Busy Birthday

Stella's birthday and Easter was very fun but we'll blog about that later since most of the photos are on the La Jolla computer and we are in Hong Kong right now. The highlights were a joint birthday party between Stella, Jack and our friend Bryan. Bryan was celebrating his 34th birthday but it was fitting that he share his party with two 2-year-olds for a number of reasons that I won't get into on Stella's blog. :) Then, we had combo Easter/Stella's birthday at the Cebron's house where Stella ate cake, played piano and ripped open her presents.

Zai Jien

Goodbye Hong Kong, for now. We had an emotional trip home as neither of us wanted to leave. Stella flew extremely well, per usual. She enjoyed her pod on Cathay Pacific much more than I thought and had basically no jet lag. She told me the other day that she wanted to play LEGOs and jump with the Little Boy. That means go to the hotel playroom. Me too, I thought to myself.

I'll leave it at that for now as there is still so much up in the air.

"Lih-ul Boy-eeee"

Stella has a crush on an unruly 4-year-old boy that lives in the hotel. I'm hoping this is not going to be a pattern. He comes to the playroom after school in the afternoon. She met him once and he was just not that into her. There is something to be said about that book at all ages, apparently. The result is that his indifference makes her even more into him. So, the next time we went to the playroom she ran down the hall like a crazed loon screaming, "Little Boy!!!" which sounds like, "Lih-ul Boy-eeeee!!!" This is from someone who still grunts when she wants something instead of speaking. So, now every time she hears a kid in the hall she asks me if it's Little Boy. Today, she did not want to get out of her pajamas and was about to pitch a fit but then I told her we were going to get the mail and then go to the playroom. I said it's possible that Little Boy will be there. She got excited and let me put on her clothes. She looked down at them and said, "Mirror!" and ran over to the mirror to check herself out. She smiled at herself, puffed up her hair and I could tell she was thinking about Little Boy. I thought that was funny.

We got to the playroom and it was empty. She was disappointed, but then 20 minutes later Little Boy emerged with his sister and mom. Stella was beyond happy trying to copy everything he did and trying to get his attention. It makes his mom really nervous to have Stella around, I can tell. I would be nervous too since he is one of the worst behaved children I've ever seen.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!!

It's now officially year of the Ox. We spent New Year's Eve at home as Dan caught Stella's cold and needed to lay low. She and I got fidgety so we spent our New Year's Eve playing kickball in the hotel hallways. She loves that as our hallway is pretty long. Dan felt better today, New Years Day, but most everything is closed or has limited hours. In the end, he wasn't well enough to venture out so in the afternoon she and I took her green ball downstairs to roam the hotel. The hotel was totally overstaffed so the staff came out into the lobby to play ball too. I wish I had my camera on me because it was so funny.

Before we left for CA in Nov, she LOVED this one younger bellman, Cyrus. She would giggle and give him high fives whenever we left or entered the lobby. Now, she is totally shy with him. He told me today, as he was doing his best to get into her good graces by playing ball, that he felt like he'd been dumped. The rest of the staff roared with laughter and kept calling him Stella's ex-boyfriend. Two of the girls then took Stella to the bigger hotel lobby, to see the piano player. They walked each holding one of her hands and would periodically lift Stella as it she was flying. Hard to explain. But then one of the girls kept going to the afternoon tea in the Lobby Lounge to get berries and small treats for Stella. I really wanted a macaroon but felt awkward asking!!!

In the lower photo, Stella is holding a traditional Chinese New Year cake from Kee Wah bakery. I am drawing a total blank right now as to what it's called. It is not to Dan's or my taste but Stella had a few bites and seemed to like it. It was quite a challenge getting it out of the packaging and resembled cheese almost in texture, which is probably why she liked it so much!

Because Dan was sick and wanted pizza, on New Years Eve we ordered from California Pizza Kitchen. They have a Greek pizza that comes with tzasiki. In the first photo above, I wasn't paying attention to what Stella was doing but then looked up and saw this. She loved the stuff. Stella is actually very thin right now after being sick so it didn't bother me to see her gum a small tub of it, since it's basically yogurt. She has been SO PICKY lately with what she eats that it's a victory if she eats anything at all.

