Double hitter

Today is special not just because it's my Mummy's very first mother's day, but also because I turned 11 months! Papa and I tried to make Mummy feel extra special this weekend. Papa ventured out of his comfort zone to bake (not like Uncle Andy bakes, but with flour and sugar and stuff) He made pear ginger muffins that made the whole house smell delicious. I did my part by sleeping in a little this morning so Mama could get some extra ZZZ's. See how much fun we're having!

I also turned 11 months old! Can you believe my big 1 year is just around the corner? I've heard that with a 1 year birthday comes cake! (maybe even the kind Lucy jiejie likes - "chocolate cake") Here my requisite banana shot. If you're really keeping track, you can go back and see how much bodily control I've gained in the last little bit.

Pictures may tell a thousand words, but here's a couple clips of my latest skills. Enjoy!

The sun is up

O joy! Seattle sunny times are here. Just a quick post to let you know how I've been enjoying myself. I'm now big enough to wear some of these beautiful hats that have been sitting in my closet. They are sooo stylish. Uncle JT thinks I look like a train conductor in this one:

I also have these fun sunglasses, but personally would rather eat them instead of wear them to protect my eyes. Here's my best "Elementary, my dear Watson"-look.

Mummy was really busy last week so I'm looking forward to spending all kinds of time with her this week. Maybe I'll even start to say Mama... (but I like to keep her on her toes.) I am waving bye-bye now and have gotten really good at cruising along the furniture; crawling still is not my style. Hope everyone is doing great. Babble with you later!

Alliance declared

Quick little post to let you know I didn't forget my 10 month old banana shot. This is one of my favorite places to stand by... my toy box. I wonder if this is similar to hanging out next to the food table when you're at a party, or near the entrance where the servers come out to hand out hors d'oeuvres. Hmmm.. food for thought.

Well, even though I've been spending a lot of time with Mummy when Papa was working extra hard last week, I was thinking a lot about him. You can hear me talking about him in this little clip:

Fundamentals of reading and music

Exersaucers are pretty cool, but every now and then a girl needs a little more intrigue.

I spied Papa reading next to me one day and insisted that we read JAMA together. I thought it was going to be about going to bed - JamaJamaJamaJama, paJAMA time, but actually it was on the more fascinating topic of electronic intensive care units. I love reading with Papa.

I also got into this blue journal with Mama. I would recommend it for some light reading and page crumpling.

If you're more musically inclined, you could consider the complete Beethoven violin sonatas. Quite wonderful! Papa has warned me that the harp and the bass are not in my future. Something about having to buy a separate plane ticket for the instrument... I think my Aunty Kristin would disagree.

I'm so ready for Hawaii. When are we going already? Do you like my new sunprotective swimsuit? I can't wait for Plate Lunch! If I'm really good, I might get one all to myself. (and perhaps a muumuu to go with it.)

Joyeuses Pâques

The little french boy on the playground taught me how to say Happy Easter to everyone. Uncle JT is coming over tomorrow so we can do a modified easter egg "hunt". I guess he knows I'm not an inclined hunter, so he's going to put easter eggs around me and I can do an easter egg "reach". This is certainly a skill I've been mastering in my 9th month of life.

I finally made it to be taller than my banana. At my 9 month check uip, I stretched out to 27 inches and weighed in at 21lbs 5.5oz (whoa.) My head was a cool 46cm (95%). I suppose I may have been taller than my banana for a while, but only recently I've been very into standing. Too bad I'm too heavy to pull myself up on my own. I've certainly been trying, but to no avail (yet.)

Feeding myself has also been really fun. I have a great pincer grasp now. Grated cheese is a breeze! Cheerios, adios! Water in my sippy cup? Tofu in my bowl? Well I suppose a lot of it ends up on the floor...

And of course I'm a strong proponent of dental hygeine. I'm working on my upper teeth now, for a grand total of 4! I love my toothbrush. I brush at the same time that Mummy does in the morning. Love a fresh mouth!

Sunshiney Days

Sunny days have invaded Seattle and we're enjoying every minute of it. At first it caught Mummy and Papa off guard and they realized they were unprepared... No sunblock, no sunhat... O my!

When we went shopping for a sunhat I made sure my opinion was known. I gave them stone-face when they put a rather unflattering chapeau on me. This is the one I was ebullient about:

What do you think? Here I feel like I'm going on adventure with Curious George and lo and behold I found a giant banana! I am 9 months old now. My photo editors are working on getting more appropriate developmental shots with my banana as I can do lots of stuff now... like stand!

I also love to read! I can sit there in the morning and flip page after page. Often times I will taste the book to make sure it's the right one. This book is about a bunny named Little Nutbrown Hare who was making his papa guess how much he loves him.


Guess how much I love my family? Well, a couple of weeks ago I got to meet my "little" yeye. He was really happy to meet me and I was really happy to meet him and "little" nainai. Personally, I don't think they are so little, but I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I am so lucky to have such loving family. I love you as much as I want to eat! (That's a whole lot, by the way.)

And of course my thoughts are always with my beautiful tainai. Here's another picture of us when I was just a wee one.

Loving Tainai

I really love my Tainai. I know she loves me too. Papa, Mummy, and I have been thinking about her a lot. We think she's having a good time with all the other angels enjoying an enormous ice cream cone. We miss her.

Happy New Year!

Guess what? I'm 8 months old! My editors were really busy last week so this weekend we really got to celebrate. I've been working hard on my pincer grasp. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it means I'm trying to use my thumb and forefinger to grab on to small objects. I usually practice with cheerios when Mummy and Papa are eating dinner. I have my own seat at the table now so I can really check everything out. The best thing about sitting high up is the loud sound my toys make when I drop them on the ground. BOOM! I think I'll call this phenomenon... "gravity."

So the other good thing about developing my pincer grasp is that it's very useful for red packet holding. Thanks Yeye and Nainai! Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! I got to wear my first qipao from my Aunty Bee Lee in Malaysia! It was a little, shall we say - fitted... but I made it work. :) (Note my banana came out again for the special month-day).

Chinese New Year is a lot about food. Uncle JT and Uncle Andy came over and we made dumplings and fish... very prosperous foods for the new year. Everything looked very tasty, although I still got mushy stuff. I thought since I now have 2 teeth I would get a little more texture, but Mummy says I'm not quite ready yet.

O well, what I ate was still quite delicious. While Mummy was working hard at the hospital, Papa made me all kinds of good food to eat. I've been very "regular" from a colonic standpoint. Thanks Papa.

After New Year's Eve, it was my first Valentine's Day! I was pretty excited to go to the park. Papa hoped that I wasn't excited about the new boy I've been hanging out with when I go to the park with Ayi. He's French... ooh la la! But not to worry Papa... I just wanted to get into the swing again. Weeeeeee....

Here's a shot of my 2 teeth. They are very useful for my new toys... called "cups." I chew on them, bang them together to make noise, and of course drop them from my high chair to test "gravity." Don't worry, Papa always picks them up for me anyway.

Of course, this weekend was really great to spend time with Mummy. Last week, she was getting up early and working late so we didn't get to see each other that much which can be a little sad. Good thing, the other week we had gone to our first Mama and me yoga class. Here we are practicing our moves. This pose is known as "upward dog."



The whole family took a walk this morning around Green Lake. Papa ran 1 and a half times catching up with Mummy and I as we took a leisurely stroll. I gave Mama encouragement to go a little faster with my singing "aaaaaaaaaahhhh"
(she was still kind of slow though.)



I hope you all had a wonderful new year, valentine's day, and president's day! Or as I would say it.. "Gaaa!" "Ayayayayaya!"

Vacation, part deux

Vacation already seems like long ago, but I had so much I wanted to share I've added a second post. Soon after we came back, we decided it was time to explore Seattle. We decided to get a lay of the water. We've spent some time at Green Lake before, but this time we went to Lake Union, Puget Sound, and Lake Washington. Here I am at the Puget Sound contemplating, "What is a Sound?" Do you know what a Sound is? My Uncle Andy looked it up for me and best described it as a big bay. I personally think we should petition to change the San Francisco Bay to the San Francisco Sound. They both look big to me, and besides it has a very nice alliteration.

All this water was beautiful, but it was really nice to be at Ocean Beach with Aunty Jessica too. We also got to hang out with Aunty Michele and Uncle Cameron. I woke up after my usual full night's rest and saw some empty ice cream containers in the trash.... Aunty Michele, did you take my mama out somewhere for a treat without me? Harumph.

I've been missing my friends Lucy and Oliver too. Lucy taught me how to hang out at home - without pants. See how comfortable she looks? I had such a good time playing with Lucy Jiejie's fun toys. Maybe Mummy and Papa saw how much fun I had, because as soon as they got home, they bought me an exersaucer. It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as Lucy's, but I think my papa got a good deal on it. I do like that it teaches me to say different animals in Spanish. "Gato" says Meow.

Oliver's such a cutie. (Don't tell my papa I said that...) Here he is giving me a "look."

San Francisco has so many great friends. I got to catch up with Uncle Tom at one of Mummy's favorite Boulangerie's, while Papa got his haircut at his old stopping ground. Aunty Kristin and Uncle Rich let me play with Norbert, Papa's favorite Norfolk Island Pine. We also got to spend some time with Aunty Tara and Uncle Dave, also known as the "poop whisperers" - I left a little present behind at their home. All in all, it was so wonderful to see some of our very good friends. There wasn't enough time in the day to see everyone or even eat in all the places Mummy wanted to eat (even with her 6 meal/day rule). Hopefully we'll be back again soon - and maybe even you can come visit and I'll show you around my 'hood?
Luckily there's a bit of sunshine peeking through up here now and we're enjoying every bit of it as the days are getting longer.

I thought I'd end with a short clip of my first every ride in a park swing. You can tell I absolutely adore the wind in my face. Maybe Papa will buy me a convertible when I'm old enough to drive?

Yum yum dim sum - SF style

What treasure hides in this pillowy dough with a honey-glaze? Roast pork in all its sweet and savory goodness! (I'm hypothesizing based on my parents.) We're back from the awesome city of San Francisco. We had lots of fun visiting friends and family - and of course eating. Although my photo editor did not capture this, my papa went crazy at this place called Good Luck Dim Sum. He bought enough food one day to feed 10 people. He tried to blame the women behind the counter, egging him on, but we all know he just missed the grand selection there.
Mama brought all these delicious pork buns home and has been savoring them one by one. I've been watching her wondering when/if I get a taste...

One of the first things we did upon arrival was go to visit my Tainai. Here I am posing with her. My Tainai is awesome. She is always so cheerful and good-natured. We have lots of fun there. I think she may have been happy to see me too. Just a hunch.

I also got to meet up with my peeps, Lucy and Oliver. Here we are chilling on the couch at Aunty Eunice's home. Lucy may have been bored with us since we can't really play with her. I was jealous though since Lucy got to eat salami and cheese. Plus Aunty Eunice made this amazing pot roast with just a few ingredients. Mama says with only 1 tooth, big people food like that is really hard to eat so I have to stick with mush for now. Grow teeth grow! Poor Oliver had to go to bed before the big roast came out. I remember being his age. It only gets more fun from here.

One day after Oliver had a nap, he came over to play. We had a grand time cooing at each other. The jury is out as to who made the "first move." Did I reach for Oliver or did he reach for me? Aunty Eunice has her own theories, but Papa is keeping a close eye on Mr. O.K.

Papa and Mummy have a soft spot in their hearts for the De Young Museum. Mummy used to ride the bus past this museum every day and Papa used to run by during his regular jogs. The King Tut exhibit was still going on. It started the day that I was scheduled to arrive (June 27th). Haha, bet they're happy I came a few weeks early.

Here are my silly parents attempting to recreate an engagement shot at the De Young. We had such a great time in SF. We'll have to post more pictures next time. I love vacation!

Happy 2010.. helloo lucky #7!

Greetings from my editor's office! I'm excited to send out my first post of the new year. I have been a busy 6 month old and today I turned a whole 7 months. Papa has been working really hard this week and I've been missing him a lot. All of these pictures are dedicated to him. Kisses to Papa!

My big thing this past month has been my first tooth! Here it is in full glory. It's all part of my master plan to continue to eat more and more as I grow bigger. You are no match for me now mr. cheerio! So far, I've added apples, pears, broccoli, ube (purple yam - Thanks Jiu Jiu!), and lentils to my repetoire. I've also been seen to chew on mum-mums with much interest. Mama marvels at my ability to chow down with such grace and speed finishing a cool 2.5 ounces of peaches today without even batting an eye and then taking some rice cereal to top me off. It had a wonderful bouquet with hints of summer.

I've been working with my ability to crawl, but haven't really figured it out. I have the position down as you can tell from this picture, but I get easily distracted with my tooth and start to suck on it. The best I've been able to do is move backwards which really isn't getting me to where I need to go. I have noticed that if I fuss a bit, it's not hard for someone with long arms and legs like mummy, papa, or ayi to come pick me up and move me to where I want to go. I have to rethink this... I mean, is crawling really necessary when you can be carried?

And of course, my banana pillow is out again since it's a big month day for me! I was completely distracted by Aunty M-C in this picture who came to celebrate my special 7 month b-day with me. I have no idea what 7 months will bring. Hopefully more food, more fun, and more friends!

And the piece de resistance, I thought I would end with a little video clip of my latest and greatest trick... the raspberry! Hot off the presses... I learned how to do this yesterday, or at least it's the first time that I did this for mummy who's been really good to me all week. I'm looking forward to teaching papa how to do this. Love you papa... enjoy!