San Fran!

This past weekend we took a family trip down to San Francisco. Jon and Kira flew out with Uncle Simon on Wednesday morning, they met up with Auntie Jo, Grandma, Marcus and Isabel in California. I flew out with Auntie May on Friday morning. The family all went down there because Jon's cousin, Cristabel, was graduating from Stanford and there was other family coming in from Malaysia for the event.

It was so nice to get away to some sunshine and shopping. Kira did so well, I was very impressed with her. Most nights she didn't get to bed until 1030 - 1100 and she didn't fuss (too much) - she did get very dramatic whenever Marcus would come near her, but for the most part she remained relatively happy. I think she really enjoyed having so much time with her cousins, she's started to call Isabel "Bel" now, it's pretty cute.

Since we returned home we have been dealing with another one of her 2-year molars that started cutting through her gums the last night we were in San Fran. She has decided that my finger massaging her gums is a most wonderful thing so I have spent a good portion of the last couple of nights with my finger in her mouth --- she reacts similar to a dog getting scratched behind its ear. She will even come up to me now and say "Momma, teeth please" while pointing to her mouth.

Anyhow, here are some pictures from our vacation...

Auntie Jo holding the food for everyone while pictures are being taken

The Tan Family - Congrats to Bel for graduating!

Isabel + Cristabel or Baby Bel and Big Bel (heh)

Isabel and Auntie Leena (she really is the happiest baby)

Marcus and Auntie Cheryl

This boy is turning into a serious flirt, complete with the arm around the shoulders while yawning move. Priceless.

Kira and Marcus --- This was the best I could get since they never stood still

Kira at the airport on the way home

Everything 7 adults + 3 kids need for a 'weekend trip' *sigh*

Kira sporting 2 toques - one supports Grandpa Charlie's favourite beer, I'm sure he's proud

Also last week our good friends Josh + Ginny welcomed their first baby into their family, a little boy named Benjamin Gray. Josh was the best man at our wedding and remains one of our closest family friends to this day. We are so excited for them and will be making a trip to Toronto later this summer to go meet the little man.

It was a busy baby week actually; our friends Gerald and Nancy welcomed their first child, a boy, on Monday, then Benjamin was Wednesday, and my friend had a son on Friday. Phew, babies everywhere! Thankfully we have 5 more months until baby Limbonte 2.0 arrives, I don't think I can handle any more babies. Ha.

So it appears that I accidently wiped the memory card on my camera, so I don't have any fun new videos or pictures; instead, I thought I'd bring back some of my favourite pictures of Kira as a baby...

Things are pretty much the same with us, Kira continues to add more words to her vocabulary (though we aren't always certain of what she is saying). She can now count from 1 - 10 (but she can't say 7, it's pretty cute) and knows 80% of the alphabet.

This week we will be heading to San Fran to visit with some of the family from Malaysia. Jon's cousin, Bel, is graduating from Stanford and we will all be attending the graduation ceremony. Jon and his brother will be heading down with Kira on Wednesday, and I'll join them all on Friday. It will be nice to get away, and I'm sure that Kira will have fun exploring the sights of a new city with her cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandma. I'll try not to erase those pictures before I upload them :)

The Potty Training Battle

Happy long weekend everyone! Hope that yours was more enjoyable than ours was.

This past weekend we embarked on a rather ambitious 3-day potty training regime for Kira. While I had heard success stories from lots of other parents, and the recommended age to do this is 22 months (Kira is 26 months); I was pretty skeptical about it actually working for Little Ms. Stubborn. However, we tried it anyhow. We began on Saturday morning, and by the end of the 3rd day (today) we were pretty much at the same point as day 1. That said, she is staying dry during the night and during her naps, so we will keep her diaper free during the night.

Here's a little snippet of what the weekend went like...

Me: "Kira, is it time to go pee?" (noticing that she is dancing around while holding herself)

Kira: "No."

Me: "Let's just sit on the potty anyhow, just in case." (proceed to get her on the toilet)

Kira: "No, no, no, no, no!" (fake tears)

She then stands up while still 'crying' and then pees on the floor next to the toilet. Sigh.

