bonnie & jason

If you’re happy and you know it…

Alissa has been watching Barney for a while now and is getting the hang of clapping her hands at the appropriate time after “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.” She had not figured out the “stomp your feet” part so we taught her how to stomp today. We also taught her “down up” since she already knows how to say, “up.” She doesn’t really say down yet… it’s more like “dow,” but at least she gets the concept. Here’s some video:

2008 03 30 Alissa down up stomping feet from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Here are a few other random pictures of Alissa. The first one has her trying on my San Bruno hat which I received as part of a gag gift one Christmas (I was living in San Bruno at the luxurious Shelter Creek Condo complex at the time.) The funny (or pathetic, take your pick) story there is that I used to sleep with that hat on when I was still living by myself and too cheap to turn the heat on. The second picture is just Alissa sitting on the bed giving her semi-fake smile.

Alissa’s 15 month checkup

Alissa made some good progress in height! She’s now 29″ tall which is at the 15th percentile… finally out of the single digits percentile-wise. She’s only 18 lbs 13 oz (3rd percentile) though, so she’s still on the small side overall. Good thing is (I think) that her head is 17.75″ at the 40th percentile.

Otherwise, not much going on. Here are a few snaps to celebrate the Easter weekend.

Alissa speaks!

Alissa has been babbling with pseudo-words like mama, dada for a while now. Sometimes, we think she uses them in the correct context. But oftentimes, she just says them for no apparent reason. Otherwise, she’s had an easy time communicating the basics (like more, milk, up, and no) with sign language and pointing. But just yesterday, we think she actually spoke her first distinct word. We were just sitting on the couch and she came up and did her sign for “up” but followed it directly with a very well enunciated “up.” It was kinda strange to hear it come out of her mouth actually. We tried to get her to say it again, and she did, but not with the clarity that it came out the first time. Anyway, I took some video today to demonstrate. She’s getting more consistent with it but still is hit or miss with the “p” part of the word. See for yourself.

2008 03 13 Alissa saying up from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Alissa winking

Alissa has been imitating us more and more. The latest thing is winking. Pretty funny.

2008 03 12 Alissa winking from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Bonnie birthday dinner #2

Tonight was family night for Bonnie’s birthday so we went to the OG (Olive Garden) with Bonnie’s parents and Benita. I don’t know how much money they pull in every week but I swear that place is packed every time I go. I guess having a mall location pays off. Anyway, the OG delivered as it always does. Sometimes I wonder how they keep everything so consistent. The bottomless salad, bread sticks, and soup are always exactly the same. Same taste, same bowls, same presentation, same everything. Granted, it’s not fine dining. But I guess consistently “pretty good” is better than the hit or miss you get at many other places.

Before dinner, we took advantage of the nice weather and hit up the South Sunset park a few blocks away.

Alissa is quite the daredevil wanting to go head first down the slide by herself. We did it over and over again and she loved it!

Bonnie birthday dinner #1

We had Aidan, Eric, and Kathy over to help celebrate Bonnie’s birthday tonight. I made some parmesan seared scallops, potatoes lyonnaise, garlic bread, and pasta. Overall, I give myself a 7 out of 10 on the meal.

I tried a Michael Mina recipe for the scallops, but I thought the presentation was a bit bland. Also, I substituted pancetta with turkey bacon (which were a bit overcooked) and the potatoes that were supposed to go along with them were way too mushy.

The Lyonnaise recipe I tried was pretty good, but I think they called for too much butter. I should have halved it since I thought they were a bit greasy.

Finally, even though I thought I did a pretty good job getting everything ready at the same time, by the time we sat down to eat, everything kinda cooled down a bit. I have a new respect for caterers who are able to serve hundreds of people hot food.

Otherwise, even with the mediocre food, we had a good time. Eric and Kathy brought a tasty birthday cake and Bonnie made some cupcakes. Alissa and Aidan seemed to enjoy themselves as well. Here are some pictures:

Kayla’s red egg and ginger party

Another weekend, another baby party. We’ve definitely transitioned from the “every weekend is another friend’s wedding” part of out lives to the “every weekend is another friend’s baby something” part of our lives. Before we know it, all these babies are going to start having graduation parties. Maybe some of them will even date each other! (Not Alissa though, she can’t date until she’s done with college.)

Anyway, here are a few pictures that I took from the party.