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.

Message to Grandpa

Future Models?

Ash & Liv

What do you think? Will they make it to the Baby Gap casting call?

It's not Friday, it's "waaah"day

Poor Olivia. For most, today was TGIF, the start of the our nation's glorious Fourth of July long weekend. But for Olivia it was a day filled with "waaah". We had a pre-lunch walk today around our local reservoir trail. Olivia had a blast, walked about .2 miles before she sat down and wanted to be carried (very much like me when I was little - my sister was a long distance walker..haha). She got on her tricycle, that she loves so much, but we made her get off when we were in a nice shaded area of the trail. After some goading, Olivia was off on the trail. Running..more like falling forward. My nerves would jump every time she took off running, waiting for her to trip. And finally she did. Big echoey "waaaah" could be heard up and down the trail. Luckily no scrapes. Only a slight bump on the forehead...note the slight.

In the early evening, Olivia went to her first swim class. She loves playing with water. She loves taking a bath, but when it comes to getting herself wet up to her ne

ck, she does not like. Not to mention, she's always weary of everything. So when we got to the pool, she was excited to change into her swimsuit, while watching other kiddies get in and out of their swimsuits. When we got to the pool, she was excited, but when we got close enough to the edge, she kept trying to put herself against the wall away from the edge. Got her in by carrying her. With the pool super warm, she probably thought it was a big bathtub! But when the class began and we had to put flippers on her, and try on goggles, she knew something was up...and a low "waaah"

began...which eventually became a loud and persistent "waah". She didn't even have to dunk her head in this class! The other kiddies, who were veterans to swim class, but all around her age, looked at her quizzically as they did their lesson. I wasn't worried about what the adults were thinking, but I was worried that we were bringing down the other kiddies fun. Some had worried looks on their faces watching Olivia "waah". But I think if the class ran longer, Olivia would have gotten comfortable, as she began to splash the water around when we waited our turn to do exercises. All in all she did pretty well. I give her one more class of "waah" and she'll be pro in no time!

To finish off the "waah" day, we went to dinner with 公公 & 婆 婆. Afterwards, we were walking off our dinner and dessert when Olivia, running around and around, fell and bonked her forehead...again...so now she has a real bonafide bump and a scrape! "Waah"...that was our cue to head home. Poor baby. Hopefully she'll have a good night's sleep. More fun to come!

Pool Playdate with Baby Cous

**The fantastic photo's you see in the post are taken by Olivia's Jenny YiYi**

We had a grand ol' day today visiting with Olivia's Baby Cous. Weather report said that the weather was going to be good today, so we quickly set up an impromptu pool playdate, grabbed all our gear and headed out after our Baby Shower at our Mother's Group. It was great to see Baby Cous as he's grown so much and is now active and interactive with everything around him. It was a hoot to watch him army crawl up to Olivia and try to get her attention. What he didn't know was that Olivia had just woken up from her sleep and was still "defrosting" and evaluating her situation. Afterall, she woke up in the car, with no Mama there and a strange man...I mean Uncle Billy opening the door and bringing her into a room occupied by YiYi's and Uncles! Baby Cous was actually getting frustrated with the lack of recognition from Olivia, but finally she warmed up and acknowledged Baby Cous to his delight!

After playing with the Uncles and having ate all her lunch, Baby Cous woke up from his nap and off to the pool everyone went! Olivia had a wonderful time. I tried to put her in this body float thing, but realized that it only works if she knows how to doggy paddle, otherwise it doesn't do much. When she saw Baby Cous' floatie, she thought it was hers and was wanting very much to go in it. Luckily I brought hers as a back-up!

With Sandy YiYi

Twin Floaties

With Baby Cous

Oh! Found this photo of them at Olivia's 1st Bday Party!

Hmmm....Remind You Of Anyone?

Mind you, no prompting at all...must be genetic:

Water Fun Fun Fun

Okay, I've decided to say, "to heck with the 3 W's - Worries, Weather and Work!" Olivia is going to have the best summer ever and I'm going to record it all so that she can remember it! haha.

