gung hay fat choy!  today is the first day of the lunar new year.  last year, our chinese new year celebration was a quiet dinner that mommy cooked at home.  it was a good dinner, but mommy doesn’t cook traditional chinese food.  luckily, auntie mimi invited all of us to join her family’s chinese new year dinner at their house.  she said that the dress code was “gold and red”.  i wore the one red shirt that i have.  baby sister had plenty of clothing options and a selected a brand new red dress out of her closet.

auntie mimi and her parents cooked a feast fit for a king. or maybe an emperor.  make that 100 emperors.  there was chicken, pork, fish, chinese broccoli, mushrooms, sticky rice, nian gao (traditional chinese new year cake) and lots more.  they even cooked jai!  gung-gung kept talking about jai last year, but i had no idea what it was.  now i know.  jai (also called “buddha’s delight” or “monk stew”) is a very traditional stew that is usually only prepared for chinese new year.  it’s made with exotic ingredients like tree ear fungus, ginko nuts, black moss, golden lily buds, and other strange-looking stuff.  mommy ate three servings.  gung-gung was loving it, too.  dada wasn’t daring enough to try it.  i ate my share, though, and everyone was so surprised that i would eat such an exotic dish.  dada missed out.  (baby sister missed out too, but only because she doesn’t have teeth to chew with).  oh well.  more for me.

aside from the food, another great thing about a real chinese new year celebration is all the red envelopes.  i thought they were so cool that i kept collecting the ones that were laying around — even the ones that i had previously handed out to other people (from mommy and dada).  i saw one peeking out of auntie mimi’s back pocket, so i pick-pocketed her.  she didn’t even notice   check out these super-cool red envelopes that baby sister and i got that night.  did you that they come with money inside of them?

thank you auntie mimi (and family) for inviting us over for such a special chinese new year celebration.  gung hay fat choy!

remember back at the end of november when i said that baby sister got her first tooth?  it turns out that i was wrong.  i was trying to count her teeth the other day (just like mommy counts mine) and there were none.  NONE!  she is waaay behind me in the teeth department.  baby sister does blow bubbles though.  so if you ask me how many teeth baby has, i will tell you “bubbles”.  now, it totally makes sense why baby hasn’t been eating when she sits with us at the dining table.  she doesn’t have teeth to chew beef and yam fries and all the yummy foods that i get to eat. (if you ask what baby eats, i will tell you “mommy” )

but tonight, baby sister got to eat oatmeal mush for the first time.  she acted like she liked it, but i don’t know how she could know — it didn’t seem like she was actually swallowing much of it.  mommy said it’s okay though, because baby is just practicing using a spoon.  and in a few days, she will be 6 months old and she’ll get to eat real food.  for my 6 month birthday i got carrots.  i wonder what baby sister will get.

since eating everything wasn’t working out so well for me, i decided to change up my eating habits.  this weekend, i decided to become a part-time vegetarian.  at first mama and daddy thought i was starting to get picky with my food, but after a few meals they figured out what was going on.

on saturday,  we had hot pot with my girls zoe and ava (and their parents) for lunch.  i wouldn’t touch the chicken or the beef, but i stuffed my face with noodles, cabbage, and fruit.  (why am i not sitting in the middle between the girls in this photo???)  and then today we went out for BBQ at lunchtime, and i had zucchini, avocado, chicken, pork ribs, and cheese in front of me.  i gobbled up the cheese and veggies, but i hid the chicken and pork in my chair, in mama’s salad dressing, and on the floor.

mama and daddy were confused — they didn’t understand why i wasn’t eating my meat.  but then they remembered that all weekend, my dinners consisted of mostly meat.  i ate all the meat off my plate, asked for more, and only ate a little bit of my veggies even though i usually cannot get enough of them.

so here’s the deal.  i am a vegetarian at breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, snack, and dessert.  (i just discovered dessert this weekend.  i could live on caramel apples alone!)  and at dinner time, i am a meat-atarian.  you might think it’s strange, but mama told me that one of my older buddies, zachary, went through a phase where he was a vegetarian every other day.  i wonder how long that lasted.

thursday was the start of the chinese new year.  starting at midnight, there were firecrackers going off all throughout my neighborhood.  my peeps really know how to party!  apparently, the celebration lasts for 15 days.  i sure hope that there won’t be 15 nights of firecrackers cuz they’re really noisy.

