小肉包的第二個感恩節 Hasan's 2nd Thanksgiving

今年感恩節因為媽咪肚子太大了, 所以只請了親戚和兩個朋友, 因為不想太累. 感謝外婆, 阿姨們, 和舅媽的幫忙, 媽咪輕鬆好多呢! 還要謝謝Ken舅舅充當攝影師喔! 我最開心了, 因為大家都陪我玩.
This year we only invited relatives and 2 friends over for Thanksgiving because it's too close to mommy's due day and we didn't want mommy to overwork. Thanks to grandma and aunts' help to prepare for this delicious meal! Also thanks to our professional camera man uncle Ken! I was the happiest because everyone enjoyed spending time playing with me!

學英文 Learning English

小肉包會從A唸到Z了! 這都是褓母阿姨的功勞, 褓母阿姨還有教他認中文字呢! 現在會認一些簡單的字了, 例如: 你, 我, 大, 小, 上, 下, 天.... 之類的. 不過要拍下來可還需要一點運氣, 因為小肉包一看到照相機就開始不安分, 绝不會乖乖的讓我拍的.
Thanks to our super nanny, Hasan can now read from A to Z! Our super nanny also taught Hasan to recognize some simple Chinese characters. But it's pretty difficult for me to record his progress, because Hasan gets all excited as soon as he sees the camera. There is no way he would sit still and do whatever I ask him to do in front of a camera!

被褓母阿姨碰到產生靜電 還會大叫"有電"呢!

公園公園 Park again!

天氣愈來愈冷, 我們好久沒帶小肉包去公園跑跑了. 趁著上週末陽光普照, 我們三人包得緊緊的, 牙根一咬決定還是要出去走走, 不然在家裡坐久了會發霉的.
It's getting colder and colder so Hasan has been sitting at home for a while. Last weekend we took advantage of the sunny day and decided to take Hasan to the park again.

但是這種天氣真是睡覺的好天氣, 尤其是小肉包又穿上大外套, 太陽照得暖暖的, 還沒走到公園他就已經在推車上睡著了.
But sitting in his stroller under the sun with his big jacket on, Hasan felt asleep before we even reached the park.



爸爸很狠心的把他放到盪鞦韆上面, 他還是繼續睡.
Daddy put sleeping Hasan in the swing, but he didn't wake up at all.



盪了兩分鐘後醒來了, 馬上就和媽咪玩得很開心, 笑得超可愛.
Two minutes later, he woke up and found himself on the swing. He immediately started laughing and enjoying time with mommy.



媽咪也很開心喔!
Mommy was having a good time too!





完全清醒了之後, 他決定要挑戰公園裡面難度最高的玩意兒. 這可不是開玩笑, 高度比爸爸還高很多呢! 而且他這天穿兩件褲子, 根本是行動不便. 但是初生之犢不畏虎, 看得我可是冷汗直冒. 不過任務完成之後, 看他很開心的站在頂端大聲的"耶"的樣子, 我們也開心極了.
After a while, he decided to climb up to this tallest "ladder" in the park. I was so worried because this thing was taller than daddy! And Hasan was wearing two pants and a big jacket so it's not easy for him to move. However, he wasn't afraid of the height at all. After he accomplished the job, he was so happy and screamed out "yeah" loudly. It made us feel so happy too!

弟弟是什麼?

從兩個月前開始, 我和阿里就一直灌輸小肉包弟弟即將來臨的概念. 每天我都會指著肚子跟他說"弟弟快要出來囉"! 當我叫他親親弟弟的時候, 他也會過來親親我的肚子. 最近我們教他講爸爸媽媽的名字, 他知道爸爸叫做"阿里巴巴", 媽媽叫做"Portia" (但他唸起來像"趴下"), 順便也教他弟弟叫做"Kareem". 總之我們一逮到機會就一直灌輸家裡將會有新成員的概念.

