A Little Way Too Much (continued)

Celebration Day 2: Relaxation Before The Storm
So the day after the whole local Zoo visit, Mummy & Daddy took a vacation day off from work. This is our family tradition ever since Erik was born. Daddy & Mummy both agreed that it was important to spend the day together, as a celebration of Erik's special day, as an opportunity for us to shower him with love and attention, and as a bonding moment for us as family. Yes, a lot rolled into this one particular day.

The morning started out fabulous, with a late wake-up call, basically we let Erik sleep in. It was the usual Daddy & Boo Boo wake-up routine and breakfast time with ham & eggs. Grandma Katy offered Erik Two Hard-Boiled Eggs as well for symbolic reasons; it is supposed to bring our Boo Boo good luck. He also got to blow out his birthday candle from one of Grandpa Tom's cupcakes! He got lots of cool birthday gifts as well!! (A stuffed-toy raccoon from Grandpa Tom, DVDs, Madagascar & Nemo in Cantonese from Grandma Katy, plus red packet from both of them, a very spiffy sun/water outfit from his Uncle Penjo!!) What a well-loved child from everybody! THANK YOU for helping us celebrate Erik's birthday!


Erik jumping up and down his Grandparents' bed looking into his birthday presents!


Then it was off to an activity of Erik's choice. He chose his ultimate favorite "Bounce House!". Daddy, Mummy, and Erik (just the 3 of us) drove to the bounce house play area and had a good solid 1.5 of fun! We'd jumped, dived, climbed together in different bounce houses. Our two-year-old would just be smiling away and giggling as well. He thoroughly enjoyed the gigantic slide and would invite his best buddy "Daddy come with me!" Poor Daddy, he had to find a way to "fit" in the slide!! HAHAH! We bounced ourselves crazy by acting like the "3" Little Monkeys and bonked our heads.


Erik found his birthday presents and thought it was just AWESOME!


Erik loving his new rash guard (thank you Uncle Penjo!)

After bounce house, it was back to a simple lunch with Grandpa & Grandma at home and off to a nice long nap! Much needed too for Erik, Mummy, and Daddy!!

After the nap, we lounged around home for a bit, playing with toys, light reading, no rush to any where and then it was off to the neighborhood park, which Erik chose as his PM activity for the 3 of us. We ran in the grassy fields. Boo Boo got to sit in the bucket swing! He climbed up and down the play structure and slid down the slide. He also got to "play" a little in the park's amphiteather and did his "Elephant March" for us. It was quite adorable!


What A Big Boy!

Picnic Time!

Erik also requested to sit down for an impromptu picnic at the park. He just held Mummy's hand and led the 3 of us to a table way out in the fields. Then he kindly inquired about his "Milk" and "Dip Dip" (aka Pretzel Sticks & Cheese packaged snack). Mummy had to walk all the way back to the parking lot to grab his snacks. Sheesh!! Then we just sat there in a lovely weekday late-afternoon for a solid 15-20minutes. We just talked with Erik for a bit, inquired about his previous day's passing (Zoo visit at school), whether he enjoyed the bounce house earlier in the morning, who are some of his friends, what are their names, is Erik excited about celebrating his big birthday at the park with his friends on the coming weekend?! Etc Etc. It just goes on and find stuff to talk to our 2-year-old about. HAHA!


Erik's FIRST Ice-Cream Cake: Strawberry flavored ice cream


Daddy asked Erik earlier in the day, whether he'd like to have ice cream or cake or ice cream cake for his birthday. Of course, our smartie son blurted out "ice cream cake!" So it was off to the shop where Erik got to sample a little different ice cream flavor: Pink Ice Cream (aka Strawberry flavor). Yeah! It was an immediate favorite and hit...thus strawberry ice cream cake it was!!


Erik was "waiting" and "waiting" to blow out his birthday candles!


Happy Family!


After dinner, we served Erik his cake and before we even finished singing the "Happy Birthday" song to him...Erik blew out both of his candles all by himself! Guess our son was just too eager for dessert!


Erik is enjoying a huge chunk of his birthday cake!


Our Happy Little Birthday Boy!



