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.


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.