今天早上他醒來後, 咚咚咚咚的跑到我們房間(註一), 爬到床上跟我們說早安. 我和爸爸正睡眼惺忪, 他突然指著爸爸最近有點發福微凸的肚子大叫"Kareem"! 我一時還沒會意過來, 等到想清楚, 實在忍不住要狂笑. 原來這小子根本沒搞清楚弟弟是個什麼東西, 還以為只要有小腹的就叫做"弟弟"呢! 爸爸可尷尬了, 一直跟小肉包解釋說爸爸的小肚子是因為最近天冷沒運動, 不是"弟弟"在裡面啦! 看來小朋友還真是不會說謊, 身材有點走樣都會被發現.

註一: 沒錯, 小肉包已經可以在自己的房間獨立的睡過夜了! 兩個多禮拜前小肉包的新床終於送來, 我們就開始訓練他自己睡在自己房間的床上. 本來以為會是一場苦戰, 沒想到才兩天他就自己一覺到天亮, 反而是我和爸爸不習慣, 常常半夜起來上廁所的時候偷跑到小肉包房間去看他有沒有踢被, 有時候還甚至趁檢查踢被的時候就睡到小肉包床上去了, 爸爸還跟我坦白他很想念跟小肉包一起睡覺的日子呢! 每天早上小肉包起床後, 就會自己跑到我們房間來叫我們起床. 他的腳步聲超大, 常常從他房間咚咚咚咚的跑到我們房間的路上就已經把我吵醒, 真可愛. 分房睡之後睡眠品質真的好了許多, 不過再享受一個月弟弟就要來啦! 到時候又要開始沒日沒夜的生活囉!

結婚紀念日 - 第二部

除了早上的驚喜之外, 這天我們本來就約好了請阿里以前的同事張海峰一家人過來吃brunch. 由於我最近不知怎麼突然很想吃薑餅, 之前就已經從 food network 上下載了薑餅和薑麵包的食譜, 所以在張海峰一家人到達之前, 趕快烤了一個薑麵包, 想說客人到的時候正好可以吃香噴噴熱騰騰剛出爐的麵包. 沒想到阿里從來沒吃過薑麵包和薑餅乾, 吃了之後覺得非常好吃, 這麼大的一個薑麵包, 阿里一人大概吃了一半以上吧! 食譜如下:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_4859,00.html

我有把裡面糖的份量減少一半, 這樣甜度剛剛好. 如果按照裡面的份量, 我想可能就要叫薑蛋糕而不是薑麵包了.

小肉包和啟亞姊姊很久沒見了, 好像很生疏的樣子. 但是兩個人看起卡通影片都是一個樣子 - 一動也不動, 呵呵!

兩個人玩杯墊也可以玩得不亦樂乎! (但是基本上是各玩各的)

張海峰一家人離開後, 趁小肉包睡午覺之際, 我又跑去做了薑餅乾, 食譜如下:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_6643,00.html

薑餅烤出來香香的, 連正在睡午覺的小肉包都聞香醒來, 我們三個人於是享受了一個悠閒的下午茶時光, 這種冷冷的天氣裡吃薑餅配熱茶, 感覺超溫馨的. 食譜上說可以做三打餅乾左右, 但是以我做的size來講, 竟然作出了將近六打, 為了避免阿里和小肉包吃太多甜食, (而且自己做了才知道這種東西真的很肥,) 就順便包了幾包餅乾送給鄰居, 做一下敦親睦鄰的工作.

順便秀一下阿里送的Omega手錶.

午茶過後, 我們想說帶小肉包出去走走, 但是外面太冷, 只好帶去mall裡晃晃. 看他眼睛盯著旋轉木馬目不轉睛的, 想說給他試騎一下, 沒想到這小子膽小的要命, 整個過程一直哇哇大叫, 連馬背都不敢坐上去, 簡直遜斃了.

又一個難忘的結婚紀念日

去年的結婚紀念日之所以難忘, 是因為花了很多錢.

http://portiaarar.blogspot.com/2006/11/blog-post_13.html

時間過得真快, 轉眼又一年了. 今年的結婚紀念日因為是在週末, 褓母不上班, 所以我們說好禮拜一放退伍軍人節假的時候再來慶祝. 我安排了先去吃一頓好吃的brunch, 再去看李安的色.戒, 所以這幾天正積極的找餐廳中. (當然不會再去去年的六百元日本料理店啦!) 除此之外, 我也沒有多準備什麼禮物.

沒想到今天早上一起床, 我都還沒刷牙洗臉, 正值睡眼惺忪, 阿里叫小肉包拿了一包東西來給我, 裡面有一張卡片和一個禮物. 我不知道他有準備禮物給我, 所以收到這個禮物已經很出乎我意料之外. 把卡片打開來看, 更是讓我感動萬分. 卡片封面寫著: "I don't remember the exact moment when I first fell in love with you.....," 打開裡面, 繼續寫到: ".....but every time when I am with you, I fall in love all over again." 阿里說, 他大約十年前在逛街的時候, 覺得這張卡片很棒, 所以就買了, 但是一直沒有適合的人可以送, 現在終於找到了, 所以送給我. 我看一看卡片, 還真的是舊舊的, 而且標籤上寫著是在新新那提買的. 雖然他那套故事我不是很信, (我猜想一定是本來想買給哪個女朋友, 後來一直沒有送出去,) 不過還是覺得很感動, 眼淚就流下來了.

故事還沒有結束. 看完卡片之後, 我打開禮物, 盒子裡面竟然是用錫箔紙包的一個小bagel, 寫著: "希望在這個特別的日子能和你分享這個全麥bagel." 我看了哈哈大笑, 也覺得這點子挺溫馨的, 所以我們三個人就坐在床上把那個bagel分著吃掉了. 吃著吃著, 阿里突然又從枕頭後面拿出真正的禮物, 我拆開一看, 竟然是一只Omega的手錶. 原來他去黎巴嫩回程在巴黎轉機的時候就已經買好了, 只是一直沒有讓我知道. 這一連串的驚喜真的是我沒有預料到的, 而且我真的是什麼也沒準備. 當我跟他講說: "可是我沒有禮物給你耶!" 他指著我的肚子說: "Kareem 就是今年最棒的禮物啦!"

不知道要怎麼替這個故事結尾. 今天真的是很開心也很難忘.

又去公園玩了 In the park again

今天調整日光節約時間, 多了一個小時, 所以我們三人都起得很早. 小肉包在家無聊, 又開始坐不住, 看看外面天氣還不錯, 我們於是決定帶他去公園走一走.
Today we gained one extra hour from the day light saving time. Hasan was getting bored at home, so we took him for a walk to the park.

想說和這小子照張母子照, 但他就是不肯乖乖面對相機.
I wanted to take a nice picture with him, but he just didn't want to stand still in front of the camera.



小肉包爬上爬下的時候, 手上總喜歡拿個什麼東西, 就是不喜歡兩手好好抓住欄杆, 不禁讓人捏一把冷汗.
He likes to hold onto something in his palm instead of holding onto the rail when he climbs up. Sometimes it makes me very nervous.



順便報上笑話一則. 他在公園裡跑跑跳跳時遇的一個兩歲的日本小女生, 小肉包好像很喜歡人家, 先是很靦腆地向小姊姊招招手, 後來更是伸出手硬拉起小姊姊的手來握握, 然後不知道哪跟筋不對勁, 就直接熱情的往小姊姊身上撲過去想要抱抱, 結果衝得太猛, 把小姊姊整個人撂倒在地上, 他自己全身壓在小姊姊身上, 小姊姊和小姊姊的媽媽都呆掉了, 小姊姊當然更是馬上號啕大哭起來, 害我和阿里趕忙跑去跟人家道歉. 寶貝你也太熱情了一點吧!!!
Here is another joke. He saw a 2-year-old Japanese girl in the park today. He liked this little girl so much, so he waved at her first. Then he grabed her hand and started shaking. And then he walked towards the girl trying to hug her. But he didn't balance well and ended up pushing the girl down to the ground. His whole body was on top of the little girl's. The girl and her mom were both shocked, and the girl immediately started crying. Ali and I had to go apologize to the girl and her mom. Baby, don't you think you did too much on the first date?

