Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Monday, April 23, 2012

Progess Report

Transferred from my other blog: The Adventures of Sisterhood
First published: 4-23-12 at 9:15 PM EDT

This post is going to be short. Kylie turned 18 months old on the 22nd of this month, which was Sunday. When I was this old 13 years ago, I was on a plane to America with my mom. I was about to meet my dad for the first time since I was 7 months old. Of course, I don't remember any of this, but we watched a video of me from a few days before moving then. Kylie pointed at the screen and said "baby" in Chinese every time she saw me, and even recognized my mom from 1999. I thought it was about time to make a list of <i>everything</i> she knows how to say while it's still compilable.

Words she can say in Chinese:
- Mom, dad, sissy, grandma, Kylie
- Car
- Bird
- Meat
- Corn
- Wash
- Dry
- Hold/Give me
- Horse
- Dog
- Duck
- Pen/pencil/writing utensil
- Eat
- Shoes
- Thank you
- Socks
- Nose
- Baby/Doll

Words she can say in English:
- Hi
- Byebye
- Kylie
- Chichi
- Daddy
- Dog
- Duck
- A, B, C, D (can almost read them!)
- Uh-oh
- No (accompanied by vigorous head-shaking)
- Truck
- Bus
- Beep beep
- Names of some of her classmates at daycare
- Ball
- Sit
- Shoe
- Nose (Nose-y, actually)
- Baby

I'm sure I'm missing things. She knows so much already. She understand far more, but can't put it all to words. She can say some more things just by copying our sounds, but she doesn't know what they mean. In the house, our family has had to start being careful about what we say around her, because currently, her favorite word is N-O. We try not to say N-O out loud because it just reminds her of how much she enjoys shaking her head like a maniac and saying no.

-Chichi

Monday, April 16, 2012

Heat Wave

Transferred from my other blog: The Adventures of Sisterhood
First published: 4-16-12 at 11:05 PM EDT

Here in North Carolina, really in all of Bible Belt America, it's been heating up. The last 3 days have been some of the hottest days we've had all year. My little sister, recovering from yet another ear infection, has not been happy.

Today's entry is about the in-between. Everyone knows and hates the in-between, when it's still pollen-y outside, air full of allergens, yet the sun is beating on our backs and torturing us with 90 degree weather, and mosquitoes start sneaking into the house. Neighborhood pools aren't yet open (though I don't think ours even has a pool). Here in the south, droughts have been recurring for the past few years, so no beautiful sprinklers either. What is there to do when the blithering sun is languishing even the most energetic of us?

My family and I took my little sister to the playground near our house a couple of times this weekend. Before it's too dark and too much of bug territory, we sneak a few hours in the sun. But those few hours have to be before noon or around 3 or 4. They must be oh-so-precisely timed or we'll be stuck in the heat on the walk back. Once we get to the playground, the slide is hot, the swing sets are as well.

In fact, everywhere is hot. Today, I struggled and winced my way into opening a doorknob to get into the studio at which I take music lessons. Kylie's car seat buckles, black colored plastic, is hot to the touch while buckling. I'm honestly surprised that she hasn't protested because of it, yet. The worst thing about all of this is that the worse has yet to come. Summer's not even begun, and we're already suffocating under the sun.

On another note, our grandmother arrived from China last Thursday. She'll be spending 6 months with us, primarily to help care for Kylie. She cared for Kylie between Kylie's 2 months and 8 months old, but Kylie's pretty much just re-met her. One of the shiest babies' I know, it took her less than 2 days to completely warm up to our grandmother. ♥

-Chichi