Comedy, daddy style

So mom was gone last weekend, and I was left alone with dad for two whole days. We decided to send this picture message to mom:

She nearly bolted for the airport to come home as soon as she saw it. But of course, I can't eat McNuggets - I have only 2 teeth. Thank goodness, 'cause they are NASTY. But it makes for good visual humor. I bet this will be the first of many good jokes on mommy!

Fincess

I went to a very nice birthday party for a now 2-year old friend today - a Mexican theme, with mariachis, tacos, balloon animals and face painting. Very fun. Here I am taking a breather from all the excitement. They had all kinds of cool stuff to wear and play with, as you can see.

I like to swing

We stopped by the park this afternoon as a reward for doing errands, and I was lucky enough to spend a little time on the swings. I just discovered that I really like them!

Fin Attack

Happy Halloween!

The Batfin says look into the face of justice and have an excellent Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

In the spirit of the season, we visited a pumpkin patch with a few other moms and kids this week. Here I am with a few choice gourds...

Apple Picking!

To celebrate the arrival of fall, we went to pick apples yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, and we got a big bag of very delicious Romes, plus a bunch of other apple-ful goodies to extend the celebrating a little longer. I had no idea where these delicious things came from! They're still a little high for me to reach, so mom and dad got a couple down for me. I'm going to pick my own next year!

Cool toy

My ojii-chan (Grandpa) visited this week. We had an excellent time and many adventures. Lots of restaurants, a few outings (including the zoo - where we were charged by a gorilla!),  and some serious play time. Here's a picture taken by ojii-chan (he took zillions) of me with this really cool toy mom calls "hey, those are my measuring cups - how am I going to bake now."  Long name.

County Fair, y'all

Visited the LA County Fair this weekend with mom and dad. While I enjoyed the animals, giant produce and fried things on sticks, I especially enjoyed the bales of hay in the barns. Here I am communing with a piece off of one, with dad's help.

At the park

Went to the park this weekend. Tried my hand at the swings - I really don't see what the big deal is, all that "whee" and "higher, higher" stuff...maybe I need to mature into it. Mom and dad say we will try it again next month. We ended up sitting on a blanket and playing with some toys. I really enjoy these stacking plastic cups. I'm trying to convince my dad of their merits - not sure he's buying it.

Dim Sum

We went out for a little lunch today, since it's mom and dad's anniversary. Two words - Dim Sum. Can't beat the San Gabriel Valley for the good stuff. Since my Cantonese is a little rusty and my motor skills aren't quite good enough to point with any real accuracy, I had to use the menu. Shrimp shu mai and fried dumplings! BBQ pork buns! Egg custard tarts and mango pudding! Hooray!

Fruit Face

So I've been eating for a little over a month now, and I'm into it. I like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, butternut squash, spinach, corn, carrots, yams - just about everything. But I'm having a hard time with fruit. I dunno, it's a little...sweet. I had the same reaction to pears, peaches and prunes. Mom and dad think it's kinda "cute" and "funny," so they filmed me eating pears. For your viewing pleasure...

On the move

I'm starting to figure out this crawling thing - this weekend, I developed my upper body strength perfecting the army crawl. I'm thinking next week or so I'll be zipping around like a bandit. I'm a little whiney in this clip, but you would be too if you were only using your arms to drag your whole body weight across a living room floor. Take a look see...

Chompers

I officially have two teeth - well, about 1/3 of two teeth, anyway. Mom seems nervous about this development for some reason, but I'm quite pleased with myself.

Mmmm...

So I've been eating for a few weeks now - I like cauliflower, green beans, broccoli, sweet potatoes and of course cereal. The jury's still out on avocado. Anyway, I had this for dinner last night, and the colors were just too good not to document. Purple Japanese sweet potato and carrots - delicious, in addition to being visually stimulating!

Esther Williams, eat your heart out...

It's summer, and it gets hot out here in the San Gabriel Valley this time of year. So mom and dad have decided that I need to try swimming. We've been going to the Rose Bowl pool every Saturday morning for a little playtime in the water. I remain unconvinced (as you can probably tell by my expression), but to humor my parents, I continue to attend the classes. It's kinda nice to check out the other kids, and the swishing around part is pretty good.  But honestly, my Lawrence of Arabia hat is probably the best part of the whole deal.

Carrot Face

This eating thing is more complicated that it seems. I don't get how people do this three times a day, every day...

Eloise, eat your heart out!

My good friends Beth and Andrew are in town, so mom and I went to hang out in their hotel room a little and have some dinner this week. I'd never been in a hotel before, and I found it quite fun. A perfect prelude to some carnitas.

Beachside stroll redux

Went for a walk a few days ago in Santa Monica - not a great picture of me, but it was such a beautiful day I couldn't resist posting...the palm trees were swaying, the sun was shining...ah, LA!

Nomnomnom...

Oh my goodness...what's this? Why didn't anyone tell me about this sooner??? Oh my goodness...

More more more! More more more!

OK, fine, I will do it myself. How does this crazy spoon contraption work, anway? I'm not getting any of the good mushy stuff...I think it's broken.

Big Girl Chair

Mom just put my high chair together, so I took it for a test spin this morning. I kinda like sitting at the table - like a first taste of big kidhood. The plan is to try some cereal this weekend...more on that soon...

