Fall 2008

Here are pics from Halloween and Fall. Can't believe it's almost December!!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we are thankful for so many God-given blessings. We are thankful that Dan still has his job, and that I am not in the finance industry. Things in NYC have been tumultuous, but there are so many things for which to be thankful.

Isaac is thankful that his daddy collects Happy Meal toys for him during his lunch hour (though he's wondering what happened to his actual meal...), and he's happy his grandmother runs a private catering service for him, dropping off meals early in the morning when everyone's still asleep. He is thankful that mommy is often a pushover when it comes to bedtime, and she spends the day with him on Fridays. Now that it's colder outside, we spend a lot of time in our building's playroom, and he loves being chased up and down our hallway (lots of squealing which I'm sure the neighbors love).

It's amazing watching him learn so quickly. He understands so much of what we say now (both English and Chinglish!) and will get his shoes, go to the bathtub and give us things when we ask (sometimes). He even sometimes give me a kiss on the cheek, and seemed to have no problem giving a little girl a kiss too (see pictures).

He also has finally begin to get the whole sign language thing (I felt like I was doing it with no results for so long). Some of the signs he's making are: dog, eat, bath, hat, head, grape, fish, more, all done, sleep, hurt, ball, bird, diaper, car. He's signed please and thank you a few times, but definitely prefers to point and whine.

He is doing a lot of jabbering now and having conversations with himself and us using his secret language. He loves to say "uh-oh" and imitates us every time we say "WOW" or "WHOAH"-it's so cute.

His favorite sport right now is climbing and trying to give his mom a heart attack. He found a way to push his toys up to the radiator, climb onto the radiator, and then onto the windowsill and just squat there. Which I guess is better than when he climbs unto a chair or couch and jumps up and down. Dan caught him once mid-air while he was tumbling down head first. It was one of those slow motion moments that I watched while from the kitchen.

We have no videos, because Isaac killed the camera by dashing it to the ground. I thought it might revive itself after a while, but Dan reminded me that electronics are not living creatures and once broken, usually stay broken. We will probably get a new one for Christmas, so stay tuned.

Isaac's Turned 1!

What a delinquent parent I am! I just realized I'm still working on Isaac's 1 year update and he's 14 months already! Dan says I should blame it on the chaos on Wall St., and the recession leading to production delays, but it's really more like mommy's extra work hours which are a bit removed from financial markets (thankfully). No more procrastination, will just have to forego the captions.

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So we've hit the big one year mark!! Hurrah to Isaac! Hurrah to his parents who've survived the first year of parenthood! We have lots of pictures and lots of catching up to do.

Basically, Isaac is a very active toddler now who doesn't like his mom being on the computer, so these updates get harder to do.

So, these are general pics which include photos from 11-13 months, including some professional photos we had taken.



Here is Isaac doing his first chore around the house. We pay him in watermelons.


These are pics from Isaac's first birthday party! We had Marcia the Moose give a puppet show for the kids. As far as Isaac could figure, the puppets were the real deal! He had a blast.


Next we have pics from our trip to Arlington, Va in August. It was a nice minivacation and we had fun seeing old friends and visiting our old neighborhood.

Finally, we went to a wedding where we discovered that Isaac is a better dancer than both his parents. And he knows it. Check out the self-applause.


More photos from the wedding of Jen Lo (who was a crucial link to Dan and I's initial meeting).


Already...until next time! (Hopefully he won't be 2 yet...)

10+ months!

Isaac's walking!

I imagine his view of the world just keeps changing.
First he could just see about a foot from his face, then he could look up at the ceiling when on his back or down on the ground when on his belly, then he could turn his head to look around, then he discovered how to roll back and forth, then he could crawl and check things out on his own, and now he is ambulating like an adult Homo Sapien like the rest of us!
(Except that he walks with his legs spread wide and his belly sticking out, and he stumbles a bit like a drunk and falls on his diaper padded bottom quite a bit, so it's a bit different than most of us.)

Anyway, here are some photos to show where Isaac's been and what he's been up to.

