14 months

It's so hard keeping up with Junior these days.  He's never still for even 2 seconds...

He's learned to put things in the recycling bin.  We have to be careful to check it before we take it out for garbage day, because he hasn't quite gotten the idea that it's for trash only.

He loves playing with Mommy's brush.  He'll brush his own hair and try to brush yours.  For some reason he also loves putting Mommy's brush under the oven.  We're not sure why.

All of sudden he's using sign language too.  We had been trying to teach him a few signs since he was about 6 months old, but gave up because it seemed he just wasn't interested.  Starting a couple of weeks ago, he suddenly began using the sign for milk.  Now he's also doing "more" and "water".   He could probably learn some more words, but that's the extent of what Mommy and Daddy know too.   For spoken language, his second word is officially "sock" in Cantonese or "mut".  For some reason he really loves socks.

Thankfully he's still a pretty good eater.  He's not picky at all, as long as he's in the mood to eat.  He loves veggies, especially red bell peppers.  He'll even eat brussel sprouts.

Happy Halloween

This year Junior was a panda for halloween.  He could have passed for Po from Kung Fu Panda since his belly is almost as big.  We went to a couple of parties to show off his costumes:  one for Daddy's work and the other for our neighborhood.  Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, Grandma K got an extra 4 days to spend with Junior and see him in costume.

King panda climbing the tower

He's learned a few more tricks recently.  The biggest is that walking is now his favorite way to mobilize.  We haven't seen him crawling in a couple of weeks.  He's also gotten really good at opening and closing screw cap tops.  His favorite is Mommy's night cream jar.

We think his first word might be "ba" for banana.   When he eats one he gets really excited and yells "BA"!  He definitely knows what it's called, because whenever we say "banana", he looks over to the kitchen table and points to one.

BA is the best!

He's also becoming the budding photographer.  Here's a picture he took of Mommy.  He hasn't learned yet which angles and poses are flattering or unflattering....

 He'll never let a fart go unnoticed.  If he hears someone farting near him, he'll stop everything and go "bpbpbpb!" trying to imitate the sound.  So let that be a warning to everyone... He'll call you out.

First birthday!

Junior is already a year old!  We can't believe the year has gone by this fast.  He has grown so much so quickly.  There is no question that this little guy has a mind of his own, and he's just as stubborn as Daddy.  Luckily he was in his best behavior for the birthday festivities.  Grandma K, Grandaunties and Great-Grandma all came to help celebrate the traditional Korean way.... which basically involves dressing Junior up in different outfits and taking lots of pictures.

We had the traditional Korean table setting and a little game where Junior had to pick a toy out of a few choices.  The toy he picks is supposed to signify what he will become in the future.  He had to choose between a stethoscope, money, microphone and pen.  Mommy and Daddy were both rooting for the money, but Junior picked the microphone instead.  He's gonna be a K-pop star.

He had his 1-year check-up the other day, and the doctor is pleased with his development.  He's still 90th percentile in height at 31.25 inches, but he slipped to 75th percentile in weight at 24 lbs 12 oz.  As always, he was very well-behaved at the doctor's visit, so she never believes us when we say that he can be a terror.  "What are they talking about?  You're such a good boy!"  she says to him.  Ha!  Those are the ones you have to watch out for later on.

Chicago

This past weekend we went to Chicago to see Mommy's college friend get married.  Grandma K also met us there.  It was the first time we went on a real trip since Seattle.  Seattle was a piece of cake compared to Chicago.  This flight was 4 hours each way, and Junior was difficult to control for most of the time in the air.  While in Chicago, he was too overstimulated to eat and the hotel crib was too small to sleep in comfortably.  Needless to say it was an exhausting experience.

Who me?  I'm innocent!

In Sofitel's way too small crib

Bleary-eyed Junior at 5am. 

On our way to Garrett's popcorn

First steps!

11 months old

Time flies.  We can't believe Junior is just 1 month shy of turning 1 year old.  He's getting more mobile these days, especially with his alligator walker toy.  Yesterday he took a few steps on his own trying to reach mommy.  He's still far from walking on his own, but each day his balance seems to be improving.

