Author Archives: Paul

Paul in August, Age 10 months

Mommy’s been horrible about getting pictures up. But we found some cute remaining Australia pictures. Look at how little I used to be!

August 26, 2008: Trying to Walk video

August 29, 2008: Ride to the Airport

Here’s a picture of Mommy and Michelle B. and all of our luggage the day before we moved back to the USA.

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Originally posted Oct 29, 2008.

Reading By Myself

I like to read books. I don’t always like to listen when Mommy reads them. She takes too long. I just want to turn to the next page and she’s always stopping me.

No, I like to read books all by myself. Then I can turn the pages as quickly as I want.

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Mommy says the book is upside down. But I don’t care. The pages turn just as well this way!

Mommy and Me

Hey! Guess what! I got my sixth tooth this weekend. It still hurts a lot. But I can bite in to just about everything and it’s lots of fun.

I’m a big boy now. I drink bottles and I try to feed myself my own food. I don’t want Mommy to help me. I like to be my own man.

I can walk around the couch. Then I reach everything that Mommy puts on the table that she doesn’t want me to reach. If something is in the corner of the room, I can crawl and squirm to reach it. Nothing is out of reach anymore! YEAY!

Here’s a picture of me with Mommy last week.

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Mommy says she took this picture herself, so please ignore her messy hair and the weird perspective. But I don’t care if her hair is messy. I love her!

A Tricky Mommy is NOT FUNNY!

I was so hungry. I kept saying, “Mommy. I’m hungry. Feed me now.”

But she stood over by that “microwave” thing and stirred. I know what food looks like. I could see my food. It looked yummy. I wanted to eat it.

“Mommy! Feed it to me!” I called out. “Mommy!”

But still she kept stirring.

Finally, she came over with my food. It was mine. I could tell. It was mine, not hers. She had a spoon all ready for me. I sat up and smiled.

Here it comes! I thought. It was my food, and I was going to eat it. I laughed.

Mommy blew on my spoon of food. Then she made it fly all over the room. I had a hard time following it with my eyes. Then it landed-in Mommy’s mouth!

“MOMMY! THAT WAS MY FOOD! HOW DARE YOU EAT IT!”

I was mad. And Mommy was laughing at me.

How dare she!

My Chair

Mommy got me a chair.

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When I sit in it, I can see a lot of things. I am up! I can see Mommy. She puts things in her mouth. I can see the table. I can see all sorts of things to grab. Most of the time I can’t reach anything.

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Mommy gives me things to hold. One thing she gives me is this long straight thing. It doesn’t rattle. It doesn’t make noise. I just hold it and try to eat it.

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I think that is the purpose of it: to put it in my mouth. Sometimes Mommy doesn’t want me to put things in my mouth. But then I sit here in my chair and she tries to put things in my mouth.

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Maybe I’ll get used to this new chair. I haven’t decided yet. It’s kind of different.

My First Easter by Paul

I didn’t wake up for my breakfast until 5 a.m. I didn’t know what time it was, of course, but Mommy seemed so happy when she came up. She kept saying, “I just slept for six hours straight!” with amazement. I ate eagerly and then decided to go back to sleep.

Before I knew it, Mommy was waking me up and putting my white shirt on me. Then Mommy immediately put me in my car seat. There wasn’t time to spit up on anyone at all! Daddy carried me out to the car and put me in the back. I sat in the car seat for more than an hour as Daddy drove us around. Mommy came and sat by me for a while and so did this other guy we picked up. I was sleepy so I didn’t feel like talking much. I just stared at the side of the car seat.

Finally, we got to church. I wasn’t sleepy anymore. Mommy took me out of my car seat and held me on her lap. There were so many people to look at. People kept coming by and telling me I am cute. Do such obvious things even need to be said? I just giggled and ate my tie.

I sat on Mommy’s lap as she sang songs. I was pretty happy to be awake. The whole meeting was about Jesus. As Daddy passed the sacrament, Mommy told me about how Jesus was resurrected. I was happy.

I went with Daddy to the Gospel Essentials Sunday school class and took a little nap. Most of the lesson was in Chinese anyway, so I didn’t feel too bad sleeping through it. I’m having a hard enough time with English these days!

When I woke up, I was in Relief Society with Mommy. A lady at the front of the room was talking, and I wanted to show everyone how I can talk too, so I started speaking up! Did you know I can make really loud noises with this voice of mine? Really loud noises! One lady sitting in front of me kept telling me I was cute, but Mommy was trying to shush me. She walked around the back of the room, but I was so excited about my noises that I wanted to see how loud I could get. Besides, I was tired of being held. I wanted to kick.

Finally, Mommy stopped shushing me. And then everyone else was moving around and talking, so no one could hear my noises. How disappointing!

Before I knew it, Mommy was putting me back in my car seat. At least Mommy sat by me again. So did one of the other guys we had picked up, Shawn. He kept making faces at me, trying to get me to smile, but I didn’t feel like humoring him. I decided to make loud noises again. I was getting tired, though, so I wasn’t very energetic.

