna loves dancing, and one of her favourite songs is "I Like to Move It" which was featured on the film "Madagascar".
Smiling
Nov 04, 2006 4.0MB Tiana smiling for the camera. Tiana actually smiles a lot, although pointing a camera at her causes her to freeze with a curious expression on her face. Catching the smile on "film" is difficult.
Talking
Nov 03, 2006 4.6MB Tiana is carrying on a conversation with herself in the mirror.
Six Weeks
Oct 02, 2006 4.5MB Tiana is now six weeks old and getting bigger.
Feeding the Goat
Sep 23, 2006 19.1MB Karuna is having great fun feeding a goat at Hidden Villa (a hostel / summer camp / farm near our home). The goat is normally in a pen, but somehow got loose. It was eating leaves, so we picked some and fed the goat. At one point, the goat jumps up on a bench which causes Karuna to point to the ground and say "koko" which means "here" in Japanese.
Petting Zoo
Sep 13, 2006 1.1MB Karuna enjoying herself at the petting zoo.
Fishies
Sep 13, 2006 4.2MB Karuna at the zoo, and wanting to show Papa the fishies that she found.
Oishii
Sep 08, 2006 2.4MB Karuna drinking milk from a mug, and exclaiming "oishii" which is Japanese for delicious.
Two Weeks Old
Sep 06, 2006 4.7MB Tiana is becoming a bit more aware of her surroundings.
Bath Time
Sep 02, 2006 1.3MB Tiana's first bath at home.
One Week Old
Aug 28, 2006 2.1MB A one-week old Tiana (during one of her rare moments of being awake).
Karuna's New Toy
Aug 25, 2006 9.8MB Karuna is really enjoying her new toy. Tiana is no different than a baby doll to Karuna.
Karuna meets Tiana
Aug 21, 2006 1.0MB Karuna meeting Tiana for the first time.
Bath
Aug 20, 2006 1.6MB Tiana is getting bundled up before being taken to the sink for her first bath.
Crying
Aug 20, 2006 1.4MB Tiana was just given some medicine for her eyes, and it made her cry a bit.
Waiting for a bath
Aug 20, 2006 1.6MB Tiana is sitting under a heat lamp as the nurse prepares to bathe her. Heat was all it took to keep Tiana happy at this point. If you removed her from the heat, she would cry non-stop. If you kept her warm, she stayed content.
Tiana's First Video
Aug 20, 2006 1.9MB Tiana's first video, taken within an hour of birth. The "vernix" from birth has not yet been washed off.
Fun with Grandma
Aug 15, 2006 4.3MB I believe this was the first day that Grandma came down to visit (to help us as we got ready for our new baby). Karuna was laughing hysterically as Grandma chased her around the couch.
Self Feeding
Jul 31, 2006 3.5MB Karuna insisted on self feeding, making quite a mess in the process.
Bubbles
Jul 12, 2006 5.2MB Karuna having fun with bubbles.
Ice Cream
Jun 18, 2006 0.8MB Karuna eating her first ice cream (we are actually still trying to avoid giving her sweets, but she was given this at a friends home.
Pool
Jun 04, 2006 3.9MB Karuna enjoying a dip in her pool on a very hot June day.
Running
May 17, 2006 9.3MB Karuna enjoyed running down the hill, and the grass made a soft landing for her many tumbles.
Intercom
May 13, 2006 5.5MB Karuna learning to use the phone (I am talking to her on another phone like a walkie-talkie.
Watering Flowers
May 13, 2006 3.9MB Karuna really enjoyed helping us water the flowers. She knows there is water in the big watering can, but tries to transfer the water to the small can which is easier for her to use.
Slippers
May 10, 2006 0.8MB Karuna is enjoying trying on Papa's slippers.
Spinning5
Apr 30, 2006 7.6MB Karuna doesn't like wearing clothes very much, so she feels liberated when she can run around without them. It is getting close to bed time, so we were in the process of changing her into her pyjamas when she perked up and started dancing around.
Spinning4
Apr 30, 2006 9.6MB A video of Karuna spinning around so much that she falls over and seems to make herself naseous.
Zoo
Apr 16, 2006 4.5MB We took Karuna to the zoo, and she had lots of fun looking at the different animals, and pointing them all out to us.
