Prof Cava's birthday celebration 2008

Yesterday, we brought our girl to Princeton to attend the birthday celebration of Prof Cava, daddy's PhD adviser. At first, we were running a bit late, so daddy sped all the way along the highway. However, we were caught in a traffic jam on Route 206 in New Jersey for awhile. By the time we reached there, it was already 3 o'clock just in time for the cake-cutting.

As part of the group's practice, Prof Cava had to blow the candles through a small hole in a paper cup and he did it in one breath! That's really amazing! Three cheers for Prof Cava!

Little Sheri is the youngest member of the group. Auntie Linda had specially prepared a birthday hat for her.

Sheri: I've put on my bib. I'm all ready for the cake.

Here's comes the cake!

Auntie Linda always bakes very delicious cakes for the group. The cake was really yummy!

It's nice to meet up with the rest of the alumni. Three cheers to the Cava's group!

The foo family would like to wish Prof Cava a very happy birthday and many happy returns!

Even though it was not Sheri's birthday, Auntie Linda gave her a big present.

Our little girl could not wait to open the gift bag that Auntie Linda gave her. Guess what did she find?

A storybook about animals!

Sheri could not wait to lift up the flaps in the book to see the animals. What a perfect gift for her!

In fact, Sheri loves the book so much that it was the first book that she took out the next morning. She even brought the book all the way to the bathroom to find mommy. I guess she really wants mommy to read the book to her.

Auntie Linda also bought some beautiful clothes for our little Sheri! Mommy could not wait to put it on her. Thank you, Auntie Linda!

This year, we did not make it in time for the cherry blossom at Princeton. Most of the flowers had fallen when we reached there. What a pity!

The weather was pretty warm yesterday. Many people could not resist going into the pond for a big splash. Of course, our little girl could not wait to join in the fun too. Unfortunately, mommy forgot to bring an extra set of clothes for her, so we could only let her get her feet wet even though this brave little girl wanted to venture further into the pond.

After having some fun at the pond, daddy wanted to bring Sheri to take a picture with the mascot of Princeton University.

On our way there, daddy insisted on taking a picture with this bell even though mommy was more interested in looking at the architecture of the buildings. Mommy and daddy took some wedding pictures in the campus when we registered our marriage at the City Hall in Princeton in 2003, so taking a walk in the campus always brings back fond memories.


Finally, we reached the Nassau Hall and took a picture with the Tiger, which is the mascot of Princeton University.

This was the last shot we took before leaving. Goodbye, Princeton!

Auntie Galy's place & Breinigsville's playground

It has been quite sometime since mommy met up with Auntie Galy. I guess the cold winter really kept everybody indoors. From my earlier post, you should know that Auntie Galy has a daughter called Grace who is one month older than Sheri. Yesterday, mommy brought Sheri to Auntie Galy's house. Grace has lots of new toys ever since the last time we went to her house. She is such a lovable girl that she is always so willing to share her toys with Sheri.
After some catching up, Auntie Galy suggested going to the playground at Breinigsville since it was such a sunny day. As I have told you in my earlier post, it is difficult to find common playground here, so mommy is always exploring new playgrounds in the vicinity, especially when the weather is so pleasant nowadays. It feels like having free air-conditioning in the air.

Well, it turned out that it was really a good recommendation from Auntie Galy. The playground at Breinigsville is much larger than the playground that we used to go at Macungie Memorial Park.

Playing hide-and-seek with mommy!

Sheri: Should I try the rocking horse?

Little girl laying her hands at the drums!

Two little cuties playing together!

Grace: Here's your hat, Sheri!


There are two baby swings at the playground. Here we go.....

One last parting shot before we left

Little Gym's introductory class

Last Saturday, we brought Sheri to the free introductory class at Little Gym. Our little girl is getting more and more active nowadays, so naughty daddy and mommy thought it might be a good idea to exhaust her energy through the gymnastic class.
Even though we were running a bit late at first, we still managed to arrive at the class ten minutes earlier. All thanks to daddy who managed to get our little princess out of the house on time. Our little girl trying to balance herself on a narrow beam.


It's time to crawl through the small tunnel. Sheri: I guess I can do this myself.


How about a good swing at the pole like a monkey!


The main focus of that lesson was to get the kids to walk sideways on the parallel poles. Brave Sheri was the first to try. She completed the course successfully even though she did look a bit fearful when she went up onto the pole. Good job, Sheri!

After all the gymnastics, the instructor took out some balls for the kids to dribble. Sheri managed to catch hold of a blue ball.


The lesson ended with some bubbles. Look at our little Sheri! She was completely mesmerized by the bubbles.

An avid cheese lover

Even though daddy and mom are not avid cheese lovers, our little girl loves to eat cheese. Inevitably, cheese has become part of her diet. However, she is pretty selective in the kind of cheese that she eats. Here, the supermarket has a wide selection of cheese. According to daddy. she will shun away from certain cheeses, but she will open her mouth widely on some of them. Here is the piece of Argentina cheese that we bought for her on Saturday.

This greedy little girl could not wait to munch the cheese even before we checked out.

Spring party at moms' group

Last Thursday, mommy brought Sheri to the spring party at moms' group for the second time. This time, the kids had the chance to do some handicraft work. Unfortunately, Sheri is too young to participate in this activity. Even though mommy tried to hold on to her to do some colouring with crayons, she did not seem to be too keen on it. Instead, she was more interested in putting the crayons into her mouth. In the end, mommy had to give up and let her wander around as she wished. See how naughty she was in climbing up to the chair herself. Occasionally, she would play with the board or push around the little truck.

