A little overdue

Austin is usually due for a haircut about every two months. It has now been about three months since his last haircut. With a trip, a wedding and warmer weather coming up, I thought he could use a trim. Willis took him to Supercuts for haircut #12 this morning and he said Austin did pretty well, up until the buzzing over his ears. (Photo on the right is the before, it was taken a week ago. Long sideburns, bangs past his eyebrows and the back so long I could make a tiny little ponytail - if he'd let me)


On the left, Austin trying to share some juice with his Doggie. On the right, he is standing still so I could take his picture (he wanted to see the pictures I was taking so I told him he had to stay still so it wouldn't be blurry).

For being so good during his haircut, we took him to ride the train at the farmer's market. He really enjoyed that. We picked up some lunch and produce and took it home to eat. After lunch, I gave him a bath (the front and back of his hair were just a little crooked so I did my best to even it out before his bath). I used lavendar soap to help him relax for his nap and it seems to have worked so well he fell asleep within minutes of lying down and napped for 4 1/2 hours!!


This is the seat Austin chose, the back of the train. We are waiting for the conductor to pass out Thomas coloring sheets and stickers before starting up the train.

Signs of Spring:

I was carrying Austin when I passed these cute little white flowers in the grass. I put him down to take a picture and, as I was turning my iPhone camera on, Austin decided to stomp on the flowers. (see smooshed flower on the far right) Hmmph! Boys!

Quotes of the day

"I'm riding on a train. Bye peoples, I'm riding on a train"

"I'm drinking water from a strawberry."

"Austin. Ma name is Austin. Austin Chang. I want strawberries!"

"Where Spiderman go? Spidermaaan, where are you?.."

"I'm a pirate. Watch out for da train! All aboard. Let's riiide da train!"

Blue Train, Green Train

Austin reading a book:



I ran out of memory just before he closed the book, which is when he said, "De end." But, here it is from the previous book:

Octopus = Jellyfish?

Lately, when Austin sees a picture of an octopus he calls it a jellyfish.

Last night I wanted to use the computer. I walked by Austin who was playing with his trains and said, "I need to do something on the computer real quick, do you want to come with me? He followed me into the office where Willis was already using the computer. Austin grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward the door and said, "Come with me." Then he led me to his little Leap Frog computer. He's so funny!

We got to the computer and he pulled one of the computer game packages off the tv stand. This package had an octopus on the front. He said, "Yook a jeyifish! Dis my favowite one!"

Monsters

Austin's been talking about monsters a lot lately. A few instances that I can remember, or at least remember enough to write them down:

-We were eating tortillas for a snack last Sunday. Austin put a piece of tortilla up to his ear and said, "Heyo monster. How are you? I'm Austin and Daddy and Mama. Silly bear monster. Okay, bye bye."
-At various times he says, "Mama, where's da monster?"
-Tonight we were sitting in his little tent and we were smiling at each other, then he turned around, looked out the little window and said, "I don't hear a monster."
-Again tonight, when I was changing his diaper, he said something about a monster, then (in a growling voice) "Roaarr, time to get ready for monster.. get ready for monster wars. Roaarr! Iss a pi.. Iss a pirate ship! Roaarrr!"

Quote of the day

I put Austin on my shoulders, we walked through a doorway and he said,

"Dat's awesome!"

Two-and-a-half

You are two-and-a-half today! I'm so proud of you and how much you've grown and matured in your two-and-a-half years. You're a dream come true and I cherish all of our moments together.

Happy half-birthday to you, Austin!!

I love you,
Mama :)

Quotes of the day

During dinner:

"Dowa-Dowa-Dowa" (said in a fast sing-song tone)
(Translation: Dora-Dora-Dora)

"I got all the rices" (when he looked at his lap covered in rice)

"I got pockets"

"That was fun!"

"I like messy" (Austin's response when he was making a mess with his rice and I said, "That's messy!")

Daylight Savings Time

Austin was in a great mood when I picked him up today. His teacher told him, "Austin, your Mommy's here." He looked up, saw me, then ran to the gate, I picked him up and told him to say bye to everyone. To my surprise, he waved and happily said, "Bye everyone!" And, without me even asking how his day was or what he did during the day, he proceeded to tell me which friends he played with and that he played outside on the slide. He was very agreeable getting in the car and in his seat, he even said "bye Ms. Rosie" and "see you tomorrow" when she walked by (instead of turning away or saying no).

