Mason

Just like when I was born, mommy and daddy didn't have a final name ready.  They had a short list of names.  The only difference is that they had to come up with two lists - in case baby bro was a baby sis.  The names they narrowed it down to were:

Girl: Caroline, Olivia, Addison or Brooklyn
Boy: Mason, Kirin, Brayden or Rylan

After much indecision and discussion, baby bro finally got his name:  Mason Yoshi En-Zhi Tai

That's right. He has two middle names. One is Japanese and the other is Chinese.  Daddy came up with the Japanese one.  Yoshi means: good fortune (or faith), righteous.  At least that's what the website daddy looked up said.  Isn't Yoshi also a green video game dinosaur who has a friend named Mario?

Po-Po gave him the Chinese name.  It means God's wisdom.  She also gave me my Chinese name: En-Dian.  My Chinese name means God's grace.  Here's more info about Mason:

Weight: 8 lbs 9 oz
Length: 19.5 inches

The nurses said that Mason peed a lot as soon as they got him.  If he didn't pee so much he might have weighed as much as me when I was born. That also means that the winner of the baby pool are Grandma and Kyden.  Grandma guessed that I baby was going to be a boy, and Kyden came closest to baby's weight.

One thing Mason and I have in common is that we were both born tongue tied and had to have a frenectomy.  Mommy asked the pediatrician about his tongue the very first day.  See, Mason's already benefiting from me breaking mommy and daddy in!

I Have A Baby Brother!

Grandma and Grandpa Tai came back to visit yesterday evening.  They brought lots of stuff including an inflatable bed and luggage.  They've visited a lot lately.  Don't get me wrong. I love spending time with them.  It's just little odd.

When I woke up this morning, mommy and daddy were no where to be found.  Did they have to go to work early?  I thought we were on vacation this week.  Strange.  Instead Grandma and Grandpa greeted me and spent the day with me. We went to the park and the mall.

After my afternoon nap, grandma and grandpa loaded me into the car and went to visit mommy and daddy.  They weren't at work.  They were at the hospital.  I was happy to see daddy and mommy.  They told me that I had a baby brother and that he had a present for me.  I love presents!  I was more interested in the present and the Christmas tree by the nurses station than in baby brother.  Babies are boring.  All they do is sleep and cry.  I know this because of the babies at daycare.  Baby brother is no exception.  He didn't cry, but all he did was sleep.  Bor-ing.

When I finally met baby brother, I gave him some pointers on handling mommy and daddy.  I also reminded him that I'm his older brother and much bigger than him!  Daddy came home with me, grandma and grandpa.  Mommy and baby had to stay at the hospital.  In fact, Mommy didn't get out of bed the entire time I visited her.  She must've been really tired.  I hope mommy and baby come home soon.

Pump It Up Jr.

Since Mommy & Daddy were both on vacation from work, we decided to check out a new place, Pump It Up Jr.  My buddy Ky told me about this place a while ago.  But since I'm not a fan of inflatable slides and jumpy houses, mommy & daddy didn't think I'd like this place.  I don't know why they thought I'd be interested now.  Anyways we headed out to check this place out.

At first I wasn't too sure about this place, but eventually I warmed up and ended up having a great time. I even went on the giant slide with daddy!  I also cruised around in a cozy coupe.  Of course, it took a while for me to get one.  Those things are popular.  I had to stock them and wait for some other kid to get out of one.

A word of caution to my friends.  Some of the kids at this place are really aggressive.  I was cruising along in my cozy coupe minding my own business.  Next thing I know some older Chinese girl dragged me out of the cozy coupe by the back of my shirt.  What the heck is going on?!  Her mom was sitting right there and didn't even intervene until after she had pulled me out!  Mommy says the little girl probably runs their household.

A Low Key Christmas

We celebrated a very low key Christmas this year.  Something about baby sis/bro maybe coming sooner and being too far from home.  I can't believe baby sis/bro is putting a damper on our family tradition!

Usually Christmas is busy for our family.  We celebrate twice - once with Daddy's family on Christmas Eve and one more time with Mommy's family on Christmas Day.  Not this year. No trip to Sacramento to visit Daddy's family, eat yummy food (e.g. Auntie Doris' homemade blueberry pie), visit Santa or open presents.  Instead, Mommy's family came over for dinner on Christmas Eve.  Uncle Eddie's best friends - Uncle Peter, his girlfriend Auntie Mie and Uncle Albert - joined us for dinner.  I got to stay up late and eat things that I don't normally get to eat like pie, ice cream and whipped cream. 

But I had to wait til Christmas morning to open my presents.This year, I got the concept of presents and opening gifts.  I was pretty clueless last year.  It takes me a while to open my presents because I get distracted after I rip off the paper and see what's inside. Can you really blame me?

I opened the gifts from Po-Po, Uncle Eddie and Auntie Lia, and my friends on Christmas morning.  Grandma and Grandpa Tai were bringing the rest of my gifts today.  I got a TON of presents.  I love all of them - at least the ones that mommy and daddy let me play with now. Mommy and daddy ration my gifts throughout the year so it's like Christmas all year long! They think they're so smart, but I'm on to them. Merry Christmas and thanks everyone for all the gifts!   

Holiday Out with Thomas

Matthew invited to me and Kyden out to Holiday Out with Thomas this weekend. To make our outing even more special, Matthew's mommy ordered a special Thomas package that included a conductor hat, Thomas train whistle and a Thomas the train car. Here's a pic of us guys sporting our conductor hats. Does anyone know who the purple train is?

Before we rode Thomas, we got to ride the carousel. Kyden and I rode it twice, but Matthew wasn't feelin' it. It's a super cool carousel that has these rings you grab and throw into a clown mouth. Daddy enjoyed that part of the ride. When we got to the carousel, Mommy commented that the carousel seemed to be faster than most other carousels that I've ridden. But Daddy reminded her that my favorite ride at Disneyland was the teacups, so I'd be fine. Way to go Daddy!

After the carousel, we walked around the boardwalk where they had lots of Thomas the train activities - stamps, ornament making, train tables, face painting and a bounce house. I got my hands stamped with Thomas stamps and played with the train tables.

After a few minutes, it was time to board our train. We got to ride in the car right behind Thomas! Santa and his elves were on the train too. During the train ride, we sang Christmas songs and got stickers and a candy cane. After the train ride, we took a picture in front of Thomas. Do we look like a gang with our Thomas conductor hats?

Before heading back home, we grabbed lunch. I had so much fun that I passed out before we even got on the freeway. Thanks for inviting me Matthew! I had a great time!