It’s been a busy past couple of weeks so I’m late |once again| but I wanted to wish my sister Marchesa a happy belated birthday who turned 29 on Tuesday.  She’s one of the few people who I really admire.. she’s funny, creative, generous and most of all loving.  She’s really a blessing to her friends and family.

Happy birthday, Day.  We love you.  Hopefully next year we’ll be able to celebrate your big day together.

Happy six months to our little boy Seph.  These days he loves rolling over and over and has added a sort of inchworm-esque movement so he’s quite mobile.  When we put him down, next thing we know, he’s already on the other side.  We expect in a couple months or so, he should be crawling.  He has yet to master sitting on his own, but he does a good job with minimal support so again, we expect he’ll be reaching that milestone soon.

One milestone that we think he’ll be reaching soon is the appearance of his first two teeth.  We’ve been expecting it for a couple of months now since he started to drool quite a bit, but the past couple of days he’s been extra fussy and he seems to be wanting to chew on things more than usual.  Hopefully it’s not too much longer.. it’s so sad seeing him so uncomfortable.

We started him on solids last week, and so far he seems to be doing well.. there’s no adverse reactions but his tongue-thrust reflex is still present so we’re expecting it’ll take a little while longer to get him used to it.  Thankfully, he seems to be getting a little bit more used to it each day.

He’s partial to electronics |must be Sam’s genes manifesting themselves| and he’s playing more with the toys that adorn our living room floor.  He’s quite adept at picking up stuff and holding them.. and seems to enjoy pulling at my hair.  He spends quite a lot of time looking and smiling up at Hong and loves it when Hong tries to play with him; he adores his Kuya.  He giggles incessantly whenever Hong does a sort of peek-a-boo game with him.

Happy birthday to Sam who celebrated his birthday on Wednesday, August 19th.  We were planning to spend the day in NYC but decided against it due to questionable weather.  Instead, we ended up at the Palisades mall and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Though it was a small celebration, it’s always nice spending quality time with each other and the kids.

Happy birthday, darling.  You know Hong, Seph, and I love you a LOT!!!  We pray God will continue to guide and bless you this year especially with all the changes and adjustments coming up.

Happy 2.5 years to my little boy Hong!

Each day I look at him and I marvel at how much he’s grown. Physically, he’s about three feet now so he’s able to reach more. He loves trying to reach for pots, pans and food in the kitchen and turning the light switches on and off.  We’ve had to be more aware of where his curious little fingers can get into.  Luckily, nothing too dangerous.. unluckily for Sam it’s usually the computer or other electronics.

These days, he loves to help.. whenever he sees us doing something, he says ‘Hong hep’ and tries to do it himself. There’s nothing he doesn’t mind helping with.. cooking, laundry, fixing things w/Dad.. even cleaning, though I must admit we have to do more than a little encouraging to get him to clean up. He even enjoys waking up early to help Lolo and Lola with the gardening when we’re in SJ.

He still loves music; he still enjoys playing the piano and the drums.  However, he’s added the ukelele to his repertoire, singing and tapping his foot to the beat.

In terms of development, the growing list of vocabulary he’s mastering is amazing. He’s also starting to put sentences together more, though Sam and I still have to translate for others. I’d try to list all the words that he’s learned |it’s one of the things I wish I kept better track of| but there’s just too many; I’ll just be satisfied knowing he knows a lot. Sam even says that he’s surprised by the Cantonese words that he knows. What a smart little boy! Now if he would only sit down long enough for study sessions. He’s way too active to sit down for any length of time.

His favorite sayings these days are “Chicken a burger” and “Just noodles”.  There’s been an idea thrown out that we should have a t-shirt with those slogans on it.  We’ll have to see about that.  I think it could be cute.