Better Than Chocolate

We Are Moving to a New Site!!!

Hello friends,

I am so very happy to announce that we are moving to our own site as of today!

http://www.lifeisbetterthanchocolate.com/ 

Please come visit us at our new site and don't forget to replace your book marker.  From today on, we will not be posting any new material on this site.

Thank you very much for your patience!

-- Better Than Chocolate

Ravi's 18 Months Check Up

This morning we took Ravi to his 18 months check up with his pediatrician, Dr. Saltzman.  Mostly things went as expected.  Ravi is still skinny at 5.85% (22 pounds) in weight (compared to 5% at 1 year), and 85% (33.5 inches) in height.  So he's a bean pole!  We have been extremely concerned with his weight and very careful with his food.  We even tried to force feed him at times when he didn't want to eat at all.  But he is still skinny.  I was hoping that he would be at least 10% in weight by now, but still the same.

The best news came out of today's visit was the pediatrician's request to us to stop using bottles.  Mario was just ecstatic!  He has been taking over (part-time) as a bottle washer for the last five months and there's no end to his complains.  Too many parts, takes too long, wahhhhh....  He can't wait till we get home tonight to bust out a sippy or straw cup to give Ravi his milk.  He will then perform a ceremonial bottle washing for the last few dirty bottles and then box all of them and their accessories up forever!

-Flo.

Vegetable Garden

Everytime I visit my sister in Albany I expect to find something new and cool.  This time is no exception.  I woke up on my first morning there and saw two gigantic planters in the backyard, full of things growing out of it.  I had to take a look immediately.

 

Each planter is about 5 feet by 10 feet.  The front one has radishes, basil, and lettuces, the back one has cucumbers and tomatos.  They are placed on a slope, with one leg longer than the other.  Later on I found out that these were built by my brother-in-law, who also plays the role of a carpenter every blue moon.  I guess he did a good job, as the structure is standing and functioning very well.  Appearantly, my sister has been working all summer long to get them in good shape.  Right now, there's plenty of goodies to pick every day!

We often had salads with the goodies from the planters.  I am not a huge fan of the radish, but these tomatos were absolutely wonderful.  They look like jewels when ripen, and pop in my mouth like a candy.  I was so inspired, I even asked my sister how to go about putting these planters in place.  She then gave me all sorts of details and suggested that I go read a book on gardening.  What?  You have to read a book to figure out what space to plant what in what season and year?  I was so hoping we will follow the traditions of old farmers that just pass the knowledge down by word of mouth.  I was only planning to use my very few precious grey cells for work related activities.  Everything else in life should involve no thinking.  I guess getting planters will have to wait till I am braver and smarter.

-Flo.

Ravi Fell Down the Stairs

I can't believe I let Ravi fall down the stairs!  I feel like such a bad mother.

It happened the night before we left Albany.  I saw Ravi playing by the stairs.  Normally I would run over and physically block him from going near the steps, but that night I didn't and thought that he would not dare to attempt going down without anyone watching him.  I was wrong!  I saw him fall down like 15 steps of wooden stairs!  My heart broke.  I regretted immediately not getting up to stop him.  I was thankful that Mario didn't give me any harsh words, I felt so guilty at that point already.

The fall resulted in another big bump on his head.  This time cannot be seen by naked eyes since it is covered by his hair.  It also faded away after only 2 days.  Thank goodness the evidence is gone!

-Flo.

Returning Home

We are home again!  After an eight-hour connection flight to Albany, two long weeks of lazy days hanging out with my sister and her family, and a tiresome eight-hour connection flight back to LA... Bamm! Our vacation is over.  We are tired and already miss waking up to play with Ravi's cousins every morning.

I would say the trip back home was harder than the trip to Albany, even though the total flight time was the same.  The distinct difference was our return trip took place late in the day, from 6PM to 3AM Albany time, compared to previously trip of 12PM to 8PM LA time.  It felt like such a long and endless day.  Next time we will definitely opt to fly earlier.

We actually started the trip on the wrong foot.  First, our check-in luggage bags were overweight, again!  So I had to bust out a separate carry-on bag to carry some extra stuff.  Secondly, my driver license was expired but I didn't catch that nor did the check in person at LAX.  So on the way home from Albany, I was tagged as a "high security risk" traveler and had to go through special security procedures.  A couple of the security officers there had my carry-on bags checked item by item to make sure I wasn't going to blow up the plane where my husband and baby was going to be on.  This meant I had to be separated from Mario and Ravi, which made it especially tough for Mario as he had to handle Ravi and at the same time single-handedly send our large carry-on items such as the car seat and stroller through the x-ray scanner.  I watched him from a distance and was so sad that I couldn't help.  I was also pissed off that nobody else offered to help either!  So everyone, next time you see a parent in need, stop and offer your assistance!

