Favorite book: Little Blue Truck, A Book of Sleep, and Dear Zoo (you like lifting up the flaps!)
New skills: Crawling (fast!), pulling yourself to a standing position, LOUD vocalizations yells, semi-walking!
Current babbles: Abba, Baba, Aja (/j/ back of the tongue on hard palate),
What makes you laugh: Peekaboo (Thai version: “จ๊ะเอ๋”), “Frogs Go *Szplshxz*” song, my dancing!
Firsts this month: swimming, overnight stay at a hotel, snowfall, drinking from a sippy cup, pulling up to a standing position
Favorite sleeping position: Still on tummy, hands and feet tucked in underneath body, tushie up in the air. If I try to pull your feet out, you recoil them right back in! 😀
Are your cheeks cramping from all that smiling and laughing you’re doing? This has been a month of such exciting changes! From becoming quite the speedster on all fours to pulling yourself up to your feet (thereby necessitating the lowering of your crib mattress). You are able to express your likes and dislikes very clearly (squeals of delight vs. indignant exclamations of protestations).
On the food front, you have been such a happy camper (thank goodness)! These days, you enjoy two courses at each meal (entrée and dessert)! You are so much fun to cook for. Your Bà has joked that your meals have been like an aerobics routine, where the instructor starts with a few steps and then continually adds the previous steps into a longer routine. So, your most recent meal? Check it out, it’s a mouthful: chicken liver, ground beef, egg yolk, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, brown rice, and homemade chicken broth. (Though today for your 8th month anniversary, I made you flounder and broccoli in cheese sauce.) For dessert, it’s currently bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and apples with cinnamon. You have water and freshly-squeezed apple juice with each meal. (I learned that you prefer apple juice diluted with water.) We are just starting you out with a sippy cup (with the valve removed). I’ll report back on your progress next month!
You like to grab the spoon out of my hands presumably to feed yourself, but funnily enough, the food usually goes straight in your eyes. By the time the spoon makes its way down to your mouth, there’s no food anymore! So now, you eat with two spoons: the empty one with which you feed yourself and the one I use. It’s made mealtime go by a lot more quickly and more neatly! 🙂
There are some days that I am amazed that I even manage to put clothes on you. You much prefer being on your knees than on your back (making up for lost time, perhaps?), so diaper changes usually turn into a quasi-wrestling match. It’s amazing the positions from which you can roll over!! One way to delay the inevitable is for me to pick up your feet and tap it to the beat of the song I’m singing. Then, I stop after a few measures, and you keep it going yourself! You are doing quite well keeping a steady beat (probably not on purpose, of course!)
I’m also putting Riley to good use these days. Taking advantage of the fact that you love Riley (seriously, you watched her eat her entire meal today, hanging off the side of your high chair! I figured out the fastest way to trim your nails is to ask Riley to lie down on the floor waiting for a treat (which I put on the floor in front of her nose). Then, while you’re spellbound by her presence, I trim, trim, trim away! Let’s see how long this will work! 😉
In other firsts this month, you spent your first overnight trip in a hotel in Sterling, VA to drop Ông and Bà off at the airport. You were such a trooper, adjusting to your new location like a champ. You got to experience your first swim, and I think you quite enjoyed it. You also got to visit the Udvar-Hazy Center (the air and space museum close to Dulles airport) and saw many amazing airplanes and space shuttles. You also experienced your first (real, with accumulation) snowfall!
P.S. If you’re wondering why there aren’t so many pictures in the beginning of February, I was super sick, which you then caught later! Yikes!
Jan 19 (7m) – I didn’t (couldn’t) take your picture on the usual white yoga mat because you were so active tonight! You were rolling over, crawling, and just generally moving. So, the chair it was!
Jan 19 (7m) – But you didn’t seem to mind! I drew a stick person with two front teeth showing because your two bottom teeth were already in at this point!
