Gavin's 3rd Birthday

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Boo's 3rd birthday at Pump It Up with a bunch of his friends from preschool. It was quite an ordeal, but everyone had fun, fun, fun! We figured we should give him one last hurrah before baby #2 comes. Here are pics.

First official school photos!

Here are Boo's very first official school photos. They grow up so fast! I thought they would be cheesy with one of those blue fabric backgrounds, but school pictures have come a long way since I was in school. I'm very glad that I decided to buy them. I think he looks hilarious in the class picture, by the way. What do you think?

Here is the class photo. That's Teacher Rachael. The photographer must've told everyone to sit up straight, put their hands in their laps, and smile.

Here's a close-up of Boo. He's not actually taller than those people he's sitting next to.

Festival of Lights

Today, we went to the Festival of Lights in Los Altos, which is kind of like a mini electrical parade that the city has every year. Boo had a lot of fun, but mostly because we gave him a glow necklace. He did like the bands, though.

First, we started off the evening with dinner and gelato for dessert. Boo really liked the bubble gum gelato, even though I thought it was pretty disgusting.

Then, we bribed a police man to take a pic of us next to a fire truck on our walk over to the parade.

Here is Boo with his beloved light sticks.

Here I am, sneaking bites of Boo's dinner, a sunbutter and jelly sandwich.

A couple of the floats. I wonder where they're stored the rest of the year?

Finally, a pic of Boo and his best friend, who he was excited to see. He gave him a glow stick, even!

Pics of third dinner (with Boo's best friend's family) not shown.

Los Altos Holiday Stroll

The town of Los Altos, which is about 10 minutes away from us, is so cute. It's a little slice of Americana. They had this event called the "Holiday Stroll," where all the shops downtown were decorated for X-mas and serving holiday treats like apple cider and cookies and stuff. It was cute, and Gavin especially liked the carolers.

Here are some pics from our holiday stroll.

Halloween Festivities

This last couple of weekends have been a whirlwind of activity.

There was a parade at his preschool... here's part of the class picture...


Here he is with his best friend-- cute!


We had a Halloween play date at his best friend's house...


Terence's Totoro pumpkin...


Dinner with John and Amy-- Boo loves seaweed!


Jason's 3rd bday party at Chuck E. Cheese, which apparently has turned into a Las Vegas for kids....

Fun at the PreSchool Family Fun Day...





Fun at the Junior Museum and Zoo, then onto the Palo Alto Menlo Park Parents' Club Halloween party...



Finally, trick or treating in our new neighborhood. Boo made me be a witch. Terence didn't dress up because he refused to humor Boo, who wanted him to be a mermaid).

Milestones?

Today, Boo did something he never did before-- he made his stuffed Mickey Mouse talk! It was a little weird hearing that falsetto come out of Boo's already very high pitched voice. I must admit, I was both strangely pleased that he'd make his stuffy talk (how creative!), but also kind of creeped out by that voice you only hear in horror movies. But instead of saying something like "I'm coming for you," he said something reassuring like "I want to lay down and cuddle next to Gavin on his bed," or something similarly unremarkable. Whew!

In other news, Gavin is really growing more social at preschool. He has no separation issues whatsoever, and seems to talk to both adults and the other kids there. Sometimes he plays with them, too, but mostly, he's just happy to explore. Even when it's my day to work there, he doesn't play with me. I used to worry that he'd have separation issues since I've pretty much spent almost every moment with him for the last 2.75 years, but thankfully, he's blossoming into a little independent person... who uses the potty consistently, no less!

The reason there are no pics on this posting is because I just spent the last hour waiting for a video to upload, only to have it crash on me. The video was awesome-- it was a video of Boo reading a book he's never read before. He reads at approximately a 1st grade level, as I discovered when we were at the library the other day, and all these tall willowy first graders were haltingly reading books aloud that Boo's already read on his own. Even though I'm proud that my 2 year old can read like someone who's 6 or 7, I'm generally very hesitant to admit that he can read to other parents that have kids a similar age, since they either wonder if I'm the stereotypical crazy Asian mom who forces their poor babies to do math for hours while kneeling on abacuses, or even worse, come to the realization that kids really don't start out equal and that maybe their previously brilliant kid isn't really THAT smart. Or, worst of all they start questioning their parenting style. While Boo is naturally smart, I know that he's also extraordinarily lazy, and we all know that it's not how smart you are, but how hard you work.

Weekend in Napa

Terence had to go to an old friend's wedding in Napa last weekend, so Gavin and I had a mommy date! It was fun.

Here is a pic of us dropping off Terence at the wedding shuttle venue (they had shuttle service to the ceremony, which was in a winery). Gavin was quite sad to leave Daddy, who is "the best" as you can see.

Ever the diplomat, Gavin also thinks I'm the best (in response to the question "who's the best?" he'll often say "you (i.e. daddy) and mommy are the best." We had fun at Playground Fantastico in Napa.

Then, we went shopping and dog hunting/petting at the outlets, where I bought his Halloween and Xmas outfits. Gavin loves little and medium sized doggies that don't lick. Doesn't it look like he's walking them here?

Then, we checked into Avia, our hotel that we booked last minute. Gavin also loves hotels and elevators. He's looking sad here because I forced him to take a pic, when he wanted to go explore the room.

After that, we walked around downtown Napa and had a dinner date at Pearl Restaurant, which had a really delicious cheesy polenta and pork chop. Gavin especially enjoyed their olive spread.

The next day, we had brunch with the wedding couple at their villa in St. Helena. It was very pretty, and Gavin loved playing with Luke (the couple's child). They were instant buddies, although they've played together in the past.

Here is a pic of Terence and Gavin at the villa (their grapevines are still relatively young).

Here is a picture of Matty-Matt (the groom), Terence, and Boo. Aren't they cute?

We stopped by the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone on the way home because we couldn't resist. Terence and I dropped in on an awesome demo class on making panna cotta and almond tuille there a long time ago. Here is a pic of our chef in the making.