Feeling thankful

It's busy around here, but feeling thankful that A is healthy and doing well. One of our dear friend's son (3 years old) is going to through some health issues and currently back in hospital having surgery. So in light of this, I'm feeling grateful that A is healthy and haven't even been sick since he's been born other than a rare running nose. In fact, all the kids have been healthy and doing well. :)

A just finished his 2 years old (mommy and me) session 1. We had great time and appreciate the structure the program provided. That was my once a week, ultra concentrated one on one time with A. Other than when he's watching TV, A wants to play with someone, and it is usually me. Recently, he's been making great progress in stacking blocks and can do 10+ with little cylinders and planks. He is also discovering the fun of pretend but still needs a lot of input from other people. A favorite is little people animals. Before I forget, A is really into pretend sword play but he hates to be the "bad guy" and will protect with crying. He wants to "fight the bad guy". 

Another reason to be thankful is A is a great eater. He have no issue eats vegetables, and esp. loves cabbage, broccoli and carrots. And he loves "cuties" oranges and eats 4-5 or more if I let him. One thing I 'm hoping is he will drink more plain water. Right now, he still loves his rice milk, doing good with tangy (crytal multivitamin mixed with water) and honey/lemon water.

Now his nap is getting shorter and shorter, usually about 30 minutes in the afternoon. So not much free time for me. Thankfully, his brother/sister happily plays with him when I really need a break.

A is a lot more vocal with them than with other children. I think a big part is probability due to his comfort level. So sometimes he gets little bullied and was feeling hurt and crying when a 3 years old didn't want him to play with a toy. But in the 2's, I noticed that is fairly common. The 2's haven't quite mastered the art of sharing or asking using words. They use more body language than their voice.We are going to work on that.

Okay, maybe more later. But right now, I have got a healthy and happy 2 asking me to play with me.

27 months update on A

A started a 2 year old program few weeks ago and I think he really likes it. He thrives having me there, seeing other children his age there, the new toys and the structure. His teachers thinks he's a sweetie, saying he looks "happy all the time". HA-HA! Well, yes, if things are going his way, and mommy gives him her full attention which does happen at the 2 years old program. It is my special time with him.

Other than that, not much else is new. Though just yesterday, I vowed to start speaking to A exclusively in Chinese after reading that in bilingual families, one should speak to the child in the foreign language exclusively. And even when the family does activities together, if I address A specifically, then I should still do it in Chinese. I was doing that but mixing a lot of English in and that didn't work too well. I think I was afraid he won't understand, but actually A understands more than he can say.

Much to my dismay and the declining health of my sanity, A is staring to skip his nap. Arghhhh!! And in Sunday school, he is refusing to stay in the room and we have been paged the last 3 times. Same thing with gym so I am taking a break but hoping to try again soon. I know it's all temporary, but it's hard.

One little success, I did "wean A off" on the ipad. He still looks at my phone a lot but not as long if I were to give him the ipad. I'm going to try to get a schedule going for A and do something similar with him like the 2 year old program. He was hooked on these plastic insects, and last time it was the bears. So that will be on his Christmas list along with a few puppets.

Some new sayings at 26 months

We are surprised by him every day. 

Most recent is "Daddy, don't leave me", 3 seconds pass, he says, "Daddy, please don't leave me" when lights is out and daddy is trying to put him to bed.

I say "Thank you, Alex" and he will reply" You're welcome, mom." :)

"Don't hit my butt" to brother when he bounce a ball on Alex's butt just I'm writing this.

He also says, "Bless you" when someone sneezes and today, he said, "I am really tired" while we are driving home.

Although more common, is "I don't want to go to bed!!" :( and when he doesn't have a shirt, he says, "I'm naked and sexy too" Where did he learn that?!  But tonight I talked it out with him. I told him if I don't get enough sleep, then I will have have grandma take care of him. :) and that worked liked magic and he let me go to bed.

He also says, "This clothes is FeiFei's, not Alex. What the? " :)

"You gotta be kidding me". :) That, I know he learned from his brother. The amazing thing he uses it in correct context. 

Alex likes to sing a lot and he sings "Happy birthday", "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and "Row Row Row your boat".

He was little sick a couple of days ago and now every night he wakes up at 4:15. Arghh!!

