14 Months, 2 Weeks

Unfortunately, I left our camera at my brother's place last week, so we have no new photos.  Baby CP caught a cold last week, most likely from me.  It's nothing serious though, just a runny nose.  He was also drooling a TON, but I am not sure whether that was because he had to breathe with his mouth open or if it was due to teething. 

Baby CP received his vaccine for chicken pox last week.  He cried when the nurse stuck him with the needle, but it was quick and stopped crying quickly.  He did learn from his nanny how to say to get pricked in cantonese.  If you ask him where he was stuck, he will point to his thigh and sometimes he says it himself and uses a finger to "prick" his other arm.

We realized that while Baby CP continues to learn new words every couple days, he only really says one syllable words.  So for strawberry, which  is "cao mei", he says "mei" and for rainbow, which is "cai hong" he says "hong".  The only two syllable words he says are two of the same syllables, like "ba ba" and "ma ma".

Someone introduced Baby CP to grapes and raisins last week and he loves them!

14 Months Old

This week, Baby CP will reach the ripe old age of 14 months.  He can now say "dan" for egg, "nai" for milk and can say the "ring" and down" for the beginning and ending of Ring Around the Rosie.  Baby CP continues to be obsessed with "cooking" and feeding his stuffed animals. 

He's been watching the Olympics and gets especially excited to watch the swimming events.  He will flail his arms around to "paddle" when he sees the swimmers in the water.

For some reason, Baby CP's swim teacher decided that he should wear goggles this week.

It's gotten a little more difficult to deal with Baby CP as he has become more mobile.  Not a ton different from when he was crawling, but sometimes he likes to climb onto our bed and stand up.  This makes me very nervous, but as I lunge towards him to make sure he doesn't fall, he smiles and giggles, which makes it seem fun for him...sigh.  It's also hard to keep him out of the kitchen when we're using the oven, so I decided to purchase this safety gate to see how it goes.

First Years Hands Free Safety Gate

He's also tall enough to open the knife drawer as well, so I had to purchase some drawer locks.  I'm hoping they're not difficult to install.

Magnetic Locks

Safety Straps

Mo-ah

Baby CP has been picking up a few more words...I think he's up to 10 now.  He was able to sign for "more" a while back but a couple weeks ago he started to say "mo-ah" or "mouh" sort of like Oliver's "Please sir, can I have some mouh."  It's cute.  I think he thinks "more" means "I want some" though, because sometimes he hasn't had any of what you're eating yet, but he comes by and says "more" so he can try it. He can also say "mao" for cat, "wen" for smell my feet, and "wa" for socks and flowers (although that should be "hua" - close enough).

Baby CP also like to snort if you ask him what a pig sounds like and he sort of makes a very similar sound if you ask him what tiger's sound like.

Last week, Baby CP had his check up and received the MMR shot.  He didn't seem to exhibit any serious side effects.  They said that he is 31 inches tall (75th percentile) and 23.5 lbs (50th percentile).

Baby CP continues to attend his swim class on the weekends.  We have been instructed to try to teach him how to paddle.  After just a couple times of hearing the word, he will flail his arms around...not very good form though.  =)  The Olympic Games seem to have inspired him though - I think seeing all the athletes swimming super fast excites him and he "paddles" really wildly and likes to lie down and kick his legs.

Two weekends ago, Baby CP went to a water park in El Cerrito to celebrate a birthday party.  He seemed to have a lot of fun in the warm sun.

Photo courtesy of Cathy Leung

This weekend, Baby CP went to another birthday party for Cousin Kayla's second birthday party.  He had fun roaming the house and chasing the big kids around.  He was somewhat of a food strike though and refused to swallow any solids.  Thankfully, his appetite picked up on Sunday and he ate a ton of breakfast this morning.

Photo courtesy of Sue Chan

Another word!

As I mentioned the other day, Baby CP can say "gou gou" for dog and something very close to "car."  Yesterday, while I was changing his diaper, he started to flip though his book - Peek a Who by Nina Laden and suddenly he pointed to the zebra on this page and said "ma" (the Chinese word for horse) very loudly.     

