Archive forAugust, 2009

My Baby is All Grown Up

August 31, 2009 @ 8:39 am · Filed under Chinglish

Today is Mui’s first day of kindergarten. And it is bittersweet. Her kindergarten is at the day care she has been going to for the last 4 years, but it still feels different. She will have homework and no more naps. Kindergartners are too old for naps.

We finished getting all her school supplies this weekend. She even has a new outfit for the first day of school. I sent her off with a lucky envelope in her bag, just like my mom did for us the first day of school each year.

I didn’t think I would be all weepy, but I am. So I will end the post here so I don’t short my laptop.

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Mui’s Smarter Than Mommy and Daddy

August 29, 2009 @ 1:21 pm · Filed under Chinglish

This morning, SO was making shaped pancakes at Mui’s request. There is an angel and a heart and a moose. He had to wash the cookie cutters between each batch because the batter kept gumming them up as it cooked.

Mui says, “Daddy, Mommy uses the spray stuff to make the pan slippery.”

Eureka! SO started using the nonstick spray to help the pancakes release from the cookie cutters.

Mui is a genius and I’m pretty sure that gene skips a generation, as she’s not getting it from SO or me.

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Present from Daddy

August 26, 2009 @ 8:06 pm · Filed under Chinglish

A couple of days ago, Mui asks me where the present was that Daddy left her. It was supposed to be in our bathroom, but she couldn’t find anything. I explained to her that Daddy was joking. He was calling the poop in the toilet that didn’t flush a present. She didn’t believe me.

Tonight, I told SO to explain to Mui about the present in our bathroom. He does so and she says that it’s not a present. He explains that it is a present, just not one anyone wants. She frowns, then lets out a fart and says, “Daddy, that’s your present.” I high-fived her.

(For this, you can call Nanny 911.)

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The Government is Experimenting on My Kid

August 21, 2009 @ 9:21 pm · Filed under Chinglish

Do you remember the X-Files episode where Mulder goes on a roadtrip with the dad in Malcolm in the Middle? The dad has to be in constant motion heading west or his head will explode? And the condition was brought on by some Government experiments using EMF? Well, I think the government is experimenting on my kid.

Lately, he will not fall sleep, at naptime or bedtime, unless I hold him upright, close to my body and bounce him. And I have to be standing. If I sit, he screams. I suspect that unless he is held in that manner and experiencing that specific motion, his head will explode. Because when I stop, he starts screaming so loud, my head feels like it will explode.

If anyone in the internets knows of any government experiments on babies involving motion, please let me know.

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Good Night, Sleep Tight

August 20, 2009 @ 9:36 am · Filed under Book Reviews

There are two things that parents obsess about when it comes to their kids: sleeping and eating. We obsess about development and learning too, but it’s a distant 3rd.

It turns out that, for me, eating is a distant 2nd to sleeping. Reason being that my kids run a higher risk of my killing them in response to them keeping me up, than of suffering malnutrition or starving.

I have read many sleep books, No Cry Solution, Happiest Baby on the Block, Babywise, etc. My favorite is Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West.

There are some really good and common sense approaches to getting your kid to sleep well. For instance, the “eh-eh” sounds babies make when they wake momentarily does not mean they are dying. You are better off leaving them alone, because “comforting” them will just wake them up.

One piece of advice to any reader is that everything in the book is a guideline. She talks about how her kids slept for 10 hours straight when they were 10 weeks old. Of course, hers would. She would lose all credibility if her kid was 15 weeks old and wakes every 15 minutes from 3am to 5am because she stopped feeding him at 3am, like mine does.

So is my almost 4 month old sleeping thru the night? No. He still eats at 3am. But thanks to the book, he naps really well and for long stretches, giving me time to update this blog.

 Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West

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Sleep, Dammit!

August 11, 2009 @ 9:56 am · Filed under Chinglish

At 4 1/2, Mui doesn’t nap everyday. And on those days when she hasn’t napped, she is a monster by evening. Talking back, hitting, behavior that puts Didi at risk of becoming an only child. Conclusion, she needs more sleep.

But bedtime for Mui is a battle. The bedtime routine begins at 8:00pm with lights out at 9:00pm: bath, snack, brush teeth, book from Daddy, book from Mommy, lights out. At lights out, I ask her what lights out means and under what circumstance it is ok for her to leave her room. “I need to stay in my room and can only go out to pee.”

Inevitably, she seeks me or SO out armed with an excuse. Last night went like this:

9:10pm – Mui: Mom, I have something really important to tell you. Thanks for taking me to Little Gym today. Me: Mui, go to bed.

9:30pm – Mui: Mom, why are you still up? Can I watch TV with you? Me: Mui, go to bed.

9:45pm – Mui: Mom, my foot hurts. Me: Mui, go to bed. Mui: But Mom, my foot really hurts. Me: I don’t care. Go to bed. Mui: MY FOOT HURTS. IT REALLY HURTS. AAAAAAHHHHHHH! Me: I don’t care. Go to bed. Mui continues to scream.

10:00pm – Mui: Dada. Daddy. Dada. Daddy. Dada. I have something important to tell you. Dada? Daddy? SO just ignores her.

10:10pm Silence.

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Daddy is an R T A

August 10, 2009 @ 1:01 pm · Filed under Chinglish

Mui: Daddy is an R T A.

Me: An R T A?

SO: Almost right. Daddy is born the year of the R A T. Can you sound it out? Raaa…Aaaa…

Me: Oh, that’s right. What is Daddy?

Mui: A loser?

(Before you call Nanny 911, she thinks a loser is someone who loses things. We did not correct her.)

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Didi

August 7, 2009 @ 12:30 pm · Filed under Chinglish

Husband, Mui and I welcomed Didi (Chinese for little brother) on May 4. His nickname in utero was Anakin, so the birth date is apropo.    

This is old news for my Twitches, as I tweeted the labor and birth. It was 6 1/2 hours from the first contraction to sploosh.

He came 3 weeks early and thank god for that. Full-term would have meant a 10lb baby.

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PreSchoolers Can Graduate, Too!

August 7, 2009 @ 10:12 am · Filed under Chinglish

Mui graduated from pre-school this summer. You read right, there is a graduation ceremony for pre-school, with caps and gowns and everything.

I remember in high school we had an architect grad student help in our architectural drafting class. I asked whether there was a ceremony for graduating with a masters. He said yes, but that high school graduation would likely be the last ceremony I attend. He said it gets old.

I, however, went to the graduation ceremony not only for high school, but for my BS and MBA. The graduation ceremony was a way to acknowledge and celebrate my hard work. It was a way to share with family and friends the accomplishment. All while mocking the process and the outfits.

So I guess a graduation ceremony for kindergartners and pre-schoolers is not that ridiculous. They have reached a milestone and are celebrating it. Besides, the cap and gowns make for awesome pictures.

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Welcome to My World

August 6, 2009 @ 8:21 pm · Filed under Random

I have finally gotten around to getting my own domain. I have imported all posts from blogs.sun.com and blogspot.com. Now that I have to PAY for having a blog, I plan to post more often.

This site is in flux. I am not techie enough to know how to do things fast, but techie enough to break stuff trying. So please bear with me if something you like disappears or something you don’t like jumps out of the screen and bites you.

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