milk factory blog

First Skate

I've just posted some funny pics of Ella, the birthday girl, on skates for the first time. Click here.

Other birthday photos will follow!

My Daughter's Castle

New Year's Resolutions 2006

1. Plan meals
2. Declutter
3. Exercise
4. Blog

We're into the second week of January, and as a household, we're not doing too badly with the first two items on our list. Our meals have been mapped out for the week, and I've re-organized Ella's room and strategically placed her pony castle (and all the teeny tiny pink and purple accessories that go along with it) at the foot of her bed. Out of sight, but not out of mind.

What's a pony castle, you might ask. Well let me tell you...

It is a little girl's dream house. 100 sparkly stickers. Little magnetic feet that when placed just right, make music play and open kitchen appliances. Little pony brushes and little pony cups and saucers. And really little pony forks. It is enough to make a mother, who specialized in social and feminist pedagogy, go a little bit crazy.

Don't get me wrong. I love the fact that Ella has so much fun with her little girl toys, and I'm overwhelmed by the generosity of Santa and his pony-loving friends and family. But it's me, and not Santa, who has to spend MANY hours in the day making the ponies walk and talk and drink tea.

New Year's Resolution #5 - buy wooden toys only, declare red or orange as the new pink, and enroll our little girl into swimming, soccer, and martial arts classes as soon as possible!!! 

Pumpkin Patch Kid

While I was cleaning house in preparation for a dinner party (the floors have been washed, the carpets vacuumed, and the dust bunnies collected), Go-Daddy-O and Ella went to Steveston to meet friends at a pumpkin patch. When they arrived, there was an hour-long lineup. And admission was $7 per head, with no discount for the kids. Crazy!

Go-Daddy-O has zero tolerance for standing in long lines, or for paying a fee to enter what he calls "the equivalent of a Christmas tree lot," so he took Ella to a playground instead and then found a FREE pumpkin patch. They bought one really big pumpkin, and two tiny ones--one for us, and one for Hana.

 

Team Spirit

Thank you to everyone who sponsored the Milk Factory team in the Run for the Cure. We raised over $2000! I've posted some pictures from the Run here, along with a memorable Ella-story:

http://blog.milkfactory.com/2005/10/team_milk_facto.html

Mini-Vacation

I've just posted some pics of Ella on the Milk Factory business blog.

Summer Hiatus

By necessity, Penny and I have taken a bit of a break from blogging. There's the business blog, Hana's blog, the newsletter--and email replies. And those are just the things that we do in front of the computer.

However, that's really no excuse for not doing a quick post every once in a while so that we can keep track of milestones. And here's a biggie. My mom turns 65 tomorrow, so we celebrated by going for Chinese dinner at the Flamingo restaurant on Cambie. We had a fantastic dinner that consisted of mostly seafood: jellyfish appy, prawns and scallops in a bird's nest, lobster in cream sauce, fish maw and crab soup, and steamed halibut. Other dishes included abalone mushrooms, poached chicken, longevity noodles, and tapioca pudding. Yummy!

Our family is happiest when eating good food. The sad part is that we're Chinese, and as a family, we've NEVER gone for one of these delicious 10-course meals because none of us can read a Chinese menu. I had to call a friend, and she got her dad to order for us.

Here's my mom and my aunt (it was her birthday too) blowing out the candle in their longevity buns.

And here's Ella in her "Chinese" party dress.

 

A Good Eater

Everyone in our immediate social circle knows that Ella takes after my side of the family, and that she loves to eat.

Well, the other day, a whole crowd of people who we don't see very often got to see "the good eater" in action...and the scene was captured on film. Click to see photo.

We were at a potluck dinner for a friend who happens to be marrying a CBC food critic, so everyone showed up with loads of fantastic food. Ella got to choose from a variety of dishes. And she tried everything...even anchovies! Shrimp, salmon, eggs, olives, cheese, chicken, procuitto, mushrooms, asparagus, cheesecake, fresh fruit. The only things that she didn't like were the marinated artichoke hearts and the gherkin pickles.

Needless to say, we changed a couple of really full diapers that night, and didn't have to engage in any battles over which shirt she wanted to sleep in. Pajamas, milk, and then straight to bed--with dreams of fudge brownies dancing in her head!  

Little Muffin

Guess who would LOVE to have a little sister?

Ella's gotten into the habit of pointing to everyone's belly and proclaiming that there's a baby inside. This can get a little embarrassing at times...don't take it personally!

Yes, she is absolutely fascinated with babies, and wants to touch their hair and hold them. Sometimes she'll put her face so close to baby Hana's that we're afraid she'll drool right into the baby's mouth. Yuck.

Her first description of her little friend:

Go for walk with Bob and Ruth. See baby Hana. Eyes open. Head moving like this (moves her head back and forth). Tiny hands. Tiny feet. Muffin.

Ella's daycare providers thought that it was so sweet that Ella was calling the baby "Muffin", but of course, she was referring to the freshly baked treat that she ate after we returned from our walk.

That's our little girl for you! When the time comes (no, we're NOT pregnant), I think she'll be a wonderful big sister and take care of all of her new sibling's baked good needs. 

Afraid of the Dark?

We just got a whopping hydro bill--over $200 for two months of electricity and hot water. Could it be because E. insists that we leave the lights burning all night so that she can sleep?

For the last couple of months, she has been SCREAMING and jumping up and down in her crib whenever the light is turned off. We tried a night light, but that didn't create enough light for her. So we bought energy-saving bulbs for the hallway, but she hated them because they were too bright. We've now settled on leaving the bathroom light on from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am. Yikes.

Is she afraid of the dark? I have a feeling that seeing that light on assures her that we're close by, and personally, I have no problem paying the cost of nightly electricity for a good night's sleep.   

However, now she's progressed from begging me to leave the light on to begging me to "SIT DOWN MOMMY!!! SIT DOWN!" I can handle the tears of frustration and the screaming for a certain period of time, but sometimes she will not give up. I feel like we need to let her cry it out, or I'm going to end up sitting in her room for an hour every night.

I expected this when she was a baby. But no one ever told us that we'd be doing this at 2 years old--at an age when she can string enough words together to make me feel REALLY, REALLY guilty if I don't go in and comfort her.

Everyone Poops

But not every toddler poops in a potty!

Ella hit a major milestone the other day...she pooped in her potty for the FIRST time. We've had our Graco potty for months now, but E. has mostly been interested in getting her hands on the squares of toilet paper that she can throw into it.

Continue reading only if you want the poopy details...

So I'm getting her changed for bedtime, and she tells me that she wants to pee in her potty. It's the usual routine. She opens the lid and asks for some toilet paper, but this time, she asks me to take off her diaper. And her pants. And then her shirt. Hmmmm. I should have known that something was up.

She sits down.

Ella: "I hear something!" She looks in the potty. "No pee."

Mommy: "Good try. Maybe next time."

Ella: "I hear something!" She looks in the potty. "No poop."

Mommy: "Let's try another time then."

Ella: "I hear something!"

Mommy: "Oh...I hear something too!"

And much to my surprise, there it was. Much cheering and clapping ensued. Sorry we didn't take any pictures, but to me it was the best-looking poop ever. :-)