Potty Training - Part 1

Ok, I just spent 3 days trying to potty train Jasmine. I thought that we'd give it a try now since she's already 2 and we have a few days at home to spend with her. Jasmine kinda knows when she pees and poops. Her signal to us that she wants to poop is "she stands on her tippie toes". It's kinda cute, because when she stands on her toes, that means she's going to take dump!

We've put Jasmine in underwear (no diaper) during the day and showed her what to do when she needs to go peepee or poopoo. She loves watching her doll, Upsy Daisy, go peepee and cheers her on. But our efforts have proved to be a failure. Jasmine absolutely hates the potty, and she doesn't care if she has stuff dripping down her leg. She's probably just not ready and would rather play with all her toys, being as energetic as she.

So back to square one - Jasmine back in diapers for now. I guess we'll give it another try when I am on mat leave, after Baby#2 comes along. I'll have 12 months at home to train her.

Christmas in Victoria

We spent Christmas day with Granpa and Grandma Wong, and then went over to Victoria on Boxing day to spend time with Granpa and Grandma Leung. I visited Auntie Winnie, Auntie Lisa and Uncle Herman. All of them bought me really nice presents and they kissed me and hugged me all the time. I even got to jump on Cousin Momo! Momo always makes me so happy; I chase him all over the house and he never gets angry.

Too bad I am still scared of the flash on the camera so it was hard to get a nice picture of me. It blinds my eyes so I try to stay away... Maybe next year, I'll sit on Santa Claus and take a nice picture.

Adyson's 2nd Birthday party

We celebrated Adyson's birthday at Aunt Wrency and Uncle Rick's house. I got to sit in Adyson's highchair and eat lunch (Adyson was not happy about that). We had noodles, fresh fruit, crunchy spring rolls and yummy cake! It was fun. We even got to make a hand puppet, which Mommy had to sew together. Thanks Adyson for inviting me to play.

Happy Birthday 2nd Birthday Jasmine!

I just turned 2 on Nov. 21st. Mommy got me all dressed up in a beautiful pink dress and she put my hair up in 2 pigtails. I was like a princess.

Me and 8 friends all celebrated together at Fun4Kids in Aberdeen Center, in Richmond. This place was great fun for all the little ones and the big kids too. There were a bunch of slides that you can race on, fluffy balls that keeps on blowing up in the air and a couple of scary tunnels. Auntie Winnie and Lisa came to play with me as well.

Afterwards, we ate pizza, sandwich, chips and cake at the food court. I had so much fun. Too bad everyone was flashing their cameras at me when the cake was on the table. I had to hide...

Happy Birthday Logan!

We had a celebration today, as it was Logan's birthday party. Happy birthday. Jasmine had tons of fun at the Renfrew Community center. She especially liked the red car; she climbed in and out of it so many times. Even when we were eating cake, she kept running back to the car. Jasmine also liked playing with the mini-microwave, where she put all the plastic fruits inside and pretended to press on the buttons and saying "doo, doo, doo"...

We were lucky to be able to catch a few pictures of Jasmine today, because once she sees the camera, she immediately covers her face with her hands!

Rome and Paris Trip

Richard and I decided that we wanted to go on another trip before Baby#2 came into our life. We were able to convince his Dad to take care of Jasmine for the entire week, while we went on our romantic getaway. Thanks FIL!

We booked a trip to Rome, as a homebase, and then did a small side trip to Paris for 2 days. Here are some pics we took (click on the pics to enlarge):

Rome - at the Colosseum

Rome - Palatine Hills


Rome - Borghese Gallery and Roman Forum

Paris - Pont Neuf and Cathédrale de Notre-Dame

Paris - Arc de Triomphe

Paris - Eiffel Tower

Paris - Louvre Museum and Mona Lisa

Left - Paris Louve Museum
Right - Rome St. Peter's Church

Rome - Castel Sant'Angelo and Ostia Antica

Halloween 2009

It was Jasmine's 2nd Halloween this year and we went to Brentwood Mall for this occassion. She used the same costume as last year, a little purple bug with 8 legs. Jasmine really didn't like wearing the costume at all; the entire time she kept pulling it off and couldn't keep the hat in place. After about 5 minutes of trick-or-treating, she decided that the slide and kids play area was more fun, and ran off.

We let Jasmine play in the playground for about 30 minutes and when she got tired, we opened a packet of the gummies for her to taste. Her eyes lit up...and she wanted more. I told her that she had to put her costume back on in order to get more gummies...and she cooperated. Too bad it was already almost 5pm and that was when the trick-or-treating ended. She got another 3 packets of candies and that was it. Maybe next year, she'll get more gummies.

We could not get a picture of Jasmine in her bug costume.

Bonk Again - Ferries

On our ferry ride back to Vancouver on Sunday, it was super busy at the terminals. We arrived at the terminal at 1:30pm and made it barely, onto the 3pm sailing.

As always, the children's play area was packed with kids. Jasmine loves the slide and marched right up to it, along with all the bigger kids. Unfortunately, we weren't watching her closely enough and one of the kids nudged Jasmine off the staircase...and she fell onto the ground, head-first. I saw it as it happend and screamed. Jasmine hit the ground with a thump and screamed loudly. Poor beeps.

Sleepy yet? (video)

For grandma's funeral, Jasmine, Richard and I took a trip over to Victoria to pay our final respects. It was a sad event although it brought all the Ho relatives together from all over the world. During our 5 day stay in Victoria, Jasmine was unable to have her nap during her regular hours (11:30-1pm) due to lunch obligations. So Jasmine ate with us in her l'il highchair and fell asleep wherever we were and whatever we were doing. Here is a video clip of Jasmine during lunch, can't keep her eyes open...

