More Birthday PIcs

Here are some of Andy's pictures:




OUr girl got some neat presents:
Little Tykes 3 in 1 sports centre. It has a baseball to hit around, a football to spin and a basetball net with a scoreboard that lights up
Disney baby princess ride on car. We are not huge princess advocates but this was the best one they had at Toys R US. The other ones looked opened already, and used. Plus this one had cool features.
A red bikini
toque and mitts, (that match the scarf you sent perfectly, Baba)
Activity cube, with blocks to put in and ittle knobs to move around a track
a remote control
a cell phone (This one was awesome, the girl who bought it for her was so excited, as soon as she came in she said"Come and open this present right now, Gemma is going to love it!!")
The cutest esprit outfit from Allison (you'll see pictures of that later)

and so much more...She is so spoiled! (and loved, I guess!)

Happy Birthday Baby Gemma!

We had a lot of fun at her party. It was exactly opposite of what the books reccomend inthat we had tonnes of people in our house. We had to move the coffee table out because there was no room. There were three babies and two older kids and lots of adults. People loved the cake and cupcakes, and she got some super presents; her friends and grandparents are too sweet.

Just a few pictures are posted (I need a hero cookie for my first cake!) but Chris has more up on the flicker. Also, Andy took soome pictures too, and when they are ready we'll tell you how to see them.

Update

Babyfood making party round 3... This month's menu includes spinich/beef(have you ever seen forest green food before? Yikes!), chicken/pea/asparagus (we kind of just made that one up), green beans, applesauce, and apple/pear. There were three sets of hands this time and so we got all of that made in 2 1/2 hours. And then ordered pizza :)

Gemma had her chicken pox vaccine yesterday, and only cried when they stuck her. Pheww! She was also weighted and measured; 8.3 kg and about 73 cm (so about 18 lbs, and 29 inches). She is right in the middle of her growth chart, even though she seems to be a light weight beside all the other babies she knows. That's what other parents say when they pick her up; "She's so light!"

She has a new trick, too, but this one I really dislike. She can spit out food she doesn't like. So she squeezes it out of her lips, and then tries to grab it. Ewwww :)

Birthday on Wednesday, so excited!

Celery

Yummm...Celery is so good for me! I think I will eat the whole stalk!

Weaning

Starting to think about weaning. Not that I mind breastfeeding, she is down to early evening, bedtime, and once in the night. We've made the mistake the books all tell you not to make; I let her fall asleep while nursing, and so now it is just easy to whip it out in the middle of the night when she fusses. I also don't want to use bottles. Our dishwasher is a pretty old model, the NE-VADA 1979, and with Gemma eating solids that means an extra litte bowls a day, and spoons, and sippy cups...all I need is bottles to wash, too. BUT I guess she is going to be one year old and if I could figure out a way to get her off the breast I guess we could. I'm not really in a rush.

So I invite your advice (and not judgement please; I know everyone elses' baby but mine sleeps through the night. Oh, and before anyone gets upset about me doing dishes, I do it because Chris cooks and does laundry, and a variety of other household chores)

So funny

Two hilarious stories form Thursday...

At lunch time Nick and Ali (aka Nali) were over because Nck was watching basketball with Chris. We were eating subway around the coffee table, and we all had glasses of water. Gemma was of course hanging around and trying to get in on the action. Well, she reached across the table, grabbed a glass of water with two hands, and drank from it. She was like, "Hey, I can drink from a real cup, don't you know?" The second gulp she got a bunch of backwash in it, ewwww...The thrid sip, well, that was hilarious too because she totally missed her mouth and poured the rest of the glass down her chest. Hahaha.

Then Thursday night when I was talking to Mikala, Gemma was hanging out with Chris in the office when she toddled off. Chris came out to the living room looking for her, calling "Gemma..." but she wasn't out there. Then he hears the sound of baby playing in the bathroom. He turns around, peeks in, and there she is, in the dark bathroom, sitting in her bathtub. Her bottom half was soaking wet from the bottom bit of water that doesn't drain, and she was playing with her little bathbook. It was so funny.

Gemma's list of skills continue to grow....Climb on coffee table? Check. Drink water? Check. Bathe myself? Check.

Personality

Our baby gets more personality everyday. She is at such a neat stage where she is learning things really quickly, remembering old things and trying out tonnes of stuff.

Today Chris was playing with her Helen Keller style; he was touching her hand to his face and saying da-da..da-da, and then touching her face and saying Gemma...Gemma. After a few times, he put her hands on his face and she said it; da-da. Daddy is also working on 'kiss' and 'high five'.

Tonight was Gemma's first experience with toothpaste. We have a nurse that is working with our school system to be on call to ask health questions, etc, and I asked her this week about flouride drops for Gemma. (We drink bottled water, not tap water, and so there is no flouride in it) She said, after all her research and talking with doctors and dentists both in Taiwan and America that flouride drops or pills are very difficult to dose properly; too little and there is no point, too much can cause serious problems. What she recommends is brushing at least once a day with a smidge of toothpaste and then start flouride treatments at the dentist when she is 3. Anyway, Gemma and the toothpaste...It was so cute! She made this awful face, like "Mommy, take it out, yuck" and she never makes that face. I think it was a little too minty for her :) I will go buy her a more gentle kiddy flavor tomorrow.

Another little story; in the bath she likes when I put the soap on her hand. It started when she would first start playing with the bottle, and I would hold her hand flat, palm up and put a little on her hand and then rub them together to make the bubbles. Now she holds her hand out palm up all by herself, and waits for me to squirt the soap on. Then she tries to rub them together enough to make the bubbles. And I showed her how to rub the bubbles all over her tummy and arms...I gave her about 5 squirts of soap and she would have taken more. One thing about bath time is I can't make her look up to rinse the shampoo off. I try to dangle toys in front of her up high so she tilts her head back and then pour the water, but as soon as she feels it on her head she puts her chin down, and it all runs down her face. Maybe time for one of those foamy hat-ring things?

The Triumphant Scaling of Mt. Coffeetable

We are pretty firm about not playing with the remote control, so whenever we happen to leave it at her level she darts for it. Well, Chris left her today for a moment to go to the bathroom, and when he came back into the living room she was kneeling on the coffee table, bouncing up and down, grinning ear to ear, waving the remote control over her head. What a little goofball:)

Your Chariot Awaits

Before she used to like being picked up just to for the sake of being picked up; for hugs, cuddles, etc. Now she she likes to be picked up as a mode of transportation. You lift her up and she doesn't even bother to nuzzle anymore, she just extends her arm and points: 'Take me there. What's over there? Let's leave this room and go to another." In the mornings she points to the door of her bedrooom wanting out, or she points to the top half of the fridge (where we keep most of the magnets).

She definitely rules the roost around here :)

A few stories...

It's so hard to remember stories to tell! Or else they seem so short and insignificant. Anyway, since I committed to be a faithful blogger, I hope these tidbits don't suck too bad.

1) I was at school photocopying something and wen we were done she walked right up to the guard (doorman) and reached up her little arms. So of course he picks her up, and she points to things around his office to check out, and he obliges, and then she notices the security camera monitor. It's just a computer monitor with the screen divided into quadrants, with four different video cameras outside the perimeter of the school. Well, she was looking so intently at the screen that I thought I would mess with her a bit. I walked out the front door and stood outside the school facing one of the cameras and waved and danced for her. I couldn't see her reaction, but when I went back in after a moment she gave me this amazed, incredulous look. She looked back at the monitor so I went and did it again, and again she was soo amazed. It was pretty cute.

2) She waves to random people now and it is also soo cute. When we are waiting at a red light on the bike she'll look at people stopped beside us and wave Most of the time they wave back. Or when people pass her on the street.

3) Today we were at 101, and in the ten minutes it takes to eat a food court lunch she had her picture taken 3 times. Andy had a great idea for a T-shirt; 'Photos; 100NT' and get it printed in Chinese. I would laugh super hard.

4) She had two big falls today:(. Once at church, she lost her balance as Andy was setting her down, and she tipped over onto her head. The second time was tonight, she was climbing in her toy box and flipped right over somehow and out of the box, banging her head on the footstool before it hit the floor. That one even drew a little blood on the inside of her bottom lip. Poor baby.

5) Chicken and papaya has not been a success. Unless everytime I try to feed it to her, she just isn't hungry. Her favorite foods are yogurt, chicken, and beef/potato.

Have a great Sunday!

New Toy

So Gemma is way into phones lately. She tries to climb up on the counter where the house phone is kept and pull on the cord, and she loves cell phones. We were messing around with her at Penghu, and while she was playng with a phone we'd call it so it would buzz and ring. (She didn't really get it but it was funny for us) So when we cleaned Chris' office last week we found an old cell phone and gave it to her. At first she would hold it up to her ear and really listen to see who was there, but I think now she gets that no one is talking to her. I do the pretend talk on the phone thing and say, "Oh Gemma, its for you," and hand it over and she listens for a second but then hands it back. It's like she's thinking, "Mommy, it's not working for me, you try it again!"

Walking

She took her official first steps a month ago, but since then hasn't been to eager to use this new form of transportation. Our house is so small that she can cruise almost every where she wants to go, there is no large expanse of space that has to cross. Or when there is a space she would stand there, then lower herself down and crawl. Yesterday though it was like she got it. Several times when she was standing there instead of lowering herself down and crawling she walked. It's like she believes in herself; Yes I can walk! She is still very slow and stiff, like an astronaut, but she did about a dozen little walking journies of 5 or 6 steps yesterday.

Twin Day

No joke, this coordination of outfits was completely unplanned! Thanks, Baba, for the funky pants.