Wiggly Piglet’s Playpen

Yesterday, Ted played with Mckayla while I was cooking dinner. Ted asked Mckayla, “where’s your belly button?”. She pointed to her tummy. Neither of us taught her the bellybutton. And I checked with the Nanny this morning, she was surprised that Mckayla knows her bellybutton, too. I think she learned it from her cousin Brandon when we were down in LA this past weekend.
When I came home from work today, Nanny told me Mckayla would like to perform a new trick for me. She handed Mckayla a piece of tissue and told her to wipe her nose. Mckayla grabbed the tissue from the Nanny and dabbed it on her nose. It’s a sign that she’s been sick too many times this month.

My Mom finally picked up the photo album from the studio pictures that Mckayla took in Taiwan in December. First time she showed my Grandpa the pictures, he gave her the thumbs up and a big smile. The second time she showed them to him, he asked her when she’s (Mckayla) coming back. My Mom has been showing them off to friends and relatives who’ve been to the house for Chinese New Year the last few days. Yesterday, my Mom told me that when she showed my Grandpa the picture, he had a big smile on his face again but said she didn’t come back. How sad, Greatgrandpa was waiting for Mckayla to visit him.

Mckayla hasn’t spoken any real words yet. Just occassional “MaMa” here and there. But last few days, she’s been saying “DaMoo” repeatedly. I still can’t figure out what she’s referring to. Ted thinks it’s her imaginery friend.

*Mckayla (and I) are sick again. This marks her cold #3 for the month of January*

We got on the I-5 again this weekend, but headed in the other direction for LA for Chinese New Year. Mckayla did very well on the road but we made few more stops this time. First stop was for Ted. Shortly after we made it over the Pacheco Pass, Ted had already his morning coffee and it’s diuretic effects had kicked into full gear. So we had to pull over for a short stop at the gas station. Mckayla fell asleep shortly after we got back on the road until we were half way down to LA. We pulled over and took a lunch break In N’ Out. About half an hour after we got back on the road, Mckayla started to cry out of control and Ted thought she had pooped in her diaper. So we pulled over again to change her diaper. But it was completely misread, all she wanted was her bottle of milk. So we got back on the road again. Right before we hit the Grapevine, we pulled over Starbucks to refuel and also let Mckayla out to stretch out her legs. While we waited for our drinks, Mckayla made a new friend and had lots of fun in the coffee shop. We got back on the road again, and we finally made it to Ted’s parents’ house six and a half hour later. We could have made it there earlier with less stops and it was mostly Ted’s fault (stop #1 and #3).

Mckayla has fear towards the strangest things. At least, strange for me. Auntie Deborah got her a princess chair that sings for her birthday. For some reason, she’s scared of the chair. She would cry whenver she sees the chair, so we had to hide it in the guest room. To get it out of her sight. At the end of Gymboree class, the instructor would place stamps on the kids hands and feet. Mckayla was never interested in the stamps but she decided to join the crowd at the end of class today. She got the stamps on her hands. She looked at them and didn’t show too much interest. After class, we went to my Mom’s house to pick up mail and hung out at the library for a bit. On our drive home, she fell asleep. After I unloaded the car and took her out, she woke up and looked at her hands and started to cry. She was so scared of the stamps on her hands that I had to scrub them off with soap to calm her down. For the rest of the day, she would cry whenever she sees the almost invisible stamps on her hands. I don’t have a clue why she’s so frightened by those stamps.

