Mini Pics for October

First pumpkin patch

Like my new boots?

Fun with Uncle Dino

I looooove banana!

Cooking Baby

Spitting image of Uncle L

No Tricks, All Treats

Technically it's Mini's second Halloween but it's her first time trick-or-treating. We went to Belvedere Street and found out what a popular spot it is. This block party had it all - kids, families, costumes, decorated houses, performances, and tons of candy. We also stopped off at a Baby A's house for a small party where Mini feasted on meatballs and cupcakes.

Mini immediately dug into her candy bag once we got home and started eating the chocolate, wrapper and all.

Catching up

So we did it again. We fell behind on our posts and we finally got around to catching up. Anyway, if you want to catch up on the life and times, head back to September 21st.

Mini and her Cartons

My 3 Greatest Loves - Mommy and my 2 cartons

I can't get up!

I know this thing comes off
Mini really likes milk and juice cartons. She's always liked throwing things into our trash cans and that includes the recycling bucket. We've lost a few things probably to this phenomenon. I guess she sees us throwing things away so she is just copying.

Anyway, about a month ago, mini found the milk and juice cartons that we put in the recycling bin. She will pull them out and carry them around the house, one in each hand. She has this strange affinity to them. She'll hug them and even kiss them as if they were stuffed animals. Maybe she realizes that they provide her the bulk of her sustenance. Why do we even bother buying toys? Just give her empty cartons! What's even funnier is that she gets really frustrated when she can't pick them both up at the same time and she'll start wailing. Sometimes she gets so angry she'll knock them down with arms a-swinging.

Making the Halloween Rounds

Mini got to go to not one, but two halloween parties today. She dressed up in her little cupcake outfit. It makes her look like she has some huge hips.

The first one was at the Randall museum. Despite all the games and activities they had set up, mini had the most fun walking up the stairs as usual. She also enjoyed a lot of strawberries.

In the late afternoon, we took her to a children's playroom on Waller St. We let her walk a few of the blocks -- she really loves walking up and down sloped driveways. There, she got to eat some ice cream and cookies. They had a kitchen with kid-size chairs of various heights. Again, mini spent all her time climbing on the chairs. She fell down at one point, and although papa caught her, she cried for a couple minutes. Then 5 minutes later, she was back to climbing on the chairs...sigh...


I'm a little cupcake, short and stout

I love to work out my biceps

and my quads

and i love to run too! so athletic!

No More Nap Trap

Not sure is it's the upcoming daylight savings or she needs less sleep, but Mini can function on one nap now. Instead of the usual naps around 11am and 4pm, she has adjusted to a nap from 12-2pm. This happened over a week and half.

Nap Trap - because babies nap twice during the day, it's hard to get out for more than two hours at a time.

SFMTA - We Appreciate You

Mini goes on frequent bus rides, at least every other day, so she's used to them and is a real fan. She's always pointing at them when they pass on the street. Because they drive by our house, she can hear them coming and starts pointing to the window. Pretty soon, she'll recognize bus numbers and stops. OK, maybe later.

She also recognizes sirens and firetrucks. For sirens, she'll pat her chest meaning "pa-pa" (scared in Chinese) and look worried. Grandma Chan taught her this one. We walk by the Stanyan firehouse somewhat frequently and she always sees the big red fire engines. We saw one today and she started pointing. The firemen waved and rang the bell for Mini. She jumped, they laughed, quite cute.

15 Month Wellness Exam

Dr. R says Mini is developing superbly in terms of motor skills and intelligence. But not much in terms of physical growth. She's in the 20-25% range and hasn't jumped much from her year exam.

Head circumference 45.5 cm (40th percentile)
Length 29 in (25th percentile)
Weight 19 lbs 10oz (20th percentile)

Also got three vaccinations.

Spooktacular

i want the green grass

looks much better on me

haha you think you can score on me? you probably can

you can't fool me!

be sure to break my fall

i like me some driveways


Yesterday, we took Mini to the GGMG Halloween Party. There were so many families and kids there. Mini wasn't very interested in playing any of the games there. We spent some time decorating a Mini pumpkin. Then, she did have fun throwing some mini soccer balls around although she was getting in the way of the bigger kids trying to shoot into the goal.

On the way home, we let mini walk a few of the blocks. She kept turning into the driveways so she could walk up and down the sloped portions. At one point, she was running and then tripped on herself, bracing herself with her hands. She didn't cry but she was very slow to get up. After that, whenever she started running, she would run with her arms outstretched in front of her. It was pretty funny. When we got to Clayton, we put her in the stroller to go up the hill. Mini was not having any of it. She cried all the way home.

Visit to Sequoia

With no babysitter options, Mama took Mini to work today. Fortunately, Sequoia's office has a small play area ready with toys. Mini spent 90 minutes playing and listening to real estate talk. Then she began to wander about the office and found the conference room. Given her penchant for closing doors, she did exactly that and slammed the door shut. When P went to open the door, it didn't. Mini was locked inside!

Good thing it was a glass door and Mini could see out. It took five minutes to find the right key and what a scramble it was. Another thirty seconds and Mini would have started crying. You could see her face start to scrunch up as she sensed our panic.

