Cherry Blossom Parade

Today we went to down town for the Centennial Cherry Blossom Parade. Even though I have lived here for over ten years, I have never been to a Blossom Parade myself. It started at 10 and we got there around 11 and we did not go to where the crowd was but stayed at the 19th st., where the end of the parade was. The good thing was every emsemble had to pass us so we did not miss anything but had lot of room around us.

Mia was pretty engaged. It was a beautiful day. We stayed at the parade for more than an hour then headed for the Mall. We passed a pool where Mia saw a bunch of ducks and ducklings. She was so excited she kept saying "yaya, yaya" which was Chinese for ducks. They filled out the entire reflecting pool in front of Lincoln Memorial for re-construction/cleanup so it was not that pretty. Otherwise the picture would come out better.

Our last stop was the WWII memorial. By then she was hot and tired and probably hungry too even though she was still a good trooper. She also got a little too much sun. I applied sun screen twice but I missed her neck. When we got home, she went to bed around 3:30 for almost two hours.She was beat.

Travel Shots

We got her to see the pediatrician two days back since she's been coughing a lot. The doctor said she was having allergy so we gave her some Claritin starting on Monday.

She also go three shots. Two are routine for 15 month checkup (Chicken Pox, MMR (measels, mumps and Rubela). The other one is H1A since the doctor is concerned about Hib-A being common in China and we will be there for five weeks.She now recognized the doctor's place and started screaming before anything was even done to her. I felt so bad. Good thing she did not get a fever this time. Knock on wood!

Her Vocabularies

Mia's vocabularies:

Mama
Dada
Wawa - water
Gaga - cookie
Yaya - Chinese for duck
Fafa - Chinese for flower
No!
nini - for milk
jiajia - grandma
Go
Uh - oh (her favorite right now. She says it when she drops stuff.)

It really helps now that she knows "no". I don't have to stuff her face as often any more since the intention is clear.

Easter Bunny Hop

 We celebrated Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house today. Mia dressed in a white dress Julee gave her at her birth. I almost forgot she had a dress like this and it could not be more perfect for Easter. She's now walking and attempting to run, even though she looks like a drunk most of the time. Today she exhausted all of us. Now I know what "bundle of energy" means. She kept wanting to go out to the lawn. She held her Easter egg bucket and walked, tumbled, got up, walked and tumbled, rolled over, on and on. She could never get bored of it.

 First round... this egg basket is from last year. Grandma brought this when Mia could hardly move her neck. We propped her up last year to take a picture. See what she can do now! Time flies!

Many hours later... still going strong

Exhausted

No nap today and this is the result over dinner.

Spaghettio

We went to Il Fornaio today and Mia had spaghetti and she loved it.

In Full Stride

Mia is walking quite well now. She could make it from one side of the sun room to the other side without much issue. She tried to rush it. It works better if there is someone at the receiving end so she aims for that specific distance. It seems that yesterday she was not able to do it so well but this afternoon when I got home, she was making amazing progress.

SV came to visit from San Fran and played a little with Mia. She warmed up to him quickly to my surprise. We went out to the back yard and took a bunch of pictures.

I then went out to Mon Ami Gabi and had some long awaited apple-tini. I haven't had a cocktail for almost two years! OMG it was delicious!

At the Mall

We went to the Mall yesterday and took a train ride at the children's amuzement area. Afterwards we played at the playground. Mia made a friend. She's been walking a lot these days. At times on her own for a few steps. She hasn't completely let go yet even though she's now strong enough to walk on her own.

She's experiencing a growth spur. Lately she's been drinking whole milk/formula mix for over 30 oz every day. When she got home yesterday, she took 12 oz!

She was so cranky at lunch (around 2 PM her usual nap time), she made a fuss at the restaurant and poured water all over herself and me. She cried aloud in public for the first time. So we packed lunch and left. I felt bad that we disturbed her routine. It's really difficult timing-wise these days to go anywhere since she needed about two naps during the day. I can't wait for her to be more manageable going out. I am concerned over traveling to China and our 14 hour long flight.

Meadowlark Garden

It's Spring. We went to the Meadowlark garden yesterday. Everything was in bloom and beautiful. Mia walked bare foot in the park. Now that she's older and eager to walk, we are taking her out more.

