Children's Discovery Museum

Here are some pictures from my trip a few weekends ago to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. We went with Mom's friend Bernice and her 2.5-year old son Booker.

There was a special section upstairs just for infants and toddlers, with lots of different activities and spaces to play. Mom made me wear this silly chipmunk vest while I played in the pretend forest.

I normally love looking at myself in the mirror, but this was a little too much. So confusing...

There was also a dark room with a carousel projecting colorful lights. It was pretty trippy.

I loved playing at this sand box, especially with the scoops.

We saved the best for last. The big water exhibit. I spent almost half an hour here, playing with two of my favorite things: water and balls!

What a fun afternoon! I love museums!

One Year Update

Kaitlyn will be 13 months in four days but I couldn't ignore the one year update. It took me this long to get it together!

Big update this month! I still can't believe my baby is one year old. It has been amazing watching her grow and change over the past twelve months.

• She is 17 lbs, 5 oz. and 27 inches long. I had sworn that by now she would have hit 20 lbs, especially given the amount she eats during the day and her little potbelly. I was surprised when I saw her weight on the scale. She remains in the 3rd percentile for weight and 5th percentile for height!
• Food. Kaitlyn will pretty much eat anything we give to her, although she still prefers foods that are smooth and don't require effort to chew (ie. purees or yogurt) over foods that are grainy or textured (ie. rice, risotto, ground meat). Kaitlyn's absolute favorite food is cheese and she will eat it any way it's given to her, whether sliced, melted, or as a sauce. Other favorites include plain greek yogurt mixed with blueberry sauce, noodles (especially udon noodles - thick and chewy!), and all kinds of berries. She also loves to snack on Joe's O's, goldfish crackers, and her beloved Baby Mum Mums.
• She's transitioned to whole milk. It wasn't very difficult to transition, but Kaitlyn still prefers her milk warm and from a bottle. She'll drink up to 24 oz. a day. It's going to be a challenge getting her used to drinking cold milk from a sippy cup.
• Teeth: Kaitlyn currently has three visible teeth, two on bottom and one on top. The second top tooth looks like it's just about to break through, and we see signs of a third top tooth and bottom tooth on their way.
• Talking. She continues to babble nonstop, but we haven't heard any distinct words yet. She tends to use "dada" more often than "mama," though we can't say that either is purposeful.  
• She's taken her first steps. I can't really say when this happened. When we were down in Huntington Beach during July 4 weekend, she would stand holding onto a table, then let go and take tiny steps toward me (usually just one or two before lunging forward and falling into my arms). She's been practicing this over and over the past few weeks. Just last weekend (at 1 year, 2 weeks) she started standing on her own without support. She's finally put the two together and can take a few small steps from a standing position.
• Sleep. Alas, Kaitlyn finally started sleeping consistently through the night at 11 months. We had it pretty rough with sleep training, as we battled teething, colds, loneliness, and other developmental milestones. Although she's pretty easy to put down at night, there are random nights when she'll wake up and cry for us. Sometimes she'll go back down after a few minutes, but other times she'll cry hard for up to an hour before I give in and have to rescue her. And since I don't want to bring her into our bed, we'll end up sleeping next to each other on the floor of her room. She actually sleeps really well when we do this, but I hope it doesn't become a habit. There was also a phase in the last month when she was sleeping through the night, but then waking up consistently between 5-5:30 every morning, ready to play. Thank God that phase is over.
  
• Things she can do on demand:
• stick tongue out and wag it from side to side
• hold a brush to her hair and pretend to brush it
• clap her hands together when I say "yay!"
• put a phone (or any object) to her ear and pretend she's talking on the phone
• wave goodbye
• blow kisses goodbye
• kiss us on the cheek (if we hold our face close to her)
• put both hands on her head when I say "oh no!"
• clasp her hands together and twist them when I sing "itsy bitsy spider." At the end of the song she always claps.
• Other things she does (not necessarily on demand):
• point at objects, especially her favorites: bubbles, balls, and balloons 
• flip through the pages of a book, point at the pictures, and babble like she's reading the book (she even raises her voice a few pitches)
• starting to feed herself with a spoon. She loves holding the spoon and dipping it into the bowl, then bringing it to her mouth. I usually have to help her to get the food onto the spoon. At least she gets the idea.
• Kaitlyn's schedule: Kaitlyn plays hard and tires easily, so we don't see her consolidating to one nap any time soon.  On weekends, we usually need to purposely run and errand or go for a ride so that she can wind down a little and rest in her carseat. Although her schedule may differ during the week at day care from the weekend, in general it looks something like this: 
• 6:00am:  Wake up, Bottle
• 8:00am:  Breakfast  
• 9:30am:  Morning nap 
• 10:30am:  Bottle 
• 12:00pm:  Lunch 
• 2:00pm:  Bottle 
• 2:30pm:  Afternoon nap 
• 4:00pm:  Snack 
• 6:00pm:  Dinner 
• 8:00pm:  Bottle, Bedtime

Enjoying her raspberries and blackberries.

"On the phone" with the Flipcam

It's amazing how quickly Kaitlyn is picking things up now. Each day is different and she is changing so fast. Before we know it she will be a walking, talking toddler!

Little Gym

A few weekends ago I went to a friend's birthday party at Little Gym. It was my first visit there and it was overwhelming! When we got there, we were led into a bright, colorful room full of kids and babies already playing. It took me awhile to warm up to everything. There was an instructor who led the class, and we started out with a game of red light/green light. I enjoyed practicing walking (with Dad's help).

That's my friend Caitlyn next to me. She's already an experienced gym-goer.

 Then we played with the giant parachute, which I loved.

And I hung out on the parallel bars.

There was one activity that involved a giant rolling circle. I was supposed to ride on top of it, then do a somersault at the end.

It was totally scary and I did not like it one bit. Even worse, Mom and Dad made me do it TWICE! I was the only baby in there that cried my head off when I did it.

This is my ugly cry face.

The next activity made me forget it all - they rolled out lots and lots of balls! As soon as I saw them in the middle of the room, I shrieked, laughed, and crawled straight toward them.

This was definitely my favorite part.

Right when I thought things were fun again, Mom made me try to walk on this giant inflatable trampoline. It was unstable and scary and again, I cried my eyes out and made a scene.

My first visit to Little Gym was definitely an experience. I was the one kid at the party that cried about everything. It will probably take a few more visits before I'm used to everything there!

My First Birthday Party

My first birthday party was a blast! Mommy and Daddy threw me a Hawaiian themed bash at Murdy Park in Huntington Beach. It was so fun to celebrate with our SoCal friends!

* All photos courtesy of JB Shots.

Mom and Dad knew from the beginning that they would want Hawaiian food catered by The Loft, and the food just set the theme for the rest of the party.

Mom slaved over this birthday banner. Unfortunately it was too windy that day to hang from the rafters, so they were forced to tape it down to the picnic table. At least the banner got used during dinner on my actual birthday.

I love bubbles, and there were bubble toys set up on the lawn to play with.

My friend Sienna

There was also a nearby playground for the bigger kids.

My cousins Kieran and Alex

Favors for the adults: Chocolate dipped shortbread cookies in shape of the number 1 from Honolulu Cookie Company.

Favors for the kids: Bubbles, a luau rubber ducky, and a snack (Baby Mum Mums for the little ones, Pocky sticks for the older ones).

My birthday cake, filled with fresh berries and cream, from Whole Foods. Isn't it pretty?

And my smash cake from Pavilions, decorated by Mom, Auntie Sammy, and Auntie Larissa.

We attempted to get a picture of me and all my friends (a few of them crawled/ran away though).

Ready to dig into my smash cake.

Looks like I barely made a dent in it.

I feel so lucky that so many friends and family came out to celebrate with me. Birthday parties are so fun - I hope I get one every year!

Fourth of July Weekend

Hi everyone! I'm back from a fun-filled long weekend in Huntington Beach! We did so much and had a great time with friends and family. Of course, the highlight of the weekend was my birthday party. That gets a whole post of its own, but there are plenty of other things and pictures to share!

We stayed with Ma-ma and Yeh-yeh and the house was packed. I finally met my Auntie Larissa and Uncle Jeff, and cousins Alex and Kieran for the first time. They just moved back from the UK, just in time for my birthday! Auntie Samantha also flew in from Vancouver for the weekend. It was so fun to finally have everyone hanging out together!

One night we all went out to dinner at Mangia-Mangia. Daddy has been eating there for almost 25 years! While we were waiting for our food, Mom decided to give me a lemon, just to see how I'd react to the sour taste. Turns out I loved it! Amazingly I had absolutely no reaction to the sourness. The diners at the table next to us were quite amused. At least the lemon kept me happily entertained while we waited for our food. 

We also headed to Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in Arcadia. They are famous for their soup dumplings, although I'm too young to appreciate them. I discovered a new favorite food though - noodles! They were so long and chewy, I couldn't decide whether to play with them or eat them. I ended up trying to shove the whole thing in my mouth, though I wasn't very successful. 

For my birthday, Auntie Sammy got me a walker. The backyard was a perfect place to try it out (and to show off my cute sundress).

I love walking!

We spent a fun afternoon playing in the backyard. Mom had ordered a giant bubble maker for the party, but it didn't arrive until the day of the party (boooo). At least we got to play with it later. Alex, Kieran, and I had fun trying to pop the giant bubbles (I had some help).

Look at this giant bubble!

We spent a hot Fourth of July in the air-conditioned comfort of South Coast Plaza. It was a very successful shopping trip for all of us - Mommy and Daddy bought themselves me a new toy for my birthday!

I had such a fun and eventful weekend. It was sad to leave the warm weather and family behind. I can't wait to go back again soon!