by Mommy
It was a bit difficult to adjust to "normal life" again after being in Toronto for 3 weeks... it was nice having James off for 2 weeks, as he was able to give us his undivided attention! It was nice having my mom around to play with Addison and watch her if James and I wanted to go out... It was nice being in a bigger place where Addison could run around and go up and down the stairs as she pleased... but it's nice being back home - where there are less places for Addi to hide!
I guess Addison caught something on the plane because she started to have a fever on Friday - she had no other symptoms and she wasn't crankier than usual. I wasn't able to give her my full attention because I needed to review for my CBEST test (which I took on Saturday). The original plan was for James to take Addi out for the day (to visit the new Vargas' or to the park - just out of the house, so I could study in peace and quiet!). Well, he couldn't take her out because of her temperature and she couldn't really understand why I couldn't give her my full attention because I was home. I was able to study during her usual naptime (in EST) and James happily obliged and napped with her.
She continued to have this fever for the next few days, with her temperature increasing at night, every night. Her highest temperature was 104.2 and James and I were worried. We called "Baby 911" and they advised us to monitor her temperature, but no need to worry unless her temperature got any higher or if she had a fever for more than 3 days... basically JUST WAIT IT OUT.
She didn't have much of an appetite for these 3 days and she was VERY clingy... I couldn't wait for this fever to pass! She didn't seem to be getting any better, so I made a doctor's appointment. I don't usually like to visit the doctor's office and it's a little difficult to get there since I don't drive (unless James drives us), but this time I decided it had to be done... so we took the bus...
This was the first time for Addison and I to take the bus in the East Bay. I think bus riders in all other parts of the world are completely spoiled after taking AC Transit! Talk about stereotypical East Bay hospitality!
Let me start off by saying that I was a bit frazzled - I have a sick daughter, I'm completely exhausted because of it and I'm pushing our huge stroller with extra clothes, Addi's food and toys to keep her entertained in the undercarriage... I asked the driver if this bus goes to x... she says "check the sign"... Holy sh*t, a simple yes or no would suffice!
I asked the driver if she could give me hand in getting the stroller on the bus - she tells me that she's not allowed to... I respond with "Are you serious?" and she says, "Yes. I'm serious. The bus company doesn't want to be liable if I drop your child"... I'm like whatever and I struggle to lift Addi in her stroller up the bus steps (that don't EVEN lower!) Anyways - Addison and I were totally spoiled in Toronto, riding on buses that lower with friendly bus drivers that assist their passengers... grunt!
By the time we saw the doctor, Addison's temperature was a little below 100 degrees and she had no signs of congestion or an ear infection. We left the office with an almost clean bill of health, thank goodness! At least I know how to get to the Doc's office by bus now... let's see if we ever have to use it again!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Back in the Bay Area!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 11:00 PM 1 comments
Monday, October 20, 2008
Push push push!
by Mommy...
Addison and I were playing with one of those wooden "chasers" (or roller coasters, as I call them... actually, I don't know what it's called!) and I said "Push push push!", trying to get her to push the pieces along the metal bar, she squatted and tried to push out a poop!
Oops, we already have "push" associated with bowel movements... I'll have to teach her to push in other ways!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 7:48 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 17, 2008
SomeToronto videos...
I'm really a monster when it comes to eating corn!
I love eating this stuff!
Here I am at the apple orchard!
I need to stand on the table to rock out on my new piano!
Ate Rayanne plays Pat-A-Cake with me!
I loved playing Lola's piano!
my cousin BenJonas teaches us how to rock out!
Enjoy!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 11:04 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Note From Mommy
It's been a few months since I've written a "Note from Mommy"... I don't really remember when she started doing the following things, but she's doing them now!
I really, really enjoy my daughter.... I'm not just saying that because she's my daughter, but she's truly an entertaining little girl. She's loving and loveable... and if you've spent any amount of time with her, I hope you'll agree with me!
She loves to dance and sing to herself... if she hears music, she'll march in place and sway her body side to side! She'll sing to herself too! "do do do do". We have a kids CD from her Lola that we listen to once a day... other times we listen to 98.1.
She loves the mirror - James blames this on me and I blame it on him... I think she just likes to see someone her own size. She loves to make faces at herself and turn around while keeping her head forward and eyes toward her reflection. Oh ya, she loves to kiss herself too!
She's becoming increasingly affectionate with her 'Roo (from Winnie the Pooh) doll. She treats him like a doll. She'll carry him around with her (at home only!) and pretend to have him sit down in her chair, potty... etc. She kisses his nose and hugs him. She brings him to the mirror and watches herself hug him... She's kind of rough with her other stuffed toys (like Donkey, who she steps on)...
She also loves her Birthday bear and asks for him by name "buh-day". We leave him in the car to keep her entertained on car trips - he moves his mouth and sings "Happy Birthday"... Addi likes to sway to the music.
