4th July Uncle Brad's Family Visit

Brad, Karin and Kaia came for a week visit during 4th July as well. Andy split time between my family and Joe's. He grew very attached to cousin Kaia.



Having a good time at a birthday party at Seattle Children's Museum (which has become a ritual to go with daddy on Sundays).

Boise Trip

We went on a long car trip (8hr, split into 2 days) to Boise to visit Matthew's grandparents (10/1 eve-10/8). It was a lot of fun and relaxing (internet free). Andy did surprisingly well on the trip. He only got cranky when we got close to Boise declaring he didn't want to go to Boise. He got even better on the way back: he just quietly enjoyed all the scenery (which was really gorgeous that'd I'd love to spend a month painting along the highway) mostly. I guess even car trip is trainable: he was significantly better on the way back.


The first rest stop in Idaho



Chasing ducks at the Julia Davis park to the zoo across the street.



Playing with dog Chole
Andy loved Charlotte (Matthew's aunt)'s dogs and cats. When he saw a dog days after, he talked about Chole, we were really surprised that he still remembered. He warmed up to the grandparents well. He and Matthew's grandpa fed a lot of ducks together by the river stream running through the back yard. By the end of the trip he didn't want to leave Boise, he said let's go to Charlotte's house and go play with Chole instead.



Climbing the sand dunes!



The discovery center full of physics experiments!




Andy remembers places along the way many days after: his favorites were Yakima and he'll add that there're 3 swimming pools (referring to the hotel we stayed at) and Pendleton (the hotel on the way back, pictured him in the pool).
It was a wonderfully relaxing week with wonderful people. I painted with Matthew's grandma (who also paints) in their sunroom during duck feeds.

3 Year Old

Time flies! Andy turned 3 already. Here are some pictures taken on this birthday, including one around the tree that he was photographed under 3 years ago, in the same car seat.
Three years ago:


Today:


At the magic age of 3:
- Andy talks a lot, and is cheerful usually. He asks "why" a lot lately. He does the natural switch of speaking Chinese to me and English to others. He understood he is 3 now, and asked where did 2 go. We are volunteers in this Plagiocephaly study so Andy goes for an extensive Child psycholgy evaluation at 18 mo. and 3 years. The researcher at his 3 year visit said his language skill was impressive. At school, his teacher was surprised that he knew octagon in their shape lesson.
- He loves reading and doing Chinese flash cards on computer. He also loves Elmo CD's and Chinese children music (MeiMei was his fav, losing out to Elmo recently) and has taken over car music selection.
- We are switching him to a bilingual school called Little Dinosaurs starting November (next week)! Will see how that plays out.
- He is mostly potty trained since the summer. I think hanging out closely with Cedric (5 months older than Andy, potty trained before 1) had a large influence on him, so did intently watching elephants peeing and pooing one day. He just kinda got it after that. He was doing really well at night too, waking me up at 3AM because he had to go. The night training seems to have regressed now that the nights are longer and the bed warm cozy.
- He learned a couple more yoga moves. His favorites are down dog (learned a year ago), up dog, and side stretch. He likes to turn on the "yoga TV" for moma in the mornings.
- No doctor visiting all year. Andy has been very healthy.
- Andy is a foodie. He loves to sample everything and help cooking. His favorite is same as mom's: pbb.

It's been a blessing and adventurous 3 years. Andy brought us so much joy that I'm grateful for everyday.