Non-Stop Action, Action, Action

This month's photos show a very active little girl. She is becoming more independent and physically stronger.

1. "Little One" is playing her xylophone. "Hubbie" says she prefers to play with the underside of the xylophone.
2. Everytime "Hubbie" folds up this quilt, she drags it back out. She's strong enough to drag this quilt around these days.

3. She likes to push and pull this corn popper toy around. We're hoping that it will be good training for later on with the vacuum and lawnmower. heheheh.....
4. Here is a photo of "Little One" standing up. It is more difficult to take good photos of her, because she either trys to grab the camera or she's running around too fast for us to take a picture.
5. Mommy placed her into the playpen for individual play time. Perhaps "Little One" is reading to Minnie Mouse and Elephant.

6. "Little One" had her first excursion to the beach when we took a mini-vacation to San Diego, CA. She really enjoyed the water. She did not know what to make of the waves at first but soon began to step deeper into the water. By the time we left, her shorts and diaper were wet from the incoming waves.7. "Little One" likes to say "hat." She likes walking around with the hat covering her eyes. I don't know why, but she seems to enjoy this activity. 8. She is getting better at feeding herself. "Little One" prefers to use her hands and fingers, but will also try to use utensils (spoon/fork). Mommy still has to help her out once in awhile. As far as cognitive development, "Little One" is beginning to follow some directions.

*When Mommy says "Come here," she will usually follow these directions. According to the Day Care Worker, "Little One" plays very well with the other little girl whose only 1 month older than her. They play dolls and follow the leader.

*Mommy discovered recently (in the last 2 weeks) that "Little One" knows how to say "Give" (in Cantonese), and she will actually hand something over. We laugh when she says "Ernae" for Ernie from Sesame Street. "Little One" says "Elmo" really clearly now.

* "Little One" likes to pick up a phone and say "Hewwo". It really looks like she's having a conversation with someone.

*She is now starting to stack her blocks instead of just knocking them down.

*When it is time to get her dressed, "Little One" helps by pulling her shirt over her head, sticking her arm through the sleeve, or stepping out of her pants.

* "Little One" has been on this mission to learn to walk backwards. She'll look back every couple of steps and approximate how far she is from an obstacle.

* She's becoming a "sneak" because she'll quietly go to the "no no places" when Mommy and Daddy are not looking. When she's discovered, she smiles innocently and walks away.

"Little One" is on her way to becoming a "Miss Independent."

This month's photos....

1. "Little One" is lounging on her chair while watching "Baby Signing Time." "Little One" gets 20 minutes/day of "Baby Signing Time" during the weekend. There's no tv time for the weekday because we're doing other activities with her then. She knows almost all of the signs covered in both volumes now. She isn't just learning American Sign Language from "Baby Signing Time," she's picking up words in English and Chinese (Cantonese). She's becoming a tri-lingual "little girl."

2. She insists on trying to brush her own teeth. It's not very thorough but it's a start. Mommy & Daddy will help her afterwards.
3. Look at her...All smiles after her meal. She's ready to get up and go play.
4. She really is on a mission to conquer walking. "Little One" knows that she'll get to walk when we put on her socks and bring out the shoes. In fact, she sticks her foot up for the socks.
5. She's walking towards me and doing the "Aaah--oooh" sound of dogs howling in the moonlight.
6. "Little One" is dancing with her Daddy here. She enjoys listening to music with a beat.
It's so funny because she not only will bop up and down but, also, twirl around. When she's dancing on her own, she swings her body side to side.

7. This is her first puzzle and she is slowly getting the idea of putting the pieces in the right spot. Mommy & Daddy are saying the shape and color of the pieces. She is really picking up on naming the colors. She knows how to say purple, blue, yellow, red, and orange. She has not picked up saying green yet. She repeats "oval" when we say "oval."

It's a bit amazing to see that she's associating the colors to other objects around us. The other day, she pointed to my denim shorts and said "blue."

8. "Little One" seems to have picked up playing with dolls and stuff animals a bit more over the last couple of months. She hugs and kisses them. "Little One" had spent 10-15 minutes in the play pen playing with her dolls on her own. Aaah...A little rest time for Mommy & Daddy.

According to the day care person, she and another little girl (same age) play dolls together. The girls pick up the dolls and gives them hugs & kisses. Then, they trade dolls and do the same things over again.

9. We had a number of special visitors this month to come play with "Little One." This is a photo of "Little One" with her orphanage "sister." They're only 2 weeks apart in age and were adopted at the same time. Aren't they adorable? Their feet were touching in this photo.

