Connor’s walking ability is improving.  He can walk quite fast while holding one of our hands, especially when he thinks he is being chased by Logan.  His balance is getting better.  He can stand for a long time even while playing with something in his hands; he can squat down to pick up something else and stand back up to continue to play.  I think he can walk solo, but he is still a bit reserved and prefers to be hold a hand.  He prefers to walk with me; he will grab my hand and take me everywhere.  He loves to walk between the shrubs in the front yard, and we often walks in big circles around the house every night after dinner.  Tonight, he was braver, he walked on his own toward me half of the family room lengthwise.  Last week, he apparently had a big advancement of walking at school according to one of teachers, but she was stopped by another teacher before she finished telling me the story.  I guess the school does not want to report things like that to the parents in case it makes us feel like we are missing out on the kids’ development. 

     Speaking of walking, we did a lot of that this weekend.  We went to Gilroy Garden again on Saturday as we have a season pass.  It was a mild weather day which was perfect since the park is in Gilroy.  We did our favorite train ride, then tried to do things that we did not do last time.  Logan’s new favorite now is the Backroad driving.  We went on that ride twice, first riding the 1920 car with all 4 of us together, then the 1950 car separately (2 and 2).  They were very cool rides and Logan was giggling the whole way through.  We finally left the park after being there for four hours.  Connor immediately fell asleep as soon as we started driving, and Logan followed soon after while he was eating his snack.  They both became energized after the 40 minute drive, so we went for some grocery shopping, and afterward we took a walk to get some frozen yogurt. 

     Today we had a lunch gathering with the Tsaos, the Kaos and the Changs to celebrate Robyn’s BD.  After the yummy dimsum, we hung out for a bit outside the restaurant for the kids to run around.  Then we went home for a nap.  Afterward, we remembered that there was the Almaden Lake Art and Wine Festival, so we went to check it out.  We had to walk around the lake to get the festival.  It was quite a large sized festival with many variety of booths.  There was also an area designated for kids.  They had several jumpy houses and some art booths, and also some unusual activities, like bull-riding, rock climbing and a small scale bungee jumping.  Logan was excited for jumpy houses, but after some contemplation, he did not want to go into the usual jumping ones since I told him that I could not go in with him.  He decided to go into an obstacle jumpy house which seemed to be made for slightly older kids.  He did well crawling and climbing through the obstacles, but when it came to climbing up the steep stairs before the big slide, he got nervous.  With the help of the girl who was guarding the area, he finally decided to quit half way up the stairs.  He was still quite happy and proud of how far he went.  After that, we played at the playground for a long while before going home.  It turned out to be a very hot day today, so we all were tired from playing in the sun. 

     Now that we are sitting and relaxing, we are realizing how sore our legs are from all the walking.  I have signed up for a walking program at work which starts tomorrow, it would have been nice to count the hours of walking from this weekend.

     This past weekend my dad came to visit us and to continue on traveling to Hong Kong.  Logan was quite excited to go to the airport and to pick up grandpa “Gong Gong” and warmed up to him quickly.  He was happy to be carried by him, and wanted Gong Gong to help him into the car too.  However Logan was disappointed that we were not going to go flying in the airplane ourselves.   

     My dad’s visit did not happen during a very good time since Stuart, Logan and I were at our peak of coughing.  It sounded quite bad sometimes when we were all in the car.  Our goals were to avoid getting Gong Gong sick too, and I think we did manage to accomplish that. 

     Sunday, we went to Happy Hollow together.  Connor was very clingy to me, usually would not go to Gong Gong, but he would not mind being taken out from the carseat by Gong Gong.  Lately my dad has been feeling weaker, not used to carrying heavy things.  Even though my dad loved to hold Connor, but after carrying Connor for a few minutes while walking in the park, my dad had to return him to me due to exhaustion.  Connor is quite heavy these days.  After the park, we just hung out at home.  Both boys were good while Gong Gong was around; Logan was very chatty and Connor was very smiley.  My dad was very happy that the kids were glad to be around him.  The sad thing was that they could not really communicate with my dad so I had to do all the translation.  Logan did pronounce many Chinese words quite well when I asked him to say them, and Gong Gong was proud of him.

