Siblinghood

As an only-child, siblinghood is a bond that I didn't get to experience. Often in my childhood I wished I had a brother or sister, but I am not complaining. I've always known, however, that if I could, I would want to have more than one child. I would like them to have a special bond between them.

I'm sure the day will come when they will fight, drive each other to tears, and maybe even wish they were an only-child. For now, I am enjoying watching Mason be nice to his little sister, come by to kiss her, and bring her pacifier or blanket.

Here is are a few pictures of just the two of them.

Laughing

There is nothing better than the sound of a baby laughing. Audrey smiles and laughs all the time. Here is a video to brighten your day.

Vocabulary Explosion

For weeks now, Mason would point and say "this?", wanting us to tell him the word for whatever he was pointing. Finally, it seems he remembers the words and is now saying everything back, even words we don't remember teaching him in both English and Shanghainese. Last night he wanted to go through the flash cards and could say 80% of the words. He knows more English than my parents and more Shanghainese than Bill - he will be a good translator between them soon.

My parents and I are trying to switch to Mandarin, which would be more useful for the kids in the future. But it is hard to speak Mandarin all the time, we always end up reverting to Shanghainese due to force of habit.

We now need to watch our language around him ... Damn, it's probably already too late! :-)

*knock* *knock*... hey, let me out...

We wanted to keep Mason in a "closed" crib (all walls up) for as long as we could. Since we had a video monitor, we always knew when he was awake or asleep. We could see his entire crib. He never got the opportunity to try to climb out, because we were in his room shortly after he starts waking up.

A few weeks ago, while Bill was in Vegas, Mason just didn't want to go down for his nap. My parents kept going in there when they heard him cry, which didn't help. I kept telling them to leave him, but after a couple of times in there, he was even more resolute to stay awake. If I thought he could have made it through the rest of the day happy, I wouldn't had forced him to nap. But, I knew he was tired and he was going to get increasingly unhappy at night having skipped his nap. So, I devised a grand plan to pack up both kids and go for a long drive.

I left Mason in his crib (crying), and went downstairs to I packed Audrey and loaded her in the van. By the time I went back up to Mason's room, he was completely horizontal on top of the crib rail. He was looking down, thinking of his dismount, with piggy in one hand and his blanket on the other. I wish I had a camera, but was too horrified and grabbed him before his fall. (My plan worked, he fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car. Both kids took a 1-hr nap as I drove towards Boulder and back.)

At that moment I knew, that was the end of "little jail crib" days. We converted his crib to a toddler bed (just by taking the front off), added a bedrail that allows him to climb in and out around it.

In the crib, he slept in all directions (and would flip flop many times a night), so we were not sure how he was going to do in his new bed format. But by giving him a pillow, he seems to know that is where his head goes. He sleeps mostly in one direction now.

I was afraid that with the new bed configuration, he wouldn't go down for naps or sleep at night, knowing he could get out and play with his toys a couple of feet away. But, we haven't had any problems. A couple of times in the mornings, Bill (who monitors Mason's video) woke up to an empty crib. Mason was already awake and playing with his toys. And these past two days, he would get out of bed and knock on the door from inside his bedroom - a "hey-I-am-awake" or "is-anyone-out-there" knock. Because we have round door knobs, he can't open his door yet. I'm sure that day will come... it will be another blog entry.

Choo Choo Train

Planes, trains and automobiles are deeply ingrained in little boys, at least in ours. Most recently, trains are his favorite, so we decided to take him on a train ride. There is a historic train in Georgetown about 1 hour from us in the mountains. We coordinated to go with our friends Jef, Michele and their daughter Josie.

All Mason could "talk" about on Saturday night and Sunday morning was the "choo choo". But once he got there, he was a quiet observer. He didn't even smile the whole first half of the ride, but when the train stopped he said "more choo choo train". We had a great time.

It was a bit chilly on Sunday in the mountains. Michele sent an email reminding us to bring jackets, and in the frenzy of getting the kids packed up and their jackets, Bill and I forgot ours. Audrey had her cute knit hooded sweater from the Yangs (thank you!). I entertained wrapping myself up in baby blankets, but we decided to get two fleece sweaters from the souvenir shop instead. They made a pretty buck on us, but kept us nice and toasty.

Now Mason walks around the house saying "choo choo" and "all aboard!" while playing with his toy trains and watching Thomas on TV. I have a feeling we'll be coming to ride the train again.

Here are some pictures.

Audrey is already 4 months

Audrey went in for her 4-month well check today. She is doing great. Here are her stats:

Weight: 14 lbs 3 oz (65%ile)
Length: 26 inches (97%ile)!! She is long, but Mason was even longer at 28 inches at the same age.

She is not as happy getting formula these past couple of days. We are not sure why. We tried different bottle nipples, tried burping more often in between, but she just starts to cry half way through the bottle. We think it may be due to teething. Mason got his first tooth around 4 months, and we think she may teeth early too. Overall she is very happy, smiling and laughing, and interacts with us more and more.

Here are some pictures.