SHE's picking (action shot!)

McKelvey Park

Special guest appearance by Kui Fine

SHE's visiting Kui

Sierra enjoyed wandering around Kui's house Saturday afternoon. She did something cute where she showed us how she could walk backwards and we all applauded, then she did it again, and we all applauded, and she repeated this a few times as we applauded her each time. Then she said "all done" uneventfully, and went on to something else. :)

SHE's picking flowers

McKelvey Park

SHE likes flowers

McKelvey Park

Little Runner Girl

Running is another developmental milestone that SHE has reached, though I'm not sure exactly when. It's not like there's a day when suddenly she could run - it's gradual. As her walking skills improved, she would go faster and faster. And today we were out at McKelvey Park (which I recently discovered is a GREAT place for her to run around without much supervision since it's so big and there is NOTHING to get into and nothing to fall on! It's just a ginormous grassy green field). Anyway, Josh and I were talking about how she was running (clumsily) across the grass excitedly. SHE was so cute.

SHE's fine dining

Bad poo again

Sierra had a small bit of blood in her poo again on Sunday-Tues. It's also been mucusy since then, with the blood in the mucusy part. It got fainter after Sunday, just pinkish in the mucus. So we are going to see Dr. Bass, the pediatric gastroenterologist at Lucille Packard again.

As I might have mentioned earlier, her bloody poo went away when she took probiotics-fortified rice cereal. Once when she had a cold and lost her appetite, she missed the p-f rice cereal for a few days and the blood came back. Could have been fighting a virus and/or the probiotics. This time, she has been taking the rice cereal, though daddy's been making it and said he might have heated up the milk too much, which kills the bacteria. (He recently started warming up the milk.) Or, I suspect she might be fighting a virus. Her appetite has been low since last week, though it was better yesterday.

Notes for Dr. Bass:

1) Baby probiotic cereal that has been working for Sierra contains:

L. acidophilus,
Bifidislactis,
L. bugaricus,
L. casei
Streptococcus
Thermophilus
L. rhamnosus

2) Dr. Fong recommended Culturelle probiotic supplement contains 1 billion of:

Lactobacillus GG

3) Another baby probiotic supplements contains 2.6 billion microorganisms:

B. Infantis
L. acidophilus
B. bifidum
Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis)

QUESTIONS:

a. Overdose?
b. Habitual?
c. What bacteria is developed around six month old? (that Sierra did not develop)
d. Is "B.Infantis" a bacteria specially needed by infants? (so it was named)
e. Probiotic supplements benefits polyp?

Bring poo sample!

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Added 2-26-11:
So the dr took one look at her poo (dry and hard and mucusy) and said she needed more liquid and fiber (which is hard to get toddlers to eat). We are always trying to offer her the sippy but she just won't take more than a sip. Lately, she has been willing to drink a bit more of chamomile tea (cooled), so we have been giving that to her a lot.

Aw-dubah!

I keep meaning to post this (and may have), but Sierra has enjoyed saying this "word" for the longest time. It was probably one of her first "words". I still can't figure out what it means! She says "awww-duBAH" (the last part fast, and accent on the BAH). I'll have to get it on tape/video. More recently, she pointed at the hinge on the baby gate, and later at the bathroom light fixture when she was saying this. Both times, I asked her "Where's the awdubah?" to see if what she pointed to might clarify things. She again pointed to the baby gate hinge (and the bathroom light fixture). So, nope. ;)

Sidney's visit

Last week, Sidney came to visit. Sidney is about 2 months older than SHE. Although they were mostly parallel playing (i.e., playing on their own; kids don't really play with each other until closer to 3 years old, which makes sense for why preschool starts then), you could tell Sierra's excitement level was up as she ran around playing with her toys. Cute moments of interaction: Sidney sat in Sierra's pink car while Sierra pushed her (Sierra loves pushing the car whether or not anyone is in it.) Kali said Sidney has lately taken to trying to hold as many objects in her hands as possible, and while Sidney was demonstrating this gathering toys, SHE noticed Sidney dropped one. SHE said "diao le!" and went to pick it up and then stretched out her hand to give it to Sidney. We said "Sidney, look Sierra picked up the block (or whatever it was) for you!" And Sidney took it from SHE. :) Kali also said Sidney loves hugging these days, which she demonstrated by trying to hug Sierra as SHE walked around. Sierra wasn't sure what to make of it, as shown in the pics below...