Celebration Day 3: The Ultimate Party
Okay, this toddler party was absolutely crazy! Erik was so super-excited about his birthday party that again, he woke up early sensing the business in the household. Mummy & Daddy were up late night making sure everything was just right. Grandpa Tom and Grandma Katy were also up late night preparing all the home made food.

We invited over 25+ families that we knew to come on over to our neighborhood park for a "Simple Picnic BBQ". Simple is a term that Mummy uses in hopes of really...keeping it simple (i.e. just an entree or two with a couple of salads and drinks, that's it) but when Daddy, Grandpa, and Grandma comes into the play, simple goes out the window and is replaced with elaborate catering. Grandparents insisted on homecooked food since it'd be something that our friends and family would not be able to get elsewhere. Plus being awesome chefs and bakers they are, who could resist?!

THEME
The birthday theme was animals. Erik loves Jungle Book 1 & 2, fishes, and zoos. As a result, Daddy was in-charge of drawing out a birthday jungle theme on the concrete floor at the park. Daddy did an amazing job with the chalk art and our little Boo Boo loved it! While Grandpa Tom was in charge of baking a homemade cake in a very special handcarved ELEPHANT!!! When Daddy asked Erik what kind of birthday cake he wanted...of course our boy answered "Elephant Cake" and Grandpa was absolutely indulgent, what a great Grandpa!

We had to enroll another of our good friend, Van (aka Uncle Van to Erik), to help Daddy out. Van came early morning, I mean early, like 8:00am! to help out when the party starts at 10:30am! He and Daddy went out to the park and started grilling the chickens, helped Mummy with the balloon decorations, etc.

We also had to enlist Grandma Wai to be Erik's sole babysitter while the household was in full run mode early morning. Daddy, Mummy, and Van would be at the park. Grandpa Tom and Grandma Katy would be cooking in our 'residential' kitchen of all the food! Grandma Wai's duty: Keep Erik entertained and out of harms way. HAHA!





BIRTHDAY GAMES
We couldn't rent the entire park but only the shaded pavillions/picnic area. Each side could host 35 people comfortably. We needed BOTH sides! As you can imagine, lots of wonderful friends showed up to celebrate our special guy's birthday! Mummy was in charge of the games. We had a little "PlayDoh" Treasure Hunt as a ice breaker. Small playdohs were 'buried' in the parks' sandpit with the children's names on them. Each child is to go find one playdoh and with the assistance of an adult, if the name does not match the child, then they will have to find the appropriate owner. This allows families that do not know each other well to 'inter mingle' a bit more.





Erik of course was absolutely tired! By the end of Game #1, our birthday boy had to take a nap right in the middle of his party! Too overwhelming! He napped in the shade where our good friend, Edward (aka Uncle Edwah), made a make-shift nap pad & pillow with their beach towels. Grandma Katy and Grandma Wai sat down to make sure Erik was snoozing alright while the party goes on.





Game #2 was a Birthday Egg Hunt. Think Easter Egg Hunt recreated. Mummy & Grandma Katy stuffed a total of 172 eggs with only stickers & temporary tattoos (animals of course). NO candies, it's a healthier version. Originally we thought we were actually going to have 36 children attending the birthday party!! Yeah, all the baby magazine recommending inviting the # of children matching the age, went OUT the window as well! Think of it as chaos but in a fun way!





There was supposed to be a third game where each child gets an "animal" hat and would walk out of the park's amphitheater while the parents sang "Old McDonald Had a ZOO" and does the animal sounds of the child's hat. However, by that time, the weather was H.O.T and reaching toddler's nap time of 12:30pm! So many guests started to leave so their children can sleep....so we abandoned the Zoo walk and just passed out the hats as favors! HAHA!



THE FOOD
"Oh My!" was a lot of the responses from our friends when they saw trays and trays of food being brought out from our van. It literally filled the entire 16 feet table long of homecooked FOOD! Thanks so much to Erik's loving grandparents and Daddy's parents for all their effort. They made A LOT of food and many based on our friends' special diet like vegetarian and gluten-free/wheat-free, etc. Tom & Katy are just the nicest grandparents a kid could have. (Erik, you are VERY lucky to be well loved by your family!)