Cookie Monster

After our Fourth of July get together, I had some leftover graham crackers.  I gave a couple to Baby CP after dinner last night and he really likes them.  He happily feeds them to himself as he's walking around.  This morning, I gave him some after a big breakfast and decided that since he seems to like them so much, it was the perfect opportunity to teach him a new sign. 

{via dummies.com}

The sign for cookie is a little difficult for baby hands, but after showing Baby CP just a few times, he was able to do something very close.  I guess nothing motivates like sweets.

13 Months Old

Baby CP turns 13 months old in just a few days and so far he is quite the athelete.  His walking skills continue to improve daily and he enjoys kicking soccer balls at home and at the park.  He also likes to play baby basketball by putting a little basketball through a baby hoop.  In swim class, Baby CP still hates to lie on his back, but he has started to kick...his form isn't correct, but you can tell that he has the idea that moving his legs may somehow help him move forward.  Baby CP is also a dance machine!  At first he would dance to one particular song...then to a variety of music...now even just a tasty blueberry might bring it on.  We have to get some video of all of these activities soon. 

Baby CP went on his first bike ride, unfortunately, this photo is a little blurry.

This weekend we took Baby CP to the San Francisco Zoo.  It was drizzly in the morning, but the animals were out and about and Baby CP got a good look at the giraffes and gorillas.

After the drizzle stopped, Baby CP wanted to get on the ground to try out his new shoes.

Mommy was experimenting with Instagram here.

Baby CP may have been saying "mama" and "baba" for a while....maybe he can also say "nai" for milk, but we're never quite sure. Since he is obsessed with buttons and switches, it doesn't surprise me that his more deliberate first words are "guan" and "kai" but more often a hybrid of the two which sounds like "gan" when he points to switches and demands that you take him there to let him turn the lights on and off.  One word that I know he knows for sure is "gou gou" for dog.  He points to images of dogs and says it...I guess those are the things that are most important to him at the moment.  =)

Apparently Baby CP knows what is stinky.  If he farts, burps or poops, he bats at his nose to tell you something stinky happened.  Also, if I say "poo poo" or poop in Chinese, he will grunt, as if he is trying to poop...so can be a little faker.  He loves to make you smell his stinky feet too.

By our rough measurements, we think Baby CP is about 24 lbs and 29 inches tall, which would put him in the 50-75 percentile for weight and 10-25 percentile for height but that doesn't seem right - He looks pretty tall to us and is barely chubby anymore.  We'll see what the doctor says at his checkup in a couple weeks.

Baby CP is 1 Year Old!

Baby CP officially turned one year old a few weeks ago!  We decided to celebrate with a birthday party at Douglass Playground on Sunday.  The family was very busy preparing all kinds of delicious treats for the occasion.

Baby CP was dressed in his Pineapple best, but unfortunately, we were so busy entertaining guests that we didn't have a chance to take many photos.  (If you have any, please send them!)

We had no shortage of snacks, including cold sesame noodles, kimbap, prosciutto with melon, fruit salad, chips and homemade salsa. I prepared pina colada cupcakes and lemon basil shortbread shaped like...pineapples! We also had fresh squeezed lemonade and, of course, pineapple juice with soda water mixers.  The weather was great and the kiddos had a ton of fun at the playground.

I'm a bit behind on reporting recent developments.  Baby CP has a new tooth, bringing the total to 9, and he's got another one coming in on the top.  On his first birthday, he couldn't walk, but within a few days, I saw him take about two steps before sitting back down.  His nanny has been training him with daily exercises.

Yesterday, Baby CP starting walking farther to take about 6 steps.  He does it often, so I'm sure he is making the conscious effort to make those steps.

Baby CP can do the sign for "more" and he has a few other new tricks up his sleeve, like bouncing up and down when we tell him to dance and playing peek a boo with a blanket or hiding behind things.  He's also babbling a lot more, and it sounds like he is starting to say milk in Chinese sometimes.  We have started to mix some cow's milk in with his formula (about 3 ounces per 8 ounce bottle), and he seems to drink the combination just fine, but he doesn't like cow's milk straight.