05.31.05
My sweety pie
Mommy: (sneezed)
Maddy: bless ooh mommy
05.30.05
Memorial Day Weekend
The whole Chang gang came to visit Maddy again (Ah-goon, Ah-ma, auntie Betty/uncle Jon, and uncle Andy):
We ventured out to the Raleigh Farmer’s Market. We got some really nice smelling flowers (forgot what they’re called already) to replaced the dead plants in our garden; ran into Maddy’s school mates Cole and Lucas. It’s funny because somehow they both don’t seem to recogonize each other. It is a bit weird because they play with each other at school like good friends. Daddy think that the farmer’s market is somehow ‘out of context’. Another part of the farmer’s market is like a mad house, with swarms of Chiense people trading/sharing veggies. Even Ah-ma got into it and bought a huge bag of snow peas home.
Ah-goon/Ah-ma babysat Maddy and we got to go see Star Wars. Daddy was not very impressed with the movie but I thought it was pretty good (perhaps my expectation was very low) although I thought it was a bit too long and I had secretly wished the movie to end sooner.
We did the usual: hanging out at the pool; eating ah-ma’s good cookings; and Maddy enjoyed all the attention she got.
An unexpected pleasant surprise: We ran into Zach (another one of Maddy’s school mates) and his family at the pool, and realized that we live in the same division and they’re just two streets down from us. It looks like Zach will be one of the friends Maddy grows up with. They’re in the same class now and their birthdays are only one month apart.. will mostly likely go to the same school growing up.
First Potty
Maddy has been asking to go ‘potty’ lately. I think she’s fasinated by it when she sees the bigger kids in the next door (she spends part of her first hour at school with them) go to potty on their own. Partly I think she is beginning to understand what toilets are for.
In the spirit of the moment the other day, I promised her to get her a ‘little girl’ potty after she asked to try to sit on the regular toilet.
So she’s been ‘trying’ to go on her potty. No luck so far yet as expected. I’m not ready to potty train her, and she’s not ready to be potty trained yet either. She takes it half serious though, copying everything we do, including reading. The closest incident to success was one time she told me she needed to go poopoo.. sat on the potty for 10 sec and said “no poopoo”..I put her diaper back on and she poopoo within a minute. It looks like she does know when she has to go (at least to go poopoo), but not quite sure how to poo sitting down on the potty, I assume.
05.26.05
Daddy is almost home
We made it through another two days, both nights were girls night out:
We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant Mama Wok yesterday. I didn’t think too much of it before we went but realized that other guests thought it was ‘weird’ that it was just Maddy and me. It hit me then it’s the first time I took Maddy to a Chinese restaurant all by myself. I guess that’s why we got the ‘eyes’.. Chinese people don’t go to restaurants by themselves, not here anyway.
The cashier gave us back the bag of cranberries we left there since our last visit (I had wondered about where it went), and we got our usual chicken corn soup; pork chop rice; and of course bin-bin red bean soup for dessert.
It was very crowded so we had to wait for the service. I made the mistake of telling Maddy that ah-ye will bring the binbin soup out soon, but the waitress was so busy I couldn’t wave her down for a while. The poor girl got upset, mumbling ‘ah-ye busy; ah-ye busy’ trying to calm herself down. But all was well when bin-bin soup came out eventually.
We went to SouthPoint today. Baby girl played around the foutains and splashed herself silly as usual. She pointed to my packets and mumbled some stuff. It took me a bit to realize that she was asking for coins to throw them into fountains. I guess “coin” & “penny” are not in her vocabulary yet. We stopped by the indoor playground and she ran ran ran around every station; made new friends and played with many bigger kids.
It’s been three good mommy-Maddy days, but we’re excited that daddy is flying back via red-eye tonight and we will get to see him tomorrow morning!
05.24.05
Beginner toddler conversation
Now a days we can actually have a semi-conversation with Maddy, and she responds quite a few words/phrases that surprise us:
On the way home from school yesterday-
Maddy: Ice popsicle!
Mommy: You would like to have a ice popsicle? Well, we have to walk Brownie first.
Maddy: Walk Brownie? No walking
Mommy: No walking? No… then we can’t have ice popsicle
Maddy: Walking!
Mommy: ok.. and you can have your ice AFTER we walk Brownie.
On the way home from school today-
Mommy: Maddy, daddy is in California now. He won’t come back until Friday.
