Scott and Helen’s Wedding

Ender is 9 months tomorrow.  For the first time since last summer, I opened the hose of our house and watered our plants: the apple trees are growing many apples, stronger than the asian pear tree with its many fruits.  Mr. Lincoln had died and been tossed, but Parfume isn’t doing that well either, fighting Black Spot, which had killed most of its leaves, but it’s sprouting many more.  Ender slept almost 3.5 hours after Grandma left from this past weekend’s visit.  He had so many firsts that he wasn’t the same at the end of the weekend from the beginning.  Grandma got to see him stand up in his crib, chew on the bar, and crawl on his hands and knees, all for the first time.  After started cruising last week, today he started climbing, with my hands’ help, unto the ottoman, just to touch the chair behind it.  He is a lot more talkative now, almost seems like he is doing some imaginative play when he talks to himself and plays while I make our second meatloaf in one week because it is so popular.  Except Ender didn’t eat very much of that.  He doesn’t seem to eat very much in general.  No food is delicious to him anymore, except for yam.  Even toast and seaweed are getting old.  I’m trying to get him to eat more variety of food, but oatmeal, asparagus soup, quinoa, all that I’ve made in large quantities, have been rejected.  Even apple doesn’t work anymore.  Ender doesn’t seem to like any fruit.  I’m not sure if the red dots on his back is due to Vitamin A poisoning, since yam is all he’d eat these days.  He gained 2 pounds after recovering from illness, and lost 1 pound back already.  Such a picky eater.  He is also definitely having stranger anxiety when we go to new places and when he sees new people.  He absolutely loves his routines, and knows exactly what to do with me.  He’d go to sleep and sleep for a long time after Grandma is gone.  He’d sleep through the night from 6pm to 6am.  He’d cry for Dada in the morning because Daddy picked him up from his crib yesterday; or say "Dada” when we pass by our bedroom.  He knows his routines and he feels very secure and happy when his needs are met: ie. slept enough, ate enough, no poopy diaper, nothing bothering him.  I’m trying to stimulate him and read to him every day, both in English and Chinese.  I also got a bunch of Thomas train stuff that I’ve set up on the coffee table, as well as his miniature couch and legos, a rocket rug, and his toy chest.  We’ve been meaning to go to the play dates that people want to have with him, but his sleep seems to always be in the way.  I’ve started to walk and rock climb on a weekly basis.  We rented out our Mercer Island condo, so we’re not on the market for a house anymore.  Just refinanced and fixed the toilet and ordered central air conditioning.  We’re here for a little while at least, and we still have to decide whether to have another baby and whether we’re going to Texas to visit Amy and Tim.  But we’ve told Mom that we’ll be in Salem at some point.  Ender will probably be different yet again then.

It’s been a while now that the standard bedtime routine is Scott singing to Ender, and prays and kisses him before he leaves, while Ender tries to pull himself to stand, sometimes falling backwards to his pillows and blankets when he fails.  I witnessed that last night and it was hilarious.  I don’t know how Scott could still sing with a square face.

Ender is still growing “fast and furious”, quoting Grandma.  I’m glad she got to see him while so many changes were happening.  She said that Ender even changed from the beginning of the weekend to the end.  Scott and I really appreciate her visit.  We’re leaving Mars Hill and it is a very nice gift to have the warmth and support of family.  They’ve even brought the wall shelves for the upstairs’ bathroom and Bud sawed off the wood for the stove to go in further next to the wall.  We had the biggest chocolate cake for everybody’s birthday and Father’s Day, and Scott and I went to dim sum and the Strawberry Festival.  We all went to the park to have Ender’s “9 month photo shoot” and he got so happy on the swing he’d open his arms, kick his legs, and look down while he was swinging in the air. We got some nice shots. I got Buzz Lightyear for Ender from Freecycle. Yesterday he finally “found” it and touched it a bit before he moved on to other toys.  I look forward to a lazy and uneventful summer.  The most important thing for us now is to get healthy.  Get a healthy amount of sleep, eat healthy, exercise, and find a healthy church.