04.30.04
Posted in Parenting at 8:35 am by tina
We all handle conflicts differently and certain things tick us more than others. I had told off a boy who is almost as tall as me during our honeymood in Disneyworld. He slowly moved up the long waiting line.. must have passed more than 50 people and it bugged me so much that everyone just let him go. And I made him go all the way back to as far as I can remember. Last night Joe told the waitress off after she wouldn’t take our gift certificate ( I forgot to read the fine print, but we did order way more than 2 people’s share to try to use up the coupon).
I’m not sure how I would want Maddy to be when she faces conflicts. Do I prefer her giving in and not be so confrontational? Do I want her to defend herself? Do I want her to be a great negotiator? I guess I don’t want her to be a big bully, neither do I want her to be a push-over.
I had a little taste of what she’s going to be like yesterday at the daycare. While she was playing the toy piano, Lucia and Ashley crawled over to check things out. It’s actually a cute sight because all three of them are bald. I watched them from their back (and noticed that Maddy, although being the youngest of them three, has the biggest head), and wonder what they’re going to do. Lucia is quick, she wanted to grab the piano for herself, Ashley is more gentle, but she is not ready to give up her side of the toy. Maddy was standing in the middle, wabblely I might add, not quite sure what to do with the two girls coming to get her toy from both sides. Finally, she put her whole body on it and claimed her possession. Maybe we’ll work on ’sharing’ later on. As for now, I think she’s going to be just fine on her own.
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04.27.04
Posted in Maddy at 1:29 pm by tina
Maddy has been showing strong signs of wanting to be mobile these past couple of days. Unfortunately, she still doesn’t like tummy time. She would roll over quickly or kind of ’stuck’ in her position and start wailing.
However, she loves to stand up holding on to things. Her inherited sturdy and chubby ‘functional Chen’ legs are giving her new perspectives of the world. She is cheerful when standing and sometimes she would turn around and give me a proud smile.
It’s so cute watching her homebase. Just two months earlier, no body can move around. All the sudden more than half of them are dare devils. Lucia is definitely the ‘monkey’ of the classrom. Ryan is on the edge of crawling. He can’t move forward yet, but is able to move in ‘circles’. Even baby Alyssa is sitting up like a big girl. Everyone says that Maddy is going to skip crawling and go straight to walking. We’ll see in a month or two.l
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Posted in Maddy at 8:27 am by tina
In preparation for putting our condo on the market on May 8th, we had a ‘virtual’ garage sale. It went far better than I expected.
We’re a little sad to see our place getting ‘de-cluttered’. After all, this condo is the place that I stayed at for the longest time; it’s the first place we bought as a starter home, and the place both Brownie and Maddy call home.
Brownie seem confused after the buyer took away our small sofa set and the dining chairs. She was probably thinking “where am I going to hide now?”. Maddy also look baffled at the space where the futon used to be in her room.
On the other hand, we’re looking forward to move back… and this time (to my own surprise… I used to have this itch to ‘move’ every three-four years to a totally different place) I WANT to get a place where I can be comfortable and call home for the next 20 years.. for Maddy and her next sibling to grow up in and remember with when they go off to college… a place with great schools… a place Joe and I can grow old together.
We daydream about our future: on Maddy’s new daycare (which we found out the one that we like the most is just as expensive as here.. but you get what you pay for); on Maddy’s new elementary school options (my first choice being the magnet school for music and art, second being sports…. maybe math and science when she gets into middle school); on how we have to adjust back to the ‘four-season’ weather; on how we have to find one (just one) good Chinese restaurant and one pearl-tea place; on how Maddy can visit our grandparents so much more often and on how ah-ma and ah-gong might move to RTP as well; on where/how we want our new place to be and who is going to decorate what; on our fenced backyard where Brownie can finally roam around during the daytime without being cooped up in the house (and how we will reserve a spot in the backyard for Brownie’s burial when she dies of old age); on how Maddy is going to grow up to be a Southern girl..
It’s a bittersweet feeling!
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04.24.04
Posted in Maddy's First at 1:54 pm by tina
Daddy was helping out with the Youth at church with their 30-hour fasting event, so Maddy and mommy were home alone on Friday night.
We spent most of the night at church doing worship practice, then we went home and just hung out on the couch. Maddy was fairly good and went to sleep on her regular schedule after being fussy for all week. Mommy was able to clean up and pack up the stuff that people want from our garage sale.
It was un-eventful, and we miss having daddy around.
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04.20.04
Posted in Maddy at 8:20 am by tina
Grandpa and grandma Chang visited Maddy this past weekend. The flight was really long and they got stuck in Dallas one night, but they were still so happy to see their favorite grandchild (cause she’s the only one).
Maddy showed them where she swims on the weekend and her “Beverly Hill” daycare. And she had a blast playing “come and scare me” with grandma.
We didn’t feel too sad when they left on Monday this time. Not because we don’t love them, but because we know that we’ll be so close to each other by August and we can visit each other much more often. If God wills, grandma and grandpa Chang will eventually move to RTP as well so mommy and daddy can have free babysitters on the weekend and Maddy can get free Chinese and piano lessons.
