Approaching One Year

Greetings. I know this post is conventionally late but I got more pictures this time. With Renee growing more active each day, it is just hard for me to choose which one to show. As a matter of fact, I have already tried to make the list shorter, and I am going to have a post just for her first birthday.

She is taking regular bath by her grandmother. Needless to say, she quite enjoys it. We all thought she might grow up to be a good swimmer unlike her parents.







In preparing for her first trip, to Hawaii, we bought a playing pen for her to sleep in during the travel. She really enjoyed it, but only for that day.







Renee is sort of potty trained, in that she normally does not poop in the diaper anymore. She does not know how to tell us if she needs to go, of course, so we just put her to the potty from time to time throughout the day. For poop, you can still tell if you know the sign to look for. Again, her grandmother is the first one who mastered this art.





This is her regular visit during the weekday now. She loves it so much that she will fight when it is time to go.








Then we took her on a Hawaii trip.

We bought a pair of lei for the grandparents on the first day at Hawaii. She has no idea what it is, and it was actually a wonder that she didn't try to eat it. We all loved this photo, so I printed it and put it on our dining table.











We went to the beach before going to the Luau. Renee had her first sand beach experience. As usual, she was very cautious and did not even want to put her foot on the sand. Then she became accustomed to it and start studying the sand.





Renee checking out the scene at the Luau. At the time when this picture was taken, she only feel comfortable walking if you hold both of her hand. You can sort of hold one hand but you have to constantly encourage her, otherwise, she will resort to crawl within a few steps.









We took this one outside Perl Harbor. I don't know why but I just love her with that big flower.







This is a presentation of our traveling gear. One car seat, one stroller to push her around, and one back-bag with her food, diaper, clothes. The handbag on the chair is all that the rest four of us taking.






Renee checking out the pineapples in Dole Plantation. She is now very good at pointing to things that interest her.

Where is Daddy

As promised, this is the update for Renee's status on learning to walk.

She can pretty much play with any object now. And I do mean, any object. Sooner or later, she will put it into her mouth. We normally will tell her "No" to certain objects. Her reaction to "No" was putting it close to her mouth, watching your reaction with her mouth open. I think she is bored with that game now, because "No" normally leads to her crying now. It is actually amusing to watch. She can be very happy, laughing and giggling. Then she will try to do something and we will say "No". Then all laughter stops right away and cry follows immediately.




The following are the pictures of her standing up with different kinds of help.













She is also being more communicative. We are getting her started on Chinese hoping to keep her heritage.

This is her answer to the question, "Can I shake your hand?"











This is her answer to "Where is dad" when I am holding the camera.

On the Way to Walking

As I am reviewing the pictures we have taken for the past months and thinking of the theme of Renee's growth for this blog, I realized that the pictures don't tell the story at all! Nevertheless, I should publish the post on time in case some of you bugs me again (you know who you are!). I'll do an update within this week. Promise.

We took Renee on the second hiking trip after the Mount. Diablo. The wind was pretty strong so I am not sure how much she enjoyed it. Out of all the pictures that we have taken, these two are the ones without frowning faces.


Her ability to crawl has greatly improved, to such an extent that we are not worrying about her falling on her head anymore. Sometimes we should take her downstairs and let her crawl on the first floor freely. She really enjoys crawling on different surfaces. As a matter of fact, her crawling position changes depending on the surface. It is pretty funny to watch her through the area mixed with Rugs and stones.


We have not dared to take her out for a long trip. We took her out several times to the restaurants to test the water. It went pretty well so far. This is the first time we put her in the child chair.






Of course, Gymboree remains one of our favorite scheduled activities. Her reaction to bubbles has changed from I-have-no-idea-what-you-guys-are-doing to "hey, they disappear whenever I touch them!"









One more thing worth noting is that we start collecting vegetables from our garden in the backyard and trying to make real "organic" food for her