十八個月的語言進展 Hasan's language skills at 18 months

大家還記得小肉包十四個月時的語言進展嗎?
Do you remember Hasan's language skills at 14 months?

http://portiaarar.blogspot.com/2007/07/blog-post_06.html

現在十八個月了. 在這四個月間, 小肉包的語言進展神速, 現在已經幾乎能跟我們做簡單的對答了. 下面是兩個小實例.
Now he is 18 months old. During these 4 months, Hasan's language skills progressed very fast. Now he can already made simple conversations with us. Here are two examples.

實例一
Example 1

某天晚上, 我們請珍妮阿姨來吃飯. 我跟小肉包說珍妮阿姨等一下要來喔! 小肉包馬上拿起我們的結婚相簿, 翻到有珍妮阿姨的那一頁, 指著阿姨跟我說 "珍妮阿姨," 嚇了我一跳, 想說他記性怎麼這麼好, 珍妮阿姨可是好久不見了呢!
We invited aunt Jenny over for dinner one day. I told Hasan "aunt Jenny is coming tonight," and he immediately opened our wedding album and pointed out a picture with aunt Jenny in it, and said "aunt Jenny." I was surprised how good his memory was because aunt Jenny hasn't visited us for a long time!

珍妮阿姨來了之後, 看到我的大肚子, 跟我說 "好久不見, 肚子真的變得好大喔!" 小肉包一聽到 "好大" 這兩個字, 馬上用手指著珍妮阿姨的胸部說 "好大" (是真的! 我一點都沒誇張! 他真的指著珍妮阿姨的胸部! 我和珍妮阿姨都笑翻了......) 這小子怎麼會有這種反應呢? 到底是哪裡學來的? (以上全是中文對話.)
After aunt Jenny arrived, she looked at my big belly and said "long time no see, your belly really becomes so big!" As soon as Hasan heard the magic word "so big," he immediately pointed at aunt Jenny's breasts and said "so big." (I am not kidding! He really pointed at her breasts! Aunt Jenny and I were laughing so hard......) How come he had such a reaction? Where did he learn that from? (The above conversation was all in Mandarin.)

實例二
Example 2

今天早上, 小肉包把我的眼鏡弄壞了. 他不知道哪來的蠻力, 把鏡片硬是從鏡框上拔了下來. (幸好鏡片是塑膠的.) 我很生氣, 大聲罵了他, 爸爸跑過來叫他跟我道歉, 他很不情願, 背靠著牆壁, 就是不肯往我這邊走過來. 爸爸又一次跟他說, 去跟媽媽道歉, 他用英文回答 "no," 爸爸再講了第三次, 去跟媽媽道歉, 他可能是懷疑剛剛講英文爸爸聽不懂, 又用中文說了一次 "不要," 我和爸爸當場笑翻了, 竟然中英並用, 就是要讓爸爸知道他不想跟媽媽道歉. (以上與爸爸的對話是英文對話.)
This morning Hasan broke my glasses. I was very mad at him and I yelled at him. Daddy came over and asked him to say sorry to me. He stood against the wall and didn't want to come over to apologize. Daddy said again, "go say sorry to mommy," and he said in English "no." Daddy said the third time, "go say sorry to mommy." He probably thought that daddy didn't understand him when he said "no," so this time he responded in Mandarin "no." Daddy and I couldn't stop laughing....he used both English and Mandarin to make sure daddy understand that he didn't want to apologize to mommy. (The above conversation with daddy was in English.)

看來我們是不用擔心小肉包的語言能力啦!
I don't think we need to worry about Hasan's language skills anymore!

十八個月的體檢

今天下午帶小肉包去做十八個月的體檢. 小肉包一進診所就顯得有點膽怯, 好像記得上次被打針的情形一樣, 護士小姐先來幫他量身高體重, 量體重的時候還乖乖的, 要量身高時就開始害怕, 後來就哭了起來, 怎麼樣也不肯站到尺的前面, 護士小姐只好作罷.

