Tyler's 6 month update

Tyler is 6 months old! Well, a little over 6 months. I was waiting for his 6-month check to do this update so that i could get some accurate measurements from the doctor's office.

So, here's the low-down of it all:

1. He is officially underweight *gasp*!! The word actually came out from the doctor's mouth today. So, it's not just me being obsessive about his non-weight gain anymore. It is true! Though he has finally gone past the 15 lb mark and is now weighing at 15 lb 6 oz, since his trip to Malaysia, he has fallen from the 37th percentile to the 9th percentile! Alan blames it on the water he was fed while he was there, while i think it's the fact he dislikes formula milk and the fact that he falls sick every other week.. oh well.. we'll work on the weight.

2. Though his weight is a bit of concern, he has grown quite a bit length wise. He is now at 27.25 inches, which means he has grown 8 inches in 6 months. So, not too bad. In fact, he's gone from about the 50th percentile to the 70th percentile. Still a little shortie compared to his 99th percentile cousin, but who's comparing, eh??!

3. He is on to solid food. We started on cereal at about 4 months and now at 6 months, he's on to vegetables and fruits. So far he's had carrots, potatoes, green beans, bananas, apples and pears. As he's only allowed to try a new food every 3 days, it does take a while to get to new stuff. But we're hoping this new food thing is going to help boost his weight a bit! He's a little picky still but he loves his carrots and sweet fruits!

4. He is still sorta bald and doesn't have any teeth. So, I call him the "Bo brothers", you know, Bo-Tak and Bo-Geh?? haha.. Only Malaysians will get this joke!

5. His other developments seems to be on track. He's sitting up and even bounces on his bottom to try to move. Hasn't quite figured out crawling yet, though he tries really hard by pushing up his butt into the air but doing himself a diservice by shoving his face onto the floor. He showed the doctor he can transfer things from one hand to the other(apparently it's an important milestone to look for).

6. I think he's starting his more-than-just-vowel-only babbling. He's always been quite vocal with his aaaa--ooooo-uuuu chants. But he's supposedly going to start doing some bababa..dadada like babbling. I think he's got some going. Sometimes he looks at your face and starts babbling, as if telling me a story, and i always say.. "Really???".

7. He is hopefully bilingual because I've been speaking to him primarily in Mandarin. We've also started some sign language though I'm not sure he's noticing our additional actions yet. So, we'll see in a few weeks. Alan and I seem to have different emphasis as I would teach him things like hungry, thirsty, milk, food(notice the food obsession??), while his daddy's first sign was "Daddy".

8. We think he's starting to have a little tiny bit of separation anxiety though we're praying he's not! So, we're encouraging more independent play and also other people to carry him around. But even other people are noticing that he's whining a little when he sees me walking around.

9. It's been a fun 6 months and he continues to amuse us with his goofy smiles and silly giggles.

Boulder Badminton Tournament 2008

We had our 5th Boulder Badminton Tournament today - May 11th.

We had a slightly smaller turn out compared to other years, probably due to Mother's Day and maybe other reasons. However, it was successfully ran and things ran smoothly.

I was manning the registration desk while Alan ran tournament desk. It was as usual a crazy long day with an early start. Tyler who was with us lasted a whole day without much trouble. He napped on and off during the day but often woke up when he hears daddy over the PA system. Note for next year : put him further way from the speakers!!!

We managed to also bring him more toys to keep him entertained a little longer.


Tyler with his toys..

But he was probably SUPER tired from the long day, just like us and zonked out on the love sack!!


Completely zonked out.....

Anyways, Alan and I didn't do tooooo well even though we had a hand in the draws. Must practice more i guess!!!

What Tyler does when he's left alone

What does Tyler do when Mommy and Daddy are clacking away on the computers??


He plays with Wa-wa..


He stretches out on his boppy... are you guys done yet???


He eats his favorite giraffe...


What.. i don't eat my giraffe.. oops.. hehe..

Happy Mother's Day

It's my first Mother's Day and we'd stupidly scheduled our annual badminton tournament on that day! Doh!!! Despite my best efforts to move it, Alan had put his heart in it.

So, we celebrated it on Saturday instead.


Tyler and his hand-made Mother's Day Card

I was woken up by Tyler handing me my Mother's Day card. He even made one himself though i think he had help from the ladies at Daycare. He also got Alan to help him buy some store bought ones and Alan helped him put a picture in it.