After the spring party at the mom's group, we went to Auntie Jess's place. As usual, she would just wander around. One of her favourite activities at the Auntie Jess's place is to climb up the stairs. She seemed to have forgotten the fact that she fell on the hardwood floor from the stairs the last time we came. Mommy had to watch this little girl carefully to make sure that she did not miss her step. Yummy! The french fries was delicious! Thanks to Han who was willing to share with Sheri his fries.

Be the time we got home, it was already one o'clock. Sheri took a 2 hour nap before we went out to the park to take a walk. We were lucky to chance upon a cycling race at the park. Sheri was excited to see so many cyclists sped past her. It was also the first time that mommy witnessed a cycling race at such a close distance.

Beautiful day in the park!

Today's weather is beautiful. Frankly speaking, I was unable to appreciate this statement in the past, however being in a country with four seasons really makes me to be more appreciative of the weather. Every day seems to be different depending on the weather.

Today's weather is very pleasant with temperature hovering around 65 Fahrenheit (18 oC). Finally, we could sense that spring is in the air. Mommy could not resist the idea of bringing little Sheri out to take a walk. After being in the cold for so many months, it is very uplifting to get out of the house without the hassle of putting on thick jackets.

Off we go!

Nowadays, little Sheri likes to utter the word 'sit' whenever she sees a rock or a bench in the park. Well, mommy interprets it that she wants to sit on it. So, here she is, happily sitting on the rocks and benches!

Dinner with Uncle Jerry and Auntie Danielle

Last Saturday, we had dinner with Uncle Jerry and Auntie Danielle. Uncle Jerry was daddy's sister ex-boss when he was sent to Singapore to set up an office. When he came back to the States, he took good care of daddy when daddy was studying in Princeton.
This was a much awaited dinner as we could not really find a good time to meet up as Uncle Jerry travels frequently. I think the last time we met up was in last summer when Sheri was just about 7 months old. Even Auntie Danielle commented that Sheri has grown so big since the last time she met her. Time flies. I guess we do not realise it until you see how much kids have grown.
We had dinner at this Japanese restaurant called Murashi. It was daddy's colleague who recommended this place to us. The ambience is good, but more importantly, the food is excellent too. Daddy and mommy decided to go on a splurge . We had seaweed salad as the appetizer, sushi and sashimi combo as the main course followed by fried cheesecake as the dessert. The sushi and sashimi combo was the most expensive main course on the menu, but it was so fresh and succulent that it was worth every single cent that we paid. The only drawback was that mommy could not enjoy the meal to the fullest as I had to keep our little girl entertained all the time. Nowadays, she is so active that it is difficult to keep her seated in the baby seat. She is more interested in wandering around. Fortunately, the restaurants here allow us to pack the remaining food home, so mommy could continue to enjoy the sashimi when we went home.

Uncle Jerry had recently gone to Singapore for business trip, so it was nice to hear about the changes he had witnessed in Singapore during his trip. With great company and good food, it was an enjoyable evening for all of us.

First Mom's group meeting

Last Thursday, mommy went to the mom's group meeting for the first time. Unlike the spring party that we attended a couple of weeks ago, all the moms can deposit their kids in the nursery so that they can relax and get together in the mom's group meeting without the hassle of watching after their kids. At first, mommy was a bit apprehensive about leaving Sheri in the nursery as she had not left us ever since from the day she was born. However, at the same time, mommy was also curious about how she would react if I were to leave her in an unfamiliar environment. Anyway, I went ahead as planned. Daddy sent us to Auntie Jess's place in the morning to hitch a ride from Auntie Jess. Auntie Jess has a big dog in the house. His name is Aramas(I hope this is the correct spelling). Sheri loves dogs. Even though Aramas is much bigger than her, she does not seem to be afraid of him. See how tender she was in stroking Aramas. Aramas used to have very nice fur, but they seemed to have trimmed it off recently.


We were running a bit late when we reached the place, so mommy did not have the chance to say 'bye bye' to Sheri when we left her in the one year olds' nursery. The people who took care of the kids in the nursery are mainly retirees whose kids have grown up, so many of them are very experienced babysitters. Frankly speaking, mommy should be able to set her mind at ease, but somehow, mommy could not really concentrate in attending the workshop. Breakfast was provided at the mom's group and they had also arranged for a speaker that day who is a family counselor to speak to us about good parenting skills. After the talk, we had small group discussions to share with each other any insights about the talk. It was very beneficial for mommy as most of the moms in the mom's group have at least 3 kids at home. Domestic help is hard to come by here, so it is pretty amazing to see how they can take care of so many kids singlehandedly at home. One of them even home schooled all her four kids. However, mommy's mind seemed to be with little Sheri all the time even though I was not with her physically. Thinking that the baby sitter would come and get me at anytime because little Sheri was crying miserably for her mommy, mommy could not help but turned my head towards the entrance everytime I heard someone opening the door. Mommy waited and waited, but miraculously, nobody came to get me. So, little Sheri survived the two hours in the nursery. I'm so proud of her.

When I went to get her in the nursery, I could hear her cries before I stepped into the room. The baby sitter told me that she must have smelt my presence. Anyway, most of the parents were there picking up there kids, so she must be thinking where her mommy was. Anyway, she stopped crying the minute she saw me. The babysitter told mommy that it took her quite awhile for her to roam around in the nursery as she started crying when I left her. However, considering that it was her first time she left mommy's arms, she said that she was doing well and she believed that she would do better the next time. After mommy brought her out of the nursery, she was back to her usual self, roaming around freely and fiddling with things she could lay her hands now.

Well, this was a short separation from mommy. Through this, mommy just wanted her to learn to adapt to new environment and develop a sense of independence. Hopefully, this will put her in good stead when she goes to playgroups in the future.