Destination

Kari running through the neighborhood streets looking for her favorite park...






Kari said, "Mommy...cold!"

Water water everywhere

Upon returning home from their favorite slide in the park, we had to wait for the sprinkler water to stop prior to entering. Daddy decided to make a run for it with Kayla. Kari thought she should as well. She dashed through the sprinkling water half way down the walkway, then she walked back towards me getting double dose of water.

Kari called out to the little American older boy in the park "brother" in Chinese. Ignored. She watched him swing on the balance beam carelessly. His feet kicked her face a couple of times. I rescued her away, and she kept touching her face and said, "ghe ghe doing the swing and his feet kicked mei mei's face..." Long sentence, poor baby.

The meaning of Sharing... part II

Mommy gave Kari a pen and paper to draw on the way home. Kari scribbled away happily for a while until sister Kayla asked to draw as well. "give sister!" she exclaimed. Mommy tried to get Kari to take turns with Kayla. Kari refused. Mommy forcefully took away pen and paper and gave to Kayla. Kari cried angrily and would not stop until it was her turn again.

Giving the pen and paper back to Kari, Mommy angrily and loudly asked,
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO SHARE, KARI?"

In tears, with pen and paper in her hands, Kari replied,
"Is to draw picture together with sister..."

whoa....my baby is growing up fast!

The meaning of Sharing...

I told little Kari yesterday, with a aweful cringe,
that my foot hurt... (jammed it into the wall last week)
She looked at my toe and frowned for a while.
She showed a look of pain and shared it with me.

Today she walked over to me
bent down to inspect my toe
looking concerned again,
she said, "Mommy's foot hurts..."

I thank you for your genuine concern and for remembering...
Many don't care and don't even remember.
You are close to my heart, and I know you will be always.

Can I go home now?

Think Kari had a long day... Usually she always chooses to stay out. Tonight I asked her if she'd like to go out, and she said, "no....bu yiao xu chi ya..." I asked her if she'd like to go inside. She nodded, "hao..." Mommy wanted to go out, but the baby finally got tired.

In the middle of the night, mei mei wakes and asks for milk. Her wish unfulfilled, she cries and cries until her tears run dry. Then suddenly she stops, looks up, and declares seriously, "Mommy didn't buy milk ah.... No milk ah....no pacifier ah... Mommy buy when mr.sun comes up in the morning. Mommy buy lots and lots of milk...and lots and lots of pacifiers... for sister...for mei mei...and for Ama...and for Agon....and for Ayi.. and for Gu Gu...."

Mei mei goes on and on... so serious but so cute, so annoying cuz I wanna sleep but she is still so adorable. XOXO...

Victoria Garden

Sweet pic with Baba... Baba finally is done with the arduous stretch of night shifts, and can take mei mei out for a walk!

"Motorcycle, Mommy! hao do car oh..."
I like mei mei's eyes in this pic...Her new right double eyelid makes her look like a doll!

My baby Kari is resembling me more and more. She's a light sleeper like me. She nags and nags until she gets her way. She's a bit afraid of anything new. She's loves the slide yet she's scared to death of it. She's quite a sweet talker, and she very clingy to the ones she loves...She loves our quality time together. My daughter alright.

Kari taking her puppy for a walk, but her recent fears for any flying thing or any speck of dust has her in tears...

Sister Love

Oh gosh how I love this picture... and these cute baby girls...xoxo..xo

Happy baby & her happy Mommy

Kari's responses to my requesting the removal of her pacifier... She avoided direct eye contact for a minute, and hoped I would get that thought out of my head by the time she opened her eyes.

She makes me laugh...

I think little Kari loves me very much since day one...


Kari wakes up at 3AM in the morning and asks, "where's Daddy?"
I reply, "Daddy is at work."

She asks again, "where's Ama?"
I reply, "Ama is sleeping."

She asks persistently, "where's Agon?"
I patiently reply, "Agon is sleeping!!!!" I take a deep breath.

