11 teeth

in Maui (Oct. 2008)

The wait has been over! AC had four teeth for the longest time and we were wondering why it was taking so long for the others to erupt. We actually made an appt. with a pediatric dentist and he suggested that AC should get his gums cut in order for the other teeth to come out. We thought that it was quite an aggressive approach and after consulting other dental professionals, we decided to wait for his teeth to come out naturally. One by one, his molars came out and he now has a total of 11 teeth, with five on the bottom and six on top.

We should also mention that AC was teething at the most inappropriate time: during our vacation in Maui. He ended up waking up at least a couple of times during the night and thus made us lose a lot of more sleep than usual. But overall, our trip was very memorable and eventful (of course, other than the teething incidence, we managed to do some fun stuff like hiking the Haleakala crater, hanging out at all the beautiful beaches and we even spent time with our friends M and P who happened to be there at the same as us). Vince was very sweet in planning this trip for my BIG 30th birthday!

AC has been very chatty lately and we still can't really figure what he's saying most of the time but it's quite entertaining attempting to see what he's trying to communicate. We realized that he really, really loves our mutts as he kept mentioning them during our Maui trip. AC enjoys bossing Rylee around and tells her NO when she's doing something bad (or good depending on his mood!).

Goodbye Summer!

BEST waterpark: Steveston

As summer draws to a near, we are slowly getting back into the swing of things as we put away our tanks and shorts and pull out long sleeves and pants. We will definitely miss the warm summer days (although we didn't have too many of the HOT, hot ones this year) but nevertheless, it was nice to just hang out at the parks and bbq. We look forward to the beautiful changing colour of the leaves and for a new school year ahead of us. Here is a list of our summer faves...

Little A's Summer Reads
The Bear Snores On written by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
I love you through and through written by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak, illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

Mommy's Summer Reads
The Chamber by John Grisham
Between Parent and Child by Haim G. Ginott
The Eighth Promise by William Poy Lee

Dada's Summer Reads
any book by Tad Williams

Our Family Adventures

• Maplewood Farm
• PNE in the rain!
• playing at various water parks throughout Vancouver and Richmond
  
• outlet shopping in Tulalip with Poh-poh who visited us for three weeks
• trail running in the UBC Endowment lands

White Rock

all geared up for A's first rainy PNE day!

Fifteen months report

We have had a rough couple of days and nights as Aidan's been super fussy with a fever, and lots of drooling. Could it be teething? We're still waiting for something to erupt! This happened just in time of Auntie Lulu's visit from Calgary =) We went out for dinner at Toshi's last night and we were only able to sit down for less than half an hour before we made an early exit. Aidan usually loves eating out and has not caused any problems for us....so I guess it's not bad for his first time in 15 months.

Here's a quick update of what the little guy has been up to lately:

• AC is one affectionate fella as he enjoys giving people hugs and kisses
  
• can identify his head, ears, tongue, and nose (likes to stick his finger UP his nose!)
• has an impressive upper body strength as he manages to pull himself up onto everything including the toilet (he would put the toilet seat down first before climbing, of course)
  
• loves to go to the beach and dip his feet into the water and play with the seaweed
• had a great time in June because he had lots of visitors: cousin Angigi, Auntie Cynthia and Auntie Lulu. he also watched mommy race her first 1/2 marathon after giving birth...
  
• is beginning to exert his needs and wants with screaming (grrr...) and we are constantly trying to teach him to ask for something nicely
• is learning to be more gentle... (this sounds like a PLO, for those who are teachers, you know what I'm talking about)
• enjoys slurping up all kinds of noodles like lai fun, ho fun, spaghetti
• rocks are his utmost favourite "toy" right now. he finds small holes and puts the rocks into them....he even managed to put one into our door holey thing.
  

hanging out at Jericho beach


with cousin Angigi at the airport

going down on a very BIG slide and having loads of fun

Our Victoria get-away!

