Not mine…a girl’s.

Today, my two aunties (Mommy’s younger cousins) took me to the library for our usual storytime sessions. We got there late so we missed the session but we stayed there for a little while to read books.

While I was reading, there was a 21-month-old American gorgeous little girl who noticed me and kept glancing my way. She finally inched her way towards me, greeted me with a cheerful “Hi!” and wanted to stay by my side to read with me. Unfortunately, I do not have a thing for her so I mumbled “Hello” reluctantly at the urging of my aunties and then turned my back toward her (not forgetting to take my book with me so I can continue reading without interruption). Mommy said that wasn’t very nice and I should share, but she should know that feelings can not be forced…there’s just no chemistry between the two of us!!!

There was another girl that was also interested in me but she’s too young even to be considered.

*Sigh* I am only 2 and I already have to fight off the girls…what am I going to do when I grow up?! ;P

Yippey! I’m so excited!! I bathed in the REAL bathtub for the first time today!

As usual, Mommy was going to fill up my “baby tub” but I wouldn’t let her. I kept on telling her to put it away. She tried a couple of times (mainly because she can save some water ;P but also because she was afraid for whatever reason, I may lose my posture and go under) but I wouldn’t give in so finally she did and filled up the big tub. I kind of changed my mind after Mommy filled up 1/3 of the tub since it looks kind of intimidating and hesitated in going in but she was determined not to waste water, so she put me in despite my protests. After getting in though, it wasn’t so bad after all! It’s just like the good old times, except now I have much more leg room…it’s actually like having my own miniature pool!

I am starting to run out of things to play with though…already know the alphabets like the back of my hand so the foam letters are not fun anymore. Think Mommy is thinking of getting me bath crayons…;P

Owen helped someone broke the record - on the day he visited NC Zoo for his time, so call the largest nature habitat zoo - NC zoo had a a record day of visitors, totally 32K people visited zoo during the weekend.

It was a hot day, but obviously the 1.5 year old is not so hot about the zoo, he felt asleep before even seeing the sleeping lions (don’t know why, this is the 2nd time we saw the lions in NC zoo, the lions were sleeping when visited last time). Fortunately we get enough photos before he started day-dreaming…

So here is bit of advice, if you do plan to bring your little baby travel, make sure you plan the schedule to cover the things you want him/her to do/see in the morning.  Sleeping is very contiguous - by 2pm, we have seen most parents/grandparents were carrying sleeping children (in very many sleeping poses)…

Technically, it’s not really a preschool, since Owen is far away from kindergarten, but it is the first time he will be cared for outside of our home. Grandparents Yao are going back to China next Monday, and although praise and thank God we found the ideal caretaker for him (an experienced mom of 3 in her 30’s who has a degree in child development who is bilingual, and who would only be taking care of a max of 3 boys - her 2.5 yr son, Owen, and another boy who would only be part-time), we had to wait until this week to get Owen acquainted with her.

We decided to take Owen to the caretaker’s home just mornings this week to somewhat ease Owen into the routine. Frankly, I was REALLY worried and anxious about dropping him off this week since Owen has very strong stranger anxiety (first reaction when he sees any strangers in our house - even if they are not even attempting to touch him - is to cry).

So on Monday, I stayed with him during the 2 hours we were there….during the first 30 mins to an hour, he would not leave my side since he realized that it was a new environment. I quickly came to realize that I need to “disappear” in order to force him to adjust, so while he was temorarily mesmerized by the other kids, I sneaked away upstairs. Our caretaker swiftly took over the pacifying when Owen realized that I was gone and started crying. To my surprise, it was very brief. He quickly got sidetracked by other activities, for the next hour or so, would only cry when he periodically remembered Mommy, and cried for me, “mama, mama” but then again would be distracted by other things very soon.

So yesterday, I did not stay long before I was “shoo”ed away from the caretakeer…she took him aside and said that I could go, and that he would cry only briefly. As hard as it was to see him cry, I know it’s a stage he has to go through, so I left as instructed. A later call to the caretaker reassured me that Owen was indeed happily going about his business. ;P When I picked him up yesterday noon, it was the cutest thing; I saw him as soon as I made the turn onto the street since the caretaker was holding him standing in the driveway and he was not crying, yet as soon as she pointed to my car coming down the street and he recognized my car and me, he started crying! It was as if he wanted to tell me how much he missed me! The same thing happened today when his Daddy dropped him off.

The only catch now is that Owen is very cautious - he won’t eat or drink anything from someone who he doesn’t trust yet. So…he has still yet to eat or drink something that the caretaker gives him (even if it’s a food or drink that he usually loves). Our guess - and hope - is that by next week, when he will be there for the entire day, he will have no choice but to eat/drink due to hunger/thirst.

I’m a proud Mommy - came home from work today and Grandpa Yao happily told me that Owen “poop-poop”ed in the potty this morning! To make sure that I shared in the joy and witnessed this historical event, Grandpa and Grandma Yao deliberately saved the poop for me to see (despite the fact that it was stinking up their bathroom ;P ). Being a Mom, I almost went running for my camera to take a picture of this poop for memory sake!

I asked Grandpa Yao if Owen got scared when the potty started singing and he said no, though he did find it very amusing! Hopefully, that will encourage him to go running to the potty next time he has an urge to poop!

I am already getting a taste of the terrible two stage..and Owen is not even 18 months yet!

From knocking off bowls from tables, flicking food off the spoon, to smacking people and tearing books (as can be seen in the image below), little sweet Owen has been scolded quite often recently. He’s a real keen observer of a person’s mood based on his/her expressions…here’s usually what happens:
1) Owen does something wrong.
2) Mommy reprimands him.
3) Owen stop what he’s doing and looks at Mommy with a serious “uh-oh I did something wrong” face.
4) Owen then tries to lighten up the mood by smiling at Mommy, calling “Mommy” sweetly, hugging/kissing Mommy, or climbing onto Mommy’s laps.
5) If Mommy can’t hold her laughter and gives in, then Owen wins and he’s a happy camper.
If Mommy manages to keep a stern look, Owen starts looking down at the floor and all around - everywhere but avoids looking into Mommy’s eyes (as he is doing here in the picture).

He also doesn’t dare move around - he will stay exactly where he was when he got scolded. He will remain there with roaming eyes until Mommy softens her voice and holds out her hand to hold Owen.
6) Owen happily smiles and calls Mommy and comes over to be held.

Funny thing is the above process only takes place IF Owen knows he did something he shouldn’t have. When he thinks you have wrongfully accused him, he will cry.

Have to admit - despite his ability to constantly get in trouble nowadays, he is still helplessly adorable with his toddler talk. He learns words so fast now, especially in English. I have noticed that it is much easier for Owen to pick up English vocabulary than Chinese…for the past two days, he has been walking around alternating between “What” and “Watch”. Today, while Grandma Hong was saying goodbye to Owen on Skype, Owen imitated after Grandma and replied, “Bye bye”. Grandma Hong was so surprised - as was I since that was the first time he said “bye bye”!

Oct 31, I think everyone with children knows what that day is. (Jane said Christian is not supposed to celebrate it, but anyway, we have to make exceptions)
Thanks to Owen, now we are no longer the household that can only provide candies, we are also the consumers!! With Owen being the leverage, a so cute version after we dressed him in the pooh-bear costume, it is not hard at all to get candies.

Leaving auntie staying at home base to serve other children candy, five body guards (two parents, two grandparents, and jane’s cousin) escorted the King Owen to sweep my neighbor-hood. People nowadays are too generous, our little basket became full after we just visited the neighbors in the cul-de-sac, not wanting to waste too many candies since we don’t want to eat that, so we called it a day. Don’t think Owen knows what is the thing people given to him, too him, these are a full basket of “toys” which can kept him busy for a while (Owen likes to dump the candies from the basket and then put them back one by one, what a organized kid!!)

Apologize for the lapse, but we (including Owen) took a trip to Vancouver/Banff from the 12th-20th (more to come on the trip details), then I crashed when we got back and suffered viral gastroenteritis all last week.  Things are just FINALLY back to normal this week.

Yesterday evening, Owen went to the first musical concert of his life.  Owen’s aunt (Mommy’s cousin Sabrina) was in the chorus at Green Hope High and invited the entire family to attend the 2-hour concert.  Because Owen was sleeping, we did not get to the school until around 7:30pm (it started at 7pm).  Daddy and Mommy decided to stand in the back of the auditorium so it’s easier to videocam and to hurry out in case Owen starts to fuss. 

We figured that since Owen loves to listen to and dance to music, that he would be at least be good for a while in the beginning…maybe 15 mins or so.  Owen amazed us by not making a peep until about 10 mins before the concert was over (around 8:50pm) - he was quiet for almost 90 mins straight! Now for a 14.5 months BOY who can’t seem to sit still for more than 10 secs at home, if that’s not a sign that he will be into music, I dont know what is (granted Owen was always paying attention to the stage, but also spent a great deal of time “people-watching” (esp when they clapped) and “environment-observing”, it’s still a significant achievement)!  We told Grandparents Hong this, and Grandpa Hong is ready to buy a grand piano for Owen to start “nurturing” his musical talents! ;P

Owen experienced four more “first”s these past 3 days:

1) Seemed to have linked the word “mama” to me. Since Friday, when he said “mama” very clearly (he’s said it before, but randomly) and deliberate, I did a clown act, jumping around and hugging him cause it sounded like heaven in my ears.  That encouraged him and he’s been saying mama nonstop since, esp when he sees me!

2) Started “running” short-distance: Now that Owen has mastered the art of standing alone, he is no longer content.  His next challenge: to move one place to another that is 3-4 steps away.  For example, he will be standing at our cocktail table, and will aim for the sofa.  It’s really cute how he does this: he stares at the destination (ie.sofa) with intense concentration as if he is sizing up the distance, then taking a deep breath, will scurry over to the sofa in a lightening speed in 3-4 quick non-step steps (for fear of falling).  When you watch him, it’s as if you’re watching a little mouse run around! 

3) When we went out for our morning stroll yesterday, after taking a few bites of the honey cake, he started shaking his head when I offered him more.  Our little sweetie has learned to associate no with shaking his head side-to-side!

4) Owen is such a fast learner and so different from other babies - he loves to be an adult! For example, he completely bypassed the sippy cup phase and went straight from bottles to drinking normal cups/glasses when he was 9 months old.  Today, he surprised me again when he crawled to grandma auntie’s room and knocked, not with his palms flat against the door, but using the knuckles of his fisted hand!  That’s how I knock whenever I call my cousin to eat dinner - can’t believe Owen picked it up just like that! Absolutely amazing how God created these tiny little angels to learn!

Wow, Owen has reached 2 HUGE milestones today:

1) He took the first 3 steps of his life by himself today!  As usual, he was standing alone for the millionth time today but I was a few steps away from him so I enticed him to take his first step by holding out my arms; sure enough, Owen wanted to be held by Mommy and decided to take the risk and did not hesitate long before taking his first step (it was on his right foot) toward me.  After he took his first step, he even managed to steady himself and not fall! (it is SO adorable to watch toddlers steady themselves when they are standing/wobbling).  I eagerly told Sherwood about it, especially gloating over the fact that I was the only one present when our little angel took his very first step. Guess Owen didn’t want Daddy to feel too bad because a little while later, he took another attempt and took 2 consecutive steps all by himself! I have a feeling our “blessed” life of just chasing after a crawl-only Owen will be over very soon!

2) Owen put himself to sleep for the first time! Yes, even though he is already over 13 months, tonight is the first time he TRULY put himself to sleep.  Ever since he was born, we have rocked him to sleep.  However, because of the odd sleeping habits he has developed lately, I called the nurse for guidance and she recommended that it was time to train Owen to go to sleep by himself. 

Sherwood has been trying to get me to train Owen for the longest time, but I did not agree with his method (which he had read from books), which is basically to let baby cry it out.  I told him that I would not be able to stand it and that he wants to, he can do the training when I am out of earshot.  Now this is different…this is for Owen.  Unless he can put himself to sleep, he will not be able to have good rest as he has trouble putting himself back to sleep at night and thus cries.  Lately, he would then just wake up and start playing.

So for Owen’s sake, I decided to give it a shot.  Actually, even before this, I was trying to train Owen my own way - I would let him roll around our bed when he became sleepy and then put him back into his crib.  The nurse, however, pointed out that he needs to be trained in the exact same environment that he will be waking up to alone at night so everything is familiar.  So Friday afternoon, I made my first attempt at training Owen.

IT WAS UNDESCRIBABLY PAINFUL!!! I told Sherwood afterwards that it would have been easier to stick a knife in me because it pained me so much to hear Owen cry so hard…with his every sob (he was crying so hard at the end that he could not catch his breath), my heart bled and I felt like someone was tugging and twisting my insides.  Our poor baby had no idea why all of a sudden, Mommy would not pick him up from the crib when he’s so tired and sleepy but rather, just kept on wiping his nose and eyes as he wailed and wailed.  Owen kept on trying to climb up the rail and grabbing at my arms and shirt to pick him up…So many times, I wanted to put my arms around him and do just that, but the nurse’s comments rang again and again in my ears and stopped me.  She had said, “Make sure you can go through with this, or else don’t do it.  If you are going to give up halfway, then you would’ve let him cried for nothing as he will interpret that if cries long enough or hard enough, then you will give in.” So not wanting Owen’s tears to fall in vain, I forced myself to bear it.  I honestly was about to start crying myself.  Luckily, Owen became so tired from crying so hard that he slowly fell asleep and his sobs subsided.  As hard as it was for me, I believe I got the message across. 

That night, I told Sherwood that I couldn’t bear it anymore and that he would have to put Owen to bed (and watch him wail)…since Sherwood had always been the one who was for the ultimate cruel training method of just leaving baby alone and letting him cry it out, I was somewhat surprised when he came down with Owen in his arms a little while later after some minutes of wailing and crying from Owen.  Like many things, turned out that it’s easier said than done - he could not bear watching Owen’s struggle and cries and ultimately gave in.  In a way, I was relieved cause I was about to pull my hair out just hearing his cries downstairs!

Don’t know if Owen since has decided to try to fall asleep before he is placed in his crib, but for the past 2 days, he has been fallen asleep while nursing.  Tonight though, although drowsy as usual, he did not fall asleep after nursing.  When I placed him in his crib, he tried to go to sleep but then started crying.  This time, I pretended like I was asleep already; he saw me “sleeping” and stopped crying and went back to rolling around in his crib and burying his head (that’s what he does to put himself to sleep).  He let out a few cries again, and stood by the rails to look at me again but I was still “sleeping” so he stopped and continued his routine.  About 10 mins later, he was asleep! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of him!

All in all, I believed I made the right decision, though I would not have done it had Owen not been having trouble sleeping enough hours.  I am a firm believer, however, that it would be detrimental to leave the baby alone and let him cry it out…although it is extremely difficult for the parents, being there in the room makes all the difference in the world because although the baby may be puzzled/confused at why you don’t pick him/her up, he/she will feel secure with your presence and not be scared or feel lonely or neglected/unloved (all of which will affect his personality and behaviors in the future).