Bath Time

After Stella went to bed, it was time for Teddy and Duckie to get baths. We are on our 3rd Duckie right now (the 4th is in CA) so it was time for really yucky Duckie to get a bath. The other dirty backup Duckie got tossed in Stella's closet in an effort to hide him before she walked into her room and caught Dan in the act of switching them. The 3rd (clean) Duckie is sleeping right now with Stella in her crib. We are keeping up the charade that there is only one Duckie but I think by now she's figured it out. The bait and switch is always a drama involving quick hiding of the Duckie we need to wash while swapping for the clean one.

In CA I put them in our washing machine on the hand wash setting but we don't have that in HK so I hand wash them. This bowl of bath water is JUST from Duckie because he was so, so gross. This is the Duckie that came on the plane with us and I swear I washed him just a few days before we left and he's been out of rotation for a week. Teddy's bath water was pale (literally) in comparison. He just had some food on his arm.

I had to take a photo because it was just so funny. Dan was super grossed out. But, it's a sign that Duckie is well loved. He goes everywhere with her.

Walk or Ride

We made it. Stella was very, very good on the plane. She figured out how to recline her seat/bed to a 45 degree angle and use it as a slide. That was annoying (only to me since no one else could see her), but it kept her busy when she got restless and didn't feel like watching DVDs. Her fear of strangers once again kept her from wandering the aisles. We landed in Tokyo and got to use the nice JAL lounge where she ate a ton of Japanese beef curry. I was positive she'd hate it but it's the best Japanese curry I've ever had, so when I saw they had it, I took a little bit even though I wasn't hungry. She kept asking for, "more dip" because she was dipping bread rolls in it.

Since then, we've been recovering from a runny nose which had us skip Mandarin class on Wed. We've been roaming the hotel and the malls, where she now has to learn she only has a choice between riding in her stroller and walking. I can't carry her anymore. It's been a challenge. We stood at the bottom of the escalator by our hotel lobby for quite some time because she wouldn't get into her stroller and I won't carry her or let her ride the escalator on her own. She finally got in. Also, on that same trip out, we went to the Lane Crawford sale (HK's Neiman Marcus) where she got out in the shoe department and browsed around with me. She loves shoes. I tried on a pair of Hogan sneakers. When she noticed that, she ran over and said, "Off!!! Off!!! No Nice!!!" while trying to pull them off my feet. She didn't like them, I guess.

Today, we started preschool (it's more like a playgroup) at the LRC. She loved it. There is a boy in there named Dylan. She learned how to say Dylan because she liked him a lot, not really because it's her last name or anything.

This Family Is Beyond Tired

It's been majorly busy but also majorly fun. We made it through Christmas except that I have no idea what to do with all of her new toys. It seems that toys have more parts as she gets older. We had 5 of her friends over the other day and it looked like a hurricane blew through the entire house. There was stuff everywhere. Dan and I like that the kids like to play here. We have a nice playroom that's not far from where the adults socialize. And, they certainly were "socializing" as our intent was to get rid of all the food and beer in the house before leaving.

This photo is from Stella's Auntie Kate's wedding. She did not make it down the aisle as planned. Unfortunately, I walked past her with my escort, the best man, and then she was supposed to join her 8-year-old cousin Jillian down the aisle. Well, as soon as I passed and ignored her, she started screaming her head off. My parents attempted to whisk her away but I could hear her screaming for some time as we were all standing at the alter. They said she only calmed down once she saw the hotel elevator. They got in and rode it up and down until basically the ceremony was over. She was happy as a clam in there. But, she had a blast at the reception and probably didn't go to bed until 10pm. She just wanted to dance and even when the band wasn't playing music, she'd try to lead me to the dance floor.

We then had a busy week afterward with recovering, doing household chores and visiting with friends. Dan left for Hong Kong today and we leave Sunday. I can't wait!