remember when i said that sienna likes spicy? i wasn’t kidding. sometimes, mommy has to put spicy sauce on sienna’s food to get her to finish her meal.

we keep a bottle of sriracha sauce on our kitchen table because mommy and gung-gung put that stuff on just about everything. sienna is less discriminating. she puts it everything. everything. yesterday, it was oranges. today, avocado. i’m just waiting for the day that she figures out that she can squeeze the bottle to make more come out!

the first couple of times that sienna went biking, she was not a fan.  now, she likes it!

(don’t worry, that’s not blood on sienna’s face, it’s blueberry.)

mommy used to always have to push sienna in the cozy coupe while i biked.  they could never keep up with me.  but now that sienna likes biking (i.e. riding in the bike carrier with mommy), they ride circles around me.  literally.

at first, it was very confusing.  every time they rode past me, sienna would yell “kai-kai, (where) are you?”  and then they’d turn around, and i’d ask mommy “why are you going that way?”  but then she’d turn around and follow me again.  now i get it.  mommy must not have known where she was going, so she had to make a u-turn to follow me.

i like my gym class at the little gym, but i’ve been going there since forever and i’m ready for something new.  i’ve been to a few birthday parties at airborne gymnastics, and i’ve been wanting to check it out.  their independent classes (where parent participation isn’t required) start at 3.5, so i’m finally old enough.  matthew and i went there for a trial class today.

airborne is very different than the little gym.  it’s a real gymnastics training facility where the focus is on skills, discipline, and preparing kids for the olympics.  the little gym also teaches kids how to use gymnastics apparatuses, but an equally (if not more) important part of the curriculum is about building confidence, learning responsibility, and developing cooperative skills.  at the little gym, we get high fives just for trying a new skill.  at airborne, we got corrected if our form is not right.

during our trial class at airborne, we did a lot of really hard skills.  we practiced doing handstands, spinning on the rings, something called the pike position, and lots of things that we’ve never done before.  there was a rope net that we were supposed to climb, but matthew and i both skipped it.  when mommy asked me why i didn’t climb it, i told her that i couldn’t because it was bigger than me.  it went all the way up to the ceiling!

at the end of the class, everyone got a ribbon.  we took turns standing on the podium and posing with our hands up in the air.  apparently, the airborne olympics are next week, and they wanted the kids to be ready to accept their awards.  they really don’t mess around at that place.  they practice everything!

mommy has always said that she doesn’t care if i ever learn how to do a back handspring.  she likes my current gym class because i get some exercise, socialization, and a little bit of structure.  mommy and daddy thought that airborne was a little too hard-core and rigid for me right now, but i insisted that i liked it and that i want to go to gym classes there.  i even said that i would climb the rope net next time.  so now, matthew and i are on the wait list for june.  after our current funny bugs session ends at the little gym, we hope to be dyna mights at airborne!

i went on a blind date today.  no joke.  mommy has been exchanging emails with someone who she met through a distro list for our new neighborhood.  they had never met in person before, but they thought it was a good idea to get us kids together.  umm, okay.  i thought it was a little weird, but since the meeting place was a park with a train, i went along with it.

so i met this girl at a park near our new house.  let’s just call her M.  at first, M invited me to play in the sand with her.  she even offered to share her sand toys, but i was more interested in playing on the train.  it definitely was not love at first sight.  but once i was done with the train and she was done with the sand, we made our way over to the play structure together.

M and i got to know each other while climbing and sliding and we got along okay.  but when it was time for a snack, she offered me a ritz bits cheese sandwich, and i instantly fell head over heels.  from that point on, we were inseparable.  actually, i was stalking her to see if she would offer me another cheese cracker.  she didn’t seem to mind, though — she even tried to hold my hand a few times.

after our snack, we went searching for bugs together.  i love bugs, and she does too! 😀  it turns out that M and i have a lot in common.  we both like to play soccer.  we are only allowed to eat sweets at birthday parties.  she is even 1/2 chinese and 1/2 japanese like me.

