preschool daze

i still can't believe that gabe will be going to preschool in the fall! after a VERY early saturday alarm, i was pleased to get a priority number for our 1st choice preschool. i was even more surprised to discover that at 5:30 a.m., i was already #11 (out of 16 morning class spots)!


so, come september gabe will be attending brentwood nursery school twice a week. i was referred there by my cousin after her 2 children attended, and also my colleague's daughter went there. because brentwood is a play-based preschool, i'm sure that gabe will adapt well to it. they do have some stuctured activity time, but the curriculum is driven by what the kids want to learn about, and are given the time and space to follow their own interests. when we went to the open house in january, the topic was giraffes - since the kids were interested in height.


what is parent participation? as part of our enrollment at brentwood, we are assigned a "volunteer" job for the year (i.e., registrar, class rep, supply buyer, etc.); some of the positions form the executive committee who oversee the preschool and meet once a month. the preschool also has mandatory parent meetings once a month which chris or i will have to attend. we will also have classroom days where one of us (or anyone in gabe's immediate family) will be the classroom helper and provide snacks for that day. lastly, there is mandatory fundraising for the school.

i'm looking forward to being the classroom helper (it'll happen every couple months) and see who gabe is friends with, how he interacts with his friends, and what they're all learning about. i'm also comforted by this because it'll help me adjust to gabe being in someone else's care (even though it's only for 2 hours). he's never been left with anyone asides from my parents!

but before he can even attend preschool in september, he needs to be potty-trained! so, our new challenge is to get gabe on the toilet and learn how to do his business all on his own!

february frustrations & memories

wow, no posts in a month! i've been so absorbed in "new year, new us" that i've fallen behind on this blog. except after thinking about it, we haven't really done much to update about. we've had a few birthday parties, mixed in with back-to-back illnesses for gabe and me. after feeling 100% healthy for two days, i had a setback and woke up with a sore throat which has now developed into my 2nd headcold in the past month. NOT impressed!


earlier this month gabe had to miss our chinese new year activity that i signed up for since i was brutally sick that day. fortunately gabe was healthy enough to go to his valentine's event with my parents. it's amazing how much they can do in 1.5 hours - gabe made 4 pieces of artwork using paint, food colouring, and various arts & crafts items, plus he got to ice a sugar cookie (definitely more icing than cookie - just the way mom likes)!


gabe's still struggling with music class...he only enjoys the activity portions (i.e., using the rhythm sticks, shakers, drums and instruments), and all the singing/dancing/repetition is just lost on him...he faces away from everyone, burying his face in my shirt, or else he just goes and stands by the wall. it's a little frustrating. i also noticed at aly's birthday party that gabe refused to participate in the circle activities. he just wanted to keep playing by himself and didn't care that he was alone - it was almost like he preferred the solitude. at megan's party, he was a bit of a loner for awhile...playing "kitchen" by himself, but he eventually he warmed up to the others kids and started running around with nora and tyler. i'm really glad he starts preschool in september and he'll have to interact with other kids.

gabe has FINALLY strung together his first words...for MONTHS my mom's been working really hard at getting gabe to say "ta (thank you) for food". he always says "ta", but the rest of it is just starting to come together and sounds like "ta...ffffff...ffff...ooo....d". literally, it's a 10 syllable production. ridiculous. in other word development, he can now say "hi", and he's said "bye" on one occasion. i know i obsess over his communication skills but there's one thing in particular that drives me nuts. gabe can say "d", "dad", "dada", but he won't say "done" (as in "all done"). instead, he says "all'one". i've tried repeatedly to break it down for him with the consonant, but he just can't (or won't) say "done". it's the same with "please". he leaves the "pl" off and says "ease". but he will say "puh....(long pause)...ease!" it's incredibly frustrating because he knows his d and p letters but won't use them consistently. i did talk to our doctor today about it, but since gabe CAN talk and he fully comprehends english, he doesn't worry about gabe's development. the 3 year mark will be the real test...that was the deadline the doctor gave me if gabe is still not able to put words together.

this month has been a step back in potty-training. gabe is still not ready for full potty-training, and he's had MANY #2's in his diapers. it's disappointing to take a step back, but my mom keeps putting it in perspective...he's only 2 years old! a lot of kids (never mind boys) don't even start training until they're 3 years old. i know i wanted to train him over xmas, but that never happened, so we'll do it over the summertime. he HAS to be trained before he starts preschool in september!

onto happier times...february marks chris and my 13 year anniversary since we started dating, and my 9 year anniversary at (aon) hewitt. my parents recently booked their october cruise around asia, so we've been talking about their ports, and it's hard to believe that it's been 6 years since chris and i spent our month travelling around hong kong, southern china and thailand!