To continue with summer fun (which Otter Pops kicked it off), we headed out to the Ting's for a last minute playdate with Ashton (~17 mos). Earlier this week, we had another last minute meet-up with

Ashton at a local park where Olivia had a ball pushing Ashton in his car and feeding him his milk. It was so cute to see the two of them run around together.

So off we went to the Ting's where Aunt Rach & Benjamin (15 1/2 mos) joined the playdate...which then turned into a water fight with the kiddies. Okay, so not really a water fight, but boy did they have fun! Ashton's mom had bought him a water table and was excited to have the kiddies break it in. After all, we did hit above 60F today! haha

I would have taken more videos but my camera didn't have enough room. Below is a video of their first time playing at the table. Olivia cracked us up. She's so typically girlie girl giving stink-eyes when getting splashed, be it by Ashton or herself...haha. But Benjamin, at 15 1/2 months, held his own amongst the oldies...he'll be splashing them in no time!

The ultimate is at the end of this video when Olivia told Ashton how she really felt about being splashed...and he barely even got her! I must say, the fierce girl runs strong on my side of the family...though I think Dave's side would say the same too! haha

Thanks so much for the fun Aunt Irene! Olivia can't wait for more!

Honorary Ting Super Heroine

Better Than Sliced Bread!

You will be as tickled pink as our dear girl Olivia when watching her experience her first Otter Pop. You remember those icy cold treats on a hot summer's eve? Well, I just couldn't stand it anymore. Hot or not, I was eager to give Olivia her first Otter Pop experience. And with that I grabbed my phone so that she can remember her simple joys in life when she's a surly teen.

**Note - her dainty fingers and her "Mmmm's" haha

Liv And Her Trix

Do you remember having to perform all these little tricks or requests from parents, aunties and uncles? eesh. Well...I am guilty of doing that to my daughter! So much fun! One of the perks of being a parent. Too bad kids stop obliging your requests once they are past 3 years old! But for now, requesting trix are a parent's perk:

Gilroy Gardens Sneak Peek

Uploading some videos for the grandparents & Ai-Yi. Just a sneak peak. Will blog about our adventures today after my upcoming customer demo. In the meantime take a peek!

This was Olivia's 1st amusement park ride ever. She had been on the merry-go-round at South Coast Plaza in southern California (which she loved), but we couldn't tell if she enjoyed this one. She did have an apprehensive look as she evaluated the first 10 seconds of the ride....we, ourselves, were just trying to not to get nauseous from the spinning!

Olivia was pretty content when I placed her in the fishy. Right up until there was a slight jerk as the ride began and then her eyes went doe-eyed. Notice the grip on the fishy. She was a trooper, though she did ask to "up" from the fishy. Good job Olivia! That was her first and last solo ride for the day...haha

So we decided to sit out the next ride and let her watch which, as you can see, she enjoyed much more. She loved watching Hannah, Logan & Miranda circle by and her Aunties saying hi to her from the ride.

We couldn't resist. Olivia loves ducks. Ducks & Wo-Wo's (dogs). So when we saw this toy, we had to splurge and get it for her.

It was a hit with Olivia. She was very determined to walk the duck herself. We did joke around that they should sell bill guards for the duck...haha

We found the best solution for Olivia to walk the duck....

Okay, that's it for now....I'll try to upload some more videos and will add more photos of today's adventure at Gilroy Gardens!

Start of Mother's Day Weekend

Today Olivia got to eat lunch at Happy Cafe with 婆 婆 & 公公. She was very much friend with 婆 婆 today. Afterwards, we got cream puffs from Beard Papa's (right behind Osteria Coppa!). 公公 then went to the gym while 婆 婆, Liv, and I went to the San Mateo Library. She got to watch and interact with some boys close to her age. She was as good with sharing as she was taking block puzzles from the boys. She then fitted herself in a square box while one of the boys slid her books (see photo). Olivia and 婆 婆 fell asleep in the car on the way home. I was able to transfer Olivia to her crib with no trouble, while 婆 婆 slept in the car (both slept for 2 hours!).

For Liv's afternoon snack, she fed herself mango from 公公 while watching "The Letter Factory." I was amazed at her singing and sounding the letters on cue to the video! Didn't get a chance to video it though, will try next time.

Around 5:30ish, we headed off to San Francisco to Market St & Van Ness Ave (to Dave's dismay) where we met our favorite local artist, Tomoko Maruyama (we have her artwork hanging in our living room). She recognized us right away, I think I mentioned that David and Baby would be coming with me tonight. We got to ask her questions about her artwork and take a photo with her (see photo). We also got a 1/25 original of her gallery collection called Spring in San Francisco. The title of the artwork is "Blooming Lotus." They are framing it for us; we'll have to pick up end of the week (muy...? :))

After the show, we to dinner at "Houston's." Our reservation was for 8:15pm (couldn't get anything earlier), but we were told that we could try to come in earlier and they'd try to seat us. When we got there around 7:40p, it looked liked we'd have to wait, so we settled down near the bar where we gave Liv 2 almond crackers (one for each hand of course!). She behaved wonderfully, given that we were almost an hour past her late dinner time. Though she did fuss a little until we realized that she wanted to sit on our laps!

The restaurant was nice enough to give us a mini-etch-a-sketch - which we let her play with after hand-sanitizing it...even then I squirmed watching her fondle the toy and try to stick the pen in her mouth...haha. She was on and off fussy, seemed like she wanted to sit on my lap, but we kept telling her after she's done, which she seemed to accept. She ate (along with her congee) french fries, beef slices from my French Dip, some of David's ribs and some artichoke hearts! Each time she would shake her head until I insisted/forced her to try...and every time she would like the new item and eat the rest of it! To finish it off, we gave her an adult spoon to dip into the after dinner Sundae...DIP, not scoop! (see photo). I wish we could video, but it was too dark. They had live jazz and Olivia would just rock out to the music! Maybe she'll get some of her Great-公公's love for jazz & talent for music!

As we drove towards Houston's, I reminisced on my numerous visits to my Hau 婆 婆 & 公公. We even drove by the apartment. I can almost can see my 婆 婆 waiting by the window...

T'was a wonderful start to my Mother's Day weekend. Am looking forward to celebrating my wonderful super Mom tomorrow night at dinner.

When the sun is out the people will play

Oh how I love good weather. I thrive on good weather. So much gets done! And because I zip around and can get things done, I can go have nice lunches with Olivia. Today we went to the Burlingame park by my old high school. Olivia got to wear light clothes, though my sister still tells me that I over dressed her. Are you kidding? Olivia is only wearing 2 layers! I also plopped her old UCLA Bruins hat on her that we got for her awhile back. She's already growing out of it! Will have to buy another bucket hat for her, because she looks adorable with her big head and cheeks!
We had a picnic at the park, she was very good with eating her food, though she kept wanting to walk around. It was quite a challenge making sure she didn't trip on the uneven ground between grass and asphalt. We laid out a picnic blanket under some shade and watched the big kids and doggies go by.
Olivia loved walking right up to the bigger kiddies and watching what they are doing and sometimes touching what they are touching. Luckily the kids were all nice and the parents were all relaxed as Olivia would pick up random toys and play with it. Can't wait to get her a sand pail and shovel. She loved the ones lying about. Below is a video of her playing with one. While playing a little boy came up to her - boy was she snappy. I guess we don't have to worry too much for now...haha.
All in all a wonderful day, the only disappointment was David could not stay the whole time due to hospital shifts :( We'll just have to cross our fingers for more sunny weathered days when David is off!

Our baby is 18 Months today!

My oh my! Time flies when you've got a wonderfully behaved/happy baby. Olivia is officially a year and a half old. To celebrate we took her to see Dr. Tanaka for her 18-month check up :( As we made our way to the hallway leading up to the doctor's office, she started to become aware of her surroundings. She looked around wide-eyed as David carried her to the office. Still wary, we waited briefly in the waiting room. When called, David carried her into the hallway leading to the exam room, to which Olivia started crying immediately! She wanted nothing to do with the exam table. We had to carry her in the room until she calmed down. We managed to sit her down to remove her clothes, but she just knew something was up. Boy was she right. The nurse came in to weigh her and measure her. She would not having anything to do with it. Luckily (though I think they did it on purpose) we got a room with a large window looking out.

