Happy 4th of July!

It's not been the best weather, but we've still managed to keep busy: cookouts, friends, and family. Audrey brought the twins over for a bit yesterday. It was quite a sight to see Nathan, Kyle, and Wei Wei all in the tub together.

Here's a photo from last week when the weather was better. Check the pecs . . . KA-POW!

Tooth stress

Another rhetorical question: why is it when kids are running at full speed they are always looking over their shoulder?

Wei Wei ran straight into the couch doing that very thing. The lip looked okay, but the gum above the tooth was bleeding. We put ice on it, of course, but the worst is running through our heads: he knocked the tooth loose, the tooth is going to turn grey and fall out, he's going to have a space, which is going to mess up the rest of the teeth and when his adult teeth come in he's going to have Sponge Bob Squarepants teeth.

Jerry took him to our dentist and the tooth still seems solidly rooted, but unfortunately tooth damage might not show up for several weeks. So we wait and see. And worry . . . sigh.

Underwear update and other news

Big strides recently with the potty training. Big strides. Wei Wei has been wearing underwear during the day since Friday with only one accident. Woohoo!

Jerry tried to take him last week to run their first 5k race together. The weather was a little dicey, but Jerry took him anyway. They registered and were waiting around for the start, but then there was distant thunder and lightening, so they skipped it. I had headed over to Audrey's to help Ali with her wedding invitations. I get a call from Wei Wei, who is crying because he's upset and wants to be with me. So naturally I drive home, only to find out that it wasn't necessarily me that he wanted to be with -- he was upset because he wanted to go to Audrey's too. And here I thought I was the center of his universe. Apparently he missed Xiao Yi and Wei Yi. Luckily, he got his fix this weekend.

Busy weekend: Jerry and I were in NYC for dinner on Friday night, then over to Mona and Piyush's house for a BBQ yesterday, then family over today. We had the twins and Wei Wei in a blow-up pirate pool for a bit this afternoon -- that was cute.

Rhetorical question: why is it that it's always the favorite toy/book/item that you can never keep track of or find? We've been tearing the house apart looking for King (of Cars movie fame). Last week it was the "Go Diego" book.

Weedville 2008

This year's Weedville was hosted in Bloomfield North (Fuller-Wong compound) and Bloomfield South (Kain compound). The Rachfals (Amy, John, Zachary, and Zoe), Hollars (Mike, Ivanna, Vasco, and Justine), Diana, Jen, and Wong-Fullers were all in attendance. Highlights included the Jersey shore (plenty of sunscreen) and our annual Vermonster (six pints!).

We had 5.667 kids this year in residence (we did manage to corral four of them here): Zachary, Wei Wei, Vasco, and Justine.

Potty success!

I don't know what it is about staying at Po Po and Gong Gong's house, but it's magical and mystical. Wei Wei and I spent a few days there last week because our town lost power. During that stay, Wei Wei literally woke up one day and decided that the potty was more than an inert fixture in the bathroom and DECIDED TO START USING IT.

Many of you know the various cajoling and bribing we've offered, to no avail. But somehow, at Po Po's he needed no incentive and literally just started peeing in the potty on a regular basis (pooping is another story, but we'll take what we can get).

Woohoo! My fear that he was going to be 12 years old and still wearing diapers may not be realized after all!!!!

Summer!

I guess summer is here -- it's been 100 degrees both days this weekend. Despite the heat and humidity, Jerry and Andrea ran a 10k race (called Mountain Top, which tells you that it's not a flat course). Noooooooo way.

We also celebrated Nathan and Kyle's first birthday (which was actually last week). They are both crawling, pulling themselves up to stand, and generally being incredibly adorable. Wei Wei was so excited about their birthday because he talked about it all day. On the way over, Jerry asked him how old he thought the twins were. "I don't know, we should ask Wei Yi (Audrey). She'll tell us." He didn't think they were five yet because five was when you were big and got to go to kindergarten.

Also, here are a few photos from the Grandpa and Grandma's visit last weekend. Wei Wei enjoyed having two additional people to boss around.

Siggy's spa day and Wei Wei's debut

Jerry has been threatening to take Siggy to get groomed while I was away on business. This week, he kept his word. I came home to a sleek, more svelte-looking Siggy. Moxie (not-so-smart) hasn't recognized Siggy and has been growling and hissing at him ever since.

This weekend was the end of Chinese school. All of the classes performed and this was Wei Wei's big stage debut. He almost debuted early. When I told him it was time to line up, he scrambled right up on the stage and stood next to some students, except it wasn't his class. I had to go up and get him, but I give him points for enthusiasm.

