A mothering journey with my two beautiful girls
Height: 30 inches (25-50%)
Weight: 20 pound 13 oz (25-50%)
Words she says consistently:
Mama
Dada
jiejie
Browbrow (Brownie)
oh-oh
ou-ou-ou-ah-ah-ah (monkey)
jau-jau (feet in Chinese)
herro (hello)
Words she says occasionally:
the end
more
We got notices from the girls’ preschool mentioning both of them will be transitioned to the next class in three weeks: Maddy to their Private Pre-Kindergarten and Livy to Young Toddler II.
Although the info about the pre-K program is filled with new things to me (such as Bracken Assessments), I am quite pleased that Maddy gets to move up right after she turns four. She is ready, and I am ready.
Y2 should be a cake as well. Maddy went through the same class two and a half years ago. It’s just right across the hall from Livy’s current class. There is nothing to it. I whined. I fussed. I acted immature to the director: “You can’t move her yet”… blah blah blah “It’s not fair”(I don’t even know what posessed me to say that. It seemed like a ‘reasonable’ thing to say at the time). Thank goodness the director knows me on most other days when I behave like an adult. She assured me that she understands this transition is the hardest for all parents (I was slightly relieved that maybe she had forgotten the fact I also acted with great stupidity when Livy was transitioned from infant to young toddler I) I am so not ready for my baby girl to grow up.
Maddy: Mommy, You’re a lot skinny and a little fat.
Mommy: Is that right? Where am I ‘a little fat’?
Maddy: on your tummy and your butt.
Note to self- must ask Santa for a tummy tuck.
I don’t know what came over me the other day. The snobbish side of me took over and decided that if I’ve been working in the high-tech industry for 10+ years, surely I am capable of cutting my own baby’s hair. Apparently my confidence was still running high from making my first set of french braid on Maddy.
The result was horrendous. Poor baby girl wore this “Brownie just chewed my hair” do for entire three days before we finally got a chance to take her for a real haircut.
We tried out this new Peekado by Southpoint. God took pity on Livy. Because someone just happened to cancel their appointment, Livy was able to squeeze in for a quick fix-it-up. The place is pleasant, and her final do was worth a lot more than the $9.00 they charged us.
I shall never again try such thing on either of the girls!
After I came home from the gals’ get-together-
Daddy: How was it? Let me see.
Mommy: [showing off my newly done toes]
Daddy: [silence for a while.. apparently not sure what to say] Do they glow in the dark?
Mommy: They’re called FRENCH PEDICURE!!
You would think that given the long period of silent time, daddy can come up with more PC things to say.
A few girls decided to get our pedicures done today because
1) Everyone knows that you have to have BEAUTIFUL toes when you give birth (J’s due date is in two weeks)
2) We need to use J as an excuse to pamper ourselves.
I thought about just ‘leave’ and have daddy handle everything, but ended up getting their lunch ready so daddy doesn’t have to worry about entertaining two hungry girls after their swimming. Part of me still think that one day I should just let daddy do everything once so he knows what he puts me through.
I had a good time with the gals. How can you complain after a good french pedicure and a vanila frappi from Star Bucks and some wonderful company.
To top my day, I came home hearing the special gift Livy left daddy in the bathtub and two sleeping cutie pies. Life can’t get any better than this!
At 15 months and 2 days, baby girl has finally decided that walking is the IN thing…Not just stretch out her arms and go “Ah, ah”, nor her crab crawl with both knees in the air.
Congratulations to the toddler-hood, mei-mei!
While she diligently worked on the alphabet games on the computer, I attempted my first making of french braids. The girl was delighted to have the same hairstyle as her big girl cousin Colleen. I thought I did a pretty good job, thanks to all the tips and the demo given by MB during our family reunion in Tornonto.
Baby girl LOVES her bottles. She loves them so much that I don’t have the heart to wean her off her last two bottle feedings (one when she first wakes up and one right before she goes to bed) although I had promised myself several times that I will not buy another HUGE jar of Next Step toddler formula.
As usual, the baby was having her addiction this morning when I found out that the tip was leaking. I struggled to get the bottle out of her mouth so I can fix it before her entire shirt is soaked with milk. She threw a fit — inconsolable!
The difference between the baby and the girl at her stage: If I gave back the bottle to the girl, she would have taken it happily and moved on with her life.
The reaction of the baby (although didn’t come as a surprise after living with her for an entire duration of 14 months): She frailed her arms violently and refused to take her bottle back… even after she calmed down from her tantrum and appeared to be as rational as a 14 month old could be.
With Olivia Faith Chen, it is always about her principles.
I never take granted to call this girl and these two MY family, but when I saw this picture this afternoon, my first thought was quite self-indulging:
“Joseph Chen, you are one LUCKY man!!”
Ah-goon and Ah-ma visited us this weekend. It’s really nice to have extra hands to help out speically daddy had an all-morning meeting at church on Sat.
Ah-ma even brought a special friend from her class in TN. The girls are delighted to have a weekend pet they can carry around. Mommy and daddy are delighted that they got to go out at night to a coffee shop listening to an old friend perform as if we are happening people; we shameless allowed Ah-ma to fold our laundry (again), and we got to eat yummy home cooking as well.
Thanks to the un-characteristic cool summer days, we also enjoyed the family walks in the late afternoons!
Tonight we were invited to have dinner with Maddy and Livy’s classmates. C and Maddy were in the same class ever since we moved here three years ago, and Livy and C’s little sister are also in the same class since they were six month old.
It struck me how easy it is to hang out with other families at the same stage of life: We have become experts of carrying on conversations with little requests and interruptions along the way; We share experiences and findings of local classes for the kiddos (they live in two major subdivisions down the streets from us); We have similar schedules, which work out perfectly for all of us.
But I am most grateful for the many insignficant parts of our interactions: No one (including adults) freaked out when Maddy had a melt down because she just ‘needed’ to have a bun that is EXACTLY like C’s. No one (including adults) went into panic mode when Livy fell down backwards and hit her head on the deck (nothing a kiss and a hug can’t heal). Perhaps the mere fact that we’ve chosen the same preschool and they moved to this side of the town already indicate we have much in common when it comes to making decisions for our children. Perhaps it just happens that we also believe in the importance of routines and sleep training. Perhaps it happens that we also have the same taste when it comes to houses and we ooh & ah about each other’s homes and subdivisions like kids finding treasures (definite guest room on first floor; kids rooms on 2rd floor but NOT too close to the master; the bonus room turned playroom; and the lack of a mudroom for both our homes… how we enjoy raising our families in Cary, etc..)
For whatever reasons that brought us together, it was wonderful!!
