What's new at 16 months?

So I realize it's been an incredibly long time since I've posted, but better late than never, right? Today my sweet Chloe is 16 months old. She is certainly no longer a baby, and has been an official Toddler for quite a few months now. She is a busy little bee that spends her days walking, talking, climbing, singing, exploring, and being an all around cheeseball. Here are some of the new and fun things that she has been up to:

Sleeping: 7:30pm - 7:30am (we are soooo lucky!)

Eating: She's very into "dip" right now and has been doing great with drinking her "miwk" from a sippy cup. She has a 5oz sippy mid-morning, 5oz sippy mid-afternoon, and we are still giving her a nighttime bottle.

Screaming: She's picked up a high-pitch scream that is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. When her buddy Ana is over they have little screaming contests.

Walking: Like a champ! She rarely ever crawls anymore. As you can imagine this results in quite a few mini-injuries throughout the day. The girl is fast and fearless!

Interests: She LOVES her babydoll. She loves to hold her, feed her, and carry her from room to room. Whenever Chloe starts getting whiny I just ask "Where's your baby? I think she needs a nap" and she immediately stops what she's doing and is off to find her baby and put it in her old infant swing. She also really loves to watch the birds and squirrels in the backyard, and dogs and children that walk by in the frontyard.

Talking: Mamma, Dadda, May (Mary), Ana, Pop Pop (Grandpa) up, off (light switches), miwk (milk), dip, animo (animal), bucku (bug), picka (Piglet), cone (corn), apple, onio (onion), nack (snack), teat (treat), cookie, num num (food), book, baby, Whee! (swing), wawa (water), pwee (please), cuse you (excuse you), Atoo! (sneeze), eye, nooo (nose), mout (mouth), mout (mouse), chiwp chiwp (bird), mooo! (cow), hop hop (bunny), bawk bawk (chicken), chee (cheese), wawk (walk), poop, teet (teeth), bat (bath), peet (peach), shoe, and feet.

Favorite song: Old MacDonald

Favorite rhymes: 10 Little Monkeys and This Little Piggy

Favorite daily activities: coloring, reading books, running when mamma chases her, tea parties, swinging at the park, watching the openning song of "Cinderella" (she loves the mice and birds).

Here are some recent pics...

Spitting image?

Here new favorite game is to hide in the cupboard. It's great fun until she inevitably sticks her fingers in the door hinge.

Chloe loves her accessories!

Whee!

She's lovin' her new playclothes from Uncle Ben.

Chloe's "Home Alone" face is one of our alltime favorites!

Chloe's new friend...

We recently started sharing Chloe's wonderful nanny, Mary, with a family we met through my Mommy&Me group. Initially we were curious to see if 1) Mary would be comfortable caring for two babies at once, and 2) whether Chloe would be comfortable interacting and sharing Mary's attention with another baby. Well, after more than a few weeks now we have determined that the arrangement is working out beautifully. Chloe loves her new friend, Ana, and they are busy little bees playing throughout the day. Chloe gets so excited in the mornings when Ana arrives and Mary says they frequently bond at the window.


Since I started back to work in November and am now working 20 hours a week (T/W/TH), I have been so thankful that we were able to find such a wonderful fit with Mary, and now with Ana. It makes all the difference knowing that Chloe is happy and safe while Evan and I are away at work. Going back to work on a part-time basis has been wonderful and I definitely feel like I have gotten some balance back in my life.


Here are some pictures that Evan took while he was home for lunch one day...

Guess who turned 1 on Thanksgiving Day?

Evan and I are now officially the proud parents of a Toddler. Chloe's birthday, November 27th, happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day this year. While I'm not sure that she fully, or even partly for that matter, understood the significance of the cake, candle, singing, and presents, she enjoyed them all the same. The best moment for me was when we finished singing "Happy Birthday" and I brought her mini pumpkin pie up close so she could blow out her candle. When her soft, unintentional breath made the candle flicker she was so surprised and delighted. Aside from the ribbons on her present from Aunt Sarah (yes... it was the ribbons, not the gift, that received the most attention), I think blowing out the candle was her favorite activity of the day.

Here are some pics of Chloe on her special day...

I'm not sure who enjoyed eating the pumpkin pie more, Chloe or Mama?

Oh how she loved the ribbon!

These are adorable! She now eats off her "Big Girl" plates.

Hhmmm.... Delicious!

