Week 150 and Week 63.5

I forgot to mention last week that Sophia is 10.31 kg and 76 cm as of her 14 month appointment.  That makes her about 50th and 25th percentile for weight and height respectively.  Gone are the days of worrying about her shrimpiness!  She is getting slimmer I think - albeit more slowly than with Charlotte.  I suspect that she has inherited by slow metabolic genes.  This makes me very sad actually - watching the little fat line in the middle of her thigh getting less and less prominent.  Oh well.  At least she is trending to be taller than me!


Sophia is at the precipice of losing her morning nap.  She just is not sleeping in the afternoons.  I think Charlotte lost hers around 15 months. 

I am having the worst time at night burping her as well.  She will get up sometimes because she has gas.  I have never been the best burper of the house anyway but I do try - but I cannot do it for ten minutes straight.  Maybe a couple of minutes max (there is so much comfort and wrangling there - maybe she needs it the most then).

I have been so incredibly busy with work - Matt's company has a big client meeting in a week and I am doing a lot of things to make the office look much spiffier (not an easy task as we just moved into it about a month ago).  I have not been able to take many photos this week because of that.

Both of the girls have had runny noses this week - but they have not erupted into anything more than runny noses so that is good. 

Soon Charlotte will take the bus to school as I we will be down to one family car and I would like to work a bit longer in the afternoons.  I have never been very happy dropping her off to school as my blood pressure escalates slightly at the traffic cluster that is there (did I mention I hit a gal's car there?  It was relatively painless to fix and the girl was so incredibly nice... I actually ordered cupcakes from her later).  But I will be sad at the loss of this mommy and Charlotte time - when she asks to listen to Chinese in the car, when she kisses me (some of the time) when I drop her off, when I let her ride around the grounds in a bicycle before we go home in the afternoon.  I also like checking in with her teacher Miss Dorothy... oh well.

My friend and neighbor Kristin was kind enough to take some family pictures of us on Sunday.  We were fighting off the rain and she got at least one amazing photo of us (I have not seen the rest of them yet).  I am so grateful as I am in none of the pictures usually.

We then went to a Sunday BBQ at the Stampers.  It felt like old time America to be outside eating barbeque.  Except of course we would be lucky to do that in February in the US!

We also went to the airport on Sunday for lunch - this made for an unusually busy Sunday and no nap for Sophia!  Yikes!  I told Matt maybe it is better for us to go out for an early dinner instead of lunch now.

Matt told me while swimming this week Charlotte looked at the coach and deadpanned 'Don't Stop the Party.'  Ha - too funny.  Matt showed her a video to that Black Eyed Peas song so I showed her one too - but it is too scantily-clad-Fergie for Char.  Always a good idea to preview the videos that they watch...

Sophia demands matching flip flops:

For the first 15 days after Chinese New Year dim sum is a disappointment.  We make do at the Crystal Jade at the airport:

Sophia likes this fake etch-a-sketch:

Char loves the airport!

Baby Astrid visits!

Char pretends to sleep in her room:

While Sophia preens:

Our greatest family shot to date - thanks Kristin for the amazing picture!

Week 149 and Week 62.5 - Bicycles

At the end of last year we had a parent teacher conference for Charlotte and one of the areas to improve upon was her bicycle riding ability (as I mentioned before, little did I realize bicycle riding was a core competency of a two-year-old).  That may have been 2012, but 2013 is a whole new year.  Char is going through a bicycle phase... she asks to ride one when I pick her up from school (I let her do it once and was surprised with how good she was) and we have borrowed Teo's Radio Flyer which she LOVES to ride in the house.  She even can go backwards!  Now our challenge is that she likes to ride her bike when she should be eating dinner - because everything is far more interesting than eating at home.

Char has been a bit sick - she is rounding the corner now but we kept her at home yesterday as she looked a bit more sick than she was really.  She had sunken eyes and a reddish, runny nose.  She has been sick a bit the last few weeks.  I think it is time to sneak in some veggies in her food.

Char did something rather surprising yesterday - she sang all the words to the Rainbow song (from those remarkably not-too-annoying-after-watching-a-million-times Signing Time videos).  It was just cool - I have sung that song to her many times and she has not sung along.  She has been a bit of an information vault - taking everything in so it is nice to see something come out.

We had homemade pizza on Sunday and Sophia ate it for the first time.  We need to start her eating on her own - she can definitely do it if we let her - but we are sort of creatures of habit.

Sophia has started to wear the big people's shoes.  She put on Yaya's flip flops yesterday and walked out of the house!  Sometimes I think she is a mama's girl but sometimes I think she is planning her great escape out of the house - both my girls are explorers for sure.

