Holy Bday Cake Batman! Zachary is 2!

We managed to pull off a decent 2nd birthday celebration for our dear lil' superhero Zachary.  Bonnie was a bit worried as Baby Mei Mei is due Jan 26th, and did not want to commit to anything too extravagant or a venue in case the party had to be cancelled.

So in a very unorganized and wishy manner a super party was planned.  Bonnie got her idea from Olivia's original BFF from PJCC, Alina, 4th bdaly party.  Alina had an awesome Fondant Superhero Cake and Superhero Decorations.  We had the party at the house, plus is that there's no commitment in case anything happens but the big con is having to clean up the house, or find a place to shove...er store...all the miscellaneous items.  It's quite unmotivating to clean when you know that after the party the house will be in more of a shambles than to begin with!  So no games, hide some toys (esp crayons, little legos, playdoh!) and lug out the bounce house! 

Keeping to the low key theme, L&L BBQ, Mac Salad and Musubi was ordered (best L&L in the Bay Area) but Bonnie couldn't help ordering a Sashimi Platter from Suruki Market and making her own version of Zippy's chili.  She really wanted Poke from Pacific Catch but had to limit her expectations and unrealistic goals.  haha...the cake was originally going to be picked up the morning of the party at 9am in Outer Sunset (by the Pacific Ocean) but last minute, Elaine volunteered space in her fridge and picked it up the evening before.  Good call.  Bonnie's Dad miraculously cleared space in the fridge and was able to store the veggie and fruit platter and guacamole from Costco!  Let's just say how blessed are we who have family and and family that live nearby!

We had a decent turnout of superheros.  If Bonnie weren't pregnant she would probably have taken it to the next level, with games, etc.  As is, Elaine, the super AiYi had cut out all these bats to decorate and was about to have a secret entrance created to come into the house! Alas, life has gotten busy and the imagination and creativity had to just be set at a more realistic level.  As is, AiYi had to print all the decorations and cut them all out by hand!

Turning 2, Zachary was more aware of everything and everyone.  When it came time to singing happy birthday he was taken aback the volume and attention he received.  He ended up covering his ears with his hands throughout the song.  Zachary, and Olivia, had a blast with all their superhero friends and eating all the fondant off the cake.  They even tried eating the superheroes themselves and ended up with quite the colorful mouth.

All in all, Bonnie the super bday/party critic was very happy - thanks to the help of her sister, parents and husband in pulling this off.  The big question now is how to celebrate Zachary and Mei Mei's bday next year!!  haha...nutty Mom.

Celebrating Liv's 5th With Classmates & Friends

Olivia Celebrating Her 5th Birthday with classmates, family and friends at Pump It Up

Story to come soon.

Big Girl Report

Olivia is a few days shy of 26 months old today. I can't keep up with her milestones/achievements. So let me quickly give an update before I forget myself!

I got to observe for the first time her tucking herself in for the nap. The Nanny, for the last couple of days, have been getting her up to her bed, handing her a book and leaving the room. Letting Olivia browse her book and then fall asleep. She still uses her paci, and if anything, is a little more attached to it than ever before. We decided to let her stay with her paci for awhile longer as long as it's only during nap time and bedtime in her bed, and only in her bed (not out). We hope that she'll be able to wean herself off as she did with breastfeeding, bottle feeding, etc.

She's still using diapers, but on occasion she will let us know that she needs to "peepee" or "bootboot". The Nanny now tries to create a routine, after her lunch, of sitting on her potty singing songs until she does her business. Speaking of songs, she's quite a ham and loves to perform. She's recently picked up two mandarin songs: Zhǎo ya zhǎo ya zhǎo péngyou and one about a turtle being born and trying to find its mother (can't find online).

Thanks to LeapFrog's Letter Factory, she can recite her alphabet and identify 90% of the letters. She can count to ten, but her 5 is always a 9...so it's 1-2-3-4-9-6-7-8-9-10. I suppose the 5 and 9 has a similar sound to each other...haha. She likes to play hide and seek with her 阿 姨. Liv is a great seeker but a terrible hider! haha. I don't think I've mentioned but months ago, before she turned 2, she can say her name "O...lah" and how she is "toooooo" as she sings it out with enthusiasm.

