Snowy mountain Tahoe trip

5 adults
4 bags of clothes
3 moving boxes of food and hot pot gears
2 kids
1 snowboard
All packed into my blue hippo named Odyssey, riding a good 6 hours up the snowy mountain for our last minute ski trip. To my surprise, both kids did quite well on the road. We only made 3 stops, with 1 for lunch. They both took a long nap. When they woke up, it's snow everywhere. April was truly excited while River has no clue of the change outside the window. Initially I prepped a DVD to try out the built in DVD player, yet due to lack of a remote, we can't get it to play in Chinese mode. We soon gave up and April had a car sick right then. She soon got it fixed by producing a small bag of body fluid. I'm glad that we brought enough plastic bags for all sorts of garbage ;)

With some struggle in the dark finding our rental place, we made it to the 3 bedrooms sweet mountain home around 5pm. In no time, we were enjoying a hot pot feast warming up our tiny to giant tummies and this western vacation home is filled with Chinese aroma all over. We didn't realized how much food we brought for the hot pot. It was too much, so we changed plan from paste for the following night dinner to another hot pot feast. The cleaner will surely need plenty of air fresher to get rid of the Chinese perfume we put in :)

Second day was a hard snowboarding day for the 2 enthusiasts, namely Daddy and Auntie Linda. They both got sore bottoms at the end, but nonetheless they got another 6 pack of beers to compensate. April was in good spirit taking her first ski lesson. I was amazed that she was such a good student compared to the other 4 kids, who just fooling around, keep falling and had the instructor pick them up. Though she probably didn't learn any of the course listed skills. When I got the report card from April, none of the check boxes is marked. The instructor was torn by those 4 years old, she probably need a bottle of vodka after the whole day class. She recommended me not to send kid to ski class until they are at least 7 or 8 years old.

Last day was another long ride home but it didn't feel long. We had another feast inside my hippo. We snacked all the way home, even River enjoyed her first slice of grapefruit, 10 peeled blueberries, 1 mini cucumber, countless chicken drumsticks bites and even a pita chip. This is more of a eating trip than a ski trip, our stomachs emptied almost all the perishable we brought. But most important we had a great time up in the snowy mountain.

会用吸管了

昨晚发现华华会用吸管喝水，看来我们可以跳过sippycup这一步。如果喝得好我们就给她提早停用奶瓶。

April金句

今天April悄悄地告诉爷爷: 很久很久以前姑姑是在奶奶肚子里的。

九個月体檢

体重: 18lb 1oz (30%) - 很有进步，奶奶的功劳最大，但是还是赶不上姐姐当时的体重，看來笑臉還是喜歡做苗條。
身高: 27.75 inches (50%)

開頭聼了醫生說不用打針，我心裏還替華華高興，可沒想到看完醫生下樓抽血會給她帶來如此巨大的痛苦！原來抽血是跟大人一樣，我還以爲嬰兒會有不同的步驟，那膀子那麽小那麽細，血管都看不見在那裏，怎么抽?可憐的華華，哭得死去活來。我要硬壓着她把事情辦完，可華華的血流不夠快，護士還動了針頭好幾下，又加長了她的痛苦。我就看那護士沒瞄準，功夫不到家！記得以前April只有打針，那來的抽血這會事！抽完血華華抱着還是哭，還好我想起了走路。把她放到地下拖着她手走，兩下子就笑起來了。

華華這三個月進步很大，感覺上仿佛每幾天就給我們一個驚喜。她現在從爬到坐`坐到抓椅子或桌子站起來，再從站囘坐`坐囘爬，這一連串動作都做得乾淨利落。大人轉一個頭，她就换了位置。只是她還是不大喜歡爬，老要我們拖她手走，而走就越走越快，拼命往前沖，并不是好好走路的样子。记得April很晚才走，不过April爬的技术真是一流， 上楼下楼好几回自己来，不用大人帮忙。华华就是不肯爬楼梯。

除了爬和走，华华也学会了不少的小动作。有"wave bye bye"、"谢谢你" 和拍手，还会用大拇指和食指夹cheerio 放嘴里吃。当然也喜欢抓电线和poke electric plug。我买了很多plug covers 防着她，还有给她说"打打"，保姆教的，华华听得懂， 但不是每次都听话。意识也有加强，会听指示，叫她把东西给别人、叫她抱着熊熊拍拍它、喂我吃cheerio、问她灯在哪里，她眼睛会去找、问她妈妈的眼睛、鼻子、嘴巴、耳朵在哪里，专心的时候都抓得对。有时还能帮我们开灯关灯。这些方面华华是比姐姐强，姐姐是个没什么反应的baby，营养都跑去长肉了 ;)

虽然华华并不很胖，但胃口很好。大人吃的，给她什么，她就爱吃什么。只是吃量不大。不过总比挑食的姐姐好对付。哭闹也少。这段时间最让我们摸不着头脑的是睡觉，好几天又坏几天。奶奶和我怀疑各种情况，太热太冷、睡前吃太饱、睡前太兴奋等等，但最终没找到答案。

来看看华华为姐姐做苦力的片段:

School X'mas event

This year the room is a little less crowded since they divided the kids shows into 2 time slots. Last year we had to peep from the outside of the window. Yet we still didn't get there early enough to get a seat, not even 1 seat! Mommy, Daddy and Grandma holding River all had to stand on the side.