It was pretty frustrating for both of us, thankfully Jon was around to help out because there were times that the pregnancy hormones were getting the best of me!! Oh well, hopefully in a few weeks I'll be singing a different tune about how wonderful it is to have a child that isn't in diapers anymore....

I have a fun video of Kira 'making me dinner', I'll try to post that tomorrow sometime.

On a side note, just want to pass on our congratulations to our friends Steve + Anna, who welcomed their 3rd (!) baby last weekend, a little boy named Miro; and a congratulations to our friends Mike + Lilli, who welcomed their 2nd baby last night, a little girl - just want big sister Amber wanted all along.

Apologies for lack of posts lately, I've been pretty tired and lazy. Here is a video of Kira watching her "words" dvd. Grandma Rose got her the "Your Baby can Read" DVD and book set, it is supposed to help kids learn to read before they go to school. Basically, it runs a series of 30 words on repeat with pictures, songs, and rhymes. Honestly, there are some words now that Kira will shout out before they've said what they are on the DVD, so I guess that it works (of course, one of the words she can 'read' is No). At the very least, it's really helping her vocabulary. Though it is difficult to understand her, she is starting to say a lot more words now, which is very exciting for us. Anyhow, here is the video - I had to take it off the side of the table during her breakfast so that she wouldn't be distracted by the camera...

Next weekend we are going to attempt potty training. A friend recommended this 3-day potty training method, and it has worked for a few friends so far, so we'll see how it goes for Kira. It's not the ideal way to spend a long weekend, but I'm hoping that the results make it worthwhile!

Kira has started back at her gymnastics again. Her class this time is a mix of 1 and 2 year olds, which suits her just fine as she tends to do her own thing instead of following the circuit given by the teacher. The 1 year olds do the same thing.

Kira's first 2-year molar cut through her gums last weekend. She was pretty miserable for the first bit of the week, but she seems to be back to her normal self now. 1 down, 3 to go...I can't wait till this teething thing is over.

The last couple of weeks we have been hit hard with colds and norwalk-type bugs. Kira picked up a cold from daycare, which she then kindly shared with Jon and I. After that she picked up a norwalk-type bug from who knows where and shared it with us as well as her entire daycare and now her cousin Marcus. It was a doozy and I'm glad that it has passed! Unfortunately, it meant that we missed a final playdate with my friend Maya and her 2 boys. They have now moved out to Ontario, hopefully we will catch up to them this summer if we make it East. We'll miss you guys!!

Otherwise, Kira is doing well. She continues to develop her words and has learned to count to 1 - 5 in sequence. She can read and identify the numbers from 1-9 but is only just learning what order they go in. She is also getting very good at reading letters, here's a great video of her reading the letters off Jon's t-shirt.

Here's a photo of Kira and Jon, she really loves being around her Daddy.

Ready for a bike ride with Daddy

Cheeeeeese!

Daddy's favourite outfit, thanks for the shirt Eliana!

This is Kira's new run bike that she got for her birthday from her grandparents. It's a bike without pedals, it is supposed to help kids learn to balance on a bike earlier and hopefully eliminate the need for training wheels. She seems to enjoy it so far, we'll keep trying to get her outside with it this summer.

Kira's birthday pics! (Finally)

Ok. so things have been super hectic around here, and when there is a free moment, I've been sleeping. Sorry. Kira's birthday party was held last week Sunday, on her actual birthday, March 28. We rented out the gymnastics place, invited a few friends and family and let the kids run wild. We had some cake and snacks as well, I think the kids had a good time. Here are a few pictures...

Oh boy, why do I get the feeling that I will be seeing this face a lot when she's a teenager...

Hanging out on the bar with Daddy spotting

A few of her buddies that came to the party

There were 11 kids + 4 babies at her party, everyone seemed to have a good time and left good and tired. Hurray!

Kira had her 2 year check up earlier this week, she passed with flying colours. She is 25lbs now, about 6 pounds heavier than when she turned 1, and is about 88cm in height. This puts her in the 25th - 50th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. She continues to see the opthomologist every 3 months, her eyes seem to be getting a little bit worse - we'll see what the doctor says at her next appointment on April 12.

Hope everyone had a great Easter long weekend.