The first Willa-ism and a whole mess of Jia-isms

Our first Willa-ism! I asked Willa, "Hmmm, who threw this shoe in the trash?" (I knew full well that she did it). In response, Willa said, "Jia!"At thirteen months, Willa is already pinning things on her sister!

Jia is officially talking like a teenager. (Or perhaps she's talking like we do?) Willa started throwing her food, so I took her out of her high chair and she yelled in frustration when I did. Jia then said, "She's like, 'Mama, I'm not done yet!'"

On the same day, Jia was drinking a cup of milk. I told her if she dipped anything in it (food or hands) that I was going to put a top on her cup. She then clarified, "So, if you SEE me dip something in it you'll put a top on my cup."

Jia was playing doctor with her stuffed giraffe the other day. She said, 'Giraffe, I'm sorry to tell you that you're really sick. You're going to die on Sunday. You shouldn't have eaten pepperoni with a fork. You should only eat it with a spoon."

I often tell Jia to listen to her body to tell whether she needs to go potty, is tired, etc. She ran up to me recently and said, "Mama, I listened to my body and it wants to watch the Wiggles!"

When Willa was grabbing at Jia's toys, Jia loudly proclaimed, "She's ruining my day!"

We were eating lunch and I spilled my drink and it went absolutely everywhere. I yelled, "Aaaa!" Jia said, "Mama, don't be mad, sad, whine, fuss, cry, yell or get frustrated, just clean it up!" (I don't think I've ever strung all that together before, but clearly she's getting the message!)

Jia was eating a treat on Christmas and I asked, "Is it good?" She said, "Yes, would you like a taste?" I replied, "Sure!" It was not the answer she expected and she stopped and said, "Uh, no! Wait, try Willa's instead!" The benefit of having a sister!

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with family and old friends. What a special time. A few photos:

Getting ready to go on Christmas Eve.




Enjoying the new trampoline on Christmas day.



Ready to go out after attaching her new personal sled seat.


The best photos we could get in holiday dress.



At my parents' place, Willa constantly kept running to sit on the little potty (while pulling up on her dress, down on her tights and yelling "POTTY" nonstop).

New matching jammies - a Christmas family tradition.


Just a few ducks in the pond.


We had a truly wonderful Christmas and hope you did too!

Possibly the dinkiest tree ever?

Because of our remodel, our fridge is in our living room in the one spot that can fit a regular Christmas tree. In fact, our fridge almost did become our tree this year. We started to hang ornaments on it with magnets and I very nearly covered it in green paper. But Jia wasn't fooled. She kept asking when we were going to put up our tree. So this is the compromise. Perhaps the smallest tree ever?

(click to enlarge)

Thankfully, Jia was still giddy about decorating. She may have liked it even more because she could reach every branch by herself!

Will the tree survive Willa? Doubtful.

Have you seen this penguin?

This is Willa's lovey. And she REALLY loves her lovey. We lost it during a walk one day and we scoured the neighborhood for it for a week. We actually found it too! Under a pile of leaves in some random person's yard a few blocks away.

Anyway, we need another one just in case. We got it as a gift from a friend. The store where she bought it closed. I don't know if it ever had a tag or not (I could have cut it off), but it doesn't have one now. Has anyone by chance seen a lovey like this one? We've searched the internet high and low but so far, no matches.

A Winter Wonderland

We had a lot of snow today so we spent some time playing outdoors. Willa has been under the weather but she still enjoyed eating the snow like big sister Jia.



Jia decided to forgo her regular sled and go for a makeshift one instead.

Wind chills are supposed to be minus 25 degrees tomorrow so I'm glad we were able to enjoy the snow today!

Walking and talking

We have a walker and a talker! Willa is walking all the time now. Because she is so sturdy and knows how to fall, I don't worry one bit about her taking a tumble (very unlike Jia who always seems to land head first).

Willa is also saying a lot of words and babbles all the time. A few new words (including some very lovely ones) are: more, cheese, kitty, yeah, no, mine and poop. Gotta love those!

Felled by the Flu

We're slowly recovering from what has been one of our most miserable weekends in a very long time. Joe started throwing up during the middle of the night on Friday, and I started less than two hours after. We immediately realized it would be a very long weekend.

Our healthy children, of course, seemed to have the energy of 1,000 puppies. They also seemed to pick up on the "parents are incapacitated" vibe by doing lots of fighting. And our house is no longer baby-proofed due to our renovation. Willa is frequently able to open the zipper door to the renovation area even though we block it. Yesterday I checked to see how bad it would be if she opened it and started poking around, and within an arm's reach of the door, I found broken glass, razor blades, nails and wood splinters. So we clearly had to be vigilant about that too. Thankfully, Jia spent part of yesterday with my sister and part of today with my dad, and that helped a ton.

Joe and I just ate a piece of toast tonight, so I think we're on the road to recovery. Now let's hope the kids stay well!

Our holiday photo, such as it is

Well, we attempted our holiday photo last night. We took it at our neighbors' house as ours is under construction. After many takes, we decided to call it a night and just pick the best of the lot. Poor Jia looks like she's in some amount of discomfort in most of the shots. Oh well.