I'm excited he is going to be starting a 2 years old program one day a week. It's like a mommy and me program. And I'm thinking about signing him up for Music and Me in the winter.

We also went to the zoo recently and he really liked the giraffe.

He is getting used to going to gym childcare and about 2 weeks ago, no longer cries when he is going in so that is great progress. I don't think he really plays with other kids but he does watch them. And at church, daddy thinks he is playing and exploring more with the toys rather than just observing. But whenever he sees relatives, he still refuses to say hi or say anything. And if you approach him, he will tell you, "NO, NO, NO!!!" so still can use some progress in this area.  I try to remember every kid is different and that he will be fine as he grows older and learns to trust people more.

some pictures of A to make you smile!

A @ 25 months

Oh, my, this month, it seem like everyday A surprises us with some new word, phrase, or understanding. It's hard to remember them all, but here are some examples.


A: Mommy, Rice milk! (for a long time he only said, milk and not clearly) but now it is very clear
Me: Okay, I'll give you a little bit.
A: No, not a little bit, A LOT!!

A: "Eat that!" (opening freezer himself), pointing, "Up there!"
Me: This? (ice cream)
A: No, down
Me: this?
A: yes!
I take it out,
A: Open it!
so I open it and give it to him A says, "wait, Alex take off shoes"
... and when he's done, he tells me, "mommy, hold this" giving me his mostly eaten strawberry bar. 

One day as I rolled down my window on the right, A is sitting in the back,
"my side! Open it" (while pointing to his side of window") showing he know what he is talking about

Or I say, its time to say bye-bye, and he will say, "not yet mommy", or "okay, I am ready, mommy"

These days, most stuff is his, as in "Alex's phone, my phone, Alex's shoe, Alex's clothes" or "Alex's turn"

And some bad words he picked up from the siblings or made up himself,

"chicken boobie" whenever he doesn't like his bro/sis,
 "stupid shoe" he made that up himself when he is having trouble taking it off.
"meanie, jiejie(sis) or jiejie, meanie butt" when he thinks sis is not doing things his way.
"no kissing me"

Or on eating a juicy piece of chicken or whatever, A says, "tasty!"

He also knows to say , "thank you, (insert name)" or "sorry, mommy" when prompted.

He seems to understand most everything we tell him and can def. follow directions. He is moving past just picking up key words to saying more close to a full sentence.

I'm sure it is the case with other 25 months old, but A have strong preference on who does what. For example, since he is very close to me, he will want me to do/get him everything. Everything is "mommy do it, mommy get it"  I have to buckle his seat belt, (if his sis/bro did it, there will be lots of screaming/crying) or I have to get him milk.  "Daddy have to cajole him into letting him get it for A, like C'mon, daddy will do it ", then only if he agrees will he happily let you go. Otherwise, you will hear him protest!! Getting back to seat belt, there is one time I forgot to buckle him up, and he yells, "Alex not buckled up!":) Thanks, buddy!  He also tells us, "(insert name), buckle up!!

A is esp. affectionate with me, and tells me many times a day, "I love you, mommy", "wo ai ni, mommy"( in Chinese), kisses, hugs me. It is probably because I do the same to him.

I was talking to one of my friend that A is pretty cautious and for whatever reason does not put anything in his mouth without my permission. Even when he picks orange cherry tomatoes, he only picks the one I tell him too. He will hold a yellow/orange one but won't pull it off until I okay it.  He has also been loving to play with water beads, but he never puts in his mouth. I feel confident that he knows this is not for consumption. I think it is part of his personality or maybe he can tell this is not for eating as we are not eating it.

Independence: A is able to open the frig. and get food for himself now so he likes doing that. He feeds himself.  He always helps his brother unload the dishwasher and he is learning to sweep. Whenever he sees one of us sweeping, he takes out his little sweeper. 

And A says," okay, mommy I'll clean up." when I tell him to clean up and he actually does. (which is the best.)  He also helps me charges my phone and knows when the battery is running low. Essentially, he likes to do things himself and you can see the joy in his face when he is able to the task. Sometimes he will do it over and over just to make sure he can do it.  This month he figured out how to unbuckle the top part of his seat belt. Also, he is mostly potty trained at night. We put on diaper when he naps/night but it has always been dry this month.

Physical development : A loves to moves and to just go, go go whether that is a car ride to somewhere or out to our driveway.  He loves to throw/catch balls. A favorite game is throwing/catching balloons filled with some water. He loves to climb whether it is at the playground or at home on the couch or on me. He likes to roll too and walk down on the slide. He watches his sis do situp and does them too. He can almost do a full split  and will often walk on tip toe. He likes to kick his soccer ball and hold tennis racket. He loves to help pick up tennis balls and brings it to us. He tries to imitate everything we do.

Social:One thing I hope A gets better is when he meets our adult friends. Most of the time, he will turn his head away from the person who is saying hi or give you the look he does not wish to talk to you or say hi until at least for some time, usually when it is time to leave.  He doesn't seem to have this problem with kids his age. He might not say hi but he won't turn his head away. A usually is interested in what his siblings are doing rather than what his little friends are doing, but sometimes, he will watch them and play side by side. He might even show them how to play certain things or how not to. He is only affectionate with only one friend, a sweet, sweet girl 2 weeks apart from him. They def. have a bond.

Sleep: And as since birth, we still struggle with sleep. I have com to the conclusion that A just does not need a lot of sleep. These days, A either skips the afternoon nap entirely and get sleepy around 9pm or he will take a nap around 4-5 in the afternoon and then he really have a hard time sleeping at night like 10. And he always cries for us when we try to put him to sleep. It is def. not like my oldest where I can do the usual bed routine and turn on some music and she will drift to sleep by herself. Or my second oldest, he will be be falling asleep sometimes while he is still eating. But no matter when he goes to sleep at night, A is usually up between 7-8. Once in a great while, he wakes up in the middle of the night, comes to sleep with us and in those cases, he might sleep closer to 8:30. 

Officially 2

A is officially 2. We celebrated with a few of his friends. As one of my friend says, "it is perfect, small and intimate". On his celebration day, it rained, so we had move our little party inside so put it was different than I had planned . However,  A still enjoyed it immensely and really liked having his friend over. He def. cared about his party and because it was small, he was not overwhelmed. It is funny even though there were only 4 kids, all the kids were little shy in the beginning but eventually warmed up.

The kids all played with playdough and then free played while the adults can eat, relax and talk while keeping an eye on the kids.

Happy birthday, A!! We love you so much. And even though you are "right on time" on your terrible two as daddy says, you are still as cute as a button and have so much personality.

Some of his new favorite things are watering the plants, going to potty with older bro"ge-ge", playing with play dough, and playing cars. He likes pushing the baby stroller outside and he loves riding in his bike trailer. Often, even when I am done biking, he refuse to come out.  He is also loving the music CD (from Music and Me- highly recommend) I put in the car and sings a few words. Of course, A still loves to be read to, and surprises us with new words everyday. For some reason, he is not really into the swing or slide so the little play structure we bought sits there mostly unused.

A also def. got a sweet tooth now. Rock candy, lollipop (good thing they are made from organic cane sugar), string cheese are some of his favorite new food. He is still crazy about pineapple of all the fruits.

23 months

Well, here we are at 23 months, can't believe little man is almost 2.

You know how I wrote last month Mr. A is potty trained, well, he's regressing. I guess that is quite normal but nonetheless frustrating. For a while, not sure why (though could think of couple different reasons, i.e. too much to drink, acting out, don't feel like it, etc), but he kept wetting his pants. Then it got really bad and he even did #2 in his underwear. Argghhhhh! But slowly we are getting back on track again. For a while, since he doesn't tell me he wants to go, I started to ask him if he needs to go, and his response is always, "No thanks!" But then couple minutes later, he pees in his pants and then comes to tell me he peed with a sorry look on his face like he know he shouldn't have. So now I watch his drink intake carefully, even if I am home. And today, happily, other than 1 accident in the morning, while we were out and for the rest of the day, he is dry.

A victory for me is A can stay in his room and play for up to 30 minutes by himself so that is wonderful progress and lets me take a shower in the morning without needing J/W to watch him or in the afternoon when he skipped his nap. He sets the timer himself, and a lot of times, it is like 40 minutes so I set it back to 30minutes. But I'm hoping to extend that little longer.

