Happy New Year (Video)

Happy New Year, everyone! In review, 2008 has been a wonderful but very fast passing year. Our kids have grown by leaps and bounds. Noble is talkative as ever and surprises us with his vocabulary and grammar from time to time. He likes puzzles, books, and running, jumping, spinning and tumbling. He recently started exploring the concept of a "joke" and laughs at ours and his with his loud and deep little boy "ha-ha-ha." Poem often joins in with her higher pitched "ca-ca-ca". She is very interested in her brother, chasing him via a crawling or assisted-walking position and trying her best to join in on whatever he his doing. She loves to climb, hang on things, clap her hands in delight; she also kisses and give spontaneous hugs which we all enjoy. She has just started saying a few words, among which include "Ha-ba" for "Happy Birthday". She learned that fairly quickly as we would sing to baby Jesus during the Christmas season.

Here is a simple video of Poem entertaining herself, mostly "talking", followed by a short clip of Noble singing - he loves to sing.

Little Yellow Beach House

This September we made our way to our family vacation at the "Little Yellow Beach House" on Harbor Island (close to Hilton Head, SC). It's small, quaint which was perfect for slowing us down a bit. We spent our days visiting the beach, the pool and playground, puttering around in a golf cart, and looking for seafood and coffee in Beaufort, SC. The waterfront there is quite nice, with a maritime playground and a yummy bagel shop that made an excellent cup of wet cappuccino just the way I wanted it, yum. Everyone had a good time: Brian's sister and brother-in-law joined us for a few relaxing days; Poem did well not to eat too much sand; Brian enjoyed kicking his soccer ball into the sea; Noble enjoyed the golf cart and kiddie pool and Wing-See enjoyed the break and being all together.

Poem gets going (Video)

Early September Poem started crawling - a Phelpsian butterfly stroke which quickly morphed into a full torso-up crawl . She also started pulling up and standing which remains one of her favorite things to do. (She's like a bee to honey when she sees something she can pull up on.) Her newfound mobility is loads of fun for her and us. She can choose where she wants to go and what she wants to do, which usually is getting in the mix with whatever Noble and Mommy are doing.

Our Beautiful Baby Girl

We got some really nice shots of Poem and Noble at a recent studio sitting.

Poem & Noble Chillin'

It's a lot of fun watching these two laugh and play together!

Noble and His Tricycle

It was cool to watch Noble patiently figure out the pedals on his tricycle. He started riding it over the past month. He loves to ride it all the time.

June

Swimming at Brian's Family Reunion in North Georgia

Our two precious babes just chillin' on the sofa


(sorry English speakers, this video is in Cantonese) Ever wondered what a conversation with Noble would be like? Here's a taste . . . We're next to our yummy blueberry bushes which Noble likes to visit several times a day.

May

Mother's Day

Noble uses (kiddie) chopsticks for the first time! We erupted with applause when he successfully picked up his first piece of food - a blueberry.

Poem loves to laugh, as we have mentioned in previous posts. Now she also screeches (our little screech owl) and blows bubbles with her pursed lips. Here's video of Noble and Poem laughing, Noble doing a nice job entertaining her. It is very sweet to watch them interact. I anticipate them getting in all sorts of fun when Poem is old enough to join in Noble's creative shenanigans.

Poem plays with Ernie (video).

A Snapshot of Noble at 2 years, 3 months

Brian and Noble at dim sum. He ate A LOT.

(Wing-See writing) Right now one of my favorite things to do with Noble is to go for a walk. It's kind of an adult thing that's rather cute to do with a young child. We also spend a lot of time in activities and games he invents rather than using toys in their traditional sense. If you walk by our house on any given morning, you may find us crouched in the front yard using sticks to fish in the street, or we might be holding pieces of paper high up in the air to fly kites, or we might just be running around and around on the lawn. I'm quite amused with his creativity and get to be a kid myself.

Most of the time we play together, but at times Noble is busy by himself, involved in some curious scheme. And if you happen to notice and object to his activity, his focused and determined little person will always give you a great answer as to why he is doing what he ought not to be doing. True to a toddler, Noble has also just entered the "why" stage this week, or in Cantonese, "deem gai?"

Noble also has quite a sense of humor and likes to arrange things as they shouldn't be just for effect. For example he likes to help me make tea by methodically placing the paper label of the teabag inside the cup and the actual teabag on the outside. He has sipped our tea and coffee from time to time (decaf, of course) and seems to enjoy them as he is an adventurous taster. Actually, he's got quite a palate, preferring to eat new flavors and freshly cooked meals, shunning leftovers altogether. Of course he is a toddler so some days he eats lots, some days he doesn't. . . though we've discovered that a little barbecue sauce and ketchup helps the food go down a little easier.

All in all we have lots of fun with him. We enjoy his prayers, "Thank you God for . . . " (ice cream, Mommy, Baba, Poem, . . . ) his usually! sweet demeanor, his enthusiasm, and bright bright face. We are so blessed to have him.

Fun Filled April

We had a busy April, with a wedding (Brian's brother's) and a birthday (Brian's) and egg hunts and strawberry picking. We hope you enjoy some pics from this month!

video
Poem is a delight! She is so engaging, brightening with a smile and cooing when we talk to her. She laughs often and a lot, particularly when something tickles her just right, like seeing Noble laugh or when playing peekaboo. Here she is giggling with her Grandpa Charlie during their first visit together.


Happy Birthday, Brian!

Noble Goes to Work

We ventured out to Brian's workplace this past week. Mommy and Poem toured the facility while Noble inspected the equipment. We asked Noble what he liked best about his work experience, to which he replied, "big truck". He was giddy about his visit and spoke of it days afterward. He's definitely very into "Ba-Ba" (Brian) these days.

Tummy Time and Tunes (2 videos)

Poem started smiling more this week (typical for 6 week old babes), though we haven't caught it on camera (yet!). Here she is having a little tummy time to exercise those neck muscles.


Noble pops up out of the shower to say, "Hi Poem" (video)

Noble pops up again to sing "This Old Man" (video)
He likes singing. The most recent addition to his repertoire is the alphabet song which he manages to sing from front to finish in toddler English. "This Old Man" is his song of choice when we ask him to sing to help calm Poem.

She's so snuggly.

Happy New Year

A little "ha-gow", a little "siu mai". . .
Noble enjoys some New Year's dim sum
with his Pau-Pau (grandmom).
Happy New Year to All!

Happy Birthday, Noble! (Video)

In preparation for the big day, we practiced singing happy birthday and blowing out candles. We hope we didn't singe his eyebrow in the process (see video). When we ask how old he is, he will respond either, "five" or "ten" or "three", though he is two. For his birthday he got a few choice presents, lots of blueberries (so far a perennial favorite food), and cake shared with his friends Luke and Adia.

Noble has grown into a fun little person; he's very active, very talkative, and full of glee as he explores the house, all its cabinets, and lots of things he can (and cannot) play with. His current favorite "mommy" items are spatulas of all different shapes and sizes that he carries around and is quite responsible not to whack things with (another developmental milestone). Balls and cars top out his list of playthings. We are very blessed to have our little boy and look forward to more fun with him in the year to come.

Snowy Day (Video)

We enjoyed a rare case of snow in Atlanta. Noble enjoyed making snowballs while Poem stayed cozy inside (video).

Poem Lai Strickland has arrived!

8 hours of labor at home followed by 2 quick pushes at the hospital and here she is! Thank the Lord for a healthy delivery and baby. Poem was born at 3:20 am on Wednesday January 9th; she measured 7 lbs, 9 oz and 21.5 inches long, just a little bigger than her big brother's stats. Noble has enjoyed all the visitors plus some extra special bonding time with Ba-Ba (his daddy) as mom and baby nurse and sleep. Thanks for everyone's prayers, visits, and food; they make this busy but wonderful time go easier.