Helping out in the kitchen
Cookie cutting
Daddy wanted to make cookies for friends and families this year and asked April for some help...
X'mas show
What a disaster! According to Ms. Kim's instruction, parents should dress their kids in red and/or green. There is no red dress, only a purple one, but Mommy found a sweater with red on it. She's not happy about it, talking about fashion rebellion at this age, she wanted to wear the blue dress, Mommy said NO, she accepted it before going to school. Right before the show, the school is packed with parents and relatives. We finally found her in the next room, getting ready to perform. At the same moment, Jennifer's Mom came with a red dress and April broke into such a cry asking for her red dress. She cried through the performance, since it only last for couple minutes. Both Mommy and Daddy were very disappointed at her. Not every girl in the class had a red dress, why is it okay for others but not her? >-(
Later she sang it to both Mommy and Daddy at home as a makeup.
SF day trip
A relaxing day... we checked out the skating ring by Embarcadero Center while drinking hot chocolate. April really wanted to try, yet neither Mommy nor Daddy knows how. So we just act as audience. We also walked around the Ferry building, a nice market place by the shore. Later the evening, we walked around Union Street to see some local lighting.
Visiting Grandma Grandpa in MN
Mommy stayed home while Daddy brought April over to the snowy MN. April also got overly excited the day before, kept asking when can she board her flight. Not until mid-night, my young lady! The stay was a blast for April. She got so many X'mas gifts from friends and families, enjoyed running around a 4000 sq. ft. house everyday, cycling her new bike from Grandma in the basement hardwood floor, making snow man right outside the window, swimming in the indoor kiddie poor in YMCA and meeting a twin kids, helping the sister fight with the brother.
Not sure if Mommy missed any juicy part, that will need to be filled by Daddy ;P
Quotes of the month
One Sunday morning, Mommy left for swimming, Daddy woke up April and dressed her. Well, Daddy wasn't fully awake or didn't have his glasses on or what, he started pulling out clothes from the drawer...
April had the top on, so just needed to find a pants, Daddy pulled out 1st piece
April: 这不是裤子。
Daddy pulled out 2nd piece
April: 这也不是裤子， 你怎么那么笨！
Daddy yelled: Mami, April 欺负我
April: hmm...爸爸好可怜。
One afternoon, Daddy and Mommy were snacking in the car while waiting for April to finish her nap. Once she woke up, we offered her the bag of leftover. April was very polite and asked both of us to take some, saying sharing is caring. But we both said, no thank you(well, we already had enough...evil)
April:我自己吃很孤单的呀！
Bad habit
Biting her nails...why always learn bad things from classmates and not good ones? >-(
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Nov 2007
Levaunt's birthday party + Paul's house warming party
An eventful day, yet April wasn't very active that day. She's not very sociable that day, don't know why...
An eventful day, yet April wasn't very active that day. She's not very sociable that day, don't know why...
Jess's wedding
The day before April got overly excited and slept late. We had a 7am flight, everyone woke up at 4 am. April had a small nap on the way to airport then everyone had 1 hour nap on the plane. Wedding started at 10am and went all the way to 2pm. We were dead tired and took a 3 hours nap in the hotel room afterward.
Nonetheless, April had so much fun at the wedding. She loved dancing in the courtyard with the little girl she met at the wedding.
Disneyland
Since we were already in LA, Daddy's secret agenda became a reality. Due to the high price and the belly(excuse,excuse...), Mommy decided not to attend. Daddy had an "adventurous" day with April at the Disneyland.
This is to be filled in by Daddy...
Couple photos at the Disneyland
Thanksgiving dinner with Aunti Song and Uncle Ted
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Aunti Song's Mommy's house. Tasty food and April was given another Dora present. It's a video game for 3+. She started slow, then after a few tries at home, she mastered all 10 games. Thanks to Aunti Song and Uncle Ted!
Quotes of the month
Not sure if the story - 三个强盗 we read to her, made some kind of impression in her, one day she asked Mommy...
April: 你会老吗?
Mommy: 当然，你长大了，妈妈就变老了。
April: 你会死吗?
Mommy: 别乱说话！
Then afterward, when Daddy came home, she asked the same question.
Songs of the month
Hey Diddle Diddle
Another chinese pop song - 你那麼愛他
The orginal music video
New development
Type I - interesting yet a bit too early kind of behavior
- Started developing weird changing clothes behavior. After coming home from school, she will go upstairs and change all her clothes. Sometime she will give excuse like what she's wearing is too dirty, or she wants to wear something else...
- From jewelry to lipstick and nail painting, now it's the ear ring era. Mommy weared a pair of ear rings at Jess's wedding and since then, she's been asking when she can wear one herself. Mommy told her we need to see the doctor to get her ears pierced. The week after Jess's wedding, Mommy brought her to get a flu shot, she asked Mommy whether she could also get her ear pierced at the same time. ~~~faint!~~~
Type II - healthy and positive behavior
- Starting folding her own clothes every morning
- Rubbing her body with little cloth during bathing
- NO night diaper anymore... this time Mommy waited long enough. There is almost no emotional stress. April listened and tried her best for a week, only 1 minor accident in 7 days, she half pee her pants, then she ran to the bathroom by herself in the middle of the night and finish the pee. Mommy changed her underpant, then she went back to sleep. No more diaper for April!
- Writing her own name
- Finished a 50 pieces puzzle
Recent new food adoption
1. Start to like broccoli, just boiled broccoli, she will actually finish them in her lunch box.
2. Rice flake cereal + milk, she asked for it after school everyday, and diligently finish the whole bowl. Often she would ask for couple refills. Those are no sugar rice flake, very plain, why would she like it so much??
Thursday, December 27, 2007
April's art work
The basket that holds her art work from school is getting full...
Before moving them to a bigger box at the end of the summer, Mommy did a sorting. Basically 2 categories, abstract art and sticking composition
Before moving them to a bigger box at the end of the summer, Mommy did a sorting. Basically 2 categories, abstract art and sticking composition
Monday, December 24, 2007
Oct 2007
Class photo
Mommy totally forgot to pretty her up on the day of photo, oh well.
Vanessa's birthday party
It's Vanessa's first birthday, her parents made it big. A banquet of 8 tables and hired 2 artists, one doing face painting and one doing cartoon drawing for all the guests and on demand.
Her painted face
And our cartoon portrait
First pumpkin patch
3 episodes aka 3 cries... It was a fine day, we arrived early. April started out on one of the jumpy houses. Mommy was looking forward to a pleasant first field trip with her. But 好景不长...
1st cry - April found this shopping cart toy. She strolled it around endlessly. It grew in her heart into an addiction. When her classmate put little pumpkins and some hay into it, she smiled and let them decorated the cart. But when her classmate wanted to stroll it, it became a fight. She won't let go and broke into a good 5-10 mins cry.
2nd cry - Back to the jumpy house, for some reason Katie the younger but bigger girl pushed her. Then there was this bigger boy who fell and his foot hit her nose. She cried and it's time to get her out of the jumpy house.
3rd cry - She and Flore found this bigger cart. Since it's a bit heavy, they both pushed it together. Then Flore told April to sit in the cart, she will stroll her around. Another girl jumped into the cart and pushed April, boy...another cry
Mommy wondered if that's how she has her day in school, it's quite worrisome...
Couple pictures of the pumpkin patch
Halloween party
2 parties on the same day, 1 at school and 1 at Mommy's workplace. The night before Halloween, Mommy fixed up the length of the kimono(actually it's a yukata, the real kimono is too expensive) purchased in Osaka. She's very happy with this new dress and kept asking why Mommy's not wearing hers. Well, it's a bit difficult with a belly, isn't it?
Quotes of the month
After picking up Grandma from the airport, we went out for dinner. On the way to the restaurant, we called Grandpa to 报平安. We also let April talk to Grandpa a bit, she asked, "你也来吗?" At first we didn't quite sure what she mean. After hanging up, April said, "爷爷说他也来。" (Oh no, not coming from MN just for a dinner. D'oh')
Another night after dinner, Daddy's driving home...
April: 你要帮忙吗?
Daddy puzzled: 帮什么忙?
April: 你要帮忙吗? 你要我帮你开车吗?
(erhh, nop, that will be illegal, even we wanted you to drive us home badly...)
The day before Daddy's birthday, Mommy told April that Daddy's birthday would be the following day.
April: Oh, 明天是爸爸的 birthday, 然后就是 April 的 birthday 啦！Yay! Hooray hooray!
(errh...not quite yet, it will be next year...)
One night, Grandma cooked eel for dinner, when she saw it...
April: 这是慢慢的鱼。
We tried to explain to her that this type of fish is called 鳗鱼, doesn't mean it swim slowly. Yet she's quite stick to her own idea of 鳗鱼就是慢慢的鱼...hmm...stubborn head.
This month's theme at school was about Fall and Halloween. April gave Mommy and Grandma a detailed description of a ghost...
April: 他是白色的，有黑黑的眼睛。他没有鼻子，也没有嘴巴。没有手，没有脚，也没有鞋。他白的像 sheep 一样。他不能飞，因为他没有翅膀。
Misc.
Daddy had another trip to Shanghai for 2.5 weeks, Grandma came to help again. April missed Daddy big time this time, probably since Daddy's been taking care of her more in the recent 2 months. She kept asking when Daddy's coming home. She sang "Happy Birthday" song to Daddy over the phone, Daddy was really touched.
April had her 2nd dentist appt. Since Mommy's expecting, Mommy didn't go in with her, just sat in the waiting room. She followed the assistant in and finished the appt all by herself. Needless of any praise, the new toothbrush given by the dentist was her best reward. And she bragged about it, telling her classmates about the toothbrush repetitively afterward.
April has been learning writing, here's a trace she did.
.JPG)
On the other hand, she's been demanding lipstick and nail painting. Mommy noticed some of the 2 years old at her school have their nails painted. Not sure where she got the idea of lipstick, maybe from some of the school teachers. But either is too early for her, so Mommy bargained with her, that she needs to be older in order to do those things.
Mommy totally forgot to pretty her up on the day of photo, oh well.
Vanessa's birthday party
It's Vanessa's first birthday, her parents made it big. A banquet of 8 tables and hired 2 artists, one doing face painting and one doing cartoon drawing for all the guests and on demand.
Her painted face
And our cartoon portrait
First pumpkin patch
3 episodes aka 3 cries... It was a fine day, we arrived early. April started out on one of the jumpy houses. Mommy was looking forward to a pleasant first field trip with her. But 好景不长...
1st cry - April found this shopping cart toy. She strolled it around endlessly. It grew in her heart into an addiction. When her classmate put little pumpkins and some hay into it, she smiled and let them decorated the cart. But when her classmate wanted to stroll it, it became a fight. She won't let go and broke into a good 5-10 mins cry.
2nd cry - Back to the jumpy house, for some reason Katie the younger but bigger girl pushed her. Then there was this bigger boy who fell and his foot hit her nose. She cried and it's time to get her out of the jumpy house.
3rd cry - She and Flore found this bigger cart. Since it's a bit heavy, they both pushed it together. Then Flore told April to sit in the cart, she will stroll her around. Another girl jumped into the cart and pushed April, boy...another cry
Mommy wondered if that's how she has her day in school, it's quite worrisome...
Couple pictures of the pumpkin patch
Halloween party
2 parties on the same day, 1 at school and 1 at Mommy's workplace. The night before Halloween, Mommy fixed up the length of the kimono(actually it's a yukata, the real kimono is too expensive) purchased in Osaka. She's very happy with this new dress and kept asking why Mommy's not wearing hers. Well, it's a bit difficult with a belly, isn't it?
Quotes of the month
After picking up Grandma from the airport, we went out for dinner. On the way to the restaurant, we called Grandpa to 报平安. We also let April talk to Grandpa a bit, she asked, "你也来吗?" At first we didn't quite sure what she mean. After hanging up, April said, "爷爷说他也来。" (Oh no, not coming from MN just for a dinner. D'oh')
Another night after dinner, Daddy's driving home...
April: 你要帮忙吗?
Daddy puzzled: 帮什么忙?
April: 你要帮忙吗? 你要我帮你开车吗?
(erhh, nop, that will be illegal, even we wanted you to drive us home badly...)
The day before Daddy's birthday, Mommy told April that Daddy's birthday would be the following day.
April: Oh, 明天是爸爸的 birthday, 然后就是 April 的 birthday 啦！Yay! Hooray hooray!
(errh...not quite yet, it will be next year...)
One night, Grandma cooked eel for dinner, when she saw it...
April: 这是慢慢的鱼。
We tried to explain to her that this type of fish is called 鳗鱼, doesn't mean it swim slowly. Yet she's quite stick to her own idea of 鳗鱼就是慢慢的鱼...hmm...stubborn head.
This month's theme at school was about Fall and Halloween. April gave Mommy and Grandma a detailed description of a ghost...
April: 他是白色的，有黑黑的眼睛。他没有鼻子，也没有嘴巴。没有手，没有脚，也没有鞋。他白的像 sheep 一样。他不能飞，因为他没有翅膀。
Misc.
Daddy had another trip to Shanghai for 2.5 weeks, Grandma came to help again. April missed Daddy big time this time, probably since Daddy's been taking care of her more in the recent 2 months. She kept asking when Daddy's coming home. She sang "Happy Birthday" song to Daddy over the phone, Daddy was really touched.
April had her 2nd dentist appt. Since Mommy's expecting, Mommy didn't go in with her, just sat in the waiting room. She followed the assistant in and finished the appt all by herself. Needless of any praise, the new toothbrush given by the dentist was her best reward. And she bragged about it, telling her classmates about the toothbrush repetitively afterward.
April has been learning writing, here's a trace she did.
.JPG)
On the other hand, she's been demanding lipstick and nail painting. Mommy noticed some of the 2 years old at her school have their nails painted. Not sure where she got the idea of lipstick, maybe from some of the school teachers. But either is too early for her, so Mommy bargained with her, that she needs to be older in order to do those things.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sept 2007
Beach day with Purdue families
Before the summer ended, we had a gathering for the kids to play sand together and chase waves. The location was a coast line south of Santa Cruz. We started with a packed lunch under a wooden walking bridge, serving us as a natural beach umbrella. Then when the older kids were "well" fed (obviously anZel and April, well is a stretched term to mean full), both Daddies were off bringing them to chase the waves. Both of them got wet and needed clothes change, lots of work on the parents, yet we were happy to see them yelling and running under the sun, by the vast sea. Chubby Levaunt stayed behind with Mommies and Grandma, continue his munches and once in a while did a bit of sunbathing. A joyful day to conclude the summer, the only downside was Mommy's big toe got stung by a bee :(
Wii
Mommy's workplace got a Wii for research, and one Friday April came for a short visit after school. Mommy made a Mee character for her and introduce her to the bowling game. She hated it since she couldn't figure out how to use the remote. She's more curious about the other remote that link with the main one. So Mommy launched the boxing game for her to play. It's funny watching her shaking both remotes while the character on screen beating up the opponent. That's the easiest level, basically the opponent didn't move, if not, it will be game over in 1 second.
