A Warm Day at Ocean Beach in S.F.

This is the 1st time we actually "play" at Ocean Beach in S.F. because it's normally cold and foggy here. The weather was gorgeous today and both Nathan and CoCo had a blast.

A Date with Seahorse

This is how Nathan post for pictures if you ask him to smile!

We went to visit Monterey Bay Aquarium to view the "Secret lives of Seahorse" exhibits. It was a beautiful day and the exhibits were amazing. My favorite is the Sea Dragon (above)! Nathan is very interested in learning the different creatures in the ocean. He now knows that it's the daddy seahorse who gives birth to baby seahorse. What an interesting fact!

1st Visit to the S.F. Academy of Sciences

We finally visited this most crowded and most talk about museum in the Bay Area. It's truly amazing...an aquarium, a planetarium and a natural history museum all under one "Living" roof. Besides the living roof, the building has a solar canopy, an extensive water reclamation system and walls insulated with recycled blue jeans. It's definitely impressive. No wonder everyone wants to come here. We had a fantastic day exploring and learning...

Giant Sting Rays greeted us at the entrance.
Meeting diver Dave was definitely one of Nathan's highlights of the day.
A beautiful butterfly landed right next to us as we were walking around the 4-story rainforest.
Gill (from Finding Nemo) is still stuck in the tank again!
Nathan loves to learn about the tropical fishes in this Philiphine Coral Reef (deepest Coral Reef in the world).

Things I want to remember

My niece Cindy has this great way of jotting down her daughter Sofia's milesstones and anything she wants to remember on her blog. I thought that is a brilliant idea, but just never got around to do it until now...
-Nathan's language skill has grown so much the last 3 months. He now talks in full sentences (since a couple of months ago) and can name most objects that he knows in both Chinese and English.
-We are still keeping Cantonese as his primary language, but he can understand instructions in English. He picks up lots of English vocabularies from his play mates and friends. His favorite phrase in English is "No Way" which he said he learned it from Sofia (my niece's daughter).
-He started asking "Mut Yeh" (means What is it in Chinese) all the time about a month ago. Whenever he hears some noise or sees something he doesn't know or not familiar, he will ask you "Mut Yeh" again and again until he gets it down in his head.
-He is a true boy because he is obsessed with cars, trucks and trains. He has been playing with those soon after he turns one. He can identify the different kinds of vehicles, the different kinds of trucks and even some differnt brands of car.
-Nathan loves to read. That is how he spends his quiet time. He usually reads at least 2-3 books before he goes to bed. He reads when he gets up in the morning and before and after his naps. I guess reading helps him to whine down. Some of his favorite books are Thomas the Tank Engine (we got quite a few from his older cousin, Christopher) and Richard Scarry's "Cars, Trucks & Trains", "Busy Busy Town", "What do People Do All Day" and "Clifford the Red Dog".
-We are absolutely having a lot of fun together these days. I love taking him to parks, museums, play dates and other fun things because he just lights up whenever we're going out. Before I start my car to go somewhere, he will say "Thank You Mommy". That just puts a HUGE smile on my face.
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Gilroy Gardens

Gilroy Gardens is one of Nathan's favorite places because he can ride the carousel, Gold Fish, race car, fire truck and many other things all by himself. Believe it or not, we do spend the WHOLE day here. He is known to play till he drops. I wonder where he gets that gene from ?



1st time on the monorail. It's pretty cool!

Come on, give me the food cowboy! If not, I'll eat your hat.
Mommy, the rabbit is as soft as CoCo!

Aunt Christine and Uncle Charles

Aunt Christine and Uncle Charles came to visit from Hong Kong. We spent a wonderful day together at Fisherman's Wharf. The sky was clear and the weather was gorgeous, you can even see Alcatraz from the picture below

Does he look like a little Gap model?

Nathan Feeding himself

Nathan has been feeding himself for a while, but lately, he seems to have mastered that skill.

A Day in Half Moon Bay

It was supposed to be a nice warm day, so we took Nathan to Half Moon Bay to play on the beach. Well, the weather was not as warm as we expected, but we had a great time!

Nathan was a little scared of the crashing waves at first, but only after a couple of seconds he wanted to get down and run around on the beach.

Who said I'm scared?

Daddy and Nathan strolling on the beach

The day after Nathan's 1st vacation

Nathan was exhausted from playing with Sofia and visiting places during his 1st vacation in San Diego. This is a picture of him the day after - he fell asleep while having lunch.

Happy Halloween

Nathan's Mermaid Post

I'm glad Chris took a picture of him in this position because I want to remember this cute post. Since he still hasn't learned how to sit back from a crawling position, he loves to lay on his left side and turn around to look.

Say Cheers

Both Nathan's hair as well as his personality are getting wild these days. He loves to play more than ever. I used to think those days when he was an infant cuddling in my arms were the best moments. Well, I think I may be wrong. Although I still miss those days, I definitely fell in love with this wild and fun loving "Big Boy" now. Since his two BIG front teeth came out, everyone told me he looks so different, they said he looks like a big boy and not a baby anymore :-) How did that happen? I thought I was just in the hospital not too long ago!

Meeting Cousin Simon for the 1st time

Cousin Simon and his girlfriend Judy came to visit from Hong Kong.

9 Months Already

Nathan had his 9 month check up yesterday. His stats were:
Weight: 18 lb. 6 oz. (25%)
Length: 29.5 in. (75%)
Head: 46.25 cm (75%)

Nathan hasn't been eating much, I am not surprised that he has not gained much weight for the last 3 weeks. He finally dropped from 50th percentile to 25th percentile since his 6 month check up. Our doctor told me to feed him more because he is very active and really needs the extra calorie. She has no idea that my little one is such a picky eater :-)

Let's Escape

Mama, let us go outside and play!!

I'm all over the place

Hmmm, how do I get out of here?

I can play fetch with CoCo

Since Nathan started crawling, he has no interest in playing his own toys. He loves exploring and playing with CoCo. He moves so fast that even CoCo stays away from him sometimes :-). Can't imagine when he starts walking.

Popo, Kung Kung, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Annie came to visit us.

Let Me Do It

Since I don't have much patience, so I haven't given Nathan the opportunity to feed himself yet. However, today he just crabbed the spoon from me and fed himself.

He is very proud of what he did!

I like It Rough

Come on, tickle me with your beard!

Showing Mama Affection

Hanging out in our garden
Nathan gives great hugs!
Giving Mama LOVE
Is that a kiss or a BITE?

I want to remember that today was the last day I nursed Nathan. Due to my joint problems, I have to start taking medications soon, so I started weaning him a week ago. I think both of us really miss our "special time" together. It was very hard for me emotionally because I really enjoyed the closeness and special bonding we had. I will always remember how special and incredible that feeling was...