We've been really lucky that Junior is a great sleeper (knock on wood).  We haven't had to wake up in the middle of the night to put him back to sleep since before he was 6 months old.  Now he's sleeping even longer at night, usually from 8pm to 8am.  He falls asleep on his own, as long as we don't leave the room before he dozes off.  He's content as long as one of us is sitting in the rocking chair while he rolls around in the crib trying to fall asleep.  We hope he keeps this up.

These days he waits with nanny outside for Mommy to come home from work.  As soon as he sees Mommy's car, he'll start pointing and getting excited.  It's a nice way to come home.  He loves to press the button to close the garage door, and he'll ring our doorbell before going inside too.

He waves "bye bye" pretty consistently now, especially when he's saying bye to grandma for our daily skype sessions.  He waves with a limp floppy hand motion, which is funny because he uses brute force for everything else.

I like pointing.

More pointing

My little buddy KJS

10 and a half months

Junior went to his first wedding last weekend.  It was held in Sonoma county.  The drive up took longer than expected, but Junior thankfully slept most of the way.  He only takes one nap a day now, so we just left when it was time for his nap.  He was very well-behaved at the wedding too.  He's the first baby among Mommy and Daddy's college friends, so he was quite the hit.

I love peas.

Mommy just got him a fun little walker.  It seems a little short for him, but he loves it anyway.  Here he is in action.

10 months old

Junior turned 10 months old last week.  His appetite continues to amaze us.  Late afternoon to evening is his time of biggest consumption.  The other day he ate a whole avocado, 4oz yogurt, one baby bel cheese, half a pear, and 8 oz of formula.... all between 5-8pm.  Most of his weight is in the belly, although he feels solidly built in the arms and legs too.

He can do a couple of more tricks in addition to the ones from last blog.  Both tricks are Korean.  First is the one called "do-ri, do-ri".  Basically he shakes his head like he's saying "no" but he's actually doing the trick.  The other one, called "gon-ji gon-ji", is when he points to the palm of the other hand.  He doesn't really do the tricks on our command.  Instead, we think he does the tricks so that he can make us say the words.

He's one step closer to walking.  He uses the big box that his new convertible car seat came in, and uses it as support for walking.  The box is so big that he can't really take too many steps before something gets in the way.  We'll have to invest in something that's a little more functional as a walker.

Almost 10 months

Junior's learned a few more tricks over the past couple of weeks.  Nanny taught him how to do a gesture called "cheng cheng".  We're not sure what it means, but Junior will interlock his fingers and raise his hands up and down when you say it.  He does it the most when he's on his highchair at mealtimes.  We think he associates it with yummy food.   He'll also clap for you when he's happy or if you tell him to in Korean.  He's starting to show a little sympathy too.  When mommy pretends to be hurt and crying, he'll crawl over and give her a gentle pat and a big sloppy kiss.

Sleeping is still a work in progress.  Nanny was spending anywhere between 20-25 minutes trying to get Junior to fall asleep for naps.  Finally we realized that he's transitioning to only one nap a day instead of two.  Once we moved his first and only nap to a couple of hours later, he took significantly less time to fall asleep.  At bedtime, we are trying a new technique, which is basically staying in the room until he falls asleep, but no holding or tapping him to sleep.  This can take a whole hour for him to fall asleep, but he doesn't cry at least.  We're hoping the length of time will shorten eventually.

Swimming has become one of Junior's favorite activities.  We tried out a new swim school this weekend.  He doesn't care where he goes, as long as there is water.  He doesn't even mind if the pool is not heated.  We don't think he gets much out of formal waterbabies classes yet, so we're planning to wait until he's a little older before restarting classes.  For now, he's happy to just hang out with Mommy and Daddy in the pool.

9 months old

Our little guy is already 9 months old!  Time flies.  At his checkup, he weighed in at 22 lb, 11oz with a height of 30 inches on the dot.  Surprisingly, that means he's gotten a little skinnier:  80th percentile for weight, 90th for height.  Daddy is slowly giving up his dream of having a sumo wrestler son.  Our pediatrician is satisfied with his growth curve though.  She thinks he'll eventually be lower than 50th percentile for weight.  We'll see.  There was a little time left in our appointment, so in less than a minute  she taught him how to do high-fives.  If only it were that easy to teach him to do other things, like lying still for diaper changes, or holding his pee in the bathtub.
Another trick is if you tell him to give you a "pbo-pbo" (kiss in Korean), he'll come at you with his mouth wide open and try to slobber your face with his drooly mouth.  It's a little gross, but we let him do it since it's so darn cute.
He loves to mess things up now.  He'll dump all his toys out of the box and scatter them all over.  He can't resist knocking down any tower of blocks that you build in front of him.  The little munchkin is sneaky too.  Sometimes he'll hang back until your guard is down, and then he'll suddenly lunge at the blocks to knock them over.
He's able to stand really fast now, and he's starting to cruise along furniture too.  Always on the move.  We can never get too comfortable when he's awake.

