Misc November and December Observations

Out of blue at dinner one night he picks up a pea with chopsticks, and then picks up more such that I had time to snap some shots for proof.

Andy loves to play hide and seek. When I pick him up from Joe, he would often hide under his little table and say "hiding". He dresses his pet giraffe "Baby" warmly. His favorite stuffed animals are giraffe Baby and dog Daddy that he asks for them every night.

He went to Amanda's piano recital and got to play on the full concert sized Steinway.

Andy continues to talk and repeat after people more everyday. Today (12/26) he's saying "Thank you" in Chinese in the right context. Before he would say please, thank you and welcome in Chinese all together from repeating me or skip right to "Bu2 Ke4 Qi" (welcome). Now I give him something and ask him what to say and he understands I was asking for "Xie xie" (thank you).

Photo Shoot

Andy had an expressive photo session this Saturday (12/19).

Click on the slide show below for the higher resolution picasa album for printing.

First Sleep Over Party

Tristan came over on Thursday night (12/3) as mom and dad were going to the Microsoft Christmas party. He was a bit home sick at first, getting tearing up every few minutes asking for mama. Andy became extra gentle trying to comfort him and wiping his tears. Tristan quickly warmed up and joined the cooking watching party and ate the stir fry heartly.

say cheers

They played the wooden puzzles and drew after dinner. It was interesting to observe kids having different ways of doing puzzles. Andy does one puzzle at a time while Tristan tries to fill all pieces of one shape first (i.e. works on multiple puzzles simultaneously). They also have different drawing styles. Andy likes to make outlines of molds (e.g. put his hand on the board and trace or ask me to trace) while Tristan likes to draw free styled.

Tristan usually goes to bed after 9 but he sure got on Andy's schedule tonight. The two read a bit and went down after 8 to everyone's surprise!

Tristan chose to sleep on the big bed (and Andy decided to join shortly after) so both slept side by side: "Never mind the crib mattress set up on the floor, we are babies no longer..."

Tristan had some good influence on Andy the next morning. Instead of calling for attention when he woke up, Andy saw Tristan and turned all cheerful.

It was a fun adventure for both kids and adults!

Halloween

Andy got his cousin's dinosaur outfit for the occassion and it fit him perfectly! Joe said the first time Andy had it on, it was a struggle to get it off of Andy because he really liked it!
Joe took Andy to the library story time in the morning (even the librarian was dressed up!).

In the afternoon, Andy came to the Google Halloween party. He played the games and painted pumpkin and a canvas bag. He danced around this other kid in a dog custom for quite a bit.

We went to Annie's house for dinner and trick&treat in their neighborhood. He loved all the decorations. This steam bath of glowing lights was his favorite.

More pictures here.

Indoor Playing

We got some new rainy day activities lately with the new birthday gifts. Andy got this UPS package on Friday night from my friends Chris and Juliana: a box of wooden puzzles! He got really into it right away: started working on them before dinner and more this morning (new rainy day activity).

He likes to stand in the puzzle's wooden box when doing the puzzles. One of them proves to be challenging: the kite, since it has 4 triangles that you have to oriented them all correctly.

We also got into Tiffany's play doh and one of the "Ni Hao MuLan" DVDs today. Andy loves playing with the doh and playing house using the things made from the doh. I made a little chair, a big baby, bowl of fruits, a duck, etc. He served "food" to the "baby", pretended to eat the "fruits", and made his own little figurines. I was amazed by how long Andy was completely captivated by the graphics and sounds (maybe partially due he hasn't watched any TV other than Yoga before): close to half an hour! I like the program not only teaches the language but also some ideas. For example, the "China trip" episode we watched today encourages to be open and try out new things.

He's also been walking around buzzing with the new Geo Track train head. Playing with the tracks and train has become a new part of the bed time routine.

Will have to shoot more pictures to update...

2nd Birthday Party

Bright early 10am (to avoid nap conflict) @North Rose Hill Woodlands Park right across from the condo. It was a bit chilly and cloudy in the morning, but we had lots of kids (I counted 13) and lots of fun! The decorating a hat or shirt idea got kids all working and feathers flying all over. Kids also liked the castle playground next to the picnic area.

Kids really enjoyed the sleeping party at the end (Ali and Carolyn's idea).

I was really impressed with how the girls really got into the "Get to know the most people" game I had last minute! We had 3 Caleb's and 2 Lily's at the party. The girls got every kid's name, favorite animal, favorite color and favorite word. Some facts might even be unknown to the parents :) Ashley had a creative idea of recording facts on the shirt.

The winner: Ashley

Winer of the most creative hat: Ali

Winner of the most beautiful shirt: Carolyn

The girls totally rock! They were also the awesome helpers for helping me making multiple food carrying trips to/from the condo.

