First Words?

What constitutes a baby's first word? I mean the girls are already using the typical baby sounds of 'mmma' and 'bbbba' and even 'da da da da.' So aside from those I believe that the girls have said their first words (after 15 months of age).

Natalie
Yesterday I was playing with the girls. Fiona and Jadon went to out to Costco. I was playing with a little plush lamb that when you press the stomach, it says a bed time prayer that ends off with "amen." Well I did it initially and I noticed Natalie saying "ama." I press the lamb again and as soon as it finished Natalie said it again. I repeated the process a few more times after that but couldn't get another response from her again. I tried a few minutes later and there she repeated "ama" again. So I'm going to officially record that Natalie's first word is "amen."

Vanessa
It's a little harder to distinguish what Vanessa's first word is. Yesterday I got her to say "ball." She was playing with a plush football and I was telling her that it was a "football, ball, ball." And she ended up saying "ba ba." She repeats it twice everytime she says it. So I would definitely say that is a word that she is saying but I think that perhaps that she has been saying "bye" long before that. When she sees one of us leaving out the garage she'll yell out "Bla! Bla!" and wave her hand.

It'll will be interesting to see when they both talk. Hopefully it won't get as annoying as Jadon can be sometimes. All those questions (most of them repeated over and over and over).

15 Month Weigh In.

Fiona took the girls to their 15 month wellness check up. She told me they cried throughout the whole session and that she had to hold both of them while standing up the whole time. Well here are the specs on the girls:

Natalie
weight: 17 lbs 2 oz.
height: 28 1/4 inches

Vanessa
weight: 17 lbs 13 oz.
height: 28 3/4 inches

Cry Babies.

This past weekend seemed to invoke more 'cry baby' behavior then usual. The majority of the source came from Natalie. So lets break it down by each "waa-er" shall we?

Natalie
I'm starting with her, because like I said, she is the biggest culprit. She always seems to be reverting back to her newborn ways. She cries every time we put her to sleep (for bed or for nap) and she cries every time she wakes up. On Saturday I put her for her second nap at 4:00pm. She napped for less then 45 minutes and woke up to her a teary cry. I left her alone 20 minutes to see if she would go back to sleep. No such luck. Of course when she takes a short nap, she tends to be even more cranky towards the evening. Vanessa doesn't have this problem whatsoever. At night a few hours after we have put Natalie to sleep, she has been waking up and crying. We have no idea why. Her pacifier is still in her mouth when we check up on her. Her diaper is clear of any poop. Perhaps she could have bad dreams but I don't know.

Jadon
He's still pretty sensitive. Usually when it comes to feeding himself, he's pretty self sufficient. There are those times when he's spooning or forking something off his plate, he say "need help." And of those times Fiona and I will be occupied with feeding the girls or washing the dishes. Most of the time when he requests assistance its because he has no confidence in himself or he's lazy. We'll say "Jadon, you can do it yourself. You're a big boy now." Then that's when you might see his lower lip stick out and his eyes start to tear up.

Last night, Grandma and Grandpa were over. Jadon had invited them to come over after dining out with them. He was quite ecstatic to have company over. Well it was time to put the girls to sleep (Natalie was cranky as heck). Fiona and I told Jadon to entertain G&G while we put his sisters to sleep. He started to bawl like a baby. He wanted to be put to bed for fear that G&G were going to take him over to their place. Somewhere he lost the lines of communication. Grandma even volunteered to put him to sleep in his own bed but he started to tear up even more.

Vanessa
She's been pretty good for the most part. Yesterday morning she woke up early crying. We left her alone and she eventually fell back to sleep. When we checked on the kiddies to get them up for the day, she apparently had chucked all of her stuffed animals as well as her two pacifiers (one of them was even clipped onto her PJs).

Lastnight we we went to the Elephant Bar for dinner. Fiona, the kids, and I were waiting in the foyer (for G&G). Vanessa was walking near me when Jadon apparently set off the alarm (boy did I lecture him). Vanessa in the meantime got really startled and wanted to be picked up. It's so cute how she raises her arms towards me. Anyways her hands were shaking and she wouldn't let me put her down. When I did she'd break out into a total cry. The only way that she'll let you hold her without squirming is if she hurts herself or she gets scared.

My Little Puppy Natalie.

I think I am on to something as far as calming down Natalie when she's crying/whining. I sit her on my lap and I rub her belly. I have done it about a half dozen times and so far it seems to work. Now if I can only train her to fetch and potty train her.

Jadon's Version of Hide & Seek.

So I am upstairs playing hide & seek with Jadon. First, it was my turn to hide and Jadon's turn to seek. I hide in my closet behind the door. He eventually found me (after a few hints). Then he wanted me to hide again. So I told him to count to ten in the closet. I went to hide behind Jadon's bedroom door. He took a while so I went to check up on him. Apparently he thought he was hiding.

So then Jadon yells out "I'm going to hide, you count dadda."
I say "Ok you hide and I'll count."
Jadon bust out into excited laughter "I'm going to hide in the closet! You can look for me dadda!"

So here I am blogging while Jadon is hiding in the closet (with Vanessa). =)

Doggy Fix

I am in the midst of observing Jadon on his bed playing with one of his toys. Every now and then he'll stop playing and he'll grab his doggy for a quick sniff and then puts it down and returns to playing. He's definitely addicted to his friend. Hopefully he won't have to go to some support group when he grows up.

L.A. Zoo Excursion

I took yesterday off from work and Fiona and I took the kiddies to the L.A. Zoo. This trip was the longest the girls have ever taken in their existence. I was hesitant to take this little journey because I didn't think the girls would handle it. The girls behaved rather well. The trip to the zoo was an hour and thirty minutes with a good amount of traffic. Jadon, on the other hand, was behaving quite erratic. He would cry, sulk, and/or complain. We arrived at the zoo about 11:30 a.m. It was quite hot and quite crowded. We probably saw about a dozen or so animals up close. We saw a Kimodo dragon, which was quite a sight (I thought of the movie The Freshman), we saw flaminos (the smelliest part of the zoo), kangaroos, otters, elephants, giraffes (I caught one giraffe taking a leak and another giraffe drinking from it, yuck!), lions, and a few others. Then we hit up some lunch and then caught a bird show at 2:00p.m. Natalie didn't really pay much attention at the show, but Vanessa was into it. She'd see a bird, point at it, and started laughing. What a little hoot. We left at about 2:45p.m. It was quite exhaustive. Jadon was complaining that he was tired but he didn't want to nap in the car. So that led him to sulk and weep quietly through out the trip. Then he got bored and started to torment Natalie. I caught him trying to bit her feet.

(side note observation: Typically when we go out, whether it be to a mall or store, we constantly get onlookers making comments about the girls. When we went to the zoo, there were so many kids and so many strollers. We thought that we would go unnoticed and just blend in with the crowd. That was not the case. There were onlookers and there were comments. I thought that we should have made the girls apart of the exhibit and charge for admission =). )

These trips can take a lot out of someone. Even this morning I am feeling the effects from it. I am physically exhausted. I remember one time when my parents took my brothers and I to Magic Mountain. It must have taken us 2+ hours to get there. The day was hot and the park seemed extremely crowded. My brothers and I were were complaining so much (because of the heat and the long lines) that my parents aborted the trip after one ride (I don't think I went on any because I was under the height requirement for most of the roller coaster rides). We were there probably no more then 30 minutes. I can see that happening when we take our kids out when they get older.

Sisterly Rivalry With A Dash Of Love.

The girls are already behaving like a rivalries. They get jealous of each other. If someone is holding one of them, the other wants to be held. If you hold both of them, one of them tries to push the other one away. They take each other's toy, they take each other's finger foods, they pull at each other's hair (mostly Natalie), they claw each other. I just can't believe that they both are already doing this to each other. They are way too young for this.

Yesterday, I witnessed something that gave me hope for these girls (at least one of them anyways). Fiona was getting the girls' water cups for them. Vanessa went up to her momma and retrieved her cup and walked away. Natalie was slowly crawling to get her's and Fiona set the cup down on the floor and walked away. Then that was when I saw it. Vanessa turned back around, went to Natalie's cup, retrieved it, and brought it to her sister. She actually tried to put it in Natalie's hand. It was such a cute sight to see. Either Vanessa was being compassionate and thoughtful or she was highly motivated to get Natalie's cup to her so Natalie won't go after hers. I would like to think that it's the first reason.

Anniversary!

Fiona and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary this past Saturday. It was also momentous in the fact that I have known my wife for half my life (vice versa as well). I got her six different colored stem roses, and dark chocolates/truffles from six different stores (The theme for 6 years is candy by the way). Fiona got me 6 mixtures of cookies, candy, and chocolates (6 of each type). We were able to get Angeline and Elliot to watch Jadon and Fiona's mom to watch the girls while Fiona and I went out to dinner. We went to 21 Oceanfront for dinner. It was right off the beach. It was pricy but the food was good. We started off with prime rib beef tips for apetizers, and shared a bowl of Lobster Bisque. Fiona had the Jumbo Sea Scallops while I feasted on the Calamari Steak. Both with delicious. Then for dessert our waitor served us a complimentary Anniversary Chocolate cake. After dinner we headed home to put all three kiddies to sleep. Fiona's mom watched the kids and we went back out to the Angels/Yankees baseball game. We showed up late to the game and watched about three innings. After that we stopped by at Ruby's diner for an oreo milk shake and then went back home. It was a pleasant excursion away from the kids. The last time we had dinner alone seems like a long time ago.

You Know You're Getting Old When....

This past Saturday, Fiona and I took the kids to the park in the morning. I took my basketball to shoot some hoops while Fiona took the kiddies to the nearby playground. I was hooping it up on one court and some boys (around 10 years of age) were playing on another court. Their ball was rolling towards me and I was going to retrieve it and throw it back. I over heard one of the boys tell the other "Wait, the old Chinese guy is getting it." -Ouch! I later told Fiona of this and she just busted up.


Some more funny racial comments:
-I had a coworker (Caucasian) who asked me "What's the currency in Asia? Yen?" (He was dead serious)
-During jury duty, I was waiting outside a courtroom and a Caucasian lady was trying to strike up some friendly conversation with me. One of the topics that she started up was "I know this great Chinese Restaurant..."
-One time I was pulled over by a cop and he was asking me questions:
He asks "What is your nationality?"
I respond "I'm Thai."
He says "Oh, Taiwanese."
-One time I was carrying Jadon (when he was a wee little baby) from the car to a restaurant. There was a car that was driving by with his window down (but I don't think he realized it) and he said "Look, there's an Asian baby!"

I just can't help but laugh when I hear these remarks. There is no intent to hurt and I know that it is just racial ignorance.

IPOD Down.

Yesterday as I left work, I hooked up my IPOD to my FM transmitter in my car. My IPOD wasn't turning on. I kept trying and trying but to no avail. Luckily there's an Apple Store really close to where I work. So I took it in and about 30 minutes later I had it replaced. I only had my IPOD for less then ten months! It was covered under warranty but I spent lastnight and this morning restoring my songs and recreating my on-the-go playlists. Hopefully this one will last longer (I'm hoping 2 years).

Saturday With The Girls.

It was just me and the girls on Saturday (the majority of it that is). Fiona, Jadon, and the granparents went up to the mountain from mid morning until 5:00pm. So that was about 7 hours devoted to spending it with the girls. Now out of those 7 hours about about half of it was devoted towards two naps. Still though, I still have to chaperone them. So after their first nap I feed them their lunch (1:30pm). After that I decided to take them to the mall. I still needed to eat lunch myself (2:30pm). Then I took them on the stroll around the mall. We got home close to 4:00pm. We played for a little bit and then I put the girls down for their afternoon nap. All in all, the girls behaved themselves and I got some time to relax and actually watch an entire moving during their first nap.

Fish Food.

When it comes to eating dinner, Vanessa is the worse of the bunch. Fiona slaves over making these organic cubes. They contain rice, chicken, and peas or potatoes, chicken, and green beans (something to that combination). She creates a whole batch and freezes them. Anyways, Fiona will make a bowl of two cubes worth (these cubes are the same size as ice tray cubes) and mix in a lot of butter, half and half milk, and cereal for dinner. Natalie will eat a good portion of that bowl and well Vanessa eats a sub par amount. Sometimes 'Nessa will eat only a few bites and she'll be done. Well yesterday when I was feeding the girls dinner, that's what happened. It can get a little frustrating at times when the girls don't eat and that they have to eat because they are way too under weight. I decided to try something different with 'Nessa. She started to eat gold fish as of late and so I decided to put one gold fish on each spoonful of her dinner. It worked like a charm. She ate the rest of her dinner (except for the last bite). I think I'm on to something.