M said that next time we get together, she is going to bring her bug house.  first of all, BUG HOUSE!  i have no idea what that is, but it sounds really cool.  and second, she said “next time”!  i guess that means we’re going on a second date.  if things go well, i’ll reveal her name and maybe even get a photo of us together.

i took mommy to another sharks game today.  it was there that i realized what my superpower is.  i have sharkie-radar.  mommy always thought that i just had a good eye for sharkie, but i really can spot him from anywhere.  all throughout the games, “look mommy, there’s sharkie!”  and today, before the game started, i spotted him way way way up in the rafters.  too bad i don’t have a more useful superpower.  oh well.

anyway, today’s game was against the dallas stars.  it was a fun game because i got to do the shark chomp (since one of the stars players was bad and had to go sit by himself in a timeout), and i got to sing “they hey song” four times since the sharks scored four goals.  during the game, we left our seats four times for food, potty breaks, or just to walk around and stretch our legs.  and every time we left, the stars scored.  i saw none of their goals.  none.  so as far as i’m concerned, the sharks scored 4 goals and the stars scored 0.  that means that sharks won, and that’s what i told people when they asked.

actually, it turns out that the stars won in a shootout, but those are just minor details.   i guess it’s like when i play board games like “candyland” and “chutes and ladders”.  everyone always says that nobody can win all the time, and that we should even take turns winning.  that’s good sportsmanship. so since the sharks had won their last 7 games in a row, the must have decided that it was time to let someone else win.  they are such good sports.  and it doesn’t matter to me — i love going to sharks games, regardless of the outcome. 🙂

this morning when i woke up, i asked mommy if i could facetime auntie judy.  mommy said yes, so i did.  one of the things that auntie judy and i talked about was that we were going to see each other later in the day.  huh?  really?  oh yeah!  max’s 2nd birthday party at his new house.  i had never been to max’s new house before, but auntie judy apparently had.  she told me that max has a big playroom and that i was going to get to play with all his toys.  yay!

we got to max’s house, and it turned out that his party was in the backyard.  this is no ordinary backyard.  there was a deck where all the food and drinks were laid out, a mid-level area with a bouncy house and more drinks, and a lower level with a play structure (climbing wall, slide, swings, etc.), a jungle gym, and bubbles.  max could open up his backyard all year ’round and charge admission.  i would go!

sienna and i played on the slide for awhile, but then i was over it.  i wanted to go inside, and nobody understood why.  mommy asked if i was cold, if i was feeling okay, what was wrong?  nothing was wrong, i just wanted to go check out max’s giant playroom and play with all his toys like auntie judy said i could!  well, that didn’t happen (thanks a lot, auntie judy), but sienna and i had a lot of fun in the bouncy house.

after eating and playing for a couple of hours, it was finally time for cake.  we all gathered around so that we could claim our cupcakes, but we had to sing “happy birthday” to max, first.  we were all ready to sing, but then auntie sophie delayed the singing so that she could get a camera and take this photo.  we were all thinking “auntie sophie, what are you doing?  you are holding up the cake-eating!”

happy birthday max.  i hope we can get together soon.  let’s meet at your place — i am dying to check out your big playroom and all your toys!

sienna has been off the boob for two whole weeks now.  i think it’s safe to say that she is officially weaned!

for a long time, sienna was only nursing first thing in the morning.  so when mommy had early morning meeting a few days in a row, daddy had to get sienna out of bed in the morning.  and since mommy was not there to nurse sienna, the weaning just sort of happened naturally.  it was unplanned.

sienna misses it sometimes.  she still asks mommy “nurse?  nurse?”.  or when she’s feeling more demanding, it comes out more like “nurse!  nurse!” as she stretches out the neckline of mommy’s shirt.

mommy misses it sometimes, too.  but, since this is the first time in 4+ years that she hasn’t had to watch what she eats/drinks because of me and sienna (pregnancy or nursing), she was planning to celebrate her freedom by eating 5 pounds of raw tuna, guzzling an entire bottle of whiskey, snorting a kilo of coke, and smoking a carton of cigarettes.  that hasn’t happened.  but i have a feeling that all of the wine that has been sitting around our house is going to start disappearing soon.  any aunties or uncles want to come over to help mommy with all that wine?  daddy doesn’t drink wine.  please don’t make mommy drink it by herself — that would just be sad.

i am 3.5 years old.  here’s what i’ve been up to these days.

daily schedule:

• 8:30am: wake up. my wake up time has been getting later and later.  these days, i’m usually up between 8:00 and 9:00am.  it depends on whether i napped the day before.  i get up, go potty, and get dressed by myself.
• 8:45am: breakfast
• 11:45pm: lunch.  now that sienna is taking only one nap per day, we try to eat an early lunch so she can nap right afterwards.
• 3:30pm: nap (about 75% of the time).  i prefer to have someone come upstairs and stay with me while i wind down for naptime, but sometimes i’ll (grudgingly) nap by myself.
• 5:00pm:  if i nap, i get to watch ni hao, kai-lan.
• 6:45pm: dinner
• 8:45pm: shower
• 9:15pm: read stories and brush teeth
• 9:30pm: lights out. bedtime songs. dada usally puts me to bed, but i always ask mama to come see me after sienna goes to sleep.
• 9:45pm: zzz…

things i’m good at:

