Disneyland

We took Justin to Disneyland for the first time this weekend and we had a great time! I was a little nervous at first because I figured that he was either going to love it or be totally freaked out. Luckily it was the former, because I really wanted to go to Disneyland myself. We haven't been there in a long time and I've never seen the park decorated for the holidays. So we made the long trek down to SoCal on Friday night. Luckily Justin slept most of the way. He woke up when we arrived at the hotel and was quite tickled to see that we got a kids' suite. It was a regular hotel room with a separate kid's bedroom attached to it, completed with a kid sized table, and bunk beds with a ladder. Of course, he slept in the playpen, but he loved climbing up and down the ladder!

On Saturday we headed off to Disneyland. Justin was generally unimpressed until we took him over to Autopia and he figured out he could get into the cars...oh boy! He was so excited to drive the cars - he could hardly wait in line and then once the ride was over, he wanted to get right back on!

He also loved the Buzz Lightyear ride - we went on that one twice on Saturday! Jay and I really had to reset our expectations about what we could accomplish at Disneyland with a toddler. He and I are both used to waiting in long lines and going on as many rides as possible...not the case with a toddler. We made it to about three rides before it was time for lunch and a nap. But that was okay - we didn't mind taking it easy :)

We also saw the Christmas parade - Justin was mesmerized by it! He really liked watching the floats and characters go by. He even waved at a couple of them! I think this is when it hit me how magical this all was for him. As a parent, it was touching to see how much fun he was having.

The next day we went back on Autopia and then on Dumbo since the line was short. This was another of Justin's favorites - he liked keeping Dumbo high in the air and feeling the wind rush by.

Next was Small World. I liked it because it was all decorated for the holidays. Justin was not as impressed since it didn't go fast or anything. 

Same with the kiddie bumper cars at California Adventure...just not fast enough! Jay and I are already making deals with each other as to who is going to have to go on roller coasters with the kid when he gets older...

Justin also was not really interested in any of the characters, but he did make a beeline for the Cars...of course!

We even got a chance to see World of Color. Justin was pretty tired by then and mainly interested in the light-up necklace I got him :)

 Overall, it was a great trip! We had a lot of fun and made a lot of great memories. I believe we'll be regular visitors at Disneyland for the forseeable future :)

Kauai

In October we took a much anticipated trip to Kauai with our friends Sean and Esther. We gave them fair warning that vacationing with a toddler was going to be very different, but amazingly enough, they still agreed to take us along to their family's timeshare at the Westin Princeville.

Here are a bunch of pictures that pretty much sum up our week:

Justin loved the airport - wide open spaces to run around in, people movers to ride on, people to wave at!

The kitchen in our condo - very necessary when traveling with a toddler who is ALWAYS hungry!

Our living area - As you can see, Jay and Justin found the TV right away

The view from our lanai

A little bit of an ocean view

We discovered a starfruit tree and let Justin pick some...he LOVED the starfruit. Too bad we can't get any on the mainland for cheap!

Digging into my acai bowl for breakfast

The lookout at Waimea Canyon. Justin was smiling at the guy behind Jay who had a beard like Santa Claus.

Eating...again!

Justin found a new friend at the canyon. This rooster followed him everywhere hoping for a bite to eat. Honestly it kind of creeped me out, but Justin was oblivious.

What's a trip to Hawaii without shave ice? Weirdly enough, Justin wasn't a big fan. Probably too cold in his mouth.

The Wong boys asleep after a long day.

Justin loved the beach - it was like a giant sandbox! He wasn't afraid of the ocean either this time. He would put on his inner tube and walk right in!

We celebrated Justin's second birthday while we were there. Really I just wanted an excuse to put him in a Hawaiian shirt and eat cake!

Feeding the koi at the hotel

Justin loved the kiddie water slide at the hotel. We tried letting him go down by himself, but he didn't know to sit up and he bonked his head. Oops!

All in all, we had a great time (Sean and Esther are even still speaking to us!). It was a fun trip, but it wasn't very relaxing - Justin had a hard time with the time change and woke up before the crack of dawn every morning. Although Jay said he did like sitting out on the lanai with Justin in his high chair watching the sunrise while Justin ate breakfast and Jay read a book.

A nice side benefit of the trip was that, all of a sudden, Justin started talking more! Ever since then, he's been learning new words and actually using them to tell us what he wants. Maybe we need to go to Hawaii more often...? :)

The Month of Birthdays

Justin turned two on October 22 and in true Wong fashion, we celebrated four times! One party for my side of the family, one for Jay's side of the family, one for his actual birthday while we were in Hawaii, and one with all our friends - whew! Jay says next year we need to just have one big party at a rec center or something. Our kitchen was working overtime with all the cooking. And of course, four parties meant four cakes. And so, our little boy who was worrying us with his lack of talking, can now ask for "cake", "cookie", and "pie." Oops...well, he may look like Jay, but he's still MY son too :)


Since Justin was turning two and becoming a big boy, we thought it was high time to get him a real haircut. So we trotted off to Jay's barber. It was a tearful event (for Justin!), but nothing a few Hello Panda cookies couldn't solve afterwards.

At Justin's first birthday party, he finally figured out unwrapping presents. He had a great time discovering all his new toys!

The next day, he finally figured out how to blow out candles. Well, he tried at least...

We were in Hawaii for Justin's actual birthday, so of course I wanted to get a cake for him. By now he was really excited to blow out the candles (That's Uncle Sean in the mirror).