Waffle
Apr 16, 2006 4.0MB Karuna is riding her Ikea "moose" and eating a waffle at the same time. In the middle of the video, she makes a strange face that she has been doing a lot lately, and we can't figure out what it means.
Tricycle
Apr 12, 2006 3.2MB Karuna getting pushed around on her new tricycle. She hasn't figured out how to ride herself yet, but she enjoys being pushed, and having the long pushbar makes it easy on her parents' backs.
Stroller
Apr 07, 2006 6.4MB Karuna decided that it was fun to push her own stroller around. She also appreciated the storage compartment underneath it and used it to store her collection of twigs and stones.
Helper
Apr 02, 2006 10.9MB While wandering around the park, a little girl seemed to think that Karuna was lost, and so she collected Karuna up and brought her back to us. Karuna wasn't quite sure what to think about it, but soon was off running around the park again. While we were visiting in Japan, Karuna never wanted to let us out of her sight. However, once we were at the park it was a different story, and Karuna would run off in any direction without any consideration as to where we were.
Table
Mar 27, 2006 6.8MB This is a video of us having fun with Karuna. She wanted to keep her table clean, and as we threw toys on the table, Karuna cleared them off as fast as she could.
Sunglasses
Mar 11, 2006 5.3MB We bought Karuna some sunglasses (partly just for play), and she loves putting them on (partly for the attention she gets). She puts them on, claps her hands a bit, then takes them off and asks you to put them on again.
Spinning3
Mar 08, 2006 1.6MB Another video of her spinning. When she spins around, she often likes to hold one hand above her head and the other by her waist (we call it her flamenco pose). I'm not sure why she does that.
Spinning2
Mar 07, 2006 1.5MB Of course when you spin around a lot and get dizzy, you also fall a lot :-).
Spinning1
Mar 07, 2006 2.8MB Karuna recently started amusing herself by spinning around in a circle. She spins around at the start of this video, and then stops and does a dance move from one of the children's shows she watches where the hands are spun around each other before raising them in the air.
Animals
Mar 05, 2006 13.2MB Karuna loves looking at images on the computer, so we sometimes show her images from images.google.com. In this video, she starts out looking at an elephant which is zou (rhymes with row) in Japanese and Karuna mispronounces it as jou. She also sees some goats which she calls baa, a horse which is uma in Japanese, a squirrel which is rees in Japanese but Karuna pronounces as iish, and her favourite which is a dog (wan-wan)
Dimsum
Feb 25, 2006 6.6MB We are at a Cantonese restaurant, and eating dessert. Karuna wanted to try some, and is sort of feeding herself with a spoon.
Spoon
Feb 20, 2006 5.0MB Karuna recently started wanting to feed herself, even though she doesn't really have a clue how. In this video, is trying to eat some cubes of pears from a bowl without much success. At the end of the video, she tries to share some food with me. At the end of her meal as she fills up, she likes to feed the leftovers to mom or dad.
Laughing3
Feb 18, 2006 4.4MB Hitomi is playing with Karuna pretending that the diaper wipe bag is too heavy to pick up, and Karuna thinks it is hilarious.
Book
Feb 17, 2006 14.3MB I am trying to read a book with Karuna. It is a picture book, and we have been teaching her the words to various objects in the book. Most of the words we have been teaching her are Japanese (at least children's Japanese). Some of the words she is trying to say include: wan-wan (dog), ga-ga (duckling), uma (horse), and baa (a word that she invented herself for goats after seeing them at a nearby park).
Horse
Feb 11, 2006 3.8MB Karuna loves animals of all types ... at least at a distance. When we got close up to this horse, she became a bit nervous. When the horse sniffed her, she didn't like that at all and hit the horse back. You can see her legs swinging around which I think is a sign that she is a bit nervous.
Brusing-teeth
Feb 02, 2006 3.1MB We started getting Karuna to brush her teeth, and she had seen us do it often enough that she had fun doing it herself.
Hiking
Jan 24, 2006 2.0MB Karuna enjoying hiking at a nearby park. She loved walking by herself, but left to her own, she would sit down and eat the twigs and leaves that she found on the ground. I tried holding her hand to get her to keep walking, and I could almost reach her hand without slouching.
Walking
Jan 19, 2006 2.3MB Karuna enjoying walking around in the fresh air up in Napa Valley.
