Stunned.

I just found out that one of Aria's teacher has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and has decided to have a double mastectomy with reconstruction. I'm so shocked and stunned by the news. First off, she's so young, she's maybe in her mid thirties. Secondly, she's such a wonderful person. She's so caring and energetic. She's always been about eating healthy and taking care of her health and that of her family.
I am very glad that she detected it. Her mother also had breast cancer and is a survivor so I guess that made her more aware about her vulnerability to the disease.
News like that makes me appreciate my health and life more.

Random pics.

"I love this can!"

Standing in front of $1,650 playhouse at Costco, striking a cheeky post.

Can someone please buy her that house??

She loved this inflated toddler bed.

Yes, I won and she did not get it.

Such a cute chinchilla, but I know better than to buy it since we're got too many pets as is.

It's over.

Aria's in the middle. Her fav. is Cassidy on the left.

The last couple of days has been spent planning for my local moms club's end-of-the-year banquet (which shouldn't be called a banquet at all since it's held at a park during the day with finger food). Since I'm VP, (only till the end of the month) I had to do a lot of the brunt work like buying supplies, buying food and ordering and picking up the pizzas. I didn't mind since it's going to be the last duties that I have with the club. The event was fun but it was a real letdown to ending my term. The president showed no appreciation of the work that I've down, especially since I, along with another board member, did the majority of work throughout the year. Whatever, it was a good learning experience. Just like with any professional job, a club can't run efficiently unless the person in charge is on top of her game.
No more board member position for me, I'm burnt from all the responsibilities. Besides, Aria's new preschool for the fall will require alot of my time. She's going to be attending a co-op and I'll be required to work there at least once a week. Definitely looking forward to it. I think we will both benefit; I get a couple of hours of 'me' time a day where I can run errands etc, she'll expand her social skills and hopefully make some new friends.
So sad, Aria will most likely not be able to see much of her good friends now. They're all going to different preschools and will be on different schedules. I'll try my best to set up playgroups for them but I think she's going to have to make new friends.

Updates

Potty Training:
I think Aria's is potty trained. Okay, I haven't tested the overnight san diaper part, but she's fully off the diapers during the day. I'm so proud of her. No accidents (except for this one time in a department store where I thought she peed for literally a full min. and the closest thing around me to absorb all that pee was a bunch of multiply packs of striped socks. Yes I used them. ) no drama about not wanting to use the potty, no needs to bribe her with treats or stickers. Ahh, I love easy transitions. Now I really got to start carrying that portable seat around and get her some cute Hello Kitty underwears.

Speech:
Aria's vocab. is amazing. There are too many words that she knows to list and she speaks in full sentences. So of the words that she uses that really impress me are : organize, refrigerator, computer, computer games, washing machine, decorate, sissors and pregnant. It's even more amazing the way she uses them.
Conversation from last night:

Aria: Where's daddy?
me: In the other room.
Aria: Is he playing computer games?

Hahaha.. she knows A.'s addictions.
I don't want to brag but she's pretty bright. I think she gets that from her dad's side of the family.

Behavior:
Aria's tantrums has gotten a lot worst over the past month. Time-outs don't work on her anymore, she'll cry/whine during the duration. Her whinings are so dramatic. I literally have to walk away from her, regain my barings, then go back and calmly tell her to mellow out. When is this phase going to pass???
She also will not share now with kids she don't know and kids she does not like. I guess that may be usual but she was never like that before. I guess I just don't want her to be pushed around and I don't want her to be rude and bully.

Cough

I've been hacking my lungs out these couple of days. It's also painful to swallow so I haven't been eating as much as I usually do. That doesn't stop the cravings. God I crave chinese custard tarts, chocolate, pasta in red sauce but the thought of actually pushing the food down pass my throat has prevented me from caving in to the cravings. Guess it's a sure way to loose weight.
I think Aria and I caught the same thing (most likely from A. since he had it a while back). Boy, she's such a trooper. She's not complaining at all. She just coughs, tells me that she's got a "broken nose" when ever it's runny and has been drinking a lot of liquid. I gotta learn from her.

