Cupcake love

Natalie loves to eat cupcakes! She doesn't get to eat them often, so it's a real treat when she does. Watch Video 246 of the happiness a simple mini cupcake (with the icing scraped off) gives her.

Natalie can hardly believe it...


She's holding a chocolate cupcake in her hand and she's even allowed to eat it!


I'm going to eat it now!


Natalie takes a bite. Yummy!

Baby's got skillz

Natalie really enjoys feeding herself and can eat an entire meal by herself. It's awesome because it means we only have to cut up food into bite-sized pieces for her to eat and then we can eat and enjoy the meal together as a family :)

Also, she's a true Asian baby. Her utensil of choice is... chopsticks! She uses the training chopsticks we bought for her. Watch Video 245 of Natalie's precise chopstick skills.

Quotable Quotes

Now that Natalie is older, she is super funny! Here are a few notable quotable quotes:

I come home after a long day at work:
Natalie (very excitedly): Mommy, I bye-gun!
Me: Button?
Natalie (yelling): No… I BUY-GUN!!
Me: Button?
Natalie (more subdued): I buy dog, Mommy?

Natalie runs into the living room completely naked:
Natalie: I'm a naked baby!
Me: Hi, naked baby!
Natalie (stamping her feet and waving her arms): I'm a naked baby dancing!

We are toilet training her, so I show Natalie her diaper with a spot of poo in it:
Me: Do you see this? What is this?
Natalie (waving a hand under her nose): That's my poo. Stinky stinky pee-yoo!

We're walking down the street.
Natalie: Mommy, poh-poh ("carry me", in Chinese)
Me: No, Natalie, you walk please.
Natalie: Mommy, poh-poh, puh-lease!
Me: No, Natalie, you have to walk.
Natalie: But I'm too slow!

Clark comes home and sees that Natalie has put stickers all over our living room windows.
Clark (in a stern voice): Natalie, who said you can put stickers on the window?
Natalie (thinks about it): Ba-ba!
Clark: Did I say you can put stickers on the window?
Natalie: Yes.
Clark: Uh-oh, I think someone needs a time out…
(Natalie is quiet, knowing she is in trouble.)
Clark: Does someone need a time out?
Natalie (suddenly inspired, with a big smile): Tickle tickle, Ba-ba!
Clark: Are you trying to distract me?

I'm taking off my eye make-up with a cotton ball and my eyes are being pulled down at the corner:
Natalie: Mommy so ugly!

Vivo Yee-yee feeds Natalie some noodles and some noodles stick to her chin:
Natalie: Wow, so messy!

Vivo: Can you jump high like a kangeroo?
Natalie: No, cannot! I am smaller. Cannot jump high like a kangeroo!"

Taiwan!

From August 14 - 16, 2009, the Wang Gang was eating our way through Taiwan. It was an awesome vacation and one we appreciated even more when both Clark and I started work (full time) on the Tuesday after we returned to Hong Kong. We went with a group of friends and also had time to visit family.

We visited Natalie's Tai-por (Clark's maternal grandmother) on Saturday morning.


We had breakfast there and Natalie LOVED the mini meat buns Tai-por gave her. We even packed three to go! (Yes, she finished them all later at lunch.)


Natalie most especially enjoyed playing "phone" with Tai-por's cordless phone.

Clark called Tai-por with his mobile phone and Natalie was sooo happy as she patiently waited for the phone to ring and then jumped to answer it.

After Tai-por's, we went to visit Ching-bu, Natalie's great-grandmother (Clark's paternal grandmother). Natalie was taking a much needed nap when this photo was taken.

Later, we went to the night market and, after eating our own weight in food, we found a little plane ride for Natalie. It goes around and around in a circle and she LOVED it.

She gave us hi-5s when she passed us and told us, "I fly airplane!"

It was super hot. Natalie told us "My head is wet!" because she was sweating so much. The heat did not agree with her and she was a little grumpy until we found the airplane ride for her. We also bought a new pair of nike sport sandals for her and she was happy.

