tongsilitis (03/29) + more and more fuzzy

Last tuesday (03/29) amy threw up twice in the morning. It turned out to be tongsilitis. I think she's already caught ALL the virus there is in the whole wide world during the past three months. I am so used to it that i didn't even worry too much. :(

This past week she has been very fuzzy and easily frustrated. For example, if she can't put the number sorter together correctly, she'd scream, hit her self, or pull her hair. I thought it was tongsilitis-related. But her daddy insists that she was just too spoiled. I have to agree with him when this behavior didn't go away yesterday. There is no way that i can act tough on her when i suspect she's uncomfortable physically. And i am constantly suspecting that. Hopefully things will get better in the summer. I know, this, SHALL PASS, TOO!

On top of all these, she has formed a habit of getting up at 5:30am.

Ditto

Starting last week, before my husband went to school, or before i took Amy into her room for her sleep, he would say "i love you" to Amy. Since "love you, too" is too hard for Amy, i told her to say "ditto".
Today, before her daddy left, he said, "i love you". i was feeding amy at the moment.So I didn't really pay attention to that. Out of nowhere, Amy suddenly yelled, "Ditto~". It melt my heart at that very moment. I almost cried. :pMy husband said more than three times "I love you", amy all responded correctly, and with the sweetest smile.
Later i tried. It appears that it only works for her daddy. :(

赖

很多中文词汇我都对应不上英文啊。。。比如说赖，委屈。。。

自从amy有过night terror以后，我开始重新考虑对她的教育问题。女孩子敏感，虽然她还小，也懂不少了，阿姨一句话，就震动得她的小心灵颤好几天。挺乖一孩子，我为什么还要对她凶？从此，叛变严母的队伍，走向温和一派。

她是何等样的敏锐啊。妈妈策略有变，自然对策就要变。最近几天，一天赖似一天。
某天早上，她自己坐在小椅子里喝奶，安详宁静，略带洋洋得意，一张胖脸嘟着，两只黑手捧着杯子，认真得不得了。遥想当年她缩在我怀里咕嘟咕嘟吃奶，吃完了累喉喉儿的喘气，感触良多啊，就跟她说，要不要坐到妈妈怀里来喝奶？小人儿本来高高兴兴，听了此话，一下子瘪起嘴来，委委屈屈的假哭，嚎叫“怀～～里～～”，“怀～～里～～”，好像我刚才是怎么虐待她了一样。

Slide

Amy finally figured out how to play the slide all by herself. We started to take her to play almost 1 year ago. Either her daddy or me would let her sit in our lap and then slide down. She absolutely loves it. As she get bigger, she got more intrested in the stairs. She'd hold our hands and clime up the stairs then follow the stairs back down. Every time i took her to the slide side, she'd shake her head or say no. Some time she'd let me hold her hand and then drag her down the slide slowly. She is really concerned about safety! Definitely got that from her daddy. Not me.

And the last sunday she suddenly figured out the whole process. She'd climb up the stairs by herself, refusing me touch her anywhere. And then she'd sit down far far far far away from the slide, slowly scouting to the slide. Of course she'd hesitate a little bit. She has a safety-geek daddy after all. Eventually she'd slowly slide down, with a proud smile on her face. The cutest part is that after she got down to the floor, she'd run back to the stair, in the mean time yelling, hurry! hurry! hurry!

I taped her playing slide and then played it on the computer. Amy got even more exciting when she watched it. She'd wait till the amy in the screen slide down and then yell, yay~~~~~~

Anticipation

On our way to day care, there is a new bank branch opening at one of the street corner. They put a lot of ballon around that corner to attract attentions. Amy noticed that the first day they were placed, even before me noticed the construction is done. She pointed at the ballons and yelled "ball! ball! ball!". For the past couple of days, she'd do that everytime we passed the corner. However, the wind has been pretty strong recently. Some of the ballons flew away, the other lost all the air. Today there's nothing left. Even before we get to that corner, out of habit and anticipation, amy yelled excitedly, ball! ball! ball! Then she looked out, nothing there. That's when she turned to me, all confused, saying, ah-oh! ah-oh! I guess changes, even teeny tiny ones, irrelevant ones, are confusing to them.

fast learner

最近发现amy每天都在偷偷摸摸的学很多东西，我怀疑她是有小本本藏着，记了笔记的。

1. 某日我和老公闲聊，说，我妈如何如何，第一个如何还没说出来，小人儿就在旁边接下茬：袜袜！袜袜！（袜袜＝姥姥）至今我也不知道她怎么FIGURE OUT的人际关系。

2.春暖花开时节，母女二人驾车出行。我间或的指一下，AMY，看，花～第二天，AMY便自己指一棵梨树，花～，然后推广到看树就指，花～花～花～花～我赶紧纠正，不对，白的粉的是花，绿的是树。第三天，一路上，看AMY伸着小黑手，花！白白～树！白白～树！白白～忙了一阵，突然，BALL!白白～我一看，可不，谁家门口飘着气球两个。

3.幼儿园新来小朋友两个，noah和spence，轮流大哭每天。amy以前是深情的叫小朋友的名字然后微笑。前天放学路上，挨个念叨，avory,呵呵，lucia,呵呵，davin，呵呵，然后突然语气一变，带着哭腔大叫，noah~55555, spence~5555555。

4.某日睡前准备沐浴后要更的衣，在amy壁橱里找许久也找不到bodysuit，我就和自己嘀咕，说，哦，在洗衣间吧，脚下正在东摸西摸的小人儿听罢拔腿就跑，跑到洗衣间门口，指着门大叫：门！门！门！我自己都是第一次管那个房间叫洗衣间。可以算小人儿和我心意相通？

5.小人书架上画书一百本，其中混杂lucky杂志一本，目前是她favorite。翻开书页，找到亚裔或者墨裔美女就深情呼唤，姨～姨～。杂志封面美女的照片在目录那页也会出现，每看到目录，她就指着那个微缩了的照片认为是书中书，说，书～BOOK~担心妈妈不懂中文，英文也要说出来。

6.姥姥姥爷回国了，仍然想念。每次回家，一下高速公路，觉得快到家了，立刻叫，袜袜～爷爷～等红灯时，旁边一辆车，车里挂着一串骰子，姥爷从LAS VEGAS带回来常和AMY玩儿的，便指着说，爷爷～我便常常带她打电话给北京，渐渐的，已经接受了姥姥姥爷住在电话里的事实。某日我去接她，自己坐在小椅子上，静悄悄的举着一个玩具电话，在说，袜袜～爷爷～北京～家家～要是她姥姥看到，要哭鼻子了估计。

Sleep problems

Starting this winter, amy's been giving me a huge headache during her sleep time. Now every time i put her to bed, i'd be in this terrified stage, worrying what will happen during the night... It all started when she got sick. Every time she caught something, it'll start by her waking up nad refusing to go back to sleep around midnight. That's why i am so mortified each time she woke up. My instinct would tell me she's sick again. Unfortunately my instinct hasn't failed me so far. :(

Last week, she even had an episode of night terror. It was triggered by her biting. Amy's actually not very offensive, never started a fight. But if somebody tries to get her stuff, she's a fighter, a good one. Sean happens to be a guy who has a habbit to grab others' toy. So Amy has bited Sean at least twice. I guess the teachers gave her a hard time. I never gave amy time-out at home, i just can't. When teacher gave her time out, it struck her really hard. Last thursday night, the whole night, she kept talking in her dream, NO MINE! NO MINE! Even when i hold her, she couldn't calm down, and she even tried to walk away from me with her eyes closed. It totally broke my heart. I ended up sleeping with her that night.

Yesterday, similar thing happened. She didn't really have night terror. But she just couldn't go back to sleep. i was both worried and exhausted. So i hold her to sleep again...I know this is bad to her sleep-training... i just can't help. I wish this time she didn't catch some virus.... keep my fingers crossed.

18 month check up

After a couple of days staying at home, amy can't wait to go back to day care. But this morning i scheduled her 18 month check up at 9:30 am. So i told her that we'd go to check her weight first and then we'll go see avory. Somehow she only picked up the signal about "avory" and tuned out the first part. When we got into the clinic, she had this totally felling betrayed expression on her face. As she ran towards the door, she yelled, AVORY AVORY NO MINE NO MINE! All the nurses thought that's cute. Well... it's always cute when it happens to somebody else!

Weight: 25.3 lb
Height: 35 inch
Head: 19 1/4 inch.

2nd ear infection, NO MINE

Amy's ear infection came back. By far this is already the 3rd kind of antibiotics she's on. Hopefully it'll work this time. :( .

Everytime she gets sick, she figures out some new trick to drive us nuts. She knows we wouldn't really punish her during this kinda time. Kids are so smart! This time the new thing she picked up is 'NO MINE'. Whatever we say, she'd reply by a violently "NO MINE". She doesn't really know what it means. I guess some kids at day care yelled at her by that. She just found it really powerful. So now our daily conversation includes, "amy, you want some milk?" - NO MINE! "amy, you want to go out?" - NO MINE! Her father would tease her by saying, "amy, are you a good girl?" she'd reply by a proudly "NO MINE!". She even says it during her dream, too.

Use a spoon

Ever since amy's in the young toddler room, she's been practicing using spoons. Other kids' ability with this little objective totally intrigues her. At the very beginning, she just insisted on holding a spoon whenever i feed her. She didn't really use it to do anything other than banging it on the table. And then she moved on to poking stuff with the spoon. One day we were sharing yogurt, she found out after dipping the spoon into the cup,there'd be some yogurt on it. She's so excited about this observation that day i have to eat 2 cups of yogurt, all fed by amy. Of course both of us end up dressing most of the yogurt. But it's totally worth it. Recently she can use the spoon to pick up peas and then slowly, clumsly, and adorably put them into her wide opened mouth. It's really hard for her to coordinate the eyes, the mouth, and the hands. So half of the time long before she put the food in front of her mouth, she's already open her mouth really really wide. It's so cute to watch. Of course, she still can't use spoon to take soup. Yesterday, she attempted a couple of time, and the soup all ended up on her clothes.

Too nice

I don't know if there is such a thing as being too nice. Or, is there anything hidden behind being nice? i am thinking feeling insecure might be the real reason for a person to be nice.

