Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Mom's tradition on Chinese New Year is to clean and organize the apartment, get new shoes, and get a haircut before the new year, and then eat jiao-zhi (dumplings) on new year day. Well, I guess you could say that we did all that last weekend, only -- in typical Mama style -- two days late on all the pre-new year arrangements, and uh...skipped the whole "cleaning the apartment" part altogether! But we did get out to eat some tasty dumplings and of course we did that right on schedule!

Here are some photos of my new furniture, hanging out on the new year weekend in my new shoes, and my haircut. We were too busy eating to take any pictures of the dumplings (sorry).


Handyman helping Daddy put together my new table and chairs!

The end result...FRESH!

Hanging out on a sunny LA afternoon in my new shoes!


And my favorite Thomas the Train Engine shirt that I got from Ian...

For some unknown reason Daddy and Mama decided they would buy haircutting scissors and do my haircut themselves. I was nervous because I saw Mama go on the internet and she Googled, "how to give a boy's haircut." That was not a good sign. But you judge for yourself. Here is my BEFORE shot:


Mama cut the front of my hair. I have to admit, "not bad for someone who normally crumbles into a withering piece of uselessness when I'm wailing at the top of my lungs" -- and I was letting her know I was NOT happy as she was cutting my hair. But she stuck through it without sticking anyone with the scissors. God bless. Below is the AFTER shot of my haircut. Actually, I think it's quite stylish with a shaggy twist in the bangs, perhaps a little more thinning needed on the sides, and I'm not sure the sideburns thing suits me at this age. But all in all, a decent effort and at least it's even. HOORAY for Mama! She also cut the back of my hair, but after she left the bathroom, Daddy took over to do a little retouching. I noticed that he had NOT read the online information about how to cut hair because this was the end result:

No worries about the red splotches on my back, that's the aftermath of another heat rash/eczyma breakout I had last week when it was really hot here in LA -- at least that is covered by my shirt when I'm dressed. I actually have to go out in public looking like my head was sent through a woodchipper.

Someone told my Daddy, "yeah, that's why hairstylists and barbers have LICENSES."

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

One and a half!

Hard to believe we've made it another month. Here are some recent stunts (literally -- see photo below):


  • Recent pediatrician's visit for his 18-month well-baby checkup
    • 27 lbs, 8 oz (75%)
    • 33" tall (75%)
    • 20" head circumference (95%)
  • Completely off the bottle. Drinks from sippy cups and straws, still likes to turn over his cups, so we are cautious with letting him drink straight out of a cup on his own.
  • Eating mostly table foods. Likes blanched spinach with sesame oil, scrambled eggs, apples, pear, raisins, beansprouts. Loves tofu/miso/fish soup. BONKERS over Goldfish crackers, Cheerios, and any other carb-loaded snacks. Still eats a lot of rice/meat/veggie porridge at daycare.
  • Can use a fork/spoon for most foods. Prefers to feed himself. Uses hands when he's too hungry to mess with utensils.
  • Has been sick twice in the past month...once with some stomach virus that came with vomiting and diarrhea. Now sick with a runny nose and ear infection, but still has lots of energy.
  • New words: house. He's never said, "airplane," quite right -- it always sounds like "air-baby" but now I'm wondering if he's saying "fei-ji" (fay-jee), which means airplane in Chinese. Maybe his babysitter is teaching this to him, but we keep teaching him "airplane" so he's combined the two -- "air fei ji!" In total, we counted about 45 words that he can say.
  • Can identify both sets of grandparents, his cousin Magnus, and his Uncle Eric in photos.
  • Still wants to be held all the time when he's sick - and when he's healthy, he loves to be held before bedtime. My back is KILLING me.
  • Can identify all his bath toys -- Telly, Ernie, Elmo, duck, etc.