Spring is for...

Running outside in the sun,


swinging on swings,


sliding down slides,


feeling the wind blow across your face,


hanging out with friends,


and chasing after leaves while searching for water fountains :)

Delicately

[Lunchtime. Damien Rice's "Delicate" playing in the background]

Me: Sophie, this is one of Mama's favorite songs. One day, you'll love Damien Rice just like Mama, okay?
Sophie: Oh-tay.
Me: Say delicate?
Sophie: Oh-tay.
Me: delicate?
Sophie: Puff puff?

We need to work on this... :)

Random Daycare Daily Report #11

Sophie is definitely an independent thinker :) Today, several of her friends were making a "messy painting" (finger painting with paint and shaving cream). Sophie took one look at it and decided she wasn't interested in getting messy today. Actually, I think she was more excited at having all the toys in the room to herself while her friends were pre-occupied with something else. Smart girl!

The birth of a word

If you have or know a child under the age of three, you must watch this video.

Coming out of the Media Lab at MIT this is an astounding study of how children learn words- what the role of the caregiver and context is, and how we can visualize that information. As a parent and early childhood researcher, this blew my mind. Since Sophie spoke her first word, I've been keeping a record of each word that has come after and the approximate date of its acquisition. Call me obsessive, but like I tell Jude, "It's data!" How else would I know that what was "ta-too" in September last year finally evolved into "crackers" two weeks ago. But this study takes that obsessiveness to a whole other level, with 140 000 hours of audio and video data. The visualization of the data is stunning but more importantly, what Deb Roy presents in this video barely scrapes the surface of what the study can potentially tell us about children's vocabulary acquisition and what we can do to support their learning. There's still so much we don't know about how children pick words up- learning how to speak is a natural and instinctual process but it is also one that is profoundly complex and mysterious.

I'll let the video speak for itself. Really, watch it, and feel yourself tingle when you hear how "gaa gaa" evolves into "water".

Lunch epiphany

At lunch today, we taught Sophie that instead of eating her minestrone soup and bread separately, it is entirely acceptable to dunk her bread into the soup first as another soup-delivery mechanism. Let's just say that was the last we saw of the spoon this afternoon.



You may count her mind as officially blown...



Lip-smackingly good :)



After Dunk #2:



And the final verdict?


"Awe-suum!"

Random Daycare Daily Report #10

Sophie cracks me up with the things she says. She'll do something silly and then say, "funny!" She knows she's a comedian :) Sophie had fun making a special painting today for Month of the Young Child. It will be on display at Cafe Marie in early April!

Sophie, meet bubble wrap

If we knew then what we know now about what best captures young toddlers' attention, we wouldn't have bought Sophie all those toys that now populate her play yard, no matter how developmentally appropriate they're supposed to be. Instead, I would have invested our money in stacks of stickers and rolls of bubble wrap. Next to her books, these are the only things that will occupy her (well, YouTube and TV too, but we won't go there...), which when it comes to Sophie, means getting her to sit by herself quietly for at least 10 minutes.

She discovered bubble wrap yesterday when an extremely heavy textbook arrived for Jude covered in the thing. After that, it was hours of endless fun spent popping the bubbles and hearing Sophie go, "bubble pop!" over and over :) It took a while for her to get the whole mechanics of squeezing the bubble and initially, she'd just try to gnaw at it to get it to burst when squeezing failed; but after a while, she got the hang of it and wouldn't let me near it to help her. And because the bubble wrap we had are the ones with the larger bubbles, Sophie could actually feel the air release in her face with each bubble she burst- watching her reaction the first few times was priceless...

[I really do love Sophie's pudgy little hands]

[Developing intense effort and concentration]

I've had the iPhone/iPad bubble wrap app for a while now but Sophie's never been interested in it. I'm not sure if having discovered the real thing is going to make her like the virtual one better or not...

Day at the museum

1. Excited flapping hands :), 2. How big a mastodons leg is, 3. "Row, row, row...", 4. Kneeling for a better look at the wild-life dioramas. , 5. Dada showing here where on the globe we are, 6. Sophie wanted to touch the owl badly

I don't know what took us so long to finally make our way to the Exhibit Museum of Natural History which is right on central campus and a ten minute drive from us. I guess we thought Sophie wasn't big enough to appreciate the exhibits. But oh is she ready now...

Ever since downloading all the various Night and Day Studio apps for the iPhone/iPad, Sophie has come to know her animals very well. She can pick them out in a group, name them, and most of the time, imitate the sound they make. Add to that her odd penchant for dinosaurs (it started with an episode of Harold and the Purple Crayon...) and you have an 18-month old who was raring to go when we told her we were going to the museum to see dinosaurs and animals. All the way to the museum, she kept saying "dinosauce, dinosauce" (that's how her dinosaurs comes out) over and over... until we actually walked into the dinosaur exhibit area where she promptly clammed up, grabbed our hands, and refused to let go for the longest time. See, the thing is, methinks our daughter likes the idea of animals; it's an exciting notion, conceptually. But bring her anywhere near them (or in this case, their skeletons or a stuffed version of them) and she gets a little nervous... For all her hellion bravado, she's a little scaredy cat inside :)

She did eventually warm up though and had just a fantastic time scuttering from one exhibit to the next. She was enthralled by the large dinosaur displays but was probably still a little intimidated by them to appreciate their spectacular majesty (truly, they were awesome...). But she absolutely loved the wildlife dioramas-- from squirrels to ducks, rabbits to owls-- she wanted to look at each and every one (and touch them too of course, failing which, kissing the glass panels was the next best thing).