I totally don't mind myself being push-over or crowd-pleaser, doing things that i don't want to do just to make others happy. But when it comes to Amy, i always want her to be a free-spirited person, do whatever she herself wants...... Well, most of the time things just don't turn out to be the way you want, do they?! It's just amazing how i can see myself in her, even though she's only 18 months.

Yesterday morning when i dropped amy off at the day care, Vicky was sitting on the floor, blowing bubbles. All the kids were jumping up and down, chasing those bubbles, despite the fact that vicky has told them over and over and over again to sit down. However, the minute vicky said, amy come and sit down, amy sat down quietly, just looking at others playing. If there are bubbles coming her way, she'd try to poke them, if not, she'd just sit there, watching others. After a while, Vicky asked amy to blow the bubble. Again, she did exactly as Vicky instructed the instant she heard her. After that, she returned to her spot, sat down again, quietly.

That's when it hit me, all the things i see in Amy, the friendly smile, the Hi gesture, the hugs she gives out, and the kisses she blows... are all things she tries really hard to do, to please others. By nature, she's a rather shy and quiet kid. But she tries really hard to do what others tell her to do. She's either too nice and sweet or too insecure. I do want to believe it's the former.

As amy gets bigger and bigger, i question myself more and more often. Am i really prepared for this? Yes, i can feed her, change her and bath her, no problem. But when it comes to spiritual/personality/emotional needs and guidance, i really have no clue what to do.

I am trying to convice myself that parenting IS like this. Growing up together is a whole package, including feeling useless, helpless, and panicky.

Funny girl

Amy started to show her funny side recently, like walking funny with her body bended, or walking backwards into a wall and then say "ah-oh", or pretending she's kicking a ball while walking when there's no ball at all...Normally when i changed her into her sleepware, she'd know it's nap time and started to fuzz. Today when i did that, she started to pretend to cry, making funny noise, pretending she doesn't want to be changed and then gave me a sunny smile.

wish i had the camera with me! - affectionate moment

今天早上，众小朋友团团坐，分果果。
AMY同学色心萌动，无有原因的情况下假装淑女，做温柔状，软倒在SEAN的肩头。无奈何该女生身材魁梧，古铜肤色，娇柔滴没有，压死SEAN滴趋势大大。
SEAN个性敦厚，温良友善，所以咬牙硬扛，你来压（强暴？）我，我就是不倒。。。两个人僵持一阵，SEAN认输，低头（更像是抬头其实），赐AMY一吻于发间。

小女初次吊凯子，特此纪念。

Cheater~

The day before yesterday, amy had some reaction to the new antibiotics she's on, 3 diarrhea in a role. So the teacher had us pick her earlier and told us she had to stay home for more than 24 hours before she could go back again. We kept her home yesterday, which of course made my mom extremely happy and me extremely worried... I don't know why, i just can't trust my parents with amy. bad bad daughter i am!
Any way, i went back home to check on them around noon. My parents were busy cooking, so i had amy with me while i checked on my work online... Amy got really bored about the fact that i didn't really play with her like my parents did and wandered away. I was really happy that i can focus on my work until i heard her saying, mommy mommy! i turned around and found her lying on her pillow where we changed her regularly. She looked at me, pulling on her diaper and mumbling, poop poop... She started doing this a while ago... we were just too lazy to potty-train her yet. Any how, that's the signal she's pooped. So i threw away the key board and hurry to her to see if she had another diarrhea. Only i found out her diaper was totally dry! i looked up at her and she gave me this really proud and sneaky smile. Cheater! :D

Gross

小女从WEIRDO往SICKO的方向发展。吃香蕉吃饼干吃一口不咽，含着，最长的一次含了1个小时。又想说话，口水活着食物往出流，我说，YEWWWWWWWW,她就说，YEWWWW，更多的口水出来。
幼儿园阿姨善意的以为我们是病了，其实哪里有，昨天恨不得吃了半张大饼。肚子都要爆炸了，一点病的样子都没有。就是GROSS而已。可以起名叫GROSSY GROSSMAN。哼哼。

Multi-tasker

Yesterday when i was hurrying myself to get out of the apartment, amy was bugging me by handing me her finished bottle. So i impatiently told her, go give it to your daddy. After she happily run off to her daddy, i mummbled to myself, where the hell is my belt? 30 seconds later, i heard amy said thank you to her daddy and her daddy praised her for following mommy's instruction... but i still couldn't find my belt, i was like, damn it! then the little one just appeared out of no where, and proudly holding out her hand with her daddy's belt in it! I was so touched and so surprised and so proud of her at the same time~ It's just amazing how my little angel can turn a crazy morning into a sweetest memory.

All better now

Amy's all better and in day care today.
She has been longing for this day for a long time. During the weekend, everytime i took her out for a walk, she'd think we are going to daycare, then run to our car and call avory's name.
This morning the minute we walked in the day care, she saw polly and run off to her like she's her real mother. :p

Seems like roseola

today amy's dad noticed there are some rash on her tummy and legs. i am such an absent-minded mom! after talking with a couple of friends, i think it's roseola.will go to the clinic tomorrow, AGAIN.sigh... don't know when this is gonna end. amy's just catching one thing after another.

all these sickness has made amy extremely clingy, fuzzy, unreasonable, and totally spoiled! after my mom did the bed time routine for a couple of days, she even refused to sleep by herself! most of the time i don't know what to do with her. if i am too tough, i'd feel guilty cuz she might be experiencing some uncomfort... if i just let her control everything, i'd feel guilty, too. cuz that way she'd end up a self-centered kid!

like yesterday, my mom and i took her out for a short walk. she thew a tantrum for no reason at all (at least i didn't see any reason... but that might be it, it's my problem, i can't see... see? this is what's been going on in my mind all the time...i might as well just give up and go mad once and for all!). i dragged my mom away and left her lying in the middle of the jogging trail. after we made a slight turn and hid ourselves in some bushes, amy immediately jumpped up and tried to figure out where we are. it took her only a couple of second to see us. i thought she'd come and try catch up with us. but NO, she found a spot where she can see us and almost all the open area, and then sit back down again. my mom finally gave up and caved... if she didn't, i think i would, too, sooner or later...i just don't know how to fight this little fuzzyball any mroe.

PLUS influenza B

sigh... i HATE this winter, HATE it HATE it HATE it.
Amy has been having fever since last saturday. i thought it was just the ear infection... (again, stupid stupid stupid, take a mental note, CALL THE PED!!!! doesn't matter if we just get back from his office or not). Until today, she's still having fever, i finally called the ped and found out she's got influenza B now. :(

Learnt a lot

Crazy busy recently. So let me just make a list of what amy learnt:

1. A couple of weeks after her daddy bought her a "number sorter", amy now can put all 10 numbers into the correct spot. She even made up a little game by herself. She'd try put the numbers into the wrong spots, and yelling "no" at the same time. After a couple of rounds like this, she'd then put them into the correct place and applaud.

2. After she pooped, she'd bring her diaper rash cream and wipes to the regular changing spot and lie down. When she has a runny nose, she'd point at her nose and ask us to wipe it for her.

3. You just can't cheat her. Today i was hiding in my room reading papers. My parents tried to distract her clingyness by telling her that i went to school. She immediately looked at my coat, my keys, and my shoes then protested her grandparents' lie by screaming MOMMY! MOMMY! furiously.

4. She can tell the difference between my parents' glasses. They are actually quite similar. And she insisted them putting the glasses on whenever she sees them cuz her daddy wears glasses all the time.

5. With a little help, she can drink from an adult bottle by herself.

First Ear Infection

This winter seems endless and hopeless to me. Ever since amy moved to the young toddler room, she has been sick. Out of the 40 some days, there might be 4 or 5 days that she's healthy, other than that, it's either her nose is running or she's coughing all the time. Now, she finally got her first ear infection. I have been dreaded for this day to come. Well... fear just stops things, doesn't it?

It's her teacher who urges us to take amy to her ped. We were really reluctant to do so cuz A) amy hates the office, and B) every time the ped just sent us home with a prescription of "more fluid". Vicky insisted from day 1 that this time is different cuz the discharge from amy's nose is thick and greenish. But since amy didn't have a fever, i just refused to listen (sigh, stupid! stupid! stupid! take a mental note: WHATEVER VICKY SAYS, DO IT!). Up until last thursday, when vicky and the other teach, kristina, were both sick, I suddenly realized how serious the virus is this time around. So before i left for the new faculty consortium, i arranged my husband to take amy to the ped. Guess what, she got ear infection!

The fever didn't come until the day before yesterday. And it hasn't stopped yet. It come and goes. With very bad appetite, Amy is still energetic, though, running around and making messes every where. Yesterday she managed to pull out a pile of newspaper my dad hid under the coffee table and read every single page of it...So i am not that worried.

I just can't believe how stupid i was. And, please, please, let this pass, SOON!

Dishwasher

Being a big helper around the house, amy of course started to notice our dishwasher long time ago. At the beginning, whenever we load the dishes, she's just really excited to see all the chopsticks, forks, and bowls etc. sticking in one place, which she actually can reach (normally we put them up high). So she'd mess with all the kitchenware, throwing them everywhere, or, stealing one or two to put them by her crib. Later, after i figured out she'd do whatever you tell her to do if you put the phrase "help mommy to" in the sentence, i'd just tell her to help me close the dishwasher's door if she's gonna mess with dirty kitchenwares. It worked like a charm. No more dirty spoons in the hall way. Yay~

Well... of course it "backfired" somehow. That's what parenting is all about, figuring out strategies that will be out-smarted later on. Yesterday i was just in the middle of arranging the dishes and the little one appeared from no where. I threw out the old bone and she did close the door for me. But that's not all, just when i turned my back on her to clean the oven, she locked the door and actually started my half-loaded dishwasher. My mom has been here almost two months and couldn't figure out where the lock is. With such a quick-learning helper around, i really don't know if i should be happy or worried... :p

with mommy's jacket 

With Grandpa's shoes 

Shapes

The other day when i picked amy up, her new teacher, kristina, told me amy's really smart. Well... i don't know about that... some of my friends' baby similar to her age already can speak in full sentences, she still can only say words. i myself don't really care if she's smart, as long as she's happy.
But any way, here's why. They have this hand-made folders in the day care, which is like a shape sorter. In these folders, there are cut-out shapes, square, triangular, oval, etc. There's also a piece of paper with all the shapes draw on it. The kids are supposed to put all the cut-out shapes into the space they belong to. Amy can do it the first time she saw the folders. She even helps out avory some time, pointing to her what she should do with the shape in her hand.

Don't know if amy's smart or not, but once again, this proves my prediction, she's gonna grow up a geek.

Grab stuff out of a book

Starting about 2 weeks ago, amy likes to grab stuff out of a book. Like when she's hungry, she'd pick out a certain book from her bookshelf and let us read to her. Of course it would be a food book, with big pictures, either hamburger or crackers or cakes in it. And when we reached the food she likes, she'd try really hard to pull it out from the book. Normally after a couple of tries, she'd cry out for help. Some time i'd intentionally let her fuzzy a little bit cuz it's just so cute that i can't resist. :p.

颜色与美女

我轻度色盲。查不出来的那种。好比说，湖蓝和天蓝分不清，BEIGE和CREAM分不清，更不用说珊瑚粉色、鲑鱼肉色、榛子褐色、榛子褐色等等专业臭美词汇了。故此口红无有，胭脂莫得，因为买不清楚，看到琳琅满目色彩斑斓就手脚冰凉仿佛被人拆穿了残疾。类推一下，衣服也不敢乱穿，红的蓝的黑的白的灰的（谁要是问我冷暖深浅我就跟谁急），搭配起来谨慎小心顾虑重重，层次滴不要，鲜艳滴枪毙，一天最多俩颜色，多了自己就晕菜。

做色盲妈妈的女儿，是很不幸的。N条牛仔裤，被妈妈认为百搭，TARGET的长袖短袖T SHIRT，一样来仨，不认识的夸我们朴素大方，熟识了连幼儿园阿姨都不禁要问，你家AMY怎么没有裙子，不穿花的？妈妈我被戳在痛处，强颜欢笑，有吗有吗，她一个小P孩儿懂啥。
因此，毫不奇怪的，第一个发现AMY懂颜色的，不是妈妈，是美女姨。姨有一套香水，小小的瓶子嵌在描金的盒子里面。妈妈可是没有这么漂亮的东东，每次看到AMY都高兴得淅沥胡噜流口水。玩儿了几次，她姨说，哎，你家AMY喜欢蓝色哦。我说，怎么会，她哪里知道颜色。她姨便把小人儿和香水一起端来表演。五个瓶子，红粉蓝黄桔，怎么摆放，人家都去抓蓝的。藏蓝的到被子底下，手刨脚蹬四处翻，翻出蓝色的才安了心。此时AMY年方14个月。
从此，买来的BLOCK，小球，幼儿园的玩具，任何时间你看小人儿手里的东西，都是蓝色的。再仔细观察下，什么蓝的倒是不拘，她妈妈我老怀大慰，还是随我滴，轻度色盲。慰了没几日，姥姥来汇报，画画必须是红色～蓝的，红的，我掐指一算，转喜为忧，好好儿的一个臭美妞子，我这基本五色小人儿已经掌握两个，长大了她要是也黑白灰上我无言以对啊。
反复思量了一夜，早上一睁眼我就开始算计，小辫子给我们梳梳，WARDROBE必备白色高领衫穿上，姨给买的粉红鸭鸭裙也翻出来，淡花长筒袜套好，小美女之路今天开始走，我们应该还没有落伍。一番厮打下来，沥了歪斜总算是穿差不多了，姥姥一旁哼唧，高领的，热不热啊...得...重新打过，头发蓬了，袜子松了，脸上还挂着鼻涕眼泪，无论如何吧，我算对得起AMY美女资质一次。正在和老公欣赏，说，看，和KOBE他女儿差不多吧...小人自己摸去了衣橱，一把拽下无领无袖BODYSUIT裙裤一件，东拉西扯往头上套，拦也拦不住，居然叫人家摸对了洞口，套到脖子上面，围脖一条，确切的说，蓝色围脖一条。这条蓝色不归路，我们是要走下去了。

Recognize the word "AMY"

This morning i was chatting with my sis through msn while my mom's entertaining amy (well... they are more like entertaining each other.). My sis sent me a flash, which caught amy's eye immediately. She threw away the blocks that they were playing and tried to climb onto my laps. So i typed to my sis and told her that amy's here and she's gonna bang on the keyboard, so that she can ignore the weird input amy makes. My sister then write a big big 'AMY' in pink and then sent it to me. So i pointed at it and ask amy what it is, amy looked at it for a while and then yelled amy, with this expression that she's really proud of herself. Well, she should be!

Grew to love day care

Starting this monday, the 3rd week after she moved to the young todder room, amy stopped crying in the morning. She's still fighting with herself a little bit, though. One minute she's calling avory's name, the next minute she's trying escape from me when i put on her clothes before we leave home. When we got to the day care, she'd look a little bit upset, but still got the courage to kiss me goodbye and wave at me. The teachers said she started to play with others, too.

丫头命

早在中学同学们腻称我丫头的时候，我就曾经预感到我疲劳的一生，从此处处小心，能少干绝不多干，能不干绝不贱招儿。连择偶也打着灯笼四处的照，总算是骗了个自己会挣扎着缝扣子的男同学，从此我这个丫头也算是混上了私人技服私人秘书私人杂役。无奈何命数已定，后天"勤奋"可 以逃避生理上的苦难，心理上的贱就在劫难逃了。全世界人民的心我普遍的操着，渐露疲态。找出中学时代乱起外号的同学投诉，你看你看，一个名字定终身啊！人 家见我杀气腾腾，胡乱的出招抵挡，哪里哪里，爱操心那是领导命，和丫头有什么联系？我一时倒也没有拆解的办法，领导就领导吧。那我可不是丫头了啊。。。

如此抗拒自己的命运，自是触犯了天条，众神皆怒，协商对策，几个回合大会开下来，决定，现世报吧，让她也知道知道我们的厉害，哼哼。报应到她头上？不可不可，此人狡猾大大，寻常手段怕是不甚灵光...重罪自是要重罚，响鼓断乎需要猛锤，什么？会殃及无辜？顾不了这么许多了，报！一定要报！捡她操心最狠的那个人报！谁呢？嗯...从此，众神钦点，某年某月某日生小胖胖AMY，丫头命！

不负众望啊小胖胖，生下来没几个月就四处的检查家里 的摆放。也就是自己动不了，要是动得了，哪里她都得摸摸擦擦，动不了又不好意思麻烦别人，就哭吧。看到大床被人拖到另一个房间去都没有让她帮忙，大哭一 场，看到洗衣筐里的衣服没有了，一定是他们拿去洗了，也不叫我，再哭一场，爸爸你又要自己亲自去买菜啊，别去了，等我去吧，三哭。她哭她哭她哭哭哭。哭到 会爬了开始，算是正式开始了劳动的生涯。手纸TOWEL纸的长度经常检查，爸爸你从哪儿拿的新的？下次我来拿吧。厨房里热闹放我进去我要炒菜，妈妈你去讲课啊，带上我我给你讲吧。如此这般，不一而足，但凡你要去干活了，有个大肉虫子就跟在后面爬啊爬。干不干的，态度狠端正。丫头，就是要忙的。

不过这些都已经是旧话了。能走会跑了，VOCABULARY高达30个词了，现如今，小胖子已经劳累成了SEMI-胖，完全是初具丫头型的模样。

粗使丫头都是从擦锅台，扫院落开始的，几千年的行规，AMY自然无师自通，很早以前就可以准确的LOCATE抹布然后蹲在地上像模像样的蹭。卫生委员知道吧，也就是他们DAYCARE不选，要是选，不是AMY就邪了门儿了。捡垃圾她最在行。比如说DIAPER，换下来怎么可以放在地上？一骨碌就从地上爬起来，新DIAPER还来不及穿上，光着屁屁拖着穿了一夜二斤重的DIAPER就直奔垃圾桶。门锁着？OPEN!OPEN!芝麻OPEN!(听着更像是孜孜哦背）。一天要换多少次DIAPER啊同学们。别的不说，就说AMY最喜欢的垃圾桶所在的厕所的门吧，已然OUT OF ORDER了，都是丫头咒语念的。现在即使你锁上，人家一掌即开。收拾到了这个份儿上，年度丫头或者最新丫头奖我们至少是没问题了吧？
DIAPER大，不用丫头命，她爸杂役命的全都看不下去，那么我们来说小的，纸巾，干净的脏的大的小的，甚至丝状的，难逃法网，看见了必须扔掉，不论是读书呢还是推车还是搬东西呢。那日正在喝奶，人家都扔了奶瓶要劳动。不认命的她妈妈我实在是看不下去了,摸过那一丝至今坐在屁股底下，若无其事继续端着奶瓶陪笑（要说这个神啊就是狠，如今连丫头我都要伺候，我还领导个P啊）。 不行不行这怎么可以。摇头打挺四肢飞舞，我不喝了我不喝了我要收拾。丫头她妈我强压怒火故作镇定，爱喝不喝，滚吧滚吧。滚？怎么能够？不打扫干净我什么也 不干。小人儿卯足了劲头儿使劲儿猛推我，推啊推啊推啊推，起开起开，让我找找。一直到把我推走了，丫头捡起那一丝纸巾扔进垃圾桶，方才有个笑容浮现上胖 脸。这，就是传说中自豪的发光吧？
不光收拾垃圾去扔，人家对垃圾桶也有一定的要求，垃 圾袋没有？不能扔，柜子里面找找看，旧的塑料袋没有了，那壁橱里面有垃圾袋，我去拿。小人儿能攥着垃圾满屋子转悠，要彻底收拾妥帖了方可。虽然偶尔会把干 净垃圾袋塞到脏的垃圾里面，但是我们这个疯狂敬业以及一丝不苟还是不容否定的。

丫头也是人，粗使的干惯了，自然是指望promotion的，promote不吧，人家先练练高级技能，照顾别人。逮谁照顾谁，无微不至。爸爸你NIGHT NIGHT，被被盖盖。妈妈这个豆豆我舔过了，狠好吃，你也饿了来一口吧。姥姥，脱下来的衣服要挂挂，衣架给你...我小的时候我姐曾经说，你孩子将来叫事儿吧，你个事儿妈，这也属于诅咒类。生个孩子，她还真就是事儿。
相对论学过吧，凡事都有两面性。事儿有事儿的“好处”。丫头最近在敏感期，换班换的，超级insecure。妈妈到哪儿跟到哪儿，本职工作都可以放弃也要粘在妈妈身上。放假还好说，转眼开了学，妈妈要去学校了，丫头手里攥着一截儿鼻涕手纸开始撇嘴。mommymommy你别走。我灵机一动，正色道，amy你 别哭啊，爸爸他生病了，不能出去玩儿，狠可怜，你帮妈妈照顾好爸爸，好不好？丫头立刻撒了抱着我的腿的手，轻轻拍拍爸爸，笑盈盈的和我白白。穷人的孩子当 家就是早啊，看得我兀自心酸。苍天啊～如果我现在开始爱劳动，您可不可以放过我的小丫头泥～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

Still adjusting, cold, and nickname for granny

It's already the 2nd week for amy to go to the young toddler room. She still crys furiously when i left. Even though she's happy most of the day, it still breaks my heart every mornting when she trys really hard to claw onto me. This morning she even refused to left home. Sigh. How i miss the day when she wanted to push me out of the door!