Now sleeping is still an issue for A. He is still quite unpredictable when it comes to nap time.  A lot of times, if I drive around for longer than 25 minutes, there is serious danger he will fall asleep in the car even if it is 9 in the morning! Needless to say, if he naps like 20 minutes, then the noon-early afternoon is gone. Then he might nap at 5pm. And if we stay home, he will usually sleep his normal time which is around 11:45-1:00 some where in there he will fall asleep. But he always wants someone to stay with him until he falls asleep and that is what I'm trying to change. For a little while, he was all good and would let us go if we asked him and fall sleep by himself but that only lasted for 4-5 days. So I think it is still possible, just gotta keep trying.

He is still quite wary of stranger but will sometimes say hi and most of the time say bye. For children similar his age, if he initiates, then it's no problem. A lot of times he likes to copy other children, esp. children who are little older and join in the fun. Mostly it is if the children are running, or playing with some toy. Like this pass weekend, at a conference, he found a few children from another family and just joined in the fun. They were playing cars on a handicap ramp and had a blast. He must getting used to our church since he hardly ever cries when we drop him off. When he turns 2 he will be in a different room with different volunteers and hopefully it will be smooth transition. If other children initiates, then it depends on his mood.

Naturally, A likes me the best since I spend the most time with him. But he also LOVES his brother and copies off him. With his sister, it depends on his mood. A will give kisses but with the exception of mommy, he is not always in the mood for receiving kisses. He gets quite upset, wipes away the spot you kissed him and tells you NO!

A loves books! One of his favorite books is called "Giving Tree". Another new favorite is " My no no no day". This one it is easy to see why he likes it since he can relate. But I would not have guessed the first one. His new thing with toys is he likes cars, little match box sized car, little wind up cars. Oh, and balls,kick, throw, and dropping ball onto ramp to watch it go down and then do it again/again. Most other toys he is not very interested in. He will do puzzles but mostly he wants to do what we do.  So I have been careful not to be on electronics when A is around. Before, his favorite toy was my phone where he checks out the videos/ and pictures I take of him.

Anyway, A def. got a lot of personality. Enjoying him a lot, fun and challenges in all. Oh, and he def. knows how to get his away with those tears at his beck and call.

Progress @ 22 months

Well, A has made some great progress in the last 2 weeks. For the last couple weeks at church nursery drop off, even though A still cries, but we have not been paged meaning he doesn't cry for very long. And today, at MOPS, I dropped him off and he didn't even cry. Though, the worker said he did cry little bit during his stay there. Thank GOD for that!!!

Also, I started having A do "room time" as suggested by toddler wise. First couple times, even though he stayed in his room, he cried almost the entire time. Not the scream cry, but just sad /whining cry. But he is a really good boy for staying in his room until the timer goes off and I come and get him. Mind you, the room is not locked and he can easily come out. In fact, the door is not even shut.  I started with 5 minutes and am now up to 15 minutes. Yesterday, he wanted to bring some Elmo books to his room for "room time" so of course I let him. And he didn't cry. So yeah!!! Thank God for that too!

Another thing that was suggested in Toddler Wise is getting them to agree with you by saying, "Yes, Mommy". So I have been teaching A that. He has been really receptive to that. When I ask him to say it, he always does. And he understands too. Contrast that to the same boy who says "NO" a lot to his sister. I probably should teach him to say, Yes, jiejie to his sister and to daddy/brother.  He is def. quite obedient to me. I think more than 75% of the time. Since I say wait to A alot, now he is starting to say that when he wants to do something and I want to hurry it along. Cute. :)

So all in all, A is doing really well. I will have to try him at the gym child center again. Last time I dropped him off, he cried for an hour. Screaming in the beginning, then sobbing on and off most of the time. So we'll see how he do next time.

It seems A have a sensitive nap schedule. I have found he really to be in bed by noon, otherwise he will fall asleep in the car and then the 5-15 minutes in the car will be it. So I had to change somethings around, namely leaving early and skipping some stuff to ensure A can be in bed by 12.

Spring is here, so I have been taking A outside more. He loves to ride in his wagon or pull the wagon himself.

potty trained

Well, toddler A is completely potty trained, even nights. I'm so amazed. He is by far the easiest child to potty train. From start to complete, it took about a week, including night time. He somehow knows to hold until morning. He tells us whenever he needs to go and even in public, I don't even give him a diaper, just underwear. I do however, put a little potty in the car so if we drive somewhere for a long time, we can stop somewhere without needing to look for a bathroom.

