For a long time, books were flat pieces of food packaged in a convenient package of thin sheets. While not as convenient as Cheerios, nor as tasty as bread, it seemed to be quite a delicacy to little Caitlin. Anna, a poor teacher with a penchant for collecting oodles and oodles of books relished the idea of teaching her daughter the proper use of books, and over the course of Caitlin's first year of life, was quite distraught at Caitlin's habit of nibbling corners off of her precious books that she had saved for her little girl even before Caitlin was born.

Thankfully, Caitlin has discovered the joys of reading. Or looking at the pictures anyway. She loves the books with different textures (all cardboard or cloth books of course, while she no longer eats books, she still has a habit of ripping thin pages).

Anna and I sometimes track our daughter through the noises she makes, whether it's the pattering of her feet on the kitchen floor, or the noise of her toys, or her shaking her talking Elmo toy. But once in a while it gets real quiet in the house... and we know trouble is brewing. Once in a while, it's Caitlin pulling every single baby butt wipe out of the package. Other times it is Caitlin finding the joys of randomly turning on the TV or DVD player with the remotes. One time she climbed onto the couch using a pile of blankets as a "stepping stool." But the other day we discovered the most cute and wonderful thing... Little Caitlin reading.

The Latest on Caitlin

Caitlin turned 13 months today. It's amazing how much she has grown. When I dressed her up with her cutsy clothes, Caitlin looks like a grown little girl. Caitlin can toddle around by herself now. She still pushes her favorite Pooh car and crawls a little when she gets tired from toddling around the house. It is so cute to watch her get into things. She is very fast. Eugene and I got quite a lot of big crashes against our legs from Caitlin's Pooh car. Right now, Caitlin is a Caitlin the Explorer and Fussy Tazzy (Tazmainian Devil).

Happy New Year

Wow, I can't believe it. It is 2009. Happy New Year to everyone! It is Caitlin's 2nd New Year, but of course, she was a tiny newborn last year. It is fun just hearing her baby talking and banging her Pooh car/sound mobile around the house. I was just playing our DVD recording a minute ago from our last Thanksgiving, Caitlin's Birthday and just the days we stayed over at YeYe and MaMa's place. Caitlin was so quiet and was so engrossed to the screen. She even stopped eating her Cheerios to watch. It was quite cute and amazing at the same time. Lately, we have been feeding more of our food to Caitlin. Bread is very easy. We just peel the bread for her. I have been taking our food from lunch and dinner and blend the food with our Magic Bullet. Yes, we finally broke into our Magic Bullet that MaMa and YeYe gave us for last Christmas. I really like it. It is very handy and easy to clean.

Christmas Gatherings 2008

After a week after Caitlin's birthday party, we came back up to the peninsula. We had a great time staying with YeYe, MaMa, and Rica for Christmas Day. We got to exchange gifts and just bond as a family for two days in a row. The following day, Eugene, Caitlin and I spent the couple of hours in San Bruno with my side of the family with my parents and siblings for lunch at the Ming's Restuarant. Then on Saturday, we went out for lunch in San Mateo to catch up with our college friends. Everyone who had kids brought their babies. Yesterday night, we had dinner at Applebee's in San Jose with Eugene's mentor and friend and his wife. It was nice since we're all busy teaching during the semester. During the day time, Eugene's parents came down and took us out for dim sums for our birthdays, since we're all Capricorns. =) Caitlin loved all the attention on her the whole time. It was a very busy week for us, and Caitlin is totally exhausted right now. We're finally back at home relaxing and running small errands.

Caitlin's 1st Birthday Bash

Caitlin had her first birthday party last weekend. It was a lot fun. Eugene and I were able to catch up with our family and friends. We had about 40 guests, which included children and babies. Caitlin had a great time just hanging out with other kidos. She really enjoyed hanging out with Rachel and Alyssa jie jie. We can tell that Caitlin can not wait to be more mobile, so she can catch up with all the other kids, who are walking and running. There were lots of food for the adults and children. Caitlin got lots of gifts from all our guests. She was the center of attention. Caitlin definitely milked it. We took plenty of videos and pictures of that day , since we know Caitlin will not remember. All the adults had a great time eating and catching up. We know that YeYe and MaMa did a lot of food preparation for the party. We appreciate that YeYe and MaMa were able to host the party. YeYe and Grand Uncle Ben did the BBQ. MaMa ordered a yummy and beautiful cake for Caitlin. Caitlin got to wear 2 party dresses that day. I especially loved her evening dark blue one.

Christmas Chaos for Mommy and Daddy

Christmas is one of my favorite holiday, but it's one of my busiest one. I have been balancing preparation and planning for all the Christmas and Gingerbread themes and activities for my kidos in my class. Everyone in my school is also practicing for our Christmas Sing-Along Performance next week. We are also busy with our 2nd Harvest Can Food Drive and anticipating our Christmas school play from the drama club. I have not even typed up my annual class Christmas party letter for next Thursday. Our staff party is this upcoming Thursday. I have started shopping Christmas gifts for my colleagues and family. I just ordered the Christmas greeting cards. I am not even thinking of wrapping gifts until this Friday. There is Caitie's pie's birthday bash coming up next weekend. Eugene has been in a whirwind in trying to finish up his assignments and lesson plans for his classes, which is ending this week. He has been pulling a lot of all nighters to complete his tasks for his student teaching. Both of us so caught up with our work or school related work that we try to remind ourselves not to miss this stage of Caitlin's growth.

Caitlin has started to take her 1st step of walking without any support, but she still preferred to cruise around. She does a lot of cutsey shaking head and squinting her eyes to amuse us now. Caitlin has started teething again. It is her teeth on her bottom gum that are coming out. She is doing a lot of peek-a-boo games with us.

Thanksgiving Day

It is time for family gathering and eating. This a nice break from our daily work and school schedule. It also gives us more time to spend with our 11 months old baby girl and catch up on sleep and naps for me. It has been a treat for Eugene and me to see how much Caitlin has grown in little and big ways. Both of our families were able to get together again to hang out for Thanksgiving. This year, we are so happy to be able to have Rica and Lina to join us. We were able to enjoy Grandma Rebecca's famous potato salad and her annual yummy Thanksgiving turkey, which look forward every year. There were lots of other delicious food and dessert to enjoy.The biggest treat was everyone was able to spend some time with little Caitie pie. She was the center of attention -not the turkey! Here are some pictures from my camera. I can not wait to see everyone else pictures from that day. =)