Rainy (and busy) days

As March approaches, we ask, "What happened to February?" February was marked by rainy days and the anticipation of Lunar New Year parade in SF. The Year of the Tiger began on February 14th (Yep, Valentine's Day). I'm also confused by the possibility of developmental delay, particularly with expressive language. Iris was evaluated and the report will come back sometime in March. We're not too concerned because Iris is learning words daily. She's just not putting too many words together, but she's good at mimicking and repeating.

Iris is quite a fast learner. Her memory of things also impresses us. For example, when Dada and Iris were outside weeding the yard around a rosebush, D. said, "You need to use gloves." So, Iris immediately goes to the place where she saw mom put gardening gloves. She retrieves them and brings them outside. The proceeded to have fun putting the gloves off and on, while pretending to touch the thorns of the rosebush ("Ouch!"). She's also very good at naming what is "Mama's" and what is "Iris's". Of course, some of Mama's things become Iris's. There's definite whining and crying due to wanting things...NOW! Without clearer communication with words, it's very hard to know her wants. I don't know if my speaking Mandarin Chinese is hindering her too much. It's very complicated learning a language, isn't it?

Somewhere in the middle, we (Dad and Mom) managed to find a date night to celebrate another wedding anniversary. We went out to a French restaurant and left Iris with a babysitter for the evening. It was relaxing and expensive, but worth some time together to have some conversation not around diaper training or eating habits. I attended a parenting video series class at my church that has made me realize, yet again, the awesome job it is of parenting. Daily, I'm reminded of the love and care that our heavenly Father offers us, and I want to be the best parent to Iris because of that. Of course, there is no perfect parent except for our Holy Lord. May He grant us wisdom to teach and love in His grace and Spirit.

The month ended with a the bang of drums and firecrackers, we attended the LNY parade with Aunt Ruth and cousin Matthew. Despite the rainy weather during the week, the evening was clear, the full moon rose, and we stood in a place that had a fairly close-up view of the parade. Take a look at some of the sights: