Having fun at Rzo's birthday party

1 year old Rzo and her mama and yummy cupcakes

The tunnel!

Penny got a pink and purple butterfly balloon

Happy Holidays!

Santa @ the EA kid's holiday party

Penny's games

Penny is starting to play by herself a little bit and it's fun to watch her games. I gave her a few small decorative containers to play with and she started pretending that they were coffee cups. She offers one to me and says, "want coffee mama? want moa mama?" Another game she plays is holding a tube of lotion, pretending to put some on her hand, and then putting it on you. Today, she was entertaining herself with three teddy bears. She pushed them around in the laundry basket, saying "chuga chuga chuga, choo choo!"

Shopper-in-training

Since Penny's meltdown at Mollie Stones a couple of weeks ago, I have been avoiding taking her shopping, but today I had no choice. I decided to let her use the kid's size shopping cart since it was a relatively uncrowded time at the store. It was slow, but it worked and Penny had so much fun that she didn't want to put the cart back afterwards. This method of shopping requires a precise shopping list that is in order so you never have to go back to the other side of the store for anything.

At the playground

Penny's 1st time at the zoo

We had fun at the SF Zoo today. Penny got a live view of some of the animals that she has only seen in books. She insisted that the polar bear was a doggie, but she did recognize some of the other animals. Her favorite thing at the zoo was the train ride. She was sleepy from the time that we got there and by the time we got back to the car, she fell asleep in her stroller!

Happy Halloween!

Since Penny wouldn't tolerate a costume with a head-piece, we went for an easy costume this year, Dora the Explorer. She is a big fan of the show and watches more than she should... She didn't really get the point of Halloween, but since daycare makes an event of it, we wanted to participate.

Weekend pics

Potty

Dada, why are you taking a picture of me on the potty?

It's been over a month since we have had to change a poopy diaper!

Center for Infant Studies

We got a letter about Stanford's Center for Infant Studies, so we signed Penny up as a participant for their research about early language development. The first part of our participation involves a questionnaire called the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory, which catalogues words and gestures that Penny understands and/or says and gestures she uses. This was interesting for me to do. It made me realize that the words she knows have a lot to do with the books we read. It also reminded me not to use too many substitute baby words like "wee-wee" for stroller (because we couldn't count that as a word she says). They are also studying children who are learning two languages. It is unfortunate that we aren't teaching her Japanese or Vietnamese, but in our situation it would be too forced. She has learned a few words in Spanish at daycare (agua, leche, and besitos).

Get together

Our friends from Canada were in town, so we had a reunion at our house. The difference from last time we saw each other? The kids!!

P.S. We didn't remember to take this until the end of the night, so a few friends are not shown...

Testing the limits

In the past couple of weeks, Penny has made us think about discipline strategies. She is clearly testing the limits. Sometimes we play "nigh-nigh" on our bed, which is a game of pretending to sleep, cuddling, and tickling. One thing she has been doing is standing up on our bed when we have told her that she can't. She stands, we tell her to sit, and then she avoids eye contact and blinks a couple of times while still standing. This usually ends with taking her off of the bed and crying. She has a particular look when she knows that she is doing something bad. We've seen the look in other situations and we will surely be seeing more of it for years to come...

Crissy Field

Labor Day in SF

This is a pic from when we stopped by Crissy Field on the way to Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant in San Rafael. We stayed in town this holiday weekend and enjoyed the extra family time.
she reminds me of grandma Huong in this pic

Good morning

Penelope

Fun weekend

Saturday, we went to the city, saw some friends, and went to a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen walk. Sunday, we hung out in our neighborhood and then went for a late afternoon trip to the beach in Half Moon Bay. Penny loved looking for shells and putting them in her bucket.

Toddler teeth

Right now, the most challenging thing with Penny is brushing her teeth. The pediatrician said that we have to try to brush her molars (she has 3 and a half), but she won't open her mouth enough for me to get to them with the toothbrush. So, I use a finger toothbrush and she bites my finger...really hard! It is a struggle every time. The next strategy we will try is a reward system. You could call it positive reinforcement or a bribe. whatever works, right?

Cheers!