• writing my name.  i can write my name and most other letters without tracing or looking at a reference.  when i write birthday cards, i write my name by myself and i write my friends’ names on the front of the envelope.
• going potty by myself.  i can go potty, wash my hands, and do everything all by myself.  i even wipe myself when i go poo-poo.
• getting dressed by myself.  even though i always ask someone to help me, i don’t really need the help.  i just appreciate the moral support.  (i have trouble with buttons and zippers, but if i’m wearing pants with an elastic waistband, i’m all over it.)

things i’m working on:

• articulation.  i can now make the “ch” sound consistently.  i am getting better at pronouncing “l” as a final consonant.  still working on the “r” sound.
• staying dry at nighttime.  i still wear a pull-up to sleep at night, and every morning when i wake up, it is soaked.  mommy’s theory is that i am peeing in my pull-up first thing in the morning instead of using the potty.  so now, i’m working on fighting through my sleepiness/laziness/coldness to drag my butt out of bed and use the potty when i wake up.
• improving my aim.  i’ve recently started peeing standing up and still refining my trajectories.  ‘nuf said.

things i do that make mama and dada unhappy:

• telling daddy that i don’t love him.  i always want mommy to put me to bed, to take me to sharks games, and basically to be with me all the time.  i say that it’s because i love mommy and that i don’t love daddy.  everyone knows that it’s not true, so i don’t know why mommy gets so upset when i say it.
• putting sienna in time out.  i give her a timeout and tell her to stay there until she’s ready to listen.  and she does!  mommy and daddy don’t like it when i get on power trips like that.  but they do it to me, so why shouldn’t i be able to do it to sienna?
• crying tantrums.  i cry a lot.  mommy and daddy used to think that i was just an overly sensitive kid, but one of my teachers at school suggested that i am just not comfortable using my words all the time.  so when mommy tells me that i can’t watch another episode of ni hao, kai-lan, i cry.  when one of my friends grabs a toy out of my hand, i cry.  when i don’t get my way, i cry.  i guess this should be added to my “things i’m working on” list.

things i do that make mommy and daddy proud:

• recycling.  i believe in taking care of the place where we all live.  that means picking up trash and recycling.  i point out recycling bins wherever i go.  i look for the recycling arrows on boxes, bottles, and cans.  i even pull recyclables out of the trash and put them in the recycling bin, and then i reprimand the person that threw it in the trash.
• miyagi’ing sienna.  when she gets hurt, i miyagi her and it makes her owie all better.  this is just one of the many ways that i take care of sienna.
• being polite.  i am very good at asking nicely by saying “may i please…?” and “will you please…?”  and when interrupting people, i always say “excuse me”.

things about me that mommy and daddy worry about:

• i am a lover, not a fighter.  so when another kid is mean to me, i am bewildered — i just stand there, confused, and sometimes i cry.  mommy and daddy are happy that i don’t respond with violence, but they are worried that i will get picked on in school if i don’t learn to stand up for myself.
• i have a phenomenal memory.  phenomenal.  mommy and daddy have even (briefly) considered that i might have an eidetic memory.  people with good memories often get lazy because they can get by on recall.  mommy does it.  mommy and daddy hope i don’t become intellectually lazy too.  i’m already showing the signs.
• my neck rolls.  i still have them.  they were cute when i was baby kyden.  maybe even when i was one year old.  but i’m 3 and a half now.  mommy and daddy are starting to think that they’ll never go away 😛

favorite indoor activities:

• building.  i still like my legos, but i also love building things with my “wooden” foam blocks, and i recently discovered 3-D magnet builders.  i also like assembling and disassembling things with my power tools.
• making music, singing, and dancing.
• playing supermarket.  i have a pretend supermarket and a lot of pretend food (donuts, sandwiches, sushi, fruit etc.).  my prices change by the minute.  currently, i’m selling donuts for $60.40 and bananas for $40.90.
• playing games.  my favorites are “candyland” and “chutes and ladders”.  i also like playing card games like “go fish”.
• going to sharks games.  i LOVE going to games and doing all the cheers and singing “they hey song”!  i hope we keep our season tickets next year.  daddy doesn’t want to renew them after we move. 🙁

favorite outdoor activities:

