Language development

Jonathan has more and more new words each day. He learns a lot from daycare. Today he said "all gone, no more," "oh dear", and "poopoo in the pottie", and "tower". Two days ago he replied to my mom "in a minute" very appropriately. Since a couple of weeks ago, he was saying "oh goodness". He is so cute when he smiles and blurts out these new words. He is such a good boy.

Jonathan turns 23 months

Can't believe I haven't blogged since June. So many things have happened.

Albert started working at 3M last week of June. He is now in China for his personal retreat.

My parents are here helping me out with Jonathan.

Jonathan turned 23 months 2 weeks ago. He has accomplished so much as a toddler. He says "miss you" and "lov vu" a week ago. He can now jump and get his feet off the ground. Yesterday he walked down the stairs all by himself. He can walk up the stairs if he wants to but he prefers to crawl up still.

His language skill amazes me. Each day he says something new - something I've never taught him. He knows the names of all his daycare friends, more than 20 trains on the Island of Sodor. He is beginning to sing along with CDs, not making any tunes but following the words.

His eyes are sharp for Thomas and Friends. When we go shopping, he never misses a Thomas shirt or toy. He knows where to go for the toys section in Target.

He is good natured and likes to pray for his friends. Every night we pray for his friends at Daycare. A lot of times he wants to pray for his teachers. And of course, we pray for his engines from the Island of Sodor, his baby bear and whatever is in the crib with him.

He is making so much progress so quickly I can't keep up recording them. So much for now. Back to writing charts.

Thankful!

I learned recently that one of my childhood friends passed away 2 years ago from rare form of pregnancy related vasculitis. Her baby was saved. Life is fragile and unpredictable. I had given birth 9 months before she did. My pregnancy and delivery were smooth. So many things could go wrong and yet God protected me. My life is preserved for a purpose. I pray that God will lead me the rest of the way for His purpose.

Manners

Jonathan knows "please" and "thank you" now, actually since last week. His daycare teacher Pam told me that he was the only one who would always say "please." Another teacher Crystal told me last week too that she understood everything he said.

In the last few days he has also mastered fake cries. Quite cute, can come on demand, like his smiles. Smart baby.

A Perfect Day Out

We went to Lake Rebecca for a cookout with several families from T4C West. Jonathan had a great time going up and down the slides. He didn't want to do anything else. Of course, he wanted to play ball with the bigger kids but was always left out of the loop. He will find his peers when he is older. I chased him around and took him to the slides. I didn't get to chat with the people much because of this. I was very tired at the end but it was worthwhile for the experience, beats staying at home watching TV. I didn't like the car ride there but that is another story.

He Surprises Me Everyday

Today he said "highchair", "sit", "sorry", "好吃"， "扫地". I can't begin to count the number of words he has. He is doing more and more two word phrases now.  Some of the words he must have learned from daycare. He says "Baby Dao" short for Baby McDonald, "Ei tain" for Baby Einstein, "No money" for "handy Manny", and "ou ma" for Hemangioma on my arms. Cookie and cake are last week's favorite. Very cute when he says them. Can't possibly keep track on all the new words.

Two important ones, "Amen" a week ago, and "pray" yesterday. I began praying with him before he went to bed tonight. Hopefully I will make this our routine.

He is helping out with chores now: sweeping the floor, putting away utensils (sharp knives are never put in the dish washer).

Today he sat on the potty twice with his own initiative. Nothing came but he was not adverse to it as before. Maybe he will slowly get the hang of it.

Potty training begins

He hasn't been interested in sitting on the potty except before jumping into the shower. Daycare teacher informed me that he wasn't interested in this at all at daycare. This afternoon, as soon as I saw him doing his dance, I rushed him to the downstair potty. A few small pieces had already fallen into the diaper but he made it after sitting on it pushing for another few seconds. I taught him to flush the toilet. Daddy praised him and he clapped his hands. I hope he remember this accomplishment and is willing to try again.

Growing

Jonathan is now 19 1/2 months. He surprises me every day with new things that he has learned.

Today while playing with the legos he said "Bible", then  proceeded to find the Bible Stories DVD and said "看" (watch). He then went to sofa with the booster chair and said "爬" (climb).

He can now put his feet into my slippers and walk really well. When I tell him that he has mixed the left and right, he can get out of the slippers, rearrange them, and put them in correctly.

He had just begun to try putting his feet into the slippers 2 months ago. Now he is a pro.

He finally learns to go down stairs on his tommy last month. Maybe a little before Easter Sunday.

For the longest time, he didn't know what to do with the legos. All of a sudden, he started stacking them and pulling them apart 2 days ago. It is now one of his favorite activities, besides playing with balls and cars. At the end of the day, I asked him to put the pieces into the container before putting the container away. He did gather all the pieces and put them away as instructed. He says "ah go" for "lego".

Since last week, he has started using crayons to scribble.

Today I put him up on the kitchen counter and let him walk on it. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did anyways. He saw the filter holder in the sink. He picked it up, put it into the coffee maker on the counter (with a little help from me so that he didn't fall off the counter). He then opened the cupboard where we store coffee and tea. He took out the stack of filter and the decaf coffee and began to "pour" coffee into the filter.

