a life perfect

Life is incredibly busy these days. The quarter ended with a bang and before I knew it I had 120 finals and 12 papers to grade and final grades to submit. I picked up my sis-in-law, Cindy, and mom-in-law from the airport and we all headed up to the mountains for some spring skiing.



You read that right. Double black and we're not scared. It was a win-win situation to say the least. Albert's mom got some alone time with Abby...



while Albert, Cindy and I hit the slopes. See here how Albert and Cindy enjoyed the scenery...


The snow was slushy but we had 2 great days of skiing and it was wonderful to see family and have them see Abby. When we got home, we went on a bike ride through Palo Alto and I had yet another moment where I just felt a lot of love from Abby:



Words Abby knows: No, Mommy, Daddy, Ya-yan (grandpa Miura), Aki (the dog), Ma-chan (grandma Miura), Georgia (friend at daycare), wheeeeee (when something fun happens), woof woof, cookie, ba-bou, up, down, hi, bu-bye, achiiii (hot), bubble, kanpai (pronounced banbai, means cheers), all done

Songs Abby sings: Twinkle twinkle, Old MacDonald, Wheels on the Bus, Farmer in the Dell , ABC's (up to P), John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt, Tulip Song (Japanese), Yurikago Lullaby, Butterfly song (Japanese)

Mommy

So Abby has finally mastered calling me "Mommy". This had started to click over the last few days but Abby chose last night at 1AM to really master this trick. I was thrilled for about 2 seconds until I realized she was really wide awake and wanted to play. 2 hours later, we finally managed to get her to sleep.

*YAWN*

That's "nyo!" to you

Our lovely daughter is quickly approaching the 15 month mark. We have lots to catch up on. I've taken a two month hiatus from the blog world mostly because I needed to start thinking about life outside of school. Apparently, there's a world where I actually earn more than a paltry stipend but with a more strict schedule.



In the mean time, Abby has really turned it on. Yesterday was the first time Albert and I really experienced that moment where we start saying, "You know, she's normally not really like this." Sorry Mark. We don't see you for something like 6 years and you get to see us at our lowest child rearing moment.

No one told me that the "terrible twos" actually begins at one. Abby still has not learned to call me "mommy" and Albert "daddy". The two names she knows are "Aki" - the dog, and "Ya-yan", my dad. For a while there, she seemed to think "mommy" was nose. She would carefully point at my nose and say "mommy!" I would reward her with a big hug and a "yes!" until she did the same thing to Albert and to my mom. Hmmmm....

Other words she knows:
Nyo which apparently means "no", "I don't want to", "leave me alone" and all sorts of other negative things. It is used not as a single "nyo" but more commonly "nyonyonyonyonyonyonyo!"
Ba-bou which apparently means anything she wants at that moment. It can be used to mean grapes or other such tasty treats as well as her favorite stuffed animal.
Apa chi chi which refers to the song "The Farmer in the Dell". We actually have no idea how she came up with this but when she sings the song, she sings it with these words. We only could tell because she gets the melody pretty close.
There is more but I can't think of them.



The most difficult thing about Abby is that she absolutely hates the stroller and loves to walk by herself. She has finally taken to holding my hand but that's also a problem because it just has to be my hand. I know. I will one day look back on this moment where Abby insisted that it had to be me and I'll shed tears of sadness as my teenage daughter holes up in her room while she texts her 3 friends what a mean monster I am. It's just that sometimes I want both of my hands and I don't love it when she throws a temper tantrum in the middle of some posh baby store where everyone else seems to have well behaved children and the $40 t-shirt that says "I'm a drama queen" is meant only to be cute and not REAL.



BUT... as with all things, there is always the silver lining. We are unbearably proud of the fact that Abby is no pushover. She is independent and gets what she wants (read: a little bit of a bully but we're working on that). She is stubborn but has a clear idea in her head what she wants. I like that she's not wishy washy. I certainly was as a kid. I love that she has books that she loves to "read". I love that she sings me songs - ones that I have taught her and that sometimes she'll sing me lullabies when I tell her I'm tired. She is usually full of smiles and giggles and if I ask, she will give me a hug 40% of the time (the other 60% she gets really close and then turns around at the last minute while running away laughing).

For those of you who are logging on here desperately wanting to know how my research is going - it's going. I was working on something this week but I got terribly ill for about 3 days and couldn't move or eat. I'm hoping something will pan out this week. I've been paring down my extracurriculars in the hopes that this will mean I focus more on research and get out of here soon. My prof just realized I'm a fifth year and decided I need to get out soon. Grad school is great but there is such thing as being here too long. I don't want to overstay my welcome.