I guess his afternoon was better than the morning. A note on his daily sheet said: "*Bit tired today - not as into am art activity but OK throughout. :)"

Daylight Savings Time started over the weekend, which means:

Tricycle riding in the driveway before dinner

Fun times outdoors with neighborhood kids

(I was lounging on a beach chair in the garage when I took these pics, which is why the kids are so far away)

The neighbor boy in the picture above is about six years old (or at least that's how old Austin said he is when I was asked Willis if he thought he was six or seven) and Austin watched everything he did - which involved riding his scooter past the cones and down the driveway (I set up the cones so Austin wouldn't ride his trike past them), kicking the cones and throwing a cone up like a baseball and using another cone as a baseball bat. He is a really nice kid and like a big brother, he watched out for Austin (like when Austin tipped over on his tricycle or when he rode his tricycle toward the street and sped up down the driveway) and shares and plays well with Austin. Austin tried copying everything he did and there was lots of laughter and happiness from the kids.

When we were outside, I noticed that Austin was chewing on something. He was still chewing when we went inside so I asked him:

Me: What are you chewing? Can you spit it out?
[Austin tries to spit whatever it is out as I try to help take whatever it is out of his mouth]
Me: What is that?
A: Sand
[And sure enough, I wiped his tongue and was left with a couple of grains of sand. Chewing on sand? Yuck!]

Misc

This morning while I was changing Austin's diaper, he put his hand on his butt and said, "Mine butt. Dis mine butt."

As he was looking through pictures on my phone, he kept toggling between the camera and photo viewer, each time he said, "What's going on?" Then, in the camera mode he'd hold it up to his eye and say, "Look at me!" (Like what we say when we want him to look at the camera)

I was in my room and Austin was doing something next to my bed. He starts fussing and comes over to me.
A: [In a sad tone] My finger.
Me: What happened to your finger?
A: Kiss it.
[I kissed the finger he held out first, then the second one he held out]
Me: What happened to your finger?
A: [starts walking away] Bye bye.
Me: Wait, what happened to your finger?
A: [already down the hall] Bye bye.

If one of us is in the office, Austin usually follows and says, "Mickey Mouse song p'eese." (For us to play the Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song)

As soon as the song, "A Dream Is A Wish the Heart Makes" starts, Austin says, "Dat's Cindereya."

At dinner, he tried to shorten "Thank you" by just saying "Thank."

He's still not a big fan of leafy greens. He sometimes puts a piece of lettuce or cabbage in his mouth to taste it but other times he completely resists them. Sometimes he pulls it out of his mouth and says, "I don' like dat." But, he enjoys most other kids of vegetables.

Most of the time I forget just how small in size Austin is. Maybe because I see him all the time and usually up close and he doesn't act like a tiny guy so I don't think about it, but once in a while I just stop and look at him and he is still just such a tiny little guy.

I yost it

Austin was sitting in my lap playing with his rubber stamps. He dropped one on the floor.

Me: Where'd it go?
A: I dunno. It went somewhere.
[pause, while looking at the floor]
A: I yost it.

Polliwog

We met up with some Beach Babies pals this morning for a Polliwog play date.



Austin and Lucca following each other around the playground


Austin needed help to climb this thing the last time we went to Polliwog Park. He just wasn't strong enough and not coordinated enough at the time. Now this big boy can climb all the way to the top, all by himself!




L: Lucca and Austin looking at the Good Year blimp in the sky.
R: Kayla and Annie sharing a banana.


Austin and Lucca played together until Tyler joined in, then the boys kind of left poor Lucca trailing behind


My paparazzi shots of Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm playing with their daughters and Lucca showing off for them on the zip line.

Morning chatter

Knocking over a box of Rice Krispies cereal in the kitchen.
A: I want some uh doze
Me: Do you know what that is?
A: I dunnnoo
[A few seconds later..]
A: I want some uh doze cereal bars
Me: That's not cereal bars, it's just cereal
A: No, it's cereal bars
[I opened the box to show him it's just cereal]
Me: See, it's just loose cereal.
A: Ohhh

During breakfast:
A: Da monster's come. Mama, da monster's come.
Me: Come where?
A: I dunno... I tink so? Dey run away.

As Austin was eating his waffle for breakfast, he was just chattering away to himself. Something funny he said, "Mama and Daddy and Austin. You don't have to say kitty cat? You can read it in da book. I give da kitty cat a waffle?" I said, "You do?" and he said, "Yes, I do."