What makes it worse is that there is this bad cold going around the young toddler room. 7-8 out of 14 kids had been call in sick. Amy of course wouldn't be left out. She didn't have a fever so far (knock on wood really really hard). But the bad cough and runny nose has made her really uncomfortable.

Amy had a lot of fun with grandparents. She even made up a "nickname" for granny. Granny in Chinese is really hard to pronounciate. So she just kept calling my mom socks in chinese. I have no idea why.

New semester just starts. I hope i can keep up with this blog. at least once a week.

Getting better

Yesterday on amy's day report, the teacher wrote she's happy most of the time. yah~

But this morning she woke up around 5:20 for no reason at all. When i stepped in to see if there's something wrong 40 minutes later, she's so excited that she kept poking at me. So i gave up and let her play with my parents. Hopefully she won't fell asleep over lunch again.

Adjusting

Yesterday morning after i left, Amy cried all the time in the young toddler room. She was so tired that she fell asleep during story time before lunch. So they brought her back to the infant room to take her nap. After that she cheered up a little. But when i picked her up, she was still playing by herself in a corner. Sigh, she's only 16 months old, already has 2 adjusting experience. Hope this time it's easier on her.

Even with a tough morning like that, amy managed to get an accident report yesterday. She fought the other kid over a toy. The other one let go and the toy hit amy on the face. :p

Abstract concept

Amy knows a little bit abstract concept now, like "here".

Every morning after i changed her diaper, i'd throw her dirty diaper in the trash can. Yesterday morning i forgot and left the dirty one on the floor ( i know it sounds gross. but parenting is gross. well... at least, my parenting is gross). Amy kept pointing at it and asked for my or my mom's attention. After my mom picked the dirty diaper up, amy started pointing at the bathroom where the trash can is located. She even started to lead the way when she saw my mom understand her. When they got to the bathroom, she pointed at the trash can and kept saying, here here here in chinese. After my mom dropped the diaper into the trash can, she had a relieved and satisfied expression on her face. It's the cutest thing ever.
This moring i left the diaper on the floor intentionally and she did exactly the same routine.

Graduated the infant room

New year, new start.
Today amy has her first graduation. She moved to the young toddler room this morning. I was a little bit worried at first cuz she has a little bit cold and got up really early this morning... (well, i 'd be worried even if there's nothing happened, any way.) But she seems doing fine when i left her. She met her old friend avory. She also has Davin who's graduating the same time as she does. So she's not that uncomfortable in the new room. When i left, she was watching a new kid crying, a little bit concerned and a little bit confused, but no cry (thank god).
They have a lot more activity in young toddler room. She definitely will love it eventually. I am just hoping it'll happen soon.

臭美

臭美的英语怎么说？那么就再来中文的好了。

女生嘛，就是要臭美的（男生当然也臭美，懒之余，还要拿着，所以不显著）。连我酱紫衣着百年不变制的都臭美，懒这个特质打赢了而已。我以前只是不知道这个臭美是从什么时候开始的。从我们AMY的情况来看，是从15个半月开始嘀。
她一般是禁止我动她的，头、脸更甚。从四个月开始洗脸梳头就是大战役。最近这个情况发生了巨大的变化。脸，还是不许洗的，脏，不在乎。头发，却是一定要梳的了。
话说某个早晨，我们家新来的老保姆，我妈，陪她玩儿的专心的不得了，祖孙两个人叽叽咕咕。我，过时了的老妈子，连嘴都插不上，可是又贱招儿，回笼觉儿睡不着，百无聊赖起来，就趁敌不备，打了个漂亮的歼灭战，一举梳了8个小辫子。到了幼儿园，遭到所有的阿姨和不认识的小朋友妈妈的大力表扬。小人儿即使是在百忙的搬家具，偷听到人家说她，也会抿着嘴嘻嘻的笑，完全忘乎所以。从此，不梳辫子，不能出门。看到皮筋，就一个一个的往自己头上送。拉着妈妈的手啊啊啊叫个不停。静悄悄的坐在地上随便妈妈怎么摆弄都可以，摆弄完了，不等别人表扬呢，就要嘻嘻笑笑。15个半月就臭美至此，足见，臭美之心，人皆有之，小小人儿也不例外。

委屈的情绪

委屈的英语是什么泥？查了半天没有查到，就中文的好了。

AMY会委屈了。
首先，她会打人了。咬不过瘾，开始打了。上个星期四接她回来，阿姨说，人家小朋友就离她近了些，她就不爽，推，推不走，喊，喊无效，就打。SIGH，我仿佛已经看见，一个MINI我，骑在小朋友身上暴打。。。这个遗传真是要命，好的不传传坏的。以后有多少歉要替她道呢？
没办法，教育吧。一路上和她念叨，打人不好，我们不打人。进得门来，看见姥姥，啪就一巴掌打在姥姥脸上。气得我。。。赶紧板起脸来，“为什么打姥姥？妈妈不是说了，打人不对。。。”一句话还没有说完，小人儿就开始撇嘴，嘴角一下一下往下拽，拽了四五下，号啕大哭起来。信誓旦旦不惯着AMY的姥姥，一把抢过来，你干嘛说我们啊，我们和姥姥玩儿呢，上了幼儿园一天已经狠可怜了，你一进门就说人家。。。有人撑腰，还不哭个痛快？晾在一旁的我，晾凉了算。SIGH。。。有老人在，没法管孩子啊。

A conversation between amy and mom

Amy has always been refusing to call me mom or mama or anything. Ever since she talks, she'd only call her daddy. But last thursday when i picked her up from the day care, somehow alma persuaded her to call me mommy. To me, that sweet "mommy" the most wonderful sound i've ever heard. Of course i'd try to make her call me more often. Here is how it went:

Me: Call me mommy
Amy:...( shake her head)
Me: Call me mommy
Amy: BaBa
Me: Come on, i know you can, call me mommy
Amy: (in shouting) BAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAA
Me:Please please call me mommy
Amy: Stop it.
Me: !@#$%^&*()

Diarrhea

Today is amy's 3rd day of a bad diarrhea. I gave her some leftover tofu monday night. I guess i didn't microwave it long enough. I am such a bad mom. Leftover for amy's dinner... even bad leftover... sigh.
Yesterday we kept her home and only gave her BRAT. (my parents have some serious doubt on the use of banana to treat diarreha. but they are kind enough not to interfere.) It got a little better in the afternoon. Her bowel movement was not that watery. This morning amy insisted on going to day care herself. so we took her there. She was soooooo happy. But around noon when i called the day care, they told me she had another diarrhea.
Hope she'll get better.

First Accident

Amy had her first accident this Wednesday night.

It all started with her canine. Just like the ped predicted, she has a canine coming out, which makes her constantly fuzzy. She'd try to bite her little friends whoever's trying to hug her and stuff... Of course dinner time wouldn't be her favorite time. That night she's paticularly acting out, throwing food away and hitting on me. We got really mad at each other. I insisted she should finish her dinner, while she just wouldn't. My parents and her daddy finally talked me out of it. However, she's not that easy to cheer up. The minute i took her out of high chair, she started throwing an tantrum.
It all happened really fast, the first minute she's arching her back, the next she's trying to reach a bowl of hot soup on her tiptoe. Before any of us noticed, she poured a bowl of hot soup on her neck and chest.
I still don't want to think about what exactly happened and how i exactly felt. Any way we took her to the emergency room. Thank god it's not very serious. She had a little bit blister on her neck and that's about the worst part. After the doctor applied a special kind of cream on her, she stopped crying and started playing with us.
Yesterday we kept her home to keep an eye on her. She's not really happy about the decision, though. Since 8am she sitted in front of the door and waited for me to put on her shoes. When we changed her bandage at night, she cried a little bit. And her wound seems healed up.

I WOULD NEVER EVER LET HER CLOSE TO ANY HOT OBJECT EVER EVER EVER AGAIN!

15 Month Check up (12/09/2004)

Weight: 24lb 14.5oz 70%
Height: 32 1/4 inch 75%

She was pretty fuzzy during the whole visit, crying non-stop. The ped said she has a canine coming out, maybe that's the reason.

Ticklish

Amy's really ticklish, especially under her chin. The minute you put your finger there, she'd try to avoid this by tilting her head down a little and at the same time burst into a huge laugh, with her eyes squinted a little and her nose wrinkled. I just love that impression and keep playing this with her when i get a chance.
Yesterday she herself realized this is a fun game. That's when i was having dinner and put her in her high chair right next to me. She kept grabbing my hands. At first i didn't really know what she wanted. So i just passed her my spoon. She threw it away and pulled my hand really hard towards her chin. While she's doing that, she kept checking out my reaction and couldn't help laughing herself. She even said "stop it" at the same time. Yet she's pulling my hand towards her......It took me double the usual time to finish my dinner. But it sure worth it.

Biter girl

Alma told me amy almost bited other kids yesterday. She was really surprised by her aggressive behavior. According to amy's dad, it's in my gene :( . So he's not totally shocked. Well... I AM!

Normally when other kids take amy's toys, she'd just grab it back. She's the biggest one, size-wise, after all. But yesterday, she tried to bite the "offender", and screamed bloody murder for a long time. I used to think amy as a defensive kid, who can protect herself just fine. Now she's crossed line into an aggressive kid. SIGH... i totally blame it on my sister. It's her bad influnce. :P. My parents are coming next week. Can't imagine what kinda disaster that'll be...