Turtles everywhere

Junior's second swim class was a little better than his first one.  He cried less and actually appeared to enjoy himself at times.  Most of the babies in the class are older than 1 year, so mommy is thinking that maybe we should have waited a few more months.  Oh well.  Hopefully he'll get better each week.
At least he's one of the more stylish babies in the class.  We got a cute little UV protectant swim romper. (This chubby guy fits size 18-24 months.)



He absolutely loves this outfit.  Even before he wore it for the first time, he wanted to roll around and play with it.  We think he likes the cool stretchy fabric, the colors, and the sea turtle.  Like his Aunty L, turtles are one of his favorites.

He's got a riding turtle....




and a turtle sprayer too.

Poor Sophie

Junior is getting better and better at standing up now.  He loves to practice in his pack 'n play.  Since he can reach over the top of the playpen while standing, he's discovered that it's fun to toss things out.  His favorite toy to eject is Sophie the giraffe.  

Revenge of the board book

Poor Junior was attacked by the board book last week.  He crawled over to the bookshelf to chew on the corners of his favorite book.  He pulled it down to the floor, but it landed on its edge.  Somehow Junior lost balance, and his face hit the edge of the book.  He got his first black eye, and we're sure it won't be his last.

8 months old

Junior is 8 months old!  We still can't believe how fast he's growing.  We think he's at least 22 or 23 pounds by now.  He sure feels heavy.  His appetite is growing fast too.  We've switched him mostly to formula now, with breastmilk only when he wakes up in the morning and before bedtime.  There's no way of knowing how much breastmilk he gets, but he gets about 15-18 oz of formula a day.  On top of that, he's eating solids at least 3 times a day.  He enjoys solids much more now that he finds chewing fun.  We mix small well-cooked pieces of veggies with his rice cereal or porridge, and he gobbles it right up.  Usually we underestimate the portions, so he goes for seconds.  We are constantly amazed at how much this little guy can eat.  We'll have to ask the doctor at our next visit if it's alright to keep feeding him so much.  He could have eaten more for dinner tonight, even after eating 3oz of avocado, 6oz rice porridge with veggies, 2oz tofu, and 4oz of formula... all within 1 hour.

I love bread.

Look at those chompers!

He's probably burning a lot of calories, so maybe there's nothing to worry about.  There's hardly a moment that he'll sit still nowadays.  Crawling is becoming faster and faster.  He's starting to kneel more and is close to pulling up to a stand.  Not sure mommy and daddy are ready for a walking Junior yet.

Happy anniversary!

Mommy and Daddy have been married for 6 years!  To celebrate, we went to Half Moon Bay for a day.  We had a nice walk along the coast and posed for a surprisingly good picture where Junior was looking at the camera and smiling.  

7.5 months and crawling

Mommy lost track of counting Junior's age in weeks a long time ago.  He's about 7.5 months old now.  He's learned a bunch of new tricks over the past couple of weeks.  Crawling is a piece of cake now.  He has several different techniques.  The first one he mastered is what we call the "belly slide".  He prefers using the belly slide on smooth surfaces such as our hardwood floor.  He'll use both hands to reach in front and pull his whole body forward while sliding on his belly.  Daddy wants to tape a swiffer cloth onto his belly so that he'll do some cleaning while he's at it.   Next came the standard crawl.  He likes to use this on his playmat since the surface is rubbery and less conducive to the belly slide.   To turn, he'll plop onto his round belly and use the force of his arms pulling on the floor to change directions... the "belly turn".  He can also go from crawling to sitting.  This skill is important if he wants to crawl to the bookshelf, scatter all the books onto the floor, and pick one up to chew on the corners.

Junior's seventh tooth is starting to peek out.  To celebrate, mommy started giving him some rice teething crackers, and he loooooves them!

