Mason can cry for a long time

Earlier this month, mama and dada went to a Sharks playoff game - Game 3 vs. the Canucks. Who babysat us? Not grandma and grandpa. Not po-po. Not one of our daycare teachers. It was auntie Michelle! She's been over lots of times because she and mama ride bikes together.

Tachi and I love auntie Michelle. Mason does not. It's not personal; he has stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. As soon as mama and dada left, he started crying. And he kept crying and crying and crying. He cried for a looong time. I had no idea anyone could cry for as long as he did. When it seemed like he was done, Auntie Michelle would look over at him and the water works would start again. I think he cried for at least an hour. The good news is that all that crying tired him out. So he fell asleep soon after his bath.

Auntie Michelle brought over a special project for Mason and I to do. We used special markers to draw a picture on plates. Then we baked it in an oven. I drew "the roller coaster."

Since Mason was too busy crying, I got to draw a picture on his plate too. I went for more of a minimalist look on this plate.

Which one do you like better?

Puzzle me this...

I got a set of Melissa & Doug wood jigsaw puzzles as a present. I think it was for my birthday, but no one can really remember.  It contains 4 different 12-piece puzzles. Each puzzle is a picture of a different mega truck. If you don't speak Logan, a mega truck is a construction vehicle like a bulldozer or a cement mixer.

Mama, dada and auntie Michelle have been helping me learn how to do these jigsaw puzzles. by myself.
I've gotten pretty good at doing puzzles. So good that I completed a 24 piece puzzle at preschool one morning--

When dada told mama about that, she remembered the Winnie-the-Pooh puzzles that were used as a game at the baby shower for me. Can you believe that she kept those? Mama thought about getting rid of them after the baby shower, but she decided to keep them for me to play with when I was old enough. At the time she thought it would take forever for me to be 3+ years old. Afterall, I wasn't even born yet. Well, I'm 3+ years now! :)

Mama says she's both happy and sad that I can do those Winne-the-Pooh puzzles now. Happy because she can share those puzzles with me. Sad because she can't believe I'm already 3+ years old. I still don't get how someone can feel both happy and sad at the same time.

Swimming update

I've been in my Beginner swim class for 11 weeks now. Unlike when I first started swimming on my own, I'm doing great.  No more crying.  In fact, I haven't cried in a several weeks.  Now, I greet my teacher, Sean, with a high five every time.  I listen to him and volunteer when he asks who wants to go first.  I even like to tell my preschool teachers that I'll be going swimming every Tuesday.

Today, I got my beginner 2 ribbon!  That means I can:

• forward float (with my face in the water) on my own complete relaxed for 5 seconds
• float on my back, relaxed but with assistance for 10 seconds
• climb out of the side of the pool on my own

Right now I'm learning how to streamline swim.  That means I reach my arms high above my head with my hands touching, "dive" into the water and "kick."  Or as I told mama I'm supposed to be a rocket under water.

Pretty soon, I'll be swimming like a shark!

I love mama big much!

Mama's are very special people. They cook for you. They bathe you. They play with you. They read to you. They "miyagi" your owies. They clean up your potty accidents (number 1 and 2). They come to your rescue when daddy's being mean (sometimes). They give you hugs and make you feel loved.

Because mama's are so special, we celebrated three days instead of just one.  On Friday, we had a Mother's Day party at my pre-school. There was food. We also updated the I gave mama a flower with a special pot that I decorated with pictures of me. 

Yesterday, we celebrated with dada's family. When mama told me that we were going to visit Ethan and see grandma and grandpa, I broke into a huge smile and said, "Oh, I love Ethan." It's so much fun when we get together. We just go crazy - chasing each other around the kitchen on ride-on cars. We took it to another level this time. We rode our bikes around the neighborhood, ran around the front yard and tackled grandpa several times. 

Dada made a yummy prime rib and crab leg dinner. I noticed that I didn't have any crab on my plate, so I said, "Dada, can I have some crab." It was yummy! So, I asked for more. Why's dada holding out on the good stuff?! Mama says that if this keeps up, I'm going to eat us out of house and home because I have expensive taste.  She can't really be surprised. I mean, good taste is genetic isn't it?

Today, we celebrated with mama's family. We had dim sum with po-po and Caylie. While I've been to dim sum before, today is the first time that I've actually eaten dim sum. I liked pretty much everything that we ordered, especially the shrimp dumplings, sticky rice, fried tofu and custard buns. After dim sum, we went to play at a park near Caylie's grandma's house. Mason and dada took a nap in the car, while mama, po-po and I played. If you're wondering where Caylie went, she had to go home. She needed her beauty sleep.

What a great weekend! Happy mama's day to all the mama's and grandma's!

Big Chef / Lil Chef

A few weeks ago mama signed me up for a cooking class through the Park and Rec department. Matthew's taking the class too. In fact, his mama is the one who told us about it.  I'm so glad she did!

Turns out the class is at the Young Chef's Academy. There were 8 kids in the class, 5 girls and 3 boys.  Today we made taco bowls in honor of Cinco de Mayo. We folded tortillas and put them in large muffin tins. Then I got spray them with cooking spray. While we waited for our taco bowls to bake, our teachers read us a story - Cinco de Mouse. 

After the story, we prepared the stuff to go into our bowl. We used scissors to cut lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, peppers and chicken. When our bowls were nice and crispy, we filled them with the things we cut. Our teachers helped us spoon in corn, black beans, guacamole, salsa and sour cream. I passed on the salsa and sour cream.  The finishing touch was sprinkling cheese on our taco bowl!

Then it was time to eat what we made! We got to listen to another story while we ate.  And mama got the recipe to take home.

I had a great time cooking with Matthew and mama.  I wonder what we'll make next week!