Summerfest 2007

A year ago this past weekend, Allan and Todd and I were braving record-breaking heat and humidity and enjoying Summerfest '06. This year, with temperatures over 20 degrees cooler, we enjoyed Summerfest '07.

What is Summerfest? It's basically a work-sponsored festival/carnival, right on company grounds . Free food, beer, games, music, shows, and rides. Because of last year's heat wave and the coincidence of Summerfest with the hottest day of the year, it was held in the evening rather than in the early afternoon this year.

We started off the late afternoon with an early dinner-- apparently we arrived just in time to avoid the lines at the cafeteria. There was a bit of a line indoors, but it wasn't too bad, and we got our food within 10 minutes, making our way back outdoors to grab a seat. While sitting there eating, we observed the line get longer and longer. First it started spilling outdoors. Then it started snaking clear around the other side of the building! Considering all we had to contend with was an indoor line and THAT took 10 minutes, I hate to think how long the folks lined up outdoors had to wait until they got their food. 30 minutes? Maybe more? Yikes!

After dinner we enjoyed a magician's show, where the jokes were corny and the tricks old hat, but still entertaining nevertheless. We then made our way to the Midway, where we took in the sights of all the rides, almost all of which had lines a mile long, even the little kiddie rides. We ended up going on the Merry-Go-Round, and even managed to secure the same dragon that Todd and I rode on last year!

Here we are LAST year, can you see us sweltering in the heat?



And here we are THIS year, same dragon, Todd a bit bigger (and yes, I'm wearing the same shirt. Don't worry, I've washed it a few times since last year :-P)



Afterward, we made our way back to the stage area, where none other than Little Texas (one of my favorite country bands!) was playing. They played one of my favorites "My Love", but unfortunately we didn't stick around long enough for me to get to hear them break out their famous tune "God Blessed Texas" :-) I tried to get up close and capture a shot, this is my attempt at getting a pic of Little Texas on stage:



I was hoping to get Todd's face painted but alas, the lines for that were just as long as the lines for anything else. So we settled for temporary tattoos. Todd got a happy face sporting a football helmet, and I got a rose. He picked mine out for me :-) Here we are showing off our leg artwork:



We grabbed another quick bite to eat (some fruit, shrimp salad and nachos) before making our way back home. All in all, a very fun day. It helped loads that not only was this event in the evening, but it was nowhere near as hot as it was last year (as you can see by the pic of me and Todd, both clad in our sweaters, brrr!). No potential sunburn or heat exhaustion to contend with. Another memorable summer day! :-)

Don't Kiss Me!

Yesterday Oma was smothering Todd with kisses, as grandmothers are prone to do :-) Todd apparently found this bothersome and complained for her to stop.

"But you're my grandson!" Oma pointed out.

"No!" declared Todd, loudly and forcefully. And then he continued: "I'm Opa's grandson, and Ama-ama's grandson. And Mommy and Daddy's son."

"What about Oma?" asked my mom.

"No!" Todd repeated.

Thinking he was being his usual contrary self, my mom nevertheless inquired further: "Why not?"

"So you won't kiss me!"

Hey-- a logical extension to her assertion that she's kissing him because he's her grandson, right? :-D

Broken Glass

The above picture was taken this past Saturday, and shows the glass sliding door connecting the dining room to the sunroom/backyard. No, your eyes aren't fooling you-- the glass is completely shattered.

Todd was being exceptionally naughty on Saturday morning, so Oma put him outside and shut the sliding door. In frustration, the little man picked up a small magnetic bead and threw it at the glass door. This thing was smaller than a pea, so you wouldn't think something that small could cause that much damage, but apparently the force of it was enough to break the glass. Especially since it was a lot of energy all concentrated on a small surface area. The bead sailed through the glass (if you click on the photo to view it in full size, you can see the hole where it all starts) and caused a ripple effect, cracking the entire pane.

Luckily the door is double-paned, and it was just the outside pane that Todd broke. A few days later it finally all came tumbling to the floor, and my Dad spent the evening picking out the remaining attached glass shards, and sweeping and vacuuming all the tiny pieces up.

What an expensive way to learn a lesson about throwing things, especially at glass windows/doors!

Multilingualism

It's no secret that kids are amazingly adept at picking up languages. In the spirit of that, we're trying to raise Todd with more than one language. So far, he's got 3 of them downpat-- English, Chinese and a Chinese dialect my grandmother speaks. We're attempting to throw German into the mix but everyone is so rusty at it, we keep forgetting and lapsing into our own native tongues. Anyway, Todd speaks solely English with Mommy and Daddy, solely Chinese with Opa, solely Chinese dialect with Ama-ama, and a mix of English and Chinese with Oma.