In Memory of Grandma Ho

Very sad today, as Grandma Ho (Mom's Mom) passed away today on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone in the family is very sad.

Grandma was a very personable person and seemed to enjoy other people's company. She was very well loved by everyone around her. Grandma liked to play MJ and have dinner with family all the time.

Grandma - We love you dearly and will miss your smile.

Whistler - Shadow (2 videos)

We went up to Whistler for a few days on our week off and stayed at my ex-bosses cabin (thanks Jack!). It was hot and sunny on one of the days and then raining super hard the next day. Jasmine thoroughly enjoyed her time there; watch her explore her own shadow in the parking lot and in the courtyard:

Bucket Head (video)

How can Jasmine see where she is walking to? I'm amazed she doesn't bump into anything.

Lifting Shopping Cart (video)

In this video, Jasmine shows her strong muscles, lifting her shopping cart into the air, meanwhile showing her wonderful balance wearing super large slippers. I love how she knows that she can't climb onto the couch (where I am filming) if she has her slippers on so she takes them off first.

What is that under my foot? (video)

This video was taken in April 2009 as well. Jasmine noticed she stepped on something and tried to pull it out. What the heck is this white stuff?

Learning Directions (video)

I finally had some time to convert some video clips that were taken earlier in the year. I'll be loading them up over the next couple of days. Here's one of Jasmine in April this year, learning how to turn left and right on her butt:

Holiday - Van Dusen Gardens

Richard and I took a week off for vacation and decided to tour our own city. Today we visited the Van Dusen Gardens for the first time. I never knew how large this garden was until today. We spent a good 2 hours there and only walked about half of the garden.

A couple of mentionable details while at this garden:

1) there were a lot of squirrels in the park and Jasmine saw a squirrel jump by, pick up an acorn and put it into its mouth. Then Jasmine went and picked up an acorn on the ground, said "apple" and then proceeded to put the acorn in her mouth. Luckily I saw it as it happened and pulled the acorn away right away.

2) on one of the paved walkways, it was really sloped. The gardeners had left the hose on so the water from the hose was running down the walkway. Jasmine loves water. She realized that if she jumped and stomped in the puddle, the water splashes everywhere! Richard and I walked away, leaving Jasmine stomping in the water...trying to see how long before she notices that we left. We hid behind a bush watching her. We waited and waited and waited.

Ok, after 7 minutes, WE realized that Jasmine is not going to move out of there on her own so we had to literally pick her up and carry her out of there (meanwhile she was kicking and screaming). Her entire pants and socks and shoes were soaked.

It was a fun day regardless.

Stanley Park Miniature Train

One afternoon we just decided to go for a walk in Stanley Park. We've lived here for so many years but have never really taken a full walk around and explored that humungous park. We also rode on the miniature train, which was pretty fun actually. The family price made it worth it (compared to individual pricing). Jasmine really liked the "ding, ding, ding" of the train whenever we went over a bridge of water.

For some reason, Jasmine always slouches in her stroller. She seems to lean back in her chair, move her butt as far down in the seat as possible and stick her feet up:

Wheels on the Bus

Oops, I drafted this posting like 2 months ago, but forgot to post it up. We haven't been to Brentwood in quite a while, after an incident happened at the kids playground. Some kid had an "accident" (had a #1) there which kind of made me disgusted so we haven't been there since.

We went to Brentwood Mall again, so Jasmine could blow off some energy. We used to be so scared when she climbed onto the slide on her own (we'd follow her like a hawk in case she tipped over) but not anymore. She's a pro at climbing, with practice on our climb and slide at home.

PNE visit

For my work at BC Cancer Agency, we had a booth at the PNE this year and I had to help out on the first day. Today, the admission was free in the morning so Richard, my father-in-law and Jasmine, they all went to check it out. They only spent a few hours there, as it was hot, super crowded and food/drinks were expensive. Here are some pics of Jasmine, clowning around:

Amazing Race Vancouver!

Some of our friends were talking about doing an Amazing Race event and we thought that it'd be fun to see what it was like. We had no intention of being in the top ranks, considering this was our first time doing this... (and I'm 3 months pregnant).

The tasks took us all over downtown, Chinatown and Granville Island, all done by foot or public transit (no car or taxi). I think we ran 90% of the way and it took us approximately 2.5 hours in total. When running to the final destination, we thought that we had no chance of winning (we were the last team out of the starting spot as we planned each step of our way). As it turned out, we won the race! It felt weird, but at the same time, we just couldn't believe it! Here we are, after we finished the last challenge (completing a jigsaw puzzle).

Play Date with Adyson

Adyson, Uncle Rick and Auntie Wrency came for a visit this weekend and we had a really fun time playing together. When they first arrives, Adyson just woke up from her nap in the car so she didn't want to play with me but after a bit, she was running around and taking all my toys out! Although we don't play with the same toys together (can't share yet) but I still had fun. Here's me and Adyson sitting on Uncle Rick's lap.

Feeding Beeps...

We are still having daily fights, trying to feed Jasmine. She is just not an eater. Even just getting her into her high chair, we have to bribe her with little cheese fishy biscuits before she's willing to sit still. And after she sits in her chair, we have to try to sneak a bite here and there into her mouth. This is what she looks like most of the time...

Eva and Dennis' Wedding

We attended a family wedding on August 8th; it was a perfect day for an outdoor wedding. Slightly sunny/cloudy and small breeze. Congratulations Eva and Dennis.
Here's me and my beautiful sistas, my Dad and Aunt Suzanna.