Thanks all for coming. We had a great time. Andy is blessed to be among friends.

More pictures here:

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2nd Birthday (Updated)

It was a nice sunny day like 2 years ago. Andy went in for the 2 year checkup and found he now weighs 28.6 lb and is 43.25 in tall (50% in both). He is healthy and very much into the 2 year old phase (with no as his favorite word).

Didn't have much celebration on his birthday (saving it for the Saturday morning party) other than added a candle blowing surprise to the night time routine (he loved it :-) . I didn't get around to bake the banana muffin (Joe started the tradition for Andy's 1st birthday) before Friday so that'll for tomorrow.

Andy put the candles back and pleading for another round.

Update:
It turns out Joe made Andy a fancy birthday cake on his birthday: an apple tart! Andy sure loved it.

More pictures here:

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September Fall fun outings

9/7 Monday - Labor day
It was rainy in the morning, but the sun came out just in time for the neighborhood Houghton picnic. Joe took Andy there for a lot of kids fun.


9/18 Apple picking
Joe took Andy apple picking. Hmm, Andy loved it!

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9/20 Saturday - Farrel McWhirter Animal Farm
Animals! Need I say more?

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9/21 Monday - Idylwood Park
May be one of the last nice warm sunny days. See how Andy dug a sand hole for a mud spa:

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9/29 Tuesday
Andy and Joe hopped on a plane for Wisconsin. The last free ride before turning two...

Wisconsin Trip (9/21-9/29)

Andy had a fun week visiting Madison! He really enjoyed playing with cousins Kaia (2nd grader now!) and Quinn (2 months older than Andy). Andy said some alphabet after Kaia and followed her around. Grandpa Ravet tried to teach Andy to say Lavender. Andy says "Oh my dear" now learned from Grandma Ravet. He began to speak a lot more after the WI trip.

Reading with Grandpa and Quinn

Visiting Olbrich Garden

2nd week of grandparents visiting

9/4 Friday - Jetty Isand
We went to this little nice quiet Jetty island this Friday. It is a 5 minute ferry ride from the main land. Andy loved the sand as usual.

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9/5 Saturday - Snoquanomie Train ride
It's a big rainy out today. We rode the Snoquanomie Train. The conductor was awesome. I learned some history from him. Andy loved the ride, walked all over. He pottied in his little toilet for the first time this morning.

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Alaska (8/22-8/28)!

Grandpa Su, Grandma Zhong and Qi came for a two week visit. We went on a 7-day Alaska cruise the first week and hung around here the second week. They were very happy that Andy learned to call Yeye (grandpa), Nainai (grandma) and Jojo (uncle, mom side) right away and warmed up to them quickly.
On the cruise, we stopped by Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Prince Ropert (CA). On the boat, Andy enjoyed the kids play room, all shows (dance, singing, Chinese acrobat). He enjoyed the sight seeing of new places too when he's not napping (he napped over lots of them). He got accustom to the fine dinning experience that he usually refuses to leave the high chair by pulling the napkin back to his neck when we try to take it off of him.

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Sohpie Birthday Party

It's been a busy summer. Andy has grown a lot. He has become a little more talkative, saying simple words like "blue", "banana", "moon", "owl". His favorite words are of course, very 2 year old style, "no" and "more". He talks mostly in English though he understands all the words in both languages. Sophie, who is 2 month older, makes amazing progress. She sings the entire ABC song and says all the colors. It's hard to believe that she is two already!

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Guemes Island

8/7 Weekend
Ann Huber organized a 12 person "yurting" trip to a San Juan island Guemes Island. We got 3 yurts total and Andy and I shared a yurt (hut) with 2 other girls. Everyone took turns cooking meals and everything was delicious. We headed out mid day Friday and got there mid afternoon after a short ferry ride. It was very serene there. Andy liked the dome shaped skylight of the yurt, which gave him the excuse for not going to sleep until after 9 and getting up too early. Andy had a great time tossing rocks into the ocean, and chasing dogs on the beach. We got on a row boat on Saturday morning going crabbing. It was windy and cold, but Andy didn't mind at all. He was fascinated by the big crabs and star fish. We left for home mid Sunday morning. It was a very nice relaxing get away with lots of beautiful views.
Lots of pictures here:

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Forest Park and Muklteo Art Festival

Forest Park is this huge park in Everrett with an animal farm and large outdoor water play area in addition to large playgrounds.



For more pictures click on this album:

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There was the Muklteo Art Festival on that same day. Andy did some artistic expressions.

4th July

Andy spent 4th weekend with Dad. They had a good time watching the Rotary club's rubber duck racing, being in the parade, watching fire works and visiting the Aquarium.

See the yellow pond of ducks?



The next day they visited the aquarium.

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