Say Mama (Umma in Korean)

Grandparents visit and 7 months old

It's been a busy week for Junior.  Grandma and Grandpa K were here visiting.  Grandma is still here, but Grandpa had to go back to work.  We had fun during the time we had all together.  We went for walks, which are Junior's favorite.  His next favorite is being carried around, and between Grandma and Grandpa, he got plenty of that too.

During the few hours before Grandpa had to leave for the airport, we tried to take some family photos in the back yard.  It's pretty hard to get a photo with everyone smiling and looking at the camera.  We never ended up getting a decent picture.  Here are some fails.

Grandma, why so surprised?

Too slow for the timer, Mommy.

200 days old and beyond

We've been busy looking for a suitable nanny, so this post is coming a little late.  Grandaunty BL has been watching Junior for almost 4 months now.  Everyone is sad to see her leave, but she promises to come visit as much as possible.

The days are getting longer and warmer, so Junior is getting more outside time.   He goes out for walks twice a day now.  Once with Grandaunty and once with Mommy after she gets home from work.  His favorite is when Mommy puts him in the hiking pack and takes him up the hill.

He's getting closer to crawling forward now.  He can push himself up on all fours and lunge forward after he builds some momentum.  He likes to practice on mommy and daddy's bed since it's softer than the floor mat.

When it comes to eating solids, he's definitely Asian.  If you mix anything with rice cereal, he will gobble it right up.  He still loves cauliflower and carrots.  We introduced peas and zucchini recently, and those are also on his favorites list.

His bottom two teeth are almost completely out, and the top two are about 1/4 the way out.  He's already bitten one of his sippy cups to uselessness.  Mommy also caught him trying to bite a piece off from her pretzel stick.  We can't let our guard down around him.

90th percentile

Junior's growth seems to be leveling off a little now.  For his 6 month well-baby checkup, he weighed in at 20lb 7oz, 28inches.  This may seem big enough for most babies, but compared to 95th percentile at 4 months, he's now down to 90th percentile.  Maybe he's burning off more calories now.  He is considerably more active compared to just a couple of weeks ago.   He's finally mastered rolling over from stomach to back.  This morning we caught him practicing his new skill over and over.  He now squirms and moves (mostly backwards) all over his playmat.  He'll even do some yoga poses like upward dog, downward dog, and child's pose.

We're also making some more progress with introducing solid foods.  So far he's had rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado, banana, cauliflower, sweet potato, carrots, oranges.  Surprisingly, he did not like sweet potato or bananas very much, but he enjoyed eating cauliflower.  He still prefers his "solids" more on the runny side.  We'll gradually try to thicken his food, but for now he prefers the consistency of tomato soup.  We've given up trying to use infant spoons since they don't hold enough food.  We noticed that he was getting impatient with waiting so much between spoonfuls.   Now we'll either use adult plastic soup spoons or just let him drink straight from a cup.

6 months old

Junior is a half-year old!

He's such a smiley little dude, especially in the morning.  He consistently gets about 11 straight hours of sleep, now that he's eating solids in the evenings.  He would probably sleep for longer, but mommy wakes him up at 7am so that she can see him before heading to work.  At night, he waits for daddy to get home and give him a bath before bedtime.  This schedule has been working well for the past month or so.  We may have finally found a successful routine.... for now.

Here's Junior with Great-grandma when she came to visit last weekend.  

Grandma visits

Grandma Y is in town for 1 week, so over the weekend, we spent time with her and the rest of the clan.  Junior seems to be a little more aware of his cousin now.  They're still not "playing" with each other, but now at least he is acknowledging his cousin's presence by trying to whack him in the face whenever he's within reach. 
Grandma is amused by Junior's large size and Cousin's relatively modest size considering they're 4 months apart.  She says jokingly that Junior has more firmness to his meat and would probably taste better than his cousin.  It's probably true.  Cousin is a few inchest taller, but according to our home scale, they're exactly the same weight.... more meat per bone.

Here's a clip of Grandma holding Junior while he chomps on some oranges pieces.

