Impersonations

Emmett is quite the character. He likes to impersonate others.

Here he is as Winston Churchill (this photo was taken by Grandpa Burling)

"Never, never, never give up."

Donald Trump.

More impersonations to come!

Master of his own head

Mr. Emmett can now hold up his own head! Tummy time has paid off. He loves to sit up and look around. He's more interested in watching me than playing with his toys now. So I bought him a Bumbo Seat so he can sit up comfortably while observing his environment. The seat is made of this foam material - very cool. I didn't want to fork out $45 for this thing so I bought it used from a mom. I didn't choose this yellow color just so you know.

Check him out!

I put a pillow behind his head cause he still flops his head around once in a while when he gets tired. The pillow is there so he can lean back and rest.

The Babies Nursery

Well, it took me long enough. But I finally did it. We bought the crib (he's been sleeping in that for a while now) and decorated Emmett's room. The poor guy was sleeping in a room full of junk. He still is but at least there's some cute stuff in there too.

I hung up the Monster Quilt that his Aunt Sherry and SAKE cousins made for him.
It looks great on the wall!

I also bought some breathable bumpers for him. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to get those cute bumpers but the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) advises against any sort of bumper because of SIDS and reduces the chances of suffocation. Bummer. At a moment of weakness I actually bought him a crib bumper then Ben reminded me that it was a bad idea so I returned it :( So I decided to get some cute sheets instead.

These bumpers are mesh so if Emmett decided to smash his head against it face first he would still be able to breathe.

Here he is hanging out in his new crib. Pun intended. Here some great baby boudoir pics!

Why hello! Fancy meeting you here. (It's better with a British accent)

Mom - stop taking pictures of me. Seriously.Sexy feet


I also ordered some great Wall Art for the wall across the room. But I'm still putting it up. I'll post pictures once it's done!

Grandma and the iPod

I'm trying to think of ways to make this post about the baby, so here goes: Grandma is going to use the new iPod touch to look at pictures of Emmett. OK back up.

Over the Xmas break Grandma had occasion to play 'muddled' on Karen's iPhone. Muddled is one of those make-a-bunch-of-words-from-a-bunch-of-letters games. She had such a fun time playing that she decided she needed an iPhone.

I was a little worried since the iPhone and Grandma did not seem like the best matchup—mainly because she did not really need the cell phone, and the contract which went along with it. However, I did not want to be too discouraging since she was very interested in taking her gaming to the next level. OK back up.

Grandma has always been an early adopter of electronic games. She has more hand held electronic games than Karen and I combined—only issue is she never got herself a gaming system. It was always a one-off, one game only application—think Yahtzee or BlackJack. Once she got bored of the game, it had to be put in a drawer until the grandkids showed up looking for something to do when it was not snowing.

The other reason I was worried is that despite her affinity for electronic games, Grandma is a bit of a Luddite when it comes to computers. For the record I consider the iPhone a computer—a definition which is not a stretch when you consider what the thing does. Consider she has no email. Consider she has no internet connection.

OK—done considering?

So back to where we were before I backed up. Grandma and the iPhone—a match made in heaven? Well, when one thinks about it—sure! Why not? With the computing power of the iPhone—or iPod which is what she ultimately ended up getting—coupled with a readily available base of games which can be had for many times less than what she was paying for the one-offs, the platform is perfect for her application. Don't forget that the iPod can be dropped in a purse and taken to Emmett's house with the greatest of ease!

Well after all that consideration I was a little less worried when I got the call tonight for the order—a 16GB iPod touch. Nice! She was quick to let me know that she'd done her research, including talking with the kind, friendly folks at the Apple store (probably the Aspen Grove location). They let her know that she could us her friend's network to get all the games she needed. She was ready.

I don't think she was expecting me to be able to place the order right then and there (thanks to a nice VPN connection). But she quickly got the CCard warmed up and ready. After the transaction, which included getting her name and phone number engraved to make it hers, I could tell she was excited.

Her new gaming system should arrive within the week. How cool is that?

Put Your Hands in the Air

Emmett had his 4 month check up last week. He did great! He's growing at the perfect rate.

Weight: 14 lbs. 14 oz.
Height: 25 inches
Head Circumference: 42 cm

Hes in the 50th percentile for all 3 categories which means he's an average baby. We'll take average for now. But once he's in school we're going to expect him to do better.

He also had a couple of immunization shots which he DID NOT like. But he did get some cool band-aids after. Well, I thought they were cool. Emmett was clueless about it.

Tazmanian Devil!

Daffy Duck!

Emmett has also discovered his hands. I mentioned before that he would attempt to suck his hand but didn't do it very well. Most of the time he would just wap himself in the head and this created frustration more than comfort. But with some practice, he's really good at it!

He doesn't suck his thumb - he sucks on FOUR fingers.

