Music Together

We just finished the summer session of Peninsula Music Together classes. It was a fun program and Kaitlyn really enjoyed hearing the instructors sing, watching the other kids, and playing with the different instruments. In addition to singing, we did lots of other activities including the big parachute, rolling balls, dancing, and playing with musical eggs, sticks, and scarves. The best part of class though was when the instructor would take out the big blue box of instruments and lay them all on the ground. All the kids would go crazy and run to grab their favorite instruments. Kaitlyn's favorites were the maracas and drums.

And here's a short video of her during "free play" time and learning from a fellow classmate.

Wine Country Weekend

Another weekend, another road trip! We had an amazing time in wine country this past weekend. Mommy and Daddy rented a great house in Kenwood with a big backyard. It was a perfect getaway with lots of space for me to play and for them to relax.

I always seem to know which cupboards I'm not supposed to get into.

The huge backyard even had a miniature vineyard.

On Saturday we spent the day hanging out with the Grandon's and friends at their amazing rental house in Healdsburg.

Lounging poolside with Daddy

Playing a game of bocce ball with Jon and Teddy.

Celebrating the Grandon's ten year anniversary with a picture perfect sunset dinner.

The next day a group of us visited Sonoma TrainTown, where I enjoyed my first train ride.

The train took us to a miniature town that I got to explore by foot.

Excuse me, some privacy please!

The highlight of TrainTown was the petting zoo. I absolutely loved the llama, and giggled every time I got to touch him.

It's so fun to go out now that I'm old enough to enjoy all these activities. I love weekend trips!

Camping!

I just came back from my first camping trip and boy, did I have a blast! We headed up north near Pt. Reyes to Olema Campground, where we met up with the Chiu's, Kwan's, Yuen's and two other families. There were lots of kids for me to watch and to play with. I got so dirty walking around the campground and playing in the grass and dirt! 

Hanging out with Daddy in front of our tent.

I slept surprisingly well in the tent. Mommy and Daddy put me to sleep in the Peapod, but both nights they returned to the tent to find that I had crawled out to the middle of the sleeping bag. It was so much cozier there and I enjoyed getting to sleep between them all weekend.

Although we were supposed to be "roughing it" there was definitely a downside to camping: ask Daddy if he enjoyed waking up at the crack of dawn each morning to stand outside in the cold while he waited for water to boil to heat up my bottle. They will never take electricity and bottle warmers for granted again.


One of the highlights of the trip was taking the short drive to Tomales Bay Oyster Company, where we bought bags of fresh oysters to grill and eat raw.

I also made a new friend named Sumo. I adored him. Every time he crossed my path I would point and smile and call him "Budda." 

We took a late afternoon drive to see the Pt. Reyes lighthouse. I was so tired though that I crashed out in the car for almost two hours! Daddy had to stay in the car with me while Mommy took the half-mile trek to the lighthouse. It was a very scenic walk.

On the way back to the campground I finally woke up, and we stopped for some ice cream and enjoyed the view.

I was just happy to spend the weekend outdoors hanging out with the big kids.

Overall we all had a great camping experience and hope it becomes a family tradition!

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!