Our Saturday Date Night

Soft chocolate ice cream cup

Tubbies ride

Carvel was having .34 cents soft cones or cups all day today and we decided to get some for dessert after dinner. Surprisingly, Aria asked for the cup instead of the cone. I thought for sure the cone was a shoe-in. She got a chocolate cup, A. got a vanilla cup and I (by mistake) got a vanilla cone. It took Aria a while but she finished the whole thing! I'm surprised because she hardly ever eats. I guess she's a chocoholic like her mama. After that we hit the Chuck E. Cheese next door. That place doesn't close until 11 PM!! Of course the crowd in there, by the time we arrived, were made up of teenagers. I guess teens need a place to hang too, even if it is a kiddy arcade. Aria didn't care. She just love to try out every machine. Best part is, I don't have to buy her a lot of tokens because she's entertained by all the lights and buttons. A. on the other hand,9 can go through $5.00 worth of tokens in 10 mins. Agh! Space it out, buddy. Swear, he's like a big kid. We stayed until closing time. Overall, everyone had a blast. A couple of hours later, Barney was playing on the t.v. and Aria came up to me and said that she "saw Barney at Chuck E. Cheese". She remembered! And I got the picture to prove it too.

Pics.

Enjoying an Ikea yogurt cone.

Posing with cutout.

Don't kiss me

I think I'm sick. Don't know where I caught it from but I'm going throught the whole fever thing; chills, sweats, fatigue, lack of appetite. You know I'm sick when I refuse food. Eating is one of my passions. Well, I took a couple of Tylenol and hopefully I'll be 100% by tomorrow since I have a playdate with a friend at Ikea!! That's another one of my passions, going to Ikea and topping it off with a 99 cent soft cone. Must rest up...

Summer is here. Ugh.

I can't believe that July is almost upon us. Where did 2006 go?? I swear I was just getting use to the idea of writing '06' and it's almost half over. Aria's 3 Mommie & Me classes are finally over. So far, our summer is looking pretty empty compared to what we're usually used to. We only have summer school on Weds. and swimming classes on Thurs., but besides that we have nothing else planned. I usually like to get her out of the house at least 3 times a week so we don't turn into complete hermits. Also, once she starts preschool in the Fall, I will not have much as much bonding time with Aria as I do now. I got to get cracking on planning things to do with her.
We had swimming lessons today and she started off terribly. It didn't help that we're the only ones in the class right now. I think most kids are still in school and by July our class will be filled. So far, it's just me, Aria and her instructor Christina. Christina is really wonderful with Aria. Aria's screaming her head off because the pool was pretty cool and she didn't want to get her head dunked. Majority of the class was spent with Aria crying. It was a very painful 25 mins for everyone. Once class was over, we're allowed to stay in the pool for free play. We ended up staying for another 1 1/2 hours. She didn't want to leave. I guess it takes Aria a while to warm up to swimming. Hopefully, she'll do better next week.

We're bad parents.

What happens when you have 2 bad parents, a bored toddler and a few plastic balls??
A Chinese Dolly Parton impersonator.
We also got a few laughs and she's scarred for life.

Future husband

Future Mr. & Mrs.

We attended one of Aria's playmate's birthday today. His name is Nathan and he turned 2. The party was held at his house with an inflated pool, cupcakes, juice, crackers and craft. We had a blast and Aria didn't want to leave. Nathan is such a cutie. I hope he'll become Aria's future hubby one day. See the picture above? Sorry for the graininess but can't you just envision them 25 years from now lounging in front of the t.v. like a pair of love-struck couch potatoes? He's already started by sitting around in shorts san shirt. Look at that cute little pot belly on him. Match made in heaven. They have my blessing to hook up.

Heat and toilet seats.

Aria and her new sprinkler head.