Happy Birthday Aunt Laura

A birthday message from Garrick!

Our budding photographer

Wei Wei got a camera from the Lim family for Christmas and he LOVES it. He takes pictures of everything. And honestly, he's getting better. The first few hundred of the photos were completely dark -- because he insisted on holding the camera backwards, with the lens facing him.

Here are a few from the last month:

Giants Draft Day 5k

Jerry, Andrea, and Loi made a valiant attempt to run this year's Giants Draft Day 5k, which turned out to be a dud of a race. The course was messed up, so Andrea and Jerry completed the race in 22 minutes -- too bad the course was short the 5k. Hey -- still a PR!





The runners -- fresh before the big start






If you look REALLY closely, you can see Andrea and Jerry.










Wei Wei and I hanging out in the parking lot.








The happy racers at the end.

Pics from Wongville

Some photos from Wongville when we actually WEREN'T eating:

Swimming with Danny

Cuddling with Po Po after swimming

Taking a bath with Kaixiang

Kyle, Wei Wei, Kaixiang, and Nathan.

It's not easy to get all of the kids looking in one direction. It took three of us to get even this.

Wong-ville

We're back from a weekend in the Poconos with the family -- the entire family! Audrey, Badri, Nathan, Kyle, Judy, Kaixiang, Alice, Danny, Mom and Dad. We ate, hung out, ate, swam, played with the kids, and ate some more. My body is going through Combos/Oreo/Skittles withdrawal.

The four kids are adorable together, but you can tell what a handful they will all be in a few years. We got some great pics and will post some soon. Highlights of the trip include:

• Hearing Nathan and Kyle giggle (which they do a lot)
• Watching them eat -- unlike their cousins, they can sure pack it away
• Hearing Kaixiang learn how to say "Wei We" -- we unfortunately weren't able to get him to perform for Jerry
• Seeing Kaixiang bust out his dance moves. He's got some good ones.
• Watching all four kids in the pool. And noticing how darn white Wei Wei is. Wonder where he gets that from.
  

Wei Wei continues to want to assert his independence. Jerry was trying to explain the concept of "bossy" to him because that's what he's been.

Had my 20-week ultrasound last week. Didn't find out the gender. We took Wei Wei and he wanted to know why it was so dark in my stomach.

Seriously, what did we do before the internet?

Jerry's noticed that there's been an animal pooping in our yard. With a quick google search, we were able to identify the origin. Jerry is so impressed with this website that he thinks we should bookmark it (because we would refer to it all the time?!). I share it with you here: http://icwdm.org/Inspection/droppingfeces.asp

Dentist -- Take II

I had taken Wei Wei to the dentist several weeks ago -- and that trip was a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. I thought the first visit would be all fun: check out the fun chair! The equipment! Let's count some teeth. Nope, this dentist went straight to business. Not only did I have to hold him down, he has three cavities and the dentist said that at least one of them needed to be filled. Which meant drilling. Which meant numbing. Which meant using restraints. I was sick about it.

We decided to get a second opinion and went to see a new dentist today (thanks to Nancy for the referral!). This visit was MUCH better. Poor Wei Wei was so traumatized from the first visit that it was dicey at first, but the dentist had "Cars" on. Smart dentist. Also plenty of time for Wei Wei to warm up. Smart dentist. Also no poking, just looking. Smart dentist. It was miraculously a good experience. No tears from our little delicate lotus flower.

This doctor recommended taking baby steps, so we're going back in a few weeks for another look, maybe a cleaning, and definitely more tv.

I LOVE this new dentist (and not because he's a dreamboat either).

Our new favorite dentist---

Toddler logic

Wei Wei wanted to play a game tonight, but BaBa said we needed to cook dinner. Wei Wei asked why we always have to cook dinner. Jerry's response was that dinner didn't cook itself. Wei Wei's response: "It can't cook because it has no hands."

True, enough.

In unrelated news, I'm 18 weeks along and livin' large. Recent cravings include: root beer, root beer floats, grapes, oranges, frozen pizza, and cheese subs.

We went to Auntie Andrea's and Uncle Loi's house yesterday. We think Wei Wei would do well spending a weekend with them. It would toughen him up for sure. Wei Wei loved playing with all the boys. And their toys. You'd think that kid never saw a toy before in his life.

Unrelated photos: here's Wei Wei enjoying some vanilla wafers (another pregnancy impulse purchase -- never send a hungry pregnant woman shopping . . . .) .