So here are some of the dishes made (homecooked)
1. Chaana & Chapati: Garbanzo beans mixed with Indian spices served on Indian fried bread
2. Chicken Rolls: Stir-fried chicken & onions rolled into handmade flat bread
3. Potato Rolls: Spiced potato mixture rolled into handmade flat bread
4. Handmade Baked Samosas
5. Vegetable Fried Rice with Eggs
6. Tandoor Chicken Drumsticks (BBQ'ed fresh that morning at the park by Daddy)
7. Mac n' Cheese (made by Daddy just for the kids)
8. Chicken Nuggets (this one is store bought, thank goodness!)
9. Mixed Fruit including blueberries, watermelon, strawberries. Mmmm!
10. 80+ homebaked and decorated cupcakes made from scratch by Grandpa Tom!
11. Elephant Birthday Cake for dessert!



There's more but Mummy can't remember anymore. Let's just say there were A LOT of food and in many multiple trays!!

Looking back, it was a GREAT party, absolutely. However, Mummy and Daddy hate to admit it but the experts were right! It was absolutely waaaaay (overly) overwhelming for Erik! The after-party was when he really let loose and became our happy little camper again. After the party, our friend Lianne and Van came back to our house. Erik was just super relaxed and sweet and wanting to play with his new buddy, his uncle Van! LOL! So for next year...don't be expecting another "super-toddler" party, people, we'll be doing just a family one!!

Thanks everybody for joining in on Erik's BIG TWO Birthday Bash at the Park!

The families that attended were:

Grandma Wai

Grandpa Tom & Grandma Katy

Daddy & Mummy (of course)

Van

Lianne

The Brewer Family (Steve, Allison, and Jackson)

The Chen Family (Oliver, Sherry, and Austin)

The Dudek Family (Kevin, Marie, Lauren, Nick, and baby Douglas)

The Duong Family (Danh, Shawny, Talia and Ethan)

The Gatlin Family (Russ and Makena)

The Higa Family (Steve, Sylvia, and Tyler)

The Lafler Family (Leda & Guilia)

The Layne Family (Rich, Cara, Maggie, and Will)

The Lewis Family (Kristy, Grandma Joan, and Audrey)

The Mailman Family (Karl, Lynette, and Karalyn)

The Nguyen Family (Kelly, Tai, and Ryan - thanks for driving 2+ hours!)

The Priolo Family (Matt, Miriam, and Gabriel - thanks for sharing your bounce house!)

The Qu Family (Yan, Jessica, and Amelia)

The Raigosa Family (Edward, Connie, Jonatha, Amanda, and Ashley)

The Ritchey Family (Tamara & Cooper)

The Sadang Family (Nelson, Jo, Sky, and Jules)

The Shueh Family (Clark, Joannie, and Jeremy)

The Wong Family (Chris, Monica, and Kelly)

The Yasuda Family (Steve, Cathie, and Elysse)

The Zhang Family (Jing, Lin, and Jason)

How Do You Know Your Parents Love You (A Little Way Too Much)?

How Do You Know Your Parents Love You (A Little Way Too Much)? The fact that your parents celebrated your 2nd birthday with a 3 day celebration! Call it crazy! Call it overboard! Call it whatever you'd like but that's exactly what Mummy & Daddy did for Erik!! Our boy is definitely spoiled.

Like any good Bollywood celebration or Hollywood celebrity birthday, we went all out and crazy. Reason, Mummy & Daddy were just super excited to celebrate Erik's birthday and so were the ever indulging Grandpa Tom and Grandma Katy!!



Celebration Day 1
Daddy & Mummy had been planning for weeks, if not months, in advance of how to celebrate a special day. A day when we became a family! A family of 3! A day when we realized everything else in the world is insignificant except the time that we have with each other! So for the day prior to Erik's actual birthday, Daddy & Mummy sponsored the local Zoo to come on out to Erik's school for a pre-school animal introduction program!



Mummy & Daddy invited two classes between the ages 2 - 3 plus a handful in the Toddler class (just barely under 2). It was an audience of 28 children plus 5 teachers and of course, our family including Grandpa Tom & Grandma Katy. Erik was so super excited about his "birthday celebration" that our little guy woke up at exactly 5:00am!! He started singing "Happy Birthday" to Erik all morning long as he got ready for his 'big celebration'.