On Sunday, she recognized that there was poop in her diaper - she patted her butt and said "poo poo?" I should have prefaced this by saying that Addi was never one of those kids that were grossed out by having a dirty diaper - she could play all day in a poopy diaper and she wouldn't care (I'm assuming, since she's never had a poopy diaper all day!)... but she never lets us know if her diaper is full - we just have to smell it ourselves.... so this is a big step for her! Let the potty training process begin! Actually, yesterday, after she pooped I let her look at her um... waste product? and we walked to the toilet together and I dumped her poop in the toilet and we watched it go down together...
She loves to be tickled... especially by her Daddy! He just gets her in giggle fits every time he does it!
She's losing her manners...
She used to say "please and thank you" (peesh and dado) on her own, but now I think she learned that she gets a quicker response if she yells "MA-MEH" and repeats it over and over again... she'll point to something she wants and yells "MA-MEH MA-MEH MA-MEH". It doesn't matter who she's talking to... It could be me, James or anyone else - if she wants something, she yells "MA-MEH!" - we're trying to break this habit - FAST!
She's a screamer
We don't know how she learned to scream, but she's doing it now... she'll scream when she's excited - I think she learned it from Rayanne, who was screaming down the slide when we were at the play place, because I distinctly remember telling James "I hope Addi doesn't learn how to scream like that"!
She's strong
I think she can carry her own weight... seriously! She pushes our heavy chairs from the dining room table around the floor, she pushes the ottoman across the living room floor. She pinches HARD! She can push open the door to the guest room... Sometimes I think she'll give herself a hernia with all the pushing she does sometimes!
She loves shoes (shuush)
She loves to grab a shoe and put it on someone's foot - she's really good at this! I never taught her how to do this, I guess she just observes... but 99% of the time, she's right about the owner - she'll put my shoes on my feet and James shoes on his feet. Yesterday, while I was washing the dishes, she grabbed my shoe from the front hallway and came into the kitchen to put it on my foot... I don't know what inspired her to do this - it was totally random!
She loves to drop things and say "uh oh"
Does anyone... ANYONE have any advice on how to get her to stop doing this?!?
She'll ask for her sippy and throw it over her shoulder (on purpose!) and say "uh oh" or she'll drop her food on the floor and say "uh oh"... I know this is for attention, but it's starting to get annoying! I don't want her to do this anymore! She also learned how to take her sippy out of the sippy cup strap so now she can throw it out of her stroller! (she hasn't done this yet, but she will soon enough!)
She pretends she's taking pictures or talking on the phone
She loves to grab the camera (or something that looks like one) and hold it up and say "Cheesh". She'll also grab things and hold them up to her ear and say "Ah-lo". The funny thing is whenever I'm actually giving her the phone to say hello to someone, she gets really shy and the only word she'll say is "NO"! She also likes to pretend that she's vacuuming with the duster buster!
She's talkative
She sounds like a jibbering jabbering little thing from a far-away planet! I wish I could understand what she was saying!
She claps when she wants to be picked up
I don't know where she learned this, but she'll clap her hands twice then hold them up while saying "Up Up!"
She likes to carry a purse and say "bye bye"
She pretends she's going outside... she'll pick up my purse or her diaper pad and she'll even walk to the door!
She loves to be outside... just looking at everything and people on the street is entertaining to her.
She says bye bye and does a flying kiss when you say bye or good night
Even when you just want a regular kiss good-night!
She YELLS out "DADDY!!!" when we're in the bedroom and he's not
When we're going to bed, she'll look at the hallway to see if he's coming... if he takes too long, she'll yell out "DAAADDDDY!" and her face lights up when he walks in the room!
Every colour is blue, every number is two, every answer to "do you..." is "no" - even if she doesn't mean it!
Whenever we ask her "What colour is this?" She'll respond "Blue".
When we ask her "How old are you?" She'll answer "Two".
When we ask her a question such as "Do you want to eat banana?" She'll say "NO!" but then she'll open her mouth and say "Ahhhh" to ask for it!
I love her sideways walk, backwards walk and march in place.
When she wants to walk around something, she'll always walk sideways!
When she wants to sit on something, she'll walk backwards into it...
Sometimes, she'll walk backwards for no reason!
She marches in place when she's excited... which is usually before bedtime or naptime!
She pats the spot where she'd like you to sit
If you ever see her pat the sofa, or (our favourite!) knock on the floor, it means "Sit here please!"
Her bangs are starting to get in her eyes and bother her... but as soon as she realizes there's a clip in her hair, it's out!
She loves to colour things and hold crayons, pens and her colored pencils/pencil crayons. I was scolded at the optometrists office for letting her walk around while holding a pencil crayon... Since then, we've stopped letting her hold these things. She used to do everything while holding onto a pen... it was like her security blanket!
New words:
puzzle - PAH-ZO
apple - AH-PO
sausage - SA-SHH
crocodile - koa-ka
Uncle Josh - we tried to teach her these two words separately: Uncle - she says "kaa-kaa" and Josh - she says "jus"... it sounds like Caca juice!
spoon - POON
banana - NANA
avocado - CADO
bubble - BAH-BO
car - KAH
poop - POO POO
She can also do all the sounds in the "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can you" except thunder and lightning. She loves when Daddy reads!