The only little issue is he still wakes in the middle of the night, like 2-4am crying for mommy so usually daddy or I go sleep with him until he falls back asleep. Most of the time, he refuses to go potty and prefers to wake til morning.

A used to wake around 6-6:30am and then demands milk, then eat, basically ready to go downstairs to play. But we slowly transitioned him to no milk until 7am and he adjusted. The last couple days,  he has been waking up later, more like 7-7:30 so not exactly sure why. Perhaps it is because when he wakes at night, he doesn't go back to sleep right away and will toss/turn for like 2 hours.

Other than, he has been doing well.

A @ beginning of 21 months

Seems like it has been while that I updated... but here are some major highlights

A continues to be a good eater. Favorite breakfast right now- yogurt. He's been eating yogurt for breakfast 3 days in a row now.

His speech consists quite a few 2 words phrases- help me, what happend? bless you!, hao-chi (yummy in Chinese), etc. He likes to imitate different sounds and different gestures. His older brother is really good at making him copy. Those two have a good time together.

I started potty training him and so far so good. As long as I ask him to go potty, if he wants, he will go and if not he will tell me "no". Accidents only happen when I leave him with the older kids or I'm busy. Sometimes, he will say, "poop poop" but it will have already be a little late and he will have wet himself but then he will sit on potty and there will be more pee. He calls everything poop regardless. I got him underwear but is little thicker in the key area. He is def. aware, and when he goes, he will smile and say, "did it".

I was reading Montessori info and from that I got the idea to take his mattress out of his crib and lay it on the ground. So now he sleeps on the mattress in the room and when he wakes up, he just comes out to look for me. I was surprised there was hardly any resistance and most of the time he lies there and does not leave the mattress. A few times, he was not sleepy or he napped in the car, then he whines and rolls around and peeks at me. There is a recliner right next to his mattress.  

He loves this play place (JJ) in the area that is really designed up 2 and up. So I have to follow him and prop him up in certain places. But mostly he does it by himself and can find ways to come down by himself. I was little surprised he is not afraid of the tunnel, twisted slides.  There is also this huge slide and he has figured out  to slide down on his stomach to slow it down. A also loves story time. He can sit and concentrates and follow what the teacher does, esp when it comes to movement. This last time, I was able to sit on a chair and just enjoy watching him.

A also loves any kind of "practical work". He takes off his coat, shoes off by himself. He helps brother with unloading of the dishes.  His favorite is playing water in the sink, and washing the grapes. He even helped me cracked few eggs. And of course, he is really good at turning on my smart phone and go to camera to watch videos of himself. And he LOVES my ipad. He watches some Chinese cartoons off of youtube.

He is still very wary of strangers and we have not had too much success at dropping him of  at church. So hopefully that will improve with time. Though at MOPS, he has stayed for 3X. This last time, he was actually playing with a volunteer and she seem to think he can count and asked me if I taught him to count at home so maybe.

Oh, almost forgot, A loves to kiss me now. :)) He'll hold my face and give me his sweet kisses. It really melts my heart. Sometimes, a little too much. But hey, I will take it.

The other thing is A still wakes up quite frequently around 2 or 3 in the morning. Usually he falls back to sleep pretty quickly but it will be better if he will just fall back to sleep by himself instead of coming to look for me.  But overall, A is doing great and making progress.

Toddler A just turned 20months

and his newest word, is "Mine". I think he picked it up from hanging with other children older than him.

Toddler A is still a handful, but most of the time he is delightful to be around. Most of the time, he behaves better outside than inside, esp when he is at story time. He can sit and listen with no problem as long as he can sit on me or very close to me.

He is thankfully sleeping through the night after we moved his crib into our room. And he is getting use to his afternoon nap. Usually, he does not cry any more when he needs to go to bed which is a huge relief. I usually stay in the room with him for about 10 minutes or so after I put him in the crib. He has not however, gotten used to being dropped at church and most of the time, we still get paged.

A loves to copy and copies pretty well. No is a part of his everyday vocabulary. I speak Chinese some of the times to him, so he understands some Chinese words.  His sippy cup is still his best friend. I have to remember to take it with me anytime I go out with him. The boy drinks all day. It's his major source of comfort. He has taken a real liking to a Waldorf doll I had purchased. It is stuffed with wool and it's body is made of velour. I think it is the right size for him to hold and hug. He is even willing to use blankets now when he is asleep unlike when he was younger and hated them.

