My Bibi's Baby Blog - My Child Growing Up - A Daddy's Blog

Almost Thre

2007-01-15T19:05:00.000-08:00

So my son is almost three years-old. So much has gone by since the my last entry. I can't believe how quickly this has all gone by. I look at his old photos, and he's lost so much baby fat, his face is slimmer, is "thunder" thighs have shrank, and we can exchange verbal communication. He understands so much, and I know he can understand even more than I realize. He can understand some Chinese, and he understands that the same object can be called more than one thing. He can now count to 20. In fact, as I was drying him off from his bath, he would say "ele," waiting for me to complete the number with "ven." "Twe," he'll say. "lve." "Thirt," he'll say. I'll respond with "teen." And so on, and so on.

He turns three years-old next month. Gosh, where has the time gone? I cannot believe it. Just the other day it seems like he was just crawling around on the ground, had only two teeth, jumping up and down in his jumper.

I kinda' wish we could slow down this growing process!

Powers of Observation

2006-09-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

The other day as we were driving home, my son noticed that the traffic lights were not working properly. The red light was blinking off and on, indicating a four-way stop situation at the intersection. My son points to the traffic light and he says, "Daddy, fix light." How astute!

He's also figured out that he can see his reflection from the scoop of a spoon! : )

He is just such a joy. <3 I'm savoring every moment and not taking this time for granted, for I know how quickly this will all pass by.

Love,
Dad

Row, row...

2006-09-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, the 13th of September, marks probably one of the most special moments that my son and I have ever had. It was 9:15pm, and we were well into the "going-to-bed" process. My mom sometimes uses this technique to put him to sleep where she places my son in her lap, and she rocks him back and forth, back and forth, while singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to him. I decided to use this same technique. He loved it, so I thought I'd have the same luck putting him to bed as my mom does. So here we are, son in my lap, and singing the "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" song. For some strange reason, I remember when my sister-in-law told me that every time she hears the song "You are My Sunshine," that it brings tears to her eyes every time. This was the song that my mom used to sing to me when I was a small child. It was at this moment that I think about the lyrics of the song and just how truly touching the song's lyrics are. I then decide to sing that same song to my son, rocking him back and forth to bed. After singing it a few times, I decide to change back to the "Row, Row" song, then my son immediately says "SUNSHINE!" I knew that was my queue to sing that song again, and I do. As I'm rocking him to sleep and singing the song, I think of the times of when I was the one listening to the song as my mom sang it to me. Almost immediately, tears gush out of my eyes. It seems just like the other day that I was a kid, having that song sang to me, and now, here I am, singing it to my OWN son. I can't contain myself. I find it almost impossible to sing a tune, but I knew I had to manage as my son was still in my lap, on his way to sleep, oblivious to the fact that I'm just in tears. They were not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy and love. I didn't want that moment to end, it was such a magical moment.

So now, this is now the preferred method of going to sleep by my son! : )

Lil' Guy Keeps on Learnin'

2006-07-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

Alright. The rate at which he continues to develop mentally keeps on gettin' higher and higher. From the things that he notices, I can tell he is also becoming more and more astute as the days go by. For example, from a distance, I'm talking like a good 75 yards or so, he can identify a stop sign. He also keeps on creating new songs. And, his vocubalary continues to expand, in each of the languages that he is learning. He can already count to ten in Mandarin, and he knows the parts of the face in Tagalog.

Today marks something that I consider to be monumental. He said "ice cream" to me. "Want ice cream," he says again. I kindly respond, "Sorry, we don't have any ice cream." "'Ice cream. Ice cream! ICE CREAM!!!!'" His face quickly turns sour as his thirst for ice cream isn't quenched. Luckily, his grandma said to him, "we don't have ice cream, but we have popsicles. Would you like a popsicle?" Even though it wasn't ice cream, it sure sufficed. : )

It's truly something magical, watching your child develop and grow, isn't it?

Love,
Dad

Super Baby

2006-07-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been about six weeks or so since my last post. Crud. But, like I keep saying, I'm trying to get better at it.

So, I would like to talk about my baby's rapid development. I kid you not, over the weekend, I saw a substantial change in his mental development. He was saying things on Sunday that he could not on Saturday. His speech was more rapid. His responses were faster, which to me implies more expedient information processing. He has about half a dozen songs memorized now and if you hum a tune with which he is familiar, more than likely he will be able to complete the song. His sentence formation continues to impress, as he's able to formulate different sentences that represent that same idea. He can describe objects using two consecutive adjectives (for example, the big, brown dog).

For about a month now, he normally specifies unknown objects by its shape. We have a square mirror in the kitchen and he refers to this mirror as the "big square." He can also identify like objects of different color. For example, he can identify cars on the road that are the same make and model as my car, but just of different color.

Now regarding his physical development, he's grown probably a good four to six inches since last year and has probably gained about eight to ten pounds as well. He's also lost some baby fat, which makes me kinda' sad cuz' he was such a chubby baby and seeing him lose the baby fat just reminds me that he's growing up. At any rate, he's gotten more physical in his play. He loves to run and tackle me. He can throw a regulation-sized NFL football about two feet or so. He also can carry my five-pound ankle weights with ease.