Jan 19 (7m) – Nothing like snuggling with Bà to get that look of pure contentment! Awww…
Jan 20 (7m1d) – We got to walk on the boardwalk to Monticello three or four times with your grandparents. There was a beautiful sunset this evening! Your dad picked up some nuts on the side of the trail and spent a looong time shelling and roasting them. They were delicious; tasted like walnuts!
Jan 21 (7m2d) – So here’s a picture of you pulling yourself up to your knees in your crib. The mattress was still up at the higher setting at this point. I started getting really nervous because you were beginning to come up on your feet and that railing was NOT going to hold you in! (You succeeded on getting to your feet once, but thankfully, I was nearby to hold you from toppling over!) That night, your dad and Ông lowered your mattress and put the fourth side back in. You didn’t seem to mind one bit! (Mommy made have had a tinge of sadness that she couldn’t just reach over and touch you at night!)
Jan 22 (33wks) – Looks like you don’t mind baseball! 😀 Thanks to Aunt Merryl and Uncle Mark for the cute shirt; Uncle Quang and Aunt Ginnie for the super hip pants! 😀
Jan 22 (33wks) – Where’s your smile? It was getting past your naptime, and tI think you’d finally had enough of pictures! But you look so darling in this outfit from Uncle Quang and Aunt Ginnie!
Jan 22 (33wks) – Now pay close attention to the socks you are wearing in this picture. We were heading out to the mall (Fashion Square) this evening, and as it was getting closer to your bedtime, I was walking rather quickly with you in the carrier. When I got to the car, I noticed that one sock was missing. Since I didn’t want to risk a meltdown from your exhaustion, I decided to leave the sock there. This is the last picture we ever took with the complete pair. 😦 RIP, cute red Yo Gabba Gabba sock. You have been so good to us…
Jan 28 (7m9d) – It was snowing outside today, so I decided to bring you out on the deck for your first experience with snowfall. Either you didn’t really notice, or you weren’t particularly impressed!
Jan 28 (7m9d) – Ông and Bà bought you this awesome play yard with toys built in to the sides! Despite your face, you LOVE playing in here. You had just whacked your head on the ring toys and were about to cry. You have the cutest sad face, but I’m grateful that it’s pretty rare and lasts only a moment.
Jan 28 (7m9d) – See, the next second you’re already smiling! 😀
Jan 28 (7m9d) – Sitting is an easy task for you now!
Jan 30 (7m11d) – What are you laughing at? Ông was making bird sounds on a bamboo leaf (from Riverview Park), and you love it! In fact, these days, for some reason, when I change your diaper outside, you start crying. While Dad was changing your diaper at the Sheetz gas station, Ông tweeted on the bamboo leaf and kept you wonderfully entertained. Happy baby!
Jan 31 (7m12d) – This was the morning that Ông and Bà were leaving. It was your first stay in a hotel (Embassy Suites in Sterling, VA). Look at you hugging my arm! So cute!
Jan 31 (7m12d) – At Dulles Airport after Ông and Bà checked into their flight. Not smiling because you’re sad or because you’re sleepy? I’m going with sleepy because you fell asleep on the car ride back to the hotel!
Jan 31 (7m12d) – Here, you are modeling your new inflatable rubber ducky travel bathtub. I don’t think you like it as much as your normal tub because the water isn’t as deep as you like it. But sweet baby that you are, you didn’t complain!
Feb 1 (7m13d) – In front of the surprisingly large Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Did you know that, for its last ever flight, this plane flew from LA to Washington, D.C. in in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds?! Wow!
Feb 1 (7m13d) – In front of the tower at Udvar-Hazy Center. It was COOOOLD up in Northern Virginia, and we got to the museum with about 30 minutes before closing. Good thing, because the museum wasn’t too crowded, and parking was FREE!
Feb 3 (7m15d) – This is the face of a happy baby who’s just eaten his favorite meal (bananas, blueberries, and cinnamon).