By the time we went to school and the Zoo Mobile came in the morning, Erik was super tired! Poor thing! He sat on Mummy's lap during the whole zoo program but he still got to enjoy it with all of his classmates! Our little Boo Boo got to see 2 whistling ducks (they do not quack but go Beee! Beeee! Beee!), got to see an African hedgehog (which he actually touched before during many Daddy & Son Zoo outings), a Blue-Tongued Lizard, and a s-l-o-w Box Turtle! The 20-minute program went by really fast and it was filled with laughter and giggles from all the children.



After the program, it was off to the school patio for a cupcake & juice celebration with 3 classes (Two 2-3 year olds plus Toddler Class), rounding the children to be about 42 plus 8+ teachers and school Director! Thanks to Grandpa Tom's homemade cupcakes (he's the baker in the family), the children devour cupcake like no tomorrow. Of course, all the frosting that was put on it...was scraped off! For some reason, the teachers believed sugars make children hyper?! Hmmmm! Isn't that a myth?





Erik ate about 1/2 of a cupcake and by that time, he was super tired and grouchy. Meltdown time...so we ended his school day early so he can just rest up with Grandpa and Grandma at home instead! Whooo! Day 1 Celebration was HARD stuff for a 2 year old!

Happy Bald – Happy Birthday Son

Dearest Boo Boo

I can’t believe that two years have gone by so fast. It’s been an unbelievable ride – I have never been more tired and more satisfied with my life than these last few years. Mommy and I always ask each other – what did we do without you in our life. I feel that Mummy has gone ahead and stole a lot of my thunder (see post) – but she really remembers a lot more than I do. I just want you to know that I love you dearly. I love how you drive us crazy – but more than that I love that the both of us can drive Mommy bonkers. Especially when you copy Daddy and do the things Mommy doesn’t approve off. (Poop watching, licking food and anything yucky off your fingers, giving wet kisses – blowing raspberries on Mummy’s stomach and anything boyish) I love you darling.

I still remember cradling you in my arms the night you were born – totally exhausted and refusing to close my eyes – I was afraid to drop you or have someone walk into the room and take you. You were just a few inches – and now you are getting closer to Mommy’s height. I love reading stories to you – while you rest on my arms. I love our outings together just you and me – whether we go to the zoo for the millionth time, playground, pool or even the grocery store.

And yes, daddy has lost a lot of hair since the day I first saw you. You will always be Daddy’s baby and I will love you forever. I love you through and through.

Love Daddy.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Erik!

How time flies so fast as we're having fun?! Yes, Mummy knows that she will be forever repeating this as our little Erik approaches each milestone in life. However, honestly, Mummy & Daddy CANNOT believe how it flew by so fast and all of a sudden, we have a beautiful and active 2-year-old in our hands!


(Left to Right: April 2007, May 2007, June 2007)


(Left to Right: June 2007, July 2007)


(Left to Right: August 2007, September 2007)


(Left to Right: October 2007, November 2007)


(Left to Right: December 2007, January 2008)


(Left to Right: February 2008, March 2008)

Dear Erik,
Happy Birthday! Your Daddy and I cannot believe you are already two years old. Every day we are so thankful that you came into our lives! We became a loving family of 3 because of you! Our world is so much brighter because we get to see things through your eyes. We are so proud of you for being who you are, a wonderful and loving boy!

You have achieved some amazing milestones already. You love to be read to by Daddy and Mummy. You know most of the colors quite well "Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Pink, and Purple" in both English and Cantonese. You recognize the letters (and keep pointing to ask for more explanation), you can recognize the upper case letters "A", "E", "O", "S", "M", "T", "P". Daddy taught you how to spell "STOMP" because that was one of your favorite dinosaur books "Stomp, Stomp" by Bob Kolar. Without fail, you love to be held in Daddy's arms, while being read to during bedtime. You often request "Monkey Puzzle" by Julia Donaldson. You also have a new found love for "Bob & Otto" by Robert O. Bruel. Mummy will often read to you in Cantonese and you would pick 2 to 3 of your favorite books before bed time. Sometimes we'd read about "Tabitha & Jessica", tales of a mouse and baby elephant. You don't know yet that Mummy's name is the same as one of the characters. You also request that Mummy hold you in your arms but often you get a little distracted and asks to nurse instead.

