First Mother's Day!

It was our first Mother's Day together and it was truly glorious. In the morning, I was greeted with white roses from Dada (a.k.a. Brian). Then, I dressed Iris up in her Chinese dress, complete with her red Chinese style shoes that squeak when she walks. I'm glad that most of the people in the toddler room at church found that amusing instead of annoying. We all went to church and the message was on mentoring based on the book of Ruth.
In the afternoon, we went for a warm walk around a nearly lake (man-made) where we met up with another couple. Of course, Dada did the walking and pushing the stroller, while Iris sat calmly. After that we enjoyed a delicious pizza dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack (local chain) where they were serving free mud pies for mothers. What a score for me! I couldn't remember the last time I ate one of those. It was thoroughly delicious and there was definitely enough for two, but I ate most of it myself. This was in addition to the previous evening (Saturday), when we ate a great dinner with A-ma, A-gong, Aunt Ruth and her two tall boys, M and N. Praise God for a very memorable weekend!

The following week was full of fun, too. As the weather is warming up and evenings are brighter, Iris is able to get outdoors more. Here are a couple of photos. The one on the left was taken at a backyard potluck where Iris tried to feed the owners' dogs bark. It was a hot day, so wearing only a onsie worked for Iris. The other one with her playgroup friend, Michael, at a nearby park. They like the slides, climbing, and just roaming around on the sand and grassy field.

Happy Children's Day

In Japan, they celebrate Children's Day today. For us, every day seems like Children's Day because Iris is such a cutie! It's fun to play with her and watch her smile and laugh at new "games" she creates. Tonight, I brought out a plastic, neon and multi-colored slinky toy that I recently got at a rummage sale. She was stretching the ends so that her arms opened wide. So, I got an idea to have her hold one end, and I stretched it out very far. Then, I let go for the coils to spring back. She just giggled and thought that was fun. After 10 times, I think she got distracted by another "toy" (beautiful large metal canister with a painted iris flower outside) that she likes to carry and move around the living room. Oh well, ...next!

Iris still walks like she's drunk, but looks so happy and proud as she explores different rooms and spaces in our house. Last night, she was walking around to whichever room our dog was in. Our old dog pretty much sleeps a lot; and therefore, tends to avoid Iris-the noisemaker. Yesterday, I observed her doing her "butt-spin" for the first time in months. It's still a very entertaining trick of hers!

She's enjoying stroller rides, bike rides and is okay with car rides. On our walk this evening, she held out her hand as I walked next to her. So, I put my hand in hers and she grasped my hand. She wouldn't let go. She seemed to smile at the fact that she was pulling Mama along (Dada was pushing the stroller). For me, I felt warmed by her wanting to hold onto my hand. This was definitely a departure from me touching her hands, such as when I'm praying with her. When I pulled my hand away, she loudly called out to me and reached her hand towards me as I walked alongside the stroller. I loved it!

So, someone asked recently, "How's parenthood?" I still feel like such a novice, but I see Dada doing instinctively fun activites appropriate for development. He cooked playdough the other day. Iris chose play with the dough by dropping pieces on the floor. That was okay for our dog, since it's edible playdough. I imagine it didn't taste too good, though. Yet, I marvel at how much we've learned not only to care for Iris in the daily chores, but to be relaxed about the changing behaviors and communication (such as it can be without recognizable words) with her.

I wonder: What will her first real words be? Will she be a picky eater? (so far, it's not too bad) What things do we really need to buy for her as she grows-clothes, shoes, sippy cups, etc.? How will she (and we) be when she has her first bad illness? Are we not teaching her appropriate manners?
The questions continue, but there are many friends and family members sharing with us their experience. I'm very glad that we (the parents) are both learning to let Iris be Iris as she begins to exert her independence. What a ride we're on! It may be on a small scale how God watches me as I grow (and fall) in my belief, trust and spiritual walk with Him. I'm thankful that God doesn't give up on anyone who calls to Him in the name of Jesus. But that doesn't mean that he will spoil us either because He is righteous, merciful and knows His creation. Amen.

Easter Sunday

Happy (belated) Easter! Iris was adorable in her new white and lavender dress. We all went to church, but Iris had to walk around and left before the Easter message was given. At least she got to "graduate" from the nursery to the toddler room where snack is served to the children. Yum yum! It is amazing to see the difference in Iris from her referral picture (see right column) that was taken almost exactly one year ago compared to her adorable face now. She's got a few molars, which brings up the teeth count to somewhere around 15. It's hard to get a good look inside her mouth because she likes to be moving often.

We don't really have a family tradition yet, but we managed to have an Easter egg hunt of colorful plastic eggs with paper messages inside; English and Chinese (thanks to A-ma!).


Here's a glimpse of how much Iris liked finding and opening the plastic eggs.

That same day (April 15), we made plans to meet up in SF with Aunt Ruth and cousins, Noah and Matthew. It was a sunny, but windy walk along the marina district. Iris had it easy, sitting in her stroller while the cousins and parents took turns pushing her. When we got to Ft. Point, we mainly wanted to stay out of the wind tunnel and get warmed up in the small gift shop. There were many groups barbecuing outside and the food smelled good! Also, there was a very green globe with daisies and topiary (I think that's the right term) that outlined the continents around the world.

Missing: dirty diapers

Last week on the day of our normal diaper service pickup, I came home to find that the bright blue bag of dirty diapers was taken, but there was no new delivery of clean cloth diapers. When I called the service, the person said that the delivery hasn't been made yet. What?! So, where was the bag of dirty diapers? It was gone and I had no idea who (or why someone) would want to take it.

After calling a neighbor, I got a lead that there was also a pickup of donations that day for charity (UCP). So, after leaving some phone messages, UCP called me the next day to confirm that indeed they had our bag of dirty diapers. Whew! I just didn't know if we were going to have to replace all those diaper cloths AND what poor sole would be opening that bag up! The bag was returned on Monday and the diaper service picked up two weeks worth of dirty diapers. This is probably prime for some jokes, but I'm not a good joke teller.

Now that we've had some spring weather, Iris has been able to go to the park. She likes climbing, playing in the sand and has a great technique of inching her butt forward to go down the steps.
Here's a video of her crawling through a scary, but open tunnel on the play structure.