Maddy: Daddy meeting!
Mommy: Yea, daddy has many meetings there.
(Daddy had several weekend/weeknight church meetings and Maddy had associated meetings with the reason daddy is away)
=======================
In her playroom drawing on this magnetic board-
Maddy: Mommy, froggy!
Mommy: You want mommy to draw a froggy?
Maddy: Maddy froggy.
Mommy: Draw a Maddy froggy?
Maddy: Yea
Mommy: (I drew a froggy)
Maddy: clean
Mommy: Mommy wants to draw another froggy (and I started to doodle)
Maddy: (squeezed herself next to me, took my pen, and said) Move back.
Mommy: (I was in shock.. and started laughing in my head… thinking.. I think my daughter just told me to ‘move back’) Did you say ‘move back’?
Maddy: (totally ignoring me).. Maddy daw (her draw) daddy froggy
Girls night in
Daddy flew to CA for work today, so it’s just Maddy, Brownie and me at home.
Baby girl had refused to sit in her high chair since yesterday… “big girl” she said and insisted on climbing up the breakfast table. We put in her portable booster chair, and called it the “big girl” chair and she’s been eating at the big table with us.
The weather had turned cold all the sudden. Maddy didn’t get to sit outside on the deck with her popsicle, but we made snow cone anyway as our reward after walking Brownie. She was so patient, watching me fumbling through all the steps (it was my first time making it with the little cheap machine I got from Target), but finally started to pant like she just couldn’t take it any more.
We stayed in… did more paintings (she is starting to get the colors right; she got blue and yellow correctly consistently… even when she picked the syrup for her snow cone); didn’t want to watch TV but asked for her Elmo match-&-find book (totally put mommy in shame; yep, tried to get her to watch TV so I can tidy up the place); hung out in her playroom and had quite a few funny conversations with her. We also got to talk to daddy on the phone before she went to bed.
She is as darling as she can be, and so observant as a 21-month-old… I love every inch of her (and she has a lot of rou-rou for us to love)
05.22.05
Pool gal
After a whole day of church events (worship practice in the morning and the whole afternoon of short-term mission training) on Sat, we decided that we would hang out and relax on Sunday afternoon.
So we ventured out to our Carpenter Village pool for the first time after Maddy woke up from her nap today. One thing we absolutely LOVE about our subdivion is how family-oriently it is (well, the whole ‘South’ is more family-oriently in general). We couldn’t be more pleased with the accessbility to the lake, playground, swimming pool, stores(a music school is opening in a few weeks too), etc… all within our subdision.
We did learn a few things as ‘newbies’ though:
1) We will drive to the pool next time. Although it is really just a 5-min walk, having to lug all the towels and a 27-pound toddler who wants to stop by just about every 10 yards can get very tiring under the bright sun.
2) We need some beach toys to bring along next time… that and hats for mommy and daddy
Baby girl had a blast just staying at the shallow end. She wouldn’t come out even after I asked her several time.. “Half mini”(half minute) she said…
We were saved by the wristle at the end. One guy came in and blew the wristle at 5:00pm. We heard “Time to go” from ALL the parents and saw all the kids getting out at once… On our way out, we asked a neighbor how come the pool closes so early and the guy replied that it closes at 8pm and it’s just that the lifeguard gets a break at 5pm.
I imagine some parents had asked the lifeguard to blow the wristle at 5pm so that they can use it as a signal to get kids home. Works for us 
05.21.05
School stuff
A couple of new things are happening:
1) Jacob, Matthew, and Krishna are officially moving from Y1 to Y2 by end of next week. Maddy will be pleasantly surprised. Jacob and Matthew still scream “Maddy, Maddy” whenever we pass by the Y1 class, and Maddy will be happy to have some old friends joining her in her big toddler class. We will have to give K. a little more time to adjust though.
2) Summer camp starts in June. It’s the best I’ve seen so far. Partly because Maddy is now in Y2 class and old enough to participate in many of the activities. Pony rides will be greeting them on the first day of summer camp (Maddy’s been asking about ponies and the choo-choo train ever since the Spring Fling Festival). There will be Musicare; Fire truck visit; water play; discover the magic; special craft time (not her everyday craft stuff); and Tumblebus. We are most excited about the Tumblebus. It’s a mobile gymnastic class, which they converted a real school bus to gymnastic stations so kids can learn gymnastics at the parking lot of their preschool!