    On Monday we had work and school, so my dad just stayed home while Stuart worked in the office.  I was off on Tuesday; I took my dad to run some errands and did some shopping and eating together.  My dad was flying out on Tuesday after midnight, so he said goodbyes to the boys before their bedtime.  Then I took him to the airport in the evening.  It was a good visit by my dad; the boys enjoyed it.  There was an unfortunate but funny moment during this visit.  My dad’s denture has been bothering him a lot.  Once Logan actually saw him taking out the denture.  Logan’s eyes were wide open and he was speechless for at least 1/2 of minute.  Then he said in shock that “Gong Gong’s teeth came out!!!”.  He was quite overwhelmed by that scene afterward for quite awhile.  But at least now we can have him brush his teeth more willingly so his teeth won’t fall out like Gong’ Gong’s.

     I learned after school today that both boys did well on their first day in new classrooms.  According to the teachers, Connor had a great day.  He ate well with the group; he finished all of his lunch and was the last one still sitting at the table.  He then napped for 2 hours with everyone.  He enjoyed all the group activities too.  The admin of the school told me a cute scene of Connor along with his classmates being walked slowly while holding hands to the courtyard playground.  Connor even drank a “little” milk with a straw cup while other kids drinking their milk too.  What a good progress this little boy is making!

     Logan also adapted well on his first day.  The teacher reported that the transition was made well since Logan was there with his friends.  They spent time making sure the kids becoming familiar with everything in the new classroom, and they made a visit to their old classroom too.  Logan participated in all the group activities.  He was doing a puzzle when I picked him up, and he wanted to put few more pieces together before we left.  On the other hand, Logan had a small pee accident today which he had not done since he was trained.  We were warned during the orientation that accidents might happen during this first week.  The funny thing tonight was when Logan did his roll call of goodnight, he named all of us, a few of his school friends, and at the end, he yelled out “PS3” (pre-school3).  He must have learned and enjoyed saying it today.  Very cute!

     Today another of Connor’s molars made an appearance which means now both of his upper molars are showing.  Connor is not following the typical order of teething as he is still missing two of his incisors on the bottom.  I guess he just wants to be unique.

     Since the boys had 2 days off from daycare, we decided to drive down to visit the grandparents during this long holiday weekend.  We drove down on Thursday morning.  The drive went very well.  Logan took one nap and Connor took two.  We stopped once only for lunch, and made it to our destination in 5 hours of driving.  We were surprised that we did not have to take out any prepared entertainment for Logan at all. 

     We got to the house in the early afternoon which would allow the boys the remainder of the day to warm up to the grandparents.  However, Logan was very sweet to them quickly.  He actually became quite attached to Grandma the rest of the evening, he even wanted her to bath him and to read bedtime story (fine with us!).  Connor was still clingy to Stuart and I, but he would return smiles and play with them.  Connor would only blow kisses for Granddad.

     Connor started a cough over night on Wednesday before our drive, but by Friday, his cold was full blown.  He had a major runny nose and a very bad cough.  His breathing sounded junky and we started wondering if he was wheezing too.  It was my bad not to bring the albuterol inhaler with us.  By Friday afternoon, we decided to try to obtain one just for emergency.  Unfortunately, after a few phone calls trying to transfer the prescription, it turned out that there were no refills on his prescription.  We ended up having a phone appt made at the earliest on Sat 8:40am to have a doctor call me so I could request a new Rx to be called in to the local pharmacy. 

