My first parent-teacher interview(PTI)

Going to school is awesome as you can make friends and you can learn. If you asked my dad, what was aweful about going to school in his experience, he would tell you it's parent-teacher interview(PTI). He got a fairly good chance to have a follow-up spank each time. Ouch!

Here came my PTI. I did pretty well on all physical developments and social skills. But not too impressive on language and maths. Dad told me what saved me follow-up spank was that dad thinks that maths interpretation at my age is assiciated with language. So I was only considered as failing one instead of two. Besides, I can be forgiven for being sort of bilingual. Spanking is probably joking here. But mom and dad did have some serious discussion after my PTI. The resolution came out that they decided to speak to me in 90% English instead of previous 40% English at home.
Will that work? Even they think it sounds pretty dumb. They might be joking again.

Singing is fun, sharing is not

I learned a song from my music class, 'she sells sea shells by the sea shore'. Not only I like to sing it to other people all the time, but also I sang it when I was asleep. It is really fun.
But what annoys me is dad and mom like the idea of sharing too much. They really fell in love with it. They even wanted to share my song. So whenever they dare try to sing my song, I have to yell to them, "IT IS MY SEA SHORE'.
If you think I am selfish and mean, remember, I am TWO years old.

2 years check-up

The much expected 2 years check-up finally came. Weight=33pounds, 93%, Height=36inch, 90%. It's the first time my height was measured while I stood up instead of lay down. That might be part of the reason I disappointed mom and dad's high expectation.
Anyway, I probably won't be a professional basketball player. It is not too late to consider some other careers. How about candy salesman? You can do things great only if you have great passion for it. Even though I was scared so bad in this Halloweens, hey, I got a full-loaded basket of candy I barely can carry.

Where is dad's key?

Dad has been sloppy at putting away his stuff. It doesn't surprise people that he spends some time finding his things occasionally. What makes dad be proud of himself is he can always find it eventually. That is why he never had a lesson and took this seriously. Now he needs to watch out.

I got a chain of keys from kitchen island, a new territory I was just able to reach. After I played it a little, I put it into certain drawer which dad and mom rarely opened. Then dad ended up with asking company maintainence guy to help him open his office and also mom turned stuff in trash can upside down. They knew I did it but I just forgot what I did. Don't blame me for it. Like father, like son. Dad got a real lesson this time. Hopefully it can help him in the future.

I am in school now.

Even though I had dressed a T-short worded with 'too cool for school', I am attending a preschool named 'rising star' now.

Here is a little history about my school. Two Steiner ranch moms had their own philosophy what a preschool should be like for their kids. The only way to fulfill their dream is to start their own school, which they did. Now their kids are my schoolmates.

I really love my school so that I don't want to leave when mom comes to pick me up everyday. I always get comments 'eat very well' from my teacher and my smooth transition to after-lunch lap without a fight certainly shocked mom and dad, which is really like a magic to them. I learned a few songs and a few letters so far and I am learning everyday.

It is a milestone in my life, as it is the first time I am away from my parents. Even it is just a few hours. But it is a few opaque hours to them, which adds unknown factors degrading dad's cause and effect analysis accuracy to my growth. Good luck is getting more important.

Now I can read with Aaron. Do we both look like schoolboys? Too cool to be like a preschool boy.

A little journey of mine

Tour San Diego

First, I have to be frank. It might take a while for us to have another tour after this one, simply because I am going to have a little brother at the end of this year. So we have to really make this a really really nice one. Is there a better place than San Diego? Definitely not.

Beach walking is always considered as romantic. Have ever people thought about that it could be a test for courage? I was afraid of beach at the beginning. Actually mom and dad found this out last time when we were in bear beach in San Francisco. It really took me three times to figure out ocean was not that scary, as long as you didn't get salty water into your mouth.

Even birds like walking on beach.

Coronado, a little nice town we can't miss in San Diego. A lot of things reminded mom and dad eastern coast. Hey, mom and dad, how about those palm trees?














In Mom's logic, Sea world is a must see too as it is bigger than the one in San Antonio. OK, let's go. Can you guess what I was holding in my hand? Banana skin? How about if you got it wrong, you owe me a banana?