At dinner the other day, out of nowhere, Penny said, "cheers", held out her milk for dada to cheers her, and then downed her milk (bottom's up). I wonder where she learned to do that...

Downtown San Mateo with grandpa

Grandpa came for a visit and we had Japanese food for dinner downtown. Penny was shy at first, but she warmed up to him and by the end of the visit she was saying "pa-pa" and gave him a goodbye kiss.

Haircut today

Penny does not like being touched by strangers. It was dramatic but it was over quickly and we are happy with the results.

Photos from swimming

this pic makes me laugh. Penny is saying "off" and pulling her swimsuit before we even start.

Swim Class

I thought it might be fun to try a swim class with Penny. She does not think it is very fun and she says "no" a lot, but at least she doesn't cry. Her bent legs are funny and her dada calls it the "starship enterprise". When the teacher tries to make her kick her legs, she gets mad. So, for now, we are just trying to get used to the water.

 

 

Tahoe

We took a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe with a couple of other families with kids. We stayed at a cabin and Penny seemed to be the last to fall asleep and the first to wake up both days. It must have been because she was excited and had fun in a new place.

Weekend with dada

Dada was supposed to post something about our weekend together, but I guess it's up to me... Mama went away on an overnight trip for the first time and I stayed home with dada. I survived! He took me to the sports bar to watch soccer and to a barbeque party in San Francisco. I got so tired that I ended up napping on his lap at one point. It was fun bonding with dada, but I admit that I was a little relieved when Mama came home. :)

Monterey

Minkz planned this trip to Monterey to volunteer at the US Open golf tournament at least a year ago and rented a vacation house with friends. Penny and I went down on Friday-Sunday. We were concerned about whether Penny would be able to sleep in a new environment, since she usually sleeps by herself (and sleep on past trips has been challenging). We decided to move the mattress from the bed to the floor and slept together. It was a little tight and hard for me to get used to, but it worked out. She was even able to sleep through the loud voices of adults staying up late. In the early morning, Penny woke me up and we slipped out of the house for walks along the ocean. We visited the aquarium together on Saturday, where Penny watched fish and waved to the penguins, and we had brunch in Carmel on father's day, where Penny ate a big plate of assorted berries. It is definitely tiring to travel with Penny, but fun to try new things and find ways to adapt to situations. Penny is teaching us as parents, and together we are creating memories.

Learning

Penny has been developing fast in the past month. She walks well and communicates a lot with us. Although many of her words sound similar, it seems like she is trying to say new things daily.
While reading books to her recently, I asked where things were like, "where is the bunny?" and I was surprised that she was able to point stuff out. She also knows some of her body parts, like her toes, belly button, and nose. She likes singing songs and tries to sing along to "Row Row Row Your Boat" and the "We Did It" song from Dora the Explorer.
Since I knew that our baby friend Jax has been using the potty, we have been putting Penny on the potty daily to practice, and over the weekend, she successfully went #1 and #2 on the potty (at separate times)!
Along with all of these achievements, Penny is learning to try and get her way. For example, we had to carry her out of Pottery Barn Kids this weekend, twisting and squirming because she was having so much fun playing with the chairs and play kitchen. It seems like we are already going to have to start setting limits with her...

Fun in the sun

Penny loves the outdoors. When you ask her if she is ready to go home, she says, "na. na.".
We went to two parties this weekend. One was Cin's birthday at a park in Pleasant Hill. Here we are chillaxing

the other one was a swim party for Tristan's birthday. Penny liked the water and didn't want to get out even when she started to shiver

Bay To Breakers

We took Penny to her first Bay To Breakers. It was a lot of commotion, but the usual Bay To Breakers hijinks made it worth it to make it out there. We let Penny participate and walk part of it in Golden Gate Park and in the video you can hear her cheering section encouraging her to finish the race.

 

Griffin's birthday party

Saturday, we were invited to Griffin's 1st birthday party at the park. It was a hot day, so Penny got to wear her swimsuit and play in the water. Mostly, she just stood still while some water splashed near her. Fun times!

