An earthquake hit the South Bay where we now live last night around 8:04 PM. The epicenter was in San Jose. It was the first one I really experienced and it was scary. We had just put Mia down for the night thirty minutes earlier, I was opening mail on the couch as Ken jumped around in front of the telly playing the Wii, his new toy. All of a sudden the house shook and Kona barked. We looked at each other and ran up to Mia's room where she remained asleep. It is the biggest quake since the Loma Prieta in 1989 which brought down part of the Bay Bridge, but practically no damage occurred. Nothing was amiss at our house. A couple of aftershocks have hit today, but I did not feel any of them.
So today I went to fill up the gas tank and buy some extra water to keep around. Not sure what else to do. We should brace a few shelves to the wall I suppose.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Mia @ 18 Months
The 18 month check-up
Height: 33.75 inches tall, 95th percentile
Weight: 23 pounds and 2 ounces, 33rd percentile better than last time at the 20th percentile
Doctor's visit was uneventful, no large pieces of earwax to dislodge from Mia's ears. No shots this time except we were sent to a flu shot clinic that happened a few days later. Luckily Mia did not let out a peep from the shot, just teared up a bit. Loved getting her Elmo sticker afterwards.
Discipline:
Our biggest sore spot with Miss Mia is her penchant for throwing or casually dropping items from her high chair. She likes to chuck food for Kona and she loves to hear the thud of her sippy cup, especially if the cup contains milk. We tried time outs and stopped the meals for a bit, didn't work, then we went to ignoring the behavior for a bit and the throwing subsided a little, but never completely disappeared. Now we've been verbally scolding her. It's quite sad, but Mia does not like it when we scold her, she develops a pout, then tears well up and finally starts to cry silently. Next, she tries to say sorry and asks for a hug. Melts my heart and it's really quite sad for us to discipline her this way, but she seems to be getting it. In the pic below Mia is saying grace before a meal, but she looks constipated.
Loves Cars, especially the ones at Happy Hollow:
Upon waking in the morning, Mia has said, "Ai ni cars" (i love you cars) and "Cars shou qi lai" (cars put away). This led me to believe that she must have been dreaming of driving cars at Happy Hollow. Poor thing, we're going to have to find some cars for her to ride on.
Food/Eating
Meemster still has a very limited diet at 18 months. She loves carbs above all, the crunchy variety is her favored form, so that means crackers and cookies. She loves rice and rice crackers are even better. The only vegetable she will eat is broccoli with some salty soy or oyster sauce. As for protein, Mia loves peanut butter and tofu, but we can't overdo it as some days she refuses those as well. I jump for joy on the rare occasions when Mia will eat some cheese or yogurt. Mia does like soup, but nothing tomato-y. I make her lots of soups, but she prefers the canned processed variety. She's into ABC's these days so Alphabet Chicken Soup from Campbell's is a hit. We even found Elmo Chicken soup from Earth's Best.
Potty Training
We're not in a huge hurry, but bought a potty to have around and Mia got Potty Elmo from her friend Poppy. Mia knows what the potty is for, but does not like to be on it without her clothes, so she will from time to time sit on the potty with a book and poop into her diaper. She does let us know when she is pooping by saying, "poo poo all done" with force as she strains. It's like she's telling it who is boss.
Just A Phase
Mia hugs the cylindrical stainless steel trash can in our kitchen. She also hugs her pumpkin.
Mia calls anything she can sit on a chair, even a box of tissue or Kona.
Mia likes to drink bathwater these days.
Height: 33.75 inches tall, 95th percentile
Weight: 23 pounds and 2 ounces, 33rd percentile better than last time at the 20th percentile
Doctor's visit was uneventful, no large pieces of earwax to dislodge from Mia's ears. No shots this time except we were sent to a flu shot clinic that happened a few days later. Luckily Mia did not let out a peep from the shot, just teared up a bit. Loved getting her Elmo sticker afterwards.