     Despite Connor’s cold symptoms, we still managed to have a good bonding day with the grandparents.  We hung out, played at a park with and stopped by the beach for a quick sand play.  It was a bit cooler than usual at Torrance, and when we got to Manhattan beach with Grandma, it was cold and overcast.  We were all bundled up and enjoyed a short time at the beach.  Logan liked digging in the sand, but was a bit unsure of actually walking in it.   He called it ‘wobbly’ and wanted to hold Stuart’s hand as they went to fill their sand-buckets with some sea water at the shore. 

     The next morning Connor was up at 4am and took a long time before returning to bed.  He was still coughing a lot as well.  With that in mind and with Stuart starting to feel a bit under the weather too, we decided to shorten the trip by one day and drive back later in the evening.  A bit of sad news for the grandparents, but they understood and would spend as much time with the kids as they could. I talked with a doctor over the phone in the morning and had the prescription sent to CVS pharmacy.  Since then, Connor started to get better.  As it turned out, we did not pick up the prescription as we had decided to drive home that night. 

     We gave Manhattan Beach another try after naptime.  The sun actually came up shortly after we arrived (yea !), and since it was the weekend there were a lot of people there.   We found great parking again and Grandma carried Connor all the way down to the the beach (that’s a big load).  Logan had great fun playing with the sand as usual while Connor was finally enjoying himself this time too.  Burying their legs in sand was the new hit activity.  We played for an hour and a half before heading home for dinner and packing. 

     After having dinner and saying bye to grandparents, we started our drive home.  It was quite peaceful the first 3 hours, then Connor started being uncomfortable and started crying while he was still trying to sleep.  Logan got woken up then.  Both boys were coughing a bit, and Logan suddenly got into a lengthy choking sounding cough.  He was scared and uncomfortable, so he started crying.  He ended up throwing up some fluids.  He might have been having some motion sickness.  During all these chaos, we had just missed an exit, so there was no immediate stop for awhile.  I did not want Stuart to stop by the side of freeway for safety concern.  It must have been like 30 minutes of stress trying to comfort Logan while rushing to the next stop.  We finally stopped at Casa De Fruita exit, changed Logan, got Connor out for a hug and filled up gas.  After that, I decided to sit in the back with them for the remaining hour of the drive.  At the point, both boys were happy and played until we arrived home.  This drive was another 5 hour one, but it was certainly a lot more stressful.  We quickly got the kids settled in to sleep, so we all could get some rest. 

    For the rest of the holiday, we will just be relaxing at home to allow the kids to fully recover to get ready for next week.  Even though the trip was somewhat short, we felt that the kids were able to spend some quality time with the grandparents and we were able to see that Grandad was doing good and feeling well.  Today Logan has already stated a few times that he misses the grandparents.

     Here are the photos from this trip.

     Today was the last day for Connor in the Infant Room and Logan in Pre-School 2.  For Logan, he had a good year.  There was a frequent turnover of teachers at the beginning of the school year until they found Miss Jen and Miss Jill.  Logan has become quite attached to both of them over times.  He talked about them at home, and he liked to hang out with them during any activities at school.  The teachers helped Logan to be potty trained and be ready for this coming year, so we are appreciative of that.  We also received a cute photo album of Logan playing in school as a gift.

     Connor also had a good year in the Infant Room since he started daycare in January.  He always seemed happy when I picked him up at the end of the day.  Miss Mollie and Miss Megan had transitioned him to one two-hour nap daily for one week now, so he will be ready for group naptime with the other toddlers next week.  I had asked the teachers to wean Connor from bottle since last week.  We discovered that Connor is a very stubborn boy.  He drinks water from sippy cup fine, but he just refused to drink milk from it.  Last week when Connor was suffering from the GI bug, it was good that he did not want milk, but up to today, he still rather not to drink milk from the sippy.  So far, Connor has not had any whole milk for over a week.  What a stubborn boy!  As a gift, we received an electronic collection of Connor’s photos throughout the past months (130+ photos) from the teachers.  It was so cool to see what he had done and how he interacted with other kids.

    Now we will wait and see how both boys will do in their big boy classrooms after the long weekend.