Phone
Jan 06, 2006 5.6MB Karuna playing with her music book, and answering her phone at the same time.
Music
Jan 06, 2006 5.0MB Karuna got a music book for Christmas, and she loves it. When you press buttons in the book, it plays various children's songs. She presses the buttons over and over again, and enjoys dancing to the music. She often gets impatient and pushes different songs before the previous one even finishes.
Stairs
Jan 05, 2006 4.3MB Karuna climing the stairs (under close supervision of course). Karuna really enjoys climing on top of anything.
Christmas
Dec 25, 2005 4.9MB Karuna opening her presents. Actually, in this video she didn't do much opening, but was having fun wandering around and enjoying all of the boxes laid out. By the end of the morning, she started doing a bit of her own opening.
Wildlife
Dec 19, 2005 9.1MB Karuna enjoying the wildlife from our chalet in Banff. Towards the end of the video, Karuna sits down, takes off a sock, and starts eating it. Even though the floors are cold, Karuna really doesn't like wearing her socks.
Cousin
Dec 17, 2005 5.1MB This is a video of Karuna performing with my cousin's daughter Anika. They were enjoying the music and all of the attention, and Anika especially really started to enjoy herself. Anika is about 3 months younger than Karuna.
Pointing
Dec 07, 2005 7.3MB Another video of Karuna walking around in the house. At one point in the video, you can see her do something that she is doing a lot recently ... pointing. She points at lots of different things, usually saying something incomprehensible at the same time, all with a very serious look on her face. If you pretend to see what she is pointing at and acknowledge her, it seems to make her happy. She also says "hi" to Hitomi near the end of the video. She is starting to say a few words, and "hi" and "bye" are two of her favourites. She knows that "bye" is said along with waving, but other than that she doesn't really seem to comprehend their meanings.
Tantrum
Dec 07, 2005 3.8MB This video was taken immediately after the previous one (Mobile). Karuna starts by drinking some water, and then sees Hitomi with the camera. She tries to get the camera from Hitomi, and when Hitomi won't let her, Karuna throws a bit of a tantrum. She then turns around and makes one more attempt to get the camera.
Mobile
Dec 07, 2005 5.3MB This video starts with Karuna playing with a pack of tissues, and she then walks over and picks up her water bottle. She sits down with it on a bean-bag, and then tries to drink the un-opened bottle. When Hitomi opens it for her, she gets distracted by the camera and tries to grab it instead.
Bathtime
Dec 07, 2005 3.2MB Karuna having a bath. She was catching a bit of a cold, and it is a little chilly in the house, so we filled the tub up a little higher than normal. This put the water near her chin, and Karuna discovered that it is fun to blow bubbles in the bath water.
Walking4

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Nov 11, 2005 1.6MB Here is another video of Karuna walking. She walks with her hands high in the air which I guess gives her better balance.
Walking3

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Nov 07, 2005 4.4MB Karuna started doing very limited walking around the middle of October, although it was always one or two steps then fall over. However, after a week or so trying to keep up with Scott (6 1/2) and Alli (3 1/2), Karuna has started to really walk. She is still very unstable and falls on her butt a lot, but she has almost stopped crawling.
Pushtoy
Oct 30, 2005 1.0MB We finally bought Karuna a push-toy, and she had great fun pushing it all around the house. She can't figure out how to make it change directions, but if we line her up she will keep going until she hits a wall.
Slideshow
Oct 4, 2005 34.6MB This is a slide-show I made for a DVD with Karuna's videos on it. It is a bunch of pictures of Karuna from her birth through the end of September set to music. The pictures change every 3 seconds or so. It is fun to see how Karuna has changed over time.
Laughing2
Oct 07, 2005 5.2MB Hitomi has a back-pack carrier that she sometimes uses to hold Karuna while doing chores (such as preparing Karuna's dinner as she is doing now). This time, Karuna seemed to think something was incredibly funny and was laughing hysterically.
Shoutarou
Oct 04, 2005 4.7MB Hitomi and her friend Sayuri were visiting another friend, and Karuna and Shoutarou were playing with some of the new toys. They seemed to be having fun playing, although tempers flare a little.
Rocking2
Oct 02, 2005 6.2MB Another video of Karuna rocking back and forth.