27 months!

as part of gabe's christmas present, i took him with my parents to his first show...toopy & binoo at the centre for performing arts. the show started with the tv theme song, and the look on gabe's face was priceless...it was like watching him open his christmas presents :-) the show was 2 hours, including a 15 minute intermission and gabe was great! about 10 minutes before the show ended he started to get fussy and squirmy...that's the price i pay for afternoon activities with no nap :P

gabe's been busy with his words the past couple weeks: up/down, on/off, mommy/daddy (previously ma/da), please/ta (thank you), the letters B D E I O, me, yes, all done. he also recognizes the letters A, C, T, but has his own unique way of "saying them". when he sees A he says apple, for C he meows like a cat, and for T he pumps his arm for train. he continues to hum "twinkle twinkle" all the time (especially when he's in bed...he'll go on for 1/2 hour!). he loves to hear it on his toys, the piano, or anytime someone will sing along with him. gabe was excited to find out we were returning to music together; however, at our first class he wouldn't participate and i had to carry him the entire class...not so easy with a 33 pounder!

the temper tantrums continue! he really likes to be around people and insists that someone play with him, read with/to him, or do whatever it is HE feels like doing RIGHT NOW! part of it is cabin-fever...i try to do outings with gabe on wednesday and saturday mornings so we're not cooped at home all day long. it seems as though self-play is non-existent now :(

gabe's also incredibly stubborn. when it's time to end an activity i always give him a 5 minute countdown. when it's time to clean-up i tell gabe "toys away", and he'll look at me and say "no". it's not a defiant "no", it's not a screaming match, it's just a matter-of-fact "no". we repeatedly do this and i tell him what the next activity is going to be in the hopes of encouraging clean-up. i'm met with continued no's. it's the most frustrating thing...he doesn't get riled up, he doesn't stomp and yell, he just stands there looking at me saying "no". BLOODY HELL! so he's lost toy and tv priveleges, but he doesn't seem to care. when i told him no tv one day, he just looked at me and agreed. so much for punishment :P again, these incidents only happen with me and chris...NEVER for my parents! i need to work on my calm assertive energy :P

gabe's registered for preschool! i can't believe that he'll be going to school in september. my boy is growing up! i'm still waiting to hear back from one more school before we commit. but at least i don't have to worry anymore...he's in one of my top 3 choices :-) i keep meaning to take gabe to strong start, but it it's hard to find the time! i will start making that a priority, so he can interact with other kids more regularly and learn to share and take turns. in the interim, he continues to go to drop-in gym and he's signed up for chinese new year and valentine's day activities at the community centre.

gabe's got some great skills...he has a melissa & doug puzzle the we always play with, and he can now almost fully assemble it on his own (mom just has to point the general area where a piece goes and/or suggest a better connecting piece than the one he has). he really enjoys assembling his train tracks and connecting all the train pieces together. he's become a real climbing monkey...he used to just climb on the sofa, but now he's climbing on our poang and standing and bouncing on it (the bouncing was new today...he was being defiant). he's also climbing on the kitchen chairs and trying to get at whatever's on the table. with his new-found height, he's also been reaching on the countertops which has led to a few near misses with fragile items!

that's about it for 27 months!

new year, new us!

as if having one blog wasn't enough, i've created a second one:


http://new-year-new-us.blogspot.com/


i'll continue "me and my boys!" as usual and share our fun happenings with gabriel and life in general. "new year, new us!" will document our health & wellness. i'm very excited about the baby steps we've already made and i really hope that this becomes a new lifestyle choice for us.

also, now that i've made the new blog public, i feel some sense of accountability that ppl are watching to see what progress we're making (or not :P).

wish us luck!

christmas 2010

gabe's 3rd christmas!

the past 2 years we've managed to take pictures with santa (last year was a bit traumatic...he cried once we were sitting with santa), but this year there was no way in hell it would happen. we've hit lots of malls throughout december and we'd talk about santa, but as soon as we ask if he wants to visit with santa, the answer was always "NO!". rather than force the issue and have a complete snotty picture of gabe and santa, we just walked away. we'll try again next year :-)

our traditional christmas eve dinner with my family starts with our seafood chowder meal. yum yum! now that gabe's got a definite bedtime, immediately after dinner we start opening presents! this year gabe understood the concept of presents and ripped off the wrapping paper to discover FABULOUS toys :-) (gabe's a dainty little man...he would only use his thumb and index finger to unwrap his gifts, so it was a slightly slow process!)