Update

Penny is enjoying practicing her new skill of walking. She can walk across a room fairly well now! If we go out and I'm carrying her, she usually wants to get down and walk. She is also starting to open cabinets and drawers and gets easily frustrated when she is not able to manipulate things (like when she can't open the fridge door, she whines). She is happy at daycare, interacting more, playing with new toys (like the tricycle and slide), and getting along with her three little buddies. Sadly, it is nearing the end of an era for Penny, the era of the one bottom tooth. Her second bottom tooth has made it's initial appearance. Here is a pic of the solo tooth monster.

Mother's Day

Minkz and Penny surprised me with brunch in Half Moon Bay for Mother's Day. The weather was intimidating this morning, but it ended up being very pretty in HMB. At brunch, Penny picked salad from my plate, which I let her do because it kept her occupied for a few seconds. But, then the lettuce caught in her throat and she puked on both of us and the floor. We brushed it off and went on with our day pretending like nothing ever happened. We couldn't let a little puke spoil the day!

Test

Test, I've moved.

We have a singer in the family

 

Penny likes her new toy

 

Aries-Ox girl

Penelope has started a new phase in the past week or so. She is becoming more independent and assertive. When she is in a familiar environment, she uses her loud voice now. As her daycare provider noticed today, "she has found her voice!". She wants to do things her way (aka the messy or dangerous way), like feeding herself, climbing on things, and taking stuff out of drawers (safety alert!) and she gets mad if you restrict her. I try to let her experiment, while I supervise, but it is a constant game of hazard control as she comes close to falling from high places or smashing her fingers in drawers. I guess letting her learn from her mistakes starts now? I'm afraid that when she starts walking (and from then on) we will be in trouble...

Tahoe

We decided to take advantage of the daycare holiday on Friday and celebrate dad's birthday in Tahoe. This was Penny's first time to Tahoe and her first time in the snow. She wasn't all that impressed with the snow, but she was a good sport anyway. Saturday was spent hanging out at the lodge at Heavenly, checking out doggies and other kids. Unfortunately, the travel crib (which she used a little bit in Japan) didn't work for her this trip, so we co-slept in a king bed, which took a night to adapt to. We also got to hang out with some friends that met us in Tahoe and we visited grandpa in Sacramento.

Penny's 1st Birthday!

Thank you to grandma, auntie, and uncle for helping to make Penny's 1st birthday party a success! Penny is a very lucky girl (not a baby anymore) to have lots of friends and family to celebrate with. She also has lots of new toys, clothes, and books!

Flickr update

See the past 9 months of Penny photos
3-6 months
6-12 months

Tuckered out

We went to the city, ate pho, shopped for party supplies and visited the doggies and fishies at the pet store. All the excitement today made Penny tired...

Sour orange

Penny was excited about the oranges today. She was pointing and saying "ba-ba-ba" (she calls all round things balls) at the store. She carried the orange on our walk home and when she got to eat it, she made funny faces, but she kept going back for more.

My kitty

somebody got face paint at daycare

"no no no"

Penny knows how to shake her head "no". She probably knows because she is told "no" often. Some parenting philosophies say that you should never tell your child, "no":
Never saying "no" means focusing on good behavior and finding a way to accentuate a child's direct or indirect control over everything he wants."
We take that philosophy into consideration, but I don't think that we could realistically follow that style (there I go, being negative again). Today, I caught her playing and exploring by herself. She shook her head "no" while she started playing with the game controller, which she knows that she is not supposed to play with. So, it seems like she knows what she is not supposed to do, but she doesn't necessarily follow the request...

Penny's sleep update

Penny still wakes up once in the night. I (mom) had been waking up with her and feeding her thinking that she needed to eat to make up for not eating enough (milk) during the day. Dad has taken my place a few nights now and has gone in to comfort her when her crying doesn't seem like it will subside. It turns out that she doesn't really need to eat, but now he has started a new unsustainable habit. He checks on her, lays her back down and reassures her. Then, he stays in her room for a while because if he leaves, she starts crying again. Today I found his pillow and blanket on the floor in her room... how long will this last?

Penny's salon haircut

We went on our monthly trip to the city for Minkz's haircut in our old neighborhood. His stylist noticed how poorly cut Penny's bangs were and she fixed them for her!! As you would expect, It took some distracting by another friendly stylist to get her to stay still.