"yue liang po po?" (old lady moon)

"...Sleeping...." Sigh...

"Tai yong gong gong" (old mr. sun)

Reply refused.

Comes again, "where's Chau hu? (cartoon tiger)"....
Shouts I, "SLEEEEPING!!! SHUT UP!" Urghh.....

She asks once more, "where's Daddy?"
Realizing that she's confused by Daddy's current status, since it's dark, in the middle of the night, and everyone is sleeping...
I lie, "Daddy is sleeping, now you can go back to sleep too. SHUT YOUR EYES!"

I start to pray to God.

She looks at me and concludes, "Kayla is working." (ghe ghe chi shun ban)

Inappropriate Title

This is Kari laughing out of control after singing the "My Butt" song. Wo-de-pi-gu-zi-zi-zhon-zhon-de-...zizi zhong zhong de.... hehehehe...you have to be there to appreciate it. That's the song "chiao hu" sings before going to the bathroom!

I would've titled this post "My Butt Song"...
censored.

In the Park with Ama & A-gon

My favorite time is..

BATH TIME!! Look how much fun I can have even with a 102.5 degrees fever!!



I know how to brush my teeth. I ask Mommy for the delicious toothpaste on brush every morning. I make sure I eat it all, then ask for more.

Little pianist

I think how one plays a piano quite reflects his/her personality, don't you?

Don't mess with me...

Do I look like grandpa?


My gangster look.

Happy time at Ama and A-gon's

"I love the peaches I get at Ama's. I eat it on the drive home and Mommi can't do nothing about it..."

A-gon and Mommy walked ahead towards the gate faster than Kari could catch up. Loud and clear she said, "walk slowly! Walk slowly!!! (man mang zuo)" She said Brownie had not been good... "bu guay" becasue it bit mei mei...

She cried for Mommy when she saw kayla down with a fever on the floor. She knew something was wrong. I like how keen she is to situations.

She asked for "shuey (water)", and grandma didn't get it right away. Then she said, "water, please". She thought grandma couldn't understand Chinese...hahaha.

She kisses Mommy all the time, with love. My baby Kari always.

Sweet Dream

Next to Mommy

another piggy face...

amongst all her different faces...

Her new phrases:

"Ghe-ghe (sister) got milk!"
"after a bath, it is so comfortable-oh!" (si pon pon wan hao su fu oh...)
"ghe-ghe bu gian la..."

Kari noticed the mess on the living room floor and said "uh-oh..." The mess she co-created yesterday with Kayla with all the baby books scattered everywhere. She said, "fun hui chi (put it back)," and proceeded to stack up all the books the way I always organize it. That's my girl... I love love love love very very much!

The end result... not bad for a 19-month-old, eh?

ballet baby

Kari practicing ballet in the backyard next to A-ma and A-gon as they cook.



The truth is, I cannot stop looking at this picture...
It makes me smile in the morning when I awake,
During the day as I work,
On my way back from home,
On a rainy or cloudy day
It makes me understand the joy of being a proud parent...
Is seeing you grow up
You amaze me every day. With love.

HELP ME PLEASE

Today at the garden...

Picture Time

Mommy:"Kari, go stand there and pose for the picture. One picture, is all!"
Kari, with a chicken nugget in one hand, goes to the designated area and strikes a pose. "Picture," she says. Resulting pic below.



She understood the concept of a "picture" very early on. Starting 8 months or so, she'll say picture every time she sees one. About a year and two months she starts to peek at the photos I take. If she's not happy with the photo, she'll go right back to the same spot and re-adjust her pose. The other day she saw a picture I took of Kayla, and thought it was cute. She wanted me to take the same pose for her. She made me laugh.

While getting some boxes ready for a friend, I tossed all their old clothes on the floor and slowly organized into the box. Kari must have thought I was very inefficient spending the whole morning doing so, she decided to help me. Very quickly she threw all the clothes into the box, and within a minute we were done!! Hahaha...skipping the folding of course. My cute little helper... I see light in the near future...