You've grown so much over the year already! You are an almost whopping 30lb boy! Oh my! Your 24 months onesies are quite a vertical stretch for you nowadays and your Daddy and I are quite sad to know that you won't be using onesies for too much longer. Some of the 2Ts clothes are just right on you and some of them are a bit small! 3T tops and pants fits a lot better on you. You're already wearing size 7 shoes but we think you'll be outgrowing them by beginning of summer into 7.5 or 8! Good gosh, where did our little baby go? You still sleep with Mummy and Daddy, actually you prefer to sleep while one of us is cuddling you in our arms! Sometimes Mummy and Daddy's arms get a bit numb in the middle of the night from holding you for so long. You are so long now that when you turn sideways in our bed, you would actually kick Daddy in the middle of the night. Poor Daddy! However, you're getting more independent every day, some nights, you actually crawl to your own crib and sleep in there by yourself. SIGH!

You are into sports already. You love going to the swimming pool with Daddy. You happily show Daddy how you can jump from the side of the pool into the pool and then 'paddle' a bit to Daddy. You love going under water and can 'swim' a little bit if Daddy is maybe a toddler arm's away from you. However, you hate wearing the swim goggles and we have not yet been successful in making you wear them! You also love to play 'basketball' with Daddy. We have a toddler size basketball hoop at home for you and you love DUNKING the ball. You also love throwing the "Magic Flower Ball". It's an orange ball that you can squish together and made flat to throw like a frisbee but you think of it as a flower instead. You are into riding your little trike as well. You don't even mind wearing your Elmo helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads that I make you wear all the time as long as you get to sit on that trike and be pushed around by Daddy or Mummy. You know to put your feet on the pedals and ring the bell on the trike but still working on how to peddle.

At school, you love to play with all of your friends. You didn't have particular best buddies but you liked being with all your friends including Audrey, Karalyn, Kelly, Gabriel, Jackson, Jeremy, and a new friend, Matthew. However, you may have experienced your first toddler love, you even once declared your love in public at a restaurant shouting "I Love You, Karalyn!" when she wasn't even there. You also loved to take care of the new "babies" that came into the class to make them feel welcome and I was told that you were super gentle with the babies or smaller toddlers and would bring them toys and drinks. One of your favorite teachers is Miss Tara! You made a special rainbow just for her during class, even when Daddy and I asked you, "was the rainbow for us?", you'd shook your head and said "No, Miss Tara!". You're a big time hugger from what I was told. You'd start out hugging one friend and then all of a sudden, you had to go and hug all the other friends one by one. You also loved following the big kids around during outside play as you move to the next classroom. If the big kids wanted to climb and sit on the drums you'd pick the shortest one and try to do exactly that. You are also into finding and collecting rocks all around the playground. You give them out as a 'token of affection'! Very cute!

Your palate for food is also growing! Your favorite food is still an all-time Macaroni and Cheese, whether it is homemade by Daddy or box mixed. You can down a whole bowl of it plus some more. You also have a taste for fish, shrimp, crab, and anything seafood. We had to limit your seafood intake to only 3 times a week because you love it so much! You also love Daddy's homemade special pasta! Mmmm! You'd get all messy face whenever you eat it. At home, we still feed you like a little baby but you are more than capable in using a fork on your own. You even like to cut some of your own food, using your plastic knife. You also like eating Grandma Katy's homemade wontons w/shrimp. You've started loving vegetables and takes big bites out of broccoli, baby and regular-size corn, cauliflower, carrots, and straw mushrooms but they have to be stir-fried Chinese-style! You were also opened to different ethnic foods like Thai (You loved their Raad Na noodles), Mexican (spanish style rice - you call them "Orange Rice"), and Indian. However, we found out you didn't like "Orange Milk" known as Mango Lassi from our favorite Indian restaurant but you liked eating Paper Masala Dosa! Daddy was proud of you for that! You are also really into cooking, both pretend and real! Your morning routine with Daddy is helping him make "Ham & Eggs" for you! You'd crack the egg with Daddy's help but you'd also beat the egg a bit. You love sprinkling in the cheese. You are just driving for more independence every day!