It took us more time than we expected to get through security. It's a good thing they didn't decide to retain me for carrying questionable items in my bags.  We were immediately boarded and got on our way.  Mario and I then spent the next three hours taking turns to entertain Ravi.  We presented him with toys one at a time till he threw them all away.  Then we dazzled him with array of snacks; some he liked and put into his mouth, some he generously shared with the floor.  Ravi also spent about twenty minutes playing with my ice water.  He swooshed his hand in it, took out the ice cubes, petted, and licked it.  Eventually he just got tired of it all and started disturbing the neighbors.  I took out the final piece of my arsenal, my laptop, and started to play his favorite videos.  I even let him bang on the keys without giving him a single dirty look.  Unfortunately that attempt only provided calmness for about 30 minutes.  I was out of ideas and glad to have daddy take over. 

We finally touched down in Minneapolis and had two hours before the next flight to LA.  We made our way very slowly to the next terminal by letting Ravi run free.  He would often take off in a completely different direction and try to run into people or vehicles despite our objections.  Ravi particularly enjoyed the rides on the series of people movers and cried when we had to get off.  Anyway, the hour and a half was a very long time to run after Ravi and we were extremely thankful that he fell asleep when we finally boarded and remained asleep through out the flight.  When Mario and I finally sat down to enjoy a quiet moment, we talked about how it was like before Ravi and all our trip to far away places. 

The plane touched down at LAX at 11:50PM.  We were thankful that the luggage bags were already out at the luggage claim when we got there.  We loaded up all our stuff and got a cab and finally got home at 1AM.  After some light unpacking for essentials, we headed to bed at 1:30AM.  A new day will begin again tomorrow, where Mario and I will go back to work with piles and piles of things waiting for us to do and Ravi will once again play with his friends at daycare.  We are home again! 

If you ever plan to travel with your child, here are couple more travel tips that I would like to share with you.  You can read the other travel tips from my previous post.

1.  Travel light.  Eliminate as much stuff as possible, for both check-in and carry-on bags.  In my case, my diaper bag didn't perform to my expectation. I would consider eliminating it and combining its function with another carry-on luggage.  I also brought too many clothes which took up valuable luggage space.

2.  For long flights, buy a seat for the baby and bring a car seat.  Ravi napped relatively comfortably thanks to the car seat.

3.  Have a spare bag handy for emergencies such as a luggage overweight situation. Fifty pounds can be easily exceeded in even modest luggage bags. In the good old days, I must have packed 60-70 lb luggage bags on a regular basis.

4.  Always check the weight of your check-in bag before you leave home.

5.  Consider the pros and cons of red eye travel, especially with small children. While they can sleep easier than you or I can, since they're in their car seat, they are very grouchy before they finally knock out.  In my case it didn't work as well as traveling earlier in the day.

6.  Check the expiration date of your driver license or ID. It's not easy being a state terrorist!

-Flo.

Ravi Goes Bonk Bonk

Albany has a beautiful outdoor environment.  From spacious lawns and tree-lined backyards to expansive parks close by in the neighborhood, this place inspired us to spend more time out doors.  The great thing about my sister's neighborhood is the large number of kids close to Ravi's age.  Within the circular cul-de-sac, there are four other little kids under the age of four that we can play with.  Sometimes older kids like cousins Do and Jo join in as well.

Ravi is not a steady walker.  What I noticed more and more is that he lacks balance, and he slides his feet rather than lifting them while walking.  This is usually not a problem when walking on grass or street with smooth surface.  It has become a bigger problem now, because he gets very excited everytime we leave my sister's house to go play with the neighbors.  He would runs without holding anybody's hand, and bonk, he falls down.  Most of time he would cushion his fall with his little arms and hands, but two days ago, he hit his head on the gravel.  I saw him fall, I heard the loud bonk, I knew we were in trouble, then wwaaaahhhhhh!!! 

This resulted in a quarter size bruise above his right eyebrow, in addition to the bruise he scored on his left cheek a couple of days ago during his late night rampage.

I keep worrying about people thinking we abuse him at home, like beat him up with a baseball bat when he doesn't want to eat his dinner.  Come on, we are not that kind of people.  Besides, we've already decided to keep him when his return policy expired a while back.  We wanted his face to look good with a brand new fall/winter wardrobe that we will debute.  At least he doesn't remember the fall anymore.  Just in case he does, mommy can kiss kiss his booboo to make it all better.

Love,

Mommy.

Ravi is 18 Months Old Today!