Toddler A is quite adventurous. He loves this play structure place we take him to. His confidence in coming down a big slide has really grown. He even climbs on the nets. Overall, A is a very strong, active boy.

Daddy says he is full of life and you can see it in his eyes. Whatever he does, he does it wholeheartedly, whether he is crying, laughing or intensely concentrating. He likes books a lot, esp. books with babies or young children. Recently, he likes books with different textures. When he is upset, he gives himself a timeout. Then he comes back a happy boy. If we approach him before he is ready, he will be very upset and resist with all his might.

One of his favorite activity is watching super simple songs, esp. "snowflake","ten in the bed", and "alphabet song". 

He is def. very attached to mommy and likes me to be around, even if he is just watching TV. His brother and sister loves him to pieces but A don't always appreciate the many kisses they give him. Ha-ha!

2012 by W

I like the beginning of every year because January 8^th is my birthday. I have been waiting for my birthday for a long time. This year I turned 8. My best friend came over to spend the night. We played lots of games including ping pong, Connect4, Blockus, and some other games. We also watched a movie. It was one of my favorite movies, called Ninja Turtles. We went to bed about 1:00 in the morning. 

Sometimes later in January, my family and I went to Chicago for my sister’s dance convention.  We saw my uncle and my dad’s uncle. This uncle that I have is my youngest uncle. He was sixteen and his name is Joe. We found a lot of things to do and made an obstacle course. We put chairs together and jumped over them. I wished he lived closer so we can play more often. 

In the winter, there was hardly any snow so it wasn’t much fun.  A, my baby brother finally started to crawl and say simple words.  So it was fun teaching my brother stuff I know. 

This August, my dad and I started doing karate together. So far, I passed my test for white, yellow and now I’m an orange belt. I really like my karate and I’m doing well with it. My dad is helping me remember some of the moves. 

I continue to play piano and it’s going fine. Sometimes my teacher yells at me but I still like it. I started taking some classes at HSC instead of at Palaestra this year.  I take tennis, gym and mad scientist- Energy and Electricity. My tennis teacher is Mr. Bill and he is really funny. We play a lot of tennis games like toilet. My teacher throws the ball at us and we have to swing it back. If we miss, we go to the back of the line and are called toilet. He says we have to clean the toilet with our own toothbrush. This is of course all pretend.  In gym, we play a lot of games including basketball, soccer, dodge ball and kickball. My 2^nd best friend is in this class with me. In Mad Scientist, we do experiments and we work with magnets. 

One of my favorite class is art.  I have been learning to draw different types of rocks. My latest drawing is a wolf on a rock. On my own, I still draw superhero. I started to draw a comic book. 

In the fall, we finally got to see our friends in Florida. First we went to Elias’s house. We spent 2 nights there. They have a pool so we spent a lot of time in the pool splashing each other in the face. We also went to Miami Beach. Then we went to another friend’s house and we stayed there for 4 nights. We spied on Jonah. He is 3. Alex and Jonah had a little fight and Alex ran and pulled down Jonah’s swimming trunk. It was hilarious!  We saw alligators up close in their natural habitat. They are not as creepy as I thought but they can jump really high. 

For Christmas, I got some clothes and a projection alarm clock. We also went to our cousin’s house. It was fun but normally Nick would play with us which would be even more fun. Unfortunately, he was sick. We got $$ for Christmas from our grandpa. 

This year was really great! I hope I will gain more muscle next year!

2012 letter by J

Year of 2012

Jan

In January, my family and I went to Chicago for my dance convention called JUMP. Outside choreographers came to teach us different styles of dance. For example, Melanie Moore, winner of “So You Think You Can Dance?” taught us Jazz. The JUMP convention had tap, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, and ballet. After the whole convention was over, I was surprised to hear my name called for a ballet scholarship!

Feb

My mom had a flu and Alex was sick.  February wasn’t fun because A screamed and never wanted W and me. It was no fun having two people sick.

Mar

A starts saying random things like da-da and ma-ma. I had my first dance competition of the year. We had great scores and even placed. I was very happy that my team and I got 1^st place in Jazz and tap and 2^nd place for hip-hop. My first competition is always on my dad’s birthday, March 10.