Rocking
Oct 02, 2005 4.3MB A little earlier, Karuna was angry at what we were feeding her, and she threw a bit of a tantrum. In the process of being angry, she discovered that when she shakes, the baby chair rocks back in forth. In this video, she is enjoying her new found activity.
Standing9
Oct 02, 2005 4.5MB Another video of Karuna standing. She mostly stands while watching TV, and the few times that she has tried to take a few steps, she falls over right away. Thankfully, she will only try when she knows you are there to catch her.
Standing8
Oct 02, 2005 2.3MB Of course ... she still falls :-)
Standing7
Oct 01, 2005 2.6MB All of a sudden, one day while Karuna was watching TV, she decided that standing was a good vantage point (maybe to see over the bean bags we put in front of the TV to keep her away from it). The first time she only lasted 10 seconds or so, but I have now seen her stand as long as a minute with no support.
Watching TV
Sep 28, 2005 15.5MB Recently Karuna has been enjoying a Japanese TV program for children, and there is a set of characters that she really enjoys. This is a video of Karuna watching the show, and bouncing up and down in excitement.
Falling
Sep 27, 2005 1.4MB Karuna has recently decided it is fun to try and move from one place to another while standing (more than just crusing along the furniture). If you stand near her and hold out your hands, she will attempt to come towards you. Very occasionally, she will take a step or two, but often she just lets go of the furniture and falls into your hands. She does enjoy it, as she always has a big grin on her face when she is trying to get up the courage to move.
Bouncing
Sep 27, 2005 4.9MB It is hard to capture on video, but Karuna sometimes bounces up and down when she is happy or excited. It is especially cute when she is sitting Japanese "seiza-style" as she is in this video. Very often it is when music is playing, so we have speculated that she might be "dancing", although we don't know for sure. She is doing a little bit of her "dancing" in this video.
Bread3
Sep 26, 2005 10.9 MB Yet another video of Karuna eating bread. When she tries to eat, about half of the food (or more) falls into the pocket for her bib. She usually cleans up all of the food on the table first, and then starts looking into the bib for pieces that she missed.
Bread2
Sep 26, 2005 5.8 MB This is another video of Karuna eating her bread. This time, she is enjoying talking with her mouth full.
Juggling
Sep 20, 2005 3.0MB Karuna was in an excitable mood, and I tried juggling in front of her. She seemed to think this was very funny ... especially when I would drop the balls and yell in excitement. She would respond by giggling.
Bread
Sep 17, 2005 14MB Karuna eats well when she wants to eat, but she can be fussy at times (as I'm sure all young babies are). Her favourite foods are constantly changing, and we often have to use "tricks" to get her to eat (which only last a day or so before she figures them out). One thing that she recently decided that she likes is feeding herself bread. We only feed her bread after she has eaten her fruits, vegetables, etc. as once she starts eating bread, she loses interest in everything else. This is a video of Karuna eating bread (and making a big mess in the process).
Playroom
Sep 13, 2005 3.7MB Recently, Hitomi has been taking Karuna to a public "children's play room" where Karuna can explore all kinds of different toys and interact with other children. Here is a short video of Karuna at one of these playrooms.
Melon
Sep 13, 2005 6MB Karuna playing with one of our breakfast melons.
Maracas
Sep 12, 2005 4.1MB Karuna has become very interested in anything that makes sounds, and she enjoys playing with these "maracas" that we bought for her recently. She still needs to do a bit of work on her coordination as you can see her hit herself in the head / face with the maracas a few times in this video.
Walking 2
Sep 10, 2005 4.7MB Karuna is getting more comfortable with "crusing" (walking along while holding on to the furniture). She has also started bobbing her head up and down when she is excited (sometimes banging her head into something in the process).
Talking 2
Aug 27, 2005 6.0MB This morning, Karuna walked to the wall, stood up, and then seemed to be talking at the wall. At the end of this video is a close up where you can see Karuna's two bottom teeth which came in a month back. She doesn't have any top teeth yet.
Tiptoes
Aug 23, 2005 1.1MB A short clip showing Karuna standing on her tip-toes trying to grab a pillow on the couch. The pillow is sheep-skin, and Karuna likes to rip out the fur and put it in her mouth. We try to keep it out of reach, although soon it will have to be removed from the couch as her reach is getting farther and farther.
