Saturday mornings + the remaining weekend.

We decided to keep our Saturday mornings busy by signing up for a class for Ryan. This is community class for kids age 18 months to 5 years. Each week, the classes alternate in schedule. One week, the kids play with toys and  do arts and crafts for an hour, sit in a circle and sing songs, and play outside in the playground area. The following week, it is gym time. The kids get to run around in a gym environment, and get to climb up and down structures. Check out the video below.

Ryan has attended two classes so far, and of course he loves it. He loves the new toys, all the kids around him (we put him in the class even though he is only 14 months). At the end of the 2-3 hour class, he is exhausted and falls asleep while in the car in about 5 minutes..:) We are glad we found this class. I think it gives the parents sastisfaction to know that we are exposing Ryan to different environments and keeping him busy on a Saturday morning...

With the great spring weather, we have been able to go to the park near our house a lot. Ryan is already an expert in climbing on the play structure and going down the slide..:p

While we are at the park, Gordon gets a chance to snap away with his camera...

There is also a big open area at this park, so Ryan gets to walk across the open area and burn calories.

On Sunday, we met up with Ee ling and Eric for lunch at Koi Garden in Dublin. Dim sum was yummy. Service was bad as usual!

After lunch, we headed to the mall to use our last package for Picture People (studio pictures). The pictures were so so, since it was hard to get Ryan to stay still. Will post them as soon as we take a picture of the pictures.

Since we were in the Dublin area, we checked out the Emerald Glen Park. Cool park. There were already quite a lot of people there since the weather was very nice. It also has a water park, so during the summer, the water will come on and kids can cool off..:)

Pic above : Gordon waiting for Ryan to get done playing in the park.

The weekend before, we checked out another park in San Mateo... here are some pics.

 

  

 

Yah, our weekends can be quite fun. I am glad the weather is warmer cos Ryan just loves to go out!

Mummy's thoughts about Ryan - at 14 months.

I have to say, Ryan is a darling boy. He is good at not bring fussy or whiny.

I have been trying not to blog about this part, cos I am sure after I blog about it, he will start being fussy all the time or something *hehe*. He also doesn't seem to prefer myself or Gordon; which I thought was a great achievement from the parents (us!). When he wakes up at night around 1am, he doesn't mind who goes over and sleeps with him. He also doesn't care who feeds him, or who gives him milk or even who carries him.

However, if my MIL is feeding him and he sees daddy, he wants daddy to feed (but daddy ignores him).

In the mornings, if I am still sleeping, I will tell him to "go find daddy" and he will go to the other room to see if daddy is there. And daddy would go downstairs and Ryan would follow. This is usually followed by Ryan playing on his own until daddy has breakfast ready for him (mummy is still sleeping in bed). I find it interesting that Ryan does not look for me while I am sleeping. I am guessing this may change later. After breakfast, Ryan continues playing on his own, while daddy reads his newspaper.

He is also open to what he eats. He has rejected fish a few times... but I think it is because we did not put too much sauce on his fish, and it probably had a smell to it. He eats his veges and his meats and everything else.

He is also a tough boy. He will whine if he hurts himself and shows us where it hurts, but we just say "it's ok" and he is fine. He will snatch and pull toys from other kids and will play with the older kids even though he is smaller than them. I guess we will need to start teaching him not to snatch toys and to share soon...:)

He loves to read and he knows so many words (although he cannot verbalize them yet). Here is a sample of what he can point out :

animals - ladybug, dog, cat, duck, fish, bird, lion, monkey, bee, butterfly, mouse, rabbit, snake, ant, elephant,

foods - apple, banana, orange, grapes, durian, watermelon, pineapple, lemon, strawberry, papaya, carrot,

things - car, hat, tractor, shoes, clothes, hammer, boat, clock, button, cup, airplane, teddy bear, bus, balloon, flower, playhouse, play kitchen, red wagon, socks, light, computer, pillow, door, mail, ball, book, diaper, wipes, television, book

people - mummy, daddy, mama, yeye, popo, uncle jin, ah-yeee, baby sophie.

body parts - head, hair, tummy, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, toes, knee

I think the trick is to read the same kind of books daily..;) and he will have to know after a while. He loves books with mirrors in them. He will stare at himself at the mirror and laugh.

Ryan loves to go out. If we carry him and walk near the front door, he wil point to it and wants to go outside. If we do not open the door, he will let out a "wahhhhh". He is quiet when he sits in his car seat and occassional will point to the passing bus or truck. It's cute!