Discipline:
Our biggest sore spot with Miss Mia is her penchant for throwing or casually dropping items from her high chair. She likes to chuck food for Kona and she loves to hear the thud of her sippy cup, especially if the cup contains milk. We tried time outs and stopped the meals for a bit, didn't work, then we went to ignoring the behavior for a bit and the throwing subsided a little, but never completely disappeared. Now we've been verbally scolding her. It's quite sad, but Mia does not like it when we scold her, she develops a pout, then tears well up and finally starts to cry silently. Next, she tries to say sorry and asks for a hug. Melts my heart and it's really quite sad for us to discipline her this way, but she seems to be getting it. In the pic below Mia is saying grace before a meal, but she looks constipated.
Loves Cars, especially the ones at Happy Hollow:
Upon waking in the morning, Mia has said, "Ai ni cars" (i love you cars) and "Cars shou qi lai" (cars put away). This led me to believe that she must have been dreaming of driving cars at Happy Hollow. Poor thing, we're going to have to find some cars for her to ride on.
Food/Eating
Meemster still has a very limited diet at 18 months. She loves carbs above all, the crunchy variety is her favored form, so that means crackers and cookies. She loves rice and rice crackers are even better. The only vegetable she will eat is broccoli with some salty soy or oyster sauce. As for protein, Mia loves peanut butter and tofu, but we can't overdo it as some days she refuses those as well. I jump for joy on the rare occasions when Mia will eat some cheese or yogurt. Mia does like soup, but nothing tomato-y. I make her lots of soups, but she prefers the canned processed variety. She's into ABC's these days so Alphabet Chicken Soup from Campbell's is a hit. We even found Elmo Chicken soup from Earth's Best.
Potty Training
We're not in a huge hurry, but bought a potty to have around and Mia got Potty Elmo from her friend Poppy. Mia knows what the potty is for, but does not like to be on it without her clothes, so she will from time to time sit on the potty with a book and poop into her diaper. She does let us know when she is pooping by saying, "poo poo all done" with force as she strains. It's like she's telling it who is boss.
Just A Phase
Mia hugs the cylindrical stainless steel trash can in our kitchen. She also hugs her pumpkin.
Mia calls anything she can sit on a chair, even a box of tissue or Kona.
Mia likes to drink bathwater these days.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Best Friends Forever
I'm using Blogger to upload a video this time instead of DropShots, so I hope it works out. It's a clip of Poppy and Mia hugging which becomes a tackle, happens often with toddlers.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Together Again
Mia and her BFF (Best Friend Forever) Poppy were reunited after nearly four months apart (eons for toddlers) for a fun weekend full of toddler activities. The girls definitely remembered each other thanks to sightspeed and short digital videos we have sent each other. They would interact here and there, but the best was when they held hands and hugged each other. They were really just warming up to playing together when it was time for Poppy to return to Seattle. We parents wondered how long the two girls would remember each other and remain friends. Will they be friends just because we tell them they were friends as babes or will they genuinely be drawn to each other? Only time will tell.
Before the Bae-Lees arrived, I had so many fun scenes planned in my head, I pictured the girls having fun on the rides at Happy Hollow and enjoying bath toys together, but toddlers have their own ideas. I should know this already. We took the girls to Happy Hollow where they both were unhappy about saddling up on the carousel. The Mini Putt Putt cars were being repaired much to Mia's dismay. Later in the day we went to a local pumpkin patch for photo ops, but the girls were not really cooperative as we have few pics where they are both looking at the camera. Once home from dinner, Poppy was too tired and not interested in bathing with Mia. I also wanted to do a little 18 month or 1.5 year old birthday party for the girls, but between our activities and naps, it never happened. But as I look back at our weekend, I have warm thoughts of the girls eating side by side and playing in each other's presence. It was just like old times.