Sophie's not going to remember much of what we did today-- not in the long run any way-- but we'd like to think that we gave her something to see, think and talk about today and maybe tomorrow. And for an 18-month old, that's probably more than we can ask for.

[Rest of photos here.]

Happy 107th birthday, Theodor Seuss Geisel!

Sophie's still a little young for the Dr. Seuss books (although when the mood strikes, she will listen to the entirety of Fox in Socks...) but one day, she will discover and hopefully fall in love with the Wockets, Whos, Grinches, bunches of Hunches, Bar-ba-loots, red fish, and blue fish who populate the Seussian world. It's Geisel's birthday today, and to celebrate the odd, fanciful, and wonderful books he has shared with the world, here are some of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes:

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

What's your favorite Dr. Seuss quote?

Puddles of fun

**Update: It would seem that Sophie's obsession with puddles is not lost on her teachers. Her report from school today read:

Sophie had SO much fun outside today. Immediately she was drawn like a magnet to the puddles of melted snow. She couldn't wait to jump in and splash in each and every one. Sophie wasn't satisfied until she'd completely soaked both her mittens and her socks :) Speaking of, Sophie will need some extra socks in her cubby :)

Sophie loves puddles.

She loves looking for them, she loves us walking through them when we're carrying her, and most of all, she loves stomping in them on her own. And so yesterday, with the temperature creeping up into the 30s and the snow starting to melt, I bundled her up in her snow suit and boots (less to keep her warm than to keep her dry) and brought her on a puddle expedition.

We started out with a nice puddle outside our house (see video below) and then I put her in her wagon and we systematically visited as many puddles as we could around the neighborhood. Every time we saw a puddle, I'd take her out and she'd stomp in it to her heart's content, saying to herself over and over, "stomp, stomp, stomp" :) Sometimes I'd miss one and she'd yell for me to stop. A demanding one, our offspring... Along the way, I'd talk to her about icicles (she wants to touch and break them all the time), how slippery and dangerous black ice is, and why she can look at geese from afar but not try to chase after them (which she did of course and promptly got goose poop all over on her gloves and boots...)

Spring's going to be fun- puddles are really going to be everywhere by then and we'll have to have to get Sophie a pair of proper galoshes for all the puddles she will undoubtedly be jumping into :)

My Way

Conversation at lunch today:

Me: Sophie, porridge?
Sophie: Yesh.
[eats porridge happily for about 3 minutes]
Me: Water?
Sophie: No. No way!
Me: When did you learn how to say No Way?
Sophie: No way!
Me: No way?
Sophie: Way!
Me: Would you like some water?
Sophie: No way!
Me: Way.
Sophie: No way!
Me: OK, water, no way.
Sophie: Way!

And then at snack time:

Me: Sophie, guess what you're having for snack today? Raisins! [shows her the box of raisins]
Sophie: Raisins! No way!
Me: Seriously? No way?
Sophie: No way!
Me: Way.
Sophie: Way. Raisins...

What dreams may come

I think Sophie might have had first nightmare last night. Or maybe her first conscious dream, if there's such a thing. For about a month now, she's finally sleeping through the night (it's been a long time coming and you have no idea how much we appreciate it...) and even if she wakes up whining a little, she'll always go back down in a few seconds. But at about 11.00 last night, she woke up with a screech, calling out plaintively. I knew it wasn't her regular middle of the night whine after which she would go back to sleep- it actually sounded panicked.

When I went into her room, the poor baby was sitting in the corner of her crib, her face streaked with tears within the few seconds it took me to get upstairs. As I picked her up, she nuzzled her face into my shoulder, clinging on for dear life, saying over and over, "scared, scared..." I didn't even know she knew the word! After cradling her and singing to her for a bit, I gave her her teddy bear and she promptly calmed down and let me put her back in the crib. All was well again and she slept soundly till the morning.

Our poor baby... I can only imagine how petrified she must have been if she really did have a bad dream or just a dream. That itself must be strange and frightening for an 18 month old, even if it wasn't a bad one. How does someone Sophie's age process the experience of dreaming? And while she does understand what we're saying, it's not like we can talk to her about it after, at least not in a way that's going to help her comprehend what her mind was doing. I'm guessing that as she gets older and as cognition and imagination become more complex, dreams in general are going to become more common. But until she gets old enough though, Mama, Dada, and Dodo (her teddy bear) will just have to be there to let her know that everything is going to be OK after.

[Sophie at 11 months]

Resistance is futile

Guess who's sick from school today? :(
Originally uploaded by ghetto of our mind

We had no choice. Before this week, we were nazis about Sophie's media time- TV only during that 20 minutes when we're nebulizing her in the evening, video on the iPhone only for those desperate moments in the car when Sophie decides to wage war against her car seat, and we've even stopped letting her play with the iPad because it was getting too hard to get her to stop once she started.

