Drinking and Sleeping Problems

Someone got both drinking and sleeping problems?

Alvin recently got a "drinking" problem, take it easy, it is just milk. He used to consume ounces and ounces of milk but now he is only sipping 2-3 ozs each time. We think he is finally growing up and is more interested in other foods. On the good side, he is eating table foods and fruits like crazy. We should not be complaining.

Do you know everyday we are gaining 1 extra daytime minute in the morning and 1 extra daytime minute in the evening? It is a good news for those people like mom who longing for more day light. But, for Daddy and Alvin, it is a bad news because mom usually gets up at sunrise. And the moment she gets up, she would open the curtains to wake up Dad and Alvin. After she washes, if she finds anyone is still in bed, quilt off the bed! Then, the lazy Dad will get up mumbling how cruel the Mom is but Alvin is still snoring his way into the dream. One time, Mom even turned on his favorite CD and then cut all his finger nails but he was still sweet-dreaming. Alvin probably burns up his energy in the day care center during the day and needs extra time to recover at home.

Here just couple pictures we took in the past and would like to share:

Have you ever seen a soccer player wearing a bib? You do now.

Alvin's Dad insisted many time to have his "master-piece" to be posted. You know what his skill level is.

Vistors - strangers or friends?

Despite the fridge temperature, Alvin still enjoyed going to mall playground and visiting friends. Also, we had unexpected visitors from old days. Surprisingly, Alvin made friends with our visitors instantly. He even gave kisses and big hugs to express his appreciations.

It was the first time Alvin met his Uncle Ken, a long time dear friend of the parents. Uncle Ken's surprising visit already overwhelmed the parents. But on the top, he delivered a great news to us - he is going to get married in the coming March and expecting about 550 guests in his wedding! We felt so honored that he personally delivered the wonderful news and wedding invitation to us! Congratulations, dear couple!


Mom's dearest "American Mother" Margaret paid us a visit from New Mexico (yes, the state!). About 6 years ago, Grandma Margaret "lost hope" on her daughter Hope, and decided to move to New Mexico to pursue her dreaming career of teaching in the Indian Reservation. The majestic mountains and modern arts in Taos, NW are so attractive to Margaret so she decided to stay there forever. It was so nice to catch up with her after so many years and it was especially nice to see her doing so well. Alvin will love to visit you in the near future!

****** Family Update ******

For the past couple months, Alvin has learned a great deal from his peers in the daycare center, for the most part, good stuff. His Daddy also taught him colors, shapes and numbers. He now can identify red, yellow, blue and green colors; circle, triangle, rectangle, star and square shapes; numbers from 1 to 10! Daddy has done an amazing job!

With the second one coming on the way, the parents decided to buy a van. After Dad's intensively searching and comparing, we finally settled with an Odyssey. The first day Mom drove her new car, in about 20 minutes, she "broke" the back door (couldn't open it) and totally "ruined" the rear mirror camera. Wow...she is as advanced as Alvin! But, it turned out that Dad was the last one slammed the back door and the hatch was broken and obviously it turned the camera to a wrong angle. The dealer fixed the defected hatch and now everything is back to normal. So, it is fair to say, the toys in our house have to be Alvin-proof, and the hardware in the house has to be Daddy-proof.

Over the holidays

Holiday is never be long enough for the parents. Celebrating the holidays with good friends is especially fun. We went to 2 Christmas parties and invited some friends over to our place (finally the Dad has some good foods to eat)! Also, we visited DC Botanic Garden and Georgetown last gorgeous Spring-like Sunday. Following are some pictures from various events.

Who does a better job, mom or Dad?

Bridge over Georgetown C&O canal

By the Potomac River overlooking Kennedy Center

Season's Greetings

Season’s Greetings

Dear friends and families,

We hope this letter finds everyone high in holiday spirit and you and your family are in good health. Since the holidays are coming and we all want surprises, why not start our letter with an exciting news – we are expecting a sibling for Alvin in early summer! Every child is a gift and our family is so blessed.

In addition to the news, we want to give you a little bit update on our family whereabouts. Alvin continues to amaze his admiring parents everyday with his physical and intellectual achievements. He is now 17 months old and runs and climbs everywhere as you can imagine. He just started to learn how to stand on one foot and jump without landing on his soft bottom. Dancing with music is his favorite physical movement and crying without tears is his most powerful tool to gain parents sympathy. Alvin also loves to draw like an artist and plays hide-and-seek everywhere in the house with his daddy. His language acquisition is improving everyday. He can now speak 20-30 words and recognize about 80 names, including animals, foods, objects, some US states and of course, China and US on the maps. Quite impressive, um?

Alvin’s Dad continues to be a fulltime engineer at work, a fulltime babysitter in the house and a part-time student at Hopkins. How can he handle all these? We don’t really need to know as long as his boss is happy, Alvin is healthy, Alvin’s Mom is merry, and the grade reports are all As.

Alvin’s Mom continues to enjoy her motherhood with an extremely supportive hubby doing all the housework, a wonderful boy giving her free massage on demand and a cute little baby kicking her tummy every now and then. What a life!

That is all about it. We are just doing as well as you would expect. Our holiday wishes go to you and your family.

Alvin, baby-on-the-way, Hope & Yuelun

Jungle night

Alvin had a night out with Santa Claus (sort of)! In spite of the severe cold weather, the parents took Alvin to attend his first evening event at the Gaithersburg Concert Pavilion. The event featured Christmas Chorus, Santa Claus arriving on a Firetruck, free jungle-bell bands and free picture taken with Santa Claus!

In many of the pictures, you will see Alvin wasn't happy. But, don't read it wrong. He loves the night light scene but we had to squeeze his face because he was supposed to look at the camera so he couldn't turn around to see his favor lights !

The goods always come with the bads. The trade off for the fun night out is that Alvin got a bad cold. You would think we are crazy parents but we are not crazy enough like others to wait in line for a picture taken with Santa Claus. Maybe we should have done that ... :)

Dancing around the Christmas Tree

Daycare Halloween Party

It is Alvin's first Halloween Party in the Daycare. Since every baby is supposed to dress up in costume, Mom had no choice but bought a Little Lion Cub costume for Alvin. It turns out that he looks too cute in that costume and many people in the evening Trick-or-Treating thought he is a "she". Oops.. next year we will buy a superman!

Halloween Costume - $9.97
Daycare Tuition - $355 per week
Alvin's Lion show in the daycare - priceless
for everything else, we use Daddy's paycheck

Do you know how hard it is for our 23 pounds Alvin to make peace with these two 30 pounds babies everyday? j/k. Alan and Jena are wonderful companions for Alvin.

Here is the Hershey Kisses.

Harvest time for Alvin...