First sentence

Elizabeth, STOP IT!
well... it's more like "lid, 'doby!". Last Friday, when liz tried to clean her nose, that's what amy said. i guess a push-over like me really can raise a high-maintenance girl.

Today, she even got jealous when i kissed Davin. When i dropped her off, she wouldn't give me a kiss, kept saying nono. While Davin walked directly towards me and asked for a kiss. So i kissed her. Amy started to whine immediately. She even got upset when Davin said byebye to me. I didn't even look at Davin. But still, amy took it as if Davin's closer to me. The sight of Polly, "breakfast teacher", finally cheered her up.

Back to normal

My sister left the day before yesterday. Amy tried to find her suitcase yesterday morning. Not really disappointed when she found everything's gone, though. I guess she knew her auntie's presence is just temporary all along. I really believe babies are smarter than we thought they are now.

She picked up a lot of new words when my sister was here, bread in chinese, hat in chinese, auntie in chinese etc. My sister also was patient enough to play "put on the lid" with her. If amy's not too anxious and i help hold the bottle, she now can put the lid on herself.

She sure understands us a whole lot better, too. The other day before we left the apartment, I tried to put a hat on her. She hates hat ever since she can move stuff by her teeny tiny hands. Every day putting on hat is a battle between us. Without too much expectation, i told her, it's really cold out, if you don't put on the hat, we don't leave the apartment. Surprisingly, she looked at me for a couple of seconds and then just gave up the fight. However, the minute we got into the car, she started to pull her hat really hard. I thought reasoning worked earlier, why not try again. So i said, it's still cold, amy, let's wait till the car warms up, ok? Again, surprisingly, she lowered her hands and started play with herself. Later on, when the car warmed up, she took her hat off when i told her so. It was like having a conversation/instructional talk with an adult. I guess we'll have to watch what we say in front of her now. :D

Can't kiss me without permission!

Every morning when i take amy into the day care, one of the directors would ask for a kiss from her. Ninty-nine percent of the time amy would shake her head and say "no no". It's like a little routine laugh for both me and the director.
This morning the director decided to take some any way. So instead of asking amy, she sneaked up on her and kissed her on the face really hard. Amy suddenly burst into this huge cry, as if saying "you can't kiss me without asking!". Plus, i put this new jacket on her today, she looked like a teddy bear. A grumpy fuzzy crying teddy bear.Everyone passing the hallway had a really good laugh over this.

loves auntie

This week my sister's coming over for a visit. Before she came, i was really worried that amy's not gonna play with her, or, even worse, cried every time she sees her. Mommy, daddy and day care teachers are all the adults she knows, after all.
To my surprise, amy loves her very much. Quote my husband, "she can sense who's close relative." The minute she saw my sister, she gave her a gentle smile. They started play together like crazy only 5 minutes after my sister got in the house.
Yesterday, amy even started to get jealous when my sister played with davin in the day care. This morning, she got up before her auntie did. So she just squated down quietly in front of my sister's door, waiting for her to come out to play with her.
I am soooooooooo happy to see they love each other.
Now i am not as worried as before that amy won't play with my parents when they get here.

Word count

ah-oh
灯
POOH
奶
birdie
抱抱
干干
计算器
thank you
bye bye
ball
豆豆
臭臭
藕
面面
HIGH FIVE
come
shoe
toy

体力劳动者

我有把子力气。这可以追溯到很早。比如说换煤气罐。比如说大学里我打四壶八磅的水。上山下乡到了美国，登峰造极，甚至名扬我们小TOWN。话说有一回，帮我ROOMIE去买家具。共两女三男。DEFAULT认为干活的有一女三男。我和胖男一组，两瘦男一组。人家一开始蛮照顾我，说，哎，你们一组抬床垫，轻，我们一组抬写字台，你慢着点儿啊。殊不知抬完这一趟回来，瘦男甲就改了主意，斜次里奔我杀过来，哎我说，不行不行这样不行，还有一个QUEEN SIZE BOX，这个瘦男乙他不行啊，换咱俩一组去吧？我受了表扬，欢欣鼓舞，这半天儿好好儿的卖了卖块儿。
我们家AMY好的她不学，妈妈我冰雪聪明伶牙俐齿她一样儿也没有延承衣钵，到了体格儿健壮这儿，她倒是没拉下。刚刚会走路的时候，步履蹒跚，也要摸到壁橱那里，踮着脚尖够到最大包的DIAPER，帮当一声拨拉到地上，哼呦咳呦的拖到遥远的卧室去，备战备荒那么个意思。走好了更加不得了，到了商场都要帮人家重组货架。妈妈一眼没看住，就摸到最大桶的CONDITIONER，抱起来撒腿就跑。实在是太重了，跑两步蹲下歇一歇，为了防备妈妈来破坏，蹲着都死死的抱着大大一瓶。转眼的功夫就给人家把CONDITIONER拖到鸡汤区，要求这两个配对。上个星期妈妈去DAY CARE接她，在门外偷瞧。但见得这个好汉，袖子挽得老高，脑门儿冒着细汗，推着个塑料大房子就走，完全不顾大房子里面还站着无辜的SEAN。问阿姨，阿姨见怪不怪，说，oh... she's been at it for a couple of hours, rearranging furniture is her business。阿姨们又不知道我们家族的光荣历史，微笑祝贺说，嗯，将来啊，AMY是个DECORATOR。妈妈心里知道，DECORATE个头啊，她,MOVER嘀干活。我们母女两个，搬家公司，都不用再雇老墨了。

Very polite

Amy has been saying "thank you" to everyone for almost a month now. Not exactly "thank you". Dahdu is more like it. Like when she asks for milk, she'd say "dahdu" after we give the cup to her. Even when she's really hungry, she'd rush a "dahdu" before putting the straw in her mouth.

The day care teachers told me that she also kept saying it when they tried to teach sean to speak. They were like, "sean, say thank you". And amy'd say"dahdu" immediately, even when she's really busy with her "funiture re-arranging" business.

Her vocabulary has been growing quite rapidly recently. Bye, beans in chinese, potato in chinese, even stinky in chinese, are among the new additions... Yesterday when i picked her up, i almost knocked over another daddy by the swing door. After i said "sorry", she even managed to say a "sowee". Very polite indeed.

面面

我爸南方人，我妈北方人。生我和我姐的时候，他们两地分居。我妈一个人带大我们俩，在陕西的山沟沟里面。所以，一直到今天，为什么我姐只吃米不吃面这个课题还是没有得到解答。遗传的作用真的这么强大？我妈怀孕的时候吃遍了各式面汤，生出个娇气包儿我姐来，是面做的东西就不吃，甜食除外。

到我家AMY了，基因上面又是她爸比较强大。吃面条，她爸爱吃宽的或者粗的。本来我一直给AMY吃龙须面的，星期六我们俩剩了口粗面条，懒得给她做饭了(我接受批评，穿也不给家穿好，吃也只是剩的。。。)，捡了两根儿给她吃，扔给她的时候，说，吃面面吧。星期天早上，一睁眼睛，人家就高呼，面面！面面！扔了奶瓶，要攀高椅，从CEREAL BAR到WAFFLE到PAN CAKE。。。什么都不吃，就是要面面。时间紧迫，在她拍桌子示威的压力下，我匆忙的下了一把龙须面，图个熟的快。人家不要，胡噜胡噜都抹到头发上，好像假发一般。终於作了她想要的面面，欢呼3秒钟示意。

Shapes

Amy now knows different shapes.

My mom bought her this book when she was really little. It has a big picture of a type of shape on one page, and then a small picture of the same shape on the other page, hidden among other things. We used to "read" this book to her every day, told her "see? this is a square, this is a square, too".
Yesterday, i pointed at the big square, and then asked her to pick out the small square on the other page, she did it! she can also tell triangle, round and oval. But if it's too complicated, like a star, she can't. she'd point at some other small pictures which interest her, like a hipo. :)

小笨笨

AMY今天早上死命攥着一块大饼干进了DAY CARE 的门.从此就被SEAN盯上了.
她坐在墙边儿玩儿玩具,SEAN就不动声色的蹭过去,假装友好坐在旁边.
AMY一个不留神,SEAN就掰去了一大半,疯狂的塞到嘴里拼命咽下去.
AMY只是死命的攥着而已,对SEAN的举动没察觉,突然低头,咦?怎么好像少了一块.便举起来问我,啊啊啊啊啊啊?
我说,给SEAN吃一口嘛,没事的.SEAN听到了,得意得更狠了,又去抢AMY手里剩下的一小牙.
最后,AMY手里什么都没有了,还是不知道,死命的攥着小胖手指头.

Crazy busy recently

My parents are gonna come this coming december. so i am trying to get more work done. haven't got time to keep recording amy's growing up.

She didn't learn much recently, execpt now she can say NO NO while she's shaking her head. She does that all the time. When i dropped her off at the day care and asked for a bye-bye-kiss, she'd say nono. When i ask her to finish her dinner, she'd say nono. Or, when she's doing something she's not supposed to do, she'd say nono while she's doing that.

Her daddy said she can say cat in chinese, now... i didn't notice, though... Sigh... bad mommy ah.

Bossy Girl

I guess all girls are bossy. Amy is one of the proofs. She likes to make us do this and that . Like when she can't put the stackers back onto the pole, she'd demand us to do it for her. Or, when she wants some crackers, she won't quit till we give it to her. I didn't think all these as "bossy" until i saw her in day care. The other day when i picked her up from the day care, she was playing with Davin. And i saw her point at davin and say "Davin! Come! Come!" at the same time. That's when i realized she's one bossy little girl. Well, i was, too, when i was little. So i guess i've nothing to complain.

Play with Crayon

About 10 days ago, Liz told me they draw/paint in the day care. I was really surprised that they can play such complicated games at this age. So i bought some crayons home to play with amy. She just loves it! Of course she'd try to lick the crayon everytime i gave it to her. But once she started to draw her little lines, she just forgets all about the urge to taste. She can sit there filp the deck of paper i give her and draw or dot little things on it for 10-20 minutes without any complaints. Sometime if i praise her, she'd have this really proud and shy impression on her, which makes me just want to "bite" her little face...
I just love her day care. Sure, she got virus from time to time, and maybe they don't hold her as often as i would at home (she is just toooooo heavy. :p). But they teach her all these things that i couldn't think of. That little brain surprises me every day. And most of them are because of the day care.

Also, after about 1 week's patient observing, today amy tried to play with her stacker for the first time and she actually succeed in putting the rings back there!

nonononono

Yesterday i took amy to my office after day care. Normally she's really friendly, waving at everybody who's passing by. But not yesterday. Everytime i told her say hi to my collegues, she'd shake her head. It's like "i will say hi when i want to. i wont say it just cuz you ask me even if i want to myself." I really didn't know kids are gonna be like this so soon. I thought it's for teenagers.

Then during the night she woke up by this cough and refused to sleep. Everytime i told her "night night" she'd shake her head again and again, even if she's so sleepy that she can't open her eyes. We fought like this till 3 am this morning. Towards the end i got really mad at her and yelled a little. Of course i felt sorry and bad for that. But i just couldn't help. I comforted myself by saying that every parents do that once in a while. But still... especially this morning on our way to day care, amy yelled a little, too. I can't tell what she's saying but i know she learnt that from me. Sigh.

Strong personality

This morning when i dropped amy off at the day care, Alma and Nareen told me she has been a little bit 'out of control' recently. I actually have noticed that at home, too.

The key "symptom" is that she has to be the one who decides everything. Like when i give her a cup of water, she'd shake her head vigorously. And then no more than 5 seconds later, she'd ask for one. When i finally give it her on her demand, she'd have this impression, like "i say when!", on her. She does that to everything.
In addition to that, we can't push her into doing anything. The more we push, the more she fights. They have this music lesson every Thursday. Amy loves it a lot. She'd sit there very quietly and smile, or dance a little. But she'd never touch anything the teacher put there. They tried to make her play the drums or other instrument. Everytime it ended with her scream. Actually she started to do that even when she's really little, like 4 or 5 months. Everytime when i tried to hold her hand to touch something, she'd fight really hard.

I talked about it with Alma and Nareen for a while. And the conclusion we reached is that Amy's like her daddy, has a strong personality.
Not long ago i was afraid she might become a push-over like me. Now that i found out she has a strong personality, i am still worried!
sigh, I am such a typical mom!

Confused bi-lingual kid

Now amy knows 7 words, some english, some chinese (light in Chinese, ah-oh, pooh, birdie, calculator in chinese, milk in chinese, and cracker in chinese). I know she'd face the bi-lingual confusing situation sooner or later. But i didn't expect it would happen so soon. About 1-2 weeks ago, amy learnt how to say milk in Chinese when she's hungry. For some reason she likes to say it twice at the same time. I've got used to it pretty quick and thought it's really cute. What i didn't realize, though, is that if you repeat milk in Chinese twice, it sounds exactly the same as "night-night". The other day when i was chatting with Nareen, i told her amy can say this and that... Out of curiosity, she asked me how to say milk in Chinese. After i told her, she thought for a second, and said, "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so that's why she kept saying night night these days". All of them burst into this huge laugh. It turned out amy has been saying it in the day care for quite some time. And everytime she says it, they take it as "night-night", and thought she wanted to take a nap. So they put her into her crib instead. My poor amy, starving in her crib... :p.

To be frank, i am rather amused than worried. I guess i am really bad in term of protecting amy and stuff... I just have confidence in her. She'll figure it out sooner than later.

Go on her regular diet recently

Amy has this regular dieting period. She just decides she doesn't want to eat anything from time to time. One of the reasons i guess is that i am not that good a cook. Another thing is that she is picky, both on flavor and on texture. Babies are so sensitive to things that it amazes me. I'd make exactly the same thing for her. Even if i put in just a touch more salt, she'd refuse to eat it. She also is lazy and very reluctant to chew on things. If the texture is a tiny bit too hard, she'd spit it out.

After the cold, the diaper rash, now the picky diet. She is really driving me nuts from last weekend. Maybe today i'll take her to the playground to have some fun.

Lazy girl

Amy now has passed the phase during which she's really interested in walking. She's become this lazy girl. Everytime we went out, after we got to downstairs, she'd walk directly to her stroller and wait there. Even when we got to the trail outside our apartment complex, she refused to walk by herself, just sitting in her stroller very comfyly and contended. The only thing that can make her stand up is the ants. So i have to cheat her by yelling "ants" even there is not any to get out of the stroller. Fortunately when she gets out of stroller, she's easily distracted. So hoefully she won't feel betrayed.

A little cold again

Amy's waking up last week was actually for a reason. I falsely accused her of being bad.... Not a good mother. She got this cold and passed it to both me and my husband. It's really painful at the beginning of this cold. We appear to be ok. But actually our throat is killing us. So i guess amy suffered the same uncomfortableness last week. No wonder she kept waking up during the night.
Now her cold is getting better and she sleeps much better.

This morning she tried to say "Daven" and "Thank you". Of course not very clear. I guess only me and her daddy can understand her. Now she's at a stage that she likes to repeat everything we say. But she can only pronounce "b" and "d" well... so her vacabulary is quite limited.

After a weekend, this morning at day care she was extremely happy. Me, too. :p.

Sigh...

I guess amy just had too much fun at day care that she doesn't want to be left alone any more. Yesterday night around midnight she woke up for no reason at all, AGAIN! This time i learnt my lesson. I didn't cave and go to check her at all. It's just during the whole 1.5 hours that she's fuzzing around, i became really furious about her, about myself, about the situation... She did fall in sleep by herself eventually. But i found out she had bad diaper rash this morning. She had a bowel movement during that awake hour. Now i am really not sure if i will go in next time she does this. Sigh...

Alma said Amy's smart

But what i sensed is that she's the geek in the group... Here's the story. Alma taught all the babies some sign language, like thank you, i love you... which i don't even know. Yesterday she showed them "more". During lunch, amy kept doing that. The other girls are looking at her, like she's a weirdo or show-off or something. This totally reminds me of my primary school time. Some time i'd even make some mistakes intentionally in the exam, just to be more like others. I guess that's my problem.

I can use a straw cup now - 09/25/2004 

She did it again!!!!!!!!! But, NOT a bad girl.

Just when i thought i'd have a good night of sleep, Amy did it again! And this time it's not even my fault. This morning 4am, she woke up for no reason at all,kept whining and whining... The other day i swore i will never "interfere"with her sleeping pattern again, NEVER. So today i just lied there, hoping she'd fall into sleep by herself. But she just wouldn't stop. I gave up again mainly because she sometimes has her chubby legs stuck in those crib bars. I had to check. So there i was, 4:20am in the morning, tiptoed to her room, opened her door without a sound (i swear, no sound at all.) . What i found is that she was just sitting there, looking at the door, and of course she spotted me in no time... Long story short, we went over everything in the other night, AGAIN!

Later when i dropped her off at the day care, i couldn't help complaining about this to naureen. I said, amy was really bad this morning. Naureen corrected me immediately. She said, no baby is bad. Liz said the same thing before to me. I felt so sorry at that point of time. I really shouldn't say this in front of Amy. Right now she still doesn't really know. When i said the B-word, she's happily chewing on her animal cracker. But I am sure sooner than i know, she'd be really hurt by my unintentional words. I have to watch out for that more carefully. HAVE TO!

Loves shopping

Amy loves shopping. I guess girls are born this way. She especially like colorful display, like a santa clause, a painting, a bright-colored-bowl, or, even a salad tray with tomatoes and celery. For us, it's a pain, though. She keeps messing with all the merchandise that she can reach, dragging a huge bottle of conditioners across the aisle, banging a spoon on the floor, or licking some boxes. But since she enjoys it, i try to take her with me to do grocery shopping as much as i can, if time and my energy allows, that is.

Yesterday i took her to the sam's. She didn't give me too much trouble. Mostly because she's paying all her attention to this other family. It's an indian family with 2 girls around 8 or 9 and a smaller boy around 5 or 6. Amy keeps following them around whenever i took her out of the shopping cart. She'd wave at them and dance for them. The sisters liked her a lot. The little guy is another story, though. The mom noticed amy and "offered" to take her home. Amy didn't mind at all. She was happily holding one of the sisters' home, pretending i don't exist at all. The little guy suddenly screamed, "no!!!!!!!!!! our house can only hold us!!!!!!!" :)

Torture

Amy tortured us yesterday night. Maybe i shouldn't complain too much since she's such a good girl that this "torture" only happens once in a while. But still, i am like a walking zombie right now. So i need to complain! Plus, when Amy grows up, i will show this post to her when we have the "sex" talk so that she'll know the consequence is bad bad bad bad... :p

Around midnight, i went into her room to check if she's warm enough. I was really careful that i swear i didn't make any noise. But somehow she still sensed i was there and woke up. That's when she decided to play with me. At first i just fled the room and let her cry. But she wouldn't give up that easily and cried for like 40 minutes. I gave up, stepped in, hugged her, rocked her, put her back to the crib... I don't know at which point during this process, but suddenly she became wild awake, started to smile at me, poke me, and even laugh out loud. I tried everything, from pretending this is the 8pm and going through the bed-time-ritual to just giving up and playing with her... Nothing worked. She became more and more awake. But at the same time she was really sleepy, kept rubbing her eyes...In the end, around 3pm, i got really mad and just left her in the crib. She cried furiously for about 15 minutes and went to sleep. At that point, i was so tired i didn't even check if she's warm enough...

Now that i told the whole story, somehow i felt i was the bad one. I was the one who woke her up, the one who cursed that i'd sell her on ebay, and the one who didn't care if she's warm enough... Sigh, how did it turn out this way? Maybe i won't show this post to Amy after all...

Sweetheart

Yesterday Naureen, one of the teachers at the day care, told me Avory is gonna go to the young toddler room pretty soon. She said then i won't meet my favorite baby for a while. I told her i have a second-favorite, Daven. Turned out Daven is Naureen's favorite. Then Naureen told me Amy's her sweetheart, too. I know she probably just said that cuz i am there. But still, that makes me happy. Mommies are pretty vein, i'd say... But i wouldn't mind being vein...

Then in the afternoon when i picked Amy up, there's this little tiny baby taking his bottle. I stepped over and played with his chubby feet for a while. Amy didn't mind at all. I was a little surprised. The other day i was trying to hold her and Avory at the same time. Amy got really mad. She was pushing Avory away pretty hard all the time. I thought she'd get jealous when i showed affection to that little baby. But she didn't. Alma told me she's really sweet with all the tiny ones. She'd go over, petting them very gently (thank God not like she pets the bugs...), and smiling. I'd say she's a sweetheart, too!