But we had to give in. Sophie fell sick on Monday and stayed home from school for two days. Usually, it wouldn't be a huge deal- we always have stuff to do at home- all her toys, craft, reading, dancing, or we'd go outside, even if it's cold, just to get some fresh air and let Sophie run around all bundled up. And then there's always our fail-safe back-ups- the public library or the Hands-On Museum. But between the fever and the relentless coughing, Sophie was just zapped and too listless to do anything at all. And going outside into the cold would have made it worse. She had no appetite (still doesn't), was really clingy, and just wanted to stay close to me all day. And so I had no choice- I busted out the DVR-ed episodes of Ni-Hao Kai Lan and Curious George, and a whole slew of YouTube videos we know Sophie really enjoys. It was one of those moments when I thought to myself, OK on a scale of 1- 10, 10 being a parent who drives with her child in her lap without a seat-belt à la Britney Spears, how bad a parent does this make me? I'm allowing Feist and OK Go to babysit my child for 20 minutes while I make myself a sandwich (you do the math on how many times I had to put those videos on repeat); I give in to Elmo and his ducks' persuasive powers of entertainment so I can squeeze in some email time; and I let Abby Cadabby sing about how much she loves words so Sophie will give me a 5 minute break to go to the bathroom. Maybe a 2? OK, 3. Tops.

It was a humbling moment of contrition as I reflected on the sanctimony of my former opinion about media exposure. Clearly, they were formed by a woman who had yet to experience the profound depths of the sad Whine or its first cousin, the humorless Cling, otherwise known as a toddler with a cold. You try being a working mom attempting to be somewhat productive while staying home to take care of her sick toddler; and then you let me know if you still think TV and videos are really the Big Bad Wolves Waiting to Turn Your Babies Brains to Mush...

My Valentines

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug.

- Barry Louis Polisar, "All I Want Is You"

Row row row the boat

gently down the... scream? ;)

[taken using the self-portrait function of the iPhone]

Random Daycare Daily Report #9

Sophie had a great Friday. Today we were dancing to some African jazz music and Sophie was really getting into it! She was squatting until she almost touched the ground, then bouncing up and down. It was really cute :) Sophie also enjoyed exploring snow in the sensory table. For her, it was a big snow buffet :) Sophie LOVES to eat snow!

Hi Mr. Squirrel

Watching the squirrels
Originally uploaded by ghetto of our mind

For as long as I can remember, there've always been squirrels outside our house. They're fearless- coming up close to you or remaining still even when you approach them. And in the last month of so, Sophie has developed a real interest in watching them. Every time we draw open the blinds to our glass door, she'll prop her pudgy hands against it and ask for "squirrel". We've even taken to buying sunflower seeds (which we tell her are nuts) and occasionally leaving handfuls of them outside so that the squirrel will return. Sort of like a pet. Just not in the house.

Well, this morning, to let some light into the house, I drew open the blinds and Sophie promptly runs to the door and asks for the squirrel. He's no where in sight which only makes Sophie press herself even closer to the door (we'll have to explain to her that this really isn't an enticement for the squirrel to appear). And then she turns up to me and says "nuss! nuss!" I had no clue what she was saying and kept trying to explain to her that Mr. Squirrel wasn't around. She looks completely exasperated and just keeps going "nuss! nuss!" Only then do I realize that she's asking for nuts! Not too bright, Mama... So I bring out our container of sunflower seeds, throw a couple of handfuls our the door, and lo and behold, in under 10 seconds, the squirrel appears. And you should have seen the look on Sophie's face- it was a mix of pride (this was my idea!), incredulity (you mean this really works???) and pure and utter joy (hi Mr. Squirrel!!).

I think her mind was officially blown... :)

Guess who's 547.86 days old today?

[Updated with full-length version of video]

Name: Sophie Yew

Age: 18 months

Weight: 24 lbs 3oz (11kg)

Height: 31.25" (80cm)

Head circumference: 18.5cm (47cm)

Favorite foods (in no particular order and not all at the same time, although some times it happens...): pasta, sweet potato, oatmeal, rice puffs, oranges, crackers, peas, fish porridge, chicken nuggets, broccoli

Favorite words: "I need it!"

Favorite activities: Peeling/unpeeling and eating stickers; reading multiple books at the same time; playing in the snow, dragging her inflatable donkey all around the house ("hold hands!"); giving her parents hugs; running away from her parents' hugs.

Favorite toys: Dodo (teddy bear), Aquadoodle, Totoro plush, iPad.

Favorite books: I Love You Through and Through, Ten Little Rubber Ducks, Giraffes Can't Dance, Knuffle Bunny, Richard Scarry Best Word Book Ever, One Drowsy Dragon

Favorite songs: Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Sing- Sing a Song, The Wheels on the Bus, How Much is that Doggy in the Window, Firetruck Song, Oh Mr Sun

So there- the most wonderful, time-consuming, mischievous, affectionate, beautiful, fearless, rambunctious, patience-testing, audacious, precious, and treasured thing in our lives right now.

And we love her more than life itself...