it's a leapster leaptop!

gabe was a lucky boy and got lots of gifts from my family! since we still haven't opened all of his birthday toys, we're set for a few months of entertainment! and this week i've spent some of gabe's xmas money and bought him a few new toys! i just can't help myself :P

we ended up having a pretty late night, so gabe didn't get to sleep until 11 p.m.! unfortunately that meant he slept in on christmas morning, so santa's present was delivered to gabe on boxing day! (more on that later) on christmas day, gabe was having the mother-of-all rough mornings! we had dim sum with the lok's and gabe was just not having any of it. he was still tired from the night before and just desperate for his nap. unfortunately i don't have any xmas pictures from that meal :(

christmas dinner was at my mom's house, and gabe had a blast with his cousins. this was the evening of technology...blackberries, iphones, itouch, ipad, nintendo ds, and the leapfrog "learn to text"! talk about silent night...everyone was so absorbed before/after dinner, there wasn't much talking going on :P

boxing day...totally relaxing! we slept in, we stayed home, we did NOTHING! the highlight of our day was giving gabe his present from santa claus...a home depot work bench! it took chris a little while to get it all assembled, but gabe was "dad's little helper" using his power drill and hand tools to screw all the nuts and bolts in place.

that was christmas 2010! we hope everyone else had a great holiday with their families :-)

33 or 23?

today i found myself at a car dealership with gabe and my parents. while my parents were out test driving a car, the salesman talked to me about their potential purchase. he asked if i had graduated school yet, because there was some sort of discount for recent graduates. i told him today's my 33rd birthday, and that i graduated college in 1996. he laughed and apologized.

i think when i'm 40 i'll appreciate the blessed "asian genes". but for now, do i seriously look like a 20 year old with a 2 year old child in tow?!?!


ah well, happy 33rd to me :-)

elfed!

ok, i couldn't resist doing this...

merry christmas!

gabe's gingerbread house!

this xmas i wanted to do 2 things...build a gingerbread house with gabe and create (um, buy) a non-chocolate advent calendar. i kind of gave up rather easily on the calendar search and settled for a disney gingerbread house kit.

we had a lot of fun, and it ended up being a full day activity! before gabe's afternoon nap, we built the house. i think the biggest challenge was icing the walls fast enough before gabe would stick his fingers in it. once the house was built (but the icing wasn't dry), gabe started knocking on the gingerbread door...i didn't notice at first but he actually dislodged the house and we had crooked walls :P

(there's the little hand sneaking in!)

after gabe's 3 hour nap (yippee!) we decorated the house. while i iced the roof, gabe was checking out the candies (i don't think he knew they were actually edible). he was very meticulous about decorating...he would point to where i should dollop some icing, and then he would gingerly place the gumballs on the house. we repeated these steps until the gumballs were done. then we'd move onto the jujubes. then we did the sweettarts. boy, did i screw up though. when it came time to do the sprinkles, of course i let gabe "help". except his version of helping was pinching them, throwing them over the roof and then blowing as hard as he could :P

all in all, it was a great activity and we had a lot of fun together :-) now that we've built our house, i can't wait to take him to see gingerbread lane at the hyatt!

midway magic

my 2nd work trip of the year was definitely a fun one! in late spring, i started organizing an event in san diego for our clients who were attending a pension & benefit conference. after much consideration (winery tours, nfl game (the chargers were in town!), restaurant buyout), we opted for a unique experience aboard the uss midway, the longest serving navy aircraft carrier.

this was the first event i've coordinated for my company from concept to delivery. due to our merger, it was unclear i would even be able to attend the event, but as the event day neared it was obvious how much work would be involved for our handful of consultants to cater to the needs of our clients and troubleshoot as needed. since 90% of the work was done by me, i felt personally responsible to ensure a smooth event.

it was an evening event of cocktails and appetizers for 120 guests, including a 45 minute guided tour of the midway. the tour was obviously a crowd-pleaser...being aboard the carrier was like being transported back in time. my personal fave moment was seeing all the aircrafts on the flight deck, including the F14 Tomcat - made famous by tom cruise in top gun!

next year's conference is in vancouver, so at least i'll have more resources at my disposal :-) now the challenge will be to find a unique event and venue that can match the uss midway!