Montreal
We took a week long family trip to Vermont in May and crossed the border to Montreal the day before. It was the first time for all of us, and we really enjoyed seeing the French-Canadian culture. Isaac became a fan of good bread and cheese while there.


Tyler Place
Our week in Vermont was at Tyler Place, an amazing family resort that we recommend highly. Great food, beautiful setting, lots of outdoors activities, and best of all, childcare in the morning and evenings! Isaac had a blast with the other kids. AND he got over his fear of grass!!


Here are other photos leading up to his 10th month (pre-walking)


And here are some videos:
First Steps!


Playing Peek-A-Boo with his Great-Aunt


Bouncing Ball with Grandma Wang


See you next time!

Grass is Scary

Isaac's New Skill

Some Videos!

8 months!

Above: Isaac lives up to his dinosaur nickname.

Welcome to the 8 month update, chock full of videos which I can't figure how to include in this post.

The videos above are (I can only figure out how to post one at a time):
1) Isaac the city boy discovering grass for the first time
2) Isaac learning the life skill of flushing (now we just need to get potty trained and learn how to wash our hands after touching the toilet)
3) Isaac eagerly dropping his toy and going after a keyboard

So in January, we went to Florida for the wedding of our friends, Diana and Jim. It was Isaac's first flight, and he slept through most of it. He can't wait to go back- he met Pooh and Tigger, went swimming in a pool and saw the ocean for the first time.



Isaac was extremely proud of himself when he was able to pull up on his crib railing and stand. I got this shot right after it happened (7 mos).

Spring is here on Roosevelt Island and the cherry blossoms are blooming! Reminds us of DC without all the insane crowds. This was our first run around the island as a family using the jogging stroller that Dan extensively researched and picked out way back when Isaac was a mere lima bean in the womb.



Other assorted pictures from the past few months.

See you next time!

Half a Year!!

So we have crossed the 6 month mark, hurrah! And so much has happened.....

Let's start with the world of eating. We started with some rice cereal at around five months. After tasting it, he made a face, it all dribbled out of his month, and then he opened his mouth up for more. Not a bad intro to food if you ask me.


Learning what to do with your tongue to push the food back is a big accomplishment. Here we are eating bananas (and yes, I mean "we" because whatever Isaac doesn't finish, I eat! And I actually have a new found appreciation for pureed food)


Here we are having a meal with our friend Hudson who is sitting safely in the Bumbo on the ground. (Hudson is 7 months and crawling so it is a feat for him to stay put.)


Speaking of Hudson, the boys celebrated their first New Year's together (we actually made it to midnight!). Here's a pic of them wearing their New Year's hats. This pic makes Isaac look the same size as Hudson when in reality, Hudson could crush Isaac.

Isaac and Matthias still hang out and now they can "play" together by grabbing at whatever toy the other one has. It's quite funny.


We had a little half-year birthday party for Isaac, Matthias, Hudson and Riley who were all born June-July.


Isaac also made his first trip to Boston to meet Carolina Maria Florez, the daughter of our dear friends, Jose and Lucia. She was born in October, and is an answer to lots of prayers. She is just beautiful and perfect in every way.


We also had Isaac's dedication at church on February 10th. It was a time for us to celebrate the gift that Isaac is to us and to ask God's help in raising him. It's also a way for us invite the support of family, friends and church in raising Isaac.


Lastly, Isaac is starting to really move. He can roll back and forth. And he not only moves backwards and around in circles (like he did for a long while), but now he can move forward! It doesn't look like what you think crawling is, watching it is like seeing a series of many uncoordinated movements that somehow propel him forward.
See the photos documenting his progression towards the toys.



As a side note, this Doctor Mama made her TV debut on the NYC CBS station for two medical news stories this week. Here are the links to them; be prepared to laugh. Good thing for makeup, the interview happened after a night where Isaac woke up every two hours. (Also, the fabulous office is not mine; we filmed it in the medical director's. My office looks more like a typical exam room.)

Questions Women Ask Their Doctors

Artificial Sweeteners

If the links don't work, the websites are:
http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=109282@wcbs.dayport.com
http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=109238@wcbs.dayport.com