New Tricks

Here are some of our newest tricks. It's amazing how fast these kids are growing up!! I asked Vivi if she could stay little forever and she told me "I 5." Great, already lying about her age!



Tonito:

1) Can jump off the bottom stair or into the pool (and land on his feet:)

2) Recognizes some letters and *constantly* points out "T for Tonito!"

3) Says "I like...," "Why?," "I show Papi," and "It's my turn"

4) Is starting "dramatic play" (imagining/pretending with play animals)

5) Sits and listens to books every night and asks for more

6) LOVES bulldozers, backhoes, flatbeds, cranes, dump trucks, cement trucks (and identifies them all)

7) Throws really well overhand

8) Likes to feed and play with Maya (and of course play with Vivi)



Viviana:

1) Makes her bed and fixes her stuffed animals

2) Is starting to broaden her food horizons (she ate grilled chicken at Grandma's!)

3) Goes underwater by herself

4) LOVES princesses (her current favorites are Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella)

5) Is a very fast runner and has excellent form:)

6) LOVES to cook

7) Sings the entire song "Somewhere out there" from the movie American Tail

8) Tries to make Maya laugh





Maya:

1) Waves bye-bye

2) Claps when you say "yay!" or "bravo!"

3) Says "uh-oh" (sometimes leaves off the second syllable so it's more like "uh")

4) Crawls everywhere and when I let her can climb up an entire flight of stairs

5) We *think* she says: "mama," "uh-oh," "baba" (bye-bye), and it sounds like "Vivi"

6) Laughs hysterically at her siblings

7) Sucks her thumb

8) Has 5 teeth (missing the stubborn one in front on top)

9) Points at airplanes overhead

We love the zoo!!

We love the zoo by our house and go every couple of weeks. Vivi's all-time, hands-down favorite animal is the "fa-fa" (derived from jirafa, Spanish for giraffe), and Tonito likes both the monkeys and lions. Dolphins are also a must-see whenever we go. This year they have a cool hands-on exhibit with sting-ray and little sharks which the kids really enjoyed. I wonder what Tonito thinks of all of this? We points and shrieks and talks so fast we don't know if he's speaking English or Chinese :). I'm sure he's never seen live animals up-close before... we've read books with animals but I wodner if he associates 2D pictures with these huge beasts. Whatever he's thinking, he always has a good time and runs from one animal to the next. These kids are having too much fun this summer!

These next pictures are from our trip to meet some CHI families that travelled with us to China!

Here is yet another trip to the zoo, with some of my high school friends:). Our kids are all around the same age, which is very fun!!! Tonito and Vivi were in heaven because they each got to hold hands with a "big kid."