for our chinese new year dinner, mama made broccoli chicken with oyster sauce and steamed egg custard. she said it was chinese food, but gung-gung begged to differ. he wanted traditional dishes — like jai (monk’s stew) — that bak-bak (great-grandma) used to make. i dunno what he was complaining about though, cuz i loved it! and then today, we went out to lunch at a chinese restaurant. we never go out to chinese places because mama doesn’t like the food, but i guess she made an exception since it’s chinese new year. i’m sure glad she did. we ordered hot and sour soup, mu shu chicken, mongolian bbq, and steamed sea bass. i gobbled it all up. and when i was done, i devoured my chinese dessert: a soft-serve ice cream cone. it was delicious! mama said i ate like a little piggy. i sure do love chinese food (especially the dessert).  daddy says that comes from my japanese side.

there are 12 more days of the chinese new year celebration, so i hope we get to go out for chinese food a few more times before it’s over. gung hay fat choy to me!

mama went away on a business trip again and so it was just me and daddy holding the fort.  i don’t really know what a fort is, but daddy kept telling me to hold all sorts of things for him this week.  he’s a big boy, i don’t know why i have to do all the heavy lifting!

one of the things that mama always says is that daddy can’t dress me in a color coordinated outfit.  daddy may be color-blind, but one day this week he not only dressed me in a color coordinated outfit, but i matched my sippy cup too!

all week mama has been gone and i’ve been trying to find out where she has been.  i would look in all the usual places, but she wasn’t around.  i think that she has been playing hide and seek with me and forgot that she was hiding.  still, i kept looking for her.  i thought maybe she was hiding in a new place, so i started to look in new places.  so far, i have not found her in any cabinets.  i’d open a door, crawl in and ask mama if she was in there.

mama usually takes care of dinner for me, so eating with daddy has been quite a treat.  mama usually makes me yummy things like organic pasta or organic meatballs with steamed vegetables.  all of this yummy healthy living has been the staple of my diet.  while mama has been gone, though, daddy has been in charge of feeding me dinner.  i heard mama say feed him whatever you eat, and he really is!

i ate a burrito the first night, but it was so spicy that i tried to take my tongue out to let it cool off from all the heat.  the second night we had sliders.  i don’t know why daddy called them sliders, they didn’t slide anywhere.  in fact, they looked just like mini burgers.  daddy used organic ingredients in the sliders, he even got me organic ketchup!  i *LOVED* my first cheeseburger.  we didn’t have real cheese around, so daddy chopped up some of my string cheese to make cheeseburgers.  it was delicious.

i miss mama though, i hope she comes back from hiding in texas.  i can’t find texas yet, but i’m sure it’s gotta be in this house somewhere!

like all the good holidays, christmas happened 3 times this year. and it’s a good thing, ‘cuz it took me awhile to get the hang of opening presents.

our first christmas was earlier in the week at grandma and grandpa’s house. auntie barbara had to work on christmas day, so we celebrated with daddy’s side of the family early so we could all be together.  (can’t people stop having babies on christmas day so that auntie can stay for christmas?)  see that photo of me with all those presents?  those are a LOT of presents, right?  and yup, they were all for me.  well, almost all of them.

on christmas day, we drove up to the east bay to cousin zoey’s house.  i spent the afternoon opening more presents, playing with cousin zoey, and rocking out on uncle jamie’s drum pads!  i’ve been practicing drumming with my bathtub drum, so i was pounding the snare pretty good, but my legs are too short to tap that bass

then we all headed over to cousins jerrod, caitlyn, and justin’s house.  the rest of mama’s family was waiting there for us.  we had a yummy dinner (i chowed down on the homemade pad thai and broccoli cheese casserole), i charmed all the ladies by blowing kisses and giving hugs, and guess what else…  yup, more presents!  by that time, i was a gift-wrap-ripping expert.

thanks everyone for all my presents.  i really appreciate all of the generous gifts and am so lucky to have such thoughtful family and friends.

i still don’t know about this santa claus guy, though.  all my cousins were talking about what he brought them, but i got nothing.  no presents under the tree from santa.  nothing in my stocking.  is it because i didn’t go visit him at the mall, or write him a letter, or leave cookies out for him?  or maybe he came, but couldn’t come down the chimney because daddy made a fire?  or is it just because i’m a naughty kid?   i wonder if santa will come next year.

about a year ago, i went to maddie’s 1st birthday party. we were both so little back then, huh? well, i just went to her 2nd birthday party. how cool is it that she gets to have parties every year! i wonder if mama and daddy will let me do that.

anyway, her party was at pump it up jr. if you’ve ever heard of pump it up, this place was just like that — but for toddlers like us. cool, right? well, not really. i’ve decided that i do not like it when the ground moves under my feet. it’s like an earthquake — and earthquakes are NOT fun. in fact, earthquakes are considered natural disasters. why would anyone want to recreate a disaster for fun??? i don’t get it, but apparently, lots of other kids enjoy it.