多愁伤感的April
This was a sureal momment I shared with April. A weekend dinner at a HK style restaurant, we got seated at a small table next to couple big ones. Each of them was occupied by families of 3 generations, with grandparents, parents and lots of kids. They were much older kids. April started out staring at them while they chat and play. At one point, she changed her focus, there was this old lady, full of white hair, walking out of the restaurant. She had one hand holding a walking stick, the other side was a middle-aged lady holding her right hand. She walked slowly with difficulty. April stared at the old lady for a long time. Later I noticed her face turned into such a sad facial expression, so I asked her, "If Mommy gets this old, will you take care of me?" She nodded her head seriously. I wondered if this was her first encounter with aging.
Police and fireman visited her school
This month's theme at school was about safety. The school actually called in a police car and a fire truck on separate days for all the kids to see and crawl around. Each class would have a short time to talk to the policemen and firemen. April gave us a brief description about the inside of the police car. The most hilarious part was her holding out the index finger and told us there was a computer inside the police car. Both Daddy and Mommy gave a pretended surprised look.
Mooncake sharing at our house
We had another Purdue family gathering around Mid-Autumn Festival time. Grandma sent us a batch of homemade mooncakes. We invited the Zhen's, Chen's and Ko's family over for an afternoon snack with wine. April proudly presented her "toys" to anZel and Levaunt, yet her plastic jewelry had absolutely no attraction to both boys. On a contrary, Levaunt was more interested in the remote controlled toy car and anZel's more interested on the real TV remote control. Hence, Boy is boy and girl is girl.
Quotes of the month
One weekend afternoon, we were doing a drive around to put April to sleep. Daddy and Mommy chatted endlessly about random things in the car assuming little April would be bored and fall asleep. Yet a little while after, April suddenly declared: 你们把你们的女儿吵醒了。
At the Mountain View Wine and Art Festival, Daddy getting the food while Mommy holding a seating area, April was spacing standing in front of Mommy, then suddenly she turned and said: 我在发呆！
At the Safeway checkout line, the man in front of Mommy had a long pony tail. April kept staring at the man and suddenly she had a revelation: 男孩子也可以有长头发的。
One afternoon, she was playing Mommy to the blue care bear. She's using a small cloth as the blanket, humming the bear to sleep. Mommy told her that she shouldn't cover the bear's head, since that will block the bear from breathing. Trying for a real pretention, right? She replied: 它是假的啊！(妈妈真是有苦难言)
This month, she's into a strange habit. Whenever she needed to get onto the car, Mommy had to said: 请小姐上车！Then she would nod and pleasantly sit herself onto her car seat.
It's a night Daddy's on duty to put April to bed. April asked for Mommy instead,
Daddy replied: 你可以陪爸爸睡吗?
April proclaimed: 你长大了呀！你要自己睡觉呀！我很忙，我要去陪妈妈。
Sunday morning, Mommy just got back from farmer's market. Daddy told Mommy while she's away, Daddy questioned April why she's still in her pajamas.
April: 妈妈根本没有给我穿衣服。
Songs of the month
但愿人长久 - April's version
2 other versions of this song by 王菲 and 鄧麗君, very different styles...
外婆的澎湖灣 - April's version
original version
Traffic light
Before the summer ended, we had a gathering for the kids to play sand together and chase waves. The location was a coast line south of Santa Cruz. We started with a packed lunch under a wooden walking bridge, serving us as a natural beach umbrella. Then when the older kids were "well" fed (obviously anZel and April, well is a stretched term to mean full), both Daddies were off bringing them to chase the waves. Both of them got wet and needed clothes change, lots of work on the parents, yet we were happy to see them yelling and running under the sun, by the vast sea. Chubby Levaunt stayed behind with Mommies and Grandma, continue his munches and once in a while did a bit of sunbathing. A joyful day to conclude the summer, the only downside was Mommy's big toe got stung by a bee :(
Wii
Mommy's workplace got a Wii for research, and one Friday April came for a short visit after school. Mommy made a Mee character for her and introduce her to the bowling game. She hated it since she couldn't figure out how to use the remote. She's more curious about the other remote that link with the main one. So Mommy launched the boxing game for her to play. It's funny watching her shaking both remotes while the character on screen beating up the opponent. That's the easiest level, basically the opponent didn't move, if not, it will be game over in 1 second.
多愁伤感的April
This was a sureal momment I shared with April. A weekend dinner at a HK style restaurant, we got seated at a small table next to couple big ones. Each of them was occupied by families of 3 generations, with grandparents, parents and lots of kids. They were much older kids. April started out staring at them while they chat and play. At one point, she changed her focus, there was this old lady, full of white hair, walking out of the restaurant. She had one hand holding a walking stick, the other side was a middle-aged lady holding her right hand. She walked slowly with difficulty. April stared at the old lady for a long time. Later I noticed her face turned into such a sad facial expression, so I asked her, "If Mommy gets this old, will you take care of me?" She nodded her head seriously. I wondered if this was her first encounter with aging.
Police and fireman visited her school
This month's theme at school was about safety. The school actually called in a police car and a fire truck on separate days for all the kids to see and crawl around. Each class would have a short time to talk to the policemen and firemen. April gave us a brief description about the inside of the police car. The most hilarious part was her holding out the index finger and told us there was a computer inside the police car. Both Daddy and Mommy gave a pretended surprised look.
Mooncake sharing at our house
We had another Purdue family gathering around Mid-Autumn Festival time. Grandma sent us a batch of homemade mooncakes. We invited the Zhen's, Chen's and Ko's family over for an afternoon snack with wine. April proudly presented her "toys" to anZel and Levaunt, yet her plastic jewelry had absolutely no attraction to both boys. On a contrary, Levaunt was more interested in the remote controlled toy car and anZel's more interested on the real TV remote control. Hence, Boy is boy and girl is girl.
Quotes of the month
One weekend afternoon, we were doing a drive around to put April to sleep. Daddy and Mommy chatted endlessly about random things in the car assuming little April would be bored and fall asleep. Yet a little while after, April suddenly declared: 你们把你们的女儿吵醒了。
At the Mountain View Wine and Art Festival, Daddy getting the food while Mommy holding a seating area, April was spacing standing in front of Mommy, then suddenly she turned and said: 我在发呆！
At the Safeway checkout line, the man in front of Mommy had a long pony tail. April kept staring at the man and suddenly she had a revelation: 男孩子也可以有长头发的。
One afternoon, she was playing Mommy to the blue care bear. She's using a small cloth as the blanket, humming the bear to sleep. Mommy told her that she shouldn't cover the bear's head, since that will block the bear from breathing. Trying for a real pretention, right? She replied: 它是假的啊！(妈妈真是有苦难言)
This month, she's into a strange habit. Whenever she needed to get onto the car, Mommy had to said: 请小姐上车！Then she would nod and pleasantly sit herself onto her car seat.
It's a night Daddy's on duty to put April to bed. April asked for Mommy instead,
Daddy replied: 你可以陪爸爸睡吗?
April proclaimed: 你长大了呀！你要自己睡觉呀！我很忙，我要去陪妈妈。
Sunday morning, Mommy just got back from farmer's market. Daddy told Mommy while she's away, Daddy questioned April why she's still in her pajamas.
April: 妈妈根本没有给我穿衣服。
Songs of the month
但愿人长久 - April's version
2 other versions of this song by 王菲 and 鄧麗君, very different styles...
外婆的澎湖灣 - April's version
original version
Traffic light
Monday, November 26, 2007
Aug 2007
Continuation of summer activities...
Amanda's b-day party
One of April's classmate's mom invited the entire class to her daughter's 4th birthday party. It's taken place at a kid's gym in San Mateo. April has never been to one, so a good chance to let her have a try. Her class is a girl power house, there are 9 girls and only 3 boys. And for this party, none of the boy show up. It's pretty much a girl gymnastic event. All the equipment were in miniature size, they roll/jump/climb/swing along the designated route. Everyone had so much fun. Lunch was provided and party flavors were given out at the end of the party.
The flavor marked a new era for April. It's a princess set, including a pink handbag, a gigantic red heart plastic ring, a pair of clipping ear rings, a pink plastic necklace, a rainbow colored bracelet and some hair pieces. April had since hooked on these girly stuff, and she's been playing dress up so often that drives Mommy crazy.
MS summer picnic
This is the 3rd year Microsoft has its summer picnic taken place at the Santa Cruz Broadwalk. For the past 2 years, it's more like a beach day than a theme park day for us, since April's not tall enough to get on most of the rides. Now that she reached a certain height, both Daddy and April had a blast riding and spinning like a gyroscope, while Mommy sat around and enjoyed the ocean view.
SF zoo
The initial plan was to take April to attend a dance performance at an event/festival in the city. And we wanted to ride the train again. Due to miscalculation of timing...again(figuring out all the public transportation routes and schedules and lay out a workable travel plan is how you measure a city vs. a suburban person), we missed the show. The only choice for a nearby venue is SF zoo, Daddy said, "Since we are here, might as well do something together." Therefore, we paid the expensive entrance fee to see the animals. It's a nicely designed and managed zoo, people could truly see a close-up of the animals. April had fun and she was able to ask more questions about the animals instead of just staring at them like couple years ago.
Dancing clip
Swimming clip
The biggest reward out of the swimming class is April's no longer afraid of dipping her head into the water.
Hair cut
It's getting unmanageable. She'd been resisting the cut since it would undefine her as a girl. Both Daddy and Grandma failed to convince her for a haircut when they were back in Shanghai. Grandma did bring her for a trim, but a real trim not a cut. Now Mommy had to be the evil person who made the cut a reality. To camouflage the intend, Mommy told April we need to "trim" the hair again. Mommy found a kid salon, the interior is decorated like a mixture of theme park and toy store. April was sitting on a wooden horse and handed with a sounding toy while the barber gave her the cut, plenty of distraction. April didn't cry or make a scene at the end, she just puzzled at the fact that her hair was CUT to half its original length.
Quotes of the month
Out of the blue one day...
April: 手电筒和望远境是不一样的。手电筒不可以放在眼睛那里。望远境是可以放在眼睛那里的。望远境可以看的很远的。
One day, we were shopping in Wal-mart. Mommy was wondering around finding things, while Daddy entertaining April. April wanted to get down the shopping cart, Daddy disagreed since there were lots of people, easy to get lost. April got angry and said...
April: 你老婆会打你的!
(This young lady will need a lot more discipline)
Last day of school in August, parents ought to attend a parent session to meet the new teacher and learn about the curriculum. Kids needed to be picked up early and were not allowed in the meeting. Our plan was Mommy get April home first, then Daddy would be home shortly after, so Mommy could leave for the meeting. 15 minutes before the exchange, Daddy called to tell Mommy that he couldn't find his car key. He got his coworker to give him a ride, but with the traffic, he would still be late. And the school warned about being punctual for this IMPORTANT meeting. In short of time, Mommy turned on the TV, and let April watch a DVD and told her that Mommy would be away for a little bit and Daddy would be home soon. April nodded and said...
April: 我很勇敢，我可以一个人在家。
Daddy did get home 10 mins later, and brought April to the pool in our complex, since the day's still warm and bright. In the pool, April started telling our neighbors the same thing. Daddy got so embarrassed, and had to explain the situation to them. Sign~
Amanda's b-day party
One of April's classmate's mom invited the entire class to her daughter's 4th birthday party. It's taken place at a kid's gym in San Mateo. April has never been to one, so a good chance to let her have a try. Her class is a girl power house, there are 9 girls and only 3 boys. And for this party, none of the boy show up. It's pretty much a girl gymnastic event. All the equipment were in miniature size, they roll/jump/climb/swing along the designated route. Everyone had so much fun. Lunch was provided and party flavors were given out at the end of the party.
The flavor marked a new era for April. It's a princess set, including a pink handbag, a gigantic red heart plastic ring, a pair of clipping ear rings, a pink plastic necklace, a rainbow colored bracelet and some hair pieces. April had since hooked on these girly stuff, and she's been playing dress up so often that drives Mommy crazy.
MS summer picnic
This is the 3rd year Microsoft has its summer picnic taken place at the Santa Cruz Broadwalk. For the past 2 years, it's more like a beach day than a theme park day for us, since April's not tall enough to get on most of the rides. Now that she reached a certain height, both Daddy and April had a blast riding and spinning like a gyroscope, while Mommy sat around and enjoyed the ocean view.
SF zoo
The initial plan was to take April to attend a dance performance at an event/festival in the city. And we wanted to ride the train again. Due to miscalculation of timing...again(figuring out all the public transportation routes and schedules and lay out a workable travel plan is how you measure a city vs. a suburban person), we missed the show. The only choice for a nearby venue is SF zoo, Daddy said, "Since we are here, might as well do something together." Therefore, we paid the expensive entrance fee to see the animals. It's a nicely designed and managed zoo, people could truly see a close-up of the animals. April had fun and she was able to ask more questions about the animals instead of just staring at them like couple years ago.
Dancing clip
Swimming clip
The biggest reward out of the swimming class is April's no longer afraid of dipping her head into the water.
Hair cut
It's getting unmanageable. She'd been resisting the cut since it would undefine her as a girl. Both Daddy and Grandma failed to convince her for a haircut when they were back in Shanghai. Grandma did bring her for a trim, but a real trim not a cut. Now Mommy had to be the evil person who made the cut a reality. To camouflage the intend, Mommy told April we need to "trim" the hair again. Mommy found a kid salon, the interior is decorated like a mixture of theme park and toy store. April was sitting on a wooden horse and handed with a sounding toy while the barber gave her the cut, plenty of distraction. April didn't cry or make a scene at the end, she just puzzled at the fact that her hair was CUT to half its original length.
Quotes of the month
Out of the blue one day...
April: 手电筒和望远境是不一样的。手电筒不可以放在眼睛那里。望远境是可以放在眼睛那里的。望远境可以看的很远的。
One day, we were shopping in Wal-mart. Mommy was wondering around finding things, while Daddy entertaining April. April wanted to get down the shopping cart, Daddy disagreed since there were lots of people, easy to get lost. April got angry and said...
April: 你老婆会打你的!
(This young lady will need a lot more discipline)
Last day of school in August, parents ought to attend a parent session to meet the new teacher and learn about the curriculum. Kids needed to be picked up early and were not allowed in the meeting. Our plan was Mommy get April home first, then Daddy would be home shortly after, so Mommy could leave for the meeting. 15 minutes before the exchange, Daddy called to tell Mommy that he couldn't find his car key. He got his coworker to give him a ride, but with the traffic, he would still be late. And the school warned about being punctual for this IMPORTANT meeting. In short of time, Mommy turned on the TV, and let April watch a DVD and told her that Mommy would be away for a little bit and Daddy would be home soon. April nodded and said...
April: 我很勇敢，我可以一个人在家。
Daddy did get home 10 mins later, and brought April to the pool in our complex, since the day's still warm and bright. In the pool, April started telling our neighbors the same thing. Daddy got so embarrassed, and had to explain the situation to them. Sign~
Monday, November 19, 2007
July 2007
Activity month!
