bonnie & jason

Run Alissa, Run!

Alissa is now pretty much walking everywhere. She still falls down a lot but for the most part, she has said bye bye to crawling. It looks kinda funny to me since she’s still pretty short and small. And it takes her a hundred steps to go from one side of the room to the other. But she is definitely enjoying her new found speed.

In other developments, she’s starting to exert her personality and will more and more. It’s especially evident during meal times. Whereas, she used to eat most anything we fed her, now she is picky about not only what she eats but how she eats it. For example, baby food is definitely not at the top of her food choices. Also, when eating our food, she would prefer to feed herself instead of have us feed her. Furthermore, sometimes she won’t eat anything unless there’s accompanying entertainment. Either I have to sing her the ABC’s. Or we have to put sesame street videos on the laptop. To top it off, when we went to Fresh Choice today, she wanted to eat peas, but would sometimes only eat them if I fed them to her. And other times would insist on feeding herself, using one hand to peel the skin off the pea and the other hand to shove said peeled pea into her mouth. She’s actually surprisingly dexterous. I’m not sure what normal is, but it seems like she has a pretty good grasp (no pun intended) on the finer motor skills.

Alissa walking around from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Alissa eating noodles

We had wontons and noodles tonight for dinner. Alissa just had the noodles. It was messy. The series is here.

And here are a couple favorites:

Pre-school already?

We’re looking into preschools for Alissa. For those of you who don’t have kids in San Francisco, you probably think we’re crazy to look two years ahead for pre-school. Some would say we’re actually behind. In any case, it turns out that pre-school is not such an easy thing to get into around here. There’s lots of demand for the ones that are good and, as you might expect when demand outstrips supply, they’re not cheap either. Further complicating matters, there are a ton of other variables to consider. There are Montessori schools, co-ops, part-time/full-time, half day/full day, bilingual, proximity, etc.

That said, it’s “just” preschool, right? We don’t want to over-think this. However, as new parents who put a priority on education in a competitive environment, it’s going to be a challenge to balance all the different options. On the other hand, I really shouldn’t complain as it’s not a bad problem to have. Not everyone can afford pre-school in the first place and we continue to feel very lucky that Alissa is healthy and happy.

I’ll conclude with a picture of Alissa when she was about 3 months old. I like it because her expression makes it look like she is concerned about her education as well. Note, her super round face. Also, her hair was still short and sticking up. How time flies!

Elmo invades our house too

One of the toys that Alissa seems to like is the singing Elmo. It’s the kind that you can program with your computer via USB cable. So at the moment, it has her favorite foods, her favorite people, and is set to say certain things at certain times (meal time, nap time, bedtime). Also, you can have it sing from a selection of songs. This is only real feature that Alissa likes (or understands for that matter).

Alissa dances to Elmo from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Mmm… juice

We’ve been trying to get Alissa to take her milk from a sippy cup, by herself, and cold. We’ve been unsuccessful on all three fronts so far. However, she will take cold juice from a sippy cup by herself. *sigh* Maybe she associates warm milk in a bottle with bonding with us? I dunno.

Some more swimming pictures

This time, Bonnie went in the pool with Alissa.

Connor and his peeps

I took some pictures for Jen, Ken, and Connor yesterday in Golden Gate Park. It was a little chilly outside, but not too bad.

Are they a good looking family or what?! Notice the matching Uggs on Connor and Jen.

Here’s one of the moms and babies too:

Alissa’s first swim class

We took Alissa to the Janet Pomeroy Center and signed her up for the Cuttlefish swim program. It’s not so much swimming as it is playing and getting comfortable in the water. They have a nice program though and the facilities are great. (Both the water and the air are heated and there’s a ramp to get in.) Plus, it’s less than a 2 minute drive for us. She did pretty well considering it was her first time and she doesn’t particularly like water in her face. Hopefully, by the end of the 6 week program, she’ll be doing the backstroke and working on the IM.

2008 01 18 Alissa’s first swim class from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Barney invades our household

It was bound to happen I guess. Part of Alissa’s morning ritual is sitting on the floor eating some pieces of bread out of a bowl while watching Barney on the computer waiting for Bonnie to prepare her proper breakfast. So my professional photo/video processing workstation with 2.5TB of hard drive space, 5GB of RAM, dual processors, and 24″ HD monitor has been reduced to a Barney player. For some reason, she doesn’t want to watch it on the laptop. Anyway, here’s some video of her contently swaying to the music while enjoying her appetizer.

Alissa watching Barney and eating breakfast from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Alissa is getting better at walking

After taking her first real steps weeks ago, Alissa kinda took a vacation from walking. She would do it if we really coaxed her, but for the most part, she preferred just crawling. For the last couple days, however, she’s realized that she actually is pretty good at walking and takes the initiative to take a stroll every so often. Here’s some video of her not only walking, but walking with a “purse.” At the end, she looks around the corner at me as if to check to make sure I don’t know she’s about to go to the mall and spend a bunch of money with her mom.

Alissa walking with her purse from Jason Wang on Vimeo.