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04.19.04
Posted in Maddy's First Meals at 4:00 pm by tina
Maddy loved the thousand year old egg congee served during dimsum, so grandma Chang made her a whole pot of pork congee.
This is the first time Maddy had pork.
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04.16.04
Posted in Maddy at 8:30 am by tina
Maddy started to be more observant about her environment recently. She would smile when she sees us laughing in our conversations. The other day we laid back on the sofa and read books for more than 5 mins together without losing her focus. She giggles when she watches me playing catch with Brownie. I “think” she looks for Brownie whenever we come back home and I “think” she knows that Brownie is our doggie.
Maddy is no longer a ‘passive’ Chen member.
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Posted in Maddy's First at 8:05 am by tina
Maddy can hold her own bottle pretty well now, and we’ve started to have her practice eating cheerios/crackers by recently. Under daddy’s supervision this morning, she successfully ate one entire Gerber’s self-feed biscuit by herself. We’re so proud of her!
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04.13.04
Posted in Maddy's First at 10:04 pm by tina
We got free tix to the Giants baseball game last minute (this afternoon) and decided that we would go since it might be the last opportunity we have before heading back eastcoast.
It’s Maddy’s (and mommy’s) first professional baseball game. We were such newbies. First we couldn’t figure out what they meant by going in from the ’side door’ because of our backpack stroller, then we had a little trouble finding our seats.
The field seems so much smaller in real life than on TV, but Maddy was thrilled and bemused by the crowd and the lights. She even took interests in looking at the game for like one minute. Then her concentration broke when the guy next to us started to eat peanuts.
We watched the game for an hour, and I totally understood why people say that baseball is a ‘pass time’ game. Well, and we also didn’t want Maddy to get too tired, so we left after sixth inning.
Right after we sat down on the bus to go to the parking lot, we heard the crowd shouting and the radio announcing that Barry Bonds hit his 661 homers. We missed such a ‘historic’ moment by one minute! We’re such losers…. I didn’t even know whom the Giants were playing against until we got home.
I don’t think I will have Maddy play baseball or softball when she grows up.
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Posted in Maddy at 10:10 am by tina
One thing that I am concerned about the most regarding our move is Maddy’s daycare. I know I’ve been spoiled by this daycare. The ‘drive’ is two minutes door to door (yes, I could walk there.. just have to pass one big lawn and two big parking lots); we can see her from the webcams any time; the state-of-art facility; the extreme cleanness and orderness of the environment (which puts our messy condo in shame, but my excuse is that I don’t have a full time maid who does laundry and dishes all day long.. well, I suppose I could and should wash her chew toys everyday); and I admire the knowledge the director/team lead have and I love Maddy’s primary caretaker Rocio.
Unfortunately, there is no Cisco Daycare in RTP, but they do have the same chain Bright Horizons. The closest one to work will be a 5 min drive (sniff sniff). The admin lady told me that we might be able to do a ‘internal transfer’ for Maddy since she goes to a Bright Horizons here. We’ll see. I also would like to check out other options such as Chesterbrook Academay (running by Nobel Learning Systerm), Little Pros’ Academy, Knowledge Beginnings, and Tutor Time before making the final decision. I suppose I don’t mind if it’s a little further but nicer. We’ll find out.
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04.09.04
Posted in Maddy's First at 9:50 am by tina
Cisco Daycare had a campus wide spring party, and Maddy went on her first egg hunt. The weather was perfect for all of us to sit on the grass and eat the munches.
It was beautiful and spingy with all the nice decorations and the arts/crafts they made. It made me so sad knowing that Maddy is leaving the daycare in less than 4 months.
We hung out with two other parents who have 7 month old babies as well. They were surprised that we gave Maddy Mac&Cheese and Maddy didn’t choke on them. Little did they know, Maddy loves long Chinese noodles. She likes to slurp the noodles in and pretend like she’s chewing. Our girl is a eating pro by nature!
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Posted in Parenting at 8:45 am by tina
As much as I love so many things about California (the fast-pace life; the high-tech companies you will not find any place else; the always perfect weather; the ski resorts hours away; the hiking trails everywhere; the beaches one hour away; the San Fran city; the Chinese food; and all the new friends we’ve made), I had always known deep in my heart that RTP is a better place to raise a family. In fact, it was one major reason of why I insisted on leaving 9 years ago. When the peaceful family community just didn’t do anything for me as a new grad.
After Maddy was born, California ‘problems’ raised up for us. In the affordable housing districts, schools are not so great. In the great school districts, housing are ridiculous and there are too many Asians in the schools for my liking. In addition, we are so far away from her grandparents.
Other than my mother, my ‘A-ma’ was another woman who had great influence on me. Her extraordinary accomplishment as a woman doctor in her time and her honorable/charitable characters as a Christian made me proud just thinking about her. I want Maddy to have the same thing: To know her ‘A-ma’, to know how she took her family to a country she didn’t know anything about with her adventurous spirit and incredible courage, to see that her ‘A-ma’ lent out her helping hand to others when she herself was in need.
God granted our wish this week, and we’ve moving back this summer!
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