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.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
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!
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!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
2012 by W
I like the beginning of every year because January 8th
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 2nd 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 1st place in Jazz and tap and
2nd 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 6th 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 2nd 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
Monday, December 31, 2012
Yes!, #2 on potty and controlling emotions
Now Mr. A says "Yes" quite often. I'm also teaching him not to hit his sister and brother and being kind to them. He really have 2 sibling who are crazy about him. Just yesterday, W shared a muffin with Mr. A. It was very sweet. After W fed A a few bites, A totally went to help the muffin himself, picking bites just like his bro.
Mr. A have a friend name "Audrey" and he can Audrey is my friend pretty clearly. Of course, his brother always gets him to say "girlfriend". ;)
As far as sleeping goes, A is still waking up, normally around 1:30-2:00 in the morning, then stays up for 2 hours before sleeping again so that has made daddy and mommy very tired. I have been falling asleep before 8pm quite a few nights. Thank God it's the holidays and daddy is home for the break.He's been more or less shifted to afternoon nap but they are fairly short, usually about an 1hour to a max of 1.5 hours.
We all think Mr. A is quite the gymnast; he has been doing splitz and he loves to hang on our trampoline bar.
One thing funny about Mr A is when daddy was picking him up from the nursery, he dropped everything and ran toward daddy. Then before he got to the door,he pointed to his sippy cup and coat. He remembered his "survival gear" aka sippy cup. Ha-ha!
Mr.A has also just started successfully goes #2 in the toilet. He actually says "poop" and makes his face so the signals are very clear. Then I sit him on the toilet with him, and when he is done, he says, "done" so that has been pretty easy. He actually said "poop" a few months before but seems always after the fact. Now he's starting to become more aware and says it before he goes.
Yesterday, we have some friends over. While we were eating, Mr. A wanted to take out a hard play sword and I told him "no". Then he looked down, mouth curving down like he is really upset and going to cry, then he started opening his mouth and actively breathed in and out for like at least a whole minute. The whole time he was looking down with mouth pouting. We all looked at him in amazement. Daddy says it looks he's about to boil over but actively trying to control his emotion. Our friend said, Mr A probably knows there's company over, and want to show honor to our family by not throwing a fit and controlling himself. We all remarked that not even that many adults can do what A just did, let a lone a 18 months old! That was the first time he's done something like this,esp. with the breathing. Oh, I wished I could have captured it all on the video. Priceless!
Mr. A have a friend name "Audrey" and he can Audrey is my friend pretty clearly. Of course, his brother always gets him to say "girlfriend". ;)
As far as sleeping goes, A is still waking up, normally around 1:30-2:00 in the morning, then stays up for 2 hours before sleeping again so that has made daddy and mommy very tired. I have been falling asleep before 8pm quite a few nights. Thank God it's the holidays and daddy is home for the break.He's been more or less shifted to afternoon nap but they are fairly short, usually about an 1hour to a max of 1.5 hours.
We all think Mr. A is quite the gymnast; he has been doing splitz and he loves to hang on our trampoline bar.
One thing funny about Mr A is when daddy was picking him up from the nursery, he dropped everything and ran toward daddy. Then before he got to the door,he pointed to his sippy cup and coat. He remembered his "survival gear" aka sippy cup. Ha-ha!
Mr.A has also just started successfully goes #2 in the toilet. He actually says "poop" and makes his face so the signals are very clear. Then I sit him on the toilet with him, and when he is done, he says, "done" so that has been pretty easy. He actually said "poop" a few months before but seems always after the fact. Now he's starting to become more aware and says it before he goes.
Yesterday, we have some friends over. While we were eating, Mr. A wanted to take out a hard play sword and I told him "no". Then he looked down, mouth curving down like he is really upset and going to cry, then he started opening his mouth and actively breathed in and out for like at least a whole minute. The whole time he was looking down with mouth pouting. We all looked at him in amazement. Daddy says it looks he's about to boil over but actively trying to control his emotion. Our friend said, Mr A probably knows there's company over, and want to show honor to our family by not throwing a fit and controlling himself. We all remarked that not even that many adults can do what A just did, let a lone a 18 months old! That was the first time he's done something like this,esp. with the breathing. Oh, I wished I could have captured it all on the video. Priceless!
Friday, December 21, 2012
First illness for Mr. A
Just this past week, Mr. A had I think is mostly a cold. I think he got it from his sister J. Heck, I was even really sick for a day, the kind I couldn't get up for anything. So I just slept and took some medicine.
Anyway, back to Mr. A. He ran a fever, for a day or two, and then was just mostly lethargic for the next couple days. He wanted to be held a lot, like almost the whole day. But sometimes, for no apparent reason, he'll push you away and scream with all his might for like 5 minutes. If you try to hold him or even approach him, he gets even more mad, hits you and pushes you. Then after some time, we try again and he wants to be held again. So this will go on for many times in day. Of course, for naps, he won't take one unless daddy or I are sleeping with him. He slept with us in the night. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. During his illness, he really did not want his sibling, J or W and gets mad even if they look at him or stands too close. Thankfully, he's getting better and more back to his old self. He's really been sweet with me, holding me and giving me those cheek touches and loving to held.
It has been a really trying year with Mr. A. The good news is it is getting better. The last few days, he even took his nap at about the same time for which I'm very thankful. Not very long naps, but looks like he's transitioning to afternoon nap. Hopefully, it's the beginning of something that will stay. Now, we just have to work on that scream.
P.S His new favorite thing is sitting on our pool table and play with the balls. Daddy says he's also learning a little physics by playing Chinese checkers. The board is set up where the balls only can come out in one slot so Mr A pushes the stream of balls in the slots and out they come, one at a time.
Anyway, back to Mr. A. He ran a fever, for a day or two, and then was just mostly lethargic for the next couple days. He wanted to be held a lot, like almost the whole day. But sometimes, for no apparent reason, he'll push you away and scream with all his might for like 5 minutes. If you try to hold him or even approach him, he gets even more mad, hits you and pushes you. Then after some time, we try again and he wants to be held again. So this will go on for many times in day. Of course, for naps, he won't take one unless daddy or I are sleeping with him. He slept with us in the night. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. During his illness, he really did not want his sibling, J or W and gets mad even if they look at him or stands too close. Thankfully, he's getting better and more back to his old self. He's really been sweet with me, holding me and giving me those cheek touches and loving to held.
It has been a really trying year with Mr. A. The good news is it is getting better. The last few days, he even took his nap at about the same time for which I'm very thankful. Not very long naps, but looks like he's transitioning to afternoon nap. Hopefully, it's the beginning of something that will stay. Now, we just have to work on that scream.
P.S His new favorite thing is sitting on our pool table and play with the balls. Daddy says he's also learning a little physics by playing Chinese checkers. The board is set up where the balls only can come out in one slot so Mr A pushes the stream of balls in the slots and out they come, one at a time.
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