San Jose Children Discoveries Museum
April went crazy in the museum. She was hopping from one station to another station non-stop for straight 5 hours. Never mind whether she understand the science behind each station, see and touch sensation is already stimulating and fascinating to this little human being. Her favorite was the eatery and cashier counter in the Clifford's exhibition room. She was busy giving Mommy plastic food and plastic money from the cashier. Daddy commented, "If she ever opened a restaurant, it will definitely be losing money."
July 4th - picnic, row a boat, concert and fireworks
Purdue families had a relaxing picnic at the Shoreline park...eh...with lots of goose dropping, doh'. It seemed like no one has ever cleaned the lawn. We found a under-the-tree-not-so-much-dropping spot. It's a potluck lunch, kids also got a chance to play with each other. Afterward other families left, we went to row a boat at the nearby lake. April sang "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream." Mommy tried to row, but didn't have enough strength on the left hand, our boat kept making circles. So Daddy took over and rowed around the lake. He ended up with a blister near his thumb, April kissed it which made the best medication he could ever get for a blister. Last, we attended the amphitheater concert. With a proof of utility bill of a Mountain View address, each family could get 4 free tickets. We brought our blankets and found a good spot along the much cleaner lawn inside the amphitheater. Daddy got beer and food, April danced along with the music by San Francisco Symphony. We saw the sun go down, and enjoyed the firework before heading home.
All went well until after the firework, April made an episode. She cried so hard not wanting to go home, she thought the firework and party would last a lifetime long. (See, here's the future party animal, no doubt!) The reality impact was big on her, she cried for a good 15-20 minutes. Last, getting out of the parking lot was hell, a sea of cars, it felt like the entire Mountain View population all jammed in there, it took us at least a good hour to get out of the parking lot while Daddy made a conf call with Shanghai and Toronto. What a ridiculous meeting time, mid-night of July 4th!?!
Here's April's improvised dance move
Alameda County fair
This is April's 3rd visit and this year we had Aliang's family tagged along. April got a playmate, anZel. We visited the usual spots, aka activities appropriate for young kids, including Merry-go-around, donkey ride, little pig race, farm animals, etc. Another kid friendly day!
Signing up swimming and dancing class
Tip off from Anzel's mom, Mommy looked up community classes in our neighborhood area. There were some classes April's qualified to sign up. But it's late in the game, many parents signed up in June, most classes were full. Mommy played hockey that Friday and rushed to different offices seizing the last spot for a swimming class and a tiny toe dancing class.
First dancing class vs. first swimming class
Watching your child attending first class could be painful. Mommy never attended her class at school, so no way to know whether she's attentive, participating, a total rebel or a zombie. Her teacher always gave positive remarks, yet they could be lenient. First dancing class was an eye opener to Mommy. She was all excited about the dancing class before entering the classroom. Once inside the classroom, she's a zombie. She stared at the teacher and other kids for the entire class period, not willing to leave Mommy's side. Persuasion went from mild and nice to stern and threatening to giving up. There were 2 other girls just like April and one of the parents was also a Chinese, Mommy observed her enthusiasm turned to agitation, at which point Mommy knew that more word won't do any good, so Mommy observed the remainder of the class with April, in silence.
Mommy thought about quitting after the first class, maybe April's just not ready. But the fee's paid, let's give it a second try. To Mommy's surprise, after the first class, every consecutive class, April was participating and following teacher's order like a pro while couple other girls/boys got ups and downs.(You know what I mean) And there was a constant rebel who annoyed other observing parents. This little girl wouldn't stop interrupting the class, even the teacher showed slight resentment towards later classes. Concentration at this age could be hard to ask for.
First swimming class was a total opposite, or maybe April had better idea attending classes with Mommy as an observer. There were 2 instructors, very nice young ladies, either high school or college kids. The class was taken place at the shallowest area of the pool, yet April wasn't tall enough to stand in water, neither did her classmates. Every kid held their life onto the edge of the pool, waiting for the instructor take one out for a ride at a time. There were 2 sisters, one probably around April's age and the other one probably 1-2 years older. They sat by the edge of the pool the entire class wearing the most flowery swim suits, agonizing both their parents. Pain! Mommy knew it, been there and felt it. The behavior of this lovely pair of sisters persisted for couple more classes, changing into different swim suits and putting on cartoon goggles didn't help. Their mom got so angry at one point, she threw the older one into the water and ended up getting a warning from the instructor. Therefore first couple classes, one of the instructor took turn teaching each student, while the other one provided consultation to the sisters. Lots of crying was also unavoidable. They did improve in later classes, and they did show genuine interest in swimming, it's probably some psychological barrier they couldn't overcome at the beginning. Mommy perfectly understand how unbearable for the observing parents. There were 8 other classes happening at the same time in the big pool. Ours involved the youngest kids and was the most difficult class. The instructors were exceptionally patient, yet they felt sorry that they weren't achieving their planned course. We, the parents of this difficult class, envied other surrounding parents, yet some of them probably had the same past as ours. All in all, it's quite a learning experience for both Mommy and April.
Sleeping problem
Mommy's secret agenda was to wear out April's energy by doing swimming daily. It started sound and good. First few nights, she would be snoring after Mommy counted to 10, that's less than 10 seconds. Yet more swimming didn't hold up the performance, her body got used to the add-on activity, it's no longer an effective energy drainer. Towards the end of this month, her sleeping hour got pushed later and later and one night, Mommy couldn't take it anymore and decided to let her cry until she fall asleep. Thankfully, no one in our neighborhood called up the police or our HOA for raised noise level, she was at the top of her lungs for quite some time. Mommy will need a real good pair of ear plugs to exclude the sound waves coming out of her mouth.
Brushing teeth problem
Mommy couldn't remember exactly when she started doing it herself, probably around 2.5 years old. She could do it, yet she doesn't like to do it, especially in the morning when she was half-awaken. Mommy told her the reasoning, she could even repeat the reasoning using her own language, but that wasn't enough motivation for her to do it every morning. There was a week in this month, every morning was a struggle to get her brush her own teeth. The struggle continues til now, peaks and valleys. Hope one day the knot in her head/heart will untie itself...
Misc
Daddy left for Shanghai for 2 weeks again, Grandma came to help. We once again had a much regular life style for some time, thanks to Grandma.
San Jose Children Discoveries Museum
April went crazy in the museum. She was hopping from one station to another station non-stop for straight 5 hours. Never mind whether she understand the science behind each station, see and touch sensation is already stimulating and fascinating to this little human being. Her favorite was the eatery and cashier counter in the Clifford's exhibition room. She was busy giving Mommy plastic food and plastic money from the cashier. Daddy commented, "If she ever opened a restaurant, it will definitely be losing money."
July 4th - picnic, row a boat, concert and fireworks
Purdue families had a relaxing picnic at the Shoreline park...eh...with lots of goose dropping, doh'. It seemed like no one has ever cleaned the lawn. We found a under-the-tree-not-so-much-dropping spot. It's a potluck lunch, kids also got a chance to play with each other. Afterward other families left, we went to row a boat at the nearby lake. April sang "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream." Mommy tried to row, but didn't have enough strength on the left hand, our boat kept making circles. So Daddy took over and rowed around the lake. He ended up with a blister near his thumb, April kissed it which made the best medication he could ever get for a blister. Last, we attended the amphitheater concert. With a proof of utility bill of a Mountain View address, each family could get 4 free tickets. We brought our blankets and found a good spot along the much cleaner lawn inside the amphitheater. Daddy got beer and food, April danced along with the music by San Francisco Symphony. We saw the sun go down, and enjoyed the firework before heading home.
All went well until after the firework, April made an episode. She cried so hard not wanting to go home, she thought the firework and party would last a lifetime long. (See, here's the future party animal, no doubt!) The reality impact was big on her, she cried for a good 15-20 minutes. Last, getting out of the parking lot was hell, a sea of cars, it felt like the entire Mountain View population all jammed in there, it took us at least a good hour to get out of the parking lot while Daddy made a conf call with Shanghai and Toronto. What a ridiculous meeting time, mid-night of July 4th!?!
Here's April's improvised dance move
Alameda County fair
This is April's 3rd visit and this year we had Aliang's family tagged along. April got a playmate, anZel. We visited the usual spots, aka activities appropriate for young kids, including Merry-go-around, donkey ride, little pig race, farm animals, etc. Another kid friendly day!
Signing up swimming and dancing class
Tip off from Anzel's mom, Mommy looked up community classes in our neighborhood area. There were some classes April's qualified to sign up. But it's late in the game, many parents signed up in June, most classes were full. Mommy played hockey that Friday and rushed to different offices seizing the last spot for a swimming class and a tiny toe dancing class.
First dancing class vs. first swimming class
Watching your child attending first class could be painful. Mommy never attended her class at school, so no way to know whether she's attentive, participating, a total rebel or a zombie. Her teacher always gave positive remarks, yet they could be lenient. First dancing class was an eye opener to Mommy. She was all excited about the dancing class before entering the classroom. Once inside the classroom, she's a zombie. She stared at the teacher and other kids for the entire class period, not willing to leave Mommy's side. Persuasion went from mild and nice to stern and threatening to giving up. There were 2 other girls just like April and one of the parents was also a Chinese, Mommy observed her enthusiasm turned to agitation, at which point Mommy knew that more word won't do any good, so Mommy observed the remainder of the class with April, in silence.
Mommy thought about quitting after the first class, maybe April's just not ready. But the fee's paid, let's give it a second try. To Mommy's surprise, after the first class, every consecutive class, April was participating and following teacher's order like a pro while couple other girls/boys got ups and downs.(You know what I mean) And there was a constant rebel who annoyed other observing parents. This little girl wouldn't stop interrupting the class, even the teacher showed slight resentment towards later classes. Concentration at this age could be hard to ask for.
First swimming class was a total opposite, or maybe April had better idea attending classes with Mommy as an observer. There were 2 instructors, very nice young ladies, either high school or college kids. The class was taken place at the shallowest area of the pool, yet April wasn't tall enough to stand in water, neither did her classmates. Every kid held their life onto the edge of the pool, waiting for the instructor take one out for a ride at a time. There were 2 sisters, one probably around April's age and the other one probably 1-2 years older. They sat by the edge of the pool the entire class wearing the most flowery swim suits, agonizing both their parents. Pain! Mommy knew it, been there and felt it. The behavior of this lovely pair of sisters persisted for couple more classes, changing into different swim suits and putting on cartoon goggles didn't help. Their mom got so angry at one point, she threw the older one into the water and ended up getting a warning from the instructor. Therefore first couple classes, one of the instructor took turn teaching each student, while the other one provided consultation to the sisters. Lots of crying was also unavoidable. They did improve in later classes, and they did show genuine interest in swimming, it's probably some psychological barrier they couldn't overcome at the beginning. Mommy perfectly understand how unbearable for the observing parents. There were 8 other classes happening at the same time in the big pool. Ours involved the youngest kids and was the most difficult class. The instructors were exceptionally patient, yet they felt sorry that they weren't achieving their planned course. We, the parents of this difficult class, envied other surrounding parents, yet some of them probably had the same past as ours. All in all, it's quite a learning experience for both Mommy and April.
Sleeping problem
Mommy's secret agenda was to wear out April's energy by doing swimming daily. It started sound and good. First few nights, she would be snoring after Mommy counted to 10, that's less than 10 seconds. Yet more swimming didn't hold up the performance, her body got used to the add-on activity, it's no longer an effective energy drainer. Towards the end of this month, her sleeping hour got pushed later and later and one night, Mommy couldn't take it anymore and decided to let her cry until she fall asleep. Thankfully, no one in our neighborhood called up the police or our HOA for raised noise level, she was at the top of her lungs for quite some time. Mommy will need a real good pair of ear plugs to exclude the sound waves coming out of her mouth.
Brushing teeth problem
Mommy couldn't remember exactly when she started doing it herself, probably around 2.5 years old. She could do it, yet she doesn't like to do it, especially in the morning when she was half-awaken. Mommy told her the reasoning, she could even repeat the reasoning using her own language, but that wasn't enough motivation for her to do it every morning. There was a week in this month, every morning was a struggle to get her brush her own teeth. The struggle continues til now, peaks and valleys. Hope one day the knot in her head/heart will untie itself...
Misc
Daddy left for Shanghai for 2 weeks again, Grandma came to help. We once again had a much regular life style for some time, thanks to Grandma.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
June 2007 - April's the winner
Mommy enjoyed 2 weeks of being single, finishing the planned honeymoon in preparation for #2. Before we tried, we've tested April by asking her whether she wants a younger sister or brother. No matter how we change the question or even try to trick her, her answer has always been GIRL.
Here are some of her quotes...
Daddy: April 要妹妹或弟弟?
April: 要妹妹
Daddy: 那弟弟呢?
April: 两个太多了.
Mommy: 你不要弟弟吗?
April: 因为我是女孩子的关系！
April: 两个妹妹太多了，我抱不动。
(Getting a boy and a girl, many thinks it's the best combination. I also think that way initially before having April. After raising April for 3 years, I realized gender doesn't matter. The only thing I want is a sibling for April. Being the only child, I know what they deprived of, even though being the only child has privilege on many things in a family. I do think of, what if it's a boy this time. I'm afraid of I might not know how to handle him psychologically in the long run. Also, if it's a boy, how upset April will be after numerous times asking her the same question for all these months. But having a boy will balance out the gender weight in our household, yet Daddy's didn't think it matters. He prefers *girl* in general. Many Asian or Chinese family, especially the grandparents will want to have a boy to carry down the surname. Will's parents as well educated and open minded as they were, don't care at all, they are just simply happy that we are going to have #2. I am grateful that I got zero pressure from them. On the Halloween day, the ultra sound indicated it's a girl. It's a relief after wondering what if boy or girl, now I can be set. No shopping to do, I kept all April's clothes and now it's time to recycle. Telling April about this news, I received a puzzled look. To her, it's like a known fact. "Why Mommy is telling me something I already know? Of course, it's a girl.")
Misc. of the month
After coming back from Shanghai, April's ears got signed off from the ear doctor and confirmed that she can go swimming. This really pleased Mommy. Mommy has been waiting, longing to try out our complex pool with April. April also loves swimming even she's yet to know how. There is also a spa next to the pool. Day's getting longer, Mommy and April will alternate dipping ourselves into the hot and cold water after school while waiting for Daddy to come home and made the dinner.
Other fun quotes from April...
She's been calling herself, "爸爸的 cup cake" and "妈妈的小尾巴"
One day after school...
April自圆其说: Jordon 没脾气跟我玩. Jennifer 淘气,不跟我玩
Mommy: 你呢?
April: 我没有脾气!
(Hmm...the sun will start rising from the west)
Here are some of her quotes...
Daddy: April 要妹妹或弟弟?
April: 要妹妹
Daddy: 那弟弟呢?
April: 两个太多了.
Mommy: 你不要弟弟吗?
