Disney on Ice with Erik

Here are the videos from last nights Disney on Ice outing. Erik had a blast at least for the first half... Apart from Mickey, Toy Story and Nemo he was just trying to figure out what the rest were.

Please visit my YouTube Channel and choose the Disney on Ice Playlist. Enjoy.

Vimeo Videos here - but I messed with rendering all this videos hence the low quality.

You Tube Channel will have all the videos. Sorry haven't rendered the Princesses and Little World Yet.


Erik-first-trip-to-Disney-on-Ice from Jigme Chhimi on Vimeo.

Erik-Disney-Ice-Alladin from Jigme Chhimi on Vimeo.

password: erikma

Same Video - testing out BLIP

Video - more videos

For all future video's (YouTube) please visit the video's section. I have a You Tube playlist that will always show the latest and greatest babychhimi (GAD Productions) over there. Vimeo video's will still end up here on the main page.

Jack-o'-lantern Carving

Jack-o'-lantern from Jigme Chhimi on Vimeo.
password:erikma

Spooky!!!! Jack o Lantern

Spooky Flickering JackoLantern from Jigme Chhimi on Vimeo.

password:erikma

Personality: Who Needs A Test?!

Erik is already 2 1/2 years old and his toddler personality is just amazing! Erik amazes us each and every day. Although exhausting raising the passionate little child of ours, Mummy & Daddy are also saving each and every moment.

So here's a little blurb to showcase Erik's personality

HUMOROUS
After Sunday dinner, Daddy gave Erik a little frozen yogurt cone. One of Erik's favorite after-meal treats, he's a typical child who loooves sweets. Erik walks on the sidewalk and notices an empty store with just lots of windows.

He eats his ice cream by pretty much sticking the whole cone on his mouth. Thus, some got on his upper lip and lots on his chin.

Erik looks into the empty store window and says "I look like Santa Claus. Ho! Ho! Ho!" He giggles a bit.

Mummy heard it and was laughing soooo hard! Indeed Erik did look like Santa Claus with an ice cream beard. However, Erik told a joke!! At 2 1/2, Erik is already showcasing his sense of humor! We loved it!

SYMPATHETIC
Erik during the restaurant heard a baby cried, he stated "Baby is sad. Baby crying." and then proceeds to scrunch his face with his lips turned into a frown in sadness.

On another occassion of the same evening, Erik accidently bonked Mummy's nose with his head. "Ouch!" Mummy yelped! Erik says it in such a kind and gentle voice "It was an accident, Mummy." seeking some kind of forgiveness. Mummy milked it a bit and pretended to cry...Erik immediately wrapped his toddler arms around Mummy and patted. He said "Don't cry, sweetie. It's OK."

Hee Hee! Erik must've been called a "sweetie" some time outside our home, maybe at school?! But he's figuring out his tools to comfort a parent, or maybe a friend in need.

DETERMINED
On a car ride home, Erik was pretending that it was "Quiet Time". We had to be quiet. Mummy in the while had another motive to encourage Erik to speak as much Cantonese as he could. So every time Erik would say something in English...Mummy would say "Huh?!" and shrugged her shoulders.

Erik got a bit frustrated and said in English "I told you to be quiet. You are not listening with your ears, Mummy. Shhhhh!" He also proceeded to show me how to be quiet by putting his index fingers to his lips.

Mummy replies "Huh?! What did you say?" in Cantonese really pushing Erik a bit.

Erik was determined to get his message across, he responded back in Cantonese and was 100% correct with his original intended message. HAHA! Guess our boy has some determination once his mind has been set. As a result, Mummy had to comply with his request and respect "Quiet Time".

Paleontologist: Early Career Exploration

Erik is absolutely fascinated with a few things in his young toddler/preschool life right now. One of his "long time" love now has been Elephants. Second is Clifford the Big Red Dog. Does anybody notice a trend? Erik is attracted to BIG, GIANT Animals.

So it's only logical for our boy to be absolutely passionate about dinosaurs! It first started out from our museum trip to the National History Museum in New York City this past August. It was where Erik got to see dinosaur fossils up close and personal!! Then, we really have to thank ERik's classmate, James, for bringing in his private collection of dinosaurs and let the class to continue to play with them. This really fostered Erik's interest.

Daddy has ran through a lot of dinosaur books through the public library. (Hooray for public libraries!) Almost every other week, our entire family visit the local library to return and get new books for Erik. Evening's reading routine is such a great joy for us to reconnect as a family before slumbering off through the night.

Erik loves asking about the different type of dinosaurs and can recognize the small detail differences that even Mummy & Daddy cannot. Last night, it surprised Daddy when Erik could name one of the dinosaurs without even any prompting. "Diplodocus" Erik said and indeed it really was a picture of one, a "double-beam" dinosaur during the Jurassic Period! It was from the National Geographic Dinosaurs by Paul Barrett. Daddy has never really learned about dinosaurs during his childhood so this one subject that Daddy & Son are learning together. The book is intended for ages 9 - 12 because there are a LOT of words and details in it. For Erik though, he loves this book because of all the detailed pictures!