We really enjoyed their visit. We'll have to visit them the next time so that the girls will know each other as they grow up.

10. "Little One" looks less like a "baby" and more like a little girl in this photo.
In September, "Little One" will be 1 1/2 years-old (aka: 18 months). It makes me anticipate and wonder what she'll be by age 2.

"Little One" AKA "The Energizer Bunny"

This month's photos show such an active little girl.

1. "Little One" is putting her Legos together and then pulling them apart again.

2. She's hugging her Pooh bear. She, also, has a tendency to pat the stuff animals in the rear after hugging/cuddling with them. Hehehe...I don't know where she got that idea.
3. She has finally learned to drink from a straw sippy cup. She looks so much more like a toddler with this sippy cup. Look at her multi-tasking (walking while drinking her water). As you can also see, she's still not too stable on her two feet but she's getting more stable every day.
4. This is "Little One" in her other playroom. In this photo, she's walking towards Mommy because she wants to play with the digital camera. It's difficult to take photos around her now. She wants to press the camera's buttons.
5. Daddy allowed her to take a simulated "drive" with his car one morning. Can you tell that she's been observing us behind the wheel?
6. "Little One" has one of her first pony tails. Mommy thought it was too cute. Too bad...She doesn't have enough hair yet to hold the pony tail for long.
7. "Little One" has been teething her molars & incisors and so has a tendency to bite on things. "Hubbie" & I think she looks like a little piggy when she does this. She is showing great interest in reading books. She anticipates what's on the next page of the book by saying or animating what's to happen.
8. This is "Little One" multi-tasking. So much to do at play....heheheh...
9. We took her to the Aquarium of the Pacific this past month. In this photo, she's looking at the Puffins bird exhibit. This girl loves to see animals in action. She whined in protest when we showed her the jellyfish exhibits. I guess they're too slow moving. She really enjoyed the colorful fishes, seals, sea otters, sharks, and birds.In this photo, she was observing the Puffin birds swimming under water. She was really in awe. It's really amazing how much expressions she's showing now. This is the 2nd time we took her to the aquarium this year. This time, she pointed to where she wanted to go and commented on what she sees in "baby babble" when she doesn't know how to say it.

10. In mid-July, we took her to Music in the L.A. Zoo night. It was her first time going to the zoo. She really enjoyed the animals and music. Can you tell? She was out like a light as soon as she was buckled into the car seat.
"Little One" leaves Mommy & Daddy very tired at the end of each day. There are no weekends of sleeping in anymore.

1-year ago versus now

This photo of "Little One" was taken in July of last year:

Look at her one year later:

She's walking! (aka: Waddling...hehehe)

Now, we can actually say she's started to walk (aka: waddle). The following are several photos we thought sums up what she has been doing the past month:


1. She's getting pretty good at controlling her remote control school bus around. "Little one" loves to play with remote controls. She's quite a high tech baby. If we allow her, she enjoys sitting in front of the laptop computer pushing the keys and using the mouse, also!

I bet you're thinking that this is the school bus she's controlling. hehehehe.. Nope, this is not the remote controlled school bus. It's a great photo of her laughing and having fun.

2. She enjoys hanging in the pool on hot summer days. This one is a rare photo of her with a hat. "Little One" doesn't like to wear hats.

3. "Little One" cruising around the family room (aka: 2nd playroom). She's holding the Little Einstein DVD but she doesn't really like it too much. We think that it is not enough music throughout the DVD.
Her favorite and only DVDs she watches is "Baby Signing Time" volumes 1 & 2 and Diana Krall's Live in Paris Concert. We don't know why but she seems to like listening to the Jazzy and deep voice of Diana Krall.

3. This photo is "Little One" walking with the guidance of "Daddy" on our front yard. She's actually very curious about grass and the water hose. That's why she's looking down while she's walking on it.
4. This is a photo of her, taking off from the sofa.
5. She's pondering what she wants to do next.
6. On July 4th, we took "Little One" to our city's annual "Kid's Day Parade & Picnic." In this photo, she's waving her American flag and clapping as the parade proceeds.
On the communication side, she's really picking up the sign language. She's signing eat, drink, banana, milk, more, bear, hat, thank you, and a bit more. There are certain signs she knows how to do but doesn't know when to apply them quite yet. Some examples are Hurt, Sorry, and Please. She's mimicking quite well.

"Hubbie" & I think she has a pretty good memory because she'll anticipate what's next in the many books we read to her or on the "Baby Signing Time" DVD. As far as verbal skills, she's picked up a couple more words this month (i.e. bear - "bearbear," bird - "jerkjerk"(in Cantonese) or "birdbird," and flower-"faafaa" (in Cantonese).

