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November 17, 2003
Okay, I’m getting lazier by the minute. I just looked at
the website and noticed that I have not written an update in over three months.
Well, let’s see. What’s new?
Zachary has become a little rascal. He is learning how to
get into everything such as our cabinets and shelves. Since we are going to be
moving soon, we did not take the time to baby-proof the house. He loves to get
a hold of the pots and pans and bang on them in the kitchen. He is also
starting to learn how to climb up things such as our bed and his crib. He’s not
at the point where he can climb out of this crib yet, but he’s trying pretty
hard. He also likes to lift himself up on the edge of the cabinets and grab
whatever is on the edge of the counters. He also knows how to put on a temper
tantrum. He’s infamous for felling down onto the floor and start kicking all
over when he doesn’t get what he wants. He also very smart where to fall down.
He has “learned” from experience, not to drop himself on cement, vinyl, or tiled
areas. He continues the temper tantrum until someone goes to pick him up or
until he can find someone to
The house is coming by really well. If you have not seen
the latest pictures, you should go see
them now. From the pictures, you can tell that the house is pretty much
complete. We also already have a walk-thru date set for December 11th
and December 18th. If everything goes well, we should be able to get
the keys to the house on the 18th of December. With the builder that
we have, we could not lock on our interest rate until we got a walk-thru date.
Well, now that we already have one, I still have not locked on our interest rate
yet. Right now, we are sitting on 5.75% as our interest rate, but since the
bond market has been doing so well, I am waiting for the best rate. I just
can’t wait until the 18th of December. It’s would be exactly one
week before Christmas and this is thus far, the best Christmas present I’ve ever
received.
Nicholas. He’s growing. We are trying to prepare him for
kindergarten by teaching him how to say his entire name. We are also trying to
teach him the alphabets and numbers (both English and Cantonese). He likes to
draw and write so we have been trying to give him some paper and pencil to write
with. We would write his name and other words on the paper for him to follow.
He’s pretty good at it. I mean, it’s still a bit sloppy, but you can’t expect
too much from a 4-year-old. He also has been learning a lot by watching
educational cartoon such as Dora, the Explorer.
November 25, 2003
Zachary is starting to become a very bossy boy. When he
doesn’t get what he wants, he cries his head off until someone gives him what he
wants. He also isn't very good at right and wrong. I know that he is still
very young, but even when I tell him that he is bad, he just smiles at me and
continues doing whatever he was doing. And when I take him away, he acts up by
crying and kicking. I just don’t remember Nicholas being this mischievous when
he was Zachary’s age. (I do! -Daddy)
Okay, enough of the bad side of Zachary. Another one of
his teeth just came. It’s one of his molars. It’s on the bottom right. He is
also starting to repeat words that we say and is starting to associate them to
things that he knows. For example, he always says “mum mum” when he sees food.
He also can say “shoe shoe” when he sees a pair of shoes. Another word that he
can say is “ba ba” for daddy in Chinese. He actually says that to Michael. He
can say rice porridge in Chinese and he understands you when you say “close the
door.” Like Nicholas, he knows where to take his dirty diaper after he has been
changed. He loves to say “bo bo” for the word ball. (He loves to play with
balls and throw them up and down.) He can also say “milk” in Chinese when he
wants milk. Finally, he knows how to say “bye-bye” and will wave to you when he
says it.
Nicholas is getting along great with Zachary. Whenever
they are by themselves either at my parents’ or our house, they spend most of
the time with each other. It’s really amazing watching them and how they can
make each other laugh at the weirdest things. Zachary will laugh at Nicholas
doing the “peek-a-boo” with a blanket while Nicholas will laugh at Zachary just
jumping up and down on the bed. Nicholas is very good with Zachary. He
normally will give Zachary want he wants when he wants it. We try to explain to
him that Zachary is much younger and does not understand the concept of sharing
yet, but he needs to share with his brother. We try to tell him to give it to
Zachary and when Zachary is not playing with the toy anymore, then he can have
it. Most of time, he’s very receptive to this, but there are those times where
he gets really upset over it. There are also other times where he won’t give up
the toy and will find Zachary something else that Zachary will want to play
with. He also knows to treat his brother with care. (No shoving, pushing or
bullying around the younger brother) I’m very proud of Nicholas and how he has
been handling the whole big brother thing. I really think that he will be a
great role model for Zachary as they grow older.
Nicholas is starting to develop an interest for drawing.
He likes to outline words that you have written on a piece of paper. He will
try to trace it with whatever marker, pen, or pencil he has on hand. Last night
when we were signing Midge’s birthday card, he was tracing “Grandma, Happy
Birthday” with a pen so it really looked like he was writing “Grandma, Happy
Birthday.” He loves to watch his cousins do their homework. However, because
there are so many kids at my parents’ house and my sister just does not have the
time to include Nicholas in the homework activities that my nieces are doing
also, he does not participate in the same activities that they are doing. We
are trying to help him out by giving him paper and markers to write with when
he’s home. We write words like Nicky, Zacky, mommy and daddy on the paper for
him to trace after. Oh, yeah. Nicholas can also say his full name, Nicholas
Ryan Van Zandt. We wanted to make sure that he knew how to say that just in
case he got separated from us in public.
Michael’s the same old Michael. There’s not much different
about him. He’s going to be one year older in another few weeks. I don’t know
how he feels about that. He’s going to be 40 in a few more years. I know that
he’s not looking forward to that. I don’t know if I want to throw him a big
40th birthday party. I know that he hates birthday parties for him already so
to top it off with the big 40 may not be a very good idea. (You're right! It's
not! - Daddy) But you’re 40 only once. We’ll see as we get closer to the number
40.
As for me, I’m getting old and I’m starting to forget
things all the time. It’s kind of hard for me to take this memory loss thing
right now. I’m normally really good with the memory thing, but the last weekend
has not been a very good week for it. I seem to be misplacing things all the
time and it’s driving me nuts that I can’t remember where they are. I guess I
just don’t want to accept that fact that I’m getting old and as you get older,
your memory gets worse. Besides this whole memory loss thing, I’m okay. I’ve
been sick the last few days with a cold (I think). I’ve been really busy lately
watching the financial market to determine when to lock on my interest rate. We
ended up with an extremely good fixed interest rate so I’m very proud of myself
for timing things just right.
Well, I have no idea when I will be writing another update
since the next month will be extremely busy with the holidays and the moving.
After we move, we still have to go back to the old house to clean up the house
for the renters who will be moving in January 2004. If I don’t write before
then, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving and please do drive safely for those who
are going out of town!
December 3, 2003
Okay, an update on the family since what I wrote on
November 25th still has not been published. We went to look at the
house over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was beautiful. The house is pretty
much done, but they have to go through an internal walk-thru before we can go
through our walk-thrus. All the carpets are in and so are all the appliances.
The only thing that was not finished was the chalet in the kitchen. Nicholas
and Zachary really liked the house. They like the fact that it has so much room
for them to run back and forth. I think that they will really enjoy the game
room.
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