For us, we are still wondering what are the differences of all these dinosaurs besides some ate meat, some ate foliage, some ate both?! What's the difference between a Brachiosaurus versus a Diplodocus....maybe Erik can give us lessons?! Guess Erik is having an early career exploration in being a paleontogist but "Ross" from Friends keep popping into our heads! EEK!

Daddy Entry

I haven’t written much on my son’s blog for a while. So just wanted to add a few more things in here – (to be honest I just don’t write much it feels like I am boasting or something but we honestly just want to use this blog like a diary) 

I just want to re-arrange Mommy’s timeline and story. Erik has been playing with Dinosaurs and into Dinosaurs for a while now. Some time back Erik and I were shopping in Target where he loves to play with all animals made by Schleich (I love this brand because of how realistic the animals were - they actually make the molds from actual Dinosaur bones) he picked up a Velociraptor and has been hooked since.  (Erik loves shopping with me and yes Daddy loves shopping a lot too). And he loves all the Dinosaur books we have been reading to him – here is a few of his favorite Dinosaurs books (for future purpose I think I am going to start putting all the books he loves here – I am beginning to forget all his favorite ones) 

Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp – Carol Diggory Shields

Trouble at the Dinosaur Café – Brian Moses and Garry Parsons

He especially loves Tyrannosaurus saying it and trying to imagine that he is a big Giant Tyrannosaurus. Some other dinosaurs that he can say and recognize is Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, Diplodocus (this one surprise us both as we just mentioned it to him once the night before) Brachiosaurus and Ankylosaurus (though he calls this Dinosaurs “boom chack lack boom”! From Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp).  

We have also put together a Tricertops wooden bones puzzles which Grandma went and stuck it all together. 

Some other books Erik's loving this week: 

• How to catch an elephant / Amy Schwartz
  
• Shiver me letters : a pirate ABC / June Sobel ; illustrated by Henry Cole. 
  
• Snarlyhissopus / by Alan MacDonald ; illustrated by Louise Voce. 
  
• The ravenous beast / Niamh Sharkey. 
  
• Little Bo Peep can't get to sleep / written by Erin Dealey ; illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama. 
  
• Billy Tibbles moves out! / by Jan Fearnley. 
  
• Never, ever shout in a zoo / by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Doug Cushman. 
  
• How will we get to the beach? / Brigitte Luciani ; illustrated by Eve Tharlet ; translated by Rosemary Lanning. 
  
• Froggy's baby sister / by Jonathan London ; illlustrated by Frank Remkiewicz.
  
• I don't like Gloria! / Kaye Umansky ; illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain. 
  
• The caterpillow fight / Sam McBratney ; illustrated by Jill Barton. 
  
• Rules of the wild : an unruly book of manners / written by Bridget Levin ; illustrated by Amanda Shepherd
  
• Tiger can't sleep / by S.J. Fore ; illustrated by R.W. Alley
  
• Laura Numeroff's 10-step guide to living with your monster / illustrated by Nate Evans
  

Who Are You Sleeping With?

Alright, the blog title is just a catchy one to lure you blog readers in, hee hee. As you all may recall, in our family, we did the co-sleeping right from the beginning. Some people like to call it the family bed.

So with Erik, our Jr. Preschooler of 2 1/2 years old, he's grown a lot bigger and longer. Even though we have a King size bed...space is still an issue. Erik loves to sleep horizontal. If we flip ourselves to match his...some how in the middle of the night, he'll end up sleeping perpendicular to us. Feet towards Daddy and his head towards Mummy.

Recently though, Erik has decided to bring more "family members" into the family bed. In fact, he brought FIVE of them. That's right...you read it right. 1...2...3...4...5! Five little stuffed elephants ranging various sizes. Erik must have them at night, if for some reason he does not have any elephants in the bed, he cries and makes Daddy goes downstairs to search for it!

There is Horton, Baby Elephant (from Jungle Book), Baby Elephant #2, Baby Elephant #3, and a tiny eensy light blue elephant from Ikea. It is quite adorable to see Erik's good night routine. He'd cuddle them 1 by 1 right before bed time, telling them to "Don't Move, Go to sleep, Or you'll be cranky!". Words of wisdom which he got from Daddy, of course. Then, Erik will proceed to give them goodnight kisses 1 by 1 and lay them down across his pillow to share.

But good gosh! One growing Jr. Preschooler, 5 stuffed elephants, our family bed is definitely full. So when Erik decided to bring a friend of the elephants (his tiny eensy pink hippo), that was the LAST straw! ....the hippo must sleep in the crib, which is propped right beside our bed! HAHA!

