Santa Claus

Over Thanksgiving weekend we were shopping at Metro Pointe in Costa Mesa. Santa was there for free photos but since everyone was busy shopping for Black Friday, we got to walk right up to him. When Santa saw us he gave some good advice to back me into him without letting me see him, and then to quickly take the picture before I noticed. But Mommy was so excited for me to see him that she obviously didn't listen. The visit didn't go very well:

I was here for exactly five seconds until Daddy had to rescue me.

Poor me. At least we got a free picture and didn't have to wait in line! Hopefully thirty years from now I will look back at this and just laugh.

Amy's Favorite Things

Since I put together the list of Kaitlyn's favorite things, I started to think about what my own list would look like. Turns out that it's really pretty short. But in the spirit of the holiday and gift giving season, I thought I'd share just a few things that I love and make my life easier as a parent.


1. Canon S95 digital camera: I like to always carry a camera with me to capture those moments, but it can be a pain dragging the dSLR around. I love this camera because it has the ease of a point and shoot, but also lets you control aperture, speed, and exposure as you would with a dSLR. Compared to other point and shoots, it has a fast lens and takes great pictures in low light settings. This camera is super easy to use and takes amazing photos.

2. Eye-Fi Wireless memory card: This is probably my number one favorite thing right now. I hate always having to pull out the cable whenever I want to upload photos from my camera to computer. This memory card saves all the hassle by sending all the photos to my laptop wirelessly. It's just one less step I need to worry about. Without this it would probably be months before I shared photos on this blog!

3. Amazon Prime: Unlimited two-day shipping - what a convenience! As full-time working parents we just don't have time to go shopping during the week. And we do all of our research online anyway before making big purchases. We have ordered so much through Amazon - including Kaitlyn's highchair, stroller, car seat, toys and books - that the $79 annual fee has more than paid for itself. As an Amazon Mom subscriber, you can also get two months of Prime for free for every subscription order (up to one year), in addition to a great discount on diapers and wipes!

4. Tyler Florence Start Fresh cookbook: We're big fans of Tyler Florence and love both his restaurant and his TV show. With three kids of his own, he now also has a line of baby food and came out with a family cookbook earlier this year. Start Fresh has delicious, wholesome recipes that can be made for the entire family. Most of the recipes involve one-pan roasts that can then be blended or chopped to the desired consistency for babies or toddlers. I made many of his purees when Kaitlyn was starting solids and we also like the salmon with pea risotto and the one-pot lasagna.

5. Kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame: This was actually our Christmas gift to both sets of grandparents last year. There are so many digital frames out there - I like this one because it is wireless. I can upload photos directly to the frames through the Kodak Pulse website and they will automatically appear on the frames, wherever they are located. We take so many pictures of Kaitlyn and this is a great way to share all of her pictures with our families remotely.

It's a short list but these few things have made a big difference!

17 Months

I am 17 months old! Even though I am almost a year and a half, I still look like a baby and often get called one. People are always surprised at how fast I can go, since I look like I should barely be walking. I enjoy being small and cute and Mommy hopes that I keep my baby features for as long as possible.

• I finally said "Mommy!" One evening when Mommy picked me up from day care, I took one look at her, smiled and said very clearly, "Mommy." Then I held my arms out for her to hold me. It made Mommy so happy - she had been waiting for this for a long time. It was probably my fifteenth word so hopefully the order in which I'm learning new words does not indicate order of importance.
• New words of the month: up, cheese, apple, nose, "dat-dew" (thank you), muah (kiss), "ah-dun" (all done), knock-knock (while knocking on the door).
• Favorite trick of the month: Playing "Where's your belly button?" If anyone asks me, I'll grin proudly and hold up my shirt and touch my belly button. Then I will insist on finding everyone else's belly buttons (Yes Mommy and Daddy, I don't care if we're in public, you need to lift up your shirts so I can poke at your belly buttons). I can also point at my nose and eyes when asked.
• Teeth: My upper first molars broke through. It didn't seem to be worse than any other teeth and took about six weeks between my teething symptoms and the time we actually felt them break through. I now have ten teeth!
• I now sit forward facing in the car seat. Finally, I can look out the window and see where we're going! 

This is a frequent weekend activity. Taking a car seat nap in the parking lot while one parent runs an errand and the other sits in the car and waits.

During the month I also attended weekly Gymboree classes, since Mommy bought a Groupon. It took me a while to warm up to the class, and I spent the first three weeks quietly observing and wondering what it was all about. But by the last week I was a lot more confident and actually ran around and climbed up on things. I especially enjoyed going down the slide, popping the bubbles, and playing under the giant parachute.

Here is another one of my favorite games - playing peek-a-boo with my blanket!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Check out the paper plate turkey and feather headpiece that I made in day care! 

Pay no attention to the beak and gizzard that I glued on sideways.

For Thanksgiving we flew down to Huntington Beach and had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Although I've been very picky with food lately, I really enjoyed eating the cheesy cauliflower, spinach and butternut squash, and gnawing on a turkey bone!

Cousins Alex and Kieran also came up during the weekend and we took a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. There was a lot to see and do, including touching the jellies (with Mom's help), looking at the fishies, sea otters ("water doggies"), and sea lions, and splashing my hands in the shark pool (my arms were too short to actually touch the sharks).

Other highlights of the weekend included a morning shopping spree on Black Friday, meeting Santa Claus (separate post to come), eating Pinkberry, and playing by the giant Christmas tree at Bella Terra. Mommy and Daddy also enjoyed going to watch the Twilight movie with Auntie Larissa and Uncle Jeff!

I love hanging out with my cousins. Special thanks to Kieran for reading to me!

K's Favorite Things

The holidays are just around the corner and inspired by the recent unveiling of Oprah's Favorite Things, I thought I'd create a list of some of Kaitlyn's current favorite things.

Board books: 

Kaitlyn has a ton of board books and she loves sitting in our laps and having us read to her. We've been reading the Sandra Boynton books since she was three months old, and they are still her favorite bedtime stories. In recent weeks she has been obsessed with flap books, particularly Dear Zoo and Open the Barn Door.

Toys:

Our living room is starting to overflow with toys. Some were other friends' favorites and received as gifts, while others were spontaneous purchases. These are the toys that get the most use at home. 

Top: Sensory balls, Fisher Price Stride-to-Ride Dino, Leapfrog Cook and Play Potsy

Middle: Leapfrog Fridge Farm Magnetic Set, Playskool Busy Ball Popper,  IKEA walker/wagon

Bottom: Wooden shape sorter, Stuffed doggy

The talking pot is especially fun since Kaitlyn likes collecting things in containers. She'll throw the food pieces in and out of the pot and then open and close the lid repeatedly. Prentice and I are just amused at the things it says ("Oh! The nutrients!").  The fridge farm also keeps her busy, mostly because she likes to collect the magnets and hide them in her designated drawer in the kitchen. Kaitlyn has been playing with most of these toys since she was less than twelve months old, so they've definitely gotten a lot of mileage. 

She also loved playing with her water table, but since it's gotten too cold outside, I've had to put it away until next summer.

Other Favorites:

Grandma bought Kaitlyn this PB Kids Anywhere Chair for her first birthday and as soon as we unpacked it, she knew it was just for her. It fits her perfectly and she enjoys sitting in it to read and to watch Mr. Rogers. She also likes to climb up and down on it over and over.









All toddlers seem to love tupperware, and Kaitlyn is no exception. When they're not strewn all over the kitchen floor, she is organizing them in her tupperware drawer, along with her fridge farm magnets. I like the little 1/2 cup sizes - they're perfect for holding yogurt for day care or for packing snacks when we go out.

I gave Kaitlyn one of my older deactivated iPhones but no, she always insists on playing with mine. Some fun apps that I installed just for her include PhonyPhone, Baby Faces, and Talking Tom Cat.









Finally, Kaitlyn spends almost every day at day care where she is surrounded by a ton of toys. She has a few favorites there, and if she could make a wish list for things to have at home, I'm pretty sure these would be on it.

Rocking horse, Play kitchen, Shopping cart, Kid coupe

Maybe if she's an extra good girl, she will receive one of these for Christmas!

Birthday Parties

I've had quite a busy social calendar lately. This past weekend I attended two birthday parties. First, Mommy took me to Alexandra's 2nd birthday party in SF. Alexandra's parents were Mommy and Daddy's next door neighbors when they were living in the city. We were also born at the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor!

On Sunday we went to Braden's 3rd birthday party. Braden lives right across the street from us and they have a huge playroom. Even though there were lots of kids there, I was in my own little world, focused on all the toys in front of me.

They also had a full size bouncy house, which Auntie Gigi had bought. I waited until the end of the party when the bigger kids left to take my turn. It was my first time in a bouncy house and although Mommy thought I would freak out, I had FUN!

We love that Chiu's live across the street from us. Not only do they have lots of cool toys, but now that I've discovered the bouncy house, I'm going to come over all the time!

Halloween

Halloween was so fun this year! We started off the festivities over the weekend at the BMC annual Halloween parade. Everyone gathered at the park, then walked over to downtown Burlingame Ave, where we went trick or treating at the stores. It was a very popular event, and I got to meet up with lots of my friends there.

At the BMC pumpkin patch. We all got to pick a mini pumpkin.

Top: Me with ladybug Kyla and Princess Olivia
Bottom: Me with fellow bumblebee Meagan, and with Superman Braden

Trick or treating down Burlingame Ave

A funny story about my bumblebee costume: Earlier in the week Mommy tried to put it on me but I refused to wear it. I kept pulling it off over my head and throwing it on the ground. So Mommy panicked, went online and ordered a backup costume, even paying extra shipping so we would receive it by Halloween. The next day after work, Mommy and Daddy were hanging out in the kitchen. I disappeared into my room and came out, wearing my costume! I had somehow decided to put it on and managed to pull the thing over my head all by myself! Mommy and Daddy just stared in disbelief.

On Halloween we gathered at the Chiu's for pizza, then all went trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Our neighborhood has a lot of young families so the sidewalks were crowded with trick or treaters. Many houses went all out with the decorations and some of them were even scary. Although I didn't understand the concept of trick or treating at first, it only took three houses and watching the bigger kids to figure out what it was all about. I had fun collecting candy at each house and throwing it into my bag. I lasted for about an hour before I wore myself out and fell asleep in the stroller for the rest of the evening.

Halloween is becoming one of our family's favorite holidays. We're already looking forward to next year!