I was amazed at his ability to identify the items needed for coffee. I had asked him to help me many times in the past, such as pushing the button to turn it on. Quite a few times I held him in one arm while getting things ready with the other hand. He has watched the coffee making process so many times that he now knows what I need to make coffee.

He can say "－，二，一，二" (one, two, one, two)，baby, Bible, 电梯，"hi 狗"，"bye bye 狗", 旗，up, down, and many words.

There are so many things I want to remember. They are escaping me right now.

电梯 (Elevator, escalator or automatic walkway)

Jonathan's obsession right now is Dianti - elevator or escalator or automatic walkway at the airports. Strictly speaking, dianti means elevator. There are other Chinese words for escalator and walkway but for simplicity with a toddler, we call all of them Dianti. Second to that is pushing a cart around. For the 2 weeks in China, every day he got to ride on dianti of one kind or another. The first thing from his mouth after he wakes up is Dianti after Mama and Baba. We has had countless rides at airports, apartment buildings, hotels, and stores. He would go with anyone who offered to take him to ride on Dianti. This happens to be the first non-repetitive 2 sylible words he speaks. The second one is shoes in Chinese (xiezi). None of our relatives had a toy push cart, he pushed anything that he could physically move, foot stools, chairs and various size boxes.

Since we don't live in apartments anymore and we don't have an elevator in our home, his desires for Dianti had not been met since we returned from China. Today I took him to Boston Store to keep my promise of letting him ride on dianti. We went up and down on the escalator 7 rounds. Then he spotted a shopping cart. He pushed the cart around half the store and saw the escalator again. He wanted to push the cart onto the escalator so I told him we could push the cart onto a different Dianti, elevator. He pushed the cart into the elevator, rode to the second floor, pushed the cart out and then back into to the elevator, down to the first floor, out, then in and then up on the second floor. We went in and out, up and down 8 rounds. Then he decided this wasn't fun anymore and pushed the cart out. within 30 seconds, he let go of the cart but prompted fell onto the floor - too tired, I think. After that he let me push him in the cart for a little bit and then wanted to get the cart up the escalator again. I decided then it was time to go.

My new idea of shopping with a toddler is taking him up and down the escalator a dozen times until he gets tired. Then I can push him in the cart and shop for whatever I want - only one item at a time. Otherwise I may risk having things thrown out of the cart.

Nikon D3000

Now I have an expensive DSRL camera, I should really begin to take more pictures. I am not really into professional photography, just seeing crisp clear images, catching the action and emotions of Jonathan. It may seem like a waste of money to get a fancy camera just for that. I really enjoy the sharp image I have obtained so far. Well. Hope I get to use it a bit more often. Will try it out on the road to China.

Foods

Jonathan loves blueberries, strawberries, water melon, cherries, bananas, tofu, sweet potatoes, shrimps, crackers, yogurt, cheddar flavored sticks from Gerber. He still only drinks milk in the morning with a bottle.

He loves to bite the shrimps, apples, pears but spits them out after chewing for a while.

Since we stopped forcing him, he is definitely happier with eating but still not eating as much as we like. We'll see.

Updates

Jonathan is doing so many things. Hard to summarize. The latest is putting his hands together to pray, says Ye Ye and Po Po (grandpa and grandma), eats better, tries to walk up the stairs with alternating steps instead of climbing stairs, always wants to go down the stairs facing forward instead of sliding down on his belly. He throw away his diaper into the diaper pail. He understands so many things we say. He is such a joy to be around.

We'll be leaving for China soon. Can't wait for him to meet all his relatives. A little worried about his eating and sleeping routine in the next 2 weeks.

Tomorrow is the last day at work. Part of me feels I'm not here anymore, but I don't feel I'm in Minnesota either. I am kind of existing at the moment, belonging neither here nor there. A strange feeling.

God's perfect arrangement

On our whirlwind 4 days trip, we were able to find a place that we both liked and the property management agent was quick and responsive. We signed the lease today before we left for home. Another good news is that the first family who looked at our town house have submitted their application and received approval to sublease our townhouse from 3/1. These arrangement is perfect. Now we have to decide what to do about China trip.

Life is a miracle!

 Life is a miracle. The fact that I am still alive is a miracle, that any of us can live to our age (young or old) is a miracle.

We love Jonathan dearly and watch him like hawks. Yet we forgot to close the kitchen door leading to the basement. Jonathan took a tumble down yesterday evening. He came out unharmed: immediate cry, consoled within 30 seconds, started walking and playing within one minute. In his young life, 15 months, he fell off the sofa once, fell off the bed once, fell in the bathtub and hit his teeth once, had a car accident two weeks ago. He is still alive and well. How many more of these accidents will he have before he grows up? How many of these accidents I went through or anyone may have gone through? As I look ahead of Jonathan's like, there are so many opportunities for harm and injuries. Using scissors, crossing street, learning to drive, dating, marrying, jobs, driving, children, health problems etc. Can I watch for all of them? Now I understand why children are always children in their parents' eyes.