April: 因为我是女孩子的关系！
April: 两个妹妹太多了，我抱不动。
(Getting a boy and a girl, many thinks it's the best combination. I also think that way initially before having April. After raising April for 3 years, I realized gender doesn't matter. The only thing I want is a sibling for April. Being the only child, I know what they deprived of, even though being the only child has privilege on many things in a family. I do think of, what if it's a boy this time. I'm afraid of I might not know how to handle him psychologically in the long run. Also, if it's a boy, how upset April will be after numerous times asking her the same question for all these months. But having a boy will balance out the gender weight in our household, yet Daddy's didn't think it matters. He prefers *girl* in general. Many Asian or Chinese family, especially the grandparents will want to have a boy to carry down the surname. Will's parents as well educated and open minded as they were, don't care at all, they are just simply happy that we are going to have #2. I am grateful that I got zero pressure from them. On the Halloween day, the ultra sound indicated it's a girl. It's a relief after wondering what if boy or girl, now I can be set. No shopping to do, I kept all April's clothes and now it's time to recycle. Telling April about this news, I received a puzzled look. To her, it's like a known fact. "Why Mommy is telling me something I already know? Of course, it's a girl.")
Misc. of the month
After coming back from Shanghai, April's ears got signed off from the ear doctor and confirmed that she can go swimming. This really pleased Mommy. Mommy has been waiting, longing to try out our complex pool with April. April also loves swimming even she's yet to know how. There is also a spa next to the pool. Day's getting longer, Mommy and April will alternate dipping ourselves into the hot and cold water after school while waiting for Daddy to come home and made the dinner.
Other fun quotes from April...
She's been calling herself, "爸爸的 cup cake" and "妈妈的小尾巴"
One day after school...
April自圆其说: Jordon 没脾气跟我玩. Jennifer 淘气,不跟我玩
Mommy: 你呢?
April: 我没有脾气!
(Hmm...the sun will start rising from the west)
倒霉
Almost forgot this one...
The day after we returned from Japan, we had a dinner with 奶奶 side of the family. Before the dinner, April for some reason pissed at Mommy. Mommy couldn't remember what it was. But she used this new word she learnt...
April:你倒霉呀你！
Mommy was very surprised. And explained to her that it's not an appropriate word to use, it's extremely impolite. She immediately kicked back...
April:你讨厌呀你！
Mommy gave her credit for using a more moderate word and was carrying a smile which made her angrier.
The day after we returned from Japan, we had a dinner with 奶奶 side of the family. Before the dinner, April for some reason pissed at Mommy. Mommy couldn't remember what it was. But she used this new word she learnt...
April:你倒霉呀你！
Mommy was very surprised. And explained to her that it's not an appropriate word to use, it's extremely impolite. She immediately kicked back...
April:你讨厌呀你！
Mommy gave her credit for using a more moderate word and was carrying a smile which made her angrier.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
May 2007
April's 3rd visit to Shanghai is a much longer stay than before. Daddy brought April back for a week and a half for work and attending 大姑姑姊姊's wedding in 2005. Last year the whole family traveled between Shanghai, Beijing and Fuzhou for 3 weeks. This year is more than a month stay in Shanghai. She now can point out Shanghai from a world map and reminds us once in a while that she hasn't been back to Shanghai for a long long time. Once Mommy drove her to pick up 奶奶 from the airport, she thought we were going to meet with 奶奶 at the airport, then fly back to Shanghai together. She was very disappointed being returned to our US home afterward.
This is quite a complicated trip. Mommy went separate way when we were transiting in Seoul, Korea. Daddy and April hopped onto the Shanghai plane, Mommy's heading to Hong Kong. Mommy needed to get her new Hong Kong smart card ID, and 公公婆婆 were there to see doctors. Couple days later, Mommy and 公公婆婆 were back to Fuzhou for another doctor visit. It's a long unpaid daughter duty for Mommy. Then we took the train, crossing a province to Shanghai.
April was without Mommy for a week, taking care by Daddy, 大姑姑奶奶 and 小姑姑奶奶. She didn't eat well and lost a few pounds but in general she's happily living her life in Shanghai, enjoying local yogurt more than any other food. Mommy called her everyday, she was able to chat a bit over the phone. There were a few memorable quotes from her according to Daddy:
case 1
First day arriving at 小姑姑奶奶's home, April repeated a few times saying: 小姑姑奶奶家是脏脏的。(还好是自己人，不然人家会笑话April没礼貌)小姑姑奶奶's home is inside an old Spanish building , it was owned by foreigners before. It has really high ceiling, detail of her place reminds people of the old Shanghai days. At the same time, the government wanted to retain the building for historic reason, there were workers patching and repainting the outside walls. Therefore, it's dusty outside and in the hallway.
case 2
Because of the dust, 小姑姑奶奶 told everyone to wear different slippers inside and outside of the room. April's one strict follower. She would remind anyone who attempt to violate the rule and she would raise her voice to a level that everyone in the room could hear her. If, say Daddy, disregarded her warning and walked away. She would say: 爸爸不乖 Same applied to any slipper taker.
case 3
Daddy bought her some ice-cream one day. He put it in the freezer then left for work. 大姑姑奶奶 came to babysit April. Daddy didn't communicate to 大姑姑奶奶 about the ice-cream. With April's limited vocabulary(obviously she forgot the word ice-cream in Chinese), she tried many times to explain to 大姑姑奶奶 what she wanted to eat. Her description was something like this:
就是凉凉的东西呀！
吃了在肚子里是凉凉的呀！
在冰箱上面的。
For some reason, 大姑姑奶奶 didn't get it, and the freezer was probably fully packed. At the end, she had to call Daddy to find out April's target. "凉凉的东西" later became the new label for April when 大姑姑奶奶 talks about her.
April was enormously happy to see Mommy and 公公婆婆 after a week of monitoring slippers. Her backpack's weight had doubled after receiving and confiscating girly items from all 姑姑s. It's a laundry list of junk in that pink backpack. Any kid can spend a good hour of treasure hunting with it. The backpack was quite full when we left bayarea, April insisted on having a luggage herself and so we stuff it with some of her junk. And by then, it's bulky. Yet she didn't mind carrying such a heavy backpack, so we were all cool.
Daddy booked an apartment hotel for us, it's a 3 bedrooms suite with a kitchen. 公公婆婆 could cook for April and more importantly for themselves. The hotel is in prime location, so it's very convenient to get to various sightseeing points. Everyday, we got free breakfast from the hotel, then Daddy left for work. Mommy would bring 公公婆婆 and April to visit different places. Coming home after lunch, 公公婆婆 and April would nap. Afterward, Mommy walked April to nearby park for light exercise while 公公婆婆 made the dinner. Sometimes if Daddy's home early, we would eat out. 公公婆婆 got to revisit a few places they've been to many years ago. It was a very joyful week for all of us.
During that week April's monitoring job shifted gear. She's then the dedicated spy and assistant to 婆婆, reporting to every 婆婆's inquiry about Mommy's whereabout or whether 公公's staring on the TV again. Both 婆婆 and April liked their spying game.
After sending 公公婆婆 off to the airport, 奶奶 and 姑姑 were back from their inland trip. Daddy wrapped up his work, Mommy finished her shopping, we then packed light for our Japan trip. April's back to 小姑姑奶奶's home with 奶奶 and 姑姑. They bought her more gift from their trip. Her backpack reached its limit. Mommy and Daddy spent the next 5 days in Osaka, Kyoto and Arima onsen. We hadn't had a 2 person trip for such a long time. The trip was short, we weren't especially impressed with the traditional Japan, but the onsen was heaven. Meanwhile, 奶奶 and 姑姑 hanged out with April and they visited the Shanghai Zoo.
Last Mommy spent couple more days in Shanghai with April, then headed back to bayarea. Poor April stayed another 2 weeks in Shanghai with 奶奶 and Daddy. Daddy worked during weekdays, and took April out to the aquarium and other places during weekend. April tagged along with 奶奶 visiting different relatives' home during weekdays. She's now one experienced backpack traveler.
More photos of our trip is here
This is quite a complicated trip. Mommy went separate way when we were transiting in Seoul, Korea. Daddy and April hopped onto the Shanghai plane, Mommy's heading to Hong Kong. Mommy needed to get her new Hong Kong smart card ID, and 公公婆婆 were there to see doctors. Couple days later, Mommy and 公公婆婆 were back to Fuzhou for another doctor visit. It's a long unpaid daughter duty for Mommy. Then we took the train, crossing a province to Shanghai.
April was without Mommy for a week, taking care by Daddy, 大姑姑奶奶 and 小姑姑奶奶. She didn't eat well and lost a few pounds but in general she's happily living her life in Shanghai, enjoying local yogurt more than any other food. Mommy called her everyday, she was able to chat a bit over the phone. There were a few memorable quotes from her according to Daddy:
case 1
First day arriving at 小姑姑奶奶's home, April repeated a few times saying: 小姑姑奶奶家是脏脏的。(还好是自己人，不然人家会笑话April没礼貌)小姑姑奶奶's home is inside an old Spanish building , it was owned by foreigners before. It has really high ceiling, detail of her place reminds people of the old Shanghai days. At the same time, the government wanted to retain the building for historic reason, there were workers patching and repainting the outside walls. Therefore, it's dusty outside and in the hallway.
case 2
Because of the dust, 小姑姑奶奶 told everyone to wear different slippers inside and outside of the room. April's one strict follower. She would remind anyone who attempt to violate the rule and she would raise her voice to a level that everyone in the room could hear her. If, say Daddy, disregarded her warning and walked away. She would say: 爸爸不乖 Same applied to any slipper taker.
case 3
Daddy bought her some ice-cream one day. He put it in the freezer then left for work. 大姑姑奶奶 came to babysit April. Daddy didn't communicate to 大姑姑奶奶 about the ice-cream. With April's limited vocabulary(obviously she forgot the word ice-cream in Chinese), she tried many times to explain to 大姑姑奶奶 what she wanted to eat. Her description was something like this:
就是凉凉的东西呀！
吃了在肚子里是凉凉的呀！
在冰箱上面的。
For some reason, 大姑姑奶奶 didn't get it, and the freezer was probably fully packed. At the end, she had to call Daddy to find out April's target. "凉凉的东西" later became the new label for April when 大姑姑奶奶 talks about her.
April was enormously happy to see Mommy and 公公婆婆 after a week of monitoring slippers. Her backpack's weight had doubled after receiving and confiscating girly items from all 姑姑s. It's a laundry list of junk in that pink backpack. Any kid can spend a good hour of treasure hunting with it. The backpack was quite full when we left bayarea, April insisted on having a luggage herself and so we stuff it with some of her junk. And by then, it's bulky. Yet she didn't mind carrying such a heavy backpack, so we were all cool.
Daddy booked an apartment hotel for us, it's a 3 bedrooms suite with a kitchen. 公公婆婆 could cook for April and more importantly for themselves. The hotel is in prime location, so it's very convenient to get to various sightseeing points. Everyday, we got free breakfast from the hotel, then Daddy left for work. Mommy would bring 公公婆婆 and April to visit different places. Coming home after lunch, 公公婆婆 and April would nap. Afterward, Mommy walked April to nearby park for light exercise while 公公婆婆 made the dinner. Sometimes if Daddy's home early, we would eat out. 公公婆婆 got to revisit a few places they've been to many years ago. It was a very joyful week for all of us.
During that week April's monitoring job shifted gear. She's then the dedicated spy and assistant to 婆婆, reporting to every 婆婆's inquiry about Mommy's whereabout or whether 公公's staring on the TV again. Both 婆婆 and April liked their spying game.
After sending 公公婆婆 off to the airport, 奶奶 and 姑姑 were back from their inland trip. Daddy wrapped up his work, Mommy finished her shopping, we then packed light for our Japan trip. April's back to 小姑姑奶奶's home with 奶奶 and 姑姑. They bought her more gift from their trip. Her backpack reached its limit. Mommy and Daddy spent the next 5 days in Osaka, Kyoto and Arima onsen. We hadn't had a 2 person trip for such a long time. The trip was short, we weren't especially impressed with the traditional Japan, but the onsen was heaven. Meanwhile, 奶奶 and 姑姑 hanged out with April and they visited the Shanghai Zoo.
Last Mommy spent couple more days in Shanghai with April, then headed back to bayarea. Poor April stayed another 2 weeks in Shanghai with 奶奶 and Daddy. Daddy worked during weekdays, and took April out to the aquarium and other places during weekend. April tagged along with 奶奶 visiting different relatives' home during weekdays. She's now one experienced backpack traveler.
More photos of our trip is here
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Apr 2007
The birthday girl
What's the plan for April's 3rd birthday? Everyone was asking Mommy. Easy! Mommy got the idea from Aunti Yihsin. April would celebrate it with all her new friends at school. Mommy talked to her class teacher, she said just bring the cake in during snack time. Yet, Mommy and Daddy was late for snack time. Mommy had a really bad cough, and got a last minute doctor appointment and it overlapped with the snack time by a 10 minutes. And that's the amount of time for snack. Darn! So Ms. Tina put the cake into the fridge and told Mommy to come back the following day. Mommy also prepared party flavor for her classmates, but was rejected by Ms. Tina. Not sure if there had been accident before, or they've received complaints from other parents. Mommy didn't get the warning early enough, so April got to have all the party flavor. Mommy hided it in the downstairs closet, she goes there once in a while to dig out the stickers or happy birthday crowns.
Easter egg hunt
Probably the first school activity that required Mommy's attendance. It's at a nearby park in Palo Alto. The whole school gathered around a plain green lawn in the park, and the teacher scattered the eggs all over the lawn. Lots of kids wanted to grab the eggs when the teachers was placing them. It was a bit chaotic. Meanwhile, April was chasing after a black girl, whose name is Kyana(Mommy's not sure the actual spelling) She has the same purple jacket as April's. For some reason, April was really attached to her that day. She's in the pre-K class, probably 2-3 years older than April. Kyana was busy playing some kind of turn based running game with her classmates and got really annoyed at April following her. Mommy pulled April aside to explain to her, it's some bigger kids' game, we should watch from the side. April was very upset. Thankfully, it didn't last long, the lawn was ready for egg hunt. April got a few eggs, each contained either toys or candies. She was then all happy again and completely forgot about Kyana.
Anzel's birthday party
Yay! Anzel's first birthday party. It took place at the nearby park of Anzel's house. For some reason Mommy thought everyone will gather at their house before heading to the park. We were very puzzled at their door, ringing the bell and no one opened the door. It was a casual gathering. The most memorable part is the comical photo of Anzel, April and Maggie.
First dentist appointment
We had the Dora the explorer's dentist story book, we read to her before her first appointment. What actually happened in the dentist office was exactly like in the book. And since both Daddy and Mommy were there with her, she's not scared at all. Only she got nervous when the assistant doing the cleaning. It was really brief, much shorter than adults'. Mommy told the assistant that April's still lacking 4 molars. She said it's very normal at this age. They will have the complete set much later. April got goodies at the end, new toothbrush and stickers.