Behind the Orange Curtain

Last night, mom and I ventured to Orange County to meet with the very excellent Connie and Marc. We had a lovely evening in Laguna Beach looking at all manner of crafty/arty things and having a meal in the canyon. I was too short to get in the frame with my favorite item of the night (face-shaped ceramic egg separators that filtered the whites out through the nostrils), but I did find this booth filled with pictures of teddy bears dressed up in various costumes. Awesome.

Morning diversion

Here's a pretty fair representation of my relationship with my good friend puffin. My mom says we should all have this much fun. PS - Happy 4th!

Sitting(ish)

Hi, everyone - here I am sitting on the couch with my favorite moose wearing my favorite new outfit. So many things to make a girl happy on a Wednesday!

Merch

Dad designed a logo for me a while back. I thought every baby had one, but it turns out I am one of the few with a parent that sees the value in cultivating branding possibilities for their offspring. Lucky me.

Here I am getting into my Big Fin onesie. It's a little embarrassing since I'm not fully dressed in the shot, but it shows off my dad's handiwork quite nicely. Thanks to oji-chan (that's my mom's dad - we call him the Japanese word for grandpa) for the photo.

Dad 'n' me

Here are some photos from my travels - that man propping me up is dad, of course. First up is a picture (a little blurry - mom's iPhone is handy, but not so good with lower light situations) from the Oklahoma Aquarium in Tulsa. That's a beaver in the background.

And here's one from the Tallgrass Prairie in Pawhuska, OK. It's very pretty out there - lots of tall grass as advertised, and wild bison to boot. We didn't get out of the car for photos with the bison, though I can assure you they were there and very large indeed.

Air Fin

OK, so I've been slacking on the posts lately. I've just had a busy few weeks - mom's doing a little more work now (she's my typist), and I was traveling recently. In fact, I had my first plane rides. I don't know what everyone was making such a big deal about. Seemed rather mundane to me, as you can see by this documentation...

I was conscious for some of it, though...

...and it was perfectly pleasant. I'll have to do that again sometime soon. More from my travels soon...

Au naturale

Mom nabbed a series of totally embarrassing changing table pictures. I selected the least incriminating for today's post.

Mmmm...

It's not glamour 24/7 for Big Fin. Sometimes a girl just has to get stuff done, and today was one of those days. Mom had me pose in this aisle at the grocery store for nostalgia's sake - she's not supposed to eat this kind of junk when she's feeding me, and now that dairy is off-limits (I apparently have a cow's milk allergy), it's the forbidden fruit...I feel so dangerous!

Beachside stroll

I had my 4 month check-up today, and to my great delight my left-side flat spot is disappearing! No silly looking helmet for me! I am 24 and 1/4 inches long and weigh 14 pounds, 4 ounces. I am told I'm in tip-top shape, although I was a little cranky after getting a few shots. So I met my friend Helena in Santa Monica and lunched and went for a walk in the park near the beach. This is a better picture of my moose, Mortimer, than me, but the scenery was so nice, I decided to post it.

Tea with Grandma

I went back to the Huntington to have tea with mom and grandma yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, and all the roses were in bloom. We had to wait a minute for our table, so mom snapped this very nice picture of us beforehand. I was a little hungry at the time, as you can probably tell.

 I was a little overeager when we arrived. But with mom's help, I managed to polish it all off, and then some.

Pooptastrophe

As a result of what mom is calling a "pooptastrophe," as opposed to the typical "poopsplosion," I am spending a moment with my maracas unfettered by clothing while much laundry is done. She seems to be muttering to herself a lot more than usual, for some reason...

I can sit up!

OK, fine, I need a little assistance from this Bumbo thing, and I can only do this for a few minutes at a time. But for a girl that just pooped all over her car seat, this is pretty good, right?

New Outfit!

I got a super cool outfit as a gift yesterday, so I just had to show it off to you all.

You can see the onesie better in this shot - it's Debbie Harry. How cool is that? It's perfect with the tutu. Now I just have to find an occasion to wear it - perhaps Wednesday's play group? Too much?

Nature Lover

Yesterday, we had a family outing to the Huntington, since there are lots of things blooming. I enjoyed it very much - I actually stayed awake for most of it, and even managed to look at some things here and there.

I thought dad was very amusing.

And mom snapped some good pictures of us together. This is one of my favorites.

Zzzzzzoo

On Saturday, mom and dad took me to the LA Zoo. I'm told that it was a nice afternoon - I managed to sleep through most of the trip, but dad snapped a few good pictures of me sleeping near some very impressive animals. Here's one of my favorite - I love giraffes!

Later, we had sushi with Aunt Junghyun and Uncle Blake, which was really tasty - and today, went to brunch at a super tasty restaurant with friends of Mom's and then toured around their home under construction in the Hollywood Hills - my very first job site! I firmed up my love of dining out and discovered my love of good architecture, all in one weekend.

Friends in all the right places

Hello! I had a busy few days, so I've got a little catching up to do here...On Friday, I spent a lovely afternoon on the Cal Tech campus with my friend Genevieve - lunch at the Athaneum and a nice stroll around campus, including a stop at a very nicely appointed lounge for nursing mothers where we had a little pit stop. The campus is really beautiful - I guess geniuses like good landscaping, too! Our moms snapped this picture - I think we both look rather smashing (I like to think that the missing sock adds a bit of artful dishevelment).