Graduation

I have no idea...

Jonathan just graduated from college. It was great having the family back together to celebrate.

Click for more pictures.

I just started posting again because my mom was totally bugging me about it.

Flyin

Somebody's excited about flying to visit Ba Noi!

Mothers' Day

The top collage is two recent pics of Ba Noi juxtaposed with a pic of her well before she was Ba Noi, taken in Hong Kong during our six-month residence in a refugee camp there, when I was still an only child. 

Fast forward about 36 years and here we are, feeding Vansen his first pho noodles at a Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland. Whood-a-thunk?

(Not-at-all-surprising fact of the day: he loved his pho and couldn't get enough.)

Set, Hike

We found this brand new infrant carrier backpack for sale at Urban Ore for $7, which is way below the threshold for me caring about the possible effects of a carrying my son in a pink backpack. He actually really dug it. 

Seeing as how we live across the street from a regional park with dozens of miles of hiking trails, we're slightly embarrassed that this was our first time venturing past the play structures. We only did about a mile, but it was a good start, and we not only survived, but had a really nice time. The lookout point we "summitted" gave us an clear view across Diablo Valley to Mt. Diablo and beyond. Huelan was impressed, though slightly concerned about the illuatrated warnings at the trail head for bobcats, foxes, and deer. 

Next time, packing a lunch?

Freestyle

Pretty much every kid from 3-13 can belt out a few lines from their favorite Frozen song.  Huelan combines her love of those songs with her desire to put off going to sleep for as long as possible.  I recorded this from the hallway outside of her room, where she is going through one of the Frozen songs, adding a few new lines, and generally rebelling against bedtime.  To herself, in the dark.

Tale of the Tape

His 10 month check up today, and he weighed in at 24.5lbs, 30inches long. That's 94th & 93rd percentiles, respectively. Still a big kid, but leaning out a tad with all the exercise he's been getting in. 

We mentioned to the doc during our last visit that we thought Vansen had some kind of allergic reaction, but we couldn't identify what he was allergic to. We still haven't figured it out, she she sent us for a blood test to check out all the usual suspects. It took both of us to hold him down and still while the not-super-friendly phlebologist drew THREE vials of blood. Thankfully it only took one stick, but Vansen did not like it at all. The screaming. The tears. Oh my. 

The look on the face of the lady in the waiting room holding her 9month old, waiting for their turn, was one of apprehension bordering on terror. 

Giggles

This is a prime example of the ephemeral nature of little kids.  His laugh will change, and our ability to bring it out in him will change.  I'm just leaving this here to remind ourselves down the line what a little Vansen laugh sounded like when he's driving us nuts around age 6 (or 12, or 15, or 24...).

Mo-Bile

This is his scoot.  He is quite a capable crawler, too, but he prefers this modality when he can.  He maybe gets a little better POV from his head being higher vs. crawling, but mainly I think it's the speed.  He can easily get from one end of the house clear to the other end, which is basically his whole world.  We recently put in a gate at the top of the stairs, so we let him roam freely on the main floor and he totally digs it.  His own room he's not that in to, but he loves raiding the accessible shelves in Huelan's room.

He knows when he's about to do something or go somewhere that we might not allow.  His gait changes a bit, slows down, and he pauses every few scoots to see if we're going to check him.  He's already got his little mischievous smirk working, and when we give him permission to explore something new, he grins broadly.

His world has not just expanded laterally; in the past few weeks he's also discovered that there's a whole universe above his head.  He can pull himself up to standing using basically anything as a crutch.  He generally looks around, reaches for stuff, then gets himself stranded and needs help getting back down to his bottom.

As if Around and Up wasn't enough for him to explore, he's also getting In.  As in In cabinets, and In drawers. It seems like he's learning all of this stuff at once.  Over the past 2-3 weeks you can almost see a new spark in his eyes, a sign that he's beginning to sense that there's a whole world of things for him to see and touch (and taste).  Then after a little while he gets tired, sucks his thumb, and wants a nap.