But it's not just different languages. My parents, having immigrated to the United States when they were in their late 30s, speak English with a noticeable accent. Daddy and I, however, do not. Todd has picked up on the subtle differences in our accents, and speaks in a slightly different accent to Oma than he does to me or Daddy. A good example is the middle "t" in words-- something Americans pronounce as a hard "d": turtle = tur-DLE; water = wa-DER, etc... but my folks pronounce as a soft "t", very much like the British pronunciation.

I can understand firsthand why its natural for him to do so-- I do the same. I use the same accent with my parents that they speak in, but adopt a 100% American accent when speaking to anyone else outside the family. It just seems so unnatural for me to speak with an American accent to my parents, and vice versa. I cannot bring myself to adopt one universal accent for use with everyone.

And now Todd has picked up this same habit. To my mom he'll clamor "I want wa-TER", but to me he'll ask for "wa-DER". It kind of reinforces the notion that my own dual-accent is not a conscious decision.

Fascinating what kids pick up, isn't it!

Sea Turtles and Hitting your head

Todd has recently taken to qualifying the name of his turtle as not just a "turtle" but a "sea turtle". Then one day he extended it to me, and called me "Sea Mommy!"

So naturally I asked: "Does that mean you're Sea Pao-pao?"

"No. I'm just Pao-pao"

:-P

---

A few weeks ago, while going out to dinner to bid our friends Steve and Sara farewell as they graduated and moved out of the Geekhouse, Allan parked in one of those low-hanging parking structures in downtown Santa Barbara. At one point he had to hastily duck as the top of his hair grazed a low beam. Todd observed all this and then declared: "I don't want to be tall like Daddy. If I'm tall, I'll hit my head!!"

Smart boy ;-) Luckily the pediatrician assures us he'll cap out at 6'1" or 6'2"

---

Yesterday evening I came home to find Todd helping Oma wash the car. He had on a long-sleeved shirt over his T-shirt. When we went inside, I asked for my usual hug and kiss that he gives me when I come home. But this time he refused: "My shirt is wet!"

After helping him out of his wet shirt, I again asked for a hug, and this time he complied, explaining: "I took my shirt off, now I can hug you."

When I asked him why he couldn't hug me before, with his shirt still on, he pointed out: "Because you'll get wet!"

Toddisms in droves

Todd started taking to smacking Daddy around during the trip. His reason? "Because you're so funny!" So Daddy decided to turn the tables on him and smacked his butt for the same reason. To which Todd replied: "No! If I'm funny you don't hit me, you laugh at me!" ... double standards, anyone?

On the way to LAX on the Airbus, Todd learned what air brakes were, as they made noises everytime the driver hit them. At one point we stopped at a traffic light and he observed, much to the driver's amusement: "When you have a red light, you use the air brakes!"

Meeting Molly provide some cute big-brotherisms. I have a clip of video that shows one of them coughing (not clear who exactly), at which point Todd says in his most grownup, authoritative voice: "If you cough you have to cover your mouth with your hand, okay?"

And when her Daddy admonished her to hold her cup with 2 hands to avoid spilling it, he listened intently, then turned to me and repeated: "You have to hold the cup with 2 hands. If you use one hand, the milk will spill!"

Speaking of spillage, when the waitress at the Lockstop Cafe in Ballard, WA spilled soup onto our table as she served it, we all refrained from saying anything... until Todd piped up with the very obvious observation: "She spilled it!"

Last night Oma was telling Todd stories about how she used to style Mommy's hair when Mommy was Todd's age, and how all the pulling caused Mommy to cry. Todd immediately chided Oma: "Don't do that anymore!" and pointed his finger at her, wagging it. He then added: "If you do it again, I am angry! I put you outside and close the door and you cannot get in!" LOL

Finally, he enjoyed a piece of candy after dinner yesterday, but not before Oma pointed out that all that sugar was not good for his teeth. Todd's reply? "But it's good for the tongue!" True enough!

Home sweet home

At long last we are home. And here are the photos:

http://hellykwee.myphotoalbum.com

Enjoy!
:-D

Off on vacation

We're headed out on our 2-week long vacation in less than 12 hours :-)

I'll have sporadic internet access throughout, and will blog about our trip (with pictures!) as often as I can-- hopefully every night, or maybe every other night.

However, to keep things simple, I'm going to limit my entries to just one single blog, my Grab blog: http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee

So be sure to check back on that page often. See you when we get back! :-)

Love,
Helly, Allan and Todd

Daddy gets smaller

As I am typing this, Todd is in the kitchen helping Daddy put toppings on a frozen pizza for lunch. Daddy was using a knife to cut olives and Todd was watching, observing that "When I'm bigger, I can use that."