Lok Family Thanksgiving 2008

Some of you might already know this about me, but Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. And this Thanksgiving was particulary exciting because 1) it was the first time we hosted a Thanksgiving family dinner at our house, and 2) Chloe's birthday (the 27th) happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day this year. I could hardly stand it! In fact, I ended up leaving work early the day before because I was so excited about the dishes I was going to prepare. So, I made a quick stop at New Season's to pick up a few last minute ingredients and then settled in at home to do some cooking. I thought I was so clever to keep Mary (Chloe's nanny) at the house for a few hours to entertain the little munchkin while I cooked, but Chloe just hovered at the kitchen gate the entire time curiously watching me in the kitchen. I cranked up the Christmas music and away I baked.

Here are some pics from the day...

This is the second year in a row that I made a pecan pie. It turned out delicious, but I do think this might be the easiest pie in the world to bake, so the fact that it turned out delicious probably has no relation to my ability to bake.

This was my first attempt at a pumpkin pie, and I was feeling confident enough to try it with fresh pumpkin rather than using the stuff in the can (however I did by the stuff in the can just in case). I think Pumpkin Pie is my favorite, and I must say that it turned out pretty yummy. Next year I might try making my own crust.

Here's a cute picture of Chloe getting some lap time with her Aunt Sarah.

And here is the end result...

While we did have a small amount of turkey drama, the dinner turned out great and Sarah and I had a great time preparing it. I am already looking forward to next year's Thanksgiving dinner!

A lovely weekend for the Lok family...

This weekend has probably been one of the best weekends we've had in quite some time. I don't mean to imply that our weekends normally aren't very fun, but this weekend we decided to toss our ever growing "To do" list and do exactly what we wanted. Here are some of this weekend's highlights...

Saturday:

• slept in until 8am
• went out for breakfast
• shopped at Jantzen Beach while Chloe napped in her stroller (unbelievable timing!)
• took an hourlong family nap in the afternoon
• Date Night - movie and dinner at Palimino (including cocktails)
• made it home just in time to tuck our little pumkin in for bed.

Sunday:

• slept in until 8am (two days in a row... can you hardly stand it?)
• worked on childproofing the lower level
• family stroll to a neighborhood coffee shop and splurged on a hot chocolate and eggnog latte
• Chloe took her afternoon nap on our walk back from the coffee shop
• moved Chloe's crib up to her nursery (Finally!!!)
• didn't feel like cooking so it was off to New Seasons for some dinner, along with some grocery shopping
• Chloe went to sleep after only 5 minutes of tears. Not bad for her first night in her new room
• downloaded some new music for Chloe

The picture doesn't really show it, but we finally "babyproofed" our living room table with the sharp edges, and Chloe doen't even seem interested in trying to pull the padding off.

Here's a pic of Chloe behind the new gate that blocks off the kitchen. To her it's just another toy to play with.

Chloe's 1st Halloween...

Better late than never! Here are some adorable pics (if I do say so myself) of Chloe as a little cow. I can't believe I was contemplating not getting a costume for Chloe's 1st Halloween. Thankfully, my best friend Nicole offered her daughter's 1st costume, which happened to be a cow. We had tons of trick-or-treaters, which was expected, and Chloe could hardly stand the excitement of a constant stream of kiddos in costumes walking up to our doorway. She would just stand at the window and point every time she saw someone coming. To make the day even better, my parents came over and spent the entire evening with us.

The Lok Family trip to NY...

After much anxiety and anticipation, we made our first trip to New York with baby in tow. The plane ride was probably our biggest source of anxiety, but the ride there turned out to be absolutely seemless. It was truly a "best case" scenario, which I suppose is why the plane ride back caught us so off guard.

We spent 5 days at Livia's home in Little Neck, Queens. Chloe was amazing the entire time. Not a single meltdown! Although she hadn't seen Grandma Livia in a few months, and this was her first time meeting Grandpa Bill, you never would have known. She was completely at ease and enjoyed getting to explore new surroundings and especially loved getting to eat Grandma Livia's fish congee. And of course she loved spending time with her Uncle Kevin.

For me, the best part of the trip was getting to spend 5 whole days with my husband and baby girl, with the loving, helping hands of Livia, Bill, and Kevin. I mean seriously... can it get any better than that? All in all it was a great trip and I am looking forward to the next one (hopefully in the Spring!).

Here are some pics from the trip:

Our peaceful plane ride to NY. Lovely!

Grandma Livia's fish congee...delicious!

Uncle Kevin gettin' some cuddle time before heading back to the grinding stone (aka - med school).

Chloe and sweet Eleanor... so this is what a sweet, quiet, peaceful baby looks like.

Chloe and Grandpa Bill.

Chloe and Grandma Livia in the cleanest house known to man.

The guilty look of a baby who peed on Grandma's carpet.