醫生進來之後, 褓母一把小肉包放上診療台, 小肉包就全身肌肉緊繃, 充滿戒心. 醫生叔叔很耐心的跟他玩了幾下, 裝小鳥叫還畫圖給他看, 好不容易舒緩了他緊張的情緒, 但是一拿出聽診器, 小肉包又不行了, 開始號啕大哭起來, 一直想從診療台上下來, 後來拿出看耳朵的燈, 他又哭得更猛了, 小肉包的力氣又很大, 褓母根本抓不住他, 真是為難醫生了.

臨走前又挨了一針, 不過打針的時候反倒沒有聽診時哭的那麼凶, 打完針還留著眼淚抽抽噎噎地跟醫生說謝謝, 真是有禮貌的孩子啊!

小肉包十八個月的身高是34.5吋, 在90百分比, 體重29磅, 在80百分比, 還是健康寶寶一隻喔!

幫媽媽掃地 Helping mommy

趁著幫小肉包和弟弟買床的時候, 我和爸爸也把自己的床升等成king size, 所以今天早上睡醒爸爸就把床拆了, 等著家具公司送新床來. 床拆了之後想當然的出現許多原本藏在床底下的灰塵, 我就去拿了拖把想把灰塵弄乾淨.
Ali and I upgraded our queen bed to a king size bed when we were shopping for Hasan and Kareem's beds. This morning after everyone woke up, daddy disassembled our old bed to clean up the space for our new bed. As we imagine, after removing the old bed, we saw a lot of dust. So I went to grab a mop to clean it up.

小肉包真的很雞婆, 看到我在清地板, 就嚷著要幫忙, 不給他拖把他還要大叫呢! 想到昨天Tricia的留言, 小朋友吵的時候就給他點工作讓他覺得有在幫忙, 不如我就將計就計, 派個工作給他讓他來幫幫忙, 看他會不會乖一點.
As soon as Hasan saw me cleaning the floor, he wanted to grab the mop from me. So I took the opportunity to assign this task to him to see if he would quiet down if he's occupied with something important.

拖得還挺認真的呢!
He's working very hard!

爸爸版的床邊故事 Daddy's bed time story

這天爸爸心血來潮想要給小肉包講睡前故事, (通常都是我在講,) 於是我就把這個難得的爸爸版床邊故事拍下來.
Daddy wanted to read Hasan a bed time story (usually it's my job), so I videotaped this once-in-a-life-time daddy's version of bed time story.

這是小肉包最喜歡的一本圖畫書, 裡面的東西他幾乎都叫得出名字來了! 包括金字塔, 人面獅身像, 巴黎鐵塔等等不常見的東西也都學會了.
This is one of Hasan's favorate books. He pretty much knows everything in this book, even including pyramid, sphinx, and Eiffel tower that we don't see everyday.



爸爸講故事很敷衍吧! 一直想要草草打發人家.
Daddy was so mean that he didn't want to spend quality time with Hasan - he just wanted to finish this task as soon as possible.

生活短片 Something about Hasan

自從小肉包會數數之後, 只要一提到與數字有關的東西, 他就會開始亂數一通, 下面就是一個例子. 爸爸問他幾歲, 他竟然回答一二三四五, (而且還有濃厚的口音, 聽起來好像是在說 "一二夾擠五").
Ever since Hasan learned how to count, whenever we asked him something related to numbers, he would start counting. This was a good example: when daddy asked him "how old are you," he answered "one two three four five" (in Mandarin) with very strong and weird accent.



第二段短片是他唱歌跳舞. 我不得不說這孩子還真沒有音樂細胞, 唱起咿呀咿呀喲來跟唸歌一樣, 一點旋律也沒有, 跳舞也跟在運功一樣.
The second video was Hasan singing and dancing. I have to say that this kid was not born with any music bud. When he sang "i-a-i-a-o" it sounded as if he was "reading" not "singing." And when he was dancing, it looked as if he was practicing some "tai-kwon-do."

萬聖節 Trick or treat!

今年萬聖節小肉包裝扮成小皇帝, (好啦, 媽媽懶惰直接就用了小肉包一歲生日時穿過的服裝, 不過這套皇帝裝可頗受好評, 每個人都問哪裡買的呢!)
This year's Halloween Hasan was in his little emperor costume. (Fine, mommy was too lazy to buy Hasan a new costume, so I just put his one-year-old birthday dress on him. But everyone we met loved his little emperor costume and asked me where to buy it!)

小肉包皇帝整好裝, 和媽媽出發去要糖果囉!
Little emperor brought his pumpkin basket and went to trick or treat with mommy!





看他小小個頭的提著南瓜籃子搖搖擺擺的走著, 真可愛.
He was so cute walking down the hall with his little pumpkin basket.



一開始他還搞不清到底是要幹麻. 我替他敲了兩家人的門, 示範兩次之後, 他很快了解這項活動是要把人家擺到他面前的糖果往自己的籃子裡放. 所以到了第三家人家門口之後, 他就很自動的開始不客氣的大把抓起糖果餅乾來了.
At first he didn't really know what this was about. After knocking on a couple of doors, he soon understood that he was supposed to grab whatever people presented in front of him and put it in his own basket. So starting from the third door, he was already an expert of trick-or-treating.



他很喜歡這家人門口擺的南瓜燈, 要完了糖果後還一直盯著看不肯走.
He loved this pumpkin decoration so much that he didn't want to leave even after they closed the door.

我們大樓規定, 要參加萬聖節要糖活動的人家, 要在門口掛個南瓜的圖案, 小朋友才知道哪家可以敲門, 哪家不可以. 小肉包後來敲出了興趣, 搞不清有沒有掛南瓜圖案, 只要見了門就敲, 連垃圾間的門都跑去敲, 真是笑死人了.
The building's rule is, if you want to participate in trick or treating, you have to hang a pumpkin sign on your door so the kids know which ones to knock on. Hasan didn't understand all these rules. He just knew that when he knocked on the door, someone would open and give him candies. So he was knocking on every single door he could see, even the garbage chute!

跑了幾層樓之後, 我們發覺可以敲門的人家真是很少, 大部分人家的門口都沒有掛南瓜圖案, 於是我就帶他到樓下的大廳去晃晃, 跟守衛要糖果.
After running around in a few floors, we found that only very few people had the pumpkin sign on. So I decided to take him to the lobby to trick or treat our door man.



這樣跑下來, 他也要了滿滿半桶的糖果餅乾. 我看他拿得搖搖晃晃的好像很重的樣子, 就問他要不要幫他拿. 沒想到這小子很大聲的說不要, 還一直搖頭, 寧可慢慢的走, 也不願意我拿走他滿滿的糖果餅乾, 真是的.
After a while, his pumpkin basket was already half full. The basket seemed very heavy for him to carry, so I offered to carry it for him. He immediately said "no" (very loudly), and couldn't stop shaking his head as if I was going to steal all his candies.

回家後我檢查了他的南瓜籃子, 發現有一家人給了他兩包低脂的動物餅乾, 晚餐後我就開了一包給他吃. 他吃得津津有味, 好像很得意自己的收穫似的. 吃完了動物餅乾, 趁爸爸替他洗澡的時候, 我趕快把剩下的糖果 (大部分是巧克力和棒棒糖) 給藏了起來, 他洗完澡也就把這事忘得一乾二淨了. 這麼多糖果, 要是全給他吃完了那還得了嗎? (不過要是給爸爸吃完了也不得了, 所以我藏在只有我知道的地方, 呵呵!)
I checked his basket after returning home, and found that someone gave him 2 bags of low fat animal crackers. So after dinner I opened one bag for him. He enjoyed the crackers very much as if they were his triumph from a battle or something. After he finished the crackers, daddy took him to shower and I took the chance to hide the rest of the candies (mostly chocolates and lollipops) away. He soon forgot everything after shower and didn't ask a single word about the candies. I can't imagine if he ended up eating all those candies..... (but if daddy ended up eating all those candies it would be bad too, so I hid the candies away from daddy too....haha.)