I think I feel asleep because the next thing I remember, I was in my crib at home. I didn’t want to be all by myself, so I called for Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy played with me for a little while and tickled me. I love my Daddy! He rubbed something dark brown on my bottom lip, and Mommy was quite concerned. She kept saying, “Don’t give him chocolate!”

Grandma Peggy called to wish me a happy Easter. I was so amazed by the voice coming out of the telephone that I didn’t say anything to her.

Mommy and Daddy found me some toys and put me in my playpen. I ate my cloth book and hit myself in the head with my rattle while Mommy ironed a tablecloth and Daddy made pear sorbet.

After a little while, Daddy was putting me back in to my car seat. “Where to now?” I thought. We headed all the way back to Shawn’s house and then back to the church. I did not want to be in my car seat any longer, and I tried to tell Daddy, who kept driving. But Shawn and Mommy just told me I was cute. Shawn told me that it was his first Easter too.

After another long while, we were back at church. Mommy read to me from the Book of Mormon Stories book. I sat with Mommy and Daddy as we listened to pretty music. After listening to some talks in Chinese, we went and watched Shawn baptize William. Mommy told me that I’ll be baptized in 7 years, 6 months, and 15 days. I’m so excited!

After we watched the baptism, we drove home again. Shawn came with us, and so did a sister in the ward and her kids. I lay on my back in my playpen looking up, and there were so many smiling faces—two girl faces and a little boy face and Shawn’s face. I didn’t know who to smile at first! The two girls were very excited to smile at me and giggle and tickle me. I was happy to humor them. The oldest girl picked me up and carried me around the room.

The youngest kid, the boy, wasn’t quite sure how to hold me, but he sat down and he did just fine. Then he and Shawn played football in the living room with a stuffed bunny. I can’t wait until I’m a little older and I can run around like that!

I was so excited with all the people around that I didn’t realize how tired I was getting. When they all put me down in my playpen and sat at the table and started eating, I was very annoyed.

“I’m still here!” I tried to say. But, of course, all they heard was my noises. “Isn’t he cute?” they said to each other.

Finally, Mommy remembered me. She picked me up and took me upstairs. She changed my clothes and sang me a song and cuddled me. I was too tired to go to sleep calmly, but she helped me go to sleep anyway.

It was a good first Easter.

I’m Three Months Old!

I had my three-month checkup yesterday:

  • I am 5220 grams (gained 830 grams in one month; 10th percentile)
  • I am 59.5 cm long (25th percentile)
  • I have a 40.5 cm head circumference (25th percentile)

Here’s a rundown of my life these days.

I like to suck on my fingers—but I don’t suck my thumb because I don’t know how to get my thumb out of my fist. Sometimes I stick my whole fist in my mouth and I gag myself.

I still spit up a lot, but maybe not as much as before. Now I’m drooling a lot too. I like to eat Mommy’s milk (I’m still too little to eat food), but if I’m too tired, I’d rather sleep. I sleep really well at night, usually falling asleep at 8 p.m. and sleeping until 5 a.m., waking only once to eat. I only sleep that well in my own cot, though. At night I don’t like to sleep in my car seat, even if I’m tired. I sleep well during the day, taking two one-hour morning naps between 8 and 10 and 11 and 1 and a longer afternoon nap between 3 and 6 or so. I don’t catnap as often as I used to. But I don’t follow too much of a schedule yet. I like to do whatever I want. Every day is different. That’s what keeps life exciting!

I like to hold a toy so I can look at it and try to eat it, but I often let go of it and can’t find it again. I try to bring things to my mouth, but I don’t really know how my hands work—sometimes I’m lucky. I like to listen to music and I like to watch the flashing lights on my new rain forest music box from Grandma Peggy.

I really like to go for a horsey ride on Daddy’s knees; I squeal in delight. (But not when Mommy has a camera going! I stare at the camera because somehow I always see it.) When Mommy and Daddy hold me up, I can stand on my own two feet! I make happy noises when I do that—unless I’m tired. Then I whine.

I used to like rolling from my front to my back, but lately I just look around while on my tummy and then I get tired. I think I’ve forgotten how to roll over.

Mommy likes to read to me. Before bed, she feeds me and then reads me Goodnight Moon, which Grandma sent me. It is just the right length—by the end, I’m ready to go to sleep. Other times of the day, when she reads to me, I think she is talking to me. I look in her eyes and talk to her with my coos. She coos back. I really like that time.

I smile most in the morning. At 5 a.m., I really like to see Mommy or Daddy coming to get me. I am extra smiley then. For some reason, Mommy is not as smiley then. But I know she’s trying to be smiley. After my first morning nap, I’m very happy. I smile and giggle as I play.

I’m very content when we run errands. Mommy keeps me in my car seat and I eat my hand. Everyone thinks I’m very cute and tells me so. At church, I spend some time with Daddy and some time with Mommy. But really, they could just give me to the young single adult girls and I’d be fine. They all like me very much. It would be nice if, in 16 years, so many girls thought I was cute!

I’m feeling a lot bigger than I was before. I can’t wear a lot of my favorite outfits anymore—I’m too big. But that’s OK, because Mommy has a drawer full of new favorite outfits to wear!

Well, I’ve got to go spit up, so that’s all for now!