Gosh, can't believe how quickly this has all happened. Just yesterday, he was a little baby boy that could barely crawl, and now he's a toddler running around and trying to push me over! : )

--Dad

Language Development and Etc.

2006-04-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Oooookay! His language development has taken off like a rocket. He can imitate peoples' words and he can sing! In fact, the other day when I was about to put him to bed, he kept on saying "bye, bye!!!" I decided to ask him, "can you say 'hello!!?'" And he repeated it! Then I just decided to see if he can rattle off anything I say, so I say "hamburger!" Then he says, "ham-ba-ga'!" I say "spaghetti!" He says, "sp-guh-tee!" "Pizza!" "Pza!" It was such a wonderful time to see him grow. This was April 26th.

So right now, my boy is sitting on the couch watching an Elmo DVD on our new 42" LCD! I think it's real funny to see this small kid watching Elmo on a TV that is bigger than him!

He's so fun to watch grow!!
Dad

More Interactive

2006-04-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, just two weeks or so ago, I had pulled out my son out of his bath and placed him on the rug and began drying him off with a towel. When he was fully dry, I said to him, "Say 'thank you, Daddy.'" To my astonishment, he replied, "Tank you, daadddyyyy!"

I was floored! And thinking that I couldn't be more suprised, I was mistakened! On April 11, 2006 around 6:51am, I was feeding him his breakfast on the couch and he looked up at me cutely and said, "Dadddyy? Where my key?" I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! This was the very first time he has ever asked me a question!

And it just keeps getting better, too! At 7:37pm this evening, I wanted to encourage him to count, so I began with "one!" He then added, "two!" He's done this before so it wasn't a great shock to me. I responded with, "three!" Then he replied, "four!" "Five!" I shot out! "Six!" he so gently replied! "SEVEN!!!" and I was just about jumping out of my skin! He just kept looking at me with his most heart-warming smile with his cute, button-shaped dimples with his eyes shaped like almonds when I added, "EIGHT!" And then without hesitation, "NIE!" he mentions!!!!!!!!!!!!! Normally, we can count to three and that's it, but no longer!

I was just dumbfounded!!!!!

Gotta' go, my kid's callin' me. : )

Madd Money

2006-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

Madd Money

Back again!

2006-03-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I really need to do better keeping this Blog up.

So he's two years-old now and is walking and talking and running and getting into things. : ) His very first phrase was "a biiiiig aaapple." Then after that, his next phrase was "a biiiiig tweeee." He was stuck on those two phrases for a few weeks but now he can say phrases that also demonstrate his ability to discern different colors. His term for "pacifiers" is "buppy." He has a blue buppy, which he describes as "blue buppy." And I was able to encourage him to call his white buppy "white buppy," and he did!

He's already over half my height, which is wild because he stands up to my belly button, which puts his adult height to be around 5'9!" Which is nuts because that is six inches taller than me.

He knows numbers and can count to ten with a little coaching. It's so neat!!!

Watching my son develop is truly a magical experience.

I'm back!

2005-11-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's been MONTHS since my last entry. Ugh. I'm terrible. My son is now a toddler! Crazy!

I just wanted to write down a few things that he did today. He has this picture book that teachers kids different colors. I turned the book upside down to see if he can still discern the objects, and he can! I also was able to teach him to bow in two tries! I first bowed and said "bow." Then I said, "bow" and my son bowed!

He gets smarter by the day, it's amazing. I screamed and shook my head earlier today, and then he followed suit directly after me! He also is humming a song that my mom constantly sings to him!

I'll definitely try to keep this updated!

On the Move!

2005-03-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

He's on the move! He's now able to get up from a crawl to walking without any assistance!

My little 25-pounds of joy is developing so well. Just a few days ago, he still needed to hang on to a table or wall before taking off for a walk. Now, he's doing it all by himself! : )

OH! Today is the 13th and just yesterday when I was telling him "I love you," he repeated to me "Ah luv wu." What a joy!

It really is something else seeing him develop. I think he is pretty conservative and won't do something unless he's sure he'll be able to do it. He's also clever. If I'm lying down and he's standing up and wants to get to the other side of me, he'll jump head-first over me! Or when he's done eating and I am bringing a spoon-full of food to his mouth, he'll grab the spoon and move it aside. : )

More later!

Almost A'walkin'!

2005-02-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, around 8:30 am February 13th, Frankie made his very first attempt at taking his first step! All by himself, he stood up by the couch, spread out his arms, and took one teeny, tiny step! He sat down immediately, but he didn't fall or anything! He made his very first attempt at walking completely on his own!!! He did the very same thing at my folk's place later on in the day, too! : )

So far, he's in the 85th percentile for head circumference, 75th percentile for weight and 30th percentile for height; I'm completely to blame for the height thing. :-P He's a heftly little fella'. Hope he gets my build! ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Almost Walking

2005-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Two nights ago, my son was playing with his Exer-saucer from the outside. He looked at me and smiled and waved. I reached out with my hands, and he grabbed hold of them and walked towards me!!! It was amazing! And he did this again yesterday!!!

Pretty soon, he'll be walkin' on his own!

Waved "bye bye!"

2005-02-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

This afternoon as I was leaving home from my lunch break, I waved "bye bye, Frankie!" To my astonishment, he waved back!!!!!!!!!!!

Growing Boy

2005-02-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, Frankie turns one year-old next Saturday!

As of last Tuesday, the second, he was able to bring himself up on two feet without any support whatsoever! With ease, he propped himself up on his feet and then started clapping as if to say "Yay'! I did it!"

Such a joy, children are. It's not always going to be easy, but I really do feel that children are truly a blessing. And being that he's going to be my only child, that just makes him all the more special to me. :O)

He's developing so quickly, my son. And to think he was born early which set him back further developmentally, I really am proud of him. Not only did he catch up, but he exceeds the majority of babies in his age group. He's such a joy to have around! I'm really looking foward to seeing him grow up. I'd love for him to stay this way forever, but we all know that that is an unfortunate impossibility. I may have just contradicted my previous sentence, but it's one of those things that you wish you could have both. : )

Gotta' set a good example for my son. I would like for him to see me not only as a father, but also as a friend. In my case, I only saw my father as the former and not the latter. Not that it holds true anymore that I only see my father as a parent, but I believe that it would have been only beneficial for me had I seen him as both a parent and a friend.

Kids sure change your life. I feel like it can really put things in perspective. Definitely the most positive experience in my life. Not that I ever was heading down the wrong path in life, but it just confirms what is really crucial and what isn't. I feel that overall, I've always been down the right path, and I feel that this is attributed to having a positive family environment (I had and still have wonderful and loving sibs and wonderful and loving 'rents! ^_^ ), as well as the right experiences in life. Made the right friends, made the wrong friends and made those experiences a learning experience, constantly made sure I was motivated. But above all, I feel that the most key point is that I chose the right role-models. Hopefully, Frankie will choose me as a key role-model in his life.

Love,
Dad

P.S.
Whao, that was weird, writing "dad!" : )

My Baby

2005-01-30T15:26:00.000-08:00

I have a picture of Frankie as my wallpaper on my computer. He saw his face on my monitor and started laughing and smiling! He even pointed at it! : )

I cannot believe he's going to be one year-old soon. Good grief! He's such a wonderful baby! There, I just showed him the wallpaper again and gave the same reaction!

Funny Baby

2005-01-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

Man, my baby's too much! He gets a kick out of getting his nose suctioned with the aspirator! What a riot! He really laughs and giggles when this happens, prolly tickles him or something, but this is just too cute! I guess as he gets older, he'll dislike this more. The only thing that goes up MY nose is my own fingers when I need to pick it, and even then I still don't like doing this, let alone have someone use a suction to clean up MY nose. LOL!

Anyway, his rate of development is still on a positive slope. Every once in a while, he'll balance himself on his feet without support. His voice is getting stronger and his vocabulary is getting stronger; along with "ba's," he's able to say "da" and "la" and "ma" and his famous "baaa-ah," as well as uttering extremely high-pitch tones. We got him a walker thing for Christmas, which at first he wasn't using at all but now he's walking along with it, and it's only been what, a coupla' weeks out from Christmas?

I'm bettin' that he'll be walking here come his first birthday, which is really soon!

Til' next time!

2005-01-08T10:59:00.001-08:00

My Baby Boy is Standing!

2005-01-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Greetings! I still can't believe that my boy is able to stand now! Still has some work to be done as he is not always able to stand unassisted, but he'll get there soon enough!

We woke up at 9:00am today, which is unusually late for the both of us. In short, when he wakes up, I wake up: my cute, human alarm clock! : ) It's a cold Saturday afternoon, and we're just hangin' out together. He's in his exer-causer right behind me. Wish I could bring this PC up to the nursery so I can get my surf on in his room, but we just don't have the space up there.

Tomorrow's gonna' be a warm 55 F or so--BUST OUT THAT SUNTAN OIL! The weather herer is so crazy.

Anyway, I better go for now. Baby is gettin' a little fussy, prolly getting bored! Cheers!

OH MY GOD!

2005-01-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

I went home for lunch this afternoon and at 2:25pm Kansas Central Time, Frankie stood up BY HIMSELF! I was holding him on the ground and then let him go, and he stood all by himself without any help! AMAZING!

Brrr...

2005-01-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hello. Today is probably one of the coldest days I've had to deal with in a while. I woke up, and it was a warm 9 F. Yeah. It was freakin' freezing. My biggest complaint about Kansas is the weather. Everything else is cool about it though. Love the people for sure. Much nicer than LA folks.

Okay, time to go home now. More later when I have time.
Toodles!

Very First Post

2005-01-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hi, folks. Just testing this thing out. Will write more later when I have the time. : )