Very easy to be satisfied

Everyday when i pick Amy up from day care, she's very hungry. So i always give her some snack on the way back. She's quite a messy eater. So there's crumb everywhere in the car, especially on her car seat.
This morning on our way to the day care, she managed to pick up some crumbs and stuffed them all in her mouth. After swallowed those days-old crumbs down, she made this yummy noise and laughed out loud. I couldn't help laugh with her. She's so easy to be satisfied. Life is so much better when you are little.

Birdie! 

A little geek

Believe or not, Amy's 5th word (except daddy and mommy) is calculator in Chinese. I was always hoping she'd grow up like a princess, into art and beautiful stuff.... Now i see the chance of that is getting slimmer and slimmer.
My mom bought her this book. It's like a deck of flash cards with pictures in it, all kinds of pictures, veggies, fruits, animals, flowers, kitchen appliance, office supply etc. Her favorite page is a calculator. Even when she won't take her food, as soon as i show her that page, she'd be happy to take whatever i give her. Calculator in Chinese has three characters, it's kind of hard to pronounciate. But she manage to say that. Of course i don't think anyone else can tell what she's saying. It's clear enough to me, though. Yesterday after she pointed at the page and said it herself. I gave her a real calculator. And she said it, too.
Books, keyboards, pens, now calculators...... Poor amy is gonna grow up like me, a geek. >_<

Playground is tooooooooooooooo far away.

Bugs

Amy loves bugs, especially ants. Everytime we went out, she'd spend some time watching ants. If we are lucky,there are a lot of them, she'd scream her joy. She always trys to use her finger to follow the ant. As a result, she had accidentally killed a dozen of them. Now she became much more violant. Yesterday she used my keys to bang on the bugs. The "crime scene" is so bloody i have to take her away. :p. I did tell her that we should love living creatures by patting them. Didn't know if she heard me, though.

Chasing around

Yesterday after dinner i took amy to the trail outside our apartment complex. We watched some ants and bugs for a while, pointed at birdies, said hi to all the doggies...... We also played chasing around.
Everytime i chased her, she'd try run away, even after she fell down, she'd get up herself and run. We both laughed silly for a long time. Later on i got tired. So i just sat there and said "mommy's gonna get you~", she still laughed silly and run around all by herself. That was some QUALITY TIME together. :D

Frustration

Amy has reached the age that her emotional development exceeds her language development a great deal. She started having problem expressing her feelings, especially frustraion, more and more often. The babies at day care also "taught" her some tricks. For example, when she wants something and we can't figure out what it is, or we don't want to give it to her, she'd start scream, or, throw stuff, or, in the most extreme situation, pull her hair really hard. I believe the pulling hair part is either from Avory or Daven. :p. We did try to distract her everytime she did that. But she is quite a stubborn girl. This morning i even gave her a remote control when she wouldn't eat her breakfast. Still it didn't work. Eventually i caved. I know i shouldn't. But most of the time i just want to move on... Again, parenting is so hard!

"Play" mommy

Amy started to "play" mommy over the weekend. I was trying to clean her nose with some Q-tip the other day. She got hold of one and tried to lick it. So i was like, "nooooooooooo, you are soooooo gross". She was apparently quite amused, pretending to lick it and watching for my response. Everytime i say "no!", she'd laugh out loud. And then she'd pretend to lick it again. I know i shouldn't play with her with respect to RULES. But still, i couldn't help entertaining her by pretending it's a big deal. Laughing together with her is so much fun!

Birdie and Pooh

Amy knows how to say "birdie"! This morning when i took her out for her walk, there were a lot of birds flying around. She kept pointing at them. So i told her, Birdie~ (Normally i'd speak chinese. But bird in chinese is really hard to prononciate). She hesitated for a couple of seconds, then said, "deeber". I couldn't help laughing out loud. She was forgiving enough to laugh with me. After a couple of times, she started to point at the birds and say "birdie" herself. Later on we even show off this to her daddy. :)

She also knows how to say "pooh" now. Before she'd only whisper "pooh" when we say it to her. Now she can pick up the toy pooh and say it herself. The only problem is that she thinks all fluffy animals are "pooh", even some animal she never seen before at the leasing office' play room. Today i tried to correct her by telling her the one she picked up is piglet rather than pooh. She got really mad and throw the piglet away. Now that i think about it, i think i shouldn't have ruined her fun. Pooh for every animal is good enough for her and for me, any way.

Actually today i read from the internet that some baby can read more than 100 chinese character when she's the same age as Amy. I am NOT jealous at all. And this is not one of those "sour grape syndrom". Honestly, i don't want Amy to be extra smart or something like that. I even think too smart is a bad thing for kids. All i want from Amy is that she is happy, healthy and decent.

Love the lunch from day-care

Yesterday the teachers tried the food from the cafeteria, she loved it! So apparently it's just my cooking. I should really work on it. I still don't know how to prepare a lot of things amy loves, like lasagnea (heck, i don't even know how to spell it!) , for example. Macroni and cheese's another her favorite. I just hope i can find the time to practice this.

Another problem now with amy is that she refuses to take milk from her cup. We tried sippie cup and straw cup. She can take water from those just fine. But not milk. Even when she's really sleepy and hungry and want her milk before bed time, if she sees a cup, she'd protest with arching her back, shaking her head and screaming bloody murder. I sincerely hope this is just a phase.

This past one year has taught me how to tell myself, this shall pass, too! So now let me say it one more time, this, shall pass, too!

Playing with Avory

Avory is one of my favorite babies at Amy's day care. Daven is sweet, too. But for Avory, it's love at the first sight. :p. This morning when i dropped amy off, Avory was trying really hard to pull her shoe and sock off. When she finally did it, she handed her sock to Amy. Amy walked away with it in her hand, really contended. : ) I am so happy to see she playing with other babies.

She doesn't eat really well, though. She practically ate nothing during her lunch in the past couple of days. So today i asked the teachers to try the food from the cafeteria. Hopefully she'll like the change.

Forward-facing car seat

Last weekend my husband changed amy's car seat from rear-facing to forward-facing. It apparently is a huge and great change for her. The minute i put her in that position, she started babbling excitedly. Normally she'd take a nap on her way back from day care. Yesterday she was so busy "investigating" stuff around her that even when we reached our apartment, she's still super happy and alert.
Now that she can see us driving, she figured out "how to drive" herself. Yesterday we took her to Kroger. They have this kinda shopping cart for kids that looks like a racing car. Before, when we put her in there, she didn't pay attention to the wheel at all. Yesterday she grabbed onto the wheel and started to steer it away with this proud expression on her face. Who wouldn't feel proud for her?

Crowd Pleaser

I myself is a notorious pushover. I got this from my mother. She always put others' happiness the highest priority. I teased her about this "worrying for the whole wild world" all the time. However, ever since i could remember, i like to please others, too. Even though some of my friends comfort me by telling me this makes me a super-sweet person, i still really hate myself for this. So when amy walks on the thin fine line between sweetness and crowd pleasing, it really bothers me, a lot.

For example, she knows we like to see her "dance", or make the kissing noise. Everytime we tease her by holding a ball high, or refusing to read the book to her, she'd dance a little, or make the kissing noise, in hoping we'd give her whatever she wants.
Also, she learnt "ah-oh" from other babies in her day care. So she thinks this is a "universal" language among kids. The other day, when i took her to the play ground, she saw a couple of bigger kids playing ball together. She really wanted to join them. So she yelled "ah-oh" repeatedly at them. They didn't notice, or, they didn't understand what she's doing. She's really dissappointed. She even danced a little for them, too.

I know this is natural for a baby her age. But still, i want her to be independent, to have her own mind, to hold her own ground, not to worry about what others think, or, at least, not to worry too much...... Maybe i want too much. Maybe i should set an example for her. Or, maybe, i should just let her be. :p

Another low-grade temperature

This morning Amy woke up around 5:30 and kept whining. I stepped in to check on her and felt that she's really warm. Turned out she got a temperature around 99.5. Damn! When can this bad cold end?! Please Please, let amy get back to her healthy self!!!!!!!!

What makes it even worse is that i got this cold from her. Now i am feeling weary.

Amy likes teachers more than mommy

This morning when we got into the infant room, she opened her arms to one of the teachers, Alma, and wanted to get away from me. I told her, kiss mommy. She wouldn't even listen to me. After Alma took her over, she's so contend as if i was some stranger...
Well, i shouldn't complain about it since this is what i always wanted. And actually i am happy that she likes the day care so much. Her daddy and i don't have that much friends here. I was always afraid she'd be a loner.
Actually... on the second thought, i am having much more complicated feeling than just "happy" towards this whole day care situation... For example, they have this new baby in the room, melissa. She was crying so hard yesterday it almost broke my heart. Amy was like that a month ago. Moments like this reminds me of her first couple of days, which makes me feel really guilty. But i am also very proud of amy that she's doing so well. In the mean time there's also the feeling of "let go". Now she's only 1 year old, and sometime she is not very "attached" to me any more... Like i told one of my friends the other day, damn, parenting is hard!

Any way, amy's getting better and better from her cold. Got a bad diaper rash though.
Hope she won't get sick again in the near future...

Back to day care

Yesterday we switched from formula to whole milk. That's when amy started to take her bottle. She also ate much better yesterday. I took her out for a walk in the afternoon. She was so happy even the cough didn't botter her any more.

So i decided to send amy to day care today. She was so bored at home sometime she just sat there. I was afraid after so many days at home she'd forget all about the place. But she didn't . The minute we walked into the door, she lighted up. She waved at all the teachers as if she was some prime minister coming to another country. When i gave her to one of the teachers, she didn't cry at all. She was so busy looking at things she even didn't have time to wave bye bye to me.
Today's their music lesson day, too. Hope she'll enjoy it.

The 4th day

Yesterday i took her to the ped. Just like what i thought, it's a virus at her throat, and there's nothing we can do about it.
Poor Amy, she became so uncomfortable that she wouldn't even take milk now. It's really hard to keep her hydrated.

Yesterday her daddy taught her how to say "muaaaaaaaaaa", the kissing noise. Everytime we kiss her, we make that noise. Now she can repeat after us. She also tried to say "car" in Chinese. Sometime when we say some big word, she'd look at our mouth really hard, trying to figure out how to say those.