I pointed out: "When you're bigger you can help Daddy make dinner."

Todd agreed, and offered his own spin: "When Daddy gets smaller he can make dinner with me!"

Hmmm... well, one way or another, whether Todd gets bigger or Daddy gets smaller, they'll be closer in size than they currently are, and Todd will definitely be in a position to help Daddy in the kitchen :-D

Dental checkup

Had a very successful trip to the dentist this morning. Both Mommy and Todd were due for their six-month checkup. Mommy went first so she could demonstrate to Todd how easy and painless it was while the dentist scaled and polished her teeth. At first Todd was very wary and looked as if he were about to cry at the notion of being left alone in a seat in the corner while Mommy took her turn in the dentist's chair. But he slowly warmed to it, seeing the dentist banter with Mommy, and listened intently as the dentist explained what he was doing and even let him move the chair for a closer look.

When it was Todd's turn he was pretty brave. He clamored for Mommy to hold his hand, but he obeyed the dentist nicely when it came to opening wide and turning his head. He even got to hold a mirror so he could see what was going on in his mouth.

After Todd's turn was over, he looked at me and said "dentist cleaned my teeth". He had received the head of the rotating rubber brush used to polish his teeth, and held it up in his hand as he said, "with this!" He loved the balloon that the dentist blew up and decorated with a face, made from a latex glove. And of course, he got a brand new little toothbrush :-)

All in all, it was a good visit, and hopefully, when we go again in 6 months, Todd will remember how easy and worry-free it was :-)

Clean turtle!

This morning Todd was doing what all little boys do-- being mischievous and running and hiding from Oma as she attempted, in vain, to dress him.

He crept under the coffee table and refused to budge. Why? Because "I'm a turtle!"

So Oma tried to turn the tables (haha) on him and pointed out that since turtles are dirty, they need to be put outside, not allowed to scamper inside the house.

Todd thought about this for a moment, and then piped up with: "I'm a clean turtle!"

That boy will be a lawyer yet! :-D

Fixing car store

Last night, as I tucked Todd into bed, I gave him his pillow and then searched the whole house for his stuffed turtle. I couldn't find it, but promised him we'd look for it the next day. When I came home from work tonight, I found Todd happily playing with his stuffed turtle. I exclaimed, "Oh, you found it!" and asked him where it was. That's when he explained about how he found the turtle in my parents' new car, when they drove to the mechanic to pick up my Neon:

"It was in the new car. We go to get Mommy's car from the... from the... fixing car store!"

Rather apt description for a car mechanic's shop :-D

Morning hugs

This morning, as I was rushing about, getting ready for work, I dashed out the door so I could start my car's engine and let it run, warming up, for a few minutes while I went back in the house and finished getting ready.

Todd was drinking his morning milk on the couch when I ran out the door to do so, and he thought I was leaving for the day. He looked at me and said through his bottle: "Wait for me! I want a hug!"

I quickly pointed out that I was only starting the car and would be right back to give him a hug and kiss and bid him a proper goodbye before leaving for work :-)

Charlie Chaplin

Yesterday Todd woke up with a strange sort of wound above his lip, we're not sure exactly what it is, my mom suspects some sort of fungus. We're still a bit mystified as to the source. Next day (today) it got worse, darker: red and black instead of the light brown from Monday. But it's slowly getting better. Here's Todd, looking like he's wearing a Charlie Chaplin mustache:

Circles and Triangles

Todd has become adept at identifying the difference between men's and women's restrooms, with the universal shapes of triangles for the men's room and circles for the ladies' room:



When I took him to a public restroom the other day, he announced: "When I go with Mommy, I go to circle. When I go with Daddy, I go to triangle".

Another fun weekend

... in Santa Barbara.

Friday Toddy went shopping at the grocery store, mall and K-Mart with Daddy, where he enjoyed playing in the toy section, esp with the colorful water guns. They tried to get a pizza for dinner but it was closed by the time they got there, so it was off to McDonald's instead.

Next day, Todd and Mommy enjoyed a trip to the Goleta Library while Daddy worked on campus. We had fun playing with the toys and picking out a few books to take home to read. He was eager to read them as soon as we got home, and I read one to him while he drank his afternoon milk before his nap.

Earlier that morning, Todd and Daddy went to the playground in the apartment complex, where Todd spied a tree with a hole in it, and asked Daddy what it was. When they arrived home, Todd regaled Mommy with an explanation of what they saw: "We went to squirrel house, and Daddy knock on the door, but squirrel wasn't home!"

