Thursday, August 30, 2012

Foodie


Almost a week and a half has gone by since K started 2nd genen. She has transitioned to many things during this time. She now sleeps on a cot instead of a crib. Mommy was skeptical but teacher Steph took this picture to prove to Mommy that K can. One great thing about 2nd Genen is they take a ton of pics of the kids and parents just bring a flashdrive and all the pictures are given to the parents. Teacher Steph has also started to transition K to have one nap starting around 12.

Mommy is most proud of K at daycare for drinking milk! Teacher Steph recommended getting the Nuk sippy cup. She won’t use the spout to drink but she will hold it like an open face cup. On Tuesday K drank at least a half cup full of milk from it! Mommy will have to capture a picture of K drinking when she can. But here’s the magic cup!

There are many positives to K starting school but Mommy must admit there have been some bumps along the way. K already got a cold but that's to be expected with so many new kids. K has also developed separation anxiety especially during bedtime. She will cry and stand up once Mommy leaves.  K has not been able to sleep on her own or be put down awake.  Hopefully this is only a short term thing since she's also been waking up in the middle of the night.

These days K is eating a lot as well. She really loves the cooking at school. It’s all pretty healthy and mostly organic. Here is a picture of K on her first day of school after her morning nap. She ate all the pasta in her bowl for lunch and asked for more!

Speaking of food, K is enjoying all kinds of food. Daddy thinks it’s because she is not drinking milk from bottles, so has more of an appetite. She loves burritos like Daddy. 

 
She was trying to take the biggest bite she could!

She also likes the chicken tenders from Plutos and loves the beets in Mommy’s salad.

 
Last week Auntie Marge came to visit and brought Vietnamese food for dinner.
 
Last Saturday, cousin Aiden, Auntie Caroline and Uncle Vu came from New Hamphsire to visit and is staying with K until the end of the week. K gave her cousin a welcome hug. He’s 2 months younger than K.


The kids enjoyed some relaxing time with their drinks on the front porch.

K’s favorite time at school is playing in the yard. There’s even a sandbox. It’s the first time she has played with sand. According to Teacher Steph she loves shoveling sand into buckets.  K is ready to go to the beach next week for her Hawaiian adventures!


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Second Genen

Last Friday was K's last day with Daycare Flores. Lolita and Laura were crying and didn't want K to leave. Daddy wanted to take a picture of K with Lolita and Laura but they preferred not to since they were sad. They love her very much. It was a really caring and nurturing environment for the first year of K's life but now as she is getting older it's time to move onto to school and have more structure. We would like to thank Lolita and Laura for taking such good care of K and would definitely return if K ever had a brother or sister!

Monday was the first day of Second Genen which is the onsite daycare/school at Genentech. The center can hold up to 500 kids! We were welcomed by this sign on Monday.

K was nervous and wondering where we were. When we entered the classroom she was pretty clingy and wanted Mommy to hold her and leave. The teacher would ask K if she wanted breakfast, if she wanted to play with toys or read books, but K would say no or constantly shake her head.

But after 15 minutes, K started to warm up and inched over to explore the toy area with her sleep sack.

She tried some breakfast too. All the kids must wash their hands before eating. Food is served family style amongst the kids and they practice serving. Each kid has a placemat with their picture on it.  The school is pretty clean. During diaper changes, kids are put on butcher paper like the one you see at the doctor's office and teachers wear gloves to change each kid. After the diaper is changed the teacher and child both wash their hands and the butcher paper is torn off.

Eventually K opened her arms to Teacher Steph to pick her up. She is K's primary teacher and blew Mommy and Daddy a kiss goodbye when they were leaving.

Teacher Steph said K is special since both parents drop off K in the morning and offered to take a family picture.

During the day Teacher Steph called Mommy to give her updates, When it was time to pick up K, she didn't want to leave! K didn't want Mommy or Daddy to hold her either. She was really attached to Teacher Theresa. All the teachers said K did well on her first day and she did not cry. She ate 3 servings of whole wheat pasta with spinach and peas and ate a lot at snack time.  K loved Gymboree which comes every Monday and K has music class every Tuesday. Teacher Steph said all the teachers were impressed by how smooth K's transition was.

Each parent receives a report of their child at the end of the day. The parent fills out the top portion in the morning and the teacher does the rest. Mommy wonders how teachers have time to do this, but she finds it super informative and appreciates the details. It's kind of crazy teachers have to cross reference and double check and initial before things are served. This is what K's expensive tuition is going towards!

On the back, Mommy and Daddy receive a summary of how K's day's went. Mommy is in love with the school and happy to see K is enjoying herself and transitioning. We can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Neighborhood

It's been over 3 months since we moved to the neighborhood. It's so nice having more space and especially a garage. It's so much easier not having to carry groceries from the elevator up to the condo. Now that we have a driveway K had some fun with sidewalk chalk.

 K has gotten to know her neighbors better too. The neighbor across the street has a bunny named Dusty who is so friendly. K pet the bunny's fur and he remained still and calm.

K supported the kids on her block by buying some snacks from the lemonade stand. She drank lemonade for the first time and loved it even though it was quite sour.

Sunday was Emi's red egg ginger party. Emi is now 3 months old and looks so much like her daddy!

Most of K's good friends were at the party. Tristan looked really handsome with his bow tie.

Mason and Court were there too. K of course had fun with Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe was working up a sweat throwing K up in the air. Mommy told Uncle Joe to take a break, but K found him and wouldn't leave his side.

Auntie Christine and Uncle Ryan played with K too.

All the excitement at the party resulted in K knocking out in the car. Mommy wanted K to take a longer nap, so Daddy drove slow on the freeway and met Auntie Ali, Uncle Pete & Court at Sprinkles. The girls sat at the kids table for an afternoon snack. What a fun way to end the weekend!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Weekend Fun

Last Saturday, K got her TB tested and it was negative. After that we didn't have much planned for the day. It was nice and relaxing! K went to the library and Daddy read her some books.

On Sunday was a different story. It was an eventful day. When K woke up from her morning nap, we went to San Bruno park for Arianna's 1st birthday. Ari is getting cutter day by day and has so much hair!

K snacked on some watermelon at the party. Auntie Suzy cut them in small pieces for K, but K only had her eye on the big piece. Watermelon is one of her favorite fruits!

K is really good at using a fork and loves to stab her food.

The ice cream truck came to the park and Cousin Christian shared some of his cookies and cream.

K couldn't stay too long at the park since she had her swimming lesson. We missed cake and presents. During this week's swim class, K tried on goggles and fins. When we got home from swimming, we got a surprise call from Uncle Ken. He was in the neighborhood with Mason and wanted to stop by. Auntie Becca came after work. Mason was intrigued by K. He tried hugging her but K's reaction was hands off!

Baby Mason tried pulling on K's shirt too. He thought it was pretty funny. After hanging out, the kiddies went to Uncle Larry's restaurant and had some yummy potstickers and chicken and corn soup.

K can find things to entertain herself at home. Mommy got a delivery from Amazon and K decided to climb on top the box. Good thing there was nothing fragile inside!

The back of the stairs didn't seem to be comfortable enough so K brought over the couch pillows herself and found it way more relaxing.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Slowly But Surely...

With K nothing really comes easy for example drinking from a bottle, transitioning to whole milk and now weaning from a bottle. She is a strong willed, independent baby with a personality and that's why we love her. When something new is introduced to her or there is change, it usually starts with protest, refusal, anger but with patience and love success is eventually achieved. The last 2 weeks, Daddy and I have been trying to have her drink from a cup. She is able to drink water from any open faced cup or straw cup, but once milk is put in these cups she pushes it away instantly and drops it out of her hands. She refuses to drink milk from anything other than a bottle. This weekend we gradually started dropping a bottle and this morning she finally took 3 sips from a straw cup. This may not seem like a lot but Mommy will take anything she gets. We know in time she will fully transition. Next up will be training her to drink cold milk!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Oakland Zoo

Last weekend we made an attempt to go to Tilden Park but due to the heavy traffic, Daddy exited and made his way to the Oakland zoo. Po Po came too. The first thing K did was ride the train. During the ride she saw ostriches, kangaroos and emus.

The monkey at the zoo put on quite a show for his audience. He swung from branch to branch and K laughed every time he moved. She tried making funny ape sounds too.

She also saw a family of giraffes.

And elephants too while enjoying a snack.

On Thursday, K went for her 15 month check-up. With her clothes on, she weighs 21 pounds and 11 ounces (25th percentile). She is 31 and 1/4 inches long (75th percentile) and has a head circumference of 45cms (50th percentile). She got 4 shots during the visit including the TB shot and has to go back Sat to check the results.


After the doctor appointment K was treated to some ramen for being brave during her shots.

These days K is loving the ability to close the door behind her.

She will close the door with no one inside but herself and doesn't mind one bit being alone even when it's dark.


 Goodbye and good night everyone!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Comfortable In The Water

Sundays are swim class days for K. She has come a long way. The first time she cried and motioned for Mommy to get out of the pool and leave. Now she is definitely more comfortable. It's quite the reverse now. She actually runs up to the door after class and wants to go back into the pool and whines when its time to leave.

Mommy caught some videos of what goes on during a baby and me swim class class.  K has been dunking her head quite a bit and has learned to blow out for air.


She has been practicing sit jumps and kicking.


There is singing and activities during the class too. One song teacher May sings is motorboat. K has two classmates she sees every week-Charlotte and Lucy. They are 10 months and 13 months.


One of K's favorite activities is the slide.


It was cute to see all the daddies in the water while the mommies watched.


Other things K has learned is kicking off the wall/blast offs and back floats which she is not too fond of.  Daddy thinks she's ready for vacationing in the pool! Of course K's security blanket is coming along too. She won't leave home without it!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Love Of Shoes

It's starting already. K is going to be a girly girly and love shoes like most women. She's already trying to wear Mommy's. What's next...high heels?