Mommy had April picked out her clothes a whole week ahead to prevent any last minute disaster. Last year, she cried through the entire show simply because she saw Jennifer's dad brought her friend a red dress, and we, Mommy and Daddy came empty handed. And of course, we didn't dress her in red and we happened to NOT have a red dress. Go figure!

She's peachy this time and finished all 3 acts with her classmates. They are a dance, a song and a speaking part. We felt that she's not quite herself during the show, acting rather shy. She later explained it's our presence make her feel a bit nervous or say embarrassed. That's understandable. Besides, there are so many parents and grandparents in the audience. Mommy thinks she did a good job while Daddy and Grandma were a little disappointed. A side note, Mommy was surprised to be prompted by 2 other Mommies before and after the show, telling Mommy how great a dancer April is. They were really impressed when they saw the rehearsal. (When was the rehearsal? How come Mommy didn't know about it?) Anyway, April must be running crazy during the rehearsal.

Posting the dance part

Surplus ran out

Mommy only got 18oz a day, once in a while maybe 20oz :| We started to add 2-4oz soy formula for River per day. Not desirable but at least it's still going. Last time, my milk ceased when April turn 8 months old. Hope I can keep it up until March.

传递游戏

最近华华学会了跟我们玩传递的游戏。先找一个华华没兴趣的东西，比如一个小盖子，或是华华玩腻了的玩具。妈妈把这东西交给她，告诉她把东西交给奶奶。她会一手抓来，传另一手交给坐在另一边的奶奶。奶奶收到后会给她做谢谢的手势，她也会跟着做。来来回回她会跟我们玩挺久的。晚饭的时候，April 也会加入我们的游戏，饭桌西角来来回回传东西，这可以骗她陪我们吃饭好一会儿。



Sharing cheerios

April金句

"When I grow up which people will I get married to?"

Songs from school

River's potty

I can't remember when did River start doing it. Grandma was annoyed by it from the beginning, and now it's the trick to get gold. We got this little cute potty for her, but every time she's on it, she's nervous! Even it's THE moment to get the job done, she will hold it. Grandma even tried traditional Chinese way by holding her legs, giving the tune and wait for a long long time. Nothing works except the magic SAUCER! Every time! River will only do her #2 there. How does the surrounding toys help with concentration?

Wii 的誘惑

We got to get something on bfs(black Friday sale) to fulfill the American life, right? Indeed, we got the Wii...even though we could have gotten it any other day. Daddy wanted XBOX over Wii but eventually he gave in to the majority vote(both grandma and grandpa also spoke highly of Wii). We bought 1 for them, and 1 for us. For them, it's a fun way to do exercise, but for us, it's multi-purposeful ;)

April started with baseball, then gradually become fond of bowling. Something magic about how she hold the Wii control, she did well with almost every throw. I don't care which one she likes the most, the secret goal of mine is to get her to finish her dinner and do things we want her to do before or after the game. So far, the temptation still works. We will see how long it last.

For Daddy, he feels challenged on tennis. It also acts as an bonus exercise mean at home for him. I can't remember when's last time he exercise regularly. If it's not for the sweat, it's still a good distraction away from the evil computer screen.

For me, it's a relaxation treat after a long day of work at work and work at home serving both princesses.

小名華華

River本身沒小名，自從保姆來了后，因爲RI-VER的發音對她太難，就建議只叫尾音。其實VER-VER更難念，他們（外公外婆也覺得RI-VER很難念）就取了一個類似的中文字 - 華華。他們天天叫分分秒秒叫，弄得媽媽`爸爸和April也跟著叫。現在連奶奶也這麽叫。
另外，叫得最多的是坏蛋，不管River做坏事了還是表現良好，我們都愛叫她坏蛋。給她洗完香香噴噴的澡或吃飽飽喝飽飽后，就愛叫她地主婆。保姆臨走前覺得River變得什麽都愛抓，而且動作特快，又給了她一個小名叫土匪。

全家福

爺爺來幫我們照的。