WI Trip

5/21 Wednesday
We spent the day in transit. We got up early to catch the bus to the airport. The flights were ok, the second lag was a little late. Andy took it a lot better than I anticipated. He was happy for the most part, the second lag was a little rough. He dozed off from time to time but no long naps. Plane taking off or landing didn't seem to bother him; he focused on nursing at those times. The entire Ravet family came to greet him at the airport, so he got to meet his cousins Quinn and Kaia for the first time. We stopped by Irene's to pick up the traveling crib and some of Lilian's favorite toys when she was Andy's age.

5/22 Thursday

Today was the first day in Madison. The weather was nice and sunny. It was pretty relaxing. We walked around the neighborhood.

Here is Andy in cool shades.

It's been almost two years since we came back the last time. I met up with Irene at the Memorial Union Terrace. It's the popular terrace right outside the student union by Lake Mentoda. 17 mo Lilian was very talkative. I was impressed by how much the kid understands at that age and how strong her language skill was (able to say things in 2-3 languages).

With Irene and Lilian at the Terrace

5/23 Friday
LR got to check out the "Family Enhancement Center" today. They have lots of toys and an outdoor playing area. He was a bit timid about the new place. I visited Irene again to observe the in-home nanny experience. Irene shared lots of baby learning tidbits. She used pudding for paint when Lilian started trying her hands with art projects (didn't have enough hand coordination for writing utensils).

5/24 Saturday
We went to the farmers market on the capitol square today. It's a beautiful early summer day. Pictures.

At the Farmers Market

In the afternoon we went to the Carson's for a memorial day grill out. Carolyn has 3 boys now, the youngest Lucas is 3 months old. It was a lot fun getting together with them.

Lucas and Andy say Hi to each other

5/25 Sunday
It's Joe's big running day today. The weather was perfect for it, cloudy and cool. He had a cramp by mile 14 but managed to complete his first marathon. Joe's parents and us cheered him on at a few mile stops. We are all very proud of him. Andy enjoyed watching all the runners. Pictures

A developmental observation:
I noticed tonight that Andy was able to pull the bottle out of his mouth and push it back in with both hands. He did this several times as he emptied the bottle. It was exciting to see this hand coordination.

5/26 Monday
Bob got to meet Andy for the first time here.

5/27 Tuesday
I took Andy to see the fish hatchery at my dad's work DNR this afternoon. Andy was interested in all the wild life there.

DNR walking trail

5/28 Wednesday
We got up before 5am for the flight home. The week went by so fast. It was great to see families and friends and Madison was at its prettiest this time of the year. Andy has been a good sport traveling. He didn't have any problem with plane ascending or descending; in fact, landing seems to put him to sleep! He seemed to adjust to the new places and time difference well to my surprise. He cried a little more for a couple of the nights, but still fell asleep about the same time at night (after 9pm). He automatically adjusted to CST in the mornings: the first day he woke up after 9am, and then were 6:30-7am consistently. Though he exhibited a little shyness towards new places and people, we were also glad that he warmed up to the families and friends quickly.

First Haircut

Ok, too many complains about his hair getting long and questions of "is it a boy or girl?" and that it'd be nice to look sharp on his first WI trip in a couple of days, so here came his first haircut. Andy had a thick patch on the top of the head mainly, so that made the haircut easy. He sat down in the "barer chair" (the car seat) in the bathroom, and the patch was trimmed in a few snips. He behaved surprisingly well during the cut.

Before:

But started to fuss right after. Maybe he was missing the long hairdo.

Happy old self again after the shower.

Mini Play Date

The week went by fast. Monday was rainy. We checked out the library's kids corner. Tuesday we hung out with Xiaoying quite a bit and got the SunDance daycare application (likely to go there in September). Wednesday we spent the afternoon with Rebecca and Tristan after their Snuggler class. We chatted a lot about experiences of being new moms. Then the summer came as it got closer to the weekend!

Saturday was the first of the summer baby play date at Shelly's. We stopped by Brian's first, then Rebecca's, and finally Shelly's, so we got to visit lots of babies today. It's amazing how fast babies grow when you haven't seen them for a while. Shelly just moved to a beautiful new house recently. Sophie (9 mo) has made amazing progress in her motor skill. She walks pretty well with a hand on the coffee table, and gets up by herself after a fall now. Her stair climbing video was very cool. She and Andy were the loudest of the bunch. They shouted back and forth as if they were conversing in their own language.
Here is a slide show of it:

First Mother's Day

It felt strange that people were wishing me a happy Mother's Day. I was even putting down my mom's name on the line for "Mother's name" without a blink on the daycare application. It was only recently that I came to understand the feeling of motherhood better. On a jog one day I realized all of sudden how much I love this kid, how powerful the feeling of I'd do anything for this kid was. Before it was more of tending to him on a day-to-day basis and that it's been fascinating watching him grow. It's after 6 months now I started to think more about the next 18 years. I also came to understand my mom and other moms better and realized I shouldn't take her love for granted.

It was a little rainy at first and then turned sunny. My friend Bill at the drawing session even got me a gift and a sketch he did when Andy got on the model stand! We went to the Olympic Sculpture Park after drawing and discovered a community garden while walking from the parking spot to the park. Andy got carried away touching the flowers and wanted to pick the tulips and Calla lilies that we had to pull him away. He was also fascinated by the fountain at the base of the park. Pictures here.
Joe got me some coasters with Andy's pictures on them that were very special to me.

7 mo Observations and Misc

Andy turns 7 mo and we have a couple of visitors to come to see him for the first time. Alice and Fred are long time family friends from WI who have been like grandparents to me (so Andy qualifies as their first great grandson). We walked around the Kirkland marina and galleries, and had lunch at work. It was really nice to catch up with them!

Last weekend we also had a couple visitors for Andy. Li gave Andy a cool puzzle matt to learn walk on; Andy has been playing with the colorful pieces already (not all chewed up yet). Monica came with the high chair so Andy started eating at the same height as us at dinners now. He likes to bang on the big tray vigilantly for joy, and for more.

I finally got around to learning the sewing machine so refitting a summer hat was the first product of it here.

Rebecca (has a 1 month old Tristan) swings by after her Snuggler class sometimes so here is a picture of the two (Andy seems so much bigger in comparison).

7 month observations
- He likes to beat one leg in rhythm when he's eating.
- He still drools and spits and likes to chew on things more now (teething soon?).
- Stronger grip.
- He distinguishes between familiar and unfamiliar faces now. He used to smile at any stranger, but now he would study the unfamiliar intently for a while, and then curls up and buries his head on me as if he was getting shy, and then decides to smile or retreat.