Sunday morning, Todd awoke at 7am and crawled over Daddy, snuggling in the crook of his arm on the other side of him, and promptly falling back asleep :-) When Mommy entered the room at 7:30 to visit the bathroom, she squinted because she couldn't find the little boy anywhere-- until Daddy rolled over and pointed at the little man sleeping cozily in his arms.

Sunday afternoon Daddy and Todd visited K-Mart again and attempted yet again to grab a pizza for lunch-- to no avail, the pizza machine was broken, so it was yet another trip to McDonald's for food. Foiled again!

Todd enjoyed watching some of the videos we'd taken of him and uploaded to Mommy's computer-- both older and recent videos. Including the frog-head-butting video. Later that evening, he demonstrated the contents of the video to his stuffed turtle and tiger, and mimicked the words spoken in the video: "why are you bumping the frog?" "because it's so hard!" :-D

3-year well baby checkup

Oh, I forgot to blog last week about Todd's checkup last Thursday, 24 May. His vital stats:

Height: 39.5 inches (over 95th percentile)
Weight: 33 lb, 8 oz (75th percentile)

Got a shot on his leg, and though it hurt, he didn't cry. Went back on Tuesday to get the TB test shot on his arm. Again, I asked if it hurt, he said yes. But when I asked if he cried, he proudly proclaimed "No". He then went around the house using a plastic straw as a needle, poking everyone (including his stuffed animals) in the arm or leg, giving them "shots" :-D

Woe is me!

This video captures a sampling of what Todd looks/sounds like when he's in the throes of a "woe is me!" outburst, quite obviously in a ploy for sympathy. I mean, who could resist those pitiful, heart wrenching wails? :-P

Of course, it should come as no surprise that as soon as he's sufficiently distracted, the tears instantly subside. I sat at my desk to upload this video, and he moved from the sofa to me, burying his head in my lap and continuing his crying. As soon as I uploaded the video and started playing it on my computer, he lifted his head, tears all but gone, and watched quietly, intently... and amusedly :-)

Froggy Headaches

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth ten thousand. Little more needs to be added to this video I captured today with our digital camera. Don't you love the look on his face when he's asked "What are you doing?" :-D

Happy 3rd Birthday (again)!

Last weekend we enjoyed a quiet little family celebration of cake, ice cream and presents on our back patio. This weekend we ventured out of our apartment complex and enjoyed celebrating Todd's birthday in one of his favorite spots-- the Goleta Train Depot, with its little museum of the old station and caboose, as well as the little train ride!

Mommy, Daddy and Todd arrived at the park at lunchtime in order to set up. We laid out the appetizers and drinks, and kept a watchful eye on our phones as Oma and Opa, and Grandma and Grandpa Duaine phoned in with location updates. We picked a heck of a weekend to hold the party-- Memorial Day Weekend, not without its typical slew of crazy traffic.

Everyone arrived by 2pm, and we settled down for some snacks and conversation, while Todd took turns riding the train with everyone-- once with Daddy, once with Mommy, once with Opa, once with Oma, and once with Grandma Diane (he sat nicely with her while Mommy and Daddy sat behind)-- all throughout the afternoon.



We opened a big bunch of presents, where Todd received a stuffed tiger, a remote-control car, a soft baseball and bat, a coloring book, wooden do-it-yourself assembly kits (for a truck and an airplane), and erector set, a Spiderman outfit, and best of all-- a drum!



Afterward we headed to Zaffiro for dinner. Mommy made a quick detour to the apartment to grab the cake out of the fridge and bring it along to the restaurant so they could serve it to us after dinner.

We enjoyed a nice leisurely dinner, and then topped it all off with a delicious milk cake with strawberry filling-- decorated in a Finding Nemo design!

By the time we got home, we were pretty tired, but happy-- it had been a nice, enjoyable day and of course, the birthday boy had LOADS of fun.

Here he is enjoying his favorite toy-- the drums-- with great glee!



As always, the rest of the photos have been uploaded to the web album:
http://whistler.cs.ucsb.edu/linpha/viewer.php?albid=188&stage=3

Unbreakable Plastic

Last night I enjoyed a quiet evening with Toddy, we sat across from each other at the coffee table, enjoying bowls of ice cream together. Then Todd got up to get a napkin to wipe his face, returning with a napkin for Mommy. He then unfolded his napkin and placed it on his lap, and instructed Mommy to do the same (guess all those trips to restaurants have rubbed off on him!).

Afterward, he helped me wash dishes, rinsing silverware while I washed and rinsed everything else. What a fun night!