Aidan is running really fast around the ferry terminal

For Father's Day, I attempted to plan a surprise Victoria get-away to visit our dear friends, G and A, and their little girl M. I was so close to have successfully planned it but due to my forgetfulness, Vince found out when he saw that I had googled "Victoria weather". I am not a very good liar so I ended up having to tell him my elaborate plans. We had a wonderful time away and we soaked in the sun as we lazily hung around G and A's porch while our kids napped. It was really great to be amongst friends and to be able to celebrate such an occasion as Father's Day. It made us realize how special it is to have friends who truly love and understand you completely. How we wish that we lived closer together!

Aidan gives cutie pie, MH a big hug and a kiss!

Favourites

My current three favourite things are:

• spending time together as a family (doesn't matter if it's just lazily hanging out in our living room with the dogs or going out for a hike, time together is precious)
• when Aidan gives me a BIG bear hug
  
• reading to Aidan when he brings me his selection of books

Aidan is beginning to really love reading! Yay!

Happy 1st birthday, Aidan!!!

Our little guy is officially ONE today! It's hard to believe that a year ago, AC came into our world and has enriched our lives in so many ways. We had a few busy weeks with Poh-poh and Auntie Lulu visiting us and then we drove down to Cannon Beach with the dogs for a special family trip.

Here are some highlights:

• Aidan had a special birthday party at Lumlum's party room with his little and big friends. He was absolutely mesmerized by all the balloons. We were sooo happy that Auntie Lucia made it out just in time for the party from Calgary.
  

• AC has four teeth now, two on top and two on the bottom.

• It's been a lot of fun watching AC dance and bopping his head up and down. We still need to catch it on camera.

• First words are: mama, dada, dog, and tung (light in cantonese).

• First signs are: eat, water, milk, and brushing teeth.

• AC has a lot of energy for such a little guy (he's in the 10th percentile for weight and in the 20th percentile for height). If you ever come over, you would find him busy sweeping the floor with a real broom, attempting to walk the dogs holding onto their leashes, and getting into trouble (taking books out of the bookshelf and touching the dirty shoes!) Needless to say, our lives are consumed by this twenty pound child =)

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Walking before teething

Life has been quite busy and fun lately as Aidan is now walking! We couldn't believe that our toothless little guy was walking at ten months. Just shortly after walking, his bottom teeth finally sprouted and we were actually more excited about the teeth than his walking because we have been waiting for them to come out for so many months. The teething experience was not that great as the sleepless nights emerged once again. We tried everything from cold cloths, teething rings, teething tablets, to teething biscuits but the only thing that really worked for us were these vanilla biscuits from Choices called "Healthy Times". The Hyland teething tablets seemed to somewhat help, as well. I cannot believe that this teething business will go on until he's two or so.

We dedicated Aidan in February at Tenth Avenue Alliance and it was a very special moment for us as it reminded us what a good and perfect gift we have received from above. We have also been doing a lot more activities with AC like snowshoeing, swimming, going to playgroups, playing with sand and pebbles, and eating out for dinner. Both Vince and myself are really enjoying this new stage of AC's mobility =) It's hard to believe that AC is turning ONE at the end of this month!

I have also been doing some reflection upon my identity as this past year has been somewhat of a whirlwind. A good friend of mine, T. has been sharing with me what she's been learning at the Regent mom's group and it's been such a blessing. I know that I am first and foremost a child of God, and then a wife, mother, teacher, etc. It's hard to remember that order as being a mom seems to have taken first place over every other aspect of my life. One challenge is to disassociate myself from Aidan and still find time to do things that I love and enjoy! I would love to get back into running again so that is why I am really considering running the Scotia Half Marathon. I'm afraid to sign up because I know that I need to start training soon and I'm wondering where I will find the time and energy to do that? I will just have to make the time, I suppose.

the new park on selkirk is awesome esp. when we go with J & M.
we will really miss them when they move to Richmond!

Auntie J takes the best pics and this is one of them =)

snowshoeing at mt. seymour with the dogs