Videos

Starting solids

Junior had his first taste of real food this week.  It's a little earlier than what the doc recommended, but he was showing all the signs that he was ready:  He sits calmly in his high chair and watches intently as mommy and daddy eat their meal.  He gets excited when mommy lets him have a little taste of her orange.  We can also see another tooth coming in next to his existing one.
His first solid feeding went pretty well.  We started after he had already had some breastmilk, so he wasn't too hungry.  It was a messy affair as expected, but he actually got most of the rice cereal into his belly.  He must have been satisfied, because he slept for 9 hours straight after his first real dinner.  By the second day, he was really savoring his meal.  He liked the taste of it so much, he started licking his bib wanting more.

5 months old

Junior is 5 months old already!  It's been a week full of new developmental milestones for him.  His first tooth popped out last weekend.  He's trying to chew anything that comes within reach, including mommy and daddy's hands, his feet, and unfortunately his source of food.  One little tooth can't do too much damage, so he's still getting breastfed for now.

He's also trying to roll over more deliberately, and sometimes he's successful.  After he's done rolling over, he'll get this funny wide-eyed look on his face that seems to say "Look at me, I did it!"

He's starting to sit on his own a little better each day.  Earlier this week, he could barely sit without falling forward.  Now he's learned to use his hands for support.  He can even play with his toy piano while sitting for a little while.

Last but not least, Junior slept for 11 HOURS STRAIGHT the night before his 5 month birthday.  Chances are he's probably just going through another growth spurt, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise for mommy and daddy.

20 weeks old

Junior hit the big 2-0 this week.  We're still trying to figure out Junior's sleep schedule.  Over the weekend, he magically slept 8 hours straight.  It hasn't been repeated though.  We tried making him tired, but that just made him cranky.  We tried having him take enough naps during the day, but that makes him want to play at 2am.   Now we're thinking he's afraid of the dark, so we're shopping for night lights.

Grandauntie BL went shopping for Junior this weekend and scored some nice deals on some clothes and toys.  Since he can no longer get hand-me-downs from his cousin (they're practically the same size now), she bought some cute outfits.  He really likes the turtle seat she bought for him.  He's not big or strong enough to use it on his own, but he enjoys sitting on it nonetheless.  We think he kinda looks like the turtle too.

He hasn't made too much progress with rolling over.  We thought maybe he was starting to get the hang of it a few weeks ago, but he really hasn't rolled over on his own since.  The doc said she isn't surprised he's not rolling over yet.  Apparently big babies take longer to master that skill.  Makes sense.  Extra fat makes it harder to move.

He's also entered the squealing phase of infancy recently.  Whether it's squealing for joy or yelling to be picked up, the sounds he makes are SUPER LOUD.  He doesn't usually cry anymore (unless he's being put down for naps or bed).  He will instead voice his dissatisfaction by "screaming like a pterodactyl" as auntie puts it.   When he's really excited about something, he'll let out a high pitched squeal loud enough to make the neighborhood dogs bark.  Hopefully it's just a phase and not a permanent form of communication for him.

Last weekend we went to get dimsum with cousin and family.  He was pretty well behaved and even slept in the loud Chinese restaurant.

95th percentile

Daddy is proud.  Junior weighed in at 18 pounds 6 ounces and 26.75 inches tall.  That's 95th percentile for both height and weight.  He's growing like a champ.  Now Daddy's getting a little greedy.  He wants Junior to go for 99th percentile for the 6 month appointment.

Here we are at the doctor's appointment waiting to get the vaccines.  He's got almost as many belly rolls as he does hair strands.

4 months old

Junior turned 4 months old this week.  Some new skills include being able to stand a long time with support, going "ppbbbbbb" with his lips,  and doing the superman on his belly.  He saw his cousin again for the superbowl.  He's catching up in size pretty quickly, but he's still lacking in the dexterity and motor control department.  We can't seem to stop him from scratching himself in the face.  We think it's in large part because his eczema is itchy.  Poor little guy.  Hopefully the doc will have some advice to give during our upcoming appointment.  We'll update his height and weight soon.

100 days

 Junior passed the 100 day milestone a couple weeks ago.  Mommy started work that week too, so he spent the day with Daddy.  In terms of new developments, Junior rolled over for the first time.  He can't do it most of the time, but occasionally if everything is aligned just right, he can go from stomach to back.  He's also become better at grabbing things and holding on tight.  He'll pull his toys like crazy and  shake his rattle a little before it goes in his mouth.