We Love October!

October is one of our families favorite months of the year. Fall has finally arrived. The weather sometimes can turn cool to even cold but in a dash, sunshine could be pouring in and it would make you think you were back in the Summer hay days. Daddy and Mummy have long celebrated Fall Season, Harvest Festival, Halloween, however people may call it with a few traditions.

We usually gather up the family (whoever is here for that year) and head up to the local apple orchards or local farm area, where they have lots of pumpkin patches and things to do for the kids. Last year, Grandpa Tom was here also and we took an entire weekend Sunday of leisure to visit 3 to 4 different apple orchards with each farm, we sampled their pies. Yes, lots of calories were consumed last year.

This year, Daddy, Mummy, Erik, and Grandma Katy visited 4 apple orchards but the difference? We didn't savor any pies. Nor did we choose a pie to take home and save for our Thanksgiving. SIGH! However, that didn't ruin any fun! We still had a blast! We had a lovely little picnic. We got to pose for our traditional family Fall picture. Erik got to ride two mechanical dinosaurs...that was absolutely wonderful for him! Daddy and company attempted to pick apples...and was a bit of a dud but still a good experience, overall!

Look how our little pumpkin has grown?


6 months old

18 months old

30 months old

"I Miss You, Mommy"

The many phrases that Mummy hears from Erik these days, nothing breaks her heart more than hearing Erik echo "I miss you, Mommy" followed by a sad face with a little sniffle as well, and sometimes an extra squeeze from our toddler. Sometimes, Erik will also say "Mummy, I want to play with you" OR "Mummy, can you play with me?" This is what Mummy hears on a weekly basis as Mummy is trying to finish her last semester of MBA.

It seems like ever since this Fall semester started, Mummy is just never home or even mentally at home. Unlike last semester, where the luxury of having an online finance course and a virtual "run the simulated stock market like a Wall Street Trader" as the main course project, Mummy was actually home most nights of the week except the 1 meeting a week on MBA competition. This semester is hopefully Mummy's last semester and it's the most rigorous one of all.

Both classes must be in person and tons of work/reading. As a a result, Erik doesn't get a lot of Mummy time. Even on evenings when Mummy does not have to be in class, it's spent either studying or working.

Yes, Erik, Mummy misses you dearly and is hoping to be done with the program once and for all.

On the upside, Daddy & Grandma Katy has been doing a fantastic job in filling that void as much as possible. Daddy continues to do activities with Erik, which included being the concrete driveway artist that he is. Daddy actually drew an entire scene of Lumpy, Tigger, and Pooh on our driveway with Erik just a week ago with sidewalk chalk. The very next day, Grandma Katy were greeted with 20+ shrieking children outside our driveway pointing excitedly of all the drawings Daddy & Erik made the night before. It was the local in-home day care children taking their routine walks with their teachers, admiring the art. HAHA!

Not Just A Play Date But An entire Play DAY!

Erik absolutely adores our close friends, Connie & Ed's, three children (JC, Amanda, and Ashley). It is not too often do we get to visit and see them though so it's always an extra effort to coordinate and plan for a play date.

However, our usual expected play date of a couple hours, almost ALWAYS end up to be an entire DAY because everybody seemed to have a "play date". The recent past Saturday was NO different. Mummy & Grandma Katy decided to take the morning "off" and go to a local Women's Health Conference, in order to meet the Duchess of York!! WhooHoo!! Mummy was about to bail out on the event but since we all knew that Grandma Katy are very much into royalty, we stuck to the initial plan. As a result, Mummy coordinated with Aunty Connie for a play date for Erik & Daddy too.

Erik gets to play with his 3 buddies where he gets special guest/baby treatment from the oldest, JC, and Amanda. Then he gets to play and rough house with Ashley. Plus he gets to go swimming with the kiddies. For Daddy, he gets to play too on the computer on a mutual virtual game that Aunty Connie, Uncle Ed, and Daddy share a passion for many many years ago. Pre-Kids, Daddy & Mummy would've been gaming with Uncle Ed all weekend long! HAHA!

By lunch time rolled around, where Daddy actually packed marinated chicken to grill and make a "home made" meal for the afternoon. What an awesome Daddy!!! Mummy & Grandma Katy arrived, ready to resume our family time. However, Erik & the 3 kiddies had entirely different ideas. They scattered about into the kiddies' rooms and played instead. Neighborhood kids started showing up 1 by 1 and good gosh, at one time, there were more than 8 children inside the house! Erik also had to nap in Ashley's room and his buddy Ashley decided that she would also nap too and wait for Erik to get up and play :o) haha! Quite adorable.

So our planned play date of a couple hours turned into an entire Play Day where everybody got to catch up with each other!! Time well spent.

Takara Tommy

Just what every parents wants for their kids - a car that can scale walls and to all things we like to keep out of our children's hands.