Dear Ravi,

You are 18 months old today and I am so proud that you've grown so much since a month ago.  I can't imagine what you will be like when you are two. Will you be able to connect words together, draw, and sing?  In the last month, mommy has been writing down new things you are doing, and here are some of them.

1.  You've gained 3 new teeth, which brings the grand total to 10!  You got two new bottom molars, one on each side of your month and one new tooth on bottom front.  Prior to this month, you hadn't grown any teeth for quite a while, which made mommy very worried.  I believe now you are again right back on schedule.

2.  You are becoming more sensitive.  You started giving daddy and I hugs, and one day even kissed mommy when I asked you to.  I was so happy, since I've asked you for a kiss thousands of times before and you've always ignored me.  You even hug Bapu at the daycare!  Unfortunately, your new found sensitivity does seem to fade in and out relatively fast.  Sometimes you want nothing to do with mommy and daddy and just play by yourself, and sometimes you want to stick onto us like glue.  

3.  You are finding watching television to be fun.  We limit the amount of TV you watch, but when we do let you watch a show, you sometimes laugh at just the right time.  It makes me believe that you really understand it, though I am not sure you do.

4.  You can now identify Curious George.  When mommy asked you where George is, you would go touch your wall where George's picture is located.  This is my first insight into knowing that you are smarter than you let on.

5.  You now remember where grandpa and grandma lives.  We visit grandpa and grandma only during the weekends.  One day you found some new friends in the neighborhood, and you wanted to show them where you live, so you led them to grandpa and grandma's place and repeatedly pointed at their door.  You couldn't speak, but I think you were inviting them to play with you inside.

6.  You now love the slides at the park. Mommy showed you how to slide down so you wouldn't be afraid, by turning around and sliding down on your tummy.  After the first time, all mommy has to do is to remind you to "turn around" and you could do it on your own!

7.  You are relentless!  You love climbing up on chairs and tables.  Once you fell from the chair, but you didn't cry, you just got back up immediately and climbed up again.

8.  You love to figure out how things work.  You took over grandpa's giant flashlight and decided to turn it on on your own even though your little fingers didn't quite have enough strength to do so.  You played with the flashlight for a long time and never gave up.  At the end, you were able to turn it on by removing the cap on the plastic button.  Somehow that made turning on the flashlight easier for you.

9.  You are addicted to grandpa's wireless phone.  It is your favorite toy when we visit grandpa and grandma.  When grandpa tells you to go get the "phone-phone", you would head over to where the phone is kept and bring it right back to grandpa.  You loved to press all the buttons and "talk" on it for a long time.  One day, you even gathered all three of the phone units, you were so excited to play with them all together.

10.  You are now able to open your own bedroom door, so you could just come out to find mommy and daddy when you awaken from your naps.  Daddy devised a way so you wouldn't have to turn the nob, only pull on a giant ribbon.  It took you only a couple of days to use it all by yourself.

11.  You learned to go up and down stairs well most of the time.  You learned to climb and decend stairs very quickly when we came to visit aunt Lei's place.  It took you almost two days to go up and down without much assistance.  Going up was very easy for you, going down took you a little while.  Eventually you figured out two different approaches to decend.  One was to slide your butt down a step at a time, which is a little slow; another was to slide down on your tummy and use your feet to stop, which is much faster.  Though there was a time when you nearly fell, but mommy caught your leg so you didn't roll down the stairs. 

12.  You know when mommy is calling you to change diaper.  You would come by and lay down on the floor waiting to be changed.

13. You are slowly becoming obsessed with balls. While it wasn't one of your first words, " ba ba" is quickly becoming one of your favorites. You are excited by all types of balls and are starting to learn how to throw them and run after them. It doesn't matter who's ball it is or where it is, you're interested in getting your hands on it. You tried taking the ball away from a bunch of high schoolers that were playing in the park and even decided to venture out onto sand to get a basketball that you had your eyes on.

14. You definitely have a mind of your own. You don't like holding anyone's hand, even mom and dads. You like to walk all by yourself and in whatever direction you're inclined to. Streets, sidewalks, and other people's property make no difference to you. The only terrain you don't like venturing out onto yet is grass. I'm sure that will change as soon as you become better balanced and more confident.

Love,

Mommy.

Ravi's Late Night Rampage

Last night I put Ravi to bed at 8:30PM thinking I'll finally have time to write a post.  I was dissappointed to find him woken up at 9PM, tossing and turning unable to go back to sleep.  By 9:45PM, I decided that I wasn't going to waste the rest of the night pretending to be asleep in his bed, so why not let him out and play.

