Movies are here!

A variety of saved up movies for your viewing pleasure! These include swimming, Cal's 3rd birthday, and some vacation flics. Enjoy! If the 1st time you view the movie it is choppy with poor sound, re-watch it and it should be better the 2nd round through.

Video of Cal playing with uncle Marc

Video of Cal's new boy band

Video of eating "Cal style" with Uncle Marc and Auntie Celeste

Video of Cal's 3rd birthday at home

Video of Lissi's 1st time swimming

Video of the family travelling on train tracks with a Push Car

Video of swimming in CA with grandma

Independence in the bathroom

Cal is totally potty trained in the day...but he does not want to be independent about using the bathroom (ie undressing/dressing). We taught him to use the toliet by sitting down and so he removes his underwear and pants completely and then has a heck of a time re-dressing. He screams getting undressed. He screams getting dressed. But if we suggest that he do the "stand up method" he screams even louder. Now, it isn't as though he can't do it. If we bribe him with a jelly bean he will do the entire process independently and very quickly with a big smile.

Two days ago he kept denying needing to go to the bathroom, even though he was doing the "peep dance". When I asked him why he was doing the dance, he said it was because of the "music". Ha! But after a while he clutched his groin and started screaming and I knew that he was about to go. So I stripped him down but it was too late and he was already in process. The next morning, the same thing happened. We were standing in the bathroom, he was doing the dance, and he kept insisting that he didn't need to go but he wanted "up we go" (holding). I told him that I wouldn't hold him until he went to the bathroom. Again, he clutched himself and started screaming and it was partially too late.

So today...I thought he was doing the dance. Again, he denied it and wanted "up we go". I told him that I would hold him BUT that he was not allowed to pee on me. And he said...."BECAUSE MOMMY IS NOT A TOLIET"!

ha! ha! ha! ha! LOL!

Vacation in Virginia

We are home from vacationing in Virginia. We missed an incredible heat wave here at home (up to 108!) but... we were VERY hot and absolutely drenched by the humidity daily. We took 2 big planes to Virginia, with a fun play time in our lay over. I counted that at the end of this trip, Cal has been on 26 airplane rides! He's quite the experienced traveller!

We visited our good friends Mark and Bethany, who moved to Williamsburg two summers ago. Unforuntely, due to a recent move, our friends had a fabulous home and huge amount of property but no internet. so it was difficult to get hold of people. We did manage to meet up with two gorgeous girls that we met last year. cal had a blast running all over the colonial area with them and playing peek-a-boo.

Lissi learned a few new skills while we were there. She can now give high-5's to people. On 7/21 she stood up in the middle of the room independently. She has yet to repeat this skill, but she practices frequently.

Cal loved, loved, loved all of the attention he received and having a constant playmate in Ethan. We visited Busch Gardens together and Cal tried out several rides: the train, merry-go-round,boat-go-round, Dragon boat mini-log ride, sky ride, and water fun area.


We visited a Yankee Candle factory and enjoyed shopping and browsing. In the Christmas themed room there are stars in the "night-time" sky, a bridge, and many decorations. Every 15 minutes it "snows". The snow looks extremely real and we finally figured otu that it was tiny bubbles falling from the sky onto us.

We celebrated Ethan's 3rd birthday and Cadi's 1st birthday alongside our friends. We were so happy to be a part of their lives and share in the lives of the kids.


Overall, the trip was full of talking, laughter, and fun. We hope to continue this annual tradition for many years to come!

Cal's 3rd birthday party

Cal celebrated his birthday construction style! I ordered inflated hammers for the kids and plastic construction hats. I found some construction vehicles to put on top of the "dirt" cupcakes. Cal received several "vroomy" cars which he enjoys tremendously. The weather was great and kids seemed to enjoy themselves--I know Cal did!

She's signing and talking!

I've wondered in the last day or so if Lissi was finally catching on to the sign "more". Today I was convinced that she is indeed signing it for more food AND she is saying "mo mo" at the same time! That means that my little girl is using now communicating in both English and ASL. :) :)

Now I have to re-evaluate whether or not the "mamama" she's done recently was just babbling or if her first word was actually labeling me. So, I may have to go back to previous blog posts and change some developmental milestones soon.

Letter to Lissi on her 10 month bday

Dear Lissi,

My beautiful 10-month-old girl! Every day you are more beautiful and full of more and more personality. You love to make the silliest expressions/actions just to entertain. These faces include sticking out your tongue, crinkling up your face, making silly clicking noises with your mouth, squealing, and flapping your arms like a bird over and over.

Recently you have been expanding your communication skills. You have said your 1st real word, “mama” and mommy is thrilled! You call out “mama” when mommy leaves the room or enters the room. You can make the “d” and “g” sounds. Daddy is quite proud that you can say “dada”. You sometimes imitate syllables like “ma” after mommy says “more”. You are starting to imitate gestures. You will wave to people, clap hands, and give people high-5’s when you have a model. You understand some routine phrases such as “not for you”, “not for eating”, “hands up”.

You are an excellent eater and now have no difficulties bringing very small foods to your mouth with either hand. You are eating table food 3 meals a day. Like your mommy, your favorite foods seem to be starches like bread, waffles, cookies, etc. You have learned how to drink from a straw (you practice in the bathtub) but usually spit the water back out again. You also now view your spoon as a play toy and will bite on it and won’t let mommy remove it from your mouth. You laugh and laugh when she tries to pull it.

You continue to crawl very quickly around the house. You love chasing your brother all over the place. Stairs do not hinder you at all. In fact, you can go up and down the stairs quite quickly. You are also an expert at flipping from any position onto your knees and then standing up against a wall, table, bathtub. Mommy has to “assist” you to sit down in the tub at least 10 times every time you bathe since you keep trying to stand up.

You went swimming for the first time this month. You went in a hotel pool, a “warm” tub, and Grandma’s swimming pool. You loved swimming each time. You splashed and laughed. You tried to lunge out of mommy’s arms and wanted to race across the pool. On your first swimming experience, your cousin said you were a better swimmer than your big brother!

You also went on your first vacation this month. We traveled to Nevada, Sacramento, and the Bay Area to visit your aunties, uncles, cousin, Grandparents, Great-Grandpa, and friends. You were often very nervous about the new people for a day or two, but warmed up to most everyone. You even did great around the dogs and took them in stride.

We are so proud of your growth and development and the fun personality you are developing. You are a wonderful little girl and we love you so much!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Today's photo shoot

We had Cal's 3 year birthday pictures and family pictures taken today. I think we are going to order #2 or #3 for Cal's bday picture and #15 for our family picture.
Click on the picture to enlarge. Then tell me your favorite(s)!

Letter to Cal on his 3rd birthday

Dear Cal,

Today you are 3 years old! Every day I am amazed at your growth and today I am sitting down to tell you some of the things you’ve accomplished in the last year. I hope that one day you will read this letter and share our delight.

I’ve always told you, and I will continue to do so, that you are the most handsome little boy ever. Your face radiates health, joy, and a huge personality. You still have a little bit of a belly, but are otherwise a very slender and muscular guy. You weigh approximately 31 pounds, which is just a little lighter than your peers. We aren’t sure how tall you are, since you haven’t needed a doctor’s appointment for quite a while, but you were just shy of 36 inches when we measured you for the zoo rides last weekend. You are developmentally on track, if not ahead, in all areas.

Your speech and language skills astound me. You use complex sentences of 5-12 words and use appropriate question formation most of the time. Yesterday you told me, “Last night P had a very special candy. Why didn’t I get one?” You love to ask “why”, even though you often don’t need an answer. For example you say, “Why am I running fast?” or “Why did I use the green crayon?” You are currently working on irregular past tense verbs and irregular plurals. You have perfect articulation of individual sounds, expect the /s/ sound which sounds almost correct, but your tongue is between your teeth. Mommy is working on you with that one. ☺

Your cognitive and academic readiness skills are far above your age level. You know right vs. left, most prepositions, shapes, all your colors, numbers, and letters (lower and upper case). You can rote count to 30 and sometimes 40 and have 1:1 counting correspondence up to 10. You know your first and last name and can spell your name. You know your phone number and address thanks to ridiculous little songs that mommy has made up. You are even learning how to read. You can read 10 sight words: Cal, Lissi, mom, dad, car, truck, train, bus, cat, dog. You have already met benchmark for mid-Kindergarten levels!

Your fine motor skills are improving too. You even try to write your name by drawing one straight line of each letter of your name. You can color within the lines (or thereabouts) and are learning how to do dot-to-dot type activities. You insist on grasping the crayons with a full fist and drive mommy crazy insisting that is the correct way to hold a writing utensil! You can cut one cut with scissors and then tend to tear the paper the rest of the way.

Your gross motor repertoire includes going up and down stairs with one foot per stair about 50% of the time. You kick a ball with one foot. You have a very good throw and aim well. You can catch big balls 50% of the time. You can jump in place or move forward when you jump. You can walk a balance beam with no help. With a little help, or an incline, you can do a somersault. The skill you are most proud of right now is your ability to pedal a tricycle. And you show this off every day when you insist on riding around the block several times!

Potty training went very well and you quickly day-trained. You have accidents very rarely in the day, although you are wet at night about half of the time. You are over-all very good at sharing with peers and like to play trains and chasing games with other children. You remember activities you have done with your friends and talk about them for months (your memory is astounding). You have settled nicely into your role as a big brother and try to include Lissi in many activities (although you are often too rough with her). You are even learning to share with your little sister.

Your favorite activities include playing with toy vehicles: trains, cars, trucks. You love to ride your bike and pull wagons and push strollers. You enjoy listening to books and watching videos (Thomas, Signing Times, Dora, Veggie Tales). Every day you wave good-bye to mommy as she drives away to work. You look forward to “movie popcorn” night on Fridays with mommy as well.

We are blessed beyond measure to be your parents and are so proud of our big boy. Happy 3rd Birthday!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Cal is 3!

Today was Cal's 3rd birthday! I can't believe how old my baby is already. We spent the morning taking his birthday pictures and family pictures, followed by lunch at the "train restaurant" (aka the pub with the train table). After the nap that did not exist (no thanks to the roofers pounding out a new roof on our house) we went to Build A Bear to get him a promised stuffed animal. He was so indecisive about the animal. He must have changed his mind 5 times before we grabbed the last one he chose (luckily it was the least expensive of his choices). He made a dog and named it "Trinity" in honor of his auntie and uncle's dog in Nevada. The whole store got to sing "Happy Birthday" to him, much to his delight. We got Cal's free Baskin Robbins birthday ice cream and ate it after dinner. He wanted the "orange one". He was disappointed that he didn't have a candle to blow out, but we tried to reassure him that he'd have a cake and candle at his party next weekend.

She's waving

At the airport today a teen was waving at Lissi. Wink helped her wave back. Then she figured it out and started waving by herself several times to this girl. I told the teen and her mom that they were the recipients of her first social waves! I think they were quite honored! :)

Our trip to NV and CA

We spent over a week visiting family in Nevada and the Bay Area. We did so much that there is no way I could recount all the events. Instead I am including a bunch of pictures of the highlights.


In Reno we stayed in my sister's home along with her husband and dog (Trinity), my mom and her dog (Charlie), and my brother. My mom drove up from the Bay Area and my brother flew out from NJ for this family gathering. My sister has a fabuolous new home they moved into last summer and this was our first chance to visit. The days were very hot and dry. Wink suffered some dehydration and poor Lissi got very constipated because they weren't drinking enough. To entertain Cal, we visited the train museum in Carson City. We saw a ton of trains. Some worked and others were stationary. Cal really enjoyed watching the trains, listening to them, and taking a train ride. We even got to push a push car to push ourselves along a short track.


My sister and her husband have a new hot tub, which they turned down to a warm tub for our visit. We were able to actually cool off a little and relax in the bubbles in the afternoon. They also had an outdoor firepit that we used to make Cal's 1st s'mores. Unfortunetly, Cal didn't really experience true s'mores since he just wanted the marshmallows and didn't even want to warm them in the fire.
Cal enjoyed all the attention and got a kick out of his auntie and uncles. During one evening there he was having a difficult time at the restaurant (he needed a longer nap and was letting the world know his wrath) until auntie and uncle started to entertain him. He laughed and laughed and made the most ridiculous faces to amuse us all.

We visited Lake Tahoe on the 4th of July. The water was too cold to get more than our feet wet, but Cal enjoyed walking on the beach. He also tried a sparkler for the 1st time.







We stopped in Sacramento on our drive from NV to the Bay Area. We visited with my cousins and their husbands, along with baby T. Baby T is about 6 months older than Lissi so they are at pretty different developmental levels now, however, they should have a lot of fun together in the future. Lissi and Cal both really warmed up to the women and I wish we could have spent more time together.


The kids had a great time visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. All 6 of us went to the zoo together one day and celebrated Grandpa's birthday. Cal and Lissi both swam in the pool twice and Cal is getting much braver in the water. Lissi continued to impress us with her splashing skills and her determination to swim without help.

We spent one lunch with Wink's grandfather in SF. Although he speaks very little English and we do not speak Chinese, we had a good visit. Lissireally liked him and spent several minutes "kissing" him and playing with him.

We were also able to visit with our friends P and his mommy and daddy. P is a natural musician and was teaching Cal about the drums. They played quite the duet together and Lissi had a good time grooving to the music. :)

Overall, it was a very good trip. The kids were fantastic and slept very well. Everyone was healthy (praise God!) and enjoyed seeing family and friends.