Our Big Day...and some photos

I think Wei Wei is getting the idea of the whole "Big Boy" thing we've been trying to sell him. This week's major achievements have been outsanding. We were actually able to get his hair cut without holding him down. Yep, he sat in the chair and said it tickled. The barber was even able to use scissors. The last hair cut made him look like Monchichi.

He looks much much better now.

He has also been eating an amazing amount of food...real food. Nothing ended in nugget or had "Mc" in front of it. We are very happy with that. He might actually make the growth chart the next time we take him to the doctor.

Last, but not least, check out the time I'm writing this post: 8:30pm, baby! That's right--Wei Wei is already in bed. Saturday night, take out, college b-ball , adult beverages (for the non-pregnant only), and Wendy...it doesn't get any better.

Oh, the sun was out today, so even though it was chilly, we went to the park for a bit too.

Pooping in the potty! (And other news)

Editor's note: If you don't have kids, you might want to skip the first paragraph.

We know that millions of other kids have done it (and do it on a regular basis), but we've been making some significant progress with the potty. Wei Wei's pooped in the potty the last three times! Woohoo!!! We're so proud. We have a quite the routine going: Mark the calendar with "p," put a sticker on the chart (and check to see if you get a poopie present), and pick out the two gummy bears. Our secret fears that he'll be wearing a diaper in high school may actually not come true.

In other news, we're expecting #2 (actually, to clarify, I am expecting #2). We've been late in getting the word out -- between the nausea and tiredness in the first 12 weeks and my ravenous appetite since then, we haven't had much time. I tell Jerry I feel like an animal in the wild: all of my waking hours are spent hunting/gathering/foraging for food. Hey -- I'm eating for 1 1/2 right now.

(And for the record, I'm 17 weeks along.)

Asserting my independence

I meant what I said in one of my earlier blogs that there was a new sheriff in town. I've spent the past few weeks trying to retrain Ma Ma and Ba Ba. I've taken to throwing myself on the floor crying when I don't get my way. I also like to make up stories -- I like to blame the other parent or one of the babies (even if they aren't around). I can't wait until Kaixiang, Nathan, and Kyle are older so I can teach them some of my techniques.

In happier news, Er Yi and Kaixiang came to visit last week. We had a great time with them. Ma ma and I spent the night at Po Po and Gong Gong's house. I got to do whatever I wanted there because Po Po and Gong Gong had my back. That was great.

Still obsessed, I see . . .

In Chinese school this past Saturday, the teacher asked all of the students what they liked to do:
Boy: I like to read books.
Girl: I like to dance.
Girl: I like to sing.
Wei Wei: I like to watch television.

Wei Wei's Three!

What? I'm going to be three?!

Celebrating the new year with Gong Gong and Po Po. They got me a cool Thomas the Tank backpack/roll-on for my birthday.

Yet another birthday celebration (this time in Roxbury). I never get to eat this many cupcakes!

It's been a hectic week. We celebrated the Chinese New Year and my birthday all at once (my birthday was actually on the same day as the new year this year). What this translates to is lots of presents, lots of food, and lots of other food that I don't normally get to eat (reference photos above). It's good to be the king. Mom brought in cupcakes and red envelopes for my friends at daycare. I "helped" decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles and Cheerios. I love frosting, for sure.

The best birthday greeting I got was from my friends Justine and Vasco -- check it out here: http://i173.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/ivannamike/MVI_0497.flv

Gong Gong, Po Po, and Xiao Yi came over to have dinner with me on Thursday. I managed to bamboozle the plans and hijacked Dad to go home with me from the restaurant (hey -- a three-year old's got to poop in private, you know).

I'm looking forward to three and I'm ready for the challenges ahead of me. For one, this business about mom and dad setting all the rules is going to go down like a house of cards. This place needs a new sheriff. I should be able to eat what I want when I want it. I should be able to sleep when I want. And I should be able to get new toys whenever I want. I've got some ideas for how to change this place and I'm not going to let a lack of income or transportation stop me. Stay tuned!

Haircut trauma

In preparation for the upcoming holiday (and his birthday!), we took Wei Wei to the barber to get his haircut today. Despite going fairly regularly, he hasn't taken to it. We can typically expect a lot of tears and screaming while he sits on a parent's lap, but today took the cake.

Perhaps he wants to have more input into his haircut. We pick one guard and buzz his entire head with it. Not a lot of style.

Perhaps he took issue with the barber (we basically go to the same guy, but he kept telling us he wanted to go to another barber).

Perhaps it's that he's almost three years old and maturing into a full brat.