We often say that everything in Texas is bigger. Talking with Cal guys, houses, Yes; Cactus, No. Something we have to be amazed is Cactus in California doesn't represent how arid California really is. They look so green and so water-rich. Irrigation and ocean climate changed their genes? We will find out.

San Diego Zoo is another must see. It is so well designed that it gives you really good angle and close distance to watch animals.

Balboa park is another attraction you'd better go. There are so many museums and nice architectures. All I can tell you is science museum. After that, I was so exhausted by that many stimulus that I have to sleep through the rest of tour. I don't regret much as this tour was a short one anyway. Why? Give you some hint. Look what color we were in. More hint. When was Tiger Woods in red when he was on Golf tour? Last day! When you tour, you'd better tour like a winner. It is our last day. We were going home!

A quantum jump in water

I haven't mentioned much about my swimming skill this year. There is really not much to talk about. Last year, I was treated as a star swimmer for my age. But I didn't make progress at all this year. Actually, dad thought I was more active in water last year. He said I was not much different from a floating log in water. Honestly, even worse than a floating log, as I need his support to be like a floating log.

NOT ANY MORE!
Yesterday I found out that I could make a good balance in water if I moved my arms and legs in the right way, with a little help of my floatie jacket. A new chapter of my swimming progress just opened. I myself could go anywhere I wanted in the pool. It's not easy as some time I got water in my mouth and nose. What I did was just spitting it out, like dad showed me. It's so cool to swim on your own.

Dad was a little lost. Whenever he tried to approach me to offer his unnecessary help, I yelled him to stop it. It seems that he relly need some time to adjust from a very needed person to an unneeded role. Be ready, dad. More adjustments are coming on their ways.

Hamilton Pool, better than a beach?

Last Saturday, we went to Hamilton pool, a natural waterfall in southwest of Austin. We were all impressed with theview and enjoyed swimming under cool waterfall. Aaron made a comment: 'This is even better than a beach. How could you get a waterfall in a beach?' It is hard to argue with him on this.

Dad's garden

Unlike Providence, it is usually not easy to maintain a garden in Austin as the summer is just too warm and dry. Not this year, we got a record high rain-water this year. Lake travis is all full and even open the gate to release some water. It has not happened for many years. And also it is not a hot summer so far. Gardeners are all happy.

A trip to Houston again

I visited Houston Zoo again. This time I went there with Aaron. It's a really hot day so we got a chance to see tigers, as the tigers have to swim in the water to cool themselves down. The next day we went to houston children's museum, which made all of us feel we really need to make Austin chidren's museum better. Houston is just such a great city. It is worth driving for three hours one way for the fun.

Something about Chengdu we missed

Time can never be enough. The historic Chengdu plane sits between two hill countries. We have visited the west part, which is really a part of great Tibet plane. The east part, Dragon Spring hills, is the one we missed. Dragon Spring is such a great place for artists of Chengdu. The view, country culture and country scenary is really one of the kinds. Here I posted a painting of Mr. ZhiZhuang Chen on Dragon Spring hill. Enjoy it.

Remark 7 of Chengdu trip: history is everywhere

There were two greatest poets in Chinese history. One of them is Du, Fu, (杜甫)。Every chinese kid grew up with citing their poems. Fu has stayed in Chengdu for four years during the notorious An Shi's riot. He wrote his most famous poem 'Wind broke my cottage' 茅屋为秋风所破歌 here. It is so touchy when he wrote: How could there be thousands houses available for all poor people in the world. I would be happy to die of being frozen in my broken cottage. ( 安得广厦千万间，大庇天下寒士俱欢颜。... 吾庐独冻死亦足哉。） In a rule of thumbs, dad doesn't put my picture in tears online. This is an exception. Just for Fu. My grandparent were with me.

Remark 6 of Chengdu trip: Oxygen bar

A new phrase I just learned: Oxygen bar. There are just so many trees and plants in Chengdu plane rural area. They produced so much fresh oxygen that now a popular thing people do is to have a weekend stay in rural area. It is called: visit Oxygen Bar.

They are not exaggerating. I had a sky overview. Uncountable mountains and uncountable tree. It is just such a great bar.

Remark 5 of Chengdu trip: A statute of me

Lotus is everywhere in those satellite towns around Chengdu. Summer is Lotus's glory time. Winter or fall is the time people pick their roots, a unique nutrious food. People make statutes for VIPs. Do I look like a VIP? Or maybe I am just a typical Chinese boy.