Tooth #10

Top, left in the back. Didn't see it till today so not sure when it first cut through.

Mini's got half her baby teeth now. Think it's time to stop announcing tooth arrivals since it's hard to know exactly when they appear. She does have two more coming in the bottom row. Big swollen bumps on her gum line.

The Zeum!

The carousel

finally, a smile!

what? dad, only one hand?

who says I was eating chalk?

little engineer

cheeky

too much fun
Today, we took Mini to the Zeum. It's a children's creativity museum that had its grand re-opening this weekend. Best of all, it was free to the public! That also meant lots of families and kids.

Anyway, Mini got to ride the carousel. She just sat there during the ride with a pretty stoic face. We weren't sure if she was enjoying it, but when it ended, she nodded when asked if she wanted to ride it again. I was finally able to get her to laugh by yelling "boo" at her.

Unfortunately, most of the exhibits at the Zeum are meant for older kids, so she couldn't really do many of the activities. There was a little slide there but she wasn't too keen on it. She stood at the top as kids streamed by her. Finally, I was able to coax her down -- not sure if she enjoyed it. We then took her to an outdoor deck where they had chalk. Mini spent more time putting the chalk in her mouth and carrying the buckets of chalk around than drawing with it.

Afterwards, we went to Buca di Beppo. We stuck two stickers on her cheek. I was surprised she didn't take them off. At lunch, she was so exhausted, she fell asleep in the booth. When we got home, Mama and Papa had food coma and everyone slept for another 2 hours.

Nodding

Mini started nodding sometime this week. Previously she only would shake her head for no and we would take no response as yes. Now she finally learned the nod. Sometimes she'll start with the nod then go into the shake as if she is just programmed to respond one way before she decides what she really wants. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if she knows what we're asking all the time as her responses don't always seem to be correct.

Quarantined

There's an outbreak of Hand Foot Mouth going around SF and Mini managed to catch it. Not sure from where but it's pretty common and quite viral. Luckily, Mini had a mild case with only a handful of foot blisters, rash on the legs, and one night of fever.

She's out of commission for a week.

Yosemite

Papa got a 4 day weekend so we decided to go take a trip to Yosemite. We went with Uncle Da-Du and Auntie KrazDaz. The drive up was pretty uneventful. Mini slept most of the way, which was good. We stopped off at a Safeway to pick up supplies. I was walking slightly in front of Mama carrying Mini as we walked by the snack section, and I'm pretty sure I distinctly heard Mini say "Fish". Sure enough, there was a large section of her favorite Goldfish! unfortunately, I've failed to get her to repeat the full word although I have heard a lot of "ish" since then. We arrived at the cabin after dark and stayed in for the night.

The next day, we decided to visit northern california's water source - Hetch Hetchy reservoir. It turned out to be a long drive - almost 2 hours of windy mountain roads! On the way up, mini slept most of the way. When we got there, it was quite windy. We ate lunch on the dam. Mini enjoyed walking up and down these steel grates nearby. Uncle Da-Du tried to fly a kite to no avail. On the way back, mini was crying a lot. I'm not sure if she was getting car sick or not. We stopped off at Glacier Point on the way home. Mama stayed with Mini in the car as she was whining. For dinner, we made some yummy burgers and sausages.

Sunday, Uncle, Auntie, and Papa went to Yosemite Valley while Mama and Mini stayed at the cabin. While the three of them were killing themselves hiking up Vernal Falls, Mama and Mini had fun getting acquainted with nature. She enjoyed playing in the dirt, rocks, and drawing lines in the sand with a stick. And of course, she also liked climbing up and down the steps of the deck. That night, Uncle Da-Du made some awesome tri-tip and everyone learned the meaning of waddle-waddle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtN1YnoL46Q).

The last day, we stopped by Mariposa Grove on our way home. We had to take a shuttle bus from the parking lot to the grove. Mama wanted to take the stroller. Upon arrival, we put mini in the stroller but she started crying. We walked about 10 minutes with her crying all the way. Finally, Mama decided to take Mini back to the car. Luckily, Papa said they didn't miss much -- Muir Woods was better. Mini cried a good portion of the drive back. She was not in a good mood. Anyway, we found out later she had HFMD so maybe that was why she was fussy this weekend.

said grate and said kite - "that's a kite?"

When can I get back to the grate?

ah, back at last

have you ever seen me more happy?

mini in a mini forest

I'm glad papa made it back from there

Peek-a-boo

Downloaded Baby's First Peek-a-boo app for our HP Touchpad (courtesy of Uncle L). The app features a little blue character that hides behind one of 3 items. After a couple seconds, the character will stick out her hand/foot to show where she's hiding. At first she didn't get it and would just randomly touch the screen. After a day, though, she was becoming quite good at it and could pick the right one 9 out of 10 times. The game is a bit slow though so sometimes she gets impatient and will hit the screen before the reveal. Unfortunately, it only manages to keep her interest for a few minutes.

White Hair

Mini has a white hair. Just like her Papa.