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~

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.

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)

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.

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