“Where family meals are concerned, it’s not the food, but the family interaction that nourishes the soul.”

It’s all the mundane things that give meanings to life, and giving K a bath is one of those seemingly mundane things.

By the end of a day when you’re all exhausted and still have to wrestle with an energy-infused toddler, to me, that’s a challenge. But ask me in just a few short years, and I’ll tell you that this is exactly the kind of daily struggles that I miss the most.

So even though sometimes I sigh forcefully & drag my feet to the bathroom when it’s my turn to give her a bath, deep down inside I’m grateful for the chance & the unique moment I have with her.

2010-05 “Time For A Bath” from Ether L on Vimeo.

Music: “Stole My Heart” by Little & Ashley

Do you see what Kaitlyn is holding in the photos below?

They are things that she took from grocery stores (which we returned afterward) back in June & August.

What’s next, you ask? Well, how about swearing?

WARNING: If this is a hollywood movie, it would be rated PG-13 because of what Kaitlyn appeared to have said in it. Cover your young children’s ears or put on some headphones before playing this video. You’ve been warned! If your kids start saying the same bad word out loud at church or at your in-laws’, don’t blame us!

What are we going to do??!

*more videos on YouTube

I know it’s not easy, but I’m glad that Mel can be home to take care of Kaitlyn. One reason is that Kaitlyn benefits a lot from it, at least that’s what it seems to me. I mean, the fact that she learned to walk at 10 months probably has nothing to do with us. But with other things, like holding her own bottle at 4 or 5 months old, that is something that someone has to spend time teaching & challenging her.

Here’s a list of what she can or would do right now, and she learned a lot of it in the past 2 months.

• - say “ma-ma” & “ba-ba”
• - say both “maah-MA” & “paw-paw” (refer to “grandma” on both sides)
• - say “be-Be” (when she sees herself or babies)
• - say “hi” & wave (when she’s been told to or when she sees a friendly face)
• - say “yay” & clap (when she hears people say “yay” or clap, whether in person or on TV)
• - say “bye” & wave (when she sees people putting on coats & jackets)
• - say “nigh-nigh” (means milk)
• - say “ba-bao” (means bread; which should be pronounced “bao-bao”, but she says this basically whenever she sees any kind of food)
• - say “ba-bo” (means she want you to pick her up; which should be pronounced “po-po”)
• - say “mum-mum” (when she wants food in general)
• - say “Dees” (means “George”, but she just can’t say it; whenever she sees “Curious George”, monkeys, or any brown stuffed animals)
• - say “rau-rau-sh” (when she sees dogs or just animals that walk on all fours)
• - say “Ahh-ma, ma, ma, ma…” (means “Amen”)
• - say “tick-ku, tick-ku, tick-ku” (means “tickle”)
• - do a “raspberry”
• - blow kisses weirdly, upon command (using the back of her hand)
• - give people a wet, open-mouthed kiss on the cheek
• - dance (shake her head and/or hip side to side violently & stomp her feet; when she hears music or anything with a beat, even to the beat of trains running over a loose track in the subway station)
• - drink from a sippy cup, a straw, or just a regular cup instead of a bottle
• - play “peek-a-boo” with you
• - play “deem-chong-chong”
• - say “yai-yai” (means “naughty”)
• - say “nah-nah, nah-nah…” (which should be “no, no”; when we tell her no & she doesn’t like it)
• - pretend to give you her finger food & then take it back and then laugh at you
• - point to her nose (when you ask her where her “bei-bei”/nose is)
• - cover her ear & say “hi” (that’s her version of talking on the phone)
• - say “bees” softly with a smile (which should be “please”; when she wants something from you)
• - pat her belly (when you ask her where her “tou-dum”/belly is)
• - lie down on the changing pad when we say to her “fun-dai”/lie down (it’s still a work-in-progress; she usually ended up lying next to the pad; I have more success than Mel does at this point)

So you see, I think it’s quite a list of accomplishment for a 14-month old, and you really can’t say having a full-time mom with her has nothing to do with it!

To further prove my point, here’s a video clip taken by Melanie, with Kaitlyn showing off some of what she can do. She pretty much did whatever Mel wanted, because she just wanted to be picked up.

With all the recent toy recalls due to unsafe level of lead, I’ve to admit that whenever I see Kaitlyn put something into her mouth it gets me thinking twice. It turns out that the Consumer Product Safety Commission only has 15 full-time field inspectors inspecting products that enter the country through its 300+ ports of entry. That means most of the contaminated & unsafe imports get into the country anyway.

So I was happy to hear an NPR’s “Your Health” podcast yesterday about lead test kits currently available on the market. In contrary to what the Consumer Product Safety Commission says, Consumer Reports concluded that the kits are reliable. The reason the commission disagree is because the kits point out toys with any amount of lead, while the toys can still meet the current (but outdated) law & regulations. However, experts & health professionals agree that any traces of lead is still unsafe for kids when ingested.

The only “drawback” is these kits only test for lead on product surfaces. But for concerned parents, that’s all you need know.

Two of the lead test kits mentioned on NPR were the Lead Inspector (8 tests for $12.99) & the Lead Check (8 for $18.45).

You can also read & listen to the stories on NPR here:
– Testing Toys for Lead
– Do Home Lead-Testing Kits Work?

Consumer Reports’ result: Lead Test Kits

If you are looking for some practical stocking stuffers for people with infants & toddlers, you certainly may want to consider one of these.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Ours was simple but wonderful.

On Thanksgiving Day, we hung out at Melanie’s Grandma/aunts’ place & had lunch (sushi) & dinner there. Afterward, we dropped by Diane’s (from church) house to say hi to a few people & had some more food.

Last night, Mel went to a wedding reception while Kaitlyn, Snow, & I went back to Diane’s house to see a few more friends, & had crab & lobsters (Diane’s husband makes GOOD food)!

Then tonight, we went to the Thanksgiving dinner at church. So, for 3 nights in a row, we simply did nothing but eat.

It was wonderful.

Anyway, I noticed that my Mom’s been calling me & asking me how we are doing more & more, which is a sign that we hadn’t been updating our blog. So here’s a photo from may be 2 weeks ago. I call it, “Wipe Your Own Butt.”

It’d be SO AWESOME if she can actually do that.

But then again, I guess it’s a good thing that babies can’t really wipe on their own. Because when it comes to having babies, the thought of having to change diapers stops a lot of people from having babies, & that’s why the world still has room for parks, beaches, & giant Wal-Mart parking lots. :-p

Here’s a sign that we are moving onto yet another stage of parenthood. We’re calling it:
Clean-Up-The-Mess-That-I-Am-Going-To-Make-Everywhere Stage.

Kaitlyn is finally starting to grow 1 tooth on the bottom and so she has been really cranky. We bought her some teething biscuits to bite on and she made such a mess. It was all over her face & head, hands, her clothes, the booster seat and the chair that it’s on. It started to dry up, so it was kind of hard to clean up. Needless to say she loved it!

I knew from the beginning that I’m not weird. The truth is, I just can’t really get a good night sleep without my blanket! It just has this magical power & now Kaitlyn can attest to that as well!

Kaitlyn was rolling around & fussing in her bed the other day, so after trying a few things, Melanie decided to take my blanket & put it over her eyes. Within seconds, Kaitlyn fell asleep.

*note: Don’t worry, Mel took the blanket away soon after. Kaitlyn did not suffocate.

Then, I tried it again that night. I just let her hold it instead of putting it over her head, she fell asleep right away again.

FYI: Sorry, but she’s not getting my blanket. No way.

Well, I guess it’s not that sick. At least she hasn’t successfully picked out any booger & put it in her mouth yet!

But actually, she is a little sick — a little under the weather. She’s been having runny nose for the past 2 days. She has also pooped twice yesterday, which doesn’t normally happen for her. We don’t want to say she has diarrhea yet because we’re really hoping that she doesn’t. But we are already giving her a little bit of Pedialyte & cold medicine to help her sleep better. We’ve also been sterilizing & washing her toys, pacifiers & bottles constantly.

The good news is she seems fine, besides the runny nose & the sneezing. She has more energy then us (as usual) & is as happy as ever. As you can see in the photo, she doesn’t look sick at all.

Anyway, we hope she’ll be well enough for a wedding that we plan on attending this Saturday!

It doesn’t matter how hungry Kaitlyn is, as soon as she thinks you’re preparing food for her or even sees you holding her bottle, she gets so anxious that she would start acting like a starving puppy — huffing, puffing, whining & sometimes even crying.

And once she starts crying, you’re WAY too slow.

Even if you stick the bottle into her mouth, she would still keep crying, as if you have just ruined her future.

So as soon as we realize that it’s time for her to eat, we try to prepare everything quickly (milk, bib, high-chair, etc.), so that we can surprise her by shoving the bottle into her mouth before she can utter a sound.

Two weeks ago, however, Melanie was just a little too smooth, a little too quick, as she gave Kaitlyn the bottle, milk got squirted all over Kaitlyn’s face instead of her mouth.

As you can tell from the picture, it got Kaitlyn totally off guard. She was so “speechless” that I was able to run over for the camera & back, and she was still in that state of shock, even though Melanie & I were laughing our heads off!