It's been hitting the upper 90s here in Southern Cali and hot summer days means water fun for Aria. I just got her a new sprinkler toy and she's in water-play heaven. She enjoys that toy more than her swimming lessons. I guess getting her head dunked in water is pretty traumatizing. I hope it all pays off and she'll learn to swim by next year.

Potty training is also in full swing at our house. She's doing pretty well. No more accidents so far but I don't think she's fully trained yet. I sure don't trust her to go all night without a diaper. I'm dreading the day when she will be potty trained because that means I got to let her use public toilets. I have a major phobia about dirty toilet seats and I know I'm going to get really anal about her ways of using a public toilet. Am I the only one who gets these wired thoughts?? I bought one of those folding travel potty seats so hopefully that'll my phobia. Ah, another thing to carry.

Lunchtime

Last couple of weeks, Aria's been into drinking from straws during meals. She has a plastic canister filled with straws and will get herself a straw before each meal. Wish she can do the laundry and cook meals too so I have more relax time. (kidding, just kidding.)

Another dose of cuteness

She's been asking the cutest question this week:

Aria -"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, mommie?"
me - "yes, what are you thinking?"
Aria -"I'm thinking about rollie pollies."

That's her reply 90% of the time. She's so funny. I wonder where she got that question from.

Oh no...

it started already.... she's hogging the phone.

Death in the family

One of the two turtles we have passed away 2 days ago. It was a sad sight. They were given to Aria from her favorite aunt. A. found the turtle dead with his little head hanging out. He told me to pook at it and I told him that he's crazy for asking. Aria was sad that he died and she totally understand the meaning of death now since we been through sooo many pets and creatures. The turtle looked like he passed away peacefully.
We'll miss you, little guy.

Babies and Their Fathers

This cracks me up. Thank god A was never this bad.

Dose of cuteness

Aria said the cutest thing today and I had to snap some pictures of her doing it. We were leaving a playgroup from a friend's house when she ran up to a bunch of flowers on the front lawn, grabbed them, pulled them to her head and said, "Look mommy, bunny ears." She crackes me up! See for yourself...

Tah-dah! Bunny Ears!

Father's Day Project: Completed.

A., if you're reading this, please skip this right now and don't read this post until after Sunday. Thanks, hon.

Okay, it's finally done and wrapped. First of all, I need to thank Jodie for the awesome idea. I'm a big fan of her site (her children are sooo adorable), saw what she did for Father's Day a couple of years back and decided to 'borrow' the idea and do it too. Jodie used wooden letters but I'm too cheap to buy them so I used cardboard and painted it white or red. Not as sturdy but it does the trick. They go right back into storage for next year. Last year's framed work took a lot of work because Aria simply would not cooperate. This year was a lot easier. I bribed her with bugs if she'll 'help mommy out and hold up the letters'. Only took one photo session vs. 6 sessions last year. Here's the end result:

Father's Day gift - 2006

detailed of pics - 2006

Father's Day gift - 2005

I couldn't find a frame with four windows like last year so I forgo the whole search and just went with a single long opening. I photoshopped the photos together and voila! done. Hope he likes it.

Neighborhood cat

While on the walk to Walgreens to retrieve my photo for A.'s gift, we ran into our friendly neighborhood cat (mentioned in a past post). He's soooo adorable and friendly. I swear he acts like a dog. He just wants to be petted and played with. We have the perfect relationship. He lets Aria pet and play with her for as long as she likes which makes him happy. I don't have to feed or pick up after him, which makes me happy.

Father's Day Project

Father's Day is looming ahead and I've been working frantically on A.'s Father's Day project. Yes, I got him the usual store-bought stuff but I want to make him a gift that's special and will mean something to him. Like most guys, if A. wants something he'll just buy it. I know something personalized is better than the store bought stuff. We made a couple of school crafts that'll get wrapped up as well.
I've been getting Aria to pose for me and she's been a trooper. Sure was easier this year than last year. I've just finished it and it's currently printing at Walgreen's. Hopefully it'll be ready today. I'll keep you updated with pictures to come. Gotta love technology, I did it this morning in my pajama without stepping out the door.