Then I was treated to a nice brunch at Dixon's at downtown Denver. I had some super rich eggs benedict with smoked salmon and a margarita with a bloody mary twist(virgin of course). Yummm... after all that heavy eating, I came home and took a guilt free nap.. hehehe..


Yummy....

I haven't quite gotten the hang of Mother's Day and my friend told me it will take 1-2 years to figure out what i would like out of it. So, maybe next year my Mother's Day will be more exciting than a brunch and nap!


Me and my boys...

Oh, being a mother has also somehow made me quite forgetful. I actually forgot to buy cards for my mother and Alan's mom. Aiyiyi... again... first year.. I'll do better next year.

Happy Mother's Day moms!!!

Except it's Cuatro de Mayo Party

On May 4th, we had a Cinco de Mayo celebration, except it was on cuatro de Mayo. Hence the name of the party.

This idea was suggested by Sabrina our 1/2 Mexican friend. We thought it was a great excuse to have some good Mexican food and an awesome chance to welcome Spring. As the apple cherry blossoms were out and our back garden actually looked quite nice if you ignore the dead grass, we volunteered our house for the party.


Apple cherry blossom and Ben looking perplexed...

Sabrian and I doled out some food preparation duties to most guests but somehow, still ended up with A LOT of the work. Not sure how that worked out. I made some superdupercalifragilisticexpealidocious HOT green chile that I couldn't eat myself and some Mexican wedding cookies while Sabrina made, salsa(2 kinds, both yummy), Spanish rice, grilled beef and enchiladas. We also bought some pre-packaged chile rellenos, carnitas(OMG good) and tamales from Costco while some of our guests brought flan, empanadas, corn pie, bean salad, lemon bars. In other words, we had too much food. Oh, not forgetting our margarita-making-pro-wannabe Damith who couldn't churn out magaritas fast enough for raging the mob, as each batch got better and better.

Anyways, we gorged ourselves silly with all that food and I couldn't believe how little was left.

After that, it was time for the beating of the pinata, a Mexican entertainment . 20 thousand ideas were tried and tested to find the best way to hang up the pinata, only to be whacked down on the 2nd hit by Rohit! After a redo, almost everybody had a turn to try to bash the pinata. It was entertaining to watch a bunch of adults make a fool out of themselves trying to bash a papier mache bull, blindfolded, guided only by friends whose main intention was to send you the wrong way!!


Vernonica said, I'm a Latina, let me show you how it's done!


Tyler had a go at the pinata..

Soon, it got cold and dark and we retreated into the house to play Taboo which is always fun and I got lots of good laugh at the expense of Bill, our next door neighbour!

So, all in all, good party, good fun! Welcome Spring!!! Oh, and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Here are more pictures:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMXLRmzZtGbM

Al's Visit

I've known Al since my Michigan State days. We took a class together once and then we worked in the same place for some time. Our friendship kinda took off after he came to fix my computer and I bribed him with fried macaroni.

Anyways, he came over for a visit this past weekend and I was treated to some yummy food that he made. It's funny that when my good friends visit, they always cook for me. Maybe i choose them for a reason, eh?

As it was a hectic weekend due to a Cuatro de Mayo party I was throwing, Al and I didn't really do much sightseeing. We just sorta spent it hanging out and cooking. Al has this awesome talent of simply whipping up stuff off his head while I'm doing the washing up. Before i knew it, there was fresh cookie with ice-cream for dessert and fluffy buttermilk pancakes for breakfast! And before he left, he even managed made his famous apple pie(close call though). I'd be a fat woman with him in my house!!

While he was here, his friend Adrian also drove up from Pueblo and I introduced them to Peruvian food!! After dinner, I left the boys to do their catching up while i caught with my party preparation stuff.

It was great to see him again.

Thanks again for visiting Al!

Our one picture together! I am really slacking off!!!

I can't believe it's May!

I blinked and suddenly it's May. And worse, it's been more than a week since I last blogged. But I have an excuse - I have a child in daycare, which means what? Yes, I've been sick again! Twice since the last blog!!!

Aiyiyi...

First there was the stomach flu(which i have no clue how i caught it) and then Tyler brought home some run of the mill cough, cold and sore throat. One dose for Daddy, one dose for Mummy!!! As Alan and I lay in bed being miserable, he wondered how a little bundle of joy could bring on so much suffering. I just wondered when our inmune system is going to catch up!

But luckily i managed to miraculously have a weekend of quite good health, which was a good thing because my friend Al from New York was in town for a quick visit. Will talk more about it in the next blog.


Here's a little picture for the grandparents.. our little germ carrier