Trip to Columbus for Claire’s Birthday
April fool’s day, Jian Hua held a party for Claire’s five years old birthday. We went a day early so we could visit Easton Town Center and also have Chinese buffet at the Jade Palace.
Ali is always excited to be out of the house. She is full of energy, yelling, rushing, and almost never stopping.
It took us some quite some effort to get good pictures of Ali. Amanda had to take some quick shots using her Cannon. At time like this, I am really glad we paid for the $500 lens!
We stayed at Sheraton Suites and Inn on Saturday night. We were impressed by the quality of the accommodation. I am sure from now on, it will be on our short list of hotels for travel.
The party was on Sunday at a place called super games. There were lots of inflatable playgrounds which were perfect for kids of any ages. Ali had a ball. Although she was not use to the uneven surface in the beginning – I can imagine that would be quite a challenge for a 19-month old – she eventually overcame her cautiousness and charged around the fields bravely. Her face was lit up with each bounch and each fall … you just could not describe the enjoyment you saw in ther face!
It is true that every parents helplessly fall in love with their kids. Everything Ali does fills my heart with joy. Yet, she is growing so fast, I could not believe she will be two years old in a few months!
I haven’t been doing my homework!
It’s been almost a week since I posted anything about DD. Time flies, and it is no excuse for not writing and recording DD’s life. Time blurs memories, and it is hard to remember exactly what happened everyday last week – but luckily, people invented photography and iPhone.
DD went to Gymboree classes again. Somehow, she doesn’t like loud noises and there were not able to participate some of the activities – such as banging the air log along with music. She cried and I had to carry her away to comfort her. JJ and I were jokingly calling DD “JiaoJiao (娇娇）”, meaning shy, effeminacy in Chinese. DD could enjoy herself very well in the Gymboree free gym time. Just look at her when she was trying to dunk a ball into the basket!
DD definitely got gene from her dad, she has a big sweet tooth. She loves Chocolate and Icecream! Everyday, after dinner, we try to take DD out for a walk. Since it is rather cold outside now, we go to malls large department stores for DD to walk around. Walking around in a random pattern, this little person suddenly made a straigh dash to one of the aisles in Costco. I quickly found out she was dashing for the candies – KitKat, Twix, M&M! (Yes, Daddy loves those too!) She lingered in the candy aisle long enough for me to remember taking out my iPhone and took a video clip.
Life is good – one surprise per day.
Today, DD is 16 month plus 1 day old.
DD woke up at 7 a.m. today, even though I actually was planning to sleep in until 10 a.m. She is my little alarm clock. When she wakes up everyday, she starts by saying “ahhh….”, then followed by “ba ba” (dad in Chinese), “ma ma” (mother in Chinese). Since I am the one got the short stick to take care of her in the morning, her calling my name first was my rewards.
DD follows a very good routine. Four ounce of milk at around 7:30 a.m. , breakfast at around 8, and then poops around 8:30. She usually takes 1.5 hours nap after lunch and goes to bed before 9 p.m. Anyway, she fell asleep before lunch on the living room floor today. Since the sun was shining (a really rare event in winter in Cleveland), we left her there so she could soak up some sun. However, for no reason, she sat up in the middle of her nap, with her back towards me, sat on the floor for about five seconds and fell back to sleep again on her belly. That was a first!
Under the advice from our pediatritian, we started to brush DD’s teeth after her bottle of milk (4 oz as well) at night. Tonight is the third time since we started. To my surprise, she opened her mouth after she finished the milk and waited for her mother to brush. She had no objections at all … her mother must be doing a fantastic job!
Since I travel for work, I try to do as much as I could when I am at home. Even though I enjoy DD’s trifle, I was still very happy the day was coming to a conclusion. After bath, DD will drink her milk and goes to sleep, and the rest of the day is mine again. DD apparently has a different idea tonight – she would not leave the bath tub and wanted to play with the bubbles in water. After three attempts to persuade her leaving the bath tub, I finally had to pull her out by-force.
What challenge is she going to bring to me tomorrow?
“Lock picking” already?
On Allison’s 16-month “birthday”, I realized it will be a long, hard and continuous battle to be a responsible parent.
Alright, Allison is not really picking the lock, she just learned how to turn the handle and open a locked door. However, I just child-proofed the cabinets, drawers, tables, and what have you couple weeks ago, and she is graduating to open doors already at 16-month? Would I be able to deal with What’s coming next? It will be a on going competition, I certainly hope I would not be the losing one.
Maybe Allison was protesting her not so exciting meals. I am not even talented at cooking or prepare meals. I can do noodles and shamefully I have to admit I prefer noodles since it had been my standard meal for as long as I was a bachelor. So, preparing meals for Allison is a ginormous challenge. Let me give you an idea, so far I think, by myself, I only prepared 1) pasta with nothing but some soy sauce. 2) chicken nuggets from Costco. 3) Ling ling pot sticker also from Costco 4) broiled eggs. 5) steamed eggs 6) pound cake from Costco 7 ) Hawaii king sweet bread from Costco (what should I do without Costco?) For example, here is one of the standard breakfast I could prepare.
Amanda, on the other hand, is much more creative in cooking. I am spoiled. My standard answer is “let’s go out” when Amanda doesn’t feel like cooking.
Well, my lacking of talent is not only limited to cooking. Here is one of my better drawings of my dear baby Allison. Believe me, you won’t want to see my first try!
All parents fall in love with their children. Every time I see Allison doing something new or cute, my heart just melts. It just can’t be explained!
iPad Day -first of the first
Finally, I gave in. We bought a iPad today. I was debating if an iPad would be a good idea, but I was able to justify it under the excuse of “writing a blog for Duoduo”. So, we purchased one tonight from BestBuy.
iPad does not support flash so I didn’t know if it would be a good decision to purchase this since Android is getting more popular. However, Apple’s products are just too attractive. “How do you say no to a pretty girl?”
Today, I took DD to Gymboree for free gym. For most of the time, she was just wondering around. I am sure she was observing other babies, she was just not old enough to imitate the behaviors of other older kids. In time, she will learn. She crawl through a tunnel by herself today, which might be a first. She still enjoys putting the rubber ball through the basket ball hoops, but she doe not clap hands eagerly now. She likes the slides and balls and like to challenge herself by doing different things, including those things she absolutely shouldn’t have done – such as trying to climb up the slide via a ripe ladder! I taught her how to push a huge ball but didn’t know how much she learnt.
Tomorrow DD needs to go to class again. Considering the flexibile schedule I have from work, I really shouldn’t complain. Of course, I try to make up the hours. I am accountable for my states there is no one else will do the job if I don’t.