Ravi was so excited to leave his room.  He giggled and danced as he made his way down to the basement where fans were watching Mario play video game.  Upon seeing all these people in one place, Ravi's energy suddenly went up couple notches.  He then proceeded to spend the next hour climbing up and down the stairs and being chased by cousins Do and Jo all over the basement.  All the while he giggled and danced. Ravi was very excited and full of energy. He would keep running back and forth the whole time with boundless energy. Even his cousins started to complain they were out of energy running back and forth with him. He seemed unable to sit still.  He even ended up banging his head (quite hard) on the sofa and creating a big bruise on his cheek. After a couple of minutes of crying, he was back to running around the basement again. Even Mario remarked that the kid seemed a little too energetic, and it might be due to something we fed him, like chocolate. I don't think so, because we feed him chocolate all of the time and he seems not to get such a sugar high. I think he was just really sad to have to go to bed when he wasn't tired and incredibly happy when he was allowed to stay up. After seeing him last night, it's true what they say about kids though; they have boundless energy and can burn off countless amounts of candy.

Mario and I are pretty much indoor cats. Once home from work we tend to sit and relax before we have to get up and tackle the next day. I'm seeing that end very quickly. Hopefully, we'll just be able to take you to a park and let you run by yourself. I don't think dad and I can chase you down if you are like this on a regular basis.

Love,

Mommy.

Ravi's New Obsessions

Weather is getting a little hotter now, so we let our lives slow down a bit by staying at home most of day where we can enjoy the comfort of air conditioning.  This means Mario gets to take on playing Final Fantasy XII, while loyal fans such as myself, my sister and nieces cheer him on.  Ravi has taken on discovery of treasures in this gigantic house, where he can always finds something new to play with behind every closet door or drawer.

Ravi has also become obsessed with couple of new activities.  One of them being going up and down stairs.  Prior to coming to my sister's place we didn't play with stairs much.  Suddenly Ravi discovers tons to stairs everywhere, which he instantly gravitated to.  Within two days of time, he has mastered the skills of stair climbing and descending.  While everyone else is watching Mario playing video game in the basement, he would quietly climb up the stairs to the living room, sits down on his favorite little stool, and watches cartoons all by himself.  He made sure his dissappearance was un-noticed, by returning to the group a few minutes later.  When daddy faces the next big monster, he ventures out again.

Another one of Ravi's new obsession is piano playing.  Ravi loves pressing anything that would makes sound.  So once he heard his cousins practicing piano, he wanted to join in and bang a few keys.  Even though he plays nothing but a jumble of notes, I think he really enjoys it.  Someday we will have to take piano lessons.  Here's cousain Jo in grey hat, cousin Do in white hat.  The girls were nice enough to play along with Ravi.

Coupled with Ravi's climbing skills, he was able to banging a few keys without help or permission from anybody.  What do you think?  Future concert pianist?

-Flo.

Our First Day in Albany

We arrived in Albany Saturday night at 10:30PM.  The excitement of meeting his cousins, uncle, and aunt kept Ravi up till local time of 1AM on Sunday, so we slept in till 10AM.

For those of you never been to Albany before, it is a really nice and safe place, except the mosquitos in the summertime.  There's lots of distance between the houses, with occasional creeks running through the backyards.  The front door need not be locked at night, purses need not be removed from the car, and wherever you go people say hi and help your kid up if he ever falls down.  A stark difference from LA, where we worry about a sneeze can get you dirty looks from your neighbors and kids walking down the street can get mobbed by gangs.  Okay, LA is not that bad, but you get the idea here.  Albany is a different sort of place than where we are from.

Right after lunch, we headed to the mall to do some cloth shopping for Ravi and his cousins.  The stores here look way better than those of the same chain in LA, and you can't beat 30% off sale at babygap with only 4% sales tax!  Needless to say we got away with quite a fall and winter stash.  Afterwards, we all headed to a local park named The Crossings.  We visited The Crossings before during our previous trips and this is the first time we introduced Ravi to a real park, Albany style.  The place is just gigantic.  We drove through a drive way nestled in acres of grass area, and passed a small lake and some small buildings before we reached the parking area for the play ground.  After we hung out there for a while, we walked over to the lake where Ravi had fun looking at the ducks and fishes.  It was such a wonderful afternoon, Mario and I both agreed that this first day along was worth the trip.

Dinner was a fest!  My sister has always been a great cook and she regularly tests out new recipes.  This night she grilled up a storm for our first dinner in Albany.  There were tones of grilled Korean style BBQ short ribs, salmon, portabella mushroom caps, and eggplants.  She also made her chili from scratch!  I was so mad that I didn't take any pictures, as I was too busy putting food into my mounth non-stop.  It was so tasty and we ended up eating too much. 

One mistake I made this day is not bringing my camera with me.  I promise I will do better tomorrow.

-Flo.