Yo Gabba Gabba

Yet another of Liv's high-chair rock outs. For those who are familiar with Yo Gabba Gabba, here's Olivia's Dancey Dance:

Go Bruins!

We were so excited to have Olivia wear her UCLA cheerleading outfit, but with the cold weather and the Bruins losing in just round 2 of the NCAA, we are hoping that she will still fit it for football season. haha.

We sent this to her Grandpa via email stating that UCLA is her back-up and with the way the economy is going and healthcare regulations, she's going to have to practice her cheerleading in hopes of getting a scholarship! Just kidding Grandpa!

She may look like she's cheering for UCLA, but she's really cheering for Yo Gabba Gabba. (reference Liv Rocks Out - note the hand raising in the end of the video and this film strip!)

Orange you having fun?

Just a normal day at the Feldman house...

Here's a collage (yes I love making collages) of Liv with her 阿 姨 having wine and oranges!

O is for Orange

Japan

Our family's hearts go out to those who have been affected by the 8.9 earthquake and its aftermath. Fortunately for us, Aaron and Hiromi (and her family) are safe. Hiromi went to stay with her parents on the other side of the country. Aaron is staying behind working, as well as actively helping at the crisis center.

Thank you for all your concern. Please send all your love, prayers and good thoughts to those in Japan. It's a reminder to us that life is so fleeting. You can worry and plan all you want, but when it's your time, it's your time. So take a moment and look around you and appreciate what you have at this very moment.

Rest of MLK Day...

Okay, yes, two blog posts in one day = Bonnie procrastinating with work. Today is MLK day and David didn't have to work, nor I, but silly me didn't know I had today off when I agreed to do a presentation/demo for a customer tomorrow, Tuesday! Just this last post and I will get back to work.

We had a wonderful rest of the day after my first video. David and I took Olivia & Higgins for a walk (what a treat to all as we don't often get to do this all together). Icing on the cake was that the day was beautiful & hot, so we decided to walk to the neighboring park and let Liv play! We started the walk with Olivia bundled in her puffy jacket (the same one worn in Tahoe - which was 20 degrees colder!) and felt quite embarrassed to see our child so bundled compared to the t-shirt wearing children at the playground. So we finally took of the coat..haha.

In the evening we had the Park family over, the husband is a close friend of David from UCI (and one our groomsmen). We had a wonderful visit and Olivia got to play with Matteo (and was taught to share - or at least attempts were made by me!). We definitely won't have anything to worry about if this personality trait holds. She is not shy and is not afraid to stand up for herself or stake a claim in her things -- as you'll see in the video.

I caught part of this funny interaction during dessert when our young visitor was much obliging to his parents' request to give Liv kisses, and Liv obliged in return with no prompting...uh-oh.... But what I didn't upload was another video later where Liv still wanted to give kisses but the young lad would not have anything to do with it...double uh-oh...do we need to worry?!

Poor Higgins, on the other hand, did not fair as well tonight as he was scolded and put in time out several times for growling, barking and jumping up on people & child! Though it's a zero tolerance house for him, I do feel bad as Higgy was reacting to, and probably scared stiff from, being harassed and chased after by an enthusiastic, hyperactive, good-intentioned toddler boy...but still "no-no Higgy." In the beginning, he was great--very hyper and happy to see everyone. By end of night he just didn't want to be bothered, nor did he want to be approached.

All in all it was a great day.

Hats off to all those who fought for their rights and rights of others.
Thank you for your inspiration Dr. King.

Olivia feeding Higgins

Now, I'm really being sporadic with my blog posts. I still have several old adventures to tell and photos to post. Right now, I really should be prepping for a customer presentation for tomorrow, but I couldn't resist videoing and uploading Olivia feeding Higgins. As we start to approach the terrible two's, we are starting to see the mischievousness in Liv. The video below is of her after I scolded her for putting her hands in Higgy's water dish. Note at the very end when she was tempted to put her hands again in the water dish..and the naughty look when I reminded her it's a no-no!