Apr

In April, A finally starts crawling. We also went to New York and Connecticut. On the way to NY, we saw the Statue of Liberty on the plane! In New York, we visited some friends, went to the American Girl store and went to Times Square to eat. We chose to eat at a place where the waitress/waiters hope to get onto Broadway. The restaurant was right next to Broadway.  They worked there and performed for the people who ate there. It took years for the food to be ready and I had to share 3 mini burgers with W which took a minute to gobble up.  Later, we drove down to Connecticut to our cousin’s house. We played water balloon fights and had lots of fun. We also went to Massachusetts to go to a museum. 

May

A had all of a sudden started climbing the stairs. I also had more competitions. One of the competitions was at Kalahari so we played in the water a lot. 

June

A started to walk so we need to start baby-proofing the house. He turned 1 on the 6^th of June and had a birthday party. Lucky for me, I got to celebrate my birthday too! Only thing was it was a chilly and windy day and I forgot my jacket. I was freezing! But I got a lot of presents and many of my friends came so it was all good.

July

A is walking very well now and it is time to buy him a pair of shoes.  He starts dancing whenever he hears music. It is also my birthday! In preparation for building our own playhouse in the fall, we biked to a construction site often to watch the progress of houses being built. It was so much fun to jump into the basement and climb out of the vent.

August

We went to Florida and stayed at some friends’ house. The first house had a dog which helped Alex overcome his fear of dogs a little bit. We went to Miami with them and went to the Atlantic Ocean which was so fun! Waves rose and crashed like a natural wave pool. It was fairly shallow but my dad said not to get too far out or else a big wave could pull me away from the shore. The 2^nd house had a dog and a cat. We went all over the place with them and even to church! We went to the Gulf of Mexico with them. There were many sand bars but there were a few areas where it was deep and I thought I saw an alligator so I quickly went through it. 

September

We started school and classes. I started another year of dance but this time I dance with the juniors who are mostly 12 and 13 years old. I still take jazz, hip-hop, tap and ballet. This year my dance studio started competition ballet which I’m really excited about. They also hired a former professional ballerina to teach us and her name is Nicole.  I still dream about being a ballerina. I continue to take art. We use to be able to draw anything we wanted and of course I drew a ballerina. I also chose to draw a sunset over a beach and waterfall with red rose on the corner.  But in the fall, our teacher started combining science with art. So we learned about rocks which are not my favorite. But then we started drawing geodes and I like that much better because they are beautiful and I can pick my colors. Instead of Palaestra, we started taking classes through HSC.  At HSC, I take tennis, video game design and IEW which is a writing class. Surprisingly, IEW is my favorite class. I still take piano and am learning to play many songs. A few of my favorite song are Hello Muddah! Hello Faddah and Walking on Sunshine.

October

We started building a wooden house as part of our school and also for A to play in. It was hard and complicated. It took a long time to build. Often my hands felt like they were going to fall off because it was so cold. Hammering was a challenge in the beginning but it got easier as I had more practice. I was a natural at sawing and Winston is better at hammering. My dad is a pro at hammering. On Halloween, we went to Tokyo Buffet with our friends. When we got home, our mom let us watched a movie.

November

On Thanksgiving, we went to our cousin’s house for their annual Thanksgiving party. I had a lot of yummy cheesy potatoes made by my aunt. I also went to WILD dance convention. We finally finished our house!  It’s not big enough for me to lie in by it’s a perfect size for Alex to play in. We painted it too late one night. I chose to paint the roof red and the rest of the house white. My favorite part of building this house is sawing and painting. 

December

I signed up for a nativity play at my church. I played the part of Mary. I wasn’t nervous until I realized there was no chair. Luckily, someone brought it shortly after.  The most wonderful thing that happened to me in December was winning a Kindle Fire. I prayed right before the drawing and then I heard my name. Everyone came to congratulate me and I was one embarrassed girl.  We went to our cousin’s house again for their Christmas party. My aunt made cheesy potato again and I had a lot. I had many cookies too. For Christmas, I got clothes, Lip Smacker, a Barbie doll, a huge wooden rainbow arch and lots of hair accessories. In the last few days of December, we went sledding. The only thing was I was too heavy sitting down on the saucer so my dad told me to stand up. We were snow surfing! Later my dad brought W’s snowboard for us to try. I wasn’t so good but Winston was a pro!

2012 passed way too quickly. I hope to become a super dancer in 2013. J