Camera
Aug 20, 2005 6.2MB This video shows why it is hard to take pictures of Karuna. She was acting cute, so I got out the camera to try and snap a few pictures. However, as soon as she saw the camera, she bee-lined for it and tried to grab it.
Eating 4
Aug 12, 2005 7.2MB This is a video of Karuna eating some small round crackers. First, she is mostly interested in playing with them. Then, she tries to eat one and is not sure that she likes it.

Standing 6

Aug 11, 2005 2.7MB This is a video of Karuna pulling herself up to the couch as seen from above.
Standing 5
Aug 11, 2005 2.9MB This is another video of Karuna pulling herself up onto the couch.
Standing 4
Aug 11, 2005 10.1MB This is a video of Karuna pulling herself up, trying to move around, and then falling over again. The padded mat around Karuna is new. As she started trying to pull herself up, she of course fell over a lot. We tried putting blankets around on the floor, but Karuna slipped on those, and they weren't very padded anyway. This new mat is much better. It absorbs most of Karuna's falls without her getting hurt, and the only trick is to make sure that she does her standing practice while on the mat.
Banging
Aug 5, 2005 3.9MB Something that Karuna has started doing recently is banging her arms around, especially when excited (either angry or happy). It is cute when she does it on her stomach as she looks like a sea otter trying to break open a clam. In this video, she is sitting up and banging around one of her toys (actually not a toy, but a clip for holding on to a soother).
Walking 1
Jul 31, 2005 4.5MB Here is a video of Karuna walking with Dad. Her balance isn't very good at this point, but her feet definitely know what to do, and she really enjoys the chance to walk around the house.
Standing 3
Jul 31, 2005 2.4MB Recently Karuna started enjoying standing a lot ... either being led around by Mom or Dad, or standing holding on to something. This is a video of Karuna standing in her play-pen, and she shows her lack of balance by falling over at the end of the video.
Playing 5
Jul 17, 2005 2.5MB Another video of Karuna playing somewhat energetically with her toys.
Playing 4
Jul 17, 2005 2.6MB Karuna playing with one of her toys. Something she has started doing just recently is banging her arms around, and taking toys and shaking them vigorously.
Sitting 2
Jul 17, 2005 10.4MB Karuna has become much better at sitting without falling over (although she still does eventually). Here she is sitting with a toy and playing with it, although she seems more interested in eating it than in actually playing.
Crawling 2
Jul 17, 2005 4.4MB To get a record of Karuna's crawling technique, I put something she likes at the other end of the carpet, and let Karuna crawl to get it. The "toy" that she is going towards is actually the diaper bag we use when going out. For some reason, she likes it more than most of the other fancy toys we have bought for her.
Gymnastics 3
Jul 17, 2005 6.1MB Karuna talking to herself while practicing her gymnastics.
Coming to Dad
Jul 17, 2005 3.9MB While videoing, Karuna decided she wanted to come and see me, including trying to scratch her way up the bean-bag chair I am sitting on.
Gymnastics 2
Jul 17, 2005 2.8MB Another video of Karuna practicing her gymnastics (this time she fell over in the process).
Gymnastics 1
Jul 17, 2005 3.2MB Karuna has been crawling for a while, but only by dragging her body along the ground (see the video a few slots up from this one). However, recently she has been going up on all fours (but not crawling), and also going up on her hands and feet while arching her back. In this video, she is arching her back when she notices me videoing and comes over to see me.
Temper
Jul 6, 2005 2.0MB Karuna has a bit of a temper, and she shows it in this video as she gets angry at a toy she is trying to play with.
Peek-a-boo
Jul 3, 2005 3.7MB Karuna has started showing a mild interest in peek-a-boo. If I put something on her face, she gets excited and quickly rips it off. She seems to enjoy the anticipation of having the cloth put on her face more than the actual peek-a-boo part itself.
Eating 3
Jun 26, 2005 27.8MB Another long video of Karuna eating. This time she is eating rice porridge followed by avocado.
Baa Baa Baa
Jun 26, 2005 7.7MB Karuna goes through different phases where she vocalizes different sounds. Today, she kept saying something that sounded like "Baa Baa Baa" or "Blaa Blaa Blaa" which we thought sounded cute. Interestingly, she has not made the same sound since that day.