• writing and drawing with sidewalk chalk.  we even draw hopscotch grids so that we can play hopscotch.  i am getting good at hopping on on foot!
• looking for bugs.  my favorites are roly polys.
• driving my cars (ride on toys).  i am way too big for them, but i like to ride them in front of the house, drag my feet on the ground, are wear holes in my shoes.  now that the weather is getting nicer, i hope to be going on longer rides on my run bike!
• taking walks to the construction site and watching the tractors and diggers at work.
• playing at the playground.  i love climbing on play structures and digging in sand.

favorite book:  disney bedtime favorites.  my favorite story is “mickey mouse and the pet shop”.  i love hearing about how mickey first met pluto.

favorite song:  i love singing.  i sing all the time — with music, without music, with others, and or by myself — it doesn’t matter.  my current favorite song is “where is thumbkin?”  i also love listening to the mickey mouse clubhouse CD any time i’m in mommy’s car, and i  can sing along with every one of those songs.

favorite mobile app:  nighty night!  i’ve only used this app a few times, but i love it.  i get to put all the animals to bed.  daddy has started letting me play this 2-minute app on nights that i let him put me to bed.

favorite snacks:   i love dried fruit.  we always have dried fruit on hand (mangoes, apricots, apple chips, craisins), and i love snacking on it because it’s so sweet and yummy.  i also love cake, but i only get that at birthday parties and i only get to have 3 bites.

favorite character:  i still like mickey, but kai-lan is my new favorite.

favorite animal:  it depends on the time of day.  the last three times mommy asked me, i gave three different answers:  kitty cats, alligators, and giraffes.

we haven’t moved into our new house yet, but we crashed a egg hunt and brunch in our new neighborhood.  every year on easter, they close off the cul de sac, and every family scatters dozens of eggs in their front yards.  most are really easy to find (and get), but some are stashed in hard-to-reach places like in trees, on top of big trucks, or hanging from a second story balcony.  in addition to the hundreds of regular eggs, there are 10 golden eggs hidden in super secret hiding places that are harder to find.  last easter, only 6 of the 10 eggs were found.  the other 4 were discovered throughout the summer, and one of them was just found a couple of weeks ago!

when it was time for the egg hunt, all of us kids lined up at one end of the street.  sienna and i were a little intimidated, especially by the kid holding the industrial-sized pail and the one wearing a helmet.  we didn’t realize that egg hunting was a contact sport.  when we got the signal to go, all of the kids sprinted off to collect eggs.  there was special area roped off for little kids under 3, so don’t worry — sienna didn’t get trampled.  we found so many eggs that our baskets were overflowing.  i even found a golden egg (with mommy’s help) and got to trade it in for a special prize!  i picked a giant bubble wand.

after all the eggs were found (hopefully), there was a potluck brunch in the middle of the cul de sac.  two of the girls even brought out a platform and did a dance performance for us 🙂  i sat and ate with mommy and daddy while sienna wandered off and mingled with the boys.  no joke.  at one point, we lost track of her.  it turned out that one of the boys and his friends had raided his big brother’s egg stash, and sienna had gotten in on that action.  she was sitting in one of the neighbor’s garage with a bunch of older boys.  i hope this is not a sign of things to come.

sienna and i had so much fun that we asked to go on another egg hunt after brunch.  mommy and daddy said we had to wait until next year.  i can’t wait until next easter!  but in the meantime, i hear that there are lots of other neighborhood parties to look forward to.

everybody asks us why we are moving so far away.  well, this is why we’re moving.  yes, the schools are fantastic.  yes, the neighborhood is very safe and family-friendly.  yes, we have family in the area.  but it’s this kind of community environment that mommy and daddy look forward to us growing up in.

happy easter, everyone!

sienna and i got to meet a new friend tonight.  her name is tianna, and tonight was her red egg and ginger party.  that’s tianna in the photo with me and auntie pak.  she didn’t want to pose for a photo with us and wouldn’t look at the camera.  she’ll learn soon enough that resistance is futile.

when i heard that we were going to a red egg party, i didn’t know what that was.  mommy reminded me that i had a red egg party when i was baby kyden, and sienna did too.  and then after mommy showed me the photos, i remembered!  i said i did, anyway.  mommy doesn’t believe me.

tianna’s red egg party was at a chinese restaurant.  sienna is allergic to chinese restaurants because pretty much every dish contains egg, wheat (used in soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, etc.), and/or peanuts/peanut oil.  but sienna didn’t mind one bit.  she was perfectly happy eating ice all night.  she would have eaten the entire bucket if we let her.  (don’t worry, mommy brought real food for her to eat, too.)

welcome, baby tianna.  we look forward to lots of playdates with you as you grow up.  especially sienna — she needs more girlfriends. 😛