Whatever the case, this trip was the worst -- it took both of us to hold him down. Lots of screaming and crying and yelling.

Once at home, he was fine, but I think still generally miffed about the entire incident. Good thing we went a little shorter this time -- more time between haircuts.

Chinese School

We took Wei Wei to a Chinese school in Verona on Saturday. Since he's in daycare full time now and out of Chinese bootcamp (i.e. Po Po and Gong Gong), I noticed that his Chinese is starting to slack. Aaack -- stop the slippage!

We checked out two classes: a parent/toddler class and a pre-school class. He's too advanced for the parent/toddler class (mostly for non-home-speakers) and was the star of the class. The other kid couldn't get a word in edgewise. Wei Wei had such a good time that he hugged the teacher good-bye. That was cute.

The other class was more structured (and longer -- two hours, versus 40 min). He would be the youngest one, but the parents are also able to stay, so the bonus there is that Jerry would be able to improve his skills too. So we think we're going to sign him up for the pre-k class and see how that goes.

Our baby, going to Chinese school. Sniff.

Still in the spirit.

It seems Garrick enjoyed Christmas this year. He is still in the mood. We made a wonderful bunch of Rice Crispy Treats last night. Garrick has been happily munching while calling them "Rice Christmas Treats". Funny.

A whirlwind holiday

Whoa -- is Christmas over already? It's been a hectic few weeks! We've been busy:

• Being sick.
• Visiting with Judy, P'ng, and Kaixiang. Having four kids around has put a new slant on our family gatherings. We take comfort in the fact that we'll be able to have a nice, quiet sit-down dinner as an extended family in about fifteen years.
• Going to Talan and Tyler's birthday party. Wei Wei couldn't wait to tell Po Po that he got to see a magician, pet a bird, and got a balloon twisted to look like Elmo.
• Celebrating Christmas. We have no idea where we're going to put all of Wei Wei's new toys. I have a feeling I know the solution: his stuff will continue to take over the house. He loves all of his gifts, but has been spending extra time with the digital camera (he's unfortunately inherited our (lack of an) artistic eye, judging by his photos), Hess truck with motorcycles, crane with power tools, and race track (Jerry had to number the track pieces to be able to put it together again -- apparently we're not smarter than a five year-old).
  
  
  

Complete Wong Throng

Judy, P'ng, and Kaixiang landed last week, so the Wong Throng is represented in totality in New Jersey. Unfortunately, we haven't been the healthiest bunch. We've all been battling a combination of nasty colds, coughs, flus, and stomach viruses. The Leonia branch has had it the worse (everyone has been hit there). Poor Audrey. I really thought that we would have to celebrate the holiday through conference calls.

The only healthy ones have been Jerry and Mom. My theory is that they are too ornery to get sick.

Still, it's been a great time, although it feels a bit more hectic than usual and a lot more logistics to figure out. We were all together this afternoon and it seemed to be mass chaos . . . although maybe it was the sheer quantity of food and the food stupor we were all in.

We should have some good photos and will post some soon . . . hopefully before Memorial Day (ha-ha-ha).

Raising a 16-year old daughter

If, for some reason, Garrick is ever a 16 year-old girl I will be ready. He is currently fascinated with horses. Yep, horses. Specifically, he likes a video on Youtube posted by a 16 year-old girl. The song really makes it something every boy would love.

You really only have to see the first 30 seconds to get the idea.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUJOY7y_8QQ

and his response

Wei Wei watching his video turned out to be more fun than the actual video.

A Christmas Greeting

I was trying to have Wei Wei do a video Christmas card but I ended up with this. We hope to have more soon.

Too much time on our hands

We managed to get Wei Wei into bed at 7:30pm. That's right. 7:30pm! A short list of our activities follows:

1) ate 3/4 of a bag of Smartfood.
2) ate 2 pieces of banana bread (homemade)
3) watched an episode of Project Runway
4) talked to various Wongs on the phone
5) ate a bowl of ice cream
6) surfed the web for great things like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3Utmj4RPU&feature=related

7) learned that Natasha Bedingfield is a white girl--this has an entire back story
8) played Snood
9) updated the blog

At least he's wearing it

There's been continued interest in underwear (good news). He's worn them to daycare for two days in a row now (good news). He's also told me that he won't use the toilet at daycare -- he only pees in the toilet at home (not-so-good news). And he's kept his word. He's wet his pants both days, though not until after lunch! That's some pretty impressive bladder control.

