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.
Baby CP flew to NY for the second time this past weekend. Unfortunately, he came down with a cold the morning of the day we were to depart on a red eye. The poor guy thew up a few times during the day which made me very anxious about the flight. I warned Delta that their other passengers might be disturbed by the little guy and that if they knew what was good for them, they would let me switch to one day later. Of course, the only suggestion they had was to pay $150 in change fees (for each of me and Baby CP) and pay the fare difference...Ok..Delta...you asked for it.
It seemed like Baby CP was throwing up as a result of gagging on mucus so we tried to give him some Benedryl several hours before the flight. He didn't seem extra drowsy or hyper as a result. I was convinved that Baby CP would just fall asleep on the flight and I would be able to sleep, but once we got on the flight, things took a turn for the worse. Baby CP started to cry because 10:30 was past his bedtime. The flight attendents kept speaking over the intercom and the lights were too bright. Once they stopped and we proceeded to the runway, the lights shut off and Baby CP finally whined himself to sleep. This didn't last though, because every little sound would wake him up and cause more crying. He didn't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time, mostly in short periods of about 5 or 10 min, for the whole flight. Once we got close to NY, the sun was up and he stayed awake and was a little better. That was really the worse flight ever! I felt bad for neighboring passengers but nobody complained or gave me dirty looks. I hope the flight back is better...
After we landed, Baby CP was a little better, but was still pretty cranky for all of Sunday, because he hadn't slept the night before. He's been getting a little better each day, but he still tires easily and needs to take a couple long naps a day and his nose is still stuffy. He also doesn't seem to have much of an appetite and won't eat more than 2.5 bottles of milk all day. He normally eats 4 and a whole bunch of solids. Today he wouldn't even eat one of those pouches. I'm sure he has a lower appetite and the stuffy nose makes it hard to eat, but he has to be a little hungry. I hope he gets better soon. He's having fun playing here, but he's just not his usual jolly self.
It's really crazy that Baby CP is already 11 months old. He's been learning all sorts of new things...some I know he learns from his nanny, but some I am not so sure...he just surprises me with new things he's picked up.
Baby CP enjoying his Mickey Mouse car, a gift from Mr. CP's uncle.
If you ask Baby CP where Mickey Mouse is in Chinese, he will crawl over to the car and point to the little figurine on the front. He can actually do this whether you say Mickey Mouse in Mandarin or Cantonese. He can also point to the mouse on his baby laptop if you ask him to.
Baby CP is also very helpful at bathtime. He finds his toys on the floor, picks them up and leans over the wall of the big bathtub to put them into his baby bathtub. He figured this out on his own.
Baby CP can clamor up stairs. He likes to climb up the stairs at the park and he can climb from our ground floor up to the second floor very quickly.
Baby CP has gone to swimming class 4 weeks in a row. He seems to be getting more comfortable in the water and the teacher has submerged his head under water two weeks in a row without any protest. Although he doesn't kick yet and doesn't really do much of anything during class, he seems to get really tired because he will take a 2-3 hour nap when he gets home. After his 3 hour nap today, we played for a bit in the living room and then took a walk to check out Sunday Streets - this week they blocked off a chunk of 24th street to make it a biking and pedestrian area.
Here is Baby CP pointing to a dog on his activity table. He can also point to dogs in books, so it seems that he understands the concept as opposed to just knowing that one photo of a dog. I could swear that he can also say the words "gou gou" though I think he might just be imitating me and he can't always do it.
This morning, while eating breakfast, Baby CP started throwing his arms up in the air, but I wasn't sure why. I had never seen him do it so deliberately before. Maybe he learned this at library storytime or from some other kids, but I kept saying "Yay!" By afternoon, he would do it on command.
Yay!
We stopped by a display of very shiny classic cars on 24th Street, but they were playing loud music nearby which upset the little guy. After about 2 minutes he started to cry briefly. When he stopped, I snapped this pic, but he seemed unhappy so we headed to the park.
Baby CP has a biting problem. I know that some babies tend to bite more when they are teething, but I feel like Baby CP does it everyday...though I suppose he could have "itchy gums" from teething everyday...I can't ever be really sure what is going on under the surface. When I get home from work he tends to be tired and he crawls all over me and bites my pants and sleeves...and sometimes if he gets my leg or arm in there it hurts a lot. I thought maybe it was because we used to nibble on his arm to get giggles since he was ticklish. Sometimes when parents do this, babies think biting is fun, but they don't know their own strength, so we stopped doing that a few weeks ago, but he's still biting. Someone at work said we should nickname him "Sharkie."
Baby CP now enjoys biting his puffs and yogurt snacks into smaller pieces with his front teeth rather than putting the whole thing into his mouth. He also has his opinions on food...if he doesn't like what you're offering, he will clamp his mouth shut and sometimes use his hand to wave the spoon away and out of his face. Little booger.
It must be another new tooth...Baby CP has been acting crazier and crazier over the past few days...Today he was drooling everywhere and generally fussy and needy and trying to bite everything including my iphone, my pants, my arm, my knee...it's not nice!
Baby CP turned 10 months old this past Saturday. To make this date extra special, Baby CP showed us that he can clap his hands for the very first time.
I usually point out the caterpillar to him as I am telling the story and he sits next to me and watches me read and turn the pages like a good little boy. I read this book to him at least 3 times a week, so to change things up (and to keep myself entertained) I decided to ask him where the caterpillar is when I got to the third page. I was blown away when he pointed to the caterpillar! Baby CP just learned how to point last week and I usually have no idea what he's trying to communicate when he points. Sometimes he just points at his own palm. So, to make sure it wasn't a coincidence, I tried asking him to point out the caterpillar on a few other pages...including the "big fat caterpillar" before he becomes a cocoon and he was able to do it. Amazing!
Baby CP seemed to finally be learning about kisses this weekend. He has never really been a hugger or a snuggler...even though we do hug him and give him kisses, but he seems to be learning that kisses are good things and he will bring his head to yours but it's more of a gentle head-butt than a kiss right now. Also, he has stopped giving hi-fives. If you say high five, he brings your hand to his face or brings his face to your hand to cover his face and then he might lick your hand...totally weird...I don't have any idea where he would have learned such a thing.
That's a lot of development for one weekend!
We hadn't weighed Baby CP in a while, so we stepped on the scale on Monday. 22 lbs 6 oz. He looks taller too, but we'll have the doctor's office measure him next week at his next check up.
Again, just posting so that I can remember when it happened exactly...
Baby CP learned to point at things this weekend. He did it a couple times before, but he saw his cousin Aiden point at pictures in a book and has been pointing at stuff himself ever since.
Baby CP can also sign for "milk." It is very similar to his "goodbye" or "bye bye" but is slightly different and he seems to look you in the eyes when he does it. His "goodbyes" are much more whatever.
Baby CP also has 2 new teeth - the ones on either side of the two front top teeth.