And after all the characteristics she exhibits of her 阿 姨 (possibly David too), she started breaking out and becoming more like...climbing on anything she can climb..though she's a bit clumsy still...more like her 阿 姨...haha.

One last report...our dear little toddler can not jump. When asked for her to jump, she looks like a wounded bird trying to take flight. It's the most hilarious thing, you'll need to ask to see the video if you ever want a laugh. Picture a wounded bird squatting real low and then standing up real fast with one leg in the air (one foot always on the ground) going "hop hop hop" "jump" "hop"!

Liv's Cooking Show

What's better than a store bought water table, you're own home made water table! Olivia has the making of a television cooking host or a host of any television show as she's never short on words. The (pilot) segment below has not been subtitled yet, nor is any closed captioning provided, but hopefully the audience will get the gist of what she's demoing for you today on Olivia's Cooking Show. There was only one live member audience (Mr. Higgins) - an interview with our audience member to follow. Enjoy the show!
** note the little mini-pre-show dance (my sister was calling my mom that elicits a little dance tune..haha)
** see TicketMaestro for upcoming show tickets

Shoo Fly Don't Follow Me

Omigosh, just a quick post, but I discovered that Olivia has an aversion to flies, or bugs that can fly! Today, she was happily having her afternoon snack of milk & apples, watching her Leap Frog DVD. I took the opportunity to clean up in the kitchen, when I hear her jibbering a lot and not eating her apples, nor watching her DVD. She would jibber at her apples and jibber/screech at me. So I walk over to look at her apples and see this big fat fly in walking along her bowl. I shoo it away and take her apples to the kitchen to wash. As I walk away, she starts screaming more and clearly not happy. I thought it was because I took her apples away, but when I gave it back, she was looking around the room, jibbering and starting to cry. By then my Mom came by and I let her in, to which Olivia proceeded to squeal. We took her out of her highchair, but by then she was crying and freaking out, looking around the room and screaming on occasion. Finally, we were able to distract her by getting her to the kitchen sink to play with soapy water. But even then she'd freak out every so often. We relayed this to my Dad when he came over to cook dinner, and he told me that she was scared when they were watching a video that had bumble bees in it. I guess the 2's are kicking in. Hopefully this fear will pass!

Our Little Helper

So, today's the first official weekday with the Nanny (vacation back in Canton) not here. And let me say, easy as pie. But I'm not going to lie, there were a few challenges with my calls popping up and Dave saying he has to work and send out emails and call so-and-so. But overall a very successful day (thanks to our little helper - see video below). I did manager to cook up my breakfast burrito and wWe even got to go to the park after her nap. Liv is growing up so fast. While at the park, she tried socialize and tried to emulate the big kids romping around, going down tall slides to swirly slides to even trying to slide on her back backwards! Of course she wasn't able to do that herself, but was ever so delighted when her 阿姨 and I helped her lie on her back and slide down backwards! She's not the most coordinated, nor agile, kid on the block, but she's got the dare devil in her with a bit of self-preservation! In the evening, we had 公公 come to the rescue with his famous oxtail stew (with no oxtail, only beef, out of consideration of the gwei-lo...hehe) and his mushroom medley dish - which Olivia loves! We do miss our Nanny's help, but I for one am enjoying the quiet annoyance-free-air of this household...well not so quiet...haha.

Swimming Lesson #3

Olivia made great strides with getting her face wet. It was helpful that the weather was great and we got to go to the pool at our sports club almost 5 days in a row! By the 2nd swim lesson, she did not cry, in fact she was the only one who didn't cry and was able to return the concerned look to her swim peers. ;)
Below is a video of her 3rd swim lesson where she had to run off the mat and jump in the water. We were very proud. as was she with her performance ... aha. We now have to work on her "bubble face" (to reduce water intake up the nose) and her "elbow-elbow-tummy-knee-knee" (getting out of the pool). For "bf" she likes to stick her tongue out and for "2eT2k" she likes to just hang out on the ledge of the pool on her elbows...no desire to exert herself..sigh. At least we are making headway.