hello, neighbor!

i've always complained that no one in our neighborhood was interested in meeting or getting to know us (and victor, the cynic that he is, thought it was because we were asian. i, on the other hand, thought it was because most of our neighbors are my parents' age), but recently, i've met and chatted with 2 of them (one who lives across the street, the other who lives about 5 houses down). all it really took was being visible (i take caleb out on walks regularly) and initiating conversation (having a baby helps). more and more young families are moving into our neighborhood, and i find that they're more interested in getting to know you than the older folks who've been around here awhile.

this is a new experience for me. growing up, i've always known many of my neighbors. we used to go outside to play together all the time. (it helped that we all went to school together, too.) but since then, i haven't really gotten to know any of my neighbors. (what a shame.) so i'm not used to this new way of life. i find it a little strange for me to call her and say i'll meet her outside... or for me to be taking a walk, and for her to drive up, roll the window down, and make plans to get together. heh. i kind of like it. it makes me feel like i belong to a community. plus, it's way more convenient than having to drive everywhere. :)

anyway, today i actually got a chance to get together with andrea and her 8-month old son, jack. we were originally going to take a walk at the park, but it was a bit rainy so we had some starbucks instead, and then she came over so that we could feed the kiddos and let them play. it was so fun. caleb crawled over to jack and started nuzzling up next to him. he gave him his pupsqueak toy. as he did, it rattled, and caleb busted out laughing. he thought it was hilarious. so cute!

yay! a new friend to play with... for both caleb and mommy!

sweaters

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

last week, for some freakish reason, the daytime temps suddenly dropped from the mid 80's down to the 50's. i quickly took this opportunity to dress caleb in the sweaters that he wasn't able to put to use this past, unseasonably warm winter. what a shame. he only got to wear it once.

c is for cracker, that's good enough for me!

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

here's caleb enjoying his favorite treat: a japanese rice cracker. he gnaws on it until it's about the size of his palm. then he places one end between his gums, opens up his hand, and shoves the rest of it in his mouth all at once. what glee!

at the park

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

we took caleb out to our neighborhood community center/park sunday evening. the sweis and caleb's buddy, justin, joined us too. we had such a blast! caleb LOVES being outdoors, and really enjoys riding in the swing.

woo hoo!

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

higher, daddy! higher!

"why are you torturing me?"

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

unfortunately, justin wasn't as thrilled with the swing. he would've much rather liked to run around on his own.

mommy & me

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

after the blatant plea from my previous post, victor finally started taking more pics of me and caleb. :)

monkeyin' around

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

as you can see, victor enjoyed himself as well. :)

down the slide, take 1

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

we tried going down the twisty-slide, but caleb wasn't too thrilled with the adventure.

then we thought, "maybe he'll like it better going down with daddy since daddy's bigger and he won't go down as fast."

down the slide, take 2

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

unfortunately, we were wrong.

family photo

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

this is one of the very few photos we have of all 3 of us together!

so small!

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

i recently found this picture on our computer. randy took the pic during victor's fantasy football draft back in august. caleb was less than 2 months old. he's so small!

our little shorty

well, i took caleb to his 9 month check up today and was surprised to learn that he is no longer keeping up with the height/weight chart like he used to. when he was first born, he was averaging in the 75th percentile. as time went on, he started dropping into the 50th percentile. and today: height is 10th percentile and weight is 25th percentile, while his head is still pretty high, in the 80th percentile. wha!? well, we knew about the head. there's no getting around the fact that he's got a huge noggin. and i knew that his weight was probably avg/below avg. but i was shocked to discover that, as of now, he's a little shorty! perhaps he will take after my side of the family in this arena after all... how unfortunate. ha ha. just kidding. i'm sure his current height/weight has no bearing on his future height/weight. at least that's what i'm telling myself today.

so happy

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

in bed

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

mommy & me

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

a few weeks ago, i made the observation to victor that out of the hundreds of pics that we have of caleb, there are only a small handfull with me in them. usually, it's caleb by himself or caleb & daddy since i'm the one who takes most of the pics. unfortunately, he didn't seem to get the hint, so i guess i have to spell it out for him....

VICTOR: take more pics of me with caleb.

i ended up taking this one by myself (that's why my arm is extended).

on the move

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Originally uploaded by graciechiao.

unfortunately, most of the pics i take of caleb look like this these days. i can't get him to sit still for even a few seconds before he's on the move again.

nothing about me, more about caleb

man, i haven't updated in awhile. i finally relate to when julie said, "I'm xanga paralyzed. I can't think of anything interesting to share. So I don't write anything." when people at church ask me how i've been, i don't even know how to answer anymore. i do the same thing every day, and interesting things rarely happen to me anymore (unlike my teaching days)... i am my son's servant. don't get me wrong, i love it. i never thought i'd love being a stay-at-home mom this much, but i do. i absolutely love seeing his gummy grin each time he wakes up from a nap, and being able to call victor to boast about our son's most recent accomplishment. but how has my week been? "ok, i guess." is usually my answer.

anyway, since there's not much to share about me, i'll share about the baby.



he's a few days shy of 9 months, and he has gotten to be so fun... but also tiring because he can now express himself better and knows what he wants and doesn't want. he's been crawling for about a month now, but i didn't think it counted as crawling at first because he wasn't up on his hands and knees. however, after talking to julie and may, they assured me that what he's doing counts as crawling, and that some kids never get up on their hands and knees. i could see that happening with him since he has already started pulling up on things and wobbily cruising (trying to walk while holding on to something) around furniture. so here he is... commando crawling to daddy. (note how he only uses his right arm and left leg. weird kid.)

here are some other fun videos. in the first, he is laughing so hard at my feeble juggling attempts. apparently, he's really into slapstick comedy. in the second, he's laughing at victor's silly antics. i know, i know, i have a million videos of him laughing. but can you blame me? i love his deep gut-busting belly laugh. i can't get enough of it.