Amy's got a bad cough

Amy didn't really get better today. This afternoon the cough made her so uncomfortable that she had to sleep on my tummy. She hasn't done this since 3 months old. She actually was still very good. At the very beginning, when i put her down for her afternoon nap, she went into sleep pretty fast. But she kept being woke up by the coughs. Eventually she gave up, sitting there crying with her eys closed. When i laid her on my tummy and patted her, she slept so well it reminded me of her newborn time. That kind of closeness is gone forever with the weaning. So i have to guiltily say i did enjoy that 1 hour and half of amy's sick time.

She also didn't eat well. I guess her throat was making her uncomfortable.

Tomorrow i will take her to the ped's office. We were hoping that we could save the trip since amy really hates to go to the doctors. But i can't watch her coughing like this any more. Even though i know the ped probably will just tell us to keep her hydrated blah blah blah... still, some words/reassurance from the professional will make us feel better.

Please, whoever is listening up there, let amy be better tomorrow.

Ah-oh

Amy knows how to say "ah-oh" now. Day care really boosts her vocabulary fast! Last Friday when i picked her up, she kept saying "ah-oh" in the car. I thought she just liked the sound of it and had no idea what that meant. But when we got home, i found out she actually knows when to use it. Whenever she or me or her daddy dropped something on the floor, she'd say "ah-oh". She says it when she falls down, too. She even practiced it in her dream.

Last night her temperature peaked to 102 degree. Praying for her to get better soon.

Amy's sick today

This is the 3rd time since she started day care. She got a temperature on the 7th day after she started. I took her to the ped. It's just a virus on her throat. Then the following week she got runny nose. It went on and off for about 10 days. We were just happy that she finally was ok, now this.

And this time is the worst. She was still pretty active for the last two times, eating ok and also keep playing. Not this time. This morning she got a fever about 100 degree. Even after i gave her tylenol, the temperature was still around 99. She didn't eat much lunch and threw up most of it.In the afternoon for about 2 hours she didn't do anything but lying on my stomach and whining... Poor thing.

I know she's supposed to catch virus from day care and this even is good for her in some sense. But it's still really hard for us.

Hope she'll be better soon. I will take a day off tomorrow.

Amy keeps wanting to go out now

Normally i'd take amy out for a walk after her dinner. The day before yesterday, i was a bit hungry after feeding her. So i went into the kitchen to find something to eat. She didn't follow me right away. When i went to look for her, I found she was sitting in front of the door, waiting for me. : ) . So i told her, give mommy a minute to finish this biscuit. That's when she got really impatient. She decided to push me. With a pair of her own shoes in her hands, she tried to pull me to the door. I eventually gave up and take her out with a couple of biscuit in my pocket. : ).

Then yesterday morning after her bottle, she started to wave byebye to her daddy furiously, as if she can't wait to go to the day care. And when we arrived there, she was so eager to go play she didn't even wave to me. Bad girl. :p

I am glad it only took her 3 weeks to like day care. I guess she is a friendly girl by nature.

Today after i dropped her off, i peeked a little bit. Spence, a 6 month guy, kept following her around. When she finally sat down to play with some toys, Spence even tried to climb onto her. She didn't push him away. Maybe some day she'll be a good big sister. :D

One year check-up

Yesterday I took amy to her one year check-up. Her height is 31'', 97%; weight is 23lb1oz,75% with a big head, 183/4'', also 97%. According to the ped, her developement is between 14 months and 16 months. Good girl.
I took her to the office two weeks ago because she has a mild temperature. Back then the ped sort of poked into her throat, which made her extremely uncomfortable. Apparently she remembered it all. Yesterday she even wouldn't let me lay her on the examination bed. She cried even more furiously when the ped tried to look into her ears. Actually even at home, she won't let me touch any part of her face... werid little girl.
But any way, she's fine. She even didn't have a temperature after the shots. When she was 6 months, her temperature reached 103 degree during the night.

I have to go get some CD. Joyce told me she listened to Itsy Bitsy Spider a lot at day care. I even didn't know what that is. :( I guess that's the problem of having a baby in another country. We'll have to "grow" up together with her. Well, maybe it's more of a blessing than problem.

Amy started to play with other babies~

Yesterday Joyce told me Amy started to play with other babies. I saw her and Avory pointing at each other, too. I am so glad she finally start to socialize with others. I think she enjoys day care now.

Yesterday I took Amy to my office. She even met the Dean. She was in a very good mood, waving and smiling at everybody. Also an indicator that she has adjusted to life there.

Amy can say lamp in chinese

Recently amy has developed this habbit of pointing at things, any thing, dogs, people, cars, trees... especially shiny stuff.
She likes the lights inside our car a lot. Everytime we stop the car, the light will go on automatically. So now whenever we enter or stop the car, she'd look at the light and wait for it to light up. Then she'd point at it and smile.
This morning i was feeding her on the balcony. She likes it there so that she can see cars coming and going. She pointed at the lamps on the balcony. So i said, "deng", that's lamp in Chinese. She said it back. We kept doing it for a couple of times. She enjoyed it very much.
Soon she will be a little chatter box, i believe. I am just wondering if it's a Chinese chatter box or an English one...

Amy didn't cry at all today!

She even waved goodbye to me. Such a good girl~

This morning her daddy found out that she knew how to dance. Whenever we sing "twinkle twinkle little star", she'd swing a little and also bounce up and down.

She learns things pretty fast. Yesterday she even took her formula from her straw cup.

She's still a little bit clingy, though. She'd walk towards me, sit down and then lie on my legs for a couple of minutes before she can go play by herself again.

皮皮一岁了

BIG GIRL了。23磅1盎司。一脸横肉，狰狞笑容像爸爸。个子也不矮。DAY CARE 一个INFANT ROOM里，就属她傻大个子。今天送她去，跟阿姨说我们今生日。一个老阿姨略显糊涂，说，啊，那她两岁了？

走得不错了，偶尔开始小跑。尤其是逃跑的时候。多数时候以摔倒失败告终。下次看到爸爸妈妈来抓还是要撒腿就跑。

会说爸爸DADA很长时间了，只有要吃要睡的时候才会赖唧唧的说妈妈。爸爸说POOH，她就轻轻的吹气说噗～。妈妈说DONE，她就骄傲的大叫DAAAA～。

会的本事不多。拍手招手摇头。偶尔爸爸唱歌的时候会鼓掌。看见活动的物体就招手。摇头只能摇最多两下，好像头太大了摇不动。每时每刻都在乱指，看到什么都指着说啊啊啊啊啊啊,抢东西狠在行，奇形怪状一个相机抓在手里准确无误的捅镜头。大大的一包DIAPER拖着走。

破坏狠积极。抓起门口的鞋子到处扔，插线板的开关有灯捅一下，橱柜里面的东西太多拖出来，垃圾桶有盖子一样打的开，抽屉会夹到手可是如果小心的话里面还是很有意思。截至发稿时止共计毁坏遥控器一个，撕破书N本。

开始耍小聪明，每次妈妈要HAVE SERIOUS TALK WITH HER，就瞄准一个目标乱指，妄图转移妈妈的注意力。不喜欢妈妈碰可是想要妈妈手里面的梳子就绕到妈妈旁边去够梳子以为妈妈抓不到她。妈妈送去幼儿园还是要哭给妈妈看，妈妈一出门口就算了，好汉不能够乱吃眼前亏。拣起什么破烂儿背过身去吃，酱紫妈妈看不见。

今天妈妈会给买个蛋糕，皮皮不爱吃，妈妈吃。

一年的时光一年的牵挂，皮皮嘻嘻一笑，全部都有了回报。

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Happy Birthday, my dear Amy,

You are 1 year old today.

In the past 1 year, you grew up a loooooooot and also learnt a looooooooooooot. roll over... sit up...crawl...walk... You are a big girl now.

Also in the past 1 year, you made us so happy and proud that sometime i can't believe i can have this much emotions.

I love you very much.

I can see myself in her

I still have some vivid memory about my childhood, most of them somewhat embarrasing. One thing i remember is that i always try to "play" my parents but never succeed. Like if they were talking with me about something serious which i don't want to listen, i'd try distract them by saying, "look! mommy! i found something!". Of course, that's when i was really small. After i started school, i figured this never worked. And then i'd just quit listening.

Amy started doing this last weekend. Less than 1 year old! I do hope she won't stop listening to me later on.

It's saturday and after 1 week at day care, she's really clingy. I was cooking and feeling tired. She still wanted me to hold her. So i calmly told her, mommy's busy, go play with yourself. Of course she wouldn't listen and started to scream/semi-cry. After 10 minutes or so, i got really mad at her and just ignored her. Then she burst into her real cry. That's when i tried to have a "serious" talk with her. I was trying to reason with her while holding her in my arms. She just wouldn't listen and kept pointing at one of the pictures we put up on the wall.

I really can see a little me doing exactly the same thing like she. I can't say i am happy about her defying me. But strangely, it did amused me a little bit.

Amy didn't cry too much today

When i dropped her off at the day care, she just made an attempt to cry. And before she started, i was out of the door. So she didn't really make it to a loud cry. yah~

But she still doesn't like to socialize with other babies. She kept to herself most of the time. I guess she'll start to play with others eventually.

Yesterday i took her to my office after the day care. She liked the vending machine on our floor. She'd point at it and say "ah ah ah ah". So i tried to lead her to touch it. But she didn't want to. It's exactly like the time we took her to the playground. There were a bunch of kids who's making a lot of noises. She'd squat down and observe them for a long time. But never tried to get close to them... So i can imagine her "loner" behavior in the day care. Hopefully this is just a phase.

Amy is almost 1 year old

Today i started this blog. Trying to keep track of her growth.

Amy's a big girl now. 23lb 1oz. 7 teeth, the 8th is on the way. There's also a molar coming out, according to the ped.

Started walking around her 11months. Already has the intention of escaping from mommy and daddy.

Know how to say "baba" and "dadda" for quite a while. Only say "mama" when she wants something. When i say "pooh" to her, she'd whisper "pooh". If i say "done", she'd yell "da"!

The 3rd week at day care

Dropped amy off at day care this morning.
After 3 days at home, she thought we'd stopped the day care thing. So the minute we stepped into the infant room, she started to cry furiously.
Last week when i dropped her off, she'd cry only a little bit. Today she cried for half a minute.

She still has a little bit runny nose. Don't know if it'll get worse.

Praying.