North Beach Diet

Alvin is on North Beach Diet now. What is North Beach Diet? Whatever foods South Beach Diet tries to avoid, we have them all on Alvin's plate! Alvin has gained some weight already. Can you tell?

Actually, a miracle just happened on last Saturday - Alvin started liking foods!!! He can now suck in all the foods we give to him within minitues. It used to take 90 minitues for Mom to feed him, but now it cut down to 10 minitues, and 10 times more foods! At some point, we started worrying if we overfed him.

Also, in the past month, Alvin has picked up quite a few new motor skills. He now can do Military Crawling (using forearms to pull forward instead of using hands and knees), pull up from sitting position to standing position, move around by holding funitures or walkers, get into a sitting position from tummy (he loves this new freedom because he doesn't need to be on tummy anymore), and get into crawling position from sitting position.

Natural History

Parents truly believe Early Childhood Education is important to Alvin so they took him to the Museum of Natural History in DC. The result? While everyone was looking UP to see the giant Dinosaurs, Alvin was looking DOWN to check his toes. Maybe he was comparing his with theirs? What can we say? At his age, Alvin can only recognize his bottles and toys.

A Fun Weekend

Alvin enjoyed the weekend at sister Eileen and brother Alex's house. Helen's grandma prepared dumplings and beef jelly and Alvin just loved them! Uncle Zhengdong had tasty cookout but Alvin couldn't chew on the meat yet because his teeth just came out the white tops. Eileen (now 4), Helen (3 and half) and Alex (2 and half) just love baby Alvin and they felt they are big kids when they were with Alvin!

See, Alvin is in the center of 2 young ladies!

Alvin shows how much he loves the swing!

Helen is patient enough to play seesaw with Alvin. How sweet she is! Big Kisses!

Exclusive!

I have some exclusive pictures - only for you.

Who said I am slim? I might not have big fat waistline, but I have chubby face and round belly.

Appreciation Week

This week is Teacher's Appreciation Week. Alvin dropped off a note to his teachers:

I was once …

I was once a very unhappy baby at the center,
Crying all the time and eating just a little,
It was you,
Helping me to adjust to the new place.

I was once a very naughty baby,
Peeing on you and pooing all over,
It was you,
Teaching me to save the best at home and aim only at daddy.

I was once a very lonely baby,
Spoiled only by mommy and daddy,
It was you,
Introducing me to new friends,
Giving me all the nutrition, attentions and loves I need.

So, for this special week,
I want you to know how special you are to me.
With all my bright smiles, I wish you a wonderful week.

A long battle

Alvin finally is getting over his long battle against a cold after 3 weeks (crossing our fingers)! It was the first time Alvin got sick and the parents didn't expect that the cold came with many other complications. The good news is that Alvin's immune system has boosted. The bad news is (sigh...), he has lost some weight over the period. From all indications, Alvin can only be a lightweight boxer in the future.

Since Alvin needed some fresh air, Mom took him to Germantown's Adventure Playground. Alvin was joined by his baby buddy Ben and his loving and caring sister Bella.

There is a saying in Chinese, "One mountain cannot hold two tigers." That is what happened when we have three.

And, Alvin feels good when he is alone...

And, it is even better if he is with his mom...

It is about the time

It is about the time…teething? Not yet. Alvin still loves to show his teeth-less grins. He is just taking his time.

But, one thing did excite his parents: Alvin finally started to learn how to crawl, kind of.

Ever since he was 2 months old, the parents tried to put him on tummy to exercise his arms. But, like many other babies, Alvin just didn’t like tummy time at all. He would yell and cry and yell and cry all the time. Once he mastered how to turn from tummy to back, there is no more tummy time for him! Although it becomes normal for many babies to skip the crawling part and go straight to walking, the parents still worried that Alvin would miss all the fun time by cruising around with the arms and knees, not to mention that he could even help mom to mop the floor!

The change came after 2 weeks in the day care. With all the babies crawling around him and chasing after balls and stealing his toys away and giving him unwanted hugs and kisses, he realized he could not sit still and do nothing. The competitive world has made Alvin to excel!

As far as his crawling skills, Alvin only knows basic movement using his tummy and one side of his arms and legs. Imagining a turtle with big round tummy sticking out and four legs up in the air - that is how he crawls right now. Very entertaining.