Niranjana, Melissa and Andy

Five nights in a row I have slept in a twin bed with my daughter. In HER bed, in HER bedroom!

The Northern Lights Nightlight was what did it. And the timing was good, as Andy is on deadline and staying up late — plus his back was hurting — so he can sprawl out on the king-sized bed by himself. And there's the holiday weekend.

We bought a nightlight at Fred Meyer today as part of a gradual quest to get her more interested in her own bedroom. It's a color-changing LED auto night light that glows red, blue, green and rainbow.

"It's like the Northern Lights," Niranjana said as we sat on the floor watching the colors change. Color me impressed! She learned that from Little Einsteins and Polar Express.

We borrowed Mulan from friends who went on vacation. The first showing of this Disney animated movie — featuring a Chinese girl who rebels against society's expectations and goes to war in place of her disabled father — didn't generate a lot of interest from Niranjana.

We tried it again a few days ago and it was a big hit. Then we shared it with another mutual friend and the two preschoolers were transfixed. I've even caught Andy looking up from his laptop to watch it.

After 11 months home, almost everyone has caught on to the correct pronunciation of Niranjana (neh-rin-jen-ah). The ones who still say it wrong (neh-rahn-jahn-ah) are those who were practicing it before we went to India and were corrected by orphanage workers. The group still having trouble with her name includes a few of our 4-year-old friends, the Montessori school owner, and occasionally a grandparent.

"Milestones" is too serious of a word for this update of what Niranjana is up to at our 11-month mark. Now 4-1/2 years old, she's a "first-year preschooler" at a Montessori school, although her teachers expect that by next summer she'll be pretty well caught up to the second-year preschoolers — and might be ready to be a kindergartner in the same classroom in September 2009. We're not pushing her.

Not 30 minutes after the previous blog item, my daughter informed me she was hungry. Yes, it's 9:50 p.m.

For lunch she ate two hot dogs (no buns) and an 8 oz. yogurt. Dinner: Two entire pieces of pizza and a banana. And now she's asked for two hard-boiled eggs. Breakfast was a banana and graham crackers. And I know she had two healthy snacks at preschool.

Maybe I better exchange those shoes I just bought her for the next size up?

For the record, after being home for 10 months, Niranjana now officially is:

35.5 pounds — that's 5.5 pounds heavier (in her socks).

40 inches — that's 3.5 inches taller, although it feels like 4 inches! Niranjana says she's going to grow bigger and bigger, up to the sky.

I cleared out most of her 3T clothes the other day. Some 3T stuff still fits — and she's still discovering some of it, like a sparkly butterfly shirt — but we've been buying 4T for a while now.

I'm always on the lookout for developmentally appropriate toys that might actually be played with. So I noticed during the evening "free play" at preschool that Niranjana liked a marble maze toy. Sort of like Legos or Tinkertoys, except you build a marble run.

We went on the hunt for the "marble ball game" the other week. Couldn't find it at Fred Meyer, not at Target. A lesson in patience ensued.

We had two birthday parties Saturday. The first was at 11 a.m. at the Richland Fire Department's main station on GW Way and Swift. The second was a "bring your swimsuit for sprinklers" at 3 p.m. at a Richland home.

Leif's fire station party scored high for all the kids, but the surprise at Zoe's house overshadowed those big red trucks and friendly firefighters. It was a twisty water slide! http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2918314

Zoe's family had borrowed this from a friend. Given the price tag and the mixed reviews, I won't be investing in one of our own.

Niranjana still likes Little Einsteins, but it isn't at the same level of obsession as it was two months ago. I am, however, tiring of her current interest in "bad guys," including Jafar and Gaston. There is something wrong with singing "kill the Beast" on the way to preschool.