Karen had been attempting to potty train Lia in the past, but the attempts have been futile. Lia would sit on the potty for a short while, but as soon as she gets up she’d pee or poop, never in the potty.  Until recently.  A couple days ago, we employed the Chinese tactic, which was to let Lia walk around bare and without diapers, and surprisingly we’re reaping massive benefits.

First, Lia was in the bathroom and closed the doors on Karen saying “bye bye mommy!”, and the next thing Karen knew, Lia peed in the potty!  Then we let her walk around while the potty was on the hardwood floor where our kitchen and family room met.  When Lia had to go, she ran to the potty and sat down, every time!  Then to top it all, yesterday she hadn’t pooped all day, so we made her sit on the potty before going to bed, entertaining her with her favorite toy, the iPad. After a short while, we got:

Let’s hope this is not an isolated incident.

While hanging with her “real” aunties in San Diego, Lia demonstrates the proper way of answer a cell phone…

Click here for mp4 video

When Lia wants to play a toy, no one stands in her way!

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When I read the story of Winnie the Pooh to Lia, I read the part about the honey from the bees, and Lia exclaimed “Daddy’s ‘honey’!” (reference to what Karen calls me). When we asked “then what’s mommy?” she answered, “pooh bear”!

Here’s a little clip in San Diego.  My mom said something about “in the basket”, and Lia started dancing…

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Karen had her first ever ultrasound, where for around 10 mins a technician probed every angle she could and identified various parts of the baby. While some parent may unleash as much tears as the Alaskan River at the view of the black and white blur, Karen and I endured the session until the one image that we cared about most arrived…

Boy or girl? You didn’t think I’d make it *that* easy, did you?  :)  Now let the guessing game begin!

(Click on the image for a larger view. Hint: Pretend the baby is sitting on a glass table, and the picture is taken from the bottom)

We will be having our first ultrasound on Tuesday, when the truth shall be revealed. Which will it be? Boy or girl?

To help you make this ponderous call, here are some answers to old wives’ tales …

• Shiny and full bodied hair or thinner and stringer
• Leg hair growing faster or at the same rate as before
• Nails growing faster or at the same rate
• Severe or no morning sickness
• Craving for sweet or sour
• Tush growing in size or remains unchanged
• Feet colder now or always this way
• Baby heart rate below 139 or above 140
• Craving or no craving for orange juice
• Baby rests high or low
• Tummy shaped like beach ball or watermelon
• More kicks to the left or right
• More kicks high or low
• Dad is or is not gaining weight in sympathy
• See or do not see the pregnancy on Karen’s face

The poll closes on Tuesday at 1pm.  Vote now in the poll to the right of this page!

Karen, Lia, and myself went to the “Garden d’Light” at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. The lights and designs were gorgeous…

Along the way there were many neat patterns, such as these colorful tulips…

Or this spider web…

Unfortunately Lia wasn’t too crazy about being a model…

But nothing a little snack wouldn’t fix…

After that, getting her to smile was a challenge…

Then we visited the cafe, which had a nice aquarium behind a glass…

It was drizzling quite a bit, but I took advantage of what nature provided…

Unfortunately taking pictures of a toddler can be a daunting task, so we only talked through part of the garden before they shut the lights on us.

To see higher quality versions of these photos, go to the Garden d’light section of the photo gallery!

We had a little celebration at Kindermusik in Redmond, where we enjoyed a short musical program involving music, toys, and gymnastics.

It started with some xylophones…

And then moved on to horsey…

And then to ribbons…

And some maracas…

And then some Hula hoops…

A little story time…

And then some bouncy balls…

And then the parachute…

Then we sang the birthday song…

And took group photos…

And that was the end of the fun-filled birthday event. Happy birthday Jujube!

Check out the Jujube 2nd Birthday photo gallery for more photos of Jujube’s Birthday Celebration!

After stagnating for a year, it’s time to refresh the photo albums!  Here are some of the new albums added:

Denver Vacation
Chloe’s One Month Party
Grace’s Baby Shower
Halloween Costume Party
Mom’s Birthday

These days I don’t take as many pictures as I normally do at each event, as I need to watch Lia, but I do make an effort! All albums are always available from the Photos link on the right side.