Almost Thre

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

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...

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'

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

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.

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

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. : )

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