And then...we Justin thought we weren't looking, he went in for the kill. He was so methodical about it too :)
 

He was quite proud of himself after that.
 

Can you believe Justin is two now?? He's an actual little boy now...not a baby anymore :( So far the terrible two's have been manageable. There's a definite increase in whining, but we're working hard to nip that in the bud! But with a smile like that, how can you resist him? (Watch out ladies!) 

 

Getting to be a big boy

Justin is getting to big boy. I watch him playing and sigh to myself that he really looks like a little boy now. Definitely not a baby anymore. (sigh)

This weekend we tagged along with our friends Terry and Sharon and their daughter Caitlyn to check out the Emergency Preparedness Day in Menlo Park. Justin LOVED seeing all the fire trucks and ambulances, etc. He was especially drawn to the SWAT van that you could climb up onto the roof.

The below pictures aren't that interesting...a video would have been better. Justin pushed his high chair up to the counter, climbed up into the chair, grabbed the bag of goldfish off the counter, settled into the chair, pulled the clip off, and helped himself to some big handfuls of fish. All the while, Jay and I were just watching Justin to see what he was up to, and he would just look at us like, "What?? I'm hungry!" Yup. That's our boy. Hasn't missed a meal yet!

Vocational Skills

This weekend we went to Greg and Stephanie's house to hang out and help put together a new TV cabinet they had bought (okay, well I was hanging out and Jay was put to work...it evens out.)

After a nap in the car...

Justin had fun playing with Brooklyn, but then he decided he'd rather hang out with the boys.

He had a great time playing with the screwdrivers. Of course, I had to sit there the whole time and make sure he didn't run off with them, but he seemed to be content trying to unscrew the hinges. Hopefully someone double-checked the hinges later...!

Nearing the End of Summer

I love summertime...long days, hot weather as an excuse to eat ice cream...well, it's actually been pretty cold this summer (although that doesn't stop me from eating ice cream!). This past weekend it was actually warm enough to play out in our back patio. I let Justin water the plants with the hose and he obliged by watering the plants, the patio wall, the patio doors, the roof over the patio, the house, himself, and me.

And since the entire tomato plant was well watered, Jay decided to show Justin how to pick the tomatoes. Believe me, since food was involved, the kid caught on real quick! I think I heard the lightbulb going off in his head! Here's the video plus some other pics:

Playing with his balloon sword

Eating broccoli like a good boy

Having a bad hair day

Checking out the Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz

Family Time

Oops - no pictures again - sorry! We've gotten really bad about taking pictures of Justin. Part of it for me is because I've been wanting to get down and play with Justin rather than go find the camera and take pictures of him. He's really learning how to play with other people now so it's been fun. And even though he's still not talking much, we can tell he's picking up on a lot of things. I realized that he recognizes a lot more items and concepts than I thought, so I've been racking my brain trying to think up new signs for them.

I know, I know, I should go out and buy a Baby Signs book or something and teach him ASL or something. But knowing that Justin doesn't have the fine motor control for some of those signs, it's been easier (and more fun) to make up our own signs.

"Flower" was easy. Closed hand with the fingers touching to make a "pua" like in hula. He's even starting to say "fa" which I can't tell if he's trying to say "flower" or "fa" which is flower in Chinese.

Then I needed a sign for "music", since now he asks me to play his children's music CD in the car. I wussed out and could only think of patting my ear.

And now Justin is into trucks, cars, buses...anything big and with wheels. How do you make signs to differentiate all of that?? Whew. Suggestions are most welcome!

And here's one to file under "Kids pay more attention and remember more than you think" and also "Can I brag for a momemt?" - Justin brought over a rubber duckie to me on Sunday and I said without thinking much, "Oh thank you. What is it?" And Justin looks at me, puts his hand next to his mouth like a beak, opens and closes his hand, and says "Qua Qua" Crazy for two reasons: (1) That's actually the real sign for "duck" and (2) No one knows where he learned it! Neither Jay nor I did, nor did his babystitter or my mom. Weird. We're thinking that he might have learned it at one of the street fairs we went to about a month ago, where there was a vendor who teaches baby sign and they briefly showed Justin the sign for "duck". It's been a bit of a mind trip for me and Jay. Just one of those moments where you realize your baby is actually a little boy and can understand a lot more than you think!

Okay, but to balance out the bragging, at the same time, Justin is not as smart as we think ;) For the longest time, we've had trouble getting Justin to take naps at home. He would scream and scream and then maybe only sleep for 40 minutes, whereas at his babysitter's and my mom's house, he goes down without a fight and sleeps for an hour and a half to two hours. I was polling my babysitter and my mom about exactly what they were doing, trying to recreate the exact environment and routine at home...

Finally one day my mom says, maybe I should try putting Justin down for a nap in his pack and play instead of his crib since that's what he sleeps in during the week. Well, sure enough, we've tried it two weekends in a row now and Justin has taken a two hour nap each time! Little stinker. I guess he thought we were trying to put him down for the night in the middle of the day and didn't want any part of it. So now I've gotten a chunk of my day back...ahhhh!

We also went to the Acura dealership to look at cars this weekend and boy! Justin was in heaven! He was running all over the parking lot with Jay chasing after him, wanting to get into all the cars and press all the buttons and pretend to drive. I was standing there, trying to have a serious conversation with the salesguy, and all I can see is my son sprinting past, screaming in excitement. Hehe. Luckily the salesguy didn't seem to mind ;)

Ooo, I just remembered I do have some pics to share. Kevin took these: