Happy 2nd Birthday Christian!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Leelee!

Today little Leelee turns 2! So hard to believe. Unfortunately, as we sit here at 7:52am he's already thrown up most of the contents of his stomach twice, so I plopped him in front of Thomas the Train to let him watch as much as his little heart desires.

The last year has been one of major growth, major vocab expansion and a minor run of tantrum-ing here and there! I love list format, so in celebration of Christian's second birthday, here is our annual list of things we love:

Your big smile and laugh lines

Your little legs

How you love your dirly choo choo train

Telling us everytime you break wind

The feel of your warm face after a nap, on the side you slept on

The requests for milk every 5 minutes

Your attempts at taking smaller bites and swallowing, rather than dicing and spitting out

Naps together with mom in the big bed

Your hugs: patting us on the back like an adult

Your love for sleeping with big monkey

Asking in Chinese what everything is

How you throw things away for us in the garbage

How you always catch food specifically between #P and #Q

“Brushing” your teeth yourself

How you called Hank “Hate” for the first 3 months or so

How you say Sir Topham Hatt: “T-Hat”

How every bird is an oo-ya (crow)

When you say Good Morning to dad at an 11:30pm wake-up

Crossing your feet at every meal

How you always sit on your knees

How you still like to have your legs spread-eagle and unrestricted when sleeping

How you wipe your dirty hands on the shirt of whoever's holding you

Your cautious nature

Your unruly hair and sweaty head

Your love for "nola" (granola)

And the list goes on and on and on...We love you and wish you the best birthday in the world!

So I had plans to take Leelee for a jog, coffee at Peet's (he seems to like having coffee together), a work potluck and OMSI. I am aiming for 2 out of 4. Right now Thomas the Train just ended and he's taken up immediately on asking for milk. Problem is, everytime he throws up it is curdled milk, so I am wondering if milk is doing a number on his stomach.

This past weekend my dad and Joanne came to celebrate an early birthday. It was fun times for all!

Food carts at 50th and Clinton which were delicious

Chinese cake from Gary's Bakery (Didi's finger at left)

Sick birthday boy

Wanted to be carried by Mal, who was happy to oblige

New puzzle

Not interested in gift unwrapping. Very interested in balloons.

Leelee had to make a hasty departure from his party yesterday due to vomiting and diarrhea. I am hoping he feels well enough tonight to at least ingest a little bit of his cake!

Richland Bliss

There are many reasons to love Richland and one is the weather. Here is today's hourly forecast.

And here is a snapshot of today at 9am. Heaven. Sure, it might rain later, but Richland rain is just not the same as Portland!

Outside Hanford High

Today Christian and I went to Walgreen's to get in on some deals that I had forgotten to do in Portland. We got the following loot pictured for a grand total of $1.77* (The asterisk takes into consideration Register Rewards. If you don't know what Register Rewards are, all you need to know is I essentially paid $1.77!). The cashier at the make-up counter was the most helpful cashier I've encountered. When I started looking at make-up, she said to make sure I told her when I was checking out because she had all sorts of coupons. I immediately knew I was in the presence of my own kind! When I actually did check out, she split up my purchases into two separate purchases to maximize my savings and my Register Rewards. A real gem!

So far we've been hitting all our new and old favorites. The Bookworm at its new location, where I got our new bookclub book, Little Bee, for $3 used. I also picked up two canvas totes even though I have about a million of them at home. Good old Hanford High School, which has had a total renovation. I barely recognize it! I picked up a sweatshirt and jogged through the campus. The Richland Public Library (where we currently are) which has also had a total renovation. And Winco, site of an extraordinary bulk candy selection.

Bookworm kids' section

Winco

Never get tired of sleeping Leelee photos. Open dirly train book.

My new Vibram 5-fingered shoes that I never thought I would get.

Play area by Fran Rish Stadium

A moment of boredom last week. Leelee in a ponytail.

Girls in San Diego

I was given an opportunity to go to San Diego for my company and present a poster for the IADR (research) convention, and I am glad I took them up on it! Dae wasn't able to get the two days off work, so he and Leelee stayed home and while Dae pulled all-nighters, I was able to enjoy the sun in San Diego with my sister and mom!

I think the recurring themes of the weekend were sun, food, shopping, exercise, and work-related activities, in that order.

The Gaslamp District, just outside our hotel entrance

Breakfast at the Mission (x 2 visits)

Pinkberry (x 2 visits)

Dinner at Cafe Chloe

Mom's "laying out"

Ev and my "laying out"

Taking shopping very seriously at Chanel

"running"

Managed to log a few hours at this place

Dirly Choo Choo Train

I got a few Thomas the Train books from Goodwill and Leelee loves them. However, he is obsessed with the photo of James with tar all over him, or "dirty choo choo train" and now only wants to see the dirty choo choo train. Because he has a hard time pronouncing the T in dirty, he is constantly asking for the "dirly choo choo train"!

Swallowing

When I have time, energy and patience, I feed Christian one piece at a time, tell him to swallow, have him open his mouth as proof he has swallowed, and then dish out another piece. Here is some footage of the whole operation with grapes.

This morning I pieced together this get-up for Christian for our jog. To me it looks like something a little German girl would wear and I couldn't help but laugh when he was standing there saying "cheese". He didn't seem to mind.