Bet you've been wondering what I've been up to

So sorry for the long delay. I wasn't told ahead of time that the holiday season was such a whirlwind of food, gifts and family. Fun times!

Just so you know, I have been racking up the developmental milestones like crazy. Mommy is convinced I'm a genius, but she tries not to say it too often because she's afraid I'll get a big head. Too late for that! haha.

Here is what I've been doing:

1. Teeth - I now have eleven teeth, with the 12th about to poke through any day now. Those molars were a pain in the a$$, I tell you.
2. Words - I have trouble with my S-words right now, but luckily mommy and daddy understand me most of the time. If you ask them they'll say that I can say, "woof, ball, boob, eyes, out, eggs, moo, meow, peas, apple, bubble, that, gou (Chinese for dog), yang wa-wa (Chinese for doll), lao-hu (Chinese for tiger). If you ask me, I can also say, "cheese, olives, outside, bread, bird, there it/she/he is". Just not clearly yet.
3. Signing - Signing makes it easy for me to tell mommy and daddy what I want them to do. Like, "bath, potty, eat, brush teeth, more, all done, help". Other signs I know are "bird, elephant, fish, thank you". I'm not sure what "thank you" means, but mommy and daddy have been trying to show me that you do this when someone hands you something. Weird.
4. I can run!
5. I am really good at dancing. Mommy and daddy embarrass me when they try to dance though. I try to show them how it's done, but alas, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
6. I continue to (mostly) poop in the potty. It is so much more comfortable than pooping in my pants. Because then it gets all smooshed. Yuck.
7. I am a little slow on signing potty when I have to pee. It's just because sometimes I don't realize I have to go until I'm actually going. I have had some success though, and I even peed in the potty for gammy one day! I finally made a believer out of her that you can use a potty early on.
8. I still don't like to be away from mommy and daddy for too long, but they've found ways to sneak away here and there. It's okay, as long as they come back!

I can't believe I'm going to be 15 months old tomorrow.

I'm taking over!

Mom is a very busy woman. Very busy. She would like to update this blog more often, but (truth be told) I've been a bit needy lately. Especially at night. These damn molars!

So, I told her that I would take over the blog. Just until she can get her act together, or I start sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, whichever comes first.

Now. To give you an update of my life since my birthday.

I'm learning learning learning. I recognize many words people throw at me, and the ones I don't, well, I just fake it.

I can say a lot of words now. Off the top of my head, I can say the following: woof (that's the sound a dog makes), bah-be (that's what I used to be...I'm a toddler now), and bubble. Of course I can say mama and dada, but I choose not to, since they're pretty much at my beck and call and I really have no reason to call them by name.

Speaking of mama and dada, they've been signing to me since I was about six months old. I could tell that they were getting frustrated that I wasn't signing back. I decided to throw them a bone and sign a few things (only when I feel like it, mind you). I can sign "nurse", "bird", "more" and "wash". I know they really want me to sign "potty". I prefer to keep them on their toes on that one.

I'm a pro at clapping my hands. I understand "clap your hands" in Chinese and English. I've now begun to try snapping my fingers. I try to learn from mommy on this one, since she is a much better snapper than daddy, and she can do it with both hands. If only I could produce the loud sound that she can, I could just snap my fingers at them all day and have them wait on me.

Wow, is it naptime already? I need to go upstairs now, but I'll check back soon!

Self Portrait

Happy Happy Birthday Baby

Happy birthday, sweetheart. You are loved and cherished beyond imagination. You have brought me and your daddy such joy this past year. We cannot wait to see what's in store for us.

I am so lucky to be your mommy.

Our girl, the genius

Yes, I realize I'm a bit biased. And maybe she is not quite the level of genius, but she is definitely smart. She's been alert since day one, and now I realize what she's been up to all this time.

She's been quietly observing us, every day, and filing all she sees and hears away into her brain, knowing that one day she would be able to imitate us. That time has come.

She takes keys and tries to put them in the door. She takes cloth diapers and "folds" them. She takes clothes out of one drawer and puts them in another one.

The one thing that blows my mind is something that most babies don't do at this age.

She pretends.

She pretends to eat something from an empty spoon and smacks her lips like she's really enjoying it. Then she'll scoop the spoon into an empty bowl and hand you the (still empty) spoon for you to enjoy. Darren and I have enjoyed plenty of air, smacking our lips like it was lobster. Once she even held the spoon to Kody!

She is one silly little genius.

Tugaloo State Park

I was totally dreading it, but we finally took Kora camping for the first time. Not that I hate camping. I love it. But the thought of taking a newly-walking, poorly-sleeping, almost-one-year-old on a camping trip just made me exhausted. And if that isn't enough activity, we invited our friends who have a two-year old boy along! Not sure what I was smoking when I agreed to this.

However. I have to say the trip far exceeded my expectations. We went hiking, played in the lake, played in the playground, ate good food. We even had a (gasp!) campfire despite the obvious danger to our toddling little ones. After the kiddos went to sleep the adults finished off a couple of bottles of wine and topped everything up with some nice smoky s'mores.

That's a pretty large bass if you compare it to Kora

Speaking of sleep, Kora had one of her best nights that night! I swear I would set up a tent in the backyard and sleep out there every night if I thought she would keep that up.

Hamming it up for the photo

Posing after dinner

Blowing bubbles with Andrew and his dad

Our McMansion Tent

Our campsite

Our evenings

Kora likes to spend her evenings perfecting her new skills. On this night, it was walking. With a practice throw at the end.

Busy night September 21, 2010 from Minh-An Pence on Vimeo.

Did a month already fly by? Again?

Turns out time goes by faster when you have a kid. Unless you're trying to put the kid to sleep, at 3AM, in which case it drags on and on.

Which brings me to Kora's sleep. Or sometimes lack of it. That girl definitely keeps us on our toes. For the past month she has been working on walking on her own, and thank goodness she got that down, so her sleep has resumed to crappy. Note: crappy is a step up from what it's been...insanely awful.

There were a couple of nights where she woke up between 2 and 3 and just wanted to play and talk, and it would take about an hour or more to put her back to sleep. She would just be sitting there in complete darkness chatting away about her day (I can only assume) and trying to crawl off the bed.

But...this girl can walk! Pretty well! I'll upload some videos of her soon. She has even started trying to run, which is not so good since she usually ends up falling, but it is crazy to watch!

She now has 7 teeth and the 8th one will pop out any day now.

Some of the things she loves right now:

• Playing with water, wherever she is (fountain, bathtub, pool, Kody's water bowl).
• Playing outside where she does things like collect acorns and rocks (At least now she doesn't immediately just put them in her mouth.)
• Reading books and magazines
• Patting Kody
• Eating
• Throwing a ball
• Watching birds and insects
• Nursing (yes, she is a definitely a booby girl)
• Hanging upside down
• Playing in the pantry
• Riding in her carseat (ha ha! just kidding!)

Just one more month and she'll be ONE YEAR OLD. How did this happen so quickly?? Next thing you know she'll be heading off to Georgia Tech (or her safety school, UVA).