Her favorites this month are: (a)Mommy singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the "ABC" song. (b) putting things in and out. (She's starting to fit the pieces into puzzles and shaped toys now a days). (c) feeding herself (She's making such a big mess on the high chair.), and (d) having mommy & daddy read Baby Elmo's So Big! book repeatedly.

"Little One's" Many Faces

This month's favorite photos and what's happening with "Little One's" development into "Toddlerhood:"

1. Mommy decided to try a hairband on "Little One" one day. We had to take a picture of her, because it made us crack up. She looks like a disco girl about to go out to the roller rink in the 70's.

2. Interesting photo of "Little One" in front of her gate....smiling and trying to shake down the prison gate.
3. "Eeeh." (AKA: "Hello"). She's becoming increasingly interested in having us read books to her or in flipping the pages on her own. This picnic table is not only a desk.....it has become a climbing apparatus for "Little One" too. She also likes to imitate us with her play phones.
Just yesterday, "Little One" chose 3 books for "Hubbie" to read. Her favorite books are "Moo...Baaa...LaLaLa," Baby Elmo's "So Big!", and a book about ducks. "Little One" pointed to her reading books in her playroom signaling that she wanted him to read to her. "Hubbie"picked one book at a time and she would shake her head "no" until he chose the one she wanted. It's amazing! We actually are now starting to understand each other! (Sometimes)

4. Here she is standing in front of her toy box. She's picking out her toys. "Little One" is now standing on her own without having to hold on to something. She used to lean against furniture but now she's becoming more stable on her two feet.

The day care person, "Hubbie, and I are working hard to get her walking independently. Most of the time, we hold one of her hands to help her along. "Little One" does well when she takes her time with her steps, but once she starts going fast, she becomes like a drunk person and falls over. Recently, "Little One" is taking 1 to 2 steps on her own before she collapses.

5. We had placed this elephant toy high up on a tall shelf in her closet. However, one day after I picked out her clothes for the day, she pointed to the elephant toy signify that she wanted to play with it. I brought it down from the shelf and ever since, she has enjoying playing with it.

6. "Little One's" first experience in a pool during one very hot May weekend. She was a little afraid, initially......but once Mommy brought out her toys, she began to realize that she could play in the water. She started to enjoy playing in the pool and even complained when we finally took her out.She's been trying to imitate whatever we do that interests her. It's been really amazing to see that happening.

13-Month-Old Pre-Toddler

It was a busy March and April. We were still passing around cold germs. But...Hopefully now that the weather is getting warmer, we won't be coming down and sharing our colds for awhile.

She's happily crawling around now a days. However, this means that "Hubbie" & I have to keep a closer eye on her. On top of learning how to crawl, she's learned to pick herself up to a standing position. However, she's not learned how to sit herself down quite yet. The day care person says that even though she's tired, she'll keep standing and whining until the day care person comes to sit her back down.

Our little girl is calling me, "Mum" and "Hubbie", "Daa." She says "Tac" for Cat, "Dug" for Dog, Duc for "Duck." She's, also, signing "All Done/Finish", "Milk," and "Bird." She understands the sign for "Eat" and "Drink." But...I must say...She's mostly whining but it is a form of communication. I'm hoping she'll continue to pick up more verbal and signing communication skills because the whining can be pretty hard on the parents ears.

There is one thing I'm hoping is a phase. It is her crying whenever she sees strangers or people she does not see constantly. I'm hoping that this is a phase. My reasoning is that she's beginning to identify people in her life and probably doesn't feel comfortable for people she doesn't recognize or see often.

Our little girl seems to be teething constantly. This previous weekend she had two bottom teeth spring out simultaneously. According to the pediatrician, she's got a lot more in the back that looks like will be sprouting out soon. Poor thing! She's got a low tolerance for pain. We're getting ready for more whining, neediness, and irritability.

The following are the latest photos of our little girl.

1. This was her Easter dress. It's not a fancy dress but it's one of the rare occassions she's been dressed in a dress because of warmer weather that weekend.


2. She loves to play with the TV remote control. This is the rare occassions that she was allowed to touch the remote control. During these times, she'll hold it up smiling proudly to show that she's the Queen of the Remote.
3. She's happily playing with her toys.
4. The "home girl" is playing with her Care Bear cards.
5. This is a photo of her and her first gate. This gate blocks her from going into the kitchen. She's shaking it to see if she can knock it down.
6. She's rocking away on Elijah, the Elephant.
7. This one is where she shaking her links while hanging onto her musical chair for stability.