Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy is O-L-D!  I can't even count as high as his age.  He didn't want to do anything special for his birthday.  The only thing he wanted for his birthday was sleep.  (See I told you he was old.)  While he was napping with Mason, mommy and I snuck out of the house.  We went to the ice cream store so we could surprise him with an ice cream cake after dinner!  He was definitely surprised because he told us that he didn't even know we had left the house.  Boy, he must've been really tired.

Happy Birthday Daddy!  Can we have ice cream cake every night?

Mason is 1 month old!

Happy 1 month birthday to my bro Mason!  Here's what he's been up to in his first month:

• Crying. I dunno why he cries so much, but he does.  And he's really good at it.  Sometimes he cries so much that he loses his voice and all you get is a hoarse or silent cry.  All his crying doesn't seem to phase daddy, but mommy always frowns and looks really sad when that happens. I've gotten used to his crying too. It was hard at first, especially at night when his crying would wake me up.
• Eating. Mason eats like a champ just like me! It must be genetic.
• Pooping & peeing.  Those newborn diapers sure a tiny.  I bet that's why Mason is always getting his diaper changed.  If he had a bigger diaper, then he wouldn't need to change his diaper so often.
• Sleeping. He's not as good a sleeper as I was at his age. It looks like he didn't inherit the Tang sleep anywhere gene. He likes to be wrapped up like a baby burrito (aka swaddled).  Mommy says it calms him down and helps him sleep longer.
• Being held. Mason doesn't like to be put down EVER. He likes being held all the time. When I was Mason's age, I could just hang out or sleep wherever mommy and daddy put me.    
• Bath time. Mason really likes baths. I think they relax him.  I've heard that bathes can be relaxing, but I don't get it.  To me bath time is fun...splashing in the water and playing with toys. I'm gonna have to teach him that when he gets old enough.

Dim sum birthday party

My buddy Greyson turned one recently.  To celebrate, his parents threw a dim sum birthday party.  I've never had dim sum before, but I've read about it in a book that my friend Adrienne gave me.  While it was mostly adults at the party, I did get to see some of my friends: Edison, Abby, Ky & Sienna.

Mommy says it was pretty fancy dim sum because there was assigned seating, centerpieces at all the tables, a pre-ordered menu and three cakes.  Yup, you read that right - three cakes!  Plus instead of us giving him gifts, he gave us gifts.  Auntie Char says they're party favors, but I've never received a wrapped party favor before.

Grey's party was also Mason's first social gathering.  He cried the entire way from home to the restaurant and back. But he did great at the party.  He slept the entire time in his car seat.  Mommy and daddy were amazed because he's never done that before.  It must be because it was really loud in the restaurant. 

Happy Birthday Greyson!  Thanks for inviting me to your party and for the gift!

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Or year of the daddy because daddy is a dragon.  We had a very low key Chinese New Year dinner.  Po-Po came over and we had some traditional Chinese New Year food including steamed fish, dumplings, and new year's cake.  She also gave Mason and me a red envelope (hong bao) with money in it. I was more interested in the envelope than what was inside. Mommy says that'll probably change as I get older. 

Before Po-Po gave me my red envelope, I had to wish her a happy new year in Chinese. Mason didn't have to wish her happy new year, but that's because he can't talk yet.  He just cries right now.  (Mommy and daddy say he's really good at that.)  So Mommy taught me how to say, "Gong xi fa cai. Hong bao na lai."  I could say each phrase by itself pretty good.  But when Mommy tried to get me to say both phrases together, I'd only say the last two words of each sentence. Maybe next year I'll be able to put it all together.

Since I didn't know what "Gong xi fa cai. Hong bao na lai" meant, Mommy explained it to me. Gong xi means congratulations. Fa cai means to be prosperous or make money.  When you put them together it basically means wishing you a prosperous new year.  The second sentence means give me the red envelope please!  So, Gong xi fa cai to everyone!

Meal train

Since Mason's come home we've had lots of visitors.  And they all bring food!  Mommy called it a meal train.  Huh? I thought trains were toys that you play with or vehicles that you ride. When did trains involve bringing food to someone's house?

Mommy explained that a meal train is where people sign up to bring food over to someone's house. Edison's mommy organized our meal train with a lot of our friends like Greyson's mommy, Matthew's mommy, Kyden & Sienna's mommy, Abby's mommy, Chloe's mommy and auntie Aimee. I still didn't quite get it. But that's okay.  It was fun having people come over because I got to hang out with my friends.  They also got to meet baby Mason.

Mommy and daddy were grateful to have such great friends and really appreciated not having to cook or figure out where dinner was going to come from.  Thanks everyone!