Happy Week – Balloons, Taiwanese American Cultural Festival, WOW!, Climbing Stairs

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May 11 – 17, 2011

5.11.2011
Monkey Simon.

Simon using his maracas as drums. The sound it made surprised him and he really enjoyed it.

5.12.2011
Simon’s little legs are now just long enough to reach the ground while sitting in his car.

This is what Simon did when I asked him to “SMILE!”

Simon enjoys watching Sesame Street and knows his favorite characters: Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar… in this episode they are singing “Sing A Song”.

Simon playing before bedtime.

5.13.2011
For dinner we went to Moonstar Buffet and they gave Simon a balloon. He looks SO happy.

We were eating but he wasn’t interested in our entrees. He just wanted some fruit so he stopped crying and fussing when I handed him this strawberry on a stick from the fondue section.

5.14.2011
Simon went with Grandma and Grandpa Chung to Union Square.

He seemed happy clapping his hands.

Simon has hat hair.

Simon eyeing the cotton candy.

Simon eating his cracker.

In the evening, we decided to go to Ikea for dinner and to look around. Simon goes “wow” whenever we drive through a tunnel. He also goes “wow” whenever he sees something new that he likes.

At Ikea, Simon wanted to walk around by himself and found this rocking horse and wanted to play with it.

We ended up having to leave Ikea sooner than expected because the fire alarm in the kitchen went off and they evacuated everyone.

5.15.2011
Simon and I took a long walk this morning. There were a lot of people in costumes heading toward the Bay to Breakers so it was crowded early in the morning but the Ferry Building was quite empty. As we were walking inside, he started shouting something that sounded like “berry” because he saw a basket of strawberries. I asked him if he wanted strawberries and he shook his head up and down. A 1/2 lb of organic strawberries was $5.99! Yikes, oh well, anything for baby. He also got a glass of organic whole milk from Cowgirl Creamery for $2 and we shared a loaf of Acme Olive Bread for $4.15. We went to enjoy our snack near the fountain across the way.

Simon was excited. He calls water “na-na”.

Then we met up with daddy for lunch. Simon wanted his own cup. He ended up dropping this on the floor and it shattered. He knew dropping it was something bad so he was really quiet afterwards.

Simon has learned to go up stairs. He can’t quite do it all by himself while upright (he can go up on his hands and knees) so Ron helps him up.

Back inside the apartment, Simon was a happy baby playing with his wrist rattles. We called them “watches” to get him to put out his wrist for us to put them on.

Simon scooted himself off his mattress to continue taking his nap.

A belated Mother’s Day dinner with the Chungs at Chili’s. Simon waiting not-so patiently outside for our table.

5.16.2011
Simon drinking his morning milk in his new Snoopy PJs.

Check out those big eyes!

Simon ended up having a fever at daycare so I went to go pick him up. Unfortunately for us, it was raining so after we got off the bus, we headed to Starbucks for a snack and stay dry. But Starbucks was full and no one would share their table with us so walked to Macy’s food court to sit and enjoy a break. Simon really wanted to eat this banana.

But after eating about a third then wanted to go home.

Poor little guy was tired out and wanted to sleep when we got home. His cheeks are a little red.

5.17.2011
Simon went to daycare today and he seemed to be fine but went to bed early.

HUG Prescription, Mother’s Day at Monterey Bay Aquarium, Airplane Imitation

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May 4 – 10, 2011

5.4.2011

When I said “Stretch!”, this is what Simon did.

5.5.2011
Simon looking cool in his new sunglasses and Paul Frank T-shirt (thank you Auntie Tiffany!)

5.6.2011
Simon is AWESOME!

He’s my medication. Rx: HUG qd et prn (Prescription: HUG daily and as needed)

We went to Chotto for dinner.

Japanese bar food, including delicious ramen.

5.7.2011
Grandma and Grandpa Chung helped to take care of Simon today. Here he is at the office.

5.8.2011 Mother’s Day
We spent the night at their house so Simon woke up with a bit of a quizzical expression and crazy hair.

Then we went to visit a Bamboo Giant on our way to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Simon enjoyed walking their trail and picking up sticks.

“Mommy, look at this!”

La-di-da-di-da…

“This place is pretty cool”

It’s a pleasant place to visit and see specimens of different types of bamboo. You can also purchase pots of bamboo to grow yourself and they also sell other accessories like fences, pots, backyard entertaining items, etc.

For lunch we drove to Monterey to r.g. burgers (real good burgers). Simon had chicken tenders and fries from the kids menu. He showed off his drawing skills with the crayons and his menu.

I had the Western Burger with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, and bbq sauce.

Ron had the Bearnaise Burger. It was a fork and knife kind of burger.

Simon really liked the french fries. Especially dipping it in the ketchup.

After lunch, we headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We are currently members so have free admission for one year. Besides the sea creatures, they actually have a lot of stuff for little kids to play with inside. Our little clam.

We forgot our camera at home so our pictures aren’t very good. But thank goodness for our phones or else we wouldn’t have any photos at all. Anyways, inside they have an area especially for little kids, maybe 2 and under, where there is large shape sorter, a water feature to splash in, and wobbly waterbed thing to walk across. Then there is this older kid place where there are rocking animals, a coloring station, a cave, costumes, and a slide.

Simon showed us he knows how to clap his hands now.

He has also picked up from us the hand gestures we use for “no more”. He’s flipping a book and reaches the end of it.

Simon stayed awake the entire time we were out so was really tired by the time we were ready to leave. Goodbye for now Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Simon fell asleep on the walk back to our car and didn’t even budge while Ron put him in the car. If you don’t want to pay for parking and are willing to walk 3 blocks, there is free unlimited parking on Hawthorne St. at David Ave. but only on one side of the street.

A pleasant Mother’s Day.

5.9.2011
Ron decided to keep Simon home from daycare today since he had a hard time sleeping with a cough and runny nose. No fever but he didn’t want the other kids to get sick. So instead, Simon ran errands with daddy in Emeryville, including a visit to Ikea.

Simon had a kids’ meal of Swedish meatballs and steamed vegetables.

Simon had fun exploring the children’s furniture area.

He especially liked the slide. We my have to buy one for him in his room or the backyard.

Simon’s imitation of an airplane (“fei ji” in Mandarin). Where do kids pick up these things?

5.10.2011
Almost forgot his photo today. Sleeping soundly with Tiger.

Enjoying San Francisco – Japantown and Yerba Buena

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April 27 – May 3, 2011

4.27.2011
Simon discovers how to let his cars roll down the “ramp” created by the blanket.

4.28.2011
A windy day in San Francisco.

Simon enjoyed the wind in his face.

We had dinner in SF Japantown at Izumiya. Tofu soba.

Karaage chicken.

Curry and okonomiyaki.

Simon shared with us.

Simon got all excited when he saw the fountain/water feature in the mall. He calls water “na-na” which is the same word he uses for milk too.

Thank you Japantown for a good dinner!

Simon showed us he learned how to shake his head up and down. Now he can answer “yes!”

4.29.2011
Now how did Simon get the pockets to stick out from his pants?

Irene, one of our nurses at work, gave Simon this toy that used to belong to her grandson. She said she thought of Simon when she saw it sitting in the back of her coat closet so she wanted him to have it. He’s not quite sure what to make of it yet but was excited to see its head pop out of the bag that it was in.

4.30.2011
Still playing with the horse the next morning. He seems to enjoy the stick more than the horse part.

We headed to Fairfield for a birthday party and Simon is contemplating on waking up for the party.

He decided to wake up but took a while to warm up. He clung on me like a little monkey until I got him to play in the bounce house. He was very excited and happy about going on the slide but I got very tired of carrying him up the “stairs” to the top of the slide. The other kids jumping around were older so I was afraid Simon would get hurt if I let him by himself but I think overall he had a good time and had a good nap on the drive home. (Photo courtesy of the dad of one of the birthday girls.)

5.1.2011
One of Simon’s favorite Sesame Street characters is Elmo (he calls him “A”) so I got him this T-shirt from H&M.

It was such a nice day that we got out of the house and ended up at the Yerba Buena Carousel. We didn’t have time to ride it during Simon’s birthday party so went to see if he was interested in it this time around. He was really excited watching it while waiting for our turn.

And was okay while waiting for it to start.