Feb 3 (7m15d) – Do you see your two bottom teeth? Awww!
Feb 5 (33wks) – You used to lie down and kick the keyboard when you were just a wee one. Now, you sit upright and play (hit) the keys with your hands. Or sometimes, you do a plank rotation just to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. Now that’s true dedication — and strong core muscles!!
Feb 6 (7m18d) – Seat belt, schmeat belt! A baby’s gotta at least try to retrieve the stuff he’s dropped right? I believe you were attempting to rescue Sophie from the floor here!
Feb 6 (7m18d) – I had been sick this week, so I was unable to capture the first time you actually pulled yourself up to a standing position in the crib. I think this was a day or two after the momentous occasion! Good thing we moved the mattress down, huh?
Feb 9 (7m21d) – Can you believe this is the face of a baby who, just yesterday, had a raging fever? You had a 102ºF temperature, but you fought that bad boy off in one day (unlike the one WEEK Mommy needed — and still passed on to you anyway — boo!)! You also had your first taste of baby Tylenol. What a champ!
Feb 11 (7m23d) – Occasionally, I put your little bassinet in your crib, so you can play in it. You are very quick to remove the canopy overhead. And you usually get all giggly as you squirm and roll out of the bassinet’s walls! Ahh … nostalgia… 🙂
Feb 12 (34wks) – Gone are the days when you would stick your entire fist in your mouth. These days, you’re proudly using sophisticated poses like this contemplative one-fingered head tilt.
Feb 13 (7m25d) – I still place you in your swing even though half your calves stick out of it. Why? Because you get all giggly and excited! The other day, I was in the other room when I heard a strange clicking sound from the swing. Turns out you had reached up to pull at the mobile overhead, preventing it from turning! You were very proud of yourself.
Feb 13 (7m25d) – OMG! Can you see it?! Four teeth!!
Feb 13 (7m25d) – You started out by pulling off your socks. Nowadays, you’re pulling off your bibs during mealtime. Could this be the beginning of pulling off your shirts?! (Edit: It’s Feb 27th. You tried to pull off your left sleeve today during mealtime. And that’s after you pulled off your bib! :D)
Feb 14 (7m26d) – Happy Valentine’s Day! Your shirt is stained because you’ve just eaten dinner. And the pink around your mouth? Why, that’s from your brand-new tasting of strawberries — my Valentine’s present to you! (You prefer it mixed in with blueberries, bananas, apples, and cinnamon than straight up with GABA rice cereal.)
Feb 15 (7m27d) – For the past few days, Dad was away, traveling in Boston. So, I’ve added an early morning walk to take Riley to the bathroom. Check out the frigid temperature you endured this morning! FYI — -20ºC is -4ºF. I wonder if you’ll be metric-minded like me or mathematically ambidextrous, like Dad and Ông!
Feb 16 (7m28d) – The next day from the frigid morning, we had our first real snow! So, of course I had to take you out while the snow was still falling! You even stuck your tongue out for a few snowflakes!
Feb 16 (7m28d) – And now a family picture, courtesy of a Y in the tree and the timer feature of the iPhone (Dad’s discovery). I bet this will be super outdated technology by the time you can read this caption!
Feb 16 (7m28d) – Among the many new developments this month, you have started vocalizing (shouting). On this walk, you were definitely AAAAHHHHing away. It’s quite impressive how long you can sustain a note.
Feb 16 (7m28d) – So, of course, I had to vocalize with you! I think you quite enjoyed our duet.
Feb 16 (7m28d) – All happy from our snowy walk, on the way back home!
Feb 16 (7m28d) – Super Eli! It’s getting SO hard to get these white yoga mat poses because you’re super active these days!
Feb 18 (7m30d) – I tried to take you for a run at Riverview Park two days after the snowstorm, but the path was still PACKED with snow. Regardless, we ran the small loop (the BOB stroller was amazing!). I think you were tickled by the BUMPY ride!
For the Vinh 