Super Smiley 16 Week-er And Big Brother Singer

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

It's been a busy past few days as we make our final preparations for the Christmas season. We've trimmed the tree ...

We decided that Nathan could put the ornament hooks on and I would hang them. He can thread a tiny wire through a hole, but can't seem to hang the hooks on the branches. 

Worked on some crafts to give away as gifts...

 And discovered the amazing-ness of cracker sandwiches. In the picture below, Nathan is making an avocado, turkey and cheese cracker sandwich. After you took your first bite, you exclaimed "Wow, Yum."

While I think we've regressed on the veggies, I'm sure Nathan will come to love veggies one day, but now is just not the time. Until then, we will continue to hide (ahem), I mean accent your foods with pureed veggies.

One cool thing that Nathan has recently started to do is to sing melodically. It used to be that you would just sing the last word of each verse, but now you can sing at least 60% of all the songs that you know. Sometimes when I join you to sing, you would tell me, "Mommy, Ni sing!" Which really translates to "Mommy, I sing" because "Ni" is Chinese for "you" and sometimes Nathan confuses the pronouns "you" and "I."      

Hannah has been super smiley lately and is becoming more aware of your surroundings. There has been times when sudden noises would surprise Hannah so much that she would turn away from nursing to see where the noise was coming from.

As far as our schedule goes, we typically take a bath at 7, followed by a nursing session and then a short book. Afterwards, Hannah is swaddled and walked around until you fall asleep. Daddy or I then put you down in the pack and play and you are usually asleep by 8:30. Around 11:00 I give you a dream feed and then you wake up around 3, and then again either 2 or 4 hours afterwards. Your normal wake-up time is between 7:45 and 8:30. You take a 45 minute nap around 10 and then another short one around lunch time. Your longest nap of the day starts at 2ish and lasts 2-3 hours. Sometimes you will take a short catnap around dinner time. Some days the schedule is completely off, but it never lasts more than 2 days.

Everywhere I go, everyone comments on how well behaved and content you are. If you weren't so darn cute, I'd probably forget that I even have a baby.

A HUGE event that we have in Austin every year is called the trail of lights. The last time we went was two years ago, when Nathan was only a few months old. We lucked out and found a parking spot in the park and it was pretty crowded. Since then, I've heard that it is even more crowded and then you also have to deal with parking and/or shuttles. Truthfully, with a toddler and an infant, it was just not worth the trouble. So, we drove a bit further south to a small town, Wimberley, and visited their trail of lights. Daddy and I both agree that even though it was smaller in scale, it was perfect for a little toddler to explore and marvel at.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

We have never seen the movie Frozen, but Nathan sure knew who this guy was. 

Golf balls for mallets? Brilliant! 

In the picture below, Nathan saw the fire, climbed onto one of the chairs and started to sing the "Happy Birthday" song. After you finished, you tried to blow out the fire. We had to explain that this was a camp fire and that the fire was too big to blow out. However, I was so proud of you for seeing the fire and making that connection to the flame on a candle. 

 At the end of a path full of slightly sloped stairs (which were a bit difficult for Nathan to navigate) we discovered a "big christmas tree." Daddy showed Nathan how to get dizzy by twirling underneath.

 And then we saw a big ball of lights. I really loved this particular display "He's got the whole world in His hands." Along the path to the globe, there were signs reading "Merry Christmas" in many different languages.

Overall, it was such a fun night. Nathan had lots of fun just observing the light displays and exploring the grounds. I'd say it's a new tradition that we will continue to do until at least the kids start school.

A few months ago, I met a lady at a park who was from Taiwan. After talking for awhile, she told me that she and a few other Chinese moms get together once a month for a potluck/play date and would invite me to the next one. I've been to 2 meetings so far and have really enjoyed hanging out with these moms. A lot of what they do with their children/homes reminds me of what my parents and guardians have done according to the Chinese tradition. Many things that once was very familiar, but now faded away in a very distant memory (like troll dolls for my generation). While I love being immersed in the Chinese culture once again, I can't help feel a bit different because unlike most of the other women, I was born in the US and was for the most part, raised as an American. Nonetheless, they are very accepting and great cooks too. Unfortunately, I've only been able to take Hannah to the meetings, but I'm hoping that one day Nathan can join along and play with more kids who speak Chinese.

Oh, before I leave I want to mention that for the most part, Nathan has become very accepting of Hannah and will be very gentle when playing. But Nathan, sometimes when you are getting ready to take a nap, or has just woken up from a nap and are grumpy, you will insist that I put Hannah down and just cuddle with you. We normally just all jump in mommy's bed and cuddle together, but I want you to know that I love both of you equally, but in different ways. I hold Hannah a lot because she can't walk yet and you can. Remember that, OK?

Well, that's about it for now.
Love you both,
Mommy