Trike-a-thorn
This is a fund raising activity at the school. Each parent bid a certain amount of money per round, or 1 lump sum for the whole race. April's average in her class, she did 10 rounds with her trike. Mommy wrote down $2 per round, so totally $20. This event was to raise extra money for extra material fee for art work for the summer school.
New trick
Chewing gum - she remembers not to swallow and spits it out to trash can when she's done chewing.
Dialogue of the month
On the way to school, Mommy pointed at a gas station and asked April, what's that?
April: 那是加油站。
Mommy: 对啦。
April: 当车车不能走的时候，要来这里的。他们要加油，要交钱的。
Mommy: 对啦。
April: April有钱。
Mommy: 那么April长大帮妈妈加油哦。
April: April没钱， April有卡。卡是在钱包里的。 April还有图书卡。
(hmm...when did she realized those cards from Mommy's purse could be used as money?!?)
Video of the month
April singing morning song and pretending she's Ms. Tina
What's the plan for April's 3rd birthday? Everyone was asking Mommy. Easy! Mommy got the idea from Aunti Yihsin. April would celebrate it with all her new friends at school. Mommy talked to her class teacher, she said just bring the cake in during snack time. Yet, Mommy and Daddy was late for snack time. Mommy had a really bad cough, and got a last minute doctor appointment and it overlapped with the snack time by a 10 minutes. And that's the amount of time for snack. Darn! So Ms. Tina put the cake into the fridge and told Mommy to come back the following day. Mommy also prepared party flavor for her classmates, but was rejected by Ms. Tina. Not sure if there had been accident before, or they've received complaints from other parents. Mommy didn't get the warning early enough, so April got to have all the party flavor. Mommy hided it in the downstairs closet, she goes there once in a while to dig out the stickers or happy birthday crowns.
Easter egg hunt
Probably the first school activity that required Mommy's attendance. It's at a nearby park in Palo Alto. The whole school gathered around a plain green lawn in the park, and the teacher scattered the eggs all over the lawn. Lots of kids wanted to grab the eggs when the teachers was placing them. It was a bit chaotic. Meanwhile, April was chasing after a black girl, whose name is Kyana(Mommy's not sure the actual spelling) She has the same purple jacket as April's. For some reason, April was really attached to her that day. She's in the pre-K class, probably 2-3 years older than April. Kyana was busy playing some kind of turn based running game with her classmates and got really annoyed at April following her. Mommy pulled April aside to explain to her, it's some bigger kids' game, we should watch from the side. April was very upset. Thankfully, it didn't last long, the lawn was ready for egg hunt. April got a few eggs, each contained either toys or candies. She was then all happy again and completely forgot about Kyana.
Anzel's birthday party
Yay! Anzel's first birthday party. It took place at the nearby park of Anzel's house. For some reason Mommy thought everyone will gather at their house before heading to the park. We were very puzzled at their door, ringing the bell and no one opened the door. It was a casual gathering. The most memorable part is the comical photo of Anzel, April and Maggie.
First dentist appointment
We had the Dora the explorer's dentist story book, we read to her before her first appointment. What actually happened in the dentist office was exactly like in the book. And since both Daddy and Mommy were there with her, she's not scared at all. Only she got nervous when the assistant doing the cleaning. It was really brief, much shorter than adults'. Mommy told the assistant that April's still lacking 4 molars. She said it's very normal at this age. They will have the complete set much later. April got goodies at the end, new toothbrush and stickers.
Trike-a-thorn
This is a fund raising activity at the school. Each parent bid a certain amount of money per round, or 1 lump sum for the whole race. April's average in her class, she did 10 rounds with her trike. Mommy wrote down $2 per round, so totally $20. This event was to raise extra money for extra material fee for art work for the summer school.
New trick
Chewing gum - she remembers not to swallow and spits it out to trash can when she's done chewing.
Dialogue of the month
On the way to school, Mommy pointed at a gas station and asked April, what's that?
April: 那是加油站。
Mommy: 对啦。
April: 当车车不能走的时候，要来这里的。他们要加油，要交钱的。
Mommy: 对啦。
April: April有钱。
Mommy: 那么April长大帮妈妈加油哦。
April: April没钱， April有卡。卡是在钱包里的。 April还有图书卡。
(hmm...when did she realized those cards from Mommy's purse could be used as money?!?)
Video of the month
April singing morning song and pretending she's Ms. Tina
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mar 2007
Tahoe trip
爸爸说再不去Tahoe，就要来不及了。雪都快要没了，April要等明年才可以玩雪。好吧！我们家也是临时起义的，说走就走。因为是临时的， 所以酒店也定的贵。不过Tahoe下雪的时候没有便宜的。爸爸也有心思，酒店定的是个独立的小木屋，有厨房，就在湖的旁边。说好早上9点出发，东西没准备好，一拖就到中午。开车要3-4小时，到了都快天黑。半路上还停下来买大雪天衣服给April，还买了两双一样的雪鞋，分红色的，妈妈一双， 她一双。April是多么的兴奋，到了小木屋，就在房子里东跑西跑的。那么小的木屋，没什么空间，跑快两下就摔倒了，还是头撞到冰箱，大哭了一场，又不肯吃东西，拖了很久才出门走走。
这些是出门走走的录像，妈妈衣服靴子都买了，就忘了手套。April就戴上妈妈的手套，第一次走雪地。
爸爸教April扔雪球，戴着妈妈的手套是不可能的！
因为April玩的太累了，她是在喧闹的餐馆里睡过了晚饭，爸妈难得有一个2人晚餐。倒是回到小木屋后，要叫醒我们的小公主，因为她整天没怎么吃过东西，好好的再给她煮晚饭。
第二天起晚了，弄了半天才离开小木屋。给April买好手套，就带她去sliding，妈妈也从来没玩过。以为1小时很短不够玩，我们还想加钱加时，给气圈的老头说你们先试一试再说。果然1小时还不到，爸妈就不行了。下坡是很爽，上坡是累死了。来回几次，把身上的衣服都脱剩一层，还汗流夹背，双腿是再也走不动的啦！April倒是一点不累，因为她是爸爸背着她上坡的。
交完气圈时间已晚了，只好找个湖边走走。以下是April在湖边的历险记。
最后，来了一群鸭子，April抓着雪块要分给鸭子吃，鸭子是给她吓得鸡飞走狗。
爷爷奶奶来了
爷爷奶奶来了是因为爸爸又要出差了，这次要去3周。本来奶奶来就可以了，但是下月是April的生日，爷爷只来一个周末，是来送礼物的。礼物包括玩具和衣服。妈妈忘了从什么时候开始不买玩具，大概是发现托儿所有太多太多的玩具后吧。妈妈怎么买也比不上，所以索性不买。妈妈不买，但是April的玩具还是在增加，亲戚朋友会送，还有爸爸每次出差都会给她买，所以家里还是七国那么乱！
火车慢游湾区半岛4小镇
奶奶来了，生活很稳定。有个星期六我们决定带April来个火车慢游。我们家离火车站只要步行15分钟，可是出门还是晚了，周末火车的班次是1小时1班，我们就晚了5分钟，在火车站白等了1小时才上车。先到Menlo Park downtown，有条优美的小街，小店卖的都是精美的小商品，那里是比较高尚的住宅区，货品都比较贵，仲看不仲买。下一站时Redwood City downtown，我们可能走错路，市政府办公庭附近的店都关门，我们就找了一家泰国餐馆吃中饭。April又是吃饭时来睡午觉，我们吃完她再吃。弄了半天，怕下一班车又晚了，奶奶和妈妈推着April的stroller连走带跑的赶到车站。下一站是San Mateo downtown，妈妈以前在这里住过，所以比较了解。不过还是找到一两家新店，有一家日本$1店，有很多日常用品，妈妈就买了一些家里和April可用的。然后，又是赶火车，最后一站是Mountain View downtown去吃晚饭，晚饭后三个女的累得不行了，打道会府。
April 本月金句
When Daddy was about to check out the 小木屋 in Tahoe...
Daddy: 爸爸去退房間
April: 爸爸把房間推倒了
(this come from the 3 little pigs story, the second pig build a wooden house, the wolf pushed down the house. Since ours is a wooden house, she thought what Daddy is going to do is to tear down the house. Doh')
April learnt "¿Cómo es usted?" meaning "How are you?" in Spanish. When Mommy asked her who teach her that word...
April: 肥肥!
(good thing, Ms. Mercedes doesn't know Chinese and not there to hear this, if not, she would be pissed)
At a playground, we saw a bunch of birds flying by, Mommy told her those are 烏鴉
April: 我要學烏鴉飛。我要有翅膀就可以飛啦!
爸爸说再不去Tahoe，就要来不及了。雪都快要没了，April要等明年才可以玩雪。好吧！我们家也是临时起义的，说走就走。因为是临时的， 所以酒店也定的贵。不过Tahoe下雪的时候没有便宜的。爸爸也有心思，酒店定的是个独立的小木屋，有厨房，就在湖的旁边。说好早上9点出发，东西没准备好，一拖就到中午。开车要3-4小时，到了都快天黑。半路上还停下来买大雪天衣服给April，还买了两双一样的雪鞋，分红色的，妈妈一双， 她一双。April是多么的兴奋，到了小木屋，就在房子里东跑西跑的。那么小的木屋，没什么空间，跑快两下就摔倒了，还是头撞到冰箱，大哭了一场，又不肯吃东西，拖了很久才出门走走。
这些是出门走走的录像，妈妈衣服靴子都买了，就忘了手套。April就戴上妈妈的手套，第一次走雪地。
爸爸教April扔雪球，戴着妈妈的手套是不可能的！
因为April玩的太累了，她是在喧闹的餐馆里睡过了晚饭，爸妈难得有一个2人晚餐。倒是回到小木屋后，要叫醒我们的小公主，因为她整天没怎么吃过东西，好好的再给她煮晚饭。
第二天起晚了，弄了半天才离开小木屋。给April买好手套，就带她去sliding，妈妈也从来没玩过。以为1小时很短不够玩，我们还想加钱加时，给气圈的老头说你们先试一试再说。果然1小时还不到，爸妈就不行了。下坡是很爽，上坡是累死了。来回几次，把身上的衣服都脱剩一层，还汗流夹背，双腿是再也走不动的啦！April倒是一点不累，因为她是爸爸背着她上坡的。
交完气圈时间已晚了，只好找个湖边走走。以下是April在湖边的历险记。
最后，来了一群鸭子，April抓着雪块要分给鸭子吃，鸭子是给她吓得鸡飞走狗。
爷爷奶奶来了
爷爷奶奶来了是因为爸爸又要出差了，这次要去3周。本来奶奶来就可以了，但是下月是April的生日，爷爷只来一个周末，是来送礼物的。礼物包括玩具和衣服。妈妈忘了从什么时候开始不买玩具，大概是发现托儿所有太多太多的玩具后吧。妈妈怎么买也比不上，所以索性不买。妈妈不买，但是April的玩具还是在增加，亲戚朋友会送，还有爸爸每次出差都会给她买，所以家里还是七国那么乱！
火车慢游湾区半岛4小镇
奶奶来了，生活很稳定。有个星期六我们决定带April来个火车慢游。我们家离火车站只要步行15分钟，可是出门还是晚了，周末火车的班次是1小时1班，我们就晚了5分钟，在火车站白等了1小时才上车。先到Menlo Park downtown，有条优美的小街，小店卖的都是精美的小商品，那里是比较高尚的住宅区，货品都比较贵，仲看不仲买。下一站时Redwood City downtown，我们可能走错路，市政府办公庭附近的店都关门，我们就找了一家泰国餐馆吃中饭。April又是吃饭时来睡午觉，我们吃完她再吃。弄了半天，怕下一班车又晚了，奶奶和妈妈推着April的stroller连走带跑的赶到车站。下一站是San Mateo downtown，妈妈以前在这里住过，所以比较了解。不过还是找到一两家新店，有一家日本$1店，有很多日常用品，妈妈就买了一些家里和April可用的。然后，又是赶火车，最后一站是Mountain View downtown去吃晚饭，晚饭后三个女的累得不行了，打道会府。
April 本月金句
When Daddy was about to check out the 小木屋 in Tahoe...
Daddy: 爸爸去退房間
April: 爸爸把房間推倒了
(this come from the 3 little pigs story, the second pig build a wooden house, the wolf pushed down the house. Since ours is a wooden house, she thought what Daddy is going to do is to tear down the house. Doh')
April learnt "¿Cómo es usted?" meaning "How are you?" in Spanish. When Mommy asked her who teach her that word...
April: 肥肥!
(good thing, Ms. Mercedes doesn't know Chinese and not there to hear this, if not, she would be pissed)
At a playground, we saw a bunch of birds flying by, Mommy told her those are 烏鴉
April: 我要學烏鴉飛。我要有翅膀就可以飛啦!
April sings 菊花台
Finally I caught her singing it herself. I doubt she knows what those words mean. Her notes are flying everywhere, but at least a rough tone there.
April counting in different languages
This is for Uncle Q and Aunti Laura, per their request.
I finally get April to do it, not very willingly though.
She started with Spanish (rusty now, since the school stopped languages class in the summer), then in Mandarin and English. As a bonus, I had her repeat after me for 福州话 and Japanese. She has no clue. Last I want her to count in Cantonese, she ran away :P
I finally get April to do it, not very willingly though.
She started with Spanish (rusty now, since the school stopped languages class in the summer), then in Mandarin and English. As a bonus, I had her repeat after me for 福州话 and Japanese. She has no clue. Last I want her to count in Cantonese, she ran away :P
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Feb 2007
Gloomy winter accompanied with cough and sneezes, it wasn't a good feeling. On top, with more doctor visits and yucky medicine made April a rather dull kid. Feb was quite an uneventful month.
Quotes of the month:
Taking the yucky medicine, April pointed to the white liquid said, "April 很勇敢﹐有一粒粒的"
After watching Dora the Explorer too much...
April: 童年在那裡呢?
Mommy: 童年是時間﹐不是地方
April(Completely ignoring Mommy): 童年不知道在那裡要問誰呢? 要去找map!
(Mommy has been singing 童年 to April and April can sing along with Mommy, about 70% accuracy to the lyrics, but she can't sing this one alone, too long... that day she suddenly want to find 童年)
Driving home after dinner, we passed by some cop cars, there was an accident probably...
April: 警察叔叔不會來抓 April﹐April 挺乖的
(Whenever April is not behaving in the car or not willing to put on the seat belt, we will be threatening her that the cop will come get her.)
On the lunar new year eve, we made a day trip to SF. Before getting onto the highway, we stopped at a gas station to get gas. Daddy didn't notice a curb, so the car jumped up and down with a loud sound. When we stopped the car,
April:什么事吗?
Mommy: 爸爸弄壞了媽媽的車
Mommy helped April get out of the car
April: 爸爸你要說對不起﹐Sorry
Daddy: Sorry
Same day after dinner, we drove by Chinatown. We saw some stores put on fireworks before closing. It's really noisy, and the road was very congested. We told April, that's called, "放便炮"
April: 我喜歡放便炮﹐但我害怕放便炮
Quotes of the month:
Taking the yucky medicine, April pointed to the white liquid said, "April 很勇敢﹐有一粒粒的"
After watching Dora the Explorer too much...