[full-length version]

She is no Goldilocks

This is what happens when I leave the two of them at home alone... :)

Random Daycare Daily Report #8

Sophie had a terrific morning. She was so excited to go outside and play in the snow. She went right to the shovel and started "shoveling" the sidewalk. Her method of shoveling consisted of holding the shovel in one hand and dragging it behind her while she walks up and down the sidewalk :)

Well, at least now we know who to put to work when the next blizzard hits... :)

Random Daycare Daily Report #7

[Sophie's wearing a bright red floral dress to celebrate Chinese New Year. She wasn't at daycare on Thursday- the first day of the new year-- so we sent her to school on Friday all decked out for the occasion!]

Sophie had another great day at school! She enjoyed playing with the parachute in the gym this morning. She kept hiding under it :) We made a ball pit in our room later and Sophie had fun jumping in the balls. She was more interested, however, in throwing all the balls out of the pit! Our silly Sophie :)

Sophie wishes everyone 恭喜发财!

Really? That's all you've got?...

1. Riding the playground toys in the middle of all that snow, 2. Scooping snow onto herself, 3. Trying to trace her hand, 4. Books and blankie

In the end, it was more "meh..." than "oh man!". I think people were expecting to get totally plastered (like Chicago. Now that's what I call a blizzard...) and in the end, even though we did get a lot of snow and the temperature was truly, truly cold, Snowmageddon 2011 didn't quite live up to its hype. In the words of our friend, Lana, "The weather around here is starting to be like a bad boyfriend- huge promises of epic adventures jerked out from under you at the last minute." ;)

Not that we didn't enjoy the snow day though. Like we planned , there was plenty of snuggling under the blanket, reading, imaginary feeding of stuffed toys, sticker-peeling and attempted consuming of said stickers, and the watching of more TV than we usually allow Sophie. The winds even settled down enough in the afternoon for a short jaunt in the snow. Sophie's still not particularly enthused with the whole sledding business so we just stomped around the snow a lot (ok, tried to stomp around the snow- in some parts, the snow came up to her thigh, which did not make for easy stomping...). She also saw her first real snowman and wanted to give it a hug. That didn't quite happen although she did give it a high five on its twiggy hands.

And how happy was our little lovebug with having her parents all to herself pretty much all day?

Snow, schmow

[All that blue? That's blizzard area.]

Snowmageddon. Snowpocalypse. Snowtastrophe.

All the words used to describe weather I'm looking at outside our window right now. We're experiencing a blizzard (yes, a blizzard- 7 years here and we've never had a blizzard warning before) and that's basically all that anyone here has been able to talk about for the past 3 days. Someone at the office even said we get weather like this only once every 15 years. This is the real deal, folks- not just a lot of snow, but very high winds (I can hear it rustling the trees), low temperatures, and blowing snow that reduces visibility. In other words, don't mess around with a blizzard.

Gretchen's House informed us earlier today that they will be closed tomorrow which is just fine by us- I probably would have kept Sophie home anyway. I don't want to have to worry about not being able to get to her in severe weather conditions. I made a quick Whole Foods run (and got the last shopping cart there- everyone had the same idea) and stocked up on essentials like milk (soy formula for Sophie), bread, fruit, veggies, pasta, and broth. And chocolate :) We also have flashlights and candles all ready. Thankfully, our furnace runs on gas so we don't have to worry about losing heat if there's a power outage.

We'll all be staying home tomorrow, likely hanging out in our PJs all day surrounded by blankets. Perfect for snuggling :) We have back episodes of Ni-Hao Kai Lan, Clifford, Sesame Street, and Curious George on the DVR, all of Sophie's toys have been alerted to what will be a day of committed indoor playing, and the sled, her snow suit, and boots are on standby if the wind and cold lets up tomorrow afternoon and we can go outside to tumble in 18-inches of freshly fallen snow :)

Alright blizzard, bring it on!

How you make me smile? Let me count the ways

Sophie makes me smile everyday. She makes me laugh. She makes me incandescently happy (to quote the Americanized version of Pride and Prejudice). Which is why I love the weekends because I am made happy all day long. It's only 2.30 in the afternoon and there have already been so many moments of delightful Sophieness:

- She's lying in bed with us after she wakes up and we take turns reading/playing with her so the other can get a couple more minutes of sleep; but our daughter will have none of it, shoving and barking "Get up!" whenever she catches one of us with our eyes closed.

- We sing along to the Firetruck Song and she knows exactly when in the song (around 0:56) to shout "Wheeeeeeee!" Cracks us up every time...

- At various points of the morning, Jude and I sneezed. And after both times, Sophie knows to say, "bless you." We've been making it a point to teach her the special words like "please", "thank you", and "bless you" so this was especially awesome to hear :)

- As I prepare her mid-morning milk, I turn around to see quietly reading to her Elmo doll. She even sits him on her lap exactly the way she sits on ours.

- While we're playing outside in the snow at the play structure, she says to the big kids around her, "careful..." I'm not sure if she means for them to be careful not to fall on the slippery snow, or to be careful not to knock into her.

- This. 'Nuff said...