Long Day

Aria with koala statue

Smiling zebra

We didn't have anything planned, it just turned in to a pretty active day. A suggested that we go to the zoo around noon to get out of the house. Since we have an annual pass to The L.A. Zoo, we don't stress out too much about seeing all the animals in one visit. We just go at a leisure pace and enjoy the time spend together. I also love going through the membership entrance and bypassing the long lines to get tickets. To anyone who's thinking about getting an annual pass, I highly recommend it. It's money well spent.

The zoo wasn't too crowded and the weather was perfect. We left after a couple of hours there and decided to head to Ikea which was on the way home. A. decided to eat there. I'm not a big fan of the Ikea's food except for their 99 cents breakfast deal, their hot dog and their yogurt cones. A. ordered the seafood salad and I got a hotdog and cone. Delish. Sure hits the spot. Aria was asleep during the meal but woke up right after the meal. It was perfect time. We spent another 2 hours perusing each mock room. They've changed a lot of their displays since the last time that I was there. I must go back when it's less busy so I can get some good ideas on decorating and organizing. I just can't do it on the weekend because having other customers run through my mock rooms makes it less fun.

We spend a lot of time in the children's area, or I should say that A. spent a lot of time with Aria in the children's area while I shopped. More fun for me!

We got Aria a yogurt cone on the way out and she pretty much ate the whole thing. That's a first for Aria. We checked out the book store and because it was so late (8:30 !!!) we decided to have dinner at Chevy's. I haven't been there in years and it was as good as I remembered it. We shared a big entree of pork ribs, pork strips, chicken, rice & beans, flour tortillas and 2 types of tamales. Meal was great, the company was great, I shopped at Ikea, my belly's full. It was a perfect day.

He taught her well.

A. bought Aria a plastic toy short sword recently. It's pretty realistic and makes a 'ching' sound when she swings it. I wasn't too thrill with it but Al has taught her to not strike anyone with it except for him. They use in pretend fights, you see.
Well A. was caught by surprised tonight when out of nowhere Aria whacked him with the sword.
I asked Aria if she would ever hit the dog, the bunny or myself with it and she said no to all three. I then asked her who she'll use the sword on and she shouted her daddy's name. I cracked up. Smart girl. Serves A. right for teaching her to play with swords.

Highlights from today

Aria and her teacher Valerie, discussing snails with the class.

Enjoying gyozas.

Daisy chair and Donald chair at the Disney store.

A. took the day off from work today because he had a soar throat. He said he could have gone in but he was feeling lazy and wanted a day off. Cool. I love having him around. We all went to class together. He was able to see how Aria interacted with Friday class kids. We brought snails to class for share time. They were a hit. After class we had sushi for lunch. Aria ate gyozas and some miso soup. Then we headed to the bookstore where we spent a good deal of time perusing the kid's bargain book section. I LOVE the bargain book section. Heck I love bargains. I always leave the bookstore with a bargain book. We then hit the Disney store and miraculously left without purchasing a thing. Aria played in the indoor playgroup with A. while I shopped. She got rewarded with a pretzel before heading home. It was a fun day. Wish A. could hang out with us everyday but someone's got to pay the bills.

Cookies

We went to our local Korean market today to buy catfish and fresh veggies for dinner tonight. Aria knows the layout of the store pretty well since we go there on a pretty regular basis. She always head over to the display that holds her favorite Korean cookies. I have no clue what they're called since the pink box is printed all in Korean. They're simple cookies with a chocolate filling. I initially fell for the packaging but now it's a staple in our house. Yes, that's right, we don't do veggie sticks we do cookies.

Lost and Found

Look closely on her cheek. That's her pet rollie pollie. I was able to find one of the two missing rollie pollies late last night. She was sooo happy when I found it. You would have thought that we won the lottery or something. Well, if she's happy, I'm happy. Just one lost rollie pollie in the room. Flip flops will stay on my feet until the little bug is found.

My beautiful girl.

While at the doctor's.