April: 童年在那裡呢?
Mommy: 童年是時間﹐不是地方
April(Completely ignoring Mommy): 童年不知道在那裡要問誰呢? 要去找map!
(Mommy has been singing 童年 to April and April can sing along with Mommy, about 70% accuracy to the lyrics, but she can't sing this one alone, too long... that day she suddenly want to find 童年)
Driving home after dinner, we passed by some cop cars, there was an accident probably...
April: 警察叔叔不會來抓 April﹐April 挺乖的
(Whenever April is not behaving in the car or not willing to put on the seat belt, we will be threatening her that the cop will come get her.)
On the lunar new year eve, we made a day trip to SF. Before getting onto the highway, we stopped at a gas station to get gas. Daddy didn't notice a curb, so the car jumped up and down with a loud sound. When we stopped the car,
April:什么事吗?
Mommy: 爸爸弄壞了媽媽的車
Mommy helped April get out of the car
April: 爸爸你要說對不起﹐Sorry
Daddy: Sorry
Same day after dinner, we drove by Chinatown. We saw some stores put on fireworks before closing. It's really noisy, and the road was very congested. We told April, that's called, "放便炮"
April: 我喜歡放便炮﹐但我害怕放便炮
Monday, October 15, 2007
Jan 2007
April is 2 years 9 months old. Mommy started keeping a jounel this month. April is still not eating well at school. Mommy was trying to make her sleep by herself and in her own room, since we moved and she has her room now. But it wasn't successful. She was sick (see the sickness record in previous post) and has been seeing doctor and taking antibiotics. We were cleaning up our San Jose house, preparing for sell. Daddy left for Shanghai end of the month, so Mommy has to "handle" her for a week.
April 名言:
CASE 1
Mommy was going to take April to Target for a walk, too cold and wet to walk outside. Daddy helped April getting onto the car.
April:我跟妈妈去Target.
Daddy:我也去
April:No, 妈妈跟我去Target, 爸爸去Wal-mart (April prefer Target over Wal-mart)
Daddy:爸爸不去Wal-mart, 爸爸去IKEA
April(getting all excited):我们三个人一起去IKEA
We still went to Target, she's not very happy about it.
CASE 2
We were in a restaurant, Mommy ordered grapefruit juice. April tried one sip, she said: 这果汁是生的，还没熟。
Leaving the restuarant, Mommy was helping her pushing the heavy front door, she turned her head and said, "Be careful!" (你要小心，还是妈妈要小心呢?)
CASE 3
Preparing to leave home...
Mommy:外套，那个呢? 厚的还是薄的?
Daddy:厚的吧
Mommy:在那里呢?
April:在楼上
And it was upstairs.
CASE 4
Daddy's cooking in the kitchen, Mommy's not home yet.
Daddy:爸爸在切什么?
April:牛肉
(Daddy was a little surprised, how did she know that raw meat is beef?)
Daddy:牛肉最好陪芹菜
April:我去买芹菜，你等我哦！
April then went riding her trike(She just picked this up from preschool, in the past, Mommy tried to teach her that but never succeeded) The garage door is opened, she rode a small circle back. Then she took a piece of junk paper in the garage and handed to Daddy
April:这是你的芹菜哦。
(爸爸晕倒!)
Later on, Mommy came home, after Mommy parked her car, April ran to ask Mommy...
April:你买了芹菜吗?
(妈妈觉得莫名奇妙！?！)
CASE 5 (Lost in translation)
April was crying in the car for something, while Mommy drove her to daycare.
Mommy: April 是乖孩子哦
April got angrier, and cried more. Then she tried to hold her breath for a little bit and explained...
April: April 不是乖孩子﹐April 是女孩子
(doh')
Mommy: April 是乖的女孩子
Then April nodded and stopped crying.
April 新歌:
菊花台
Mommy and Daddy just heard about this song. Mommy really the lyrics and started to sing this when she drive April to school, but did not intend to teach her. Then one day, she sings the chorus part herself:
菊花殘滿地傷 你的笑容已泛黃
花落人段腸 我心事 靜靜悵
北風吹 夜未央 你的影子剪不段
徒留我孤單在湖面成雙
That night, Mommy pulled Daddy to her room and had her sang it in front of him, he was quite amazed. Then again it's a sad song.
Here's the MV on youtube
Five Little Ducks from Wiggles
April sings along with Wiggles when we played the DVD, but we never hear she sing it without the DVD. One day Daddy called Mommy on cellphone in the morning, that rarely happened, only if there is an urgent matter. He was sending April to the daycare near his work. He told Mommy, he finally realized the song April has been singing. April has been singing that unrecognizable song called "one dao one dei" for a long time. Daddy asked her what else is in the that song? She said, "Quack quack quack", then Daddy had a revelation.
April sings "one dao one dei", which is "went out one day", which is part of the 5 little ducks lyrics. 妈妈晕倒! Mommy had the clip in previous posts, not going to repeat it here.
Other songs she already knows:
ABC song
O'McDonald had a farm
Itsy bitsy spider
Twinkle Twinkle little star (both chinese and English version)
Head shoulder knees and toes
Row row row your boat, gently down the stream (don't know the name of the song)
April made a scene in the library
Mommy brought her to Los Altos' public library the weekend Daddy's in Shanghai. For some reason she thought that little elephant stuff'ed animal dress in a pink dress was hers. And there was another kid want to have it, she got into this fight with the other kid and cried loudly for sufficiently long time. The librarian gave Mommy warning on taking her away from the children's room. It was quite embarrassing.
Trike riding clip
Notice she said, "It's a bitch!" She really meant to say, "It's a bridge!"
April 名言:
CASE 1
Mommy was going to take April to Target for a walk, too cold and wet to walk outside. Daddy helped April getting onto the car.
April:我跟妈妈去Target.
Daddy:我也去
April:No, 妈妈跟我去Target, 爸爸去Wal-mart (April prefer Target over Wal-mart)
Daddy:爸爸不去Wal-mart, 爸爸去IKEA
April(getting all excited):我们三个人一起去IKEA
We still went to Target, she's not very happy about it.
CASE 2
We were in a restaurant, Mommy ordered grapefruit juice. April tried one sip, she said: 这果汁是生的，还没熟。
Leaving the restuarant, Mommy was helping her pushing the heavy front door, she turned her head and said, "Be careful!" (你要小心，还是妈妈要小心呢?)
CASE 3
Preparing to leave home...
Mommy:外套，那个呢? 厚的还是薄的?
Daddy:厚的吧
Mommy:在那里呢?
April:在楼上
And it was upstairs.
CASE 4
Daddy's cooking in the kitchen, Mommy's not home yet.
Daddy:爸爸在切什么?
April:牛肉
(Daddy was a little surprised, how did she know that raw meat is beef?)
Daddy:牛肉最好陪芹菜
April:我去买芹菜，你等我哦！
April then went riding her trike(She just picked this up from preschool, in the past, Mommy tried to teach her that but never succeeded) The garage door is opened, she rode a small circle back. Then she took a piece of junk paper in the garage and handed to Daddy
April:这是你的芹菜哦。
(爸爸晕倒!)
Later on, Mommy came home, after Mommy parked her car, April ran to ask Mommy...
April:你买了芹菜吗?
(妈妈觉得莫名奇妙！?！)
CASE 5 (Lost in translation)
April was crying in the car for something, while Mommy drove her to daycare.
Mommy: April 是乖孩子哦
April got angrier, and cried more. Then she tried to hold her breath for a little bit and explained...
April: April 不是乖孩子﹐April 是女孩子
(doh')
Mommy: April 是乖的女孩子
Then April nodded and stopped crying.
April 新歌:
菊花台
Mommy and Daddy just heard about this song. Mommy really the lyrics and started to sing this when she drive April to school, but did not intend to teach her. Then one day, she sings the chorus part herself:
菊花殘滿地傷 你的笑容已泛黃
花落人段腸 我心事 靜靜悵
北風吹 夜未央 你的影子剪不段
徒留我孤單在湖面成雙
That night, Mommy pulled Daddy to her room and had her sang it in front of him, he was quite amazed. Then again it's a sad song.
Here's the MV on youtube
Five Little Ducks from Wiggles
April sings along with Wiggles when we played the DVD, but we never hear she sing it without the DVD. One day Daddy called Mommy on cellphone in the morning, that rarely happened, only if there is an urgent matter. He was sending April to the daycare near his work. He told Mommy, he finally realized the song April has been singing. April has been singing that unrecognizable song called "one dao one dei" for a long time. Daddy asked her what else is in the that song? She said, "Quack quack quack", then Daddy had a revelation.
April sings "one dao one dei", which is "went out one day", which is part of the 5 little ducks lyrics. 妈妈晕倒! Mommy had the clip in previous posts, not going to repeat it here.
Other songs she already knows:
ABC song
O'McDonald had a farm
Itsy bitsy spider
Twinkle Twinkle little star (both chinese and English version)
Head shoulder knees and toes
Row row row your boat, gently down the stream (don't know the name of the song)
April made a scene in the library
Mommy brought her to Los Altos' public library the weekend Daddy's in Shanghai. For some reason she thought that little elephant stuff'ed animal dress in a pink dress was hers. And there was another kid want to have it, she got into this fight with the other kid and cried loudly for sufficiently long time. The librarian gave Mommy warning on taking her away from the children's room. It was quite embarrassing.
Trike riding clip
Notice she said, "It's a bitch!" She really meant to say, "It's a bridge!"
Friday, October 12, 2007
A milestone!
Finally I reached Jan, 2007, so far all the posts are before 2007 with some overlapped to current time. Since the beginning of 2007, I started keeping a journel for April. From now on, I will compiled summary of each month's journel, hopefully I will get to DateTime.UtcNow by end of this year :D
Princess April Dietary
面粉类:
porridge
white or brown rice, with or without ori
freshly made noodle
butterfly pasta (only because Anzel eats it)
葱油饼
dumpling skin(only eat skin, not the content)
包子皮 (only eat the skin, not the content)
white toast with butter
cheese pizza (no other typy of pizza, we've tried, if there is any meat/veggie on the pizza, those items will need to be removed before she will eat it)
*** you can call her 饭桶
肉类:
baked chicken wing or drumsticks (no other form of chicken meat she will eat, and recently she only eat the skin)
碎肉蒸蛋 and pork chop (no other form of pork meat she will take)
grilled ribs (no other form of beef she will eat)
eel (only if we spoon feed her)
salmon (only a few bites)
cheese string (for protein, couple times a week, more she won't eat)
boiled egg (for protein, once a week, more she won't eat)
菜类
cucumber (raw, with or without skin, any other treatment she won't eat it)
organic cauliflower cooked with organic chicken stock
sweet corn
菜心 (boiled, and mixed with oil and some soy sauce)
chinese broccoli stem only (same treatment as 菜心)
毛豆 (boiled)
豆芽 (boiled mixed with sesame oil, green/yellow head has to be removed, she only eat the non-nutritious part)
sweet pea (from baby food to now, on and off, needs to be super fresh and crisp)
白萝卜 (only if heavily cooked with bone soup)
空心菜 (a few bites, if only you feed her)
Veggies she won't eat at all:
No spring onion, if any food has it, those chopped spring onion needs to be removed
No spinach
No celery
No broccoli
No carrot
No tofu
No mushroom (any kind)
No cabbage
No onion
No tomatoes
No potatos (only if that's fries)
No avocado
No bell pepper
No asparagus (doesn't matter chinese or western style)
No 大白菜
No 小白菜
No 丝瓜
No 冬瓜
No 韭菜
No 芥菜
No 茄子
水果类:
pear
peaches (fresh, it needs to have that smell, from farmers market, if you get it from supermarket, she won't eat it)
seedless watermelon
seedless green/red grape
organic fuji apple
fresh cantaloup
fresh green melon
Note: any food that's dark color she won't eat
porridge
white or brown rice, with or without ori
freshly made noodle
butterfly pasta (only because Anzel eats it)
葱油饼
dumpling skin(only eat skin, not the content)
包子皮 (only eat the skin, not the content)
white toast with butter
cheese pizza (no other typy of pizza, we've tried, if there is any meat/veggie on the pizza, those items will need to be removed before she will eat it)
*** you can call her 饭桶
肉类:
baked chicken wing or drumsticks (no other form of chicken meat she will eat, and recently she only eat the skin)
碎肉蒸蛋 and pork chop (no other form of pork meat she will take)
grilled ribs (no other form of beef she will eat)
eel (only if we spoon feed her)
salmon (only a few bites)
cheese string (for protein, couple times a week, more she won't eat)
boiled egg (for protein, once a week, more she won't eat)
菜类
cucumber (raw, with or without skin, any other treatment she won't eat it)
organic cauliflower cooked with organic chicken stock
sweet corn
菜心 (boiled, and mixed with oil and some soy sauce)
chinese broccoli stem only (same treatment as 菜心)
毛豆 (boiled)
豆芽 (boiled mixed with sesame oil, green/yellow head has to be removed, she only eat the non-nutritious part)
sweet pea (from baby food to now, on and off, needs to be super fresh and crisp)
白萝卜 (only if heavily cooked with bone soup)
空心菜 (a few bites, if only you feed her)
Veggies she won't eat at all:
No spring onion, if any food has it, those chopped spring onion needs to be removed
No spinach
No celery
No broccoli
No carrot
No tofu
No mushroom (any kind)
No cabbage
No onion
No tomatoes
No potatos (only if that's fries)
No avocado
No bell pepper
No asparagus (doesn't matter chinese or western style)
No 大白菜
No 小白菜
No 丝瓜
No 冬瓜
No 韭菜
No 芥菜
No 茄子
水果类:
pear
peaches (fresh, it needs to have that smell, from farmers market, if you get it from supermarket, she won't eat it)
seedless watermelon
seedless green/red grape
organic fuji apple
fresh cantaloup
fresh green melon
Note: any food that's dark color she won't eat
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Mommy's tale - Lunch returned!
So far has I mentioned that April is a picky eater? Well, she IS even she appears chubby all along. After failing on finding out the reason why she wouldn't eat this and that, I blame it on her allergic body. Then again, yesterday I just heard a case, a boy whose skin is super allergic to fabric, eats well and not picky.
April was fed well by Candy, the daycare lady. Since the daycare provided dinner, other than giving her milk in the morning we don't need to cook for her unless it's a weekend. Maybe she grew to like the taste of Candy's food, but our cooking is similar to what Candy prepared, I went smell and look at the food she made. April will only swallow about 10% of what we cooked for her. There are only a limited variety of food she will eat, being nutritionally balanced is a far far away tale. We had tried to talk some sense to her, give her toys, scold her, timeout on her during dinner to make her understand she needs to eat. Nothing works! Since her's weight has been steady on 50%, we sort of just let it go at the end.
