Tristin and Isabella: January 2008

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Happy 100 days!

Yes, it's another celebration and this time, this is a legitimate one (I swear). Just as the Chinese celebrate the Red Egg (one month) birthday of their babies, it is Korean custom to celebrate the 100th day of your infant. The belief is that once your infant hits 100 days, he/she has passed a significant milestone and has endured the most difficult and unstable part of their life (I guess no one told those Korean historians about the "teenage" years...). For the 100th day celebration, C and I debated whether to have an open party with friends but given the fact that T was sick with a cold, mommie was still recuperating and the rest of the family was undergoing some form of a cough, headache and/or sore throat, we decided to keep it low key.

Despite the fact that T was sick, he was a very good boy during his birthday. In advance of the celebration, my sister and I got T a few balloons -- one of which was an Elmo balloon. Little did we know that the purchase of a random, harmless Elmo balloon would lead to a new discovery about T. T LOVES Elmo. I don't know what it is about the red creature, his bulging big eyes or the bald head but T can't stop staring at Elmo whenever he sees the balloon. And whenever Elmo inches close to him, T smiles non-stop. It's like love at every sight. And he doesn't just smile, he giggles and laughs out loud.

As for new things about T, he's been sick since our last posting so poor T hasn't been doing much except coughing, wheezing and tackling the snot that oozes down his face. He's eating a lot less and as a result, a couple folds of fat have disappeared (*sigh*). Get better T and mommy will get you a big Elmo stuffed animal. Pinky pwomise!

PS - have some videos I need to upload but if I wait to post this after I upload, I will never get this up in time so am going to post this first and upload videos later this week.

T and his normal reaction to Elmo

I wuv yoo elmo!

Ha ha ha, tickle me Elmo!

No, mommie, don't take Elmo away from me!

Grandpa and me

Mommie, eehmo (auntie) S and me in my 100-day pooh bear hats

I am 100 days old! Yipee!!

Auntie S and me

Grandpa, grandma and me in my 100 day celebration

Just the three of us and my cake

After a long day hunting

Race car driver Tristin

Grandma and T

Sharing a laugh together (T is prob laughing at the Elmo balloon!)

I have strong legs- watch me get up!

Having a good laugh with auntie S

Huh? What's dat?

Where's Elmo?

There he is!

I can lift my head better now!

I'm a big boy - sitting up only because the couch is there to support him!

Hi everyone! I'm Tristin!

Standing with daddy

Daddy, what's that?

Daddy kissing me (that's the 1,457,345th kiss he's given me today)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Hooray for me, I'm 3 (months)!

Exactly a week ago, T turned three months -- Happy birthday, pumpkin! These days it feels like we are constantly celebrating his birthday, mostly because I insist that every month we do a celebration. It sometimes feels like its less for T and more for us as we tend to spend those days eating a hearty dinner and a lot of desserts (in the name of T of course!) as T just stares at us and drools...but I'd like to think that its more because we are such caring & gooooooood parents.

At 3 months, T has grown and changing quite a bit -- a few to note:

He's now officially sleeping 8-10 hours consistently. If we put him to bed around 10pm then, he's usually not up until 7am sometimes 8am (after mom and dad leave to work). Of course, I'm sure the minute I publish this, things will change as he likes to keep C and I on our teepie toes.

Towards the end of his 2nd month, he was drinking about 30 ounces a day but now, the total # of ounces has gone down to about 25-26 and recently, the number has dipped even lower, primarily because he's been a little under the weather (thanks to mom who got sick first. bad mom.) Hopefully, the decline doesn't continue as mommy does not want to lose those little cute folds.

When he's on his tummy, T can now easily lift his head really high and keep it there for long periods of time. It's strange how the development suddenly happened in a matter of a few days. For two and a half months, he hated tummy time and would only want to stay for short periods of time. And then *kaboom*, he can now lift his head really high and hang out on his tummy for a good amount of time - turning his head from side to side (to note --the only difference between the "before" and "after" is his grandma/grandpa so it must have been their experienced training that brought on the magic!)

*Drumroll, please*-- T officially rolled over (from his tummy to his back) a few days ago. Of course, no one in the house saw it except Grandma Choi but if you knew Grandma Choi, she ain't a woman who would lie. We partially saw him do it again one evening a few days ago but T kinda cheated as daddy helped him with a nudge or two. But Grandma Choi swears that the rollover was genuine and self-initiated so celebrate we did. Hooray T!!

T can also hold his head steady when you hold his hands and pull him up and his legs are strong enough so that you can hold his hands and he'll stand

These days, T is smiling even more. I think he's slowly smiling in response to things people do (vs. before). I've heard this is just the beginning and can't wait for more responsive smiles to come!

Ok, so I know I sound like a bragging mom but I promise you I'm only writing all this down so that I can document all the things he did/is doing because as C says -- I have the memory of a peanut. I'm trying to record all this so one day in the future when T asks me some random question about his life, I can avoid giving him that blank face I often give C. Instead, I want to be that supermom that gives him an answer that will blow him away and he'll turn away and think how amazing I am =) .