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.