Preschool doesn't provide lunch. I have to make her lunch then, it's a challenge to guess what she likes to eat. Again variety is not in her dictionary. Also timing is an issue. The school has about >80 kids, but only 1 kitchen, so with rotation, each kid has 20 mins to eat. It usually took us HOURS to feed April a considerate amount of food that we can call a meal. 20 mins is probably for 2 bites. And that's what I got when I collected her lunch box at the end of the day when she started preschool. On top of variety and timing issue, there is the manner issue. She's been fed in both daycare, she knows how to feed herself with spoon but there is always someone to feed her, it was never her responsibility to do the scooping for an entire meal.
Lunch returned last for a FEW months. I was really worried at the beginning. I asked the teacher, if I can come to feed April during lunch, since it's just 5 mins drive for me. The teacher said "No, kids need to learn to do it themselves, and kids eat very little. Don't worry." Well, I think the main reason is not to have bad influence to other kids, if one parent does that, other kid will ask their parent to come. Then the room will be exploded. But she only had 2 snack, 1 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 2 bites for lunch, April will have a stomach damage before I know it's too late.
I guess at some point she realized how anxious I am on this lunch disaster. After returning from our Asia trip, she started to eat much better, finishing about half of the lunch, sometimes more, if it's towards her liking. She told her teacher, "My mommy gonna be mad at me, if I don't finish my lunch." That's a surprise to the teacher and me. It's the first complete sentence she said in English since she started preschool. Now, variety is still not on the table, but she will return quantity to me. It's bizarre that a kid barely eat anything can hold up this amount of weight, maybe she's just not active enough.
April was fed well by Candy, the daycare lady. Since the daycare provided dinner, other than giving her milk in the morning we don't need to cook for her unless it's a weekend. Maybe she grew to like the taste of Candy's food, but our cooking is similar to what Candy prepared, I went smell and look at the food she made. April will only swallow about 10% of what we cooked for her. There are only a limited variety of food she will eat, being nutritionally balanced is a far far away tale. We had tried to talk some sense to her, give her toys, scold her, timeout on her during dinner to make her understand she needs to eat. Nothing works! Since her's weight has been steady on 50%, we sort of just let it go at the end.
Preschool doesn't provide lunch. I have to make her lunch then, it's a challenge to guess what she likes to eat. Again variety is not in her dictionary. Also timing is an issue. The school has about >80 kids, but only 1 kitchen, so with rotation, each kid has 20 mins to eat. It usually took us HOURS to feed April a considerate amount of food that we can call a meal. 20 mins is probably for 2 bites. And that's what I got when I collected her lunch box at the end of the day when she started preschool. On top of variety and timing issue, there is the manner issue. She's been fed in both daycare, she knows how to feed herself with spoon but there is always someone to feed her, it was never her responsibility to do the scooping for an entire meal.
Lunch returned last for a FEW months. I was really worried at the beginning. I asked the teacher, if I can come to feed April during lunch, since it's just 5 mins drive for me. The teacher said "No, kids need to learn to do it themselves, and kids eat very little. Don't worry." Well, I think the main reason is not to have bad influence to other kids, if one parent does that, other kid will ask their parent to come. Then the room will be exploded. But she only had 2 snack, 1 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 2 bites for lunch, April will have a stomach damage before I know it's too late.
I guess at some point she realized how anxious I am on this lunch disaster. After returning from our Asia trip, she started to eat much better, finishing about half of the lunch, sometimes more, if it's towards her liking. She told her teacher, "My mommy gonna be mad at me, if I don't finish my lunch." That's a surprise to the teacher and me. It's the first complete sentence she said in English since she started preschool. Now, variety is still not on the table, but she will return quantity to me. It's bizarre that a kid barely eat anything can hold up this amount of weight, maybe she's just not active enough.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Taking off shoes
One funny thing about starting preschool is the taking off shoes habit. Since April stayed in Chinese daycare, she has learnt to take off shoes at the front door. We do that at home, which is a good habit. For her 2.5 years since birth, that's all she's experienced. Therefore, she did the same thing at preschool, probably also the first couple weeks. Mommy was wondering why her socks are all black when she picked her up. Then realized she was wearing socks in the room the whole day while everyone wears shoes! Mommy had to do another consultation to get her understand the western rule.
Chinese to English or Spanish?
As Mommy mentioned before, April had a rough start in preschool. She speaked all Mandarin in her daycare. The daycare lady won't even say a single English word unless the kid can't respond to her. It was a pure Chinese nourishment. Then the preschool is 180 degree change. Everyone there speaks English. The first couple weeks was tough for both April and her class teacher. The Chinese teacher got called a few times per day to do translation upon critical situations, like she's agitated about something, or she needs to do #1 or #2. After first couple weeks, she started to speak Chinese to her classmates, treating them like they can understand Chinese. Once Mommy asked her teacher, "How is she communicating with her classmates?" The answer is FINE. Kid has their own language or the body language is good enough for communication. That reminds Mommy of the Colorado trip to visit Yihsin and Rex. April spoke Chinese to Kyle who responded in English, and they understood each other well enough when combating each other.
The second stage of the language development is that she fully accepted it's an English institution, she hasn't started talking in English yet but she resent during Chinese language class. Her teacher told Mommy, she couldn't understand why April wouldn't join the class. Seems like, to her it's now all English, nobody should speak Chinese. It's wrong to have a Chinese class in school! Then Mommy had to talk to her to help her understand.
Then April started saying some English words, no sentence yet, but more obviously, she started to count in Spanish. She would rather count in Spanish than Chinese or English, we will have to force her to repeat the counting in Chinese or English.
Now's she's balanced on either languages and we had to control her speaking less English. She will only translate her English to Chinese if she's in a good mood though.
The second stage of the language development is that she fully accepted it's an English institution, she hasn't started talking in English yet but she resent during Chinese language class. Her teacher told Mommy, she couldn't understand why April wouldn't join the class. Seems like, to her it's now all English, nobody should speak Chinese. It's wrong to have a Chinese class in school! Then Mommy had to talk to her to help her understand.
Then April started saying some English words, no sentence yet, but more obviously, she started to count in Spanish. She would rather count in Spanish than Chinese or English, we will have to force her to repeat the counting in Chinese or English.
Now's she's balanced on either languages and we had to control her speaking less English. She will only translate her English to Chinese if she's in a good mood though.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
April 唱送别 - 城南旧事
Mommy has been singing to April when she's very young. This is one of the songs. For some reason it registerd more in her and we found out she can sing it by herself one day.
A video of the song in the movie itself and the lyrics:
长亭外古道边
芳草碧连天
晚风扶柳笛声残
夕阳山外山
天之涯地之角
知交半零落
一壶浊酒尽余欢
今宵别梦寒
Here's another song April likes, Mommy got a customed CD from Auntie Ada (Correction: Ada 姊姊) maybe when April's 1ish. Mommy played the song in the car and not realizing April's been absorbing the song. Then one day Mommy played the song again and heard her sing along with it. It's quite an amazing experience. Then Mommy told Ada 姊姊, she was like, "Nooo!!! That's a very sad sad song. Not good for kids." Mommy has never watched the music video until Ada 姊姊 sent her the link. The lyric itself wasn't that sad if you hear the music without the video. But anyway, we had so far never shown April the video and April like ot sing the chorus part:
我愿变成童话里
你爱的那个天使
张开双手
变成翅膀守护你
你要相信
相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局
The original 童话 music video is here.
A video of the song in the movie itself and the lyrics:
长亭外古道边
芳草碧连天
晚风扶柳笛声残
夕阳山外山
天之涯地之角
知交半零落
一壶浊酒尽余欢
今宵别梦寒
Here's another song April likes, Mommy got a customed CD from Auntie Ada (Correction: Ada 姊姊) maybe when April's 1ish. Mommy played the song in the car and not realizing April's been absorbing the song. Then one day Mommy played the song again and heard her sing along with it. It's quite an amazing experience. Then Mommy told Ada 姊姊, she was like, "Nooo!!! That's a very sad sad song. Not good for kids." Mommy has never watched the music video until Ada 姊姊 sent her the link. The lyric itself wasn't that sad if you hear the music without the video. But anyway, we had so far never shown April the video and April like ot sing the chorus part:
我愿变成童话里
你爱的那个天使
张开双手
变成翅膀守护你
你要相信
相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局
The original 童话 music video is here.
First time April using chopsticks
It's her own interest that day to take on this challenge. She probably has been wondering why Mommy and Daddy kept using chopsticks instead of spoons and forks.
Monday, October 8, 2007
We moved and April started preschool
One month after we got Mazda 5, lots of other things happened. We had started looking for preschool for a while, Mommy feel April's ready for more formal school than just daycare which focuses on feeding, sleeping, safety and of course the most important one - speaking Chinese. It's a chance for April to learn English, but Mommy doesn't want her to forget Chinese. It's hard to find bilingual school. They are either international school that charges insane price or the waiting list is 2 years long. We visited a few but couldn't make a decision. It was a coincidence that Mommy talked to her coworker during a Friday social. She sent her daughter to a Challenger school, yet she really like the other one she visited, it's her husband's decision overruled her choice. Mommy went to visit her choice and really liked it, it's mainly an English speaking preschool, but provides Chinese and Spanish language classes. And most important, they will have an opening in 1 month!!! And the best of all, it's 5 minutes drive from Mommy's workplace! The only issue, April will start with 2 days a week, there is no slot for full time student yet. So other 3 days April still stays in daycare. It would be a slow English pick up, but that's okay.
After Mommy enrolled April, Daddy left for his b-trip. It was one Saturday afternoon, April was napping upstair, Mommy's on instant messenger with Daddy in Shanghai. We started talking about #2. At that time, we have 2 tenants, we need to send them out, it's already very crowded. Mommy initially thought with April's loud crying voice, it will naturally push them away. But their ears seem to be plugable or what? They didn't make a single complain on the noises. They stayed in our household as normal as can be. It's unbelievable! But we do need a change other than claiming back more space. The area around us is not that safe and not that good. Mommy went on to mlslisting and search for single family houses. In any desirable location in the bayarea, a single family will cost >1 Million. Mommy made the search criteria so stringent, only 4 houses returned back. And the square footage is way smaller than our townhouse. Fine, so Mommy made the search criteria broader, including townhouse and condo. There was one stand out. After April woke up from her nap, we went on a mission to look for that house. The townhouse is similar to our current one at that time, but the agent didn't care about us at all. He told us, there is already a buyer and just need to wait for the next day confirmation. The following day, Mommy called just to make sure it's sold, but it's not, the buyer needed 1 more day to think. Then everything happened in lighting speed. When Daddy came back from Shanghai 5 days later, the townhouse is already ours. Since then Mommy is a famous person in Daddy's office, he told all his coworkers, "My wife bought a house without me."
Now let Mommy draw you the triangle. The townhouse we bought is 10 minutes drive to April's preschool, and also 10 minutes drive to Mommy's office. Between the preschool and Mommy's office it's about 5 minutes drive. Location did make our lives much easier, but also we had been pushing our laziness to the limit. April is always 1 minute early to school and almost always the last one to leave school without paying a fine :P And since the triangle involves Mommy's office, therefore, Mommy is the sole school driver. Sometime if Mommy needs to be away (rarely) then Daddy will have to endure the traffic nightmare to avoid paying a fine.
With multiple changes happening at the same time, April seems to handle it okay, Mommy thinks her personality help in some way. We felt bad to leave her alone during weekends when we need to fix up the house, but we couldn't help it. One person doing the fixing would be too slow, we sacrificed her both unintentionally and intentionally. She's still with us, just our attention was not on her. She's surrounded with dangerous tools, we kept warning her not to touch this and that. But there was nothing for her to play with, she would pick up anything that we didn't tell her "No!" and play with her imagination.
School started rough since she couldn't communicate with anyone there, thankfully there is this Chinese teacher who can help translate her needs to the teacher. She almost never ate the lunch Mommy prepared (Mommy will have another post on this later, daycare provides all meals, this was new to April and Mommy) Mommy found her a temporary daycare that's closer to Daddy's workplace. That's also new to her, new daycare lady, new location, new kids. This half and half transition period last about 4 months before she turned full time in her preschool.
After Mommy enrolled April, Daddy left for his b-trip. It was one Saturday afternoon, April was napping upstair, Mommy's on instant messenger with Daddy in Shanghai. We started talking about #2. At that time, we have 2 tenants, we need to send them out, it's already very crowded. Mommy initially thought with April's loud crying voice, it will naturally push them away. But their ears seem to be plugable or what? They didn't make a single complain on the noises. They stayed in our household as normal as can be. It's unbelievable! But we do need a change other than claiming back more space. The area around us is not that safe and not that good. Mommy went on to mlslisting and search for single family houses. In any desirable location in the bayarea, a single family will cost >1 Million. Mommy made the search criteria so stringent, only 4 houses returned back. And the square footage is way smaller than our townhouse. Fine, so Mommy made the search criteria broader, including townhouse and condo. There was one stand out. After April woke up from her nap, we went on a mission to look for that house. The townhouse is similar to our current one at that time, but the agent didn't care about us at all. He told us, there is already a buyer and just need to wait for the next day confirmation. The following day, Mommy called just to make sure it's sold, but it's not, the buyer needed 1 more day to think. Then everything happened in lighting speed. When Daddy came back from Shanghai 5 days later, the townhouse is already ours. Since then Mommy is a famous person in Daddy's office, he told all his coworkers, "My wife bought a house without me."
Now let Mommy draw you the triangle. The townhouse we bought is 10 minutes drive to April's preschool, and also 10 minutes drive to Mommy's office. Between the preschool and Mommy's office it's about 5 minutes drive. Location did make our lives much easier, but also we had been pushing our laziness to the limit. April is always 1 minute early to school and almost always the last one to leave school without paying a fine :P And since the triangle involves Mommy's office, therefore, Mommy is the sole school driver. Sometime if Mommy needs to be away (rarely) then Daddy will have to endure the traffic nightmare to avoid paying a fine.
With multiple changes happening at the same time, April seems to handle it okay, Mommy thinks her personality help in some way. We felt bad to leave her alone during weekends when we need to fix up the house, but we couldn't help it. One person doing the fixing would be too slow, we sacrificed her both unintentionally and intentionally. She's still with us, just our attention was not on her. She's surrounded with dangerous tools, we kept warning her not to touch this and that. But there was nothing for her to play with, she would pick up anything that we didn't tell her "No!" and play with her imagination.
School started rough since she couldn't communicate with anyone there, thankfully there is this Chinese teacher who can help translate her needs to the teacher. She almost never ate the lunch Mommy prepared (Mommy will have another post on this later, daycare provides all meals, this was new to April and Mommy) Mommy found her a temporary daycare that's closer to Daddy's workplace. That's also new to her, new daycare lady, new location, new kids. This half and half transition period last about 4 months before she turned full time in her preschool.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Mazda 5
Any European car after warranty period will turn into a terrible repairment nightmare. Same thing happened to Mommy's VW Golf. April 2006 marked the end of the 5 years warranty for Mommy's Golf. And right after that, one repair after another, each one costed hundreds of dollars. End of that summer, Mommy told Daddy, that's the end of it. We sold it the last week of August, at the time we gave out our car in exchange for a check, Mommy kept wondering why would anyone in this world want to own such a high maintenance car? Is that why men doesn't mind demanding girlfriend?
Mommy's instruction to Daddy is "A car that's good maintenance track record and a big enough car for a family but cannot be a SVU or mini van and it has to be cheap. Too much money has been wasted on car." With these requirement, the car consultant of the house started searching feverishly on the web. His report is either Mazda 5 or Rav 4. Mommy went tested both, Rav4 is not bad, but too tall for Mommy's height and it's more demanding to put April onto the car seat, it does has more power and gas mileage is not bad compare to Mazda 5. Then again Mazda 5 is way cheaper. What really draw Mommy's interest is Mazda 5's sliding door, plenty of room to get April in and out and don't need to worry about angle issue. Also the height is perfect for a 5ft person to load and unload a kid, Mommy don't need to bend her waist. It's a great relief. Therefore, Labor Day weekend, we got the Mazda 5.
Mommy's instruction to Daddy is "A car that's good maintenance track record and a big enough car for a family but cannot be a SVU or mini van and it has to be cheap. Too much money has been wasted on car." With these requirement, the car consultant of the house started searching feverishly on the web. His report is either Mazda 5 or Rav 4. Mommy went tested both, Rav4 is not bad, but too tall for Mommy's height and it's more demanding to put April onto the car seat, it does has more power and gas mileage is not bad compare to Mazda 5. Then again Mazda 5 is way cheaper. What really draw Mommy's interest is Mazda 5's sliding door, plenty of room to get April in and out and don't need to worry about angle issue. Also the height is perfect for a 5ft person to load and unload a kid, Mommy don't need to bend her waist. It's a great relief. Therefore, Labor Day weekend, we got the Mazda 5.
星岛工展会
April俩岁多的夏天里的某一个星期六，我们带她去星岛报纸举办的工展会。这是一个给湾区的中国商家推广商品的展览会， 一年一次。在那里我们看了东方舞蹈学院的小妹妹小姐姐们跳舞，APRIL在大气球房子里风狂乱跳，妈妈谗了某餐馆的咖哩鱼丸(跟香港的比差的太运了)，拿了一些杂七杂八的广告。
随后的星期一,晚饭是在靠家的一家中国小餐馆吃的。我们的餐桌隔俩桌有一位中年男士在一边吃饭一边看报纸。April已经吃过晚餐了(我们的托儿所提供晚饭的)，我们就让她站在餐桌旁边玩，没什么好玩的，就站站跳跳。不一回儿，April指着报纸的方向说:"我去过那里的" 妈妈看看那报纸，花花禄禄的像是照片。好像很多人头，可能是工展会的吧。妈妈就对爸爸说April认的那是工展会的照片。
爸爸头一扬说:"不可能。如果她是记得，我要开心死了。"
然后妈妈就问April:"你记得在那里做什么啦?"
April用怀疑的眼光看着我们说:"看姐姐跳舞。"
妈妈问:"还有呢?"
April说:"在好大好大的房子里跳跳跳。"
妈妈看看爸爸，爸爸还是不大相信的样子。
随后的星期一,晚饭是在靠家的一家中国小餐馆吃的。我们的餐桌隔俩桌有一位中年男士在一边吃饭一边看报纸。April已经吃过晚餐了(我们的托儿所提供晚饭的)，我们就让她站在餐桌旁边玩，没什么好玩的，就站站跳跳。不一回儿，April指着报纸的方向说:"我去过那里的" 妈妈看看那报纸，花花禄禄的像是照片。好像很多人头，可能是工展会的吧。妈妈就对爸爸说April认的那是工展会的照片。
爸爸头一扬说:"不可能。如果她是记得，我要开心死了。"
然后妈妈就问April:"你记得在那里做什么啦?"
April用怀疑的眼光看着我们说:"看姐姐跳舞。"
妈妈问:"还有呢?"
April说:"在好大好大的房子里跳跳跳。"
妈妈看看爸爸，爸爸还是不大相信的样子。
Friday, October 5, 2007
Bossy April
Before I forgot, Berenice just reminded me on IM, and I need to write this down...
After getting herself familiar in daycare, and when the daycare has a few more kids to interact with. April's bossy personality started to surface. There is this rocking horse in the play room. The rule went like this:
1. If April is on the horse, no one can get on it until she's done
2. When April is not rocking it, no one can play it either. That's HER horse.
After the daycare lady told us, we both worked on her. Telling her what's "SHARING". That's when she was about 1 - 1.5 years old.
After enough counselling, her rule got modified...
1. Rule #1 above stays true
2. New rule: if you want to get onto the horse, you need a permission nod from April
3. New rule: sometime April will point to the lucky kid, who will ride the horse at the point she tell him/her to, not any time later or sooner, nor does it matter whether the lucky kid wants to rock the horse or not at that point (that's probably her definition to SHARING, sign...)
Also noted, April hasn't started talking yet at this age, so all the rules are carried out in action sequences.
This behavior persist for a while before she get bored of this game of herself. Mommy will have more bossy incidents to report in the future. Stay tuned.
After getting herself familiar in daycare, and when the daycare has a few more kids to interact with. April's bossy personality started to surface. There is this rocking horse in the play room. The rule went like this:
1. If April is on the horse, no one can get on it until she's done
2. When April is not rocking it, no one can play it either. That's HER horse.
After the daycare lady told us, we both worked on her. Telling her what's "SHARING". That's when she was about 1 - 1.5 years old.
After enough counselling, her rule got modified...
1. Rule #1 above stays true
2. New rule: if you want to get onto the horse, you need a permission nod from April
3. New rule: sometime April will point to the lucky kid, who will ride the horse at the point she tell him/her to, not any time later or sooner, nor does it matter whether the lucky kid wants to rock the horse or not at that point (that's probably her definition to SHARING, sign...)
Also noted, April hasn't started talking yet at this age, so all the rules are carried out in action sequences.
This behavior persist for a while before she get bored of this game of herself. Mommy will have more bossy incidents to report in the future. Stay tuned.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Mommy's tale - DVD/TV watching
This is a very controversial topic. It's at the back of my head when I was expecting April, that there is research result about no TV until age 2, but it never really ring a bell until I learnt from other Mommies recently. We got DVD gifts from friends and families. It was around 6 months old, if my memory serves me well, that I attempted using DVD to gain myself sometime to feed myself (since once I didn't aware I missed lunch while taking care of April and I had a terrible diahrrea and vomit at night) or to cook/do housework/actual work. April will space out with Baby Einstein, it's safe to be in the kitchen while she's in the living room zooming out. It was especially helpful when I was doing the crazy schedule with Will, saved me on some conference calls. Now that I think about it, it may contribute to why April doesn't like to talk and she started talking late. Then again, another part of me is arguing, since her personality is like Daddy, would it really help that much if we completely excluded TV? Maybe marginal, it's hard to measure. Even I ain't a chatty person. Also with such a big time couch potato in the household, it's not that easy to completely exclude TV, though April ignore actual TV most of the time, she will look away and play with her toys. Probably she can't make any sense out of it. Slowly, since DVDs seems to help our schedule (excuses, excuses) we started buying more DVDs, secretly hoping it might help in someway. To adults like us, it "seems" like some of them are tailored nicely for babies. Now that April is way past age 2. Looking back, there is something I noticed. There were a few instances that April reminds us she saw certain toys or objects from Baby Einstein. When I bought a set of Baby Einstein flash card later on, she also mentioned she saw it before. And when I played my old piano pieces, "The Beautiful Blue Danube", she described to me where she had heard it from, with what toys she saw it with. I wondered, if DVDs delay a kid's speech ability, did anyone do a research on visual impression? Also we got a DVD from our friend Song and Ted, who brought Wiggles to April and to us, we as parents have never heard of Wiggles before. It's probably when April is 1ish, I can't remember the exact timing. After repeatively playing the DVD numerous times, April could pretty much sing/dance along with the video. I will throw a few clips here, though don't get me wrong. I am planning to exclude as much TV as possible with my #2, and I will report back how I do it. For now, I am still not 100% confident that I can follow it through myself :P
Now that she's 3, we've shown her a few Miyazaki's movies, her favorites is Kiki Delivery and Totoro and she also watched Cinderella from school. She could pretty much describe to us how the story goes and if anything in particular made stronger impression on her.
Now that she's 3, we've shown her a few Miyazaki's movies, her favorites is Kiki Delivery and Totoro and she also watched Cinderella from school. She could pretty much describe to us how the story goes and if anything in particular made stronger impression on her.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
April reciting Chinese poem and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars
April likes Chinese poems for a very short period of time, early 2 years old, then her interest moves away and now she claims that since her classmates don't know these, she doesn't need to learn. Talking back at age 3 like that, what Mommy's going to do with her when she's a teenager???
So far singing is still going pretty okay, not sure when the rebellion will come.
So far singing is still going pretty okay, not sure when the rebellion will come.
Mommy's tale - diaper training
After we got back from our Asia trip, here comes the point Mommy can't stand changing diaper anymore. April was 2 months after 2. Mommy tried it once at Dave's apartment in Beijing, we were all staring at the TV screen after taking the diaper off April. So April peed on his sofa. It was embarrassing but Dave didn't care, it was his landlord's furniture. According to grandma, kids in Fuzhou got tained early, couple kids she knows of got diaper trained way before 2. So April is really late with the game already. Yet according to our daycare lady, she suggested doing it as early as 2.5 years old. She warned us, kids have to be ready. When they are ready, it works fast, couple weeks time, they will be trained. Some kids understand earlier, but don't worry if you have to wait until 3 years old. She also explained, couple kids there the mothers got anxious, so they trained from 1.5 years old, and it took them at least half year to train. Think about 2 weeks time vs. half year? It is much better deal. But after changing diaper for 2 years, it's the time when you say " I am sick of it period" So Mommy started her solo journey, since the other person in the household doesn't agree to do it. By deduction, there are only 3 person in the household, it's not hard to guess who that person is. He claimed forcing the kid too early will have psychological damage to the kid. The end result is the kid will grow to be annal on lots of everything if trained too early. Training too late, the kid will be slobby with everything. Neither is good, just need to find the right time to do it, then the kid won't be on either extreme. Yeah right, easy to say, when is that precise point of time? 5 years old? Eventhough he disagree, same as my daycare, they do help me around, not enthusiastically, but they did help and I should credit them. Anyway, this kind of training obviously involves lots of cleaning and washing, emtional and mental stress to both the giving and receiving ends, countless repetition of the discipline even the recieving end clearly understand the reasoning behind it from the start. Training the brain to control that muscle on demand is not as easy as understand the reasoning Therefore, it took us 4 months, and there is a bummer towards the end. We did our annual visit to MN to grandma, grandpa and auntie Linda. We bought those late night flight ticket, cheaper and April could sleep on the plane. All is good when we landed on MN airport, everyone is half asleep, then April told us she needs to pee. Found the restroom, put her down on the edge of the toilet, suddenly it started flushing, so loud, even I was startled. April cried, she got really scared. She refused to sit back and hold it until we got home. Those are the automatic kind, the sensor fired off too early, and the flush is very powerful. Then April started being afraid of adult toilet, it's not obvious to her whether it's the automatic kind or not. So I started to notice she's not doing as well as before, but couldn't figure out why until 1 day, I only put her on her plastic training potty. She did fine the whole day. Then I started to realize what caused that. We had to bring a plastic bowl around for sometime whenever we go out, and April slowly gains back her faith on adult toilet. It took about 2-3 months for her to re-adjust. Potty trained is such a relief for me, I probably didn't do it at the "right" time, since it took so long. April still on and off for night time, so I still put training pant on her before bedtime. I hope she will be off that too, then again the second is coming...Sign!
Friday, September 21, 2007
April dancing clip at Andy's wedding
April likes to move along with music early on, around the time she started crawling, 7/8 months old. So we played lots of different kind of music to her. Not just classical. Daddy who's a media crawler brought home all kinds of music, rave music, cuba music, budda mood, lounge music, Beattles, of course Cantonese/Chinese pop music. April moves along any good melodies, we hope she would like all kinds of music.
Mommy's tale - struggle with the plastic nipple
April took bottle first couple days before my milk came. She took it fine and then we were 100% on breast milk. Until Mommy started feeling tired of breast feeding, and tried bottle with her. It was bad experience and it's almost always a waste. She pushed the nipple out. First we thought it's the shape, so we bought those NUK style. She took those a tiny bit better, but it's far from getting her to finish a few oz. Then Mommy thought, maybe it's because Mommy's milk ran fast, she might want something that flow fast. We took the scissor and cut big hole on each NUK. How big the hole? As big as our chopstick can go through. That helps a bit more, but still not to her liking. Mommy stopped breast feeding by 8th month, the milk naturally ran out. It could also be possible after the 5 months of stressful life, my body just said no more milk production for you! There are 4-5 more months to go before she could have cow milk, I do have reserved for 1 whole month, but won't be enough until 1 year old. We had to get formula. She hated formula. She couldn't finish Mommy's expressed milk with bottle, with formula it's even worse. But we can't offer her cow milk yet. It was a pain forcing her to accept formula on bottle with the nipple we could doctor it as much as we can. After 1 year old, we switch to straw kind sippy cup with cow milk obviously. It works like magic! She finished 10 oz in 1 gulp, there is no stopping for breathing. The difference is like heaven and hell. April was always the first one to finish milk in daycare during milk time with 5-6 kids sitting in a row. Then Mommy learnt some other kids even drink milk directly from cup when they are 6 months. This problem could have been easily resolved by giving her a straw early on. But it was never appeared to be appropriate to my mind, for some stupid reason! If the next one hates nipple/bottle again, I am ready to offer something else!
Monday, September 17, 2007
少言的女孩
一般女孩早说话爱说话，但April就比较另类。她一岁快半才开始说话，而且总是小心翼翼的，那怕说错了(唯一的优点是她对懂的字发音都挺准的,可能就是小心的原故吧)。晚上给她讲故事，她还会多说点话，一但在人家面前就成了一个哑巴, 尤其在爸爸妈妈的朋友面前，她还会摆出一付不高兴的嘴脸。但在陌生人面前又特别的有好，在餐馆常常离开本桌，像亲善大使一样，带着笑容向邻桌的陌生人挥手。我们搞不懂她呀！爸爸妈妈讨论过这个问题，也许是像她讨厌奶奶一样，这些人都把爸爸妈妈从她身边抢走。她现在是明白了，不再讨厌奶奶了，对叔叔阿姨也有礼貌了。头俩年的April是很壤我们抹不着头脑的。还有当她传心玩一样东西的时候，她是十问十不答的，叫她的名字100遍也没用。有时也会怀疑她耳朵有问题。如果她愿意答上1，2个问题，妈妈哪天会开心死了。她的耳朵是过滤器，没兴趣的问题不答，有兴趣的呢? 反应特快。要从她嘴巴里得到一个答案，就像在挤一只已经用完的牙膏一样困难。辛苦的日子总算过去了，现在是好多了。还不是十问十答，不过是有进步的。不可以奢望她像有些小孩那么好教呀！
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