The cute Todd-ism for the night occurred when he spied a piece of glass on the floor. He asked what it was, and that's when I noticed it was a glass shard from a bowl my Mom had accidentally dropped on the floor earlier that day. This shard had shot into a corner, so she missed it when sweeping up the mess. I pulled out an identical, whole bowl from the cupboard and held it up next to the piece of glass. Then I explained to Todd that when you drop such a glass bowl on the floor, it shatters into pieces like the one he found.

He examined the glass piece studiously for a few seconds before looking back up and me and piping up with his logical conclusion:

"You can use a plastic bowl!"

Don't Listen!

Yesterday while I was puttering around in the bathroom, I could hear Todd talking animatedly with Opa in the bedroom next door. Of course I didn't understand a word he was saying, as he was rapidly speaking Chinese, but once in a while he threw an English word in there and I could make out "Disneyland" and "balloons".

So I popped into the bedroom so I could get a better look/listen. Todd immediately ordered me: "Close the door. All the way!"

I pointed out that I just wanted to hear him telling Opa his stories!

To which Todd replied: "No! You talk to Oma" (Oma was in the kitchen)

I pressed on: "I can't listen to Pao-pao's stories?"
He said: "No!"
I asked "Why not!?"
His reply? "You listen Chinese!"
(in other words, he's speaking Chinese with Opa, which Mommy wouldn't understand anyway) :-D

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Today we held a little family celebration in honor of Todd, who was born exactly 3 years ago today. We started off the day with Daddy taking Todd to the playground so Mommy could wrap his presents. After lunch, Daddy iced an angel food cake and we took the loot to the back patio, where we sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and ice cream (well, Todd favored the black cherry ice cream more than the sweet cake) and then the fun part-- opening presents!

Here he is unwrapping his first present:



We got him a small backpack, a couple of books (including a Bob the Builder popup book), a "Dragon Tales" VHS tape extolling the virtues of sharing, arm flotation rings for swimming, and a little toy set full of "Clever Builder" toys-- road signs, building tools, etc...

Here are the pictures from the day's events:

http://whistler.cs.ucsb.edu/linpha/viewer.php?albid=188&stage=3

And of course, the little man enjoyed holding up 3 fingers and proudly proclaiming, "Three!" whenever anyone asked how old he is now :-)

Turtles

I am hopelessly enchanted with the stuffed turtle that Uncle Ron and Aunt Debbie brought back for Todd from their most recent trip to Hawaii. Here's a few cute Todd-isms related to his turtle.

This morning, as I picked him up out of the crib, he handed me his turtle and said, "You can sleep with turtle tonight". He then hugged his favorite pillow (security pillow?) to his chest and said "I sleep with pillow tonight". Yay for sharing! :-D

Now, unlike ordinary animals, turtles don't make a common noise we imitate. Not like a dog's "arf" or a cat's "meow" or a cow's "mooo". So, since the turtle is green and matches the myriad of stuffed frogs in the house, we've taken to making the turtle say "ribbit". Daddy keeps laughing at this notion, but plays along, most of the time. And of course, ALL stuffed animals can speak English like humans, when voiced by Mommy and Daddy :-)

So, last weekend, Todd was playing with his turtle and Mommy idly asked him, "What sound does a turtle make?" expecting him to respond with "Ribbit".

But no, "Turtles don't make a sound", said Todd.

Puzzled, I inquired further, and Todd explained: "Turtles can talk!"
Indeed they can-- it's called human-speak! :-D

Here's a pic I found of the turtle, along with his bigger and smaller brothers/sisters. Todd's is the same as the one on the left, the middle-sized turtle. Soooooo cute and huggable!!

Always the opposite

About a half hour ago I received a phone call from my mom and as soon as I picked up the receiver, but before I could even say "Hello?", I heard the distinct sounds of Todd wailing to high heaven, in the background.

My mom then launched into another blog-worthy story:

She was eating oatmeal for breakfast this morning, and Todd came up to her and watched her. She offered him some of hers: "Want some?" He said "No."

He kept looking at her, though, so she offered yet again: "Want some?" Again, he refused: "No. I want my own oatmeal!"

Okay, thought my mom, and finished her oatmeal so she could prepare a new bowl for him. As she scraped the last bits from her bowl, however, Todd peered into it and declared: "I want Oma's oatmeal!"

"I'll make some more for you" offered Oma.
"No! I want Oma's!!" insisted Todd, and began howling and crying in protest. That's when Oma decided to pick up the phone and share the sounds with Mommy :-D

And we chalk up yet another case of Todd being contrary... just for the sake of being contrary!