I'm sure I've left out all kinds of things, but for now - I hope this will do!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 2:19 PM 3 comments
Sunday, October 12, 2008
YYZ to SFO
After lunch at Lin Garden, Mommy needed to finish packing - we thought we'd have a little more time to do other things (other than pack), but time just slipped away from us!
Ninang Trae and Uncle Fran were kind enough to take 3 of our 5 luggages (and 2 carry ons and 2 backpacks!) at lunch. They slipped something extra in Mommy's luggage (which she didn't find until we were in California!)... Daddy drove us (including Lola and Tiyo Kevin) to the airport - we were a little pressed for time since... well, when aren't we pressed for time?!? Uncle Fran met us at the airport and watched us as we shuffled things from our 65 pound (!) luggage to the other 4 luggages. Success! Even though the Ketchup chips were crushed, they still tasted delicious days later!
There was a long customs line-up and I was already getting sick of being carried in the sling. Mommy and Daddy took turns carrying me, but all I wanted to do was run around! Customs and the metal detector were a breeze! We got through without a hitch... Mommy and Daddy wanted to eat before we got on the plane, since airplane food SUCKS now!
We took a ride in the golf cart to see how far our gate was... well, that ended up being the only reason we took a ride. We thought there was a restaurant closer to our gate than the one closest to the metal detectors entrance, but there was no access... so we ended taking the golf cart all the way back!
It's really helpful to have the lady with the golf cart driving around Pearson airport... This is such a thoughtful service for people who can't get around easily or parents with small children. I wish they had this service at every airport!
They didn't think I could open this sugar packet, but I did!
If you read carefully, my shirt says "SUGAR"!
Mommy was getting food for us and she rushed to the gate to make it on time!
The flight was extremely full, with the only empty seat being the one in our row.
The check in attendant told us that someone was sitting in between us (Daddy was sitting in the window seat, and Mommy and I were sitting in the aisle seat). Daddy talked to the flight attendant about this and they were kind enough to make it happen!
This flight was borderline horrendous...
I guess I'm saying this now, since our flight to Toronto was easy-peasy... even though I was alone with Addi!
James and I agreed that we would tag-team Addi duty instead of doing it together, so at least one of us (at a time) could get rest and we'd feel at least a little rested.
This was a great idea...
Addi slept for the first hour after take off. I struggled to get her back to sleep and I was trying SO hard to get her to go back to sleep again and she just flat out refused! She was wide awake! I guess I was still exhausted from lack of sleep or ... I don't know what my excuse was, but because our last flight was a red-eye, I felt like Addi should sleep this entire flight too... BUT THIS FLIGHT WASN'T A RED-EYE... and it was at a time that Addi is usually awake... BUT I FORGOT... I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING!
So I pretty much drove myself crazy for trying to get Addi to sleep on the plane, when she could have stayed awake and played... She was really annoyed with me trying to put her to sleep and I guess it made her cranky. She cried a few times (I DID NOT want to be the parents with the crying baby!) and she just wanted to run around on the plane (which she couldn't do ... those arm rests are at her eye-level!)
I guess James was just following my lead and trying to get her to sleep too... So she fought with him most of the time too!
I should have let her stay awake for at least the first half of the flight... then maybe she would have slept a little for the last half... AND she wouldn't have fought me and then be cranky for the rest of the flight. It didn't cross my mind that she would still get a full-night of sleep by the time we got home until... well, until we got off the plane!
LESSON LEARNED
Posted by Lil Stinker at 8:39 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Bye Bye Toronto!
It was an incredible 3 weeks in Toronto and I was sad to leave. I loved meeting everyone and I'll miss all my new friends and my family... We hope you'll visit us in California. Can't wait to see you again, but don't be offended if I don't remember you - I probably won't remember anything from my infant/toddler years!
Thanks for everything!
I'll be forever brainwashed to raise my hands whenever I see you, your picture or hear your name...
C'mon Birthday bear, you're coming with me!
To the Torontonians - thanks for a great visit! Whether we saw you once for a few minutes or frequently, the time you spent with us was definitely memorable!
You're certainly missed! It's now 10/17 and I'm still carrying the weight from Lin Garden and our Food Tour! Still dreaming of the Pakora Chicken!
We love you!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 2:01 PM 0 comments
One Last stop at Lin Garden
We couldn't leave Toronto without one last meal at Lin Garden... this was the only restaurant that got a "go-back" on our Toronto Food Tour... (as I write this, I can almost taste the House Shrimp, green beans and Chicken Pakora!)
Ninang Trae even surprised us by showing up at the front door!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 1:55 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Our last night in Toronto...
We invited our friends to join us at the Owl and Firkin for dinner on our last night in Toronto... we needed our wing fix before going back to Cali!
It was nice to see (almost) everyone before we headed off!
Posted by Lil Stinker at 5:37 PM 4 comments
Hair fashion trends...
It's making a comeback...
the side half-ponytail is making it's way back in to 2008... let's see if this style will catch on.
Posted by Lil Stinker at 10:06 AM 0 comments