Assertion

One of Huelan's passions is dinosaur shows.  Her fascination has gone beyond the cartoon Dinosaur Train,- she's currently fixated on seriously scientific historical investigations into dino anatomy and behavior.  She's even gotten into pre-dino reptiles and the rise of the early mammals.  The producers of these shows don't pull punches with their CGI animals- they fight, hunt, tear flesh and die in documentary fashion.  And Huelan can't get enough.  Some kids are into Frozen, she's into the Cretaceous period.

Watching hours of dino fighting is probably where she got this behavior, though I can only speculate on where Vansen picked it up.  He understands the game quickly, and though his answer to her challenge falls short, it's not for lack of spirit.

I am sure that this is just the first of many, many, many opportunities for these two to vie for the upper hand. I can't say how it will end up, but if this video is any indication, Huelan will be sure to press her advantage anytime she has it.

Easter

This is the closest thing we've had to a family pic in who-knows-how-long! Even though I've been having camera issues that have resulted in a soft focus, I'm pleased as punch.

Easter weekend was a blast.  Liz had Good Friday off, so we got an extra day of the kids climbing into bed with us.  A little Friday shopping for Easter outfits to round out a chill afternoon. 

Saturday morning I had the kids by myself for half the day, and we hit up the Easter Egg hunt in a local park. This was our second year at the same hunt, and we were a lot better prepared this time (picnic blanket, sunscreen).  Last year Huelan was still in the youngest Egg Hunt group, where they let about 15 kids at a time run loose in a corral with candy sprinkled in the grass  This year she graduated into the next group where about 300 kids race vie to collect as much candy as possible in a 10 minute window.  The pep talk I gave her highlighted the fact that none of these kids are her friends and her priority is to fill that basket.  Just kidding, of course the most important thing is to have fun (and keep your elbows out).

How they were able to keep all those kids at bay for 10 minutes while they finished setting up is a testament to how well kids will behave when there's a promise of candy.  And I dangled the Easter Bunny visit much like I use Santa around Christmas time- as a threat.  The carrot (ha) and the stick....

We of course had an egg hunt in the family room in the morning, then it was Easter lunch.  It was quite a spread, and after about a dozen deviled eggs, I dozed off on the deck, sitting in the sun.  But only for a minute.  Huelan found the GOLDEN EGG that Grandma stashed and was jumping-up-and-down ecstatic- highlight of the day, maybe the year so far.

A beautiful, sunny weekend made even better by lots of family and food.  More pics here.

Also, I neglected to post pics from the first half of March, so here they are as well.

Al Fresco

"Table for one on the deck please. I'll have the butternut squash special with the peas on the side."

"Dessert? I guess I've got a little room. Are your blueberries local?"

Life aint too bad. 

Liz Said

"After Nicole was just so perfect, I don't know how we got so lucky that we had another perfect one."

Vine Test

https://vine.co/v/M5WBpQFiK35

I'd like to ve able to imbed, but not sire how. 

Cartoons

This is the new Saturday morning cartoons. It combines the best parts of climbing into bed with Mom and Ba with on-demand, streaming animation. The only time he watches media is when he's peaking over her shoulder, which is not infrequently.  

Weekends

Basically, the only time you get to see someone outside of the family is on the weekend.  So we (Liz) has made an effort to set up some grown-up play dates- most recently with Vivien and Karen, et al. Coincidentally, they both have big sis-little bro combos as well.

We watch our own kids grow, develop, and mature, but when we see our friends' kids after we haven't seen them in a while, it can be a surprise.  I, for one, am horrible at remembering how old other people's kids are- I just have a vague sense of whether they're older or younger than my kids.  Most of our friends' kids are a smidge younger than ours, so I err on that side.  Liz's parents made some of their closest friends from when all the kids were going to school together.  They still regularly see and hang out with those people, even after most of the kids are no longer in close contact.  Kind of weird to think that that scenario might still await us.