Remark 4 of Chengdu trip: Water from Heaven

Water has been such a precious resource in this world. ShiChuan is such a blessed place with abundant high quality water supply, which is from Tibet plane. The water, melted from snow, is so clean and cool. 拜水都江堰 said it all.

Remark 3 of Chengdu trip: Wild flower in Qing Cheng Mountain

Qing Cheng Mountain (青城山） is such a great place to visit. It is the origin of Dao religion. It is said: 拜水都江堰， 问道青城山. 古人云：青城天下秀。可见一斑。We climbed the mountain, visited temples, and smelled wild flowers. Oh, can not miss this, I ate a lot of real 'Organic food' from farmer's restaurant. I dare not enjoy all alone. My cousin, YueYue was my companion all along.

Remark 2 of Chengdu trip: Tea House and Bamboo

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan and now is crowned as Capital of leisure (休闲之都）。In ancient time, there was a chinese saying "Sichuan is not for youth (少不入川）"，which really means that life in Sichuan is too easy and too relaxing, which makes youth lose spirit of hard-working. This sounds like a paradise for retirees.
In sunny days, people here like sitting in the tea-house, playing majiang and chatting each other. Bamboo chairs here are kind of unique. A bamboo chair, a cup of tea and a shade of huangjiao tree just give you a real piece of peace. It is absolutely stress-free.

Remark 1 of Chengdu trip: City life

I have never seen so many people before I visited Chengdu. This character fits the capital of most densely populated province of the most populated nation in the world. People people everywhere.
But how to find your own peace in such a Mahattan-like city. Find your own central park. There are a lot of city parks around. A nice thing I have to mention is that, unlike Texas, trees here are huge so you get cool shade everywhere.

People morning-exercise in the park. Looks like they are well-trained.














Striding in King Wang Jian's Tomb, one of dad's favorite parks while he grew up.

Spy my neighbor. Why? They have a pool at home.

Just half year change

It is always fun to look at a younger me. Hard to believe a faked pony can cheer me up so much. Now I have riden a real pony already. My favorite thing now is watching sesame street. I learned quite a few dance moves from it. Dad was really puzzled how educational experts call watching TV 'passive' learning. Now I can earn watching one hour sesame street per day. Can't wait going back to China. During the long flight, sesame street can bring everyone peace.

We have a big family in China. Getting a gift for everyone is a tough job. Dad has been shopping like crazy. Today he was even recognized by a compusa sales guy as dad has been there too often.

Now I am one and half years old.

You never know until you explore

My blog has been quiet for a while. Can't blame dad being lazy as our camera was broken. Canon E18, a well-known error which bugged so many people. As an Engineer, dad made a nice try to fix it once. But he couldn't fix it twice.

Dad decided to upgrade our camera to SLR. Unlike point-shoot cameras, SLRs need user to be more educated on camera. In other word from dad'd mouth, it takes time to figure out what you really need. A game most of us play every day about balancing cost and performance. Mom certainly can't bear the idea that I have no pictures for a while. We ended up with having an 'temporary camera', or you can call it 'secondary camera', a cheap one which fits its name.

The following picture was taken in Gymboree with so-so lighting. It is a whole lot better than our old camera, tahnks to IS technology. The movie mode was much more superior to the old one, which even makes us think who needs camcoders any more. This is all done by a camera which costs $179.

Even E18 doesn't exist, our 4M 3X old canon powershot should be collected as an antic a while back ago. You wouldn't know it until you explore. This doesn't just happen for cameras.

Happy Easter!

Egg hunting is the first time ever to me, mom and dad. We even discussed if we need to prepare some eggs painted with color ourselves. So you can imagine how happy we were when we opened the eggs. Great idea! See you all eggs next year.

baby sense

Last night, we went to basketball court and had some fun. On the way back, I suddenly found that a gigantic dark monster was following me all the time. No matter where I went, he was just there with me. I yelled at him and he seemed not to be scared. What can I do, except crying?

Dad and mom just laughed as they said the monster was my shadow. Today, we went to my 18 month check-up, which was scheduled a little early as we probably would go back to China by that time. We just found out I am 35inch in height and 28'9" pounds in weight. No wonder the monster was so big.

