Beginning of the End - Terrible Two's

Ethan is now almost two and a half years old. Up until this past weekend, he's never really exhibited what other parents have described as the Terrible Two.

On Friday, we were at Target. We usually wander by the toys section and keep Ethan occupied for a while. He's never made a scene and we've never had a problem with him and toys, until now. He spots a Lego Thomas the Tank Engine set. He holds it in his hand. Flips the box around to look at all the pictures. Then he asked us to head for the cashier. We've had this encounter before. Sherie and I have the "bait and switch" routine down cold. Without saying anything, I picked up Thomas the Tank Engine Toothpaste and three Thomas the Tank Engine Underwear. Sherie silently slips away with the Lego train set. Yay! Another crisis averted.

We get home and the first thing Ethan says is "We forgot the Lego train set". Uh oh. This was new. We tried changing the subject. We watched his favorite non-train related kid video. "We forgot the Lego train set~~" he would whine. It escalates. He continues to remind us for the next two days. Around Sunday afternoon we decided we better get the train set as a reward for him using his potty. Technically, we didn't lose the battle. This was a reward. Sherie and I are rethinking our strategies.

We get home and the entire set is assembled in no time. It's around 9:30PM. Disaster strikes. The rear cargo cart unlatches. Out of nowhere, Ethan starts crying. Not whining. Crying. Tears streams down his cheeks. 9:31PM. Disaster strikes again. Same rear cart unlatches. Again with the tears. I'm thinking this is Emmy quality tears. Really emotional tears. This lasts till 10:15 or so. Genuine tears every time. We get him to bed, around 10:30PM. He wakes up around 11PM crying again. The night finally ended at close to 1AM.

This was all new to us. I'm thinking this qualifies as Terrible Two behavior, which would be Ethan's official first. I asked around the office today on how long they had endure the Terrible Two's. The shortest so far is 18 months. The longest so far is 25 years.

Reminder to self: Take picture of Emmy quality tears.

Phone Pics on Flickr

Ethan's growing up fast. Everything happens faster actually. The whole thing is a blur. My digital camera does fine technically but is just way too much trouble to carry around. After getting a new phone with ATT we decide to add 4gig cards to it. The idea was that we were going to take smaller pictures but more frequently. We won't be able to print the pics but at least we'll have them to look at on the web.

Adjusting to different light settings and shutter speed and such has been reduced to sliding the phone open, hit the camera shortcut button, and shoot. The quality is unpredictable. Sometimes the slightest difference in angle stretches the picture. The phone camera also lags behind a second between pressing the shoot button and the actual capture of the image, resulting in lots of half opened eye shots.

I am getting more used to the phone camera though. The idea here is I can capture a lot more while giving up pixel count. Not a bad trade off considering the alternative could be no picture at all.

I've also been using PicLens addon for Firefox when viewing galleries. It works with Flickr and youtube.

ding!

We celebrated Ethan's first birthday recently by going to Monterey's Aquarium on a Friday. A few days before going to the aquarium Ethan had been saying "yu" a lot, which sounds like "fish" in mandarin. He would point at stuff and say "yu~", so I thought he might actually like to point at a fish instead of stuff that aren't fish. We were happy to see new additions at the aquarium. There was a new corner near the tidepool exhibit where waves would come crashing down on a clear plexi-glass roof.

We walked around the Canary Row and had a late lunch (clam chowdah in a bread bowl). We also walked down to the beach where Ethan felt the chilly water of the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

He's back!

I'm still getting used to the new and improved Ethan. He's just started to walk 2~3 steps. He's also started to make faces on demand (like the pic above). More pics on the way.

9 month check-up, what a no-bloody mess!

Ethan's turned 9 months old this week. His weight gain has slowed but is still at a hefty 23lb-14oz. on a weight-height ratio, he is *still* off the chart, above the 100-percentile curve.

Before we saw Ethan's doctor we were told to do a survey. These questions are specifically for a 9-month old. We filled it out and for the most part it was a great reminder. One of the question asked if we lived in a place built before 1979. We do. The doctor sent us to have Ethan's blood tested.

We get down to the lab and two assistants were there to draw Ethan's blood. Actually, their badge said "Assistant II". The first assistant, felt around Ethan's arm for the vein. Felt around some more. Then he whispers to the other assistant, "oh, its a flush". The other assistant tries to feel the vein too. Both of them seem to be unsure. The first assistant, sensing me getting impatient quickly swabs Ethan's arm with alcohol and took out an adult-size needle. He didn't hesitate, to which I thought was a good thing at first, and plunge this adult-size needle into the Ethan's arm. He loosened the rubber strap and no blood anywhere. He then tries to dig around a bit more, still, nothing.

I knew these guys were practicing on Ethan. Fine. The only way they were going to get experience were on babies. So go ahead, practice on my only son. All this time, Ethan is crying louder and louder, and the assistant is digging around for a vein. Finally, I asked him if they could get someone else. Another guy in white coat came, used a "buttlerfly" (a thinner) needle, and was able to draw enough blood for the test (this guy saw Ethan and said "oh-oh, and I have carpal tunnel!").

So what went wrong? I don't know, but I have a few theories. I could've kept quiet for a little longer and maybe the first assistant would eventually find a vein with an adult needle? Couldn't this first assistant used a "butterfly" in the first place?

Ethan's pics from 6 to 9 months

Things to eat before first birthday:
Chicken, check!

6 month check up

We were a little late getting to Kaiser (by 5 min) and was told our doctor couldn't see us :( Boooo~~ After some thinking, i approached the nurse again and tried reasoning with her. I also held Ethan up to the window to help my case. it did! a few minutes later the doctor came out to greet us. ...it could also be that i was begging a little.

Ethan weighed in at 22lbs. plus change. the doctor was convinced that he was on a strict snickers diet. We explained, up until the check up, he was getting mostly breast milk and not much else. Ethan is now almost 7 months old and has since then moved into semi solid foods like tofu and mushed up carrots.

The 6-month check up also meant getting more shots. With the 3 vaccine shots Ethan got a bonus flu shot. We're going back in a few days for his second flu shot. I had mention to the doctor about mercury based preservatives in flu shots. Out of all the pediatricians I've asked at Kaiser, most of them seem to think its no big deal. What's a parent to do? The alternative was to wait for vaccine shots that *didn't* have the mercury preservatives... not likely, since there's already a shortage of the regular vaccine.

2 month check up

Ethan got his vaccine shots on Tuesday. I'm happy to report that he weighed in at 13lbs and 14oz, at a hefty 92 percentile. We were told that weight was big even for non-asian babies. His height is 25 inches and off the percentile curve on the printout. The doc said he was at 97 percentile. At this rate, he will be 900lbs and 8 feet tall before he turns 13.

Ethan at 7+ weeks

more after the jump.

my day job

Duke of Poop, aka Sir Poopington. in rougher neighborhoods he's know as Sir Poopalot. 

What Ethan thought of Sushi House

what? no green tea ice cream? 

where have i seen that frown before

Lean mean poopin' machine

These are some of the images taken on the night Ethan was born.

chen5.1.1

Muffin is in the oven!