Drinking 2
Jun 18, 2005 7.0MB While at a restaurant, Karuna started to become fussy and needed to be held. While holding her, she became fascinated with my water glass, so I decided to let her try drinking. Surprisingly, she was pretty good at it and managed to drink a bunch of my water.
Eating 2
Jun 18, 2005 6.8MB A smaller clip showing Karuna eating her last bite of the day.
Eating 1
Jun 18, 2005 23.1MB Today (2 days before her 6-month birthday), we gave Karuna her first solid food (some ground up rice porridge). She did a very good job of eating, although she made some very funny faces when she first tasted the food.
Drinking 1
Jun 17, 2005 9.4MB We were just about to start Karuna on solid foods, and we thought we would see what she would think of drinking some water. We bought a spill-proof mug, but it turned out to be a bit beyond her current drinking abilities (as you can see by the unsuccessful attempt to drink in this video). She can drink much better out of a regular cup (with a lot of help) as you can see in the "Drinking 2" video.
Sitting
Jun 14, 2005 3.9MB Karuna is at the age where she should soon be able to sit up by herself. We tried putting her into the sitting position to see what would happen, and she did manage to sit, although she wasn't very stable. Here is a short clip of Karuna trying to sit.
Crawling
Jun 8, 2005 11.3MB Karuna has been getting more and more mobile recently. If you leave her in a room and go away for a few minutes, when you come back she could be anywhere. While her method of movement is not really crawling, it seems to work for her. She kicks with her legs until her back arches up, and then slides forward (almost dragging her face on the ground). Her movement reminds me of an inchworm. Her arms aren't really strong enough to support herself for a true crawl. At the end of the video, you can see another one of her ways of getting around ... repeated rolling. If you roll from stomach to back to stomach, you can cover a lot of ground quickly.
Laughing May 13, 2005 4.8MB This is a video of Karuna laughing. She had been laughing occasionally for a few weeks, but this was the first time we caught it on video (pointing a camera at her is a sure way to make her become very serious). Riding on her Dad's shoulders puts Karuna in a good mood, but the key to her laughter in this video is the funny faces that her Uncle Gerry was making at her (whom she had just met for the first time the day before).
Flipping 2
Apr 28, 2005 1.6MB This is another short video of Karuna flipping from her back onto her stomach.
Flipping
Apr 28, 2005 4.2MB Recently Karuna has started flipping over from her back onto her stomach. She started this about two weeks ago, but at first she would get stuck half way and become very angry. However, after about 4 or 5 days of trying, she became very good at it and can now flip over whenever she wants (which is almost every time you put her on her back on the ground). In this video, she gets distracted by the camera, but eventually decides that she wants to flip over. Once she is on her stomach, she enjoys looking at the world from a different viewpoint, but this only lasts for a few minutes after which she gets cranky and starts screaming for attention. She occasionally flips from her stomach onto her back, although she mostly doesn't seem to want to.
Conversation

(VERY LARGE!!!)
Mar 19, 2005 42.6MB Early in the morning when Karuna is well rested is one of her most talkative periods. She always starts out happy and talkative, and then seems to get a little agitated as time wears on. In this video, she already starts out a little upset (you can tell how upset she is by how much she is waving her arms and legs), but she still carries out a good conversation with her Dad. One of the problems with videoing her is that when you point the camera at her, she forgets everything else and tends to just stare at the camera.
Standing 2
Mar 18, 2005 8.3MB This is another video of Karuna trying to stand and with Mom and Dad trying to talk to her.
Standing
Mar 18, 2005 3.3MB This is a picture of Karuna trying to stand. Her legs have become pretty strong and when she wants to, they have no problem supporting her weight, although she still has no balance. Before we started filming this, she was standing pretty well, although by the time we were filming she was getting a little cranky and her legs started to turn to jelly.
Crib 2
Mar 11, 2005 5.8MB Another video of Karuna in her crib ... this time from the perspective of the mobile.
Crib
Mar 11, 2005 7.5MB A picture of Karuna about to go to sleep, with her favourite mobile circling above her. Karuna loves her mobile, and it keeps her attention longer than anything else that we have. Hitomi loves it for helping to get Karuna to sleep at night.
