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
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