If we are out eating at a restaurant, Ryan will sit at the high chair for some time (usually if he has something to eat, he will be fine). I guess food really works for Ryan..:)

oh, Ryan loves to pick up "stuff" from the floor and give it to us. The "stuff" consist of small dirt on the floor like food crumbs, dirt, thread, just any small stuff he can pick up. He even picked up hair before..... good thing he knows how to give us the "stuff". However, if he gives it to us, and we do not see him giving it to us, he will put it in his mouth. YUCK!

Lately the weather has been nice, so Ryan has been out in the our "full of weeds" garden...

Today, I was trying to fold up some clothes, and Ryan decided he had to sit on my leg while he reads his book. He did not ask me to read his book for him, he just wanted to sit on me. He was being cuddly, which was so nice... and then he decided to lie on me while he reads his book.. I had to make him sit-up so he does not spoil his eyes!

Here is another new way Ryan read. He lies down to read. I have no idea who taught him this one....

Yes, Gordon and I believe that we are truly blessed with our little Ryan.

** the random pics are from Gordon's camera. He is still trying to figure out how to get good sots out of his camera..;) **

A weekend hanging out with frens

Last weekend, we had a full weekend of hanging with frens. On Saturday, we headed over to Lily's place for a just to hang out. Lily planned the event since there were no bday celebrations. It was a potluck event. The food was good since it felt like a home-cooked meal, with fried rice, fried noodles, sticky rice, steamed egg, korean meat (i totally forgot to take a picture)

After the food, the guys decided to start their poker game, so the girls made a trip to the park with the kids. The weather was super nice so we took a 20 minute walk to the park.

Ryan got a chance to play with sand and he was totally amazed with it. He could not figure out why the sand disintegrated when he threw it into the bucket. It was cute and messy of course.

The kids played a lot while at Lily's house. Ryan loved playing with the baby pots and pans and also playing with Alexis. Ahh, and he liked playing with crayons (picture above). Guess who ate some orange crayon when mummy was not watching. YUCK!

On Sunday, we hung out at Yvonne's with Gordon's BofA ex-coworker, Robert and family. It was potluck again, so, Gordon brought his wantons and I made some fried yummy meehoon. The host provided drinks and some great tiramisu cake.

Ryan had fun playing with Claire's toys. He especially loved the play kitchen. Maybe he will become a cook one day..:)

I am 14 months old!

lalala I have so much to blog about.

Firstly, I have to rave about my walking. I walked around 13 months and after a month of walking, I have to say I LOVE IT! Since learning to walk, I decided that crawling is boring. EVen for short distances, I would get up and walk. I also have no concept of when not to walk. Like, I will be on the bed, and to get something from the other side of the bed, I would walk and tumble (since the bed to wobbly). I also get frustrated when I fall down while walking. I would let out a wahhhh and everyone continues to ignore me, so I just get up and walk again. I amd trying to walk up the stairs instead of crawling up, and mummy is not allowing me. no fun.

oh, I also learned how to read my books the right way up around 13 months. This was driving mummy nuts as she always corrected my books when I read them upside down. Now that I can do it myself, she is happy. I love books too. If mummy and daddy read books to me all day, I would sit next to them and turn the pages for them. Sometimes, they tell me to read on my own, so I sit down and flip pages and make some noises, since I can't say the words yet.



Although I can't say the words, I do know many many words and can point items out as my parents name them. I enjoy pointing to the items and sometimes daddy is surprise I know what it is. It is actually because mummy already taught me the name of the item..:)

Oh, just last week, I learned how to throw tantrums. When I get upset, I get extremely whiny and cry. Sometimes I even lay my whole body on the floor. I don't understand why daddy and mummy ignore me when I throw my tantrums. Eventually I get bored, and I play with my other toys. I also learn to fake cry when I fall down to see if anyone comes and rescues me. So far, this technique has not worked as well.

oh, one of the times I usually throw a tantrum is when daddy takes me out of the bath tub. I love bathing, so when it is over, I get very upset. I want to splash in the tub all day! Mummy has to promise to let me turn off the lights while she dresses me, so that she can distract me. Turning off and on the lights are fun.




Around 13 months, I also decided not to take my 2nd nap in the afternoon. Since I don't nap, I am extremely tired by 7pm and when I am fed dinner, I start to fall asleep at the table. My parents end up just giving me soup instead of milk when I go to bed at 7.15pm.

Mummy has been talking about how the daylight savings will be good for me. I think she is right, cos now, I sleep at 8pm (it was 7pm before the dayligt savings time) and wake up at 6.30pm (instead of 5.30am)

Here is video of me and my monkey.


Ohh, mummy asked me to keep a secret. I will have to tell you all what it is soon.....:) come back to the blog and check it out......