I am 22 Months Old!

Can you believe that I am almost 2 years old?!  I turned 22 months today. (Mommy, just say "Almost 2" already!)

My latest things:

* Being sick with a fever and nasty head cold after coming back from our busy Spring Break to Seattle.

* Nana had said, "Chase better not start speaking sentences when he's away."  But..I pretty much did.

What I'm Really Into These Days:

* Animals....Mommy will ask me if I want to go to the zoo.  I'll respond by saying, "Animals?"  I get so excited when I hear an animal, see an animal, or touch an animal.  They are the coolest creatures!  I can name all 20 animals on my refrigerator magnets in about thirty seconds.  When we're at the zoo, I get upset if I have to walk a little ways to see another animal.  If we're watching Animal Planet, I get upset if a commercial comes on and takes the animal away.  I just can't get enough of animals these days.

* Drumming:  I absolutely LOVE playing the drums.  I got to play the real drums at cousin Jake's house in Seattle, and Nana's neighbor, Auntie Sue, let me borrow her bongo drums so I have those to play with.  Give me 2 chopsticks when we're eating out at a restaurant, and I'm as happy as can be.  

* "Monies"...I discovered where Daddy puts all his change.  I call it "monies".  Mommy will give me a huge handful of coins from Daddy's stash, and I love putting them one by one into my piggy bank.  When I'm all done, I'll say, "Mommy, more monies please!"

* Riding my Strider bike.  It took months for Mommy and Daddy to get me to wear my helmet.  Now that helmet I got for Christmas is too small for my growing head, but I still want to go bike riding.  So, Daddy's gonna buy me a new helmet, and we'll be ready for real mountain biking (not just riding up and down the hallway in the house).  

What I'm Saying These Days:

* "Mommy eating...Daddy eating...Chase eating...".  Then when Daddy corrected me and said he wasn't eating, but he was watching us eat, I said, "Daddy watching Mommy eating, Chase eating."

* "Mommy!!!" ...I've been waking up in the middle of night screaming for Mommy.  Mommy and Daddy think I've been having nightmares.

* When I need help getting or doing something, I ask, "Mommy, help please."

* "Where are you?" (especially when we're playing hide-and-go-seek)

* "Ernie" and "Bert" and "Abby" and "Elmo" and the rest of the Sesame Street gang.  My Ernie screwdriver from my tool set is my favorite tool right now.

* Singing my ABC's (but I only know certain parts) and counting to 10!

* Flipping some magnets over and saying "Over".  

* Saying "Thank You" after someone gives me something.

* Telling Mommy and Daddy when I dirty my diaper: "Mommy pee pee diaper" or "Mommy poopy diaper"

*While Dad is showering me, I lean over to him and touch his eyebrow and say, "eyebrow".  I open the hood of my little cars and point to it and say "engine".  There's not much that gets by me these days!  Tell me once, and I'll remember it!

Mommy and Daddy are so excited that I'm an early talker because it makes it much easier to know what I want and need.  

Food I'm Into These Days:

* edamame

* oyster crackers

* strawberries

* noodles

* carrots

* apples

* poi (After an impromptu visit to Aunty Sharon and Uncle Frank's house, where they had Hawaiian food for dinner, I've been back to loving my bowls of poi!)

What I'm Looking Forward To:

*Really, really want to ride my Strider push bike...Although, Dad needs to buy me a bigger helmet as my head doesn't fit my first helmet (hint, hint!).

* Daddy getting a new car. That way I can fill it up with all my baby toys! 

* Sleeping overnight for the first time at Nana's and Pop's house...They're ready for me to sleep overnight, and now that I am talking, Mommy thinks it'll be okay too...We'll just see if it happens soon.  

Maybe then, one day, I can sleep overnight with the animals at the zoo!  Wow, wouldn't that be a blast!  Watch this video of me dancing to the loud music at the make up counter in the mall.  I was in my own little world, and all these ladies started dancing with me!

One Crazy Party

Of course, I woke up bright and chipper at 7 am before anyone else was up.  I stood up in the crib and the first thing I said was, "Doggie? Doggie?".   

Tonight we moved over to Aunty Marissa and Uncle Nate's house in Ballard.  We had a party there with some of Mommy's friends.  Little did they know, about 15 kids (from still in the womb through age 4) would be there too.   Quite a different party scene for the married-without-kids hosts.  Not to mention, within the first half an hour, Aunty Christina's son Tyler (we're the same age) fell and hit his head on the heater grille and had to rush to the ER to get 12 stitches on his forehead!  He was okay, but it gave us all a scare.  All the kids loved Aunty Marissa and Uncle Nate's pets, the three chickens in their backyard...Eggy, Henny, and Moe.  Mommy and all the other moms talked baby stuff and the party goers left close to 11 pm.  It was one crazy party!  

The Most Awful Flight...Ever!

Yup, Mommy and Daddy were THAT couple with the screaming baby.  I was NOT a happy camper on the 5 1/2 hour flight from Honolulu to Seattle today.  I wanted to run around and play.  I couldn't nap and move around comfortably.  Plus, I was starting a cold (but Mommy and Daddy didn't know).  So, I screamed inconsolably for about 4 1/2 hours on the airplane.  Even the digi-TV thing Mommy rented was no use.  

We didn't get to Aunty Steph's in West Seattle until about 10:45 pm.  I met Spanks, their dog, and was much happier.  But, we didn't go to sleep until about 1 am.  

Spring Break in Seattle

It's been awhile since I last posted.  Last month, we went on a 15 day vacation to Seattle for Spring Break.  It was not so "springy" as we had hoped.  It was the coldest March since 1976, 

with an average temperature of 48 degrees.  The weather was cold, wet, and cold.  Mommy and Daddy found out that I had a cold the hard way (when I screamed inconsolably on the plane ride for over 4 hours to Seattle).  I didn't understand why I had to put on so much clothes and jackets and coats until I realized that it was cold outside.  Thank goodness it was a sunny 75 degrees when we went to California for a weekend to visit Tai Po, Glam Ma, and Grandpa Gary.  But, it was only for a weekend.  Why did we have to go back to the gray, cold, wet Seattle for one more week after that?

I had fun seeing my cousins Jake and Jas.  I met lots of other kiddies from Mommy's college days.  We went to the zoo a couple of times, went to Pike's Place, the waterfront, Snoqualmie Falls, saw daffodils in LaConner (too bad the tulips weren't out yet), and stayed at a lot of different houses (but as long as they had live animals, I was happy).  

Daddy had to go back to Hawai'i and back to work after a week, but I stayed with Mommy in Seattle for another week.  We were both recuperating from colds, so we stayed indoors a lot.  But, I got to see snow flurries for the first time.  Does it really snow in April?!  Mommy couldn't believe it.  

Mommy and I were lucky enough to have an extra seat next to us on the airplane on the way back home.  I was a happy flier this time, and I didn't cry at all!  The only time I got upset was when I had to leave the play area at the Sea-Tac Airport.  

But, it was an exhausting trip.  It took Mommy and I about a week to catch up on our sleep from our busy trip to Seattle.  She had report cards and a friend's baby shower to do when we got back.  Then, there was Easter weekend.  We dyed eggs at home.  I liked coloring them with my crayons the best.  I had fun hunting for about 40 easter eggs with our neighbor friend Kerza at Nana's and Pops' house.  We had a steak dinner that night. 

Then, I had a fever all this past week and was sick (we blame it on the daycare), so neither Mommy nor Daddy got lots of sleep each night.  Mommy and Daddy managed to go out on a "Date Night" on Friday (happy hour pupus/drinks at Ryan's and then a 3D movie "Monsters vs. Aliens", followed by frozen yogurt at Menchie's).  But, there have been lots of napping going on in the house this weekend.  Mommy says thank goodness for "Ratatouille" and Animal Planet dog shows to keep me occupied in my listless slumber.  Needless to say, Mommy says that all my coughing and sneezing in her face (since she has called me the "'opihi baby" all week) made her sick.  

Plus, our computer crashed this past week.  So, we haven't had a chance to update or check on anything.  The Apple store fixed our computer today though, so we'll see how many pictures we can post in between Lysol-ing the house, catching runny noses, and Daddy's triathalon Sunday morning.  

So my question is...When is our next vacation?!?

"Snowing!" (...In April!?!?)

On the news this morning, they said it had been the coldest March since 1976, with an average of 48 degrees in March in Seattle.  Snow is dumping down in the mountains.  It's crazy!  Today, we looked out the window and I said, "Raining!"  Then, Mommy looked more closely, and corrected me, saying, "No, Chase, I think it's snowing!"  It was just snow flurries, but enough to keep us indoors a bit, especially since I'm still coughing and we're both getting over colds.  

Mommy took me to the Seattle Children's Museum this afternoon.  I had so much fun with the drums.  I wouldn't let any other kids play with them.  One lady said I had really good rhythm.  

I also had fun with the water table.  The octopus was my favorite!  Mommy didn't want me to get too wet though because she reminded me that we still had to go outside in the cold!  

There was a Curious George theme, but I wasn't too excited to take a picture with Curious George.  I did get to sit on "The Three Bears'" chairs and stack some blocks.  

I had fun in the bath tonight, although Mommy wasn't having too much fun because I kept hiding behind the curtain and throwing ducks outside the bath so that the floor was getting all wet.  

My favorite saying these days is, "No running!"  and  "Stop it!"  Everytime we go somewhere I'm always looking for "Aunty" too.  Aunty Thuy is the first person I've ever referred to as "Aunty."