Sleeping beauty

WAITING

When is Daddy coming home?

Kari said today after A-ma got off the car, "Wahh...A-ma bu gian la...(grandma disappeared)" She also told me yesterday that Daddy went outside. When I arrive home, she'll announce excitedly, "mommy is home!"

She loves car rides because it can get her to places she wants to go, but she hates car rides because it always takes so long. Each time she announces, "da le! (we are here)". I correct, "ha mei dao! Not yet!" Nowadays if I announce "Dao Le!" She'll playfully counter, "Hai mei dao!"

The Punishment

Today Kari spilled milk all over the floor. I stooped down to her level, looked into her eyes, and said, "Don't do that again".

With a look of repentance, she held out her index finger and scolded herself.

"no...no...!" she told herself. Little Kari proceeded to hold out one hand to me, and said "DA-DA! (spank it)" I couldn't resist. **SLAP SLAP**

Then she held out her other hand and said, "Hai yo yi ji! (there's one more hand)"

Hey she offered... **SLAP SLAP**

Then she stuck one foot high up in front of my face, and said, "my foot too!"

Wow...she is following the teaching of Jesus Christ....when someone slaps you on one cheek, let him slap the other too! Well done Kari, at such young age of 18 month. You go girl!

Kari 19 months

She said before heading out with daddy, "ready to go", clearly.  Was not feeling too well yesterday and as I was taking my medicine, she ran over to look and said, "mommy eat medicine (mommy tse yao yao)" She can talk a lot in sentences now.  Her pronunciation is so clear that there's very few words she couldn't enunciate.  Quite feisty still I would say.  Tough and stubborn, and major separation anxiety. Regardless of all, such a fun baby to have.

Sleep Time-Synchro

It's kinda cool that Kari asked to go to sleep by herself today.  She said, "Sleep, Mommy, sleep."  She came to hold my hand.  We walked to the room together, quickly she fell asleep on her favorite bobby pillow.  She's growing up...

Baby Kari knew her alphabets and most numbers by 12-14 months.  Now she can recite the entire ABC song by herself, as well as the numbers in correct sequence both English and Chinese.  She can speak a lot of sentences.  Today she ran inside the house from the backyard, and yelled "Wu tze dao la".   I walked outside and saw that the tent had been blown upside down by the wind.  While I was lying next to her in the room this evening, I yelled for her dad for help to get some medicine.  I said, "Lo gon!"  She replied back, "Lo GON! ....LO GON Lie la!"  Her favorite thing to say when I change Kayla's Diaper is, "sister's diaper is so smelly!!"  She is also quite a rebel.  In the car on our drive, she often announces, "Dao le! (we are here)".  I would counter, "hai mei dao! NOT YET!"  She smiles slyly and pretends to be upset.  One day I tell her, "DAO LE! (we are here)".  She replied, "hai mei dao! (NOT YET)".  I love my little rebel.  Here's one of her favorite things: straws, spoons, toothbrushes.

Kayla's favorite fruit: "A-GA!" (means watermelon in Chinese for her)  She says it with such emphasis.  If I challenge her furthur with "see gua", she'll say "GA-GA!"  It's rather cute...   I ask them who should get the milk first, they always unanimously reply, "ghe ghe sian (older sister first)".  Lala knows quite a few alphabets as well.  Although she doesn't like to show it off, she surprises me often.  I appreciate her gentle presence and patience, for Kari is quite the opposite.   She compiled a bunch of stickers on the wall the other day, stepped back, and "Wowed" herself.  She was so proud of her little art work that she stood back and admired it for minutes.  "WOW....", she said again.

KK's favorite activity: parading around in the backyard.

A bad word

why is kari saying "wong ba dan"?  who taught her that?!  At six month she started saying "biach". Now an upgrade in Chinese.

Few minutes in the park

...before the ultimate breakdown.  Is it really so important for you to play in the park?  Do you not get out enough, little Kari?

New Hair Style