Random Daycare Daily Report #6

I just love how much Sophie enjoys being at school each day! She always has so much fun! Today, I found out that Sophie knows every verse to "The Wheels of the Bus"- I tested her! We also did art using stampers and stamp pads. Sophie loved the stamp pads, especially with her hands instead of the stampers :)

[There are no horses or fish in the original of course, but Sophie loves to say "bubble, bubble, bubble" and "neigh, neigh, neigh" so we'll pretend for a while that they let horses and fish on buses...]

Not quite Tom Hanks in Big...

... but close enough :)

The hot stuff

Alright Birkam Yoga, bring it on.
Originally uploaded by ghetto of our mind

It was like running the half-marathon all over again. Except in 90 minutes. And in a hot room with 30 other people breathing heavily along with you. By the end of it, I felt light-headed, a little nauseous, and I couldn't speak (I did call Jude to try telling him about it immediately after but ask him, I could barely string a sentence together...)

I went for my first Bikram Yoga class today.

Up until a couple of months before Sophie was born, I practiced yoga for two and a half years and loved it. Loved what it did to my energy levels, how it helped my running, and with just my all round sense of well-being. But when Sophie came along and having to juggle writing the dissertation, research work, taking care of her, and just chores in general, working out (and yoga) fell to the wayside.

Then earlier this week, LivingSocial (a Groupon-like company that offers daily deals) featured 10 sessions at the Ann Arbor Bikram Yoga studio for $20 and I bought it in a flash. I'd never done Bikram before but an old friend of mine, Shirlyn (those of you reading in Singapore may know her and her music), is a certified Bikram yoga instructor and has been waxing lyrical about what a life-changing practice it is. I was really looking forward to it and to how I wanted it to snap me out of this winter lethargy I've been feeling.

Oh god, in Jude's words as I walked through the door after class this morning, "You look like you just got your as* handed to you..." I'm not going to lie. It was HARD. Getting used to the temperature is one thing, sustaining the poses in that temperature is something else. I'm used to Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga where poses flow dynamically into each other, giving you a cardio workout as well as some good stretching. But in Bikram, holding the static poses works your heart just as much, if not more because of the heated room. I've never perspired as much in 90 minutes as I did today and my giant towel was soaked through once I was done.

But as exhausted as I am (I actually had to take a short nap to recover), I'm also exhilarated and invigorated. And challenged. One of the things I loved (and still love) about yoga is how acutely aware of my body I become- my posture, alignment, breathing, reach, strength, etc, and I find that kind of self-awareness very calming. Plus it's all me- the poses don't rely on machines or weights- it's what my body is capable of and comfortable doing at that moment. Every yoga session is a challenge. How much further can I stretch? How much longer can I hold this position?

I have 9 more sessions to go and I'm determined to be feel a little less pummeled with each class. My body needs to first remember all the things it used to be able to do when I practiced yoga more regularly, and then it needs to get used to the whole heated room thing.

And then maybe it'll realize that I'm working hard to be good to it and wasn't trying to torture it into submission this morning...

Animal cracker love

Sophie loves animal crackers. Loves. And specifically, she loves the animal crackers from Trader Joe's. They're not too sweet for her (with just a hint of lemon) and so I like them too and don't mind even if she has one too many for snack.

And so we were in her play-yard yesterday afternoon having a little late afternoon snack picnic-- milk and animal crackers for Sophie, a Nutella sandwich for me-- when out of the blue, she picked two of her animal crackers up, put them sort of nose-to-nose, and then nonchalantly said, "kiss!", as if she (or maybe the animal crackers) have been doing this everyday her/their whole lives :) It was so sweet and funny and I think I laughed so hard I might have startled her.

I was hoping she would do it again so I could take a photo but she ended up gobbling them both (and then some) up, effectively ending that short-lived animal cracker love affair...

Animal crackers, and cocoa to drink
That is the finest of suppers, I think
When I'm grown up and can have what I please,
I think I shall always insist upon these
-Christopher Morley

Our Saturday

For the first time this year, we had a regular "no one is sick and in need to special attention" Saturday. Little Miss Sophie is recovering from a bit of a cough but nothing we had to stop the clocks for. She did give us a treat by sleeping in till 9am though (!!!) which meant we all got some good rest and woke up all peppy and happy :)

9.30: After rolling around the bed and reading with Sophie a little, we all finally trooped into the bathroom and got ourselves washed up for the morning. For Sophie, this means making sure that she "brushes" both our teeth with her toothbrush before brushing her own teeth. And saying "morning!" to the two monsters on our bathroom door. It's her morning ritual- go figure.

9.45: Breakfast for us is buttered kaya toast, thanks to the Ya-Kun kaya my parents brought over for us over the holidays. Sophie ate some oatmeal. One day, she will out-grow her allergies and we will share with her the comforting goodness that is kaya.

10.30: We all get changed and bundled up for a grocery run. Between all the yummy food my mom made and froze and the Omaha Steak's meat that both Jude and my aunt sent us as holiday gifts, we haven't actually had to do much shopping except for fruit and veggies. But our lunchies (quick and easy items for lunch) were running on low supply and we had to stock up on pantry staples like pasta and broth anyway, so it was off to Trader Joe's. No more balloons for Sophie there (they stopped their balloon-giving policy) but she had a usual grapefruit to hug and gnaw on so she was a happy camper. And she kept herself busy by waving and saying hi to complete strangers.

12.00: We drop Jude off at school so he can clock in some work for the day. Sophie and I head home for lunch (fish porridge for her and pasta salad for me) after which we spend some quality time with her blocks. The architectural project for today- a tall tower built entirely of just the square pieces. Not structurally the most sound but at least now I know she knows the difference between squares and rectangles. Sophie was also in a "dancey" mood so we put on some Pomplamoose and danced to their holiday songs. Sophie loves "Jingle Bells" in particular (she calls it "Jindle Bell") and I had to put it on repeat for at least 20 minutes.

1.30: Nap-time for Sophie. I catch up on my email, read the news, watched an old episode of Grey's Anatomy (don't ask...), and started planning for class for next week.

3.45: Had to wake Sophie up from her nap because we were meeting Jude downtown soon. Recovering from a cough is hard work but I didn't want her nap to interfere with her night sleep. She roused the moment I opened her door so she was probably close to waking up on her own anyway.

4.30: We met Jude downtown to run some errands- picked up some pants that needed alteration, popped into Van Boven to check out their sale (where Jude scored a nice jacket and a wrinkle-free shirt, and where the sales guys were rather smitten with Sophie and gave her free reign of running around the store), and let Sophie run around the children's section at Borders which basically meant her meandering around the shelves, randomly pulling out books she wants us to read to her, grabbing whatever Elmo product that's within her reach, and alternating between yelling "running!" or "coming!" whenever she sees a long stretch of uninterrupted floor space for her to blaze through. Sometimes, I feel like I am unleashing a mini tornado through a prairie.

6.00: It was getting cold and dark and we were hungry so we decided on some Tomukun ramen for dinner to warm ourselves up. We were planning on having dinner out anyway so I had packed Sophie some cherry tomatoes and chicken nuggets. We ordered her a bowl of rice and she was all set. Jude and I both got the duck ramen and dinner was us taking turns to eat while rolling the rice into little rice balls for Sophie. She likes feeding herself and having little morsels of food to work with keeps her occupied.

7.30: We get home in time to Skype with both Jude's and my family before everyone had to go to church (it was Sunday morning in Singapore). Sophie has come to anticipate these Skype conversations and will say "Yiyi" (what she calls my sisters) once she sees the Skype icon popping up.

8.30: It's the weekend so Sophie gets to go to bed a little later. Bedtime is usually between 7.30 and 8.00 on a school night. Tonight, Sophie was really interested in the Charley Harper ABC book that we checked out from the library. Sophie knows his art from his 123 book that my friend Teresa gifted us with and the Peekaboo Forest app on the iPad and so Sophie had fun identifying the animals in the ABC book even though his stylized take on animal illustrations isn't the most easily recognizable.

The thing about having an early(ish) sleeper is that Jude and I get the rest of the night to ourselves, mostly to do work. Or on Wednesday nights, Top Chef. But today, we actually squeezed in some laundry-folding, which is amazing considering we only did the laundry two days ago and we've once let the folding part wait almost an entire week...

As I'm typing this, I can hear Sophie coughing a little here and there. But I'm hoping it will all clear up tomorrow.

Then we'll see what Sunday will bring :)

The little imp in between bouts of dancing this afternoon.

And we're back...

And by we, I mean me. Back to the land of the non-sniffling, non-coughing humans, where things don't sound like they're operating underwater, and where I'm not constantly hacking away at night while swiping at my nose with my fourth box of Puffs (yes, I was sneezing so much, I went out and actually bought the expensive tissues that I would never buy otherwise. That's how much my nose was hurting...) It took about a week but I think things are slowly blowing (pun FULLY intended) over. And I finally gave Sophie a proper kiss and hug today after avoiding doing that for the past week. The poor thing was so confused as to why I would be playing with her but not snuggling like I always do.

Speaking of the little human, she's been having fun amidst all the precipitation we've been getting. Between jumping into snow piles whenever she thinks we're not looking and biting off her gloves so she can "tatch" (catch) the falling snowflakes, Sophie's really enjoying snow in general.

[Snowflakes are tasty!]

[Now that I teach on Monday and Wednesday evenings, Jude and Sophie get some quality "Dada & me" time with each other on those days. They usually try to have a little adventure before dinner...]

We're currently busy but we'll get back to you shortly

This is a placeholder post to reassure everyone that no, we have not in fact fallen off the edge of the earth nor did our house burn down rendering us without access to the Internet. But between coming back from Chicago, Sophie falling sick over the new year, Sophie getting better but passing the bug on to me, me sniffling, coughing, and sniffling some more, and then having to prepare to teach my first class post-graduation while sniffling and being half-drugged out from Dayquil/ Nyquil, I just haven't found time to blog.

But maybe sometime this weekend I will. That is if my nose stops leaking...

Calumet Fisheries

1. Smoked trout, 2. Winter car picnic, 3. Smoked Chubs, 4. Dad & Sherri with our lunch bounty

Christmas has come and gone, my family has been here 10 days, much love has been shared all round, meals have been cooked and eaten, our waistlines expanded as a result, and all eight of us successfully made our way to Chicago in two cars and in the middle of a snow shower. In other words, there has been much to blog about. But between enjoying the family's company, soaking in all that we love about Chicago, and trying to keep up with a rambunctious hellion of a 17-month old, time to ourselves has been too precious to squander on the Internet.

BUT- for what I am about to share with you, I will make an exception. Because something so awesome cannot be kept to oneself, something so mind-blowingly delicious cannot be contained. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Calumet Fisheries. In the city of Hot Doug's foie-gras hotdog, droolsome La Pasadita tacos, and robust dry-aged streaks, the smoked fish from Calumet has shot to the top of our must-eats in Chicago. Yes, humble smoked fish. Old school style. Smoked and sold in a literal shack on the Calumet Bridge on Chicago's South Side. And yet, recognized not only by food experts like Anthony Bourdain but also the James Beard Foundation Awards in the America’s Classics category.

And now we know why. Because the smoked seafood is just downright delicious, *freaking* delicious. Delicious, I tell you. Succulent, toothsome shrimp; flavorful trout; and the chubs, oh, don't even get me started on the chubs- fatty, silken, melt-in-your-mouth awesome. I was having a smoked fish epiphany and I didn't think one could have a smoked fish epiphany. And all this at the back of our rental car in the middle of a parking lot along Lake Shore Drive, with half my mind on whether or not Sophie was taking a good nap. So imagine how much more my mind (and gut) would have been blown had I had all my wits about me and was enjoying my meal sitting down properly somewhere. We might just take a detour and pack ourselves some more smoked fish on our drive back to Ann Arbor. Oh heck, we shall...

People, I kid you not. Calumet Fisheries. On the South Side of Chicago. It will be worth your while. Go. Please.

Merry Christmas, folks!

Second sledding- much better, but I don't think we're quite enthused yet

In the end, even though Sophie gamely sat through her first sledding experience with her Yiyis and Mama with no cries or complains, she was probably most happy just sitting on the ground, playing with the snow and watching the fun her Yiyis and Uncle Piao were having from afar.

With a little more snow coming our way over the weekend, we're thinking of trudging out to the Huron Hills Golf Course and taking advantage of the steeper slopes there. It's a public course and open to everyone to sled in the winter for free. My dad is particularly thrilled at the prospect of sledding in a place at which he once golfed. Maybe with Gong-Gong in tow, Sophie might be able to muster a little more enthusiasm for this whole sledding business...

Sisters pretty much rock

And so do aunts!...

And the grandparents are here!

You should have seen Sophie at the train platform- first all shy, nuzzling into my shoulder coyly smiling. But less than a minute later, she opened her arms wide and moved towards my mom, wanting to be carried :)

It's only been 3 hours, but I think Sophie's already loving having her grandparents here, showering her with all this attention. She's been in the best of moods, all smiles and giggles, running everywhere and knowing that she now has four people's arms into which she can collapse :) And she even managed to coax Grandpa into playing with stickers with her after dinner.


My sisters and brother-in-law arrive in four days. If Sophie's excited now, I don't think she has a clue just what a treat she's in for in when everyone's piled into the house on Monday!

Christmas presents 2010

With the exception of last year-- when taking care of a 4-month old and getting ready for a 22-hour flight home were our main priorities-- we've given out handmade Christmas gifts to our friends here in Ann Arbor every year since 2005 (2005- cranberry hootycreeks; 2006- peppermint hot chocolate; 2007- chocolate truffles; and 2008- kaya).

So it was time to revive the tradition this year with homemade chocolate bark. I adapted the recipe from here- instead of saltine crackers, I used graham crackers, and I also made a white chocolate-cranberry version on top of the bittersweet chocolate-nut recipe.



I'm pretty happy with the final product- it's not the prettiest of Christmas presents I've made, but I think the rustic feel of the pieces has its own charm :) Oddly, even though I'm a huge dark chocolate fan, I've been quite taken with the white chocolate-cranberry combination. I think there's something about the sweet creaminess of the white chocolate (which is precisely the thing that usually turns me off) and the tartness of the dried cranberries that comes together really well with the the buttery graham cracker base. I liked it so much-- so does Jude-- that I made sure to set some aside for ourselves, and also for my family, who btw, ARRIVES IN TWO DAYS!!!

First sledding- FAIL!

No, there was nothing wrong with our camera lens. The photo is not blurry from any equipment malfunction. This is just what happens when you try taking a photo of your husband and daughter in 9F plus windshield (-15C). The snow was not only coming down hard, the blustery winds basically blew them every which way *and* made them feel like stinging needles against your face.

Which is why we had no luck taking Sophie on what was supposed to be her first sledding adventure. We knew we were going to get at least 7 inches of snow and had the sled all ready for her. But it was not meant to be. First of all, Sophie hated being bundled in all those layers- turtleneck tee, fleece pants, sweater, snow overalls, boots, winter jacket, hat, and gloves (it was like being in Froggy Gets Dressed). Then, after bringing her outside, she couldn't walk because of all that bulk and also because she was probably too bewildered by all that wind and snow. The combination of the billowing wind and stinging snow really made Sophie quite upset-- poor baby-- and we barely walked round our building before we decided to go back in, barely 10 minutes after we had come out.