But then got a little scared when it started and the horse was moving up and down. So we ended up in one of the boats so that Simon could either sit or wander around instead.

After two rides, Simon was ready for another adventure and was eager to push his stroller there himself.

So we went to the playground and Ron took Simon on the slide a few times. He really liked that and enjoyed walking around the playground. Lots of older kids were running around too though and not watching where they were going so Simon almost got knocked over. Next time we’ll go when it’s less busy.

To get out of the sun for a while we went to Westfield Shopping Center and to the Family Room in the food court. Simon likes to play with the toys there.

5.2.2011
A good rest to end another week. Surrounded by his plushie buddies.

5.3.2011
Squeaky clean.

Zebra Love, Gymboree x 2, Sausalito, Stinky Tofu, Playing Maracas

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April 19 – April 26, 2011

4.19.2011
We went out to eat with Auntie Vickie at Han Il Kwan (Korean BBQ) and Simon enjoyed himself but also made a big mess.

Thank you Auntie Vicki for coming to join us for dinner!

4.20.2011
Ziggy has a new friend: Tiger

Simon finds them both huggable.

4.21.2011
Simon has a Zebra outfit that we bought in Singapore. It was a little too big before but seems to fit perfectly now.

It has a cute little behind.

4.22.2011
We are quitting Gymboree membership after this month so we tried to make use of our make-up classes, at least one. We have six from when Simon was sick during the winter and kept on missing class. So we went to this evening’s class.

I must say, compared to the other classes that we’ve attended for make-up, our Saturday class teacher Laney is so much better than the others. Her songs seem so much better and the way she explains everything seems so much better. I think I will miss her more than Simon will.

Simon finally figured out his lawn mower toy.

4.23.2011
Ron was helping his brother move today so Simon and I went to another Gymboree class, this time in San Mateo. With our membership, we have two free classes worldwide so used one up today. Grandpa Chung came to watch and took some photos of Simon. Again, this teacher couldn’t compare to our teacher… but the facility was nicer and there were less kids.

Simon really liked this donut hole, he kept on crawling in and out of it and putting his ball in it too.

Lounging in his donut hole.

He really likes the balls.

He enjoyed the row boat today too.

He was afraid to walk across this plank since it was a bit wobbly but with his “security” ball and mommy’s hand, he walked across.

Knocked out for his afternoon nap. Not wanting to disturb him, I took a nap in the car too until he woke up.

After the nap, he was all refreshed and ready to make some music… and write some email?

Then climb on his desk chair to do some drawing. He can get onto the chair himself, feet first. He must be watched closely or else the chair might tip over.

4.24.2011
Simon in motion… some of his clothes are a little tight on him, I thought this made him look slim.

Just woken up from a nap, waiting for seats at Le Garage in Sausalito for lunch.

“I want everything on this menu!”

“Mommy, your croque madame looks yummy!”

Daddy had the burger.

After lunch, we drove to downtown Sausalito to walk off a bit of our meal. A little breezy but at least the mist and cold lifted.

While mommy and daddy had ice cream, Simon had a nap. The end of a good afternoon with our friends Susan and Ken.

Simon still likes his lawn mower… but gets tired so crawls onto the couch for a rest. The couch is low but it’s still amazing for me to watch him crawl up by himself.

4.25.2011
“I want THAT cup of water.”

We had dinner at Taste of Formosa. Simon had his first taste of stinky tofu and he actually seemed to like it… likely because it was fried and a bit crunchy.

Shredded pork and preserved vegetable noodle soup. It was a little watered down and not enough preserved vegetables.

Wah guay. Definitely not as good as Taiwan.

Dumplings. They were okay but nothing too special. The wrappers were a bit uneven.

Oyster pancake. This tasted good to me, this is not Ron’s favorite dish.

Ba wan. It was a bit tough… and took a long time to come out.

Not sure if we’ll be back. The best part was the stinky tofu… so maybe if we have a craving.

4.26.2011
Daddy Ron bought Simon maracas and whistles. He took the maracas right away.

Simon enjoys “reading” his Cookie Monster cookbook and looking at all the Sesame Street characters.

Simon playing his maraca and pointing at “Cookie”.

I love to see Simon in action but I also really love to watch him in a peaceful sleep.