And we think he's been secretly reading Justine and Vasco's blog, as he's been showing some pretty impressive 'tude lately. Everything seems to be a battle. Jerry and I think we should come up with some sort of scoring system to rank the tantrums and "compete" with the twins and others in a Tantrum Tournament (we could do single-round elimination or a round-robin format).

False glimmer of hope

We're just starting on this journey of toilet-training, I think. While Wei Wei's been using the potty (to pee) here and there, he hasn't shown too much interest in it (or the many things we dangle in front of him as an incentive, though he can recite them all).

After he peed in the potty this morning, out of the blue, he said that he wanted to wear underwear.

Excuse me?
Was this it?
Was this the start?

Nope, only a false alarm. He wore underwear for a total of three minutes (no exaggeration), then wanted a diaper again.

Oh, well.

November activities

November has been busy. We went to the coolest birthday party ever -- Ethan had a REAL fire truck at his party. Boy, was that a hit. That's going to be tough to beat. Ethan's mom said that next year they're going to play it low-key and go to Europe for his birthday instead.

Wei Wei also got to see Sophia and Colin. Sophia is a month younger than Wei Wei and they hit it off fabulously.

Thanksgiving was great -- we went to Auntie Amy and Uncle's Jerry's house. It's nice to spend it with family. Even the Nathan and Kyle went (for a while, at least).

Halloween Pics

Some Halloween-themed photos of Wei Wei (as himself and as a tri-athlete). Even though we only went to 15 houses, for some reason, Halloween seemed like a very long night. He hasn't quite gotten the knack of trick-or-treating, but had a fabulous time trick-or-treating with Ethan and visiting Jen and Charlie.

Even Jerry got into the action -- here are the boys, putting their fierce game face on.

A few of Wei Wei's favorite things

They did a list in daycare and these were Wei Wei's responses:
Favorite book: race car book
Favorite movie/tv: race cars
Favorite animal: horse
Favorite sport: race cars
Favorite color: red
Favorite food: macaroni and cheese and helicopters
Favorite drink: juice and milk
Favorite toy: Halloween toy
When I grow up, I want to be a: giraffe
My family: Wendy, Daddy
Favorite parent: Terrance the tractor (we added this question)

Questions? He's got 'em

Wei Wei entered the question phase a while ago (why? why? why?), but he's been saying and asking the funniest things lately. Some of our favorites:
Can I put ice on my feet?
Why isn't our car full of frogs?
Can we see what's on tv?
Are robbers bad?
Why is this toy so happy?

And last night Jerry asked Wei Wei to read him a book. Wei Wei happily obliged -- he fetched a book and they sat on the sofa together. He opened the book, looked at the page, then turned to Jerry and said ,"I can't."

We're still here

August to September was busy and September into October seemed to be even busier! We went to California for a week's visit. Spent the first half in San Francisco and the second half in Los Angeles. The main purpose was to visit Judy, P'ng, and our main man Kaixiang (now almost one year old!), but other highlights of the trip include:

Train ride in Tilden Park
Watching the sea lions off Pier 39 (they are a noisy and raucous bunch and don't smell that great)

Seeing our relatives in San Francisco: Yin Yin, Mark, Luke, Whin Whin, Khin Khin, Amy, and Spencer (not Wei Wei's finest moment, as he was terribly jet lagged at that point). We also got to visit auntie and uncle in San Francisco by the marina -- they had a train set for Luke and Spencer's visits, so Wei Wei was in heaven.

Visiting cousins Ken, Diana, and their kids (Kristin and Kenneth) in Davis

Seeing Sue and watching airplanes take off and land

Seeing all of our cousins in Los Angeles-- we all packed on the weight because where there's family, there's food. And there was a lot of family and a lot of food. Burmese food, Korean tofu, homemade mohinga, and Chinese food. We were in heaven.

Picking persimmons from cousin Jing Chi's backyard -- we managed to bring back a whole box! (Dad was happy about that too!)

Navigating the flight from SF to LAX and then from LAX to NJ. People have scaled Mt. Everest with less luggage. Judy and I were quite the sight.

The past month was really busy.

I just noticed that it has been over a month since we posted anything on the blog. Wow, we must have been really busy. We did manage to squeeze a lot of activity into the past 30 or so days. The biggest event was our trip to North Carolina for the annual Weedville extravaganza.

A whirlwind weekend

We were very busy this weekend. We had an end of summer party at Garrick's daycare, followed by an evening out with friends and finished things off with a trip to the Jersey Shore. A photo montage follows (I always wanted to use montage in a sentence!).

Wei Wei's new look.

We had Wei Wei's hair cut. He is now a little more trendy. The photos are not the best but I hope everyone gets the idea!