You should have seen the look of happiness on Sophie's face when we relieved her of all the winter clothing- she visibly brightened up :) In the end, it was more fun to cart snow into the house (in the sled) and have her play with it while keeping warm and dry (and bulk-free). And for all that distress we put her through, she earned herself her first hot chocolate (made with soy milk) which she slurped up with such gusto, it looked like she was going to dive into the little mug.

We'll definitely try the whole sledding thing again-- maybe when my family arrives next week!-- and this time, let's hope it'll be a clear-ish day out and our daughter won't feel like she's being attacked by maniacal flying snow needles...

1. Not a happy camper, 2. Stinging snow, 3. Indoor snow, 4. First ever hot chocolate

Use your words

So it was like any other evening, driving home after picking Sophie up from daycare. I was singing "Wheels on the Bus" (which she's been making us sing over and over again these past few days) when I pulled into our parking lot. And then it happened.

Sophie said "home".

And when I stopped the car and opened the door to take her out, she said "light" and pointed to the light in the car as it came on. I thought they were both flukes but as we were walked towards the house, Sophie pointed to our door and said "Mama, home" and "light", now pointing to the light at our doorway. OK, so not flukes.

I started keeping a list of words that Sophie knows (and can say) and at 16-months exactly today, it's like I'm adding new words everyday. It's a conservative list-- or at least I'm trying to make sure it is so I don't inflate her vocabulary-- i.e. these are words we know for a fact she can say and have heard her repeat enough times and in the right context to show that she knows the meaning of.

Dada
Mama
hi
bye
water
Elmo
doh-doh (doll)
ball
flower
dog + oo oo! to distinguish it from...
duck
more
milk
walk
book
read
hold
no
night night
bah-bah (抱抱 ("bao bao", which is "carry" or "embrace" in Chinese)
baby
ah-pool (apple)
see you
tan-tyou (thank you)
yiyi (what she calls my sisters)
I woo oo (I love you)
pea (please)
bock (block)
pee-a-boo (peek-a-boo)
hah-lo (hello)
ah-den (all done)
hat
told (cold)
pah (puff)
sit
watch
tow (throw)
shoe
light
home

And these are just examples of her expressive vocabulary- I'm assuming her receptive vocabulary (words she understands but can't produce) is also growing day by day. It's such a delight hearing her talk-- both the real words and the rest of her jabbering that's just as wonderful. It's almost like communicating with a real person now- she can tell us what she wants, what she doesn't, when she wants more of something, when she's done with what she's doing, and most importantly, she's also using words (and gestures) to show emotion, like joy, love, anger.

Of course, we don't understand everything that Sophie says but we try our hardest to take the time to watch, listen, and respond to her regardless. I think it makes her feel like she's a good communicator and reinforces her self esteem by letting her know that she's worth listening and paying attention to.

Sophie phones Jude

OK, so not really. She was actually playing with the toy phone that's attached to her play-yard. We had just dropped Jude off in school after a fun morning at the farmers' market together. I guess she was missing her Daddy and so she picked up the phone and said, "Hi Dada. I woo oo. Home."

:)

I had a great day full of friends and play
But my favorite part is always coming home to you, Daddy-O
Did so many things, where do I start
Gonna tell you everything and not leave out a single part

D-A-D-D-D-Y, oh how I love ya
Oh, how I love ya
D-A-D-D-D-Y, oh how I love ya
Oh, how I love ya

Riding our bikes through the park
Camping in the summertime
Walking to the waterfalls, Daddy-O
You teach me things without saying a word
The time we spend together is worth more than all the silver and gold

D-A-D-D-D-Y, oh how I love ya
Oh, how I love ya
D-A-D-D-D-Y, oh how I love ya
Oh, how I love ya

-"Daddy-O", Frances England

First snow, again...

February 2010

December 2010

Sophie couldn't have possibly remembered anything from earlier this year so as far as she was concerned, today was the first time she's encountered snow. We stood her by the window when she woke up and showed her the light blanket of snow outside the house- she was intrigued and kept wanting to press her face against the window. Our little parrot then tried saying "snow" but it came out more like "no" :)

When we walked outside on the way to daycare, a couple of snowflakes landed on her cheeks which sort of perplexed her a little, like what *is* this cold, stinging, pretty, fluffy thing? She also tried grabbing the snow as it floated down around her, wanting to catch it in her hand, and that was pretty funny (which may also explain why in school, she refused to keep her gloves on and just wanted to touch the snow with her bare hands- see evidence here and here).

I woo ooo.

That's how Sophie says "I love you." :) I think she might have started saying it back to us a couple of weeks back but we didn't quite figure out that that was what she was saying till sometime this week. She says it at the most unexpected moments, like in the car on the way home from daycare or when she's in the grocery cart at the store. Or today during bath-time. There I was soaping her and rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, and the next moment, she clings on to me, snuggles into the crook of my neck and says "I woo ooo" over and over again while patting my back softly with those chubby little palms of hers. At that moment, nothing else mattered- we could be destitute, living in squalor, jobless, homeless, and inflicted with some morbid permanently debilitating disease and it wouldn't matter a whit. My daughter was telling me she loves me.
1. Our sweet Sophie, 2. Bunny ears, 3. Channeling Pebbles Flintstones, 4. Lunch laughter

I woo ooo too, our little one.