So much fun in the summer!
05.20.05
First full sentence
Report from daddy (I’m so proud of her I can’t wait until tonight to blog):
Daddy dropped Maddy off at her school, but all the kids were in the next room. Baby girl said
“No one’s here”!
As a true “Chen”, she stepped into the next room and stood straight up.. waited for someone (which Ms K did) to comment on her new shoes and gave her big smile.
Daddy said I just had to be there. I can totally see the whole scene in my head though, plus I have plenty of mommy-Maddy moments.
Daddy said Maddy is really an ideal child in his mind, and I couldn’t agree more. She is growing and developing much fast than we expected!
05.19.05
21 month old
Baby girl turned 21 month old yesterday, and she is so eager to grow up.
When we ask her to put on her Baby Bjourn bib during meal time, she says “no bib”, “big girl”
A big girl she is indeed, and she knows exactly what to do to melt your heart.
She says “Hi (agon/amah/grandma), miss yooooou”… “say thank you for (… )” I asked next to her, and grandparents get another loud “Thea ooh welcome; bye bye”
She is turning into a good helper too. We try to water the flowers and plants as much as possible. I love watching her pour water out from her water pail and attempt to get rid of the weeds (for her it’s pulling out the real flower). Somehow she makes the mandane and tidous work so much more worth while and fun.
She is so social like Joe… well, better than him because she actually remembers everyone’s name. She names all kids perfectly in her Y2 class and her old Y1 class; knows all the girls in church nursary; She even knows names of the kids in the neighborhood and calls them like they’re friends for years. The other day I asked her to give a kiss goodbye to a classmate (because he was on the other side of fence, and they can’t hug good-bye), and they went up to each other and gave each other a big wet kiss right on the lips. (I thought: wait a minute.. I didn’t mean on the LIPS) Ms K told me Maddy surprised her many times at school by running to her and gave her hugs from behind without being asked… that is totally daddy in her: loving people freely.
Other times she’s like me though… at least she is anal: she lines up all her bath toys a certain way (all turtles facing us and all ducks facing her); she goes around “oh-oh.. oh-oh” and points out to the mess around the house, and she gives daddy the same dirty face I give him when I am annoyed.
We just talked about how big she is and how we don’t even remember the sleepless months in the beginning… as she was being bossy and pointed out ‘our’ car(right color, right semi-SUV look, just not ours) in the parking lot at Southpoint…. she IS a big 21 month old sweet pea!
p.s. The child had personal serivce at the shoe store today; she is officially wearing size 6 1/2 sneakers!
05.18.05
Confused
Mommy: Maddy, here are your raisons… What do you say?
Maddy: Thea ooh welcome
Mommy: What?
Maddy: Thea ooh welcome
Mommy: Thank you welcome?
Maddy: (nodded)
Mommy: No you silly.. Maddy say “Thank you” and mommy say “Welcome”
Maddy: NO… NO… welcome, welcome
Mommy: Well, if mommy say ‘thank you’, then you can say ‘welcome’.
Maddy: NO… NO… (fuss fuss fuss)
Mommy: (tried to explain a couple more times without success)
So “Thea ooh welcome” it is for now.
===========
Another confused concept:
Maddy: Hel me down (while she stands on the floor and tries to get up to the couch)
Mommy: Help me “UP”
Maddy: Hel me up… hel-me down; hel-me down
05.16.05
Sibling fight
While I was washing up upstairs in the late afternoon, I heard Maddy’s angry scream followed by her tattle taling cries in searching for me from the deck.
Maddy: MOMMY!!!
Mommy: What happened?
Maddy: Ice… Brownie! cried cried cried with BIG tears
Mommy: Did Brownie take your ice popcicle?
Maddy: Yes
Mommy: I am sorry.. It’s ok, mommy give you another one…
Half of the popcicle is on the ground and Brownie was trying to lick as much as she could before I took it away. I suspect both of them were at fault. The little girl had told Brownie “No share; no share” when she first started eating out there, but Brownie followed and sat right under Maddy’s seat with her begging stares anyway. I suspect baby girl had taunted Brownie at one point and lowered her popcicle accidently to where Brownie quickly claimed it as her own.
They two have a love-hate relationship. Thankfully Brownie is such a sweet doggie. Although she really loses out most of the times, she still loves Maddy (& mommy and daddy) unconditionally.