As I was cleaning Austin's nose.
A: Yook! I got boogies!
Me: You have boogies?
A: No, I don't
(His teachers call the kids' mucous "boogies")

I heard Austin talking to Willis about his firetruck shirt, then he came running out and said:
A: Thank you Mama!
Me: Thank you for what?
A: Thank you da.. thank you da firetruck shirt!

Evie's 1st birthday party

We went to Evie's 1st birthday party today. The day was filled with yummy food, chatting with friends, bumping into an old high school friend, and lots of fun in a bounce house.

Austin said "no" to the bounce house as soon as we arrived at the party. But, after eating lunch and hearing that Katie was going, he said, "okay." He and Katie jumped and played and had a great time. We went home with some fun goodies for Austin and the cutest (super delicious) owl cupcakes, made by the birthday girl's very own mommy. (Unfortunately, my cupcake rolled over in the car on the way home and got a little smooshed, but it was still yummy)

Austin getting up in the air while imitating Willis, who was shooting an imaginary basketball


Austin asked Katie, "You wanna go back in the bounce house?" and Katie said, "Yeah."

We had so much fun all three of us went home and had a relaxing afternoon nap. Austin was worn out and slept for three hours.

Prior to the party, Austin got to spend some time with my Mom while Willis and I went to do our taxes but she was already at the airport by the time we came home from the party. We're already looking forward to our next visit with her!

Austin Tales

My Mom is in town and I was telling her some fun stories about Austin. Afterward, I thought, I should be recording these Austin stories so I can look back and remember how he was and the things he did and said at this age. So, here are a couple of Austin Tales involving sweets.

Mystery Treat
When I was in San Francisco in January, I brought home some gourmet chocolate bars with bacon for Willis. So, a couple of weeks ago, Willis and I opened them and ate a little after dinner over the course of a few nights. Austin can't usually see since he sits and eats at his little table next to the dinner table (it's a side table that goes perfectly with his little chair). On the night that we finished the chocolate, Austin noticed that we were talking about something good. He didn't know what it was, but he kept saying, "I want some." Willis told him it was all gone but he kept asking. Eventually, I handed him the box the chocolate came in. He was so happy, then he opened it and said, "it's empty." A minute later some friends arrived to meet up with Willis to go play basketball. As we were all by the door chatting about the Girl Scout cookies we had gotten that day, Austin quietly went over to Willis' side of the table and reached onto the table to find some goodies up there. He found a couple of shoyu packets that were on the table, looked at them, put them back and kept feeling around. Sadly, he found nothing. But, he was also listening and said, "I want some cookies." I felt bad so when everyone left I said, "Do you want to share a fortune cookie with me?" He said, "Okay!" So I let him crack the cookie and we shared it and he was very happy. :)

Thanks-a-Lots
Over the weekend my sister brought over her stash of Girl Scout cookies to share. She let me have the rest of her "Thanks-a-Lots," which are shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate. Yesterday, while Austin was napping, I had gathered those and a bunch of other snacks to eat in the living room while catching up on some DVR stuff. I sat down and watched about 5 minutes before Austin started crying. He had slept just short of two hours. I changed his diaper and told him we'd go lie down on the couch to rest some more since he still seemed tired. I rushed to put the snacks away before he saw them but I left the cookies on the coffee table since my hands were full (hoping he wouldn't notice). He laid down next to me and tried to sleep but he tossed and turned. Eventually, I dozed off for a few minutes and he was still lying next to me with his eyes open. I dozed again and when I woke up he was playing with his kitchen stuff at the coffee table. I wasn't ready to get up yet so I let him continue playing on his own. Then, I heard him secretly rustling a plastic baggie up by his train table. The cookie bag popped into my mind and I looked at the table. The bag was gone. I sat up and said, "Austin!" He looked up at me with his sweet, innocent face then rushed right over, put the cookie bag back on the coffee table and stepped back. I didn't even say anything other than his name, but he knew he wasn't supposed to have it. :) After that, he played in his kitchen and brought me some strawberry tea (a plastic strawberry in a tea cup) and we had a little tea party. After a little while I told him let's go have a snack, right away he picked up the cookie bag, brought it to me and said, "I want some uh doze." I said, "What is that?" He said, "It's umm.. It's uhh kind uv snack" and went to sit at his table. He was so good about it, how could I not give him one? So, I put a cookie in his bowl and he devoured it, leaving only a little trace of chocolate smeared around his mouth. :)

Austin pouring strawberry tea for our tea party: