Happy Halloween!

Not the best pic, but the best we could get. :)

Boo at Zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday. Bin is not that big a fan of zoos. Outside of the zoo is a train and she spent much of her time asking when we were going on the train (there is a video of her on the train in facebook). She did like the pumpkin patch, but she is a little obsessed with pumpkins right now. She liked that random people gave her candy, but I wish they had had a few more trick or treat stations (they had 5, each one giving 3 pieces- mostly the small size tootsie rolls). She also liked the fountains and the splash park at the zoo. Of the animals, she ignored most. She did like the elephants a lot. She wanted to stay there a long time and she kept saying "Mommy, take a picture! " She wanted to ride an elephant and didn't get why the zoo wouldn't let her. This is probably my fault. At Ren Fest last year she rode an elephant and when they have ads for this year's festival, they show elephant rides, which I have told her we will do that when we go. Lately she has been playing with her stuffed elephants a lot (Kai-lan has an elephant friend so that might be the origin of her interest). They complement each other on their ears, which I think is so funny. We did get her a small stuffed elephant, so now she has two baby elephants and three big stuffed elephants.

She also liked the giraffes. Giraffes must be easy to breed, because they have lots of baby giraffes. Bin likes baby things. Tangent: we were doing some basic maintenance on the deck and hammering things. Cutie helped her hammer and she asked to do it herself. Cutie told her it was too big for her. "Can I have a baby hammer?"



We are watching Pride and Prejudice as I blog and Bin was mostly ignoring the movie, until we get the scene with colin firth in the bath tub. Suddenly she is all attention. Other times we have watched this movie, she has behaved in the same manner. I guess I should be glad she has good taste atleast. I let a friend borrow Sense and Sensibility. Bin was very upset that we could not watch "mommy's orange movie." Now, she has found some soda cans and they are going to the park.

Another story: She found a bunch of her old teething rings. She asked me- which one do you like? I said the blue one. She said "No, that's for daddy." So, then I answered "the purple and orange one". She said- no it's orange just like me! (she was wearing an orange outfit.) She then put it on her head and said "Now I'm king!".


Bin has been in tumbling classes. I took one pic and then the camera ran out of batteries. She does not like the little gym outfit, but I do. She laughs and giggles throughout the class and then comes out and tells me she hates it. She also doesn't really listen- like they were doing some little routines (2 steps, jump, 2 steps, jump) and she just does her own thing. She also won't do a saumersault. She wants people to flip her around, not her to do it. But she does great with the bars and tumbling and decent on the balance beam. :) I really like her in tumbling though and am planning on keeping her in the class. If I can't get in through the Parks and Rec, I'll have to pay the higher amount and go through the gym. But atleast for now, that is a priority. I liked the idea of karate, but she most places want 5 year olds at least and right now bin says she doesn't want to do that (of course, that doesn't mean much).

One of Bin's teachers pointed out that Bin seems to recognize her name when written. On one of her crafts, her name was written (as Elizabeth- even though I told the school she prefers Bin Bin, they still call her Elizabeth). I pointed to it and asked her what it says. She shouted "BIN BIN YIP!!" So, not at all what it says, but similar meaning. :) Cutie was shocked that she knows her last name.

I have shirts!

Bin is now dressing herself. Sometimes, she comes up with interesting outfits- like five shirts. :)

And here is her sick and miserable, sleeping on the messy coffee table. She put her nap mat on the table and then slept there.

Bin's Birthday

For people who will be in phx while I am in phx, any feelings about birthday celebration? I plan to celebrate in Houston on the actual day, but not sure if others would like to have a party for her. Let me know your thoughts! The current schedule, two posts down, does not have a party, but if people want one it can be added.

I want snow!

Bin put socks on her feet, then socks on her hands, calling them mittens, found a jacket and then asked to go play in the snow. The news that we have no snow did not go over well, as you can see :(

Possible Christmas plans

Here is a very tentative schedule for our Christmas trip. Input is welcome. :) And we haven't consulted with anyone yet, so if you see you name and go, hmm, I haven't heard anything about this, I know. :)

18		Peter Work
19		drive to El paso
20		drive to phx- possibly Steve's b-day (might be too tired, they might not be in town, etc)
21		peter family
22		Friends?
23		Nat-gingerbread
24		my fam/lutheran/temple lights
25		peter family
26		dim sum/zoo lights
27		Martin's Birthday Celebration
28		stay in flag/play in snow- Lowell Observatory at 5:30pm
29		play in snow
30		drive to abq
31		stay in wichita falls

Now in Chinese!

Today is a big day for uploading. New snapfish pics and new videos on youtube. Most of these were taken on the same day, but it's the thought that counts.

One of my friends says that letting Bin watch Kai-lan because I want her to learn some Chinese is never going to work. Today, Bin was counting and after counting in English, she shouted "Now in Chinese." And then counted to three in Chinese. So, she may not learn enough to be fluent, but its a definite start.

Today she did not want to go to school. She clung and cried and when I dropped her off, she clung to her teacher. I hope her day gets better.

I am working on a cross stitch for Bin- a Christmas tree with buttons. She keeps asking to help, so I got her yarn and plastic stars with holes in them and told her she needs to make the star for the tree. It helps a little. Now she plays with the yarn and shouts "I'm making a Christmas tree with buttons!" over and over.

She has also started using the word because. While very cute, I am not sure she understands what because means. "I am sad because I am mad!" "I used daddy's scissors because I did!"

First day of school

Today was Bin's first day of school. She is going Wed and Friday at Epiphany Lutheran. After the meet the teacher day, she realized that school did not mean playing with her friend. She told me this morning that she didn't want to go to school and she was going to be bad at school. When I dropped her off, she cried pitifully at the door. I went down the hall, realized I had left my forms in the car and by that time she had stopped crying and was playing happily with some toys. At the end of the day they said she was very good- no time outs. She did keep taking off her shoes and barely ate any lunch.

The other funny thing was their surprise at her climbing ability. I told them to watch her cause she is a great climber and can get into things you would never expect. And yet, when I picked her up, they said, omigosh, she is a climber. She got on top of all the playground toys and would wave down happily. We couldn't figure out how she did it and we would only turn our back on her for one second. I wonder if there are other parents who claim their kids are climbers who aren't as skilled as her and that is why they seemed so surprised.

An interesting conversation when I picked Bin up. Tomorrow is her playmate's birthday (he's two). I told her we should get him a present. She sadly told me that she can't play with him because she had to go to school. I guess she used to think his house was school, so now that she knows school isn't his house, she thinks she can't play with him. A weird logic, but for a two year old might make sense.

Sense and Sensibility

This weekend, after Bin went to bed, I watched Sense and Sensibility. Little girl is awful about going to bed, so she kept popping out, wanting to watch "mommy's movie." This afternoon she asked for mommy's movie. I showed her the dvd cases and she said yeah, that one. So, we watched Sense and Sensibility. :) She liked when they danced. I guess it is never too young for the classics.

She also really like Kai-lan's moon festival. We watched it and then she described it back to me. The fact that I watched it with her didn't hamper her enthusiasm for recounting it in detail.

Nihao!

Today when Cutie came home, Bin jumped up and shouted "Nihao Daddy!" We watch Nihao Kai-lan so often, it is good to see some of it is rubbing off. Whereas I listen to my Chinese tapes and learn nothing.

Other cute things for today. Bin was throwing a temper tantrum and I asked "Should we take a time out?" She started screaming "No! I'm not being bad!" Along those lines, when I told her no, she said "NO! Mommy no say no!"