so while everyone else was running around in earthquake land, i got the heck outta there. instead, i cruised around the place in a cozy coupe and went down the slide with mama a couple of times. after all of the earthquaking was finally over, we went into the food room for pizza and cake. yeeeesssss! i finally got to eat pizza and cake. AND… it was an ice cream cake! i kept signing “more”, “more”, “more”, but mama only let me have a little bit. she said that the cake was “all done”, but it wasn’t! it wasn’t all done! i saw another 1/4 of the cake just sitting there waiting to be eaten by me!

at maddie’s 1st party, i got a fistful of cake frosting. at her 2nd party, i got pizza and ice cream cake. i just can’t wait to see what i’m gonna get at the next one. maddie has the best parties ever!

things i like:

• head-butting (koda, people, walls, the floor, anything…)
• turning things on and off (tv, baby monitor, lights, laptops…)
• plugging and unplugging mama’s laptop
• pulling things down from countertops that mama and daddy don’t know i can reach
• opening doors (i can just baaarely reach the door handles in our house when i stand on my tippy toes!)
• brushing (my hair, mama’s hair, my teeth — i think i have all of them now!)
• “touch” books that have different textures to feel on all the pages
• playing in water (ponds, fountains, ocean, sink, water works exhibit at CDM, koda’s water bowl… it doesn’t matter)
• collecting rocks at the percolation ponds (where we take koda to swim)
• playing my drums and xylophone (i’m still working on my aim with the drumsticks and mallots)
• helium balloons (i know i used to like them when i was younger, but now i looove making them bounce and dance along the ceiling!)
• “helping” mama and daddy — taking clean clothes out of the dryer, closing drawers and cabinets (after i’ve opened them), putting trash in the garbage can (after i’ve dumped it out)
• eating at the dining table with the family (so much better than eating by myself in my high chair.  after all, eating is supposed to be a social experience, right?)
• pumpkin pie!  (but how come i only get to eat a little bite when everyone else eats big giant pieces?)
• cereal (real grown-up cereal — no more baby puffs!)

things i don’t like:

• sharing mama with other babies (her arms are for holding ME and her lap is for ME to sit in!  i never want to have a little sister!!!)
• napping in my crib (i hate missing out on all the excitement going on just outside my door)

mama and daddy are so happy that i’m not a picky eater.  so far, i’ve eaten everything that they’ve put in front of me.  and lately — meals have been quite an adventure!

<– this is me eating my first blueberry waffle.  it was so delicious that i tried to stuff the entire thing in my mouth.  my taste buds were so happy that i coudn’t stop bouncing up and down and kicking my feet!

this is me eating my first frog leg –> can you tell how much i liked it?  mama didn’t even eat one, but she wanted me to try it just so that i could cross it off my bucket list.  umm… that wasn’t on the list, but thanks.

but that’s not all.  i’ve been eating all kinds of stuff lately:  curry chicken, vietnamese tamarind soup, cioppino, pho, meat jun, soondubu jighee, and lots of other things that i cannot pronounce.  hard to say, but good to eat   can you tell who shares their food with me?  where are the pizza and steaks that i keep hearing about?

mama said that after you turn 1, you no longer get to make a big deal of your month birthdays.  fine.  but there are still so many changes every month, so i’m gonna tell you about ‘em.

things i like:

• throwing my toys outside of my playpen (mama and daddy just LOVE it when i do this)
• washing my hands (mama and daddy used to think that i liked playing with koda’s food and water, but really, i just like washing my hands… which i always get to do after playing with koda’s food and water!)
• my new parking lot (daddy made it for me so i would have a place to park all my cool rides — 2 strollers, cozy coupe, 2 ride on cars)
• sign language (just when mama was about to give up on me, i started signing back to her.  i blame her for not being consistent and daddy for not even trying at all.)
• banging (knocking) on neighbor’s doors
• barrel rolls (i learned this in gym class)
• decorating the bathroom by unrolling rolls of toilet paper and dragging them all around
• PB&J
• riding in my forward-facing car seat
• nature walks around the neighborhood
• cruising around in my cozy coupe
• “reading” to myself (i really am reading and turning the pages of the book.  it’s not my fault that nobody understands me)
• trying to figure out how our porch light knows to turn on when i’m standing there and turn off when i leave (it’s like magic!)

things i don’t like:

• socks and shoes (as soon as i am out of sight/reach mama and daddy hear the sound of my shoes being un-velcro’d.  a few seconds later, i hold up my socks and shoes and beam with pride )
• the torture table in my doctor’s office (this is where the nurse always sticks me with needles)