Sidney was not a fan of the mizuna Sierra had for dinner Saturday or the fresh grated apple SHE had as a snack Tuesday. Sidney made funny faces to show her disapproval. I think the mizuna was not as much a surprise - Sierra really likes greens, which I suspected most babies wouldn't. On the other hand, Sierra doesn't like yogurt, ice cream, or vanilla pudding, which most babies do! She still gags/pukes when she doesn't like something (like the vanilla pudding mudder tried). Too bad she can't just make funny faces like Sidney!

Here are some pictures from Sidney's blog (which is private) of the two of them, in reverse chronological order.

Hugging (playdate Tuesday):

Car driving (Sunday night when they arrived):

Consonants

I was talking with Kim the other day and she mentioned that a hard "c" or "k" is the last consonant that kids are able to pronounce. Sierra has been saying the k sound since the early days, which she had plenty of practice on when she used to make kkkkkewew kkkkkkewew sounds in her razzing days while she rolled around happily in bed. It was sure cute when she used to do that. I can still get her to do it sometimes if I do it and she decides to copy.

Anyhoo, I realized that one of the consonants she cannot say is "s". She substitutes in "d". Also, she can't pronounce "r" when it's inside a word, but can when it starts a word. Like she can say "ra ra" (Sierra), but when she says things like "otter", it sounds like "ottuo" (using pin yin here).

SHE's music time

SHE just sat down next to mommy

Signing milk

So tonight while I was trying to get her to sleep, she stood there in the dark on her bed signing milk. I squinted and sure enough, she was signing milk.

Nai nai

I can't remember if I mentioned this (as is often the case in this blog), but Sierra has for awhile now been saying "nai nai" instead of signing for milk. That was her one reliable sign and I wish I had gotten it on video.

The only thing she signs now is "e e" hungry (patting her tummy). She hasn't been signing "pa pa" as much anymore (patting her chest). She just says "pa pa" when she sees Lemma.

SHE put on her cat ears

Sierra loves asking me to put on her cat headband and then pointing at the bathroom counter (indicating to put her on the bathroom counter) so she can see herself with it. I thinks she knows she's cute with the cat ears bc she says "awwww".
Mudder had this great idea to put a mirror down at her level so I stuck her changing table mirror (which she never cared for) in the hallway. Now she'll try to put on her cat ears (I will then help her) or one of her hats (from her box of outgrown baby clothes) and run into the hallway and look at herself in the mirror.

[Note: this is from we think 2/13 sometime in the afternoon...]

SHE's a little kitty

SHE's happy to meet Sidney

Hua hua

Sierra really enjoys drawing on the white paper on the wall. She says "hua hua" (paint/draw in chinese) and pulls out the crayons and markers to draw random chicken scratches (or I guess more accurately, sierra scratches ;)).

Garage door

When the garage door opens, you can hear it in the whole house. When Sierra hears it, she looks up and says "daddy". More recently, I think she's caught on to the fact that it's not ALWAYS daddy, so she doesn't always do it. Little smarty pants.

Sierra is like daddy

Sierra is becoming much more willful, just like daddy (or perhaps just like a toddler in her terrible 2's).

We were at Rancho last weekend going for a walk w/her in the stroller. I decided to let her walk around for a bit to take a break since she was getting ancy in the stroller. I held her hand so she wouldn't fall on the trail. She kept pulling to go off the trail. I said to hold mommy's hand but she repeated "nooo" and struggled away as much as she could. It was cute because she was really like a little kid (growing into a real person) now!