Our conversations with you are so interesting at times. You'd happily recall events from school of what you did and what you liked. You will command both Mummy and Daddy to sit in certain places during meal times. Even at night time when Daddy is super tired and would ask Erik to do story time instead, you'd make up "Dora the Explorer" story, along with Daddy's help. Your imagination is just wonderful, Mummy thinks you got this creativity part from Daddy. You love pretend play. One of the pretend play is "Safari Hunting" in your own bedroom. Daddy & Mummy would turn off all the lights and only provide you with a flashlight while all 3 of us are inside. We'd close the door and then we start "hunting" for a Lion...and you would use your flashlight to find the Lion on the wall. You still remember your ASL signs and would use them to make your point. If you wanted Mummy to sit down and mummy didn't on your first verbal request, you would immediately say "Mummy Sit Down" but would also sign "SIT" as well, in case Mummy didn't get it.

Daddy and I started a family tradition ever since you were born. We always took your birthday off from work in order to spend time with you and to let you know that you are well loved and thought about no matter what! We spend the day however you like. This year, we gave you simple choices of park, zoo, or bounce house. Well, you eagerly replied "bounce house!" so off to the bounce house we went for our morning celebration! Daddy and I didn't just sit aside and let you run around and bounce yourself. Oh no! We climbed after you and played with you in the slide structures. We'd crawled into the bounce houses and happily jump with you. Whew! That was tiring! We even had a family reenactment of "3 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed". You excitedly said "Mommy called Daddy and Daddy said" not the doctor!

Our darling Erik, Happy 2nd Birthday! We love you more and more as each day goes by. We can't wait to see what you will achieve in the next year!

Love,
Mummy & Daddy

How Our Lives Have Changed

Weekends pre-Erik was pretty mellow and slow at times. We are not the sort of people to go out clubbing or do some hard-core partying. Never done that in high school nor college and don't really plan on doing it now, especially when we are parents! Of course, don't get us wrong, we're not as straight-laced as we sound either. We're just pretty much go with the flow and content with just being ourselves and enjoy going out for hikes, movies, day-trips to the city, biking, kayaking, etc.

However, after-Erik, our weekends are fast-paced as ever with its baby and kid-filled events! We still enjoy the occasional hikes as you can see on some of the pictures from previous posts but the hikes are much shorter now and only on fair weather days. Somehow our calendars are now filled with double events if not triple at times. I guess we're more popular with our friends now that we have Erik. Sheesh! ;o) hahaha With Mummy's pondering and blabbing, we basically spent a weekend with babies!

On Sunday, we attended one of our friend's birthday party (Happy Birthday, Tracy!). Erik got to see Aydin, who is only 6 days older than Erik. Aydin is already crawling all over the place! We didn't get a chance to see them for a whole 6+ weeks already so it was nice to see how they have both grown. The birthday party was pretty relaxing and laid back, plus we even got treated to a Karaoke Singing act by the birthday girl herself! LOL! Absolutely loved the idea but Mummy and Daddy were not brave enough to sing though!

After the party, we babysat Austin, Erik's buddy (aka big bro Austin). It was Austin's parents 11th year wedding anniversary, so they definitely deserve a night out to themselves (Happy Anniversary, Oliver and Sherry!). That's when Erik's "new" temperment emerged. He was holding his ground on the toys with Austin. Erik grabbing stuff away from Austin, who is 1 year old already! Sigh! Then, Erik wouldn't eat his dinner and had a melt down from all the excitement of the day. On the other hand, Austin was just the cutie pie and couldn't wait to sample our homemade baby food. He was opening his mouth eagerly for it! As a result, Daddy coined Austin as his "long-lost son" because Austin is a "Foodie" already ;o) hahahaha Erik also showed us his jealous side and wanted to cling to Mummy or Daddy as soon as we picked up Austin! Erik would hold Daddy's leg and look at him longingly as if saying "What about me, Daddy?!" Definitely a different side of our little angel is the fact that he was a bit "rougher", Erik actually grabbed Austin's collar and grabbing whatever Austin had in his hands to play with. We were like, wow! is this what Erik is like during school? Is he going to be a little bully?! .... ok ok, we're just over-analyzing but its a bit of a reality check for us that Erik does behave differently in different situations.