4/30/2012 - evan uses substitution in songs

Evan has been singing a lot lately, whether out walking, eating, or just around the house, he would sing various songs to himself.  His more-often-sung songs lately has been: 1) (chinese) mama is the best in the world, 2) twinkle-twinkle little star [chinese & english], 3) old macdonalds had a farm, 4) row row row your boat.  This morning, he did something new.  Instead of singing the lyrics, he sang "bao" for every note to the tune of Old Macdonalds (i think).  He learned to do that on his own, we hadn't taught him that!  His language skills are developing really quickly lately.  He understands most of what we say and if it's something new, he can guess at the meaning after just once or twice.  He's still not counting conceptually or recognizing the concept of colors but I think he may soon. 

4/27/2012 - growing wheat grass at home

What grass is supposedly something really good for you.  But eating it is for cows and horses, no?  Well, some people would say that humans should eat it, too, as it has immense healing effects.  Is it true? I guess one has to try to find out.  Growing it at home is pretty easy, just a planting flat, some soil, some seeds, and a bit of patience (not a lot since it grows to harvest-ready in just about 10 days).  Here are some pics

4/21/2012 - Evan sings

Evan singing happy birthday, among other songs.

4/11/2012 Evan enjoying Old Macdonalds

One of Evan's first ever multi-syllable phrases was "E - i - e - i - O" from the song Old MacDonalds. Here he's almost 1 yr 7 months and still his favorite song is Old MacDonalds. He's enjoying it on the iphone here, rocking as the video plays.

4/8/2012 Evan's first Easter Egg Hunt

As we were walking around on 4/7 (Sat), we ran into a neighbor kid from one block away.  As we talked to her about this and that, her mom came out and introduced herself and invited us to an egg hunt the next day (4/8) at 8:30 am.  So we went the next day and there were probably 20+ kids.  Evan was really shy at first and didn't even want to leave our side but once the egg hunt started, he started getting into the it and started picking up eggs one by one, examining some at length especially if they weren't of egg shaped (some were shaped like chickens or piggies).

4/7/2012 Happy Hollow Zoo

After another chilly week, the sun came out and the temperature warmed up enough that we were able to take Evan to Happy Hollow Zoo, it had been several months since we were last here.  Evan had a great time and was able to enjoy the play sets more than before.  He was a little cranky around lunch time but ate well after his nap.

More pictures

4/3/2012 - happy baby

(Don't tell Evan the book is upside down!)

4/2/2012 - Language and eating

Evan had his 18 months checkup about two weeks ago.  He's healthy and running along the 5% weight growth chart.  He's growing fairly well length-wise though (37%).  We asked the pediatrician a couple of things - whether to let Evan out of the crib, if there's a better way to brush his teeth, when he might grasp the concept of color, etc.  The answers for at least these 3 questions were: 1) keep him in the crib as long as possible, cuz the minute he gets out, you lose control of where he goes and when.  2) just brush him no matter how much he doesn't like it. It's better than if have to put him in the dentist's chair for cavities. 3) toddlers may not understand the concept of colors until they're 4 or so. 

Evan's language skills have been developing at an astounding pace.  He shocked us the other day by reciting a couple of chinese poems he learned at daycare.  True his pronunciation isn't perfect but it's amazing that he remembered so many verses.  One of the poems he recited was maybe 50 words or more. He likes Click Clack Moo (Cows that type) book and video and will say "click clack moo" over and over.  The cow remains his favorite animal though he has started to take a little Curious George monkey doll around with him and calls him "Georgie".  He can spell out cow: "C... o... w, cow!".  He recognizes the letters O, X, and W after teaching him that one night.  He seems to have bursts of learning capacity where he'll absorb and retain something indefinitely. 

Evan's still not eating too well at home, though.  He would take a bite and then refuse to eat further, even though he'll eat the whole thing at daycare.  We probably didn't teach him properly when he was younger.  We're gonna try to discipline things a bit and not let him play with food or ask him over and over if he wants to eat something.  He knows when we're upset or angry but he doesn't quite know how to please us.  He tried to get on my better side yesterday by asking me to hold him.  Awww... hard to stay angry with him when he's so cute.