Talking 2
Mar 11, 2005 7.5MB Hitomi talking to Karuna. Karuna talks a lot when she is in a good mood, although she often transitions from happy and talkative to excited to upset very quickly. In this video, she is in the middle phase ... not quite so happy any more, and starting to get a little excited. In the middle of the video, you can see Karuna starting to put her hand in her mouth (a trick she has learned recently), but her sleeves are too long and she can't.
Playing 3
Feb 16, 2005 4.4MB Again, Karuna on her playmat. This time, she is starting to get a little tired of it which you can tell because she is waving her arms around and kicking her legs a lot. She also pants a bit, showing off her milk-stained tongue.
Playing 2
Feb 16, 2005 8MB Another picture of Karuna on her activity mat. She is starting to become more interested in it and even interacts with it (by accident). When she is excited, she waves her arms around a lot which randomly hits the stuffed toys which catches her eye. At the start of this video, Karuna makes a sighing sound (as she does relatively frequently), which I think is very cute. You can also see her looking towards the left of the screen towards the end of the video. She is looking at a mirror which she seems to enjoy a lot.
Talking
Feb 16, 2005 12.3MB This is a video that Hitom took after changing Karuna's diapers. She is in a "talkative" mood, meaning that she oohs and aahs a lot. Recently she has started talking in this manner a lot more. Sometimes, she almost seems to be carrying on a conversation with herself.
Playing
Feb 7, 2005 9.8MB This video is not particularily interesting, but is a shot of Karuna on her "activity mat", and seeming somewhat interested in it.
Push-ups
Feb 5, 2005 8.3MB Our pediatrician told us that at her age it is good to rest her on her stomach often and try to get her to practice lifting her head. In this video, Karuna is a little cranky and doesn't appreciate being on her stomach, although when she is upset she seems to try a little harder to get her head up.
Drinking from a bottle
Feb 4, 2005 16.1MB This is a rather long video of the first attempt to feed Karuna from a bottle (breast milk that Hitomi had just pumped). We didn't video the first time I put it in her mouth, but she accepted it at first and then made a horrible scowling face and spit it out. In this video, she is reluctant to bottle feed at first, but soon gets the hang of it.
Finished eating
Jan 26, 2005 4.5MB A video of Karuna sitting on Dad's lap after having been fed. She is much more relaxed in this video.
Waiting for Mom
Jan 26, 2005 5.4MB This is a video of Karuna in the morning. Karuna woke up while Mom was in the shower, and Dad is trying to make her forget her hunger until Mom is out of the shower. Unfortunately, Karuna is very impatient when she is hungry. Very recently, Karuna started to develop acne which you can see in this video (the lighting makes it look a little worse than it really is). She also has the hiccups which she gets several times a day (usually when she is excited about something). This is nothing new as Hitomi could often feel Karuna hiccupping in the womb for the last several months of pregnancy.
Watching TV
Jan 9, 2005 3.7MB This is a video of Karuna watching TV. While changing diapers in front of the TV, we discovered that she already seems fascinated by TV. It doesn't matter if there is anything interesting on the TV ... as long as there are bright lights that are changing somewhat, she seems to enjoy looking at it.
Karuna's First Smile
Jan 4, 2005 3.5MB This is a video of the first time we caught a smile from Karuna on video. I don't think that she was smiling out of happiness ... it more seemed to be some sort of reflex.
Being Bathed #2 Dec 26, 2004 7.7MB Another clip of Karuna being bathed. This time, I am finishing rinsing her hair, and am about to flip her over onto her back (the part that both Karuna and I like the least).
Being Bathed #1 Dec 26, 2004 3.4MB A small clip of Karuna being bathed (her face being washed). This was only the second time that I bathed her at home, so everyone was still a little unsure about the process.
At The Hospital Dec 22, 2004 6.3MB This is a picture of Karuna two days after birth. She is laying in her "bed", and she even opens her eyes for the camera (that was somewhat rare at the beginning). At the end of the video, you can see Karuna making a sucking motion with her face. I'm not sure if she was hungry, or if she was just "practicing".
Being Measured Dec 20, 2004 6.9MB This is a shot of Karuna less than an hour after she was born. She is being measured by the nurses, and soon will be dressed and moved to the Hospital room where Hitomi and Karuna will be spending their first night together.

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