I can play

To most players, shooting basketball is easier than making a dunk. Not to me. I make every single basket with a slam dunk. Just like this. Grandpa and Grandma were quite impressed from QQ video. They are going to visit us soon. Before that, I am going to China to meet them. Dad promised that I will have a lot of good food there in Chengdu, which probably is the most famous cousine city in China. I have no idea what he is talking about. But look at mom, she starts drooling.

Our new neighbor moved away

Probably the mom felt we visited them too much. She was a little concerned with her baby's safty. They moved away. We are so sad that we couldn't watch them grow up. Now there is just an empty nestle sitting there.
It is still a mystery to us how they made the move. Did they get some help like that dad hired somebody to move our furnitures? Babies could be very heavy.

We got a new neighbor

We just moved in our new home. So soon a new neighbor moved in. They settled down on our garden fence. A mother with two babies. We embraced them with a warm heart. They are related with QUAIL but they are a little too big for a quail. Once we figured out who they are, I will publish it.
Dad had dreamed in his whole life to have a neighbor like this and now his dream just came true.

This is my community

Welcome to my community, Oak Brook.

We have moved in two weeks ago. Then we all got sick due to some virus. It took so much chicken soup and so much rest to get it over. Dad, excused himself from being procrastinated, finally finished installing gas drier today. Mom has been drying our clothes in the yard for two weeks. We started wondering how much energy would be saved nationwide if every family sun-dries their clothes once a month. Well, now our life just officially gets into right track.

Oak brook is an breath-taking community. Olson Meadow Park is right in front of my door. A long trail reaches Avery Ranch, and brushy creek water park. Many trees, bushes, ponds, creeks, and little bridges sketch my space. The view is just so beautiful that it entices out dad's painting desire with a yearly rusty skill. Certainly mom was not much impressed with it. And we got so many kids in our neighborhood that you need a PDA to help remember all of them. Finally, our school, Brushy creek elementary was an exemplary school in excellent RRISD.

I am just a lucky boy.

If you came to San Francisco...

A toll fee in Golden State Bridge, 5 dollars. (free to three passengers carpool, thanks to me);
A breakfast meal in marriot downtown, 20 dollars. (free to a child as a courtesy, even I eat like a man);
A round-trip flight ticket to San Jose, 250 dollars. (free to me as I am still under two years old);
A curious boy exploring historic San Francisco, Priceless! (and also costless!!!) What a wonderful world!

15 month check-up

Height is still 33.5 inches (>97%). Either I didn't grow at all or doctor's ruler shrunk a little bit. My weight is 28'9" (92%). So it seems true I am slimming down. Mom and dad finished check-up boxes of my ages and found out it is my first time to earn a full score (which means I did all things marked as 15 months-old probably do).
Following doctor's suggestions, mom cut my milk by half. And I also have to switch to sippy cup. Doctor said many good things about using sippy cup but I still can't see it. My appetite came back with less milk per day. But my appetite for vegetable is still close to zero.
I had a real slam-down basket when I was at Isabella's birthday party. Certainly Dad saw my talent and a training program is on the way.
We got our first house and will move in at the end of this month. This one is a small but cute one which sits IN A PARK. Yes, in a park. I couldn't be happier. Since there were multiple offers so we paid a full price to get it. Ouch!
There is a pond next to my house with elegant white cranes wandering around. That makes me feel good for what we paid for.

Happy new year!

Since Chrismas, we have been busy with shopping. So far, we haven't bought a thing. There is no such a concept of 'on sale' for what we are trying to buy, a house. The reason we picked this time of the year was just dad finished his work and was able to take a break now.
We have looked at tens of houses at various neighborhoods. They all look much nicer than my apartment. It just came to a question: which one fits us best? School district, through traffic, kid-friendly backyard. See, I am still the center of the Universe.
Finally, we sent out our first offer. Hopefully, we don't need to send out the second.

By the way, my first run (a real run) happened when we were looking at a house. I was intereted in a dog, which was confined in a room with a glass door. That cutie was gorgeous and quiet. So was I. We stared at each other. Then she suddenly barked at me. Very loud. Then I started my first run. That is a heck of run mom and dad would never forget.