Copy Cat

Syona is absorbing new words every day. We were just playing bubbles to distract her to eat today and she learned the word POP. It takes one or two repetitions before she gets that once you touch the bubble when it's falling down that it goes pop. This is just one of the few new words she's learned; others include - hat, open, up, down, off, uh oh, tank u, right there, that, this, oh no, all done, on, some indian words like "right here" and "give me", bubbles, balloon, ball, bao bao (pick me up in chinese), book, fish, duck, byebye, beep (pronounced bup), diaper, hiiie, along with all the new animal sounds like baa for lamb/sheep, roar for lions, etc. The words are for the most part pretty well formed- you can definitaey understand her expanding vocabulary. She blinks her eyes repeatedly if you do so, and bounces the toy basketball. She also recognizes people (Ba, Nainai, Dadu, Masi, GouGou, Paul, Shilpa) in picture albums and when they call on the phone, she'll listen and if you ask her to give a kiss, she'll kiss the phone... Today she formed two sentences, "Ooo Ooo mum" - feeding her bottle to her monkey, and "diaper on", as paul was getting her dressed after her bath. She is doing all this all the while even when she has been sick with the stomach flu through the last week. Nothing better than waking up several times in the nights of the past days to clean throw up and then having both parents get sick with the same thing. :)

First few steps

Syona took her first steps! It happened tonight right after her bath! I was up in the room with her drying her off, she was standing and so was I and all of a sudden what do you know! Lil one took her first few steps! I was so surprised and then called for Paul! She did it again and we even managed to get it on video! Here is a quick clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-fuYyMvIiI

Days at the Park

Every free chance we get when the weather is warm, we sneak away from the responsibilities at home (taxes, laundry, never ending dishes, spring cleaning) and take Syona to the park. She absolutely loves it. Especially the swing where our nanny Lien told us she did not want to leave it for record 1 hour. (Luckily there is a park 10 minutes away that Syona and Lien can walk to). We bring her sand toys on occasion too so she can play and make castles and fish molds in the sand. She likes the tunnels a lot that we let her crawl through and the slides as well. I love letting her take her shoes and socks off and really feel the grass and the sand and be a kid. I think its actually pretty nostalgic for all of us. Here are some Syona pics!

Spoon Feeding

After taking Syona in for her 1 year appointment, the doctor recommended we start letting her eat with a spoon herself. So lately we have been plopping some semi solid food in her suction bowl and giving her a spoon. She may only get like 2 bites in herself, but she is learning and gets tons of positive reinforcement. Good job syona!

February 12, 2010 at the Zoo

We celebrated Syona's real first birthday with a trip to Sonoma and overnight stay in Monterey. Paul and I enjoyed a bit of wine tasting before topping the night off at a nice Italian dinner and getting in early to put Syona to bed before her big day. Syona must have known it was her birthday because she awoke at 5:30 AM and wanted to play. This morning was also the first time she ever replied to the question "Syona, how old are you" with a prompt noise and a little finger sticking straight up! After breakfast, we made our way to the SF Zoo where Syona spent her birthday with the lions, tigers, giraffes and monkeys. She loved it and we ended up with season passes so we can go all year. We travelled from one end of the bay to the other and joined my parents in Monterrey. After a nice warm bath and room service Ocean side, we put Syona to bed and woke up the next day to explore the fishes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a huge animal loving weekend for the little one and a birthday well celebrated together.