I liked this one too, but it is rather branchy.


Here are some others.


And a happy Jia. Maybe she just needed to be alone?

Apparently we're a bunch of Neanderthals over here

We are all going a bit stir crazy during our kitchen renovation/small addition. We're cooped up into two small rooms with some of our old appliances, and there has been lots of noise and disruption. We had another setback on the remodel as well. I was trying to sort out the details when Jia kept asking me if she could eat an egg. I said I'd help her in a minute.

Then I suddenly saw something small and white whizzing across the room. She had thrown a raw egg against the wall! It oozed behind the couch, over an outlet and behind the temporary fridge and all over the base molding and floor. In her defense, she thought it was hard boiled. (But do we throw hard boiled eggs? Of course we don't.) She told me she did it because "Grandpa does that for fun." Poor Grandpa, troublemaker once again.

Jia has really never done anything like this, and she wasn't even mad when she threw it. She was just overly excited. I think we were both in shock afterward. She instantly helped clean up. Then I noticed another raw egg smashed on the dining room table. I could tell that she had tried to peel it for eating, so there wasn't as much concern for that one.

Then later that night I was giving Jia some dinner and turned around. She had removed her shirt and had spread her dinner all over one arm and was licking it off! Then she smiled and said, "I'm getting a bath tonight!"

And she spent most of the day wearing her Halloween fangs, and looking like this. In fact, we spent a good portion of the day with diapers on our heads listening to music and spinning around in the office chairs. Maybe we need to get out more?

Always good for a laugh

We put some protective covering on our stair railings. When Willa's near it, sometimes for fun I'll run below and she smiles at me.



Then she always does something like this. And then we both laugh and laugh. Oh, we're so simple.

Happy Thanksgiving from our turkeys to yours!

Why was a turkey allowed to play in a band? Because it had drumsticks!

Some Jia-isms

As it's been a while, here are some recent Jia-isms.

• Joe told Jia about a funny incident during his trip to the doctor's office. In response, Jia said, "Hmmm, doctors don't usually laugh."

• "Mom, the sucker is saying, 'Unwrap me! I want to be eaten!'"

• "I have a baby in my tummy! It's just pretend, mama. But how will I get it out? I think I'll go get a hammer."

• She also shared her understanding of adoption recently. Out of the blue she told me, "I was born from someone else's tummy. And then you came to get me."

Jia is a master at bargaining. Here's what happened last night.

I said, "Jia, it's time for bed. We'll read three books tonight."

Here's what she rattled off in response (without any interjection by me):

"Mama. How about four books? I'll pick really short ones, mama. You will like them. Or maybe two long ones and two short ones. You think about it, mama. Tell you what. You can pick the fifth book. It's only one more. It can be a short one, I won't mind. We can just see about it, right? I promise I won't fuss at all tonight. Okay! Five books then! It's a deal! Give me a high five!"

One Year Anniversary of Willa's Referral!

I truly cannot believe it has been one year since little Willa has been a part of our lives. On November 21, 2007, the day before Thanksgiving, we received the following photos of our little bee.

A link to her referral post is here. She was so tiny then, just ten days old! What an adventure it has been since then! Just yesterday, Willa said "Jia" for the first time. I told her that we were going to pick Jia up from school and Willa chanted, "Jia Jia Jia" the whole way there. Then she continued to cheer "Jia!" throughout the rest of the day! What a blessing she is to our whole family.

Sisters

I have to briefly note the amazing relationship between Willa and Jia. They kiss each other all the time! Jia kisses Willa a lot before she goes to bed and Willa smiles ear to ear. And the other night, Willa kissed Jia about 20 times.

Willa is already trying to mimic Jia. At dinner tonight, Jia read all the letters on a piece of art we have in the dining room. At the end, we cheered and congratulated her on a job well-done. Instantly afterward, Willa pointed to the picture and made letter sounds. Then she looked to us for approval. We cheered for her too, of course.

Jia has been very protective of her sister. Willa was in the pack 'n play one day and I saw Jia desperately trying to get in. I figured that Willa was playing with one of Jia's toys. I asked Jia was she was doing and she frantically said, "Mom, she's eating paper!" Another time I caught Jia with her arm around Willa's neck. I ran over and saw that Jia was wiping Willa's nose with a tissue. Jia will also rattle off what Willa can and cannot eat to everyone. She tells everyone, "Willa can't eat that. It's a choking hazard!"

It's not all roses, however. In fact, we sometimes call Willa "she may not" because Jia is constantly saying, "She may NOT play with my toy. She may NOT come in my room. She may NOT...you name it." All this love and annoyance rolled together - true sisters!

When Willa grows up, she will be a...?

We did some more celebrating on Willa's actual birthday. Jia wanted a photo taken of us that morning, and Joe obliged.

Then Jia decided to liven it up as usual.


That evening we celebrated with another cake. This time a traditional Chinese one with whipped cream frosting and fruit in and on it.


We then prepared for Willa's "first grab." I was advised by a Taiwanese friend about a first birthday custom, and laid out various items for Willa to peruse. The belief is that whatever she grabs may indicate her future. We included a doll (mother), pen (writer), book (scholar) and a number of other items. For Joe's sake, I laid out a golf ball as well. Joe had saved some golf balls from memorable outings and I decided to take the one which said "79" and not the one that said "accidentally killed mallard." (Didn't want to inadvertently encourage a little hunter.)


What did she instantly grab? The spatula! And she refused to let it go. She hung onto it while playing the rest of the time. Will she be a chef?

She grabbed the pen later and chewed on it for a moment too (while hanging onto the spatula for dear life). Perhaps she'll pen a cookbook or two?

Happy First Birthday Willa!

Happy First Birthday to Willa Joan Hsin-Yen!

We love you to the moon and back! We know your birth family loves you too and that they are thinking of you today. And we are thinking of them as well.

You are a sweet, smart, strong-willed little girl. You recently learned to say "I love you" (your version is "Buv you!"). You just started to take care of your baby dolls. You rock and feed and pat them. You are so gentle with our cats. You love music and especially like to sing and dance. You hate your bib and rip it off any chance you get. And after you do that you try to rip off your shirt too! You love to make people laugh and already have a great sense of humor. You have brought such joy to our lives and you are only ONE! What is yet to come?

As Shel Silverstein so wisely wrote :

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
the impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
then listen close to me...
Anything can happen child.
Anything can be."

Willa's Birthday Party!

Willa's first birthday is on Tuesday. I can't believe she's almost ONE!

We had a small family celebration at my parents' house this weekend. She really got into her cake! We had to plunk her in the bathtub immediately after she finished eating!


(click to enlarge)

Willa's first steps!

Willa took her first steps today! She spent all day practicing. She would stand, whimper, take a few steps and then fall over. Jia was even more excited than I was. She exclaimed, "She walked four steps! That's amazing!" and then gave Willa a big hug. When Joe got home, Jia yelled, "Willa walked four steps! Do you believe it! Give her a hug!"

Another first, Willa saw her first snowfall today! She couldn't give a hoot about it. I'm sure she will soon learn how fun it can be from her big sister (who spent all day trying to eat it).

Moments of panic, great and small

We've had a few moments of panic lately. Some large, some not so. I'll share a few.

At the end of dinner the other night, Willa choked on some food. Really choked, as in no gasps or choking noise at all. She turned beet red. I yanked her out of her high chair and started various maneuvers. She dislodged it and then projectile vomited her entire dinner all over Joe. But we were relieved.

I went to pick up Jia at preschool last week. I arrived a little early. Her teachers couldn't find her. The entire school had finished an assembly and everyone was heading back to their classes. One of Jia's teachers was at the head of the big group. She said Jia was with the other teacher. I waited until all the kids progressed past. The other teacher happened to be at the end. She said Jia was with the first teacher. When I told her she wasn't, she started to panic too. Jia's school is in a church. Totally open to the public. The assembly doors are right by the main doors (which Jia can open). The church is located on a busy street and freeway entrance. We made our way back to Jia's class. She was there. Apparently she and a little boy decided to leave the assembly early and sneak back to class together!

And then there's Jia's school photo. I had a moment of sheer panic when I saw it. On first glance, it appears that she is posed with her arm tucked behind her head like some creepy child beauty pageant contestant who is made to look sexy beyond her years. See it for yourself. (Back away and squint at it so you can acquire my blurry vision for yourself.)



Upon inspection, apparently the background matches her dress perfectly creating said horrid optical illusion. (I wasn't the only one who saw it. In fact, a group of other moms gathered around and looked at her photo in shock. It didn't help that we couldn't see the design on her dress so it all looked the same.) Poor kid couldn't look more serious. But beautiful. The best part is that after she returned from the photo shoot she said, "Mama! We had pictures today and I smiled!"

YES WE DID!

Saved by...a twist cone?

Joe got an oil change and a tire rotation a week or so ago. The moment he left the lot his front driver's side wheel started to make odd noises. He returned to the service station and they did an alignment and test drove it. His wheel still made noises, but they said it was a dead spot in his tire which would even out over time.

Tonight, I told him I felt like ice cream and he very sweetly volunteered to get me a twist cone from McD's. Upon exiting the lot, his wheel flew off the car and ricocheted down the street! His car sank and skidded, but thankfully he did not hit anything and was not hurt. And the flying wheel didn't cause any accidents.

The next time Joe was supposed to drive was in the morning when he takes both girls to day care and then commutes to work. The majority of the drive is spent speeding along on the freeway during rush hour. It makes me shudder to think about how bad it could have been. Thanks to my craving, and moreover to Joe's chivalry, everyone is safe.

Happy Halloween!

Despite the fact that Jia refused to nap, she lasted quite a while and gathered a lot of loot!

And Willa was happy to just be along for the ride.

Our fruitless attempt at a Halloween photo with both kids:


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Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween too!