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Saturday, November 15

Tears of Red

There's no one to blame but me. No, it wasn't caused by some bully boy at school. And although I occasionally still scratch myself, it is very unusual that it looks so prominent and so close to a very important organ - my eye. It's been two days since this happened; now it's finally crusting and healing. *Sigh* I just don't know why I do this to myself. Is it habit or food allergy, both, or something else? I know that one day I'll outgrow this. Hopefully, no scars. For now, it makes another blog entry.


From a distance, it looks like I might be crying red tears. Sad, isn't it?

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Friday, November 14

Me? Quite Possibly, the Happiest Toddler on the Block

Last evening, my folks and I attended a seminar by Dr. Harvey Karp, a renowned California pediatrician most famous for developing an approach for soothing fussy babies. More recently he pioneered a method of helping parents communicate with their emotional toddlers. I had no idea why my parents were even interested in attending, since obviously I happen to be a model child. Despite my indifference, they dragged me to his lecture, bought his DVD, found out a few neat things, and plan to test it on me to see if it would improve our relationship. Excuse me, but do I look like a guinea pig?

His takeaway point was that we toddlers are like cavemen. Our brains are primitive, based on emotion and not logic. Parents must thus effectively communicate in a way that involves short repetitious sentences and subtle mimicking of our emotions to help us (and them!) cope with difficulties.

You can read more about him and his program here. A February 2008 New York Times article is here.


We didn't have a camera at the lecture; besides, who wants a picture with a person who said she acts like a caveman? However, Dr. Karp was nice enough to autograph a DVD that was addressed to me!

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Thursday, November 13

Time Again for Emi's World - Travel Edition!

Let's just hope the travel angels will be kind to me this time, as starting Sunday, I will be off to Singapore and Taiwan! Why another overseas trip just six months after my first? The main reason is to visit my Tai yeh-yeh (great grandfather) for his 90th birthday! My parents are dreading the flight segments, as I can be a bit more particular than I was last time we went overseas. Chloral hydrate, anyone? At any rate, we will try to keep a daily blog of our trip at http://emisworld.wordpress.com/. So be sure to visit there, because there's nothing here for the next two weeks.


Me at the Orlando International Airport. I'm all psyched up for my next overseas trip. Maybe I'll take a liking to rojak or better yet...durian!

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Wednesday, November 12

Boating with Uncle John & Aunt Evonne

Almost two months ago now, my parents' good friends the Randolphs from Seattle came to visit us (this was during that dry spell when I wasn't blogging and now I am catching up). We visited them in April (see my April 26 entry), and now it was time for them to come see us! Since it was their first trip to Central Florida, we wanted to show that there is more to this area than just the theme parks. One great place to take visitors is the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, which takes you through some of the lakes in this community, rich with history and luxury homes. And it was my first boat ride - Bon voyage!








Top: With Aunty Evonne, equipped with life vest, ready to sail the rough seas! 2nd: This is pretty cool. Is that an alligator over there? 3rd: Fast boat plus high wind equals electric hair minus hat! Bottom: Obviously Uncle John & Aunty Evonne had a good time on that ride; I think I'm still recovering...

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Friday, November 7

From Inside the Courtyard Marriott: My Last Washington Blog

Given that most everyone is still abuzz about our new president-elect Obama, Mommy & I thought it would be great to post one more blog about my trip to Washington, the seat of politics here in the United States. This will be my last blog about my trip; this report hails from inside the Courtyard Marriott Embassy Row, where we stayed for a night. True to its name, the hotel is located just across the street from the Australian Embassy. The day we were to leave it was rather cold, giving us the excuse to hang out indoors until checkout time. It was a typical Courtyard, with its deep blue and gold patterned carpet, but as you can see in the photos, I had a very atypical time!






Top: A bath in this thing? You can't be serious! Middle: "She did what? Thought she was talking to the French President? What again? Thought Africa was a country? Get out of here!" Bottom: On occasion I see my twin friend, who deserves some affection every now and then.

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Tuesday, November 4

With Family and Friends in Maryland

Now that formal photos have been posted, let's post some pictures of the fun casual activities that I participated during my trip to visit my relatives.






Top: My approach to multitasking - playing with toys, but still managing to hold onto Janae's hand at the same time while Uncle Vernon supervises. Middle: Thoroughly enjoying an unseasonably warm Sunday morning as Nai-nai pushes me in a bright red wagon. Hint hint to my folks - Christmas gift? Bottom: Meeting a new older friend of mine, Aria Sukachevin, 20 months old for the first time with her mommy Gillian.

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Monday, November 3

Our Whole Family Together, At Last

(Sorry for skipping around - I'm back to blogging about my great time in the Washington, D.C. area last week)

Finally! After 425 days had passed since I was born, I met the rest of my family on Daddy's side. I saw Uncle Vernon, Aunty Joan, and cousins Kylie and Janae for the very first time. And of course the rest of the family, including Aunty Lisa and Uncle Steve and Shawn, Jason, and Ryan were up there as well. It was our first family reunion (with me).

One of the highlights of this visit was getting our first photo of all the family together. Thank you to Aunty Joan for arranging this for us. You can imagine the patience our photographer at Picture People must have had. But somehow we managed to get a few photos! Below are two photos taken of just the cousins.




Top: The cousins together at last. Look ma, I'm dancing! Or am I surfing? Bottom (left to right) Janae, Kylie, Jason, Shawn, Ryan, and me!

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Sunday, November 2

Better to Give than to Receive

Halloween was a lot more interactive this year compared to last. Instead of just being held while Mommy gave out candy to trick-o'-treaters, I actually held out candy and gave it to the children. It didn't take me long to realize that all the candy in the orange bowl was not for me, but for all our “guests” dressed up in weird-looking clothes. I soon learned to pick up candy and drop it in their bag every time a trick-o'-treater came up to our front door. This was so much fun! There was one thing that didn't change from last year - a lot of children took a look at me and exclaimed, “Oh, she's so cute!”










Top: Surrounded by two large pumpkins, ready for the fall Halloween festival! 2nd: Dress rehearsal, practicing picking up candy for tonight's activity. 3rd: Dressed in my Halloween outfit, waiting for all those children. Where are they? 4th and bottom: At last, dropping candy for my guests - a ninja girl and a purple Tinkerbell.