Wiggly Piglet’s Playpen

We visited Ada and Robert this morning. On our drive over, we were preparing Mckayla for the visit. We told her about the toy she had picked out yesterday was for the baby and she’s not to touch the baby with her hands. When we got there, Ethan was hanging out in the swing. As soon as Mckayla saw the baby, she immediately handed the bag of toy to Ethan and dropped it right on him. I had to explain to her that Ethan’s not ready to play with yet and removed the bag. She looked a little confused and told me they can play the toys together, then she picked up the bag again dropped it on Ethan. Good thing the bag was small and light. I explained to her again that Ethan’s not ready to play yet and handed the bag to Robert. Then, Ethan started to whine. Mckayla looked at me and said, “baby’s crying and Mckayla is going to hold him”. I reminded her that she’s not supposed to touch the baby. She complied and put her hands behind her back and told Ethan to stop crying. He calmed down a bit and sat quietly in his swing and stared at us for a while. But few minutes later, he started to whine again. This time, Mckayla reached out to push the swing in attempt to calm him down. I reminded her again about her hands, so she put her them back behind her back but had very concerned look on her face. After he whined for a bit, Ted picked Ethan up to calm him down. At first, Mckayla looked on as Ethan calmed down in Ted arm. She was soon distracted by the banana on the table and wanted to eat. For some reason, she wanted to eat the banana which she never liked. She happily sat in the chair enjoying her banana while we chatted. But by the time she finished eating, she noticed Ted was still holding Ethan and got very unhappy. She started to whine and wanted Ted to hold her. So, Ted and I swapped. He handed me Ethan and picked up Mckayla. Her attention immediately turned to me and wanted me to hold her instead. At this point, Ethan had fallen asleep and I was able to put him back in the swing. But even after I had put Ethan down, Mckayla continued to whine and wanted me to pick her up. The jealous side of Mckayla had unleashed and she wasn’t happy even after we got back in the car again.

Mckayla caught her first cold of the season after going to Gymboree for two days. Thanks to those parents who don’t follow “No Sick Kid” rule and still brought them to class spreading all the germs. She started sneezing non stop on Wednesday morning, followed by severe congestion. She looked so sad and pathetic when I came home from work. She woke up several times that night. By Thursday evening, she was feeling much better. Today, she’s still slightly congested with some coughing. Hope she gets better soon so we can go visit Ada and Robert’s new baby this weekend.

Earlier today, Mckayla and I were on way home from running errands. She asked me where we were going after we go in the car. I told her we’re heading home because Daddy is waiting for us. She thought about it for a bit, then said, “BaBa needs to go to work, so Mckayla can buy clothes”. She sat quietly in her seat for a few minutes, then she told me, “The sun is still up. BaBa cannot come home yet”.

Mckayla has been asking us take her back to Gymboree for a while. We put the account on hold in November because we were out of town and hasn’t restarted since. This past week, we were using Gymboree as the bribe to get to sleep on her own. So, on Sunday we took her back to class as promised. She had a great time before the class started and ran around the room playing. Then, as soon as the teacher called to start the class, she took my hand and went in the classroom. I sat on the side while Ted had Mckayla on his lap. She had the biggest smile on her face when the teacher started to sing. She followed along as though she never missed the class. But in between songs, she started to get restless and kept coming to me. So, I left the room so she can pay attention. Afterwards, Ted told me Mckayla abandoned him and sat on the teacher’s lap instead. We didn’t stay for play time afterwards because the place was packed. Last night, Ted took Mckayla back for play gym to burn off some energy. When they came home, Mckayla was a mess, her hair was all over her face but she had the biggest smile. Before I was able to asked about what she’d gone, she started telling me about going to Gymboree and sliding down the slides. When I looked up, Ted had just came in the house shaking his head and rolled his eyes. Apparently, she was like a hurricane at Gymboree. Running around from one station to another without stopping. And when Ted try to leave after spending an hour there, she refused. So they ended up staying for another 1/2 hour before taking off. After all the activities at Gymboree, Ted was exhausted with back pain. But Mckayla, on the other hand, did not show any sign of fatigue at all.

Mckayla is getting much better with sleeping on her own at night. As of last night (tenth day), she only came out her room once after Ted tucked her in. But now we have to deal with the consequences. First, she finally figured out she can climb in and out the bed herself. She comes down and climbs up at her own will. Then, opening her bedroom door and followed by ours in the middle of the night and early in the morning. And for some reason, she’s been getting up earlier than before, about an hour or so. She used to wake and hung out in bed until one of us goes in to get her. But, now the moment she wakes up, she’s off her bed. And because she’s climbing in and out of the bed herself, she’s got access to her “belonging” in the room. One afternoon, it took her almost two hours to fall asleep. We were happy that she stayed in her room the entire time before she fell asleep. But when I went in the room later to get her (she was crying because it was dark), I found a bed full of books and stuffed animals. While putting her things back in their places, I counted there were at least 40 books and 15 stuffed animals. The entire bed was completely covered with “stuff” and I had no clue how she slept like that.

We were reading in Mckayla’s room last night. She pointed at the bat and asked me what it was. I told her it’s bat (in Chinese). Then, she asked me, “what’s bat in English”. I answered her question, then when Ted came in the room, she told him, “Bats is bad (in Chinese)”. I had to explain to her it’s “bat” not “bad”. Simultaneously teaching her two languages is getting her little confused.
While we were watching the news last night, the words “ocean” and “rain” kept coming up. she turned around and asked me for those words in Chinese. Later in the evening, she asked me to call her Grandpa in Taiwan. I put him on speakerphone so I can listen in our their conversation. She answered his questions appropriate, like what she ate for dinner, what she was doing, and if she behaved today, etc. Then, she started showing off her new words, telling my Dad the new English words she just learned. What a show off!