Lunch

finger-lickin' good

We got home from a pretty eventful morning and I decided to make Aria lunch. Her lunch consisted of one slice of wheat bread and peanut butter, folded in half, stripes of ham and chocolate milk. My daughter, being the free spirit that she is, decided that the meal will taste better with the ham inside the peanut butter sandwich. She opened up the sandwich and put every strip of ham inside. Then she preceded to eat the whole thing. I was grossed out by it so I thought I'll share that feeling with you all here. I don't know about you but I don't think certain foods should mix unless they're in your belly already. Yuck.

BTW, Tippy is still alive and we've added 2 rollie pollies (found in the backyard) into the family right after lunch. No names yet for the latest additions.

Update: AUGH!!! I've got 2 rollie pollies on the loose in the family room. She lost them while watching Madagascar. Gotta watch where I step. AUGGHH!!!

Bunnyboy

Bunnyboy chilling with Alex The Lion.

Random pictures from today.

Music time in school.

On rocking horse at Chucke Cheese.

New pet

My little girl got a new pet today. It's a snail. It's not even her first snail. It's her second snail. The first one went to snail heaven after a few days of joining the family. We found this one on the school ground during free play. All the little kids surrounded the snail but only Aria was brave enough to pick it up. At the point of contact she knew she must make the snail hers. She asked me if she can take it home. I told her to ask her teacher for permission first. She ran off immediately and came back asking again. I doubt she asked the teacher. I said 'yes' and I went looking for a container to take the little guy home. Yes, it's a guy because Aria said it's a 'boy'. She named him Tippy.

Last time I checked, Tippy is still alive.

Multitasking.

It's 12:40 AM and Aria's chilling in front of the T.V. watching Looney Toons while coloring. She loves Looney Toons. The kid has great taste in cartoons. I'm a big fan myself. She's also doing it bare-assed. My daughter's hip-like-that.

Regret

Why didn't I do this years ago?? Dang, this is sooo simple to do. I kick myself for the the excuses that I've came up with in the past - 'I'm too busy. When will I find time between feedings? I'll start tomorrow. I need A to teach me how. blah, blah, blah.'
Well, I'm glad I started now. Now let's see if I can keep it going.

Random recent pics.

Tunnel time.

She was facinated with this big lizard. I'm not sure if it's a kimono dragon or not.

Enjoying a bowl of Cha-Jang Myun (black bean paste & noodles)

Aria playing with a box of live crabs at a local Korean store.

My little girl loves animals and insects. I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes a veterinarian when she grows up. I'm secretly training her to be a doctor. Already got her a kiddy doctor kit. ;)

Back from dinner.

We just got back from dinner for the SIL. She turned "30 something". I didn't ask the number and she didn't volunteer it. We went to a cantonese style seafood restaurant. The food was great. I can't turn down great food, so I stuffed myself silly. The topper was dessert in the form of sweet red bean soup, just like mom made. I had 2 bowls. But dang, literally 5 mins. after dessert,I got that funny feeling in my stomach. I'm sure you've all had that feeling. The feeling like your ass is going to burst with flaming hot shit at any second. I use my amazing kung-fu powers and held it all in until we got home. Once on the bowl, I told Aria that I needed some reading material and my wonderful child brought me one of her books to read. Then I told her that I had a tummy ache and she went and got her unicorn stuffed animal and told me to 'cuddle it on my tummy'. She's so smart!

My first post...

I've finally decided to create a blog to write down all the wonderful ( and not so wonderful ) snippets of raising Aria. She's currently napping in her pink chair, in front of the t.v. while Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is on. Yeah, not your typical Baby Einstein dvd.. but then again, I'm not raising an ordinary baby. She's awesome, smart, kind-hearted, wise beyond her years and so beautiful. Okay, I'm have biases because she's my daughter but so what, she is all that and so much more.Aria's 31 months right now, 29.5 lbs and 34.5" tall. That means she's 50% in weight and 10% in height in comparison to your average 2 1/2 years old. No, she will not be a super model but she can always rely on her brains because she's one smart cookie.