Tuesday gran and liling took her to carter's to get some new long sleeved shirts (she's moving into size 2 now!) and when they got back, she had a little toy cell phone. mudder said she refused to leave without that cell phone! It says "hello" and she says "hello" (like when our phone rings at home!) Mudder said daisy and i were never like that - insisting on getting something or she won't leave the store.

Today Sierra wasn't hungry, and moody all day. Gran said she put her in the play pen and she was fussing to get out, first by doing the usual thing and throwing everything out and saying "diao le" and then suddenly she patted her tummy and said "e e" (hungry in chinese) and gran was glad (since she skipped breakfast) and took her out and put her in her high chair. She said "nooo" and didn't want to get in, just like all morning. So she was just tricking gran into taking her out of the play pen! Tricky girl. Just like daddy.

Gran pointed out she pinches now too whens he doesn't get her way. Liling pointed out she does it too when she heard gran say it. She is definitely not passive like mommy. gran was actually glad she is not a pushover. That's not a trait you want from mommy!

1st (or 2nd) sentence

Yesterday morning, Sierra was holding one of her balls in her hand and gran carried her down the stairs. She dropped the ball and said "ball diao le" "ball diao le" (which means the ball dropped in chinese). there was no pause between "ball" and "diao le" and so it was definitely at least her first sentence (after "naya pa pa", which *might* have been her first sentence (see earlier post)).

Just thought I'd record it!

Notes from infancy

I was cleaning up the other day and found these notes that I meant for her baby book:

1st smile captured on Flip video (actually a few days before that)
Grabbing ring (1/25)
Blows bubbles out her mouth (1/25)
Reaching for hanging objects (1/28)
Giggle 2/2
Saw Naya 2/5

Quick note about blowing bubbles and razzing. She doesn't razz anymore! :( Or make kkkkk sounds with the back of her mouth. She used to enjoy doing this for fun when she was just content.

Gran gran and Ra Ra

Last week, mudder said, did you know she says her name now? I said, I don't think so. my mom said she calls herself "Ra ra" and liling enthusiatically nodded. I said "how do you know?" Liling said "Who are you?" in chinese pointing at her, and she responded "Ra ra". Then my mom pointed at her photos on the wall (which we recently put up) and asked "who is this?" in chinese, pointing to her and she said "Ra ra". And suddenly I felt like a fool for not picking up on this earlier! She'd been doing this for awhile and I just thought she was saying wa wa (sock) or something else. Mudder pointed out that I used to call myself "Ra ra" too when I was young.

The other thing sierra says clearly now is "gran gran". She has been saying "ge ge" or something up to this point. It's interesting to see how her ability to say words develops over time!
Gran gran's nightgown is hanging on the hallway rail and she walks up to it and touches it and says "gran gran".

Josh was impressed at her saying alligator the other day at the flash card. She must have learned it from gran or Liling.

Sierra vs Daddy

Today I was read Josh's baby book and it said (I couldn't read some of the handwriting where it says ?):

14 months ba=banana bu=book baby=xina v baby? byebye

16 months bu=book, athum=adam, mommy, daddy, Joshua is verbalizing many wants.

20 months - apu=juice, milk=milk, caca=connie? Pete, Jiv=Jill, bize=vike? goodbye=good boy, naughty.


11.5 months takes first steps with support
12 1/2 mos plays pat-a-cake (pa pa)
Oct 23, 1976 12 1/2 mos. takes first independent steps.
Dec. 2 14 months Joshua walks

Sierra knows at least 70 words now at 14.5 months, more than daddy knew at 20 months! And Sierra took her first independent steps earlier too. Take that, daddy! ;)

Also, I just remembered. Josh says he used to say "ee-ah-boo" for Ernie and Bert. Sierra says "buht" (really fast, almost like spitting it out) and "unnie". :)

SHE's Happy New Year!