One particularly fun moment came when we whipped out yummy rice crackers to bribe our girls to let us eat a little more all you can eat kalbi at Palace BBQ. Mia looked over at Poppy excitedly and seemed to say something akin to, "Check out the yummy treat that's coming our way!" They both were just thrilled to get a salty treat. It was too funny!
Every morning Mia asks for uncle and a-yi and then Poppy. Sometimes she goes to the guest room to look for them. She really liked Chris and let him hold her, a rarity. When she gets into our car to go somewhere, she points to the empty seat next to her and asks for Poppy. It is endearing and sad. She did the same thing when AJ and his family left and it took about a week or two for her to stop asking. That will be a sad day too!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Mia LOVES Elmo, but she doesn't want to BE Elmo
Today was Mia's last day of Bright Beginnings for this quarter and we ended it with a potluck (lots of yummy food) and a Halloween Parade. We have a week off and then begin the new quarter. It was great fun to see all the kiddies dressed up. Mia had a twin today. There was another Elmo! The furry red guy is so popular with our little ones. Our class had great costumes, we had Tigger, ladybugs, pumpkins, a dog, dinosaur, kitty cat, butterfly, Mickey Mouse, and more. They don't quite understand all of it, but they sure had fun parading around and getting "treats" in the bags they made in class.
Many of the other tots were fascinated to see Elmo up close and personal and wanted to come up to Mia and touch her. It was very cute, but Mia was not having her costume. She did not like the flappy Elmo hands and kept saying, "Off Pease!" and "No, No, No!" over and over again. I rolled up her Elmo hands and we started the parade where she sort of forgot about it all. Below is a pic of Mia, she doesn't look thrilled, but she isn't fussing.
We have a few other Halloween events to attend, so I hope I can keep her distracted enough at all of them for more photo opportunities.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Mia Memories
The days often go by and Papa and I forget the cute little things Mia has done or said. This blog is basically our only record of Mia's milestones and funny moments as my baby journal is empty except for a few early entries. So here are some of Mia's recent activities for the memory book.
1. Mia grasps the use of the imperative. After months of listening to us order her around, Mia has picked up commands and has no qualms using her newfound communication skill. She says, Mama zuo (sit), Papa read Moon (for Goodnight Moon), Mama cookie pease!, and so on. Even Kona has not escaped Mia's orders. She loves to say, "Go go, come!"
2. Mia loves cars. She enjoys riding on toy cars, especially the Mini Putt Putt cars at Happy Hollow Zoo and the Little Tikes cars at school. She even likes to pretend to turn the key and says, "Beep beep." At Target she picked out a Cars (Pixar) coloring book over a Princess one. That's my girl! Good for her!
3. After months of playing with safety clasps on high chairs and such, she can finally put the clasps together. She's still working on taking them apart, thank God! One day I fear she'll be out of her car seat while I'm driving.
4. Our girl definitely has a sense of humor. She finds the oddest things funny and has started saying funny at appropriate moments except her funny sounds like "money". Mia will put a marker cap on her finger and say, "Munny!"
5. Thanks to Norah Jones and Elmo, the first letter Mia learned is the letter, "Y" which she is always asking us to write on her Magna doodle or when we are drawing/coloring. The only other letter she knows is "O" because I figured it was an easy one to recognize and because she eats bagels which I call, "O bao bao" or O bread in English.
6. Mia's favorite books are Goodnight Moon, Olivia's Opposites, Go Dog Go, and Biscuit. She can't get enough of those books.
7. Mia is super stubborn and will not let things go. We went to Johnny Rockets and they were out of balloons, but she kept asking for a balloon because she got one the previous time and we happened to have the same waitress, so she kept the after the waitress for a balloon. It was cute because she was saying, "pease", but I was a bit embarrassed.
8. Lastly, it's not all good. Mia bit her first kid last week. He took some toy from her and she bit him. Later during the same playdate, she twisted his ear when he took something else from her. She's not one to be bullied, but I was mortified. Needless to say, she received two time-outs for her inappropriate behavior. The boy's mom is totally laid back and cool about it all. Toddlers are like cave men no?
Our girl will be 18 months old soon. I can't believe she's grown up so much. She's really not a baby anymore. Sniff sniff.
1. Mia grasps the use of the imperative. After months of listening to us order her around, Mia has picked up commands and has no qualms using her newfound communication skill. She says, Mama zuo (sit), Papa read Moon (for Goodnight Moon), Mama cookie pease!, and so on. Even Kona has not escaped Mia's orders. She loves to say, "Go go, come!"
2. Mia loves cars. She enjoys riding on toy cars, especially the Mini Putt Putt cars at Happy Hollow Zoo and the Little Tikes cars at school. She even likes to pretend to turn the key and says, "Beep beep." At Target she picked out a Cars (Pixar) coloring book over a Princess one. That's my girl! Good for her!
3. After months of playing with safety clasps on high chairs and such, she can finally put the clasps together. She's still working on taking them apart, thank God! One day I fear she'll be out of her car seat while I'm driving.
4. Our girl definitely has a sense of humor. She finds the oddest things funny and has started saying funny at appropriate moments except her funny sounds like "money". Mia will put a marker cap on her finger and say, "Munny!"
5. Thanks to Norah Jones and Elmo, the first letter Mia learned is the letter, "Y" which she is always asking us to write on her Magna doodle or when we are drawing/coloring. The only other letter she knows is "O" because I figured it was an easy one to recognize and because she eats bagels which I call, "O bao bao" or O bread in English.
6. Mia's favorite books are Goodnight Moon, Olivia's Opposites, Go Dog Go, and Biscuit. She can't get enough of those books.
7. Mia is super stubborn and will not let things go. We went to Johnny Rockets and they were out of balloons, but she kept asking for a balloon because she got one the previous time and we happened to have the same waitress, so she kept the after the waitress for a balloon. It was cute because she was saying, "pease", but I was a bit embarrassed.
8. Lastly, it's not all good. Mia bit her first kid last week. He took some toy from her and she bit him. Later during the same playdate, she twisted his ear when he took something else from her. She's not one to be bullied, but I was mortified. Needless to say, she received two time-outs for her inappropriate behavior. The boy's mom is totally laid back and cool about it all. Toddlers are like cave men no?
Our girl will be 18 months old soon. I can't believe she's grown up so much. She's really not a baby anymore. Sniff sniff.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
A Visit From Friends
The Hwangbo Family visited us for a few days while here in the Bay Area for a wedding. It was so much fun to hang out with them and to see baby A.J. We stayed up late just like old times, except we had babes asleep nearby! As I watched Mia with A.J. I was amazed at how much God has blessed us. For those of you who do not recall, they are exactly a year apart--something special that ties our families together even more. Although YL and AH had a rough time of it before A.J. came and after his early arrival, God has been good and A.J. is super healthy, a great sleeper, and that boy can eat. I hope Mia can learn from him in the eating department!
Mia was very gentle with A.J. and always asked about him when she woke up or when she could not see him. She got quite used to having him ride in the back with her and when they left for the wedding they were here for, she noticed his absence from the backseat of our SUV and kept asking for A.J. It was funny to see her offer A.J. toys that he is clearly not ready to play with. Mia was not even upset or see us hold A.J., I think because she really understood that A.J. belonged to her a-yi and shu-shu.
Below is a picture of Mia and A.J. at their first encounter.
Mia was very gentle with A.J. and always asked about him when she woke up or when she could not see him. She got quite used to having him ride in the back with her and when they left for the wedding they were here for, she noticed his absence from the backseat of our SUV and kept asking for A.J. It was funny to see her offer A.J. toys that he is clearly not ready to play with. Mia was not even upset or see us hold A.J., I think because she really understood that A.J. belonged to her a-yi and shu-shu.
Below is a picture of Mia and A.J. at their first encounter.
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