I took Mckayla to Gymboree for her makeup class this morning. We were the first ones there but it started to fill up soon as the kids and their parents started to arrive. Friday classes were not as organized as the Saturday classes because half the attendees are kids with their Nannies. The kids tend to be more out of control than with their own parents. Then, the twins with the Nanny arrived. They were the kids that I tried to navigate Mckayla away from last Friday because they were very “rough” and the boy even pushed Mckayla out of his way when he was trying to get on the slide. One of the Mom was by the entrance wiping off milk from her daughter’s face as the Nanny pushed the twins in in their double stroller. The Nanny saw the Mom wiping the kids’s face and made a comment that everyone’s sick. The entire room of Moms (and Nannies) turned around and what we saw were two kids with “gushing noses”. The instructor got up and said, “sick kids should stay home!”. The Nanny’s response, “Oh, I didn’t know”. Then, continued to unstrap the twins from their seats. Once they were out of their seat, the twins started to run around and touching all the toys in the room. I immediately picked up Mckayla to get away from the twins. I waited for the instructor’s response and I wasn’t planning on staying for the class if those two kids did. The instructor got up to talk to the Nanny on the side. Few minutes later, the not too happy looking Nanny strapped the twins back in their stroller. But they continued to linger by the entrance while the Nanny talked on the phone (presumblyto the parents). Finally, they left and we were able to continue with the class. Do some people just don’t have common sense or maybe they just don’t care.

Last night, Ted was on the phone with us on his way to the airport. We talked on the speakerphone while Mckayla held on to the phone as usual. She kept waiving to the phone and smiling when she realized Daddy was on the phone. Ted was about to get off the cab so we ended our conversation. When I hung up the phone, Mckayla got really upset and immediately comes the crying and the tears. I couldn’t calm her down until I redialed Ted’s number and got him back on the phone. After she got to say her goodbye, she was smiling again and didn’t get upset when I hung up the phone the second time.

Mckayla has been eating a lot. I was home with her this morning, and she drank 10 oz of milk when she woke. I accidentally pour too much in her bottle and figured I would just toss whatever she didn’t finish. And to my surprise, she drank the entire bottle and handed me the empty bottle. After her milk, we usually feed her some breakfast consist of yogurt and fruits about 1/2 hour later. Since she had a big bottle, I decided we can skip the yogurt and go out to run some errands. But half way through the tasks for the morning, she decided she was hungry and wanted to eat. So we stopped by the bagel shop for some food. I ordered a whole wheat sesame bagel with cream cheese for us to share. And I was so amazed that she ate almost half of the bagel. We continued on with errands and headed home around ten thirty. Nanny showed up and I started packing up for work. On my way out, I showed Nanny where the strawberries were stored in the fridge for her to feed Mckayla in the afternoon for snack. When I opened the drawer while holding Mckayla, she immediately caught the sight of the red strawberries and wanted to eat the strawberries. I don’t know how much food kids at this age is supposed to eat, but it seems like a lot of food to me and it was only eleven in the morning. And of course, what goes in her mouth comes out the other end. Yesterday, she had 6 poop diapers in 24 hours! With these frequent bowel movements and despite constant diaper changes, she’s got diaper rash around her buttock area. It’s all red and covered with little bumps. She cries every time she urinates or poops. We didn’t know what was wrong with her last night because she would start to cry for no apparent reasons, then we realized that her diaper was soiled.

*Mckayla’s sick again – runny nose started yesterday. She’s getting pretty close to the “three colds per month during the flu season” that her pediatrician told us*

Last night, I asked Mckayla, “where’s A-ma (grandma in Taiwanese)?”. She looked around and grabbed the phone and put it up against her ear. So I called my Mom up and put her on the speakerphone while Mckayla was holding the phone next to her ear to let her talk to Grandma. Later, Ted was on the phone with his Mom and Mckayla took the phone away from him. So, he put her on the speakerphone to continue their conversation while Mckayla held the phone next to ear again. I guess both her Grandmas interact with her mostly through the phone, and she thinks Grandma is the phone or the phone is Grandma?

Mckayla’s incisors came out. She’s been drooling a lot more than usual which she never did with the other teeth. While I was playing and tickling her upside down yesterday, I noticed her lower right and and left incisors have broken through her gum. Three of the molars are about half way out now, but the last molar is still taking its time, only a tiny bit of the white is showing through the gum.