It's been a warm winter so Spring came early this year as well. Usually we don't get the bloom until April but in early March, we already have tulips in our front yard this year.

Walking

Mia is now able to stand on her own. She does not realize it but when she does, she flops to the floor. We have witnessed her first steps. She's been walking a couple of steps here or there. Not continuously but enough for me to scream with excitement. Today her grandparents came to visit, she walked four steps from the window to the middle of the sunroom. I missed it but I know it's any day now.

Better

Mia has been better. We started feeding her lactose free milk two nights ago. She still has not started eating all the solid food. Her diet is mainly bananas and rice porridge and a little bread. I gave her oatmeal this morning. Since she did not have diarrhea, we think it's not stomach virus as the doctor suggested. She seems to have bounced back and regained her energy.

Sick

Mia's been throwing up since 7 AM this morning. She could not keep anything down. Even after two sips of water, she'd vomit everything out. I took her to the pediatrician's at 10:20 and was told that it was probaby stomach virus. Since 7 PM last night she did not had one drop of milk. We went back to the doctor's twice this afternoon. When we got back, she was able to keep the Pedialyte down. I fed her some rice porridge and bananas for dinner. We were going to skip milk per doc's instruction but she would not fall asleep. Eventually we gave in and gave her 5 oz of lactose free formula. She finally went to sleep. Since her birth she has not been so sick. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the music class since now it's the start of the stomach virus time according to the doctor. I had to take the entire day off, which means tomorrow will be a hellish day at work. I am exhausted. Good thing is she is not showing symptons of the virus and hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow.

She also officially hates the doctor's now. She started to whimper even before we stepped into the building. As soon as she saw the nurse, she bursted out crying. I think she remembers her experience of the four shots from the one year check-up.

At the park

3rd Day Away

Today I checked out the Falls over the Tapatio Cliff and the hotel proper. It's really a nice resort. I had dinner at the Pointe in Thyme and tried some flat iron grilled steak. I miss Mia and have been looking at her video clips and photos on my cell phone. I love the smart phones. I would have never been able to post to my blog without it.

Convertible car seat

2nd day away

Today is the second night away from Mia and first time since her birth.
Mike called and said she refused to eat solid food.
I had a dinner reservation at Different Pointe of View at the Tapatio Cliff.

Away

Hi

Mia's favorite thing to say these days is "Hi". She can now enounciate clearly and loves to repeatedly saying hi. I failed to inject the Chinese word of "hi" into her vocabulary since it has two syllables "ni hao" and it's more difficult. Out of her limited vocabulary, she now says "hi", "bye", "dada", "baba", "mama", "wawa" for water, and "Yueyue", her Chinese name. At times she says "yaya" for duckling in Chinese. I guess she has a mixed understanding of language. It would be interesting to see which language she gravitates to later as her nanny is Japanese, I speak Chinese and Mike speaks English.  I told myself I must talk more to her and repeat more in Chinese so she will pick it up. It would be a shame if she grows up and can't communicate with her grandparents in China.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Mike and I both had President's Day off today so we had our belated Valentine's Day lunch date. We went to Harth, a restaurant recommended by friends, for lunch and saw Mission Impossible III. It was nice and relaxing. It's been a while since our last date. Parenthood kind of changed everything. We are now partners in raising Mia. There are so many nitty gritty things you take care of everyday, you could easier see your partner and not see him. When we have a rare chance to spend time just with each other, it's almost unreal.

Mohawk

Mia's hair is growing really long now. After shaving her head last June, her hair has been growing steadily back. Now she has a mohawk! We actually already trimmed her bangs once so they won't cover her eyes. Looks like it's time again to give her a haircut.

These days she's been eating finger food and insisting on eating everything on her own. She's still a messy eater and picky as well. It drives me nuts when she rubs her messy little finger in her hair and all over her face. I am slowly developing my patience but sometimes it's just so darn hard when she does not eat after preparing for all kinds of food so painstakingly. After she started eating solid food, I have not been able to eat a meal without interruption if I am home. I am the main person who feeds her dinner and it's been such a headache lately. I tried many things but her favorite is always cheese and bread. She loves tangerine and asparagus but it varies on the day whether she eats them or not. I have been trying to figure out how to get more protein into her little stomach without feeding her too much cheese since it's so salty. It's been a challenge.