When he's done sucking - he admires his own hand. He LOVES to stare at his hand and wave it about. He's starting to realize that he has control over it. It's fun to watch him do this!

He's also good at playing with toys now.

Vise like grip like no other. His hands are really clammy cause their always balled up in a fist.

When he wears socks - he gets crazy amounts of lint stuck in his toes. I have no idea why but it's pretty gross. And you will have to forgive the fuzzy foot pictures but taking photos of a babies foot is freaking hard. I had to take 15 plus pictures and NONE of them were clear.
But you get the idea cause you can see the lint. And do you see how his toes are all spread out? That is a CHANG family trait. Me and my sisters can all do this.

Notice my vise like grip on his foot - it didn't help. He was still kicking his feet everywhere.

On his future resume he will be able to say he's good at collecting lint between his toes.

City Beer

A friend of mine kindly invited me to join his posse for SF Beer Week this weekend. Unbeknownst to me, 'yesterday Ben', who I sometimes don't communicate with, had already done the very nice thing of promising to watch Emmett whilst Karen went out with the girls for a well-deserved Saturday of fun. 

Well! As you can imagine, yesterday Ben and 'earlier today Ben' had a nice long talk (we yelled, we laughed, we cried, we sang campfire songs). 

After that was all sorted out, I ('in the moment Ben') decided to make a try for the City Beer event to which I was invited. With Emmett.

We waited for just the right moment before heading out for a little dad-and-son fun in the sun. Emmett just woke from a nap, got diapered, and got fed. We were almost set. I packed up my diaper dude (don't leave home without it), got my baby bjorn, applied my sunscreen, checked my reflection and headed to the car with the baby. 

After a nice, careful drive over to City Beer, I found some parking and began the process of unstrapping and restrapping the baby. I first unstrapped him from the car seat; I then restrapped him to me with the Bjorn, carefully adding his little hat so he wouldn't get hypothermic. 

At the event I discovered to my dismay that there was quite a line to get in. My buddies directed me to the doorman who was handing out numbers. One of them remarked that Emmett looked a little sad. "How could he be sad?" I thought. He's out and about on a beautiful day having just been diapered, fed and napped. 

Well we discovered that number giving men with booming voices have quite an effect on the little guy. He cried with displeasure at the timber of the number man's voice. He was very sad, but only for a moment! He quickly composed himself using the zen mediation technique he learned listening to the Baby Buddha tapes he got for Chinese New Year. 

Once in this state he is quite impervious to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Our other friend came out to say 'hi', and helped us to snap this snappy photo:

We were able to weather about 10 more minutes of waiting before we had to split. But all-in-all, it was a very good outing.

Stuck in the Middle

Emmett is slowly learning how to roll over. He did it twice in December and maybe a handful of times in January but he hasn't been able to do it consistently. We practice every day when we have tummy time but the problem is that he gets stuck. He manages to swing his arm across and then....nothing. He wiggles and squirms but that's it. So then he just lays there stuck in the middle. And the thing is, he doesn't really seem to mind.

Here is hanging out - stuck.

While he was laying there I noticed his crazy baby cleavage. Check it out. He has got some serious chub going on.

I try not to help him cause I want him to learn how to "unstuck" himself. He doesn't cry when he gets stuck. He just lays there. After a while, he starts spacing out. I guess he's comfortable.

Then he finds his hand.

Then he plays with some toys.

I would say 10 minutes or so passes while he spaces, out, eats his hand and plays with his toys before he decides that he's frustrated. And when the whining and whimpering begins then I help him.

Here's a video of him rolling over....veerrryyyy slloooowwwwlllyyy.

Yeah for Movies!!!!

I've been wanting to watch a movie for months now. I don't even remember the last time I sat in a movie theatre and stuffed my face with buttery popcorn. But having a bambino makes it pretty tough. Either I go by myself, find some friends who have nothing else better to do or we hire a sitter so Ben and I can go together. The options don't sound impossible but I'm just to freakin lazy to get it together and plan something.

Anyway, I had to go get some blood work done earlier this week (for my annual check-up) and fate took over and allowed me to meet another mommy who also was getting blood work done. What the heck does this have to do with movies you ask?! Well let me tell you. This new mommy told me that a couple of theatres in San Francisco host monthly "Mommy and Baby Time Movies" where moms can bring their babies to watch a movie. This is brilliant!!! What's even better is that it's free!

So the Presidio Theatre over on Chestnut shows Mommy and Baby Movies every 2nd Thursday of the month at 1pm. They don't tell you the movie until the Monday before so I am anxiously waiting for their posting next week. You better believe I'm gonna be there.

I can't wait to be watching a movie in a room full babies that are being diapered, fed, and rocked asleep. I wonder what Emmett's first movie will be....