Here is Natalie happily sitting in her very own seat for the first time. This was the first trip where she was truly aware of where she was and what she was doing (riding on an airplane!)

The Wang Gang on our way home.

Playdates

Natalie's really good friends Sienna and Summer came over 2 weeks ago for a play date. Natalie loved having her friends over! We LOVE having friends over to play! And I was really proud of Natalie because, for the first time in her life, she was fighting with them for toys! I know it's a strange thing to be proud of, but it's a huge milestone for Natalie who is usually so reserved and shy around other kiddies.

Also, watch Video 243 of Natalie playing "house" by herself. Now watch Video 244 of Natalie playing house with Siena. She loves it :) Although, at the end of the video, she hits her nose on Sienna's head and cries (but only for a little bit) :(

Summer and Natalie watching as Sienna chooses a sticker from Natalie's collection.


Summer goes in for a closer look.


Later, Natalie and Sienna jump on the bed and are tempted to push the buttons on our printer/fax machine.


More jumping (and eating!) on the bed.

Later, Natalie and Sienna have a lot of fun playing in Natalie's "house".

Funny girl

Last week, Clark and I took Natalie to the park where she showed off how playful and funny she can be. She liked to crawl into the small space below the slide and say, "Ba-ba, you come!" so Clark would crawl in after her.

Natalie peeks out from under the small space to say "Hi!" to the camera. Baba tries to peek out, too, but it's a small space.


Natalie gives the camera a huge smile. She says, "Hi mommy, look at Natalie!"


Later, Natalie comes out from under the slide while Clark stays there. They play monster for a while. Natalie likes to be chased and likes to chase people now.


Later, when I'm pretending to take a quick nap on the sofa, Natalie comes by and says, "Mommy, you wake up?" Then she climbs up onto the sofa and puts her head on top of mine. She says, "Natalie sleeping, too! I sleep on mommy!"

Of course I don't mind!

Gambling and slow slider

Watch Video 241 of Natalie gambling at an early age at the nearby Jumpin' Gym. She puts in a coin, pulls the handle and shoots the ball into one of the spinning holes for tickets.

Also, here is Video 242 of Natalie sliding by herself down a steep slide. She is a slow slider but when I ask her, she says she's really fast.

Stylin'

Yo yo yo, B-girl Nat in da hoooouse!


Don't be hate-in' cuz I'm-a-stylin'.


Girlfreeend, I know I look good!

Welcome, dis is ma hood. North Point reprezzzent! Woot woot!

Playing with Cats

Natalie loves visiting the nearby pet store and playing with the kittens on display there. She sticks her finger through the little gaps in the glass door and makes faces at them. She also tells them to stop sleeping (if their eyes are closed) and to "c'mere cat!" so she can play with them.

See Video 240 of Natalie playing with the kittens at the store. In this video, you can't hear Natalie because I'm filming outside the store (on the other side of the kitten display).

Natalie loves watching the cats.


And enticing them to play.

Natalie feeding Nicholas

Watch Video 239 of Natalie feeding Nicholas water. She's very insistent that he drink! She's also speaking Cantonese :)

Hand holding

Last weekend, Natalie visited her cousins Vanessa and Victoria at Lisa Yee-yee's house. They went swimming and, on the way home, they held hands. Look at the cute cousins' train below :)

Can you tell which one is Natalie? It's small, medium, big. (Hint: Natalie is medium.)


It's really great to see them getting along and playing together :)


Sometimes, now that Natalie is so communicative, it's easy to forgot how little she is!

Self love

Natalie loves looking at herself. During dinner time, Clark turned the camera on and faced the screen to Natalie. She loved it! Here are two videos:

Video 238 - Watch Natalie as she watches herself in the video camera. She talks a lot now and her favourite question is: "What's that?" She asks it over and over and over and over and over again and again and again. Clark is so patient.

Video 239 - Here is another video. This time, Natalie is happily showing off her "corn nut" to the camera. And then she eats it and asks, "Where'd it go?". She also corrects Clark when he sings "Elmo's world" and says "Barney's world" instead.