Charlotte and Sophia are starting to play hide and seek before they go to bed.  Honestly Charlotte is pretty rubbish at it at this point - she always hides in the same corner of her room and then runs out and looks for Sophia (even if she is the one that is being sought after) - but it is very fun and funny to see the girls giggle and run after each other in their pajamas.   Char is remarkably generous to Sophia - certainly she has her jealous 'please carry me' moments but she is incredibly doting to her baby sister.  I suppose I should make a point to remember these moments -- as I imagine it only gets more complicated from here.

People tell me Sophia is looking more like me these days.  So hard to tell for me.

Also - Charlotte is either melancholy or cheesy in her photos generally.  So seldom do I get a genuine smile!

Finally catching up with some videos:

Charlotte swims!

Sophia eats pizza with a death grip:

Sophia does the happy feet dance!

Here is a cute video of Sophia trying to catch Daddy's 'rock' puck (he is demonstrating to me that he can 'feel' the puck and he doesn't have to look down to see it is there - amazing [said the hockey neophyte that I am]):

And now on to the pictures!

Unbridled, toe-curling joy!

Guilty pizza eating:

Tupperware is a toddler's best friend:

Sophia is on a mission... the park or bust!

Charlotte and her current obsession with all things bike:

Talk to the hand mommy!

More sandbox shots:

 

Week 148 and Week 61.5 - Chinese New Year and the Pointer Sister

We are at the tail end of Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) - easily the biggest holiday of the year.  It is definitely the Christmas of Asia.  We did not go anywhere for this holiday and it suits us just FINE - as we have young kids and, like Christmas, CNY is an expensive time to travel.  So Matt and I are spending some quality time with the kids (Matt realized today he had his first amount of time without Char in the house, maybe ever).  I did manage to perm my hair - which I think will be fine but at the moment is going through some frizzy moments thanks to relentless rain and its subsequent shortness because it has been so darn rainy.  Matt and I had a heart-to-heart last night - basically he doesn't like my hair short.  I told him I did not like his short either :).

We celebrated Chinese New Year in Matt's office - having some Yu Sheng (a local festive gesture where you eat this yummy honey/salmon salad afterwards) and I tried hard for Charlotte not to destroy everyone's desks.  I do concede that those self inking chops are fun...

Matt was traveling to Manila at the end of last week and I did not get Sophia when she fussed overnight... and now she is back to settling herself back to sleep.  Sometimes there is some midnight or 5AM yelping, but for the most part she is back to her champion sleeping ways.

Sophia likes to walk to the park by herself these days.  It is a meandering stroll - but one she does alone which is great.  She is also pointing a lot - I need to try to get a picture of this.

Sophia also turned 14 months this week.  We celebrated by doing, well, nothing.  She is pointing a lot these days - just pointing at the dog, random pens... there is often some commentary, much of which is incomprehensible at this stage.  Her 'dog' is though...

Speaking of dog - Bucky is not doing so well these days.  His breathing is so labored we don't think he is able to sleep at night.  The growth in his jaw is getting larger and seems to be obstructing his windpipe.  He is eating ok though, but his hind and front legs are giving way occasionally... it may just be sooner than later that we have to ensure he is not suffering anymore.


We noticed Charlotte is grumpy when Matt takes her to swimming, something that even Coach noticed.  So two weeks ago I took her swimming... and she was a champ.  Responsive.  A star student.  I lamented that this was supposed to be a father/daughter activity... last week I tagged along while Matt took her swimming (in the rainiest of days - it invariably rains like clockwork half an hour before Charlotte's Saturday swim lesson) as I had just gotten my perm earlier in the day (oh to be a slave to vanity)... and she was FINE.  Just fine.  I don't know why she is such a sourpuss with just daddy around.  But I am happy to tag along to make the swimming thing worthwhile.  Charlotte also totally milks us for French Fries once her lesson is done.  Dutifully we pull into the McDonald's drive through for her weekly fix.

Sophia is at an age where she can egg Charlotte on - this has begun to manifest itself via screaming matches.  This is extremely funny before becoming annoying - especially while I am driving...

Matt and I are watching season 1 of Homeland right now.  Are there any other good shows we should be watching?

Sophia mimics Charlotte's signature photo move:

Sophia likes pulling the alligator:

Daddy's office:

Family shot with my new 'do:

Time to start purging the stroller collection - Sophia likes to walk to the park now!

Char is very serious with the scooter:

 

Post rain sunset shot:

Nice one of Charlotte - a rarity!

I love this photo:

Old Man Bucks:

Out to dim sum lunch at the Grand Mercure Hotel:

Notice the foot placement:

Charlotte in a two-mood:

Being comforted by Daddy:

Here are a great series of pictures of Charlotte taking pictures of Sophia - so cute that Sophia poses for her big sister!