We’ve been super-lucky to get lots of quality time with him, especially during the past 9 month while he’s been working at home. He says he’s starting a new job and will have to work in an “office” starting tomorrow, but I’m still trying to convince him to just work in our home office with mommy cause we’ll miss him lots.

Even though our daddy can be kind of strict and OCD-ish sometimes, we still worship him and love to play or watch TV with him. Sometimes I even call him “master,” and when he asks “Who’s the boss?” I always say “daddy.”

Here’s a slideshow with some of the fun times we’ve had with our daddy over the past year.

- Maddy

I also very much enjoyed trying to eat everything in sight – especially the crinkly wrapping paper and bows. But I actually did get to eat one of my presents – my first rice cereal! I wasn’t so sure I liked it at first, but I’m starting to love it now.

I also got some great teething toys, which was a relief because my gums are hurting lots lately. Mom and dad say there are teeth under there, but they’re no where in sight yet.

At least Maddy makes sure that I have a toy to play with (a.k.a. shove in my mouth) all the time. As soon as I wake up from a nap, the first thing Maddy does (even if mommy’s in the middle of feeding me or changing me) is run to the toy box and find a rattle or toy to bring me. She’s the best.

Maddy is also great at interpreting all of my noises, cries and facial expressions, so I always know that she’ll communicate my pain (or whatever) for me. She’s always telling mommy things like “Hayden’s hungry!” or “Hayden’s happy!” or “Hayden’s laughing at me!” or “Hayden’s tired” or “Hayden’s teeth hurt,” so I never have to worry that mommy won’t notice what’s going on or try to ignore me.

I’m a lucky lucky girl.

- Hayden

It’s hard to believe that my third Christmas is already behind me. This one was soooooo much more fun than the last two. Not only did I get the added responsibility of helping Hayden and mom and dad open their presents, I got some really cool gifts myself!

The big one was this awesome computer that mommy and daddy gave me, so I can work hard just like them. I’ve spent almost every minute since Christmas pressing all the letter buttons, and I love the cool noises pictures it makes for each one.

I also got a neat beehive from Grandpa and Nana that has cute little bees I can practice counting with, a Snow White book and movie, TWO awesome Little Einsteins coloring books, some pretty clothes, an Annie CD, money for my piggy bank, new books, lots of candy, and more great stuff in my stocking. I was so excited that I said “Oh Boy!” every time I opened a present and I had to jump up and down with joy when I saw my laptop.

In addition to the gifts, we got to do some fun stuff around town. We went to see San Jose’s Christmas in the Park, where there were tons of pretty Christmas trees, neat displays, snow and bubbles coming down from the sky, and most importantly Santa’s train!

And mommy and I went on a date to see the Nutcracker! I got to dress up in this pretty dress Aunt Monica and Ba Noi gave me, and I wore my squeeky shoes from Susette (everyone got a kick out of that at the theater).

There were all these great dancers to watch – I liked the fairies and the Nutcracker himself most of all. The only problem was that mommy kept shushing me the whole show and didn’t seem to like it when I tried to get a good view by standing in front of other people’s seats. I just wanted to enjoy the dancing and know what was happening. It would’ve been much better if mom had played along and answered my questions, like when I asked “Where’d the Nutcracker go?” 20 times at top volume.

Oh, and I caught the boy next to us taking a nap – that is until I pointed in his face while yelling “Mamma, why is he sleeping?” and woke him up. Haha

Hope you all had as great of a holiday season as I did!

- Maddy

Hayden and I just love our daddy. Even though we may be a little distracted by the Christmas festivities, we have in actuality been looking forward to his birthday for a while. I can’t wait to sing “Happy Birthday to Daddy…” and eat CAKE!

In thinking about dad’s special day, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can make sure he knows that we appreciate everything he does for us. Hopefully he’ll like the little present that mommy helped us make.

We’ve gotten lots of great bonding time in with daddy this year, especially since he started working his new job a few months ago and gets to be home most of the time. I try not to bug him too much when he’s in the office, but sometimes he lets me go in there and watch songs on YouTube while he works on his laptop.

My top 10 favorite memories with daddy this year are:

10. Apple picking in New York, when daddy lifted me super-high to reach the apples on the trees.

9. Daddy coming to my swim class, even though he thinks public swimming pools are gross.

8. Entertaining each other on lots of plane rides.

7. Getting beamed up together at the Star Trek in the San Jose Tech Museum.

6. Daddy carrying me all over the neighborhood because I was too scared to walk myself when we went trick-or-treating.

5. Watching the Yankees win the World Series.

4. Decorating our Christmas tree.

3. Going to my first Syracuse Orange game at the Carrier Dome, and meeting Otto.

2. Daddy introducing me to my little sister Hayden.

1. Daddy introducing me to the movie Annie.

Thanks for being the best daddy in the whole wide world!

- Maddy (and Hayden, if she could talk)

- Maddy: “This my cupcake, mommy.”
- Meagan: “No, it’s mine, but if you’re a good girl and go on the potty when we get home, maybe I’ll give you a bite.”
- Maddy (thoughtfully): “Hmmm. No, I think I eat it my cupcake. Maybe give you little piece, mommy.”

Upon discussing what she wants for Christmas:

- Meagan: “What do you want for Christmas, Maddy?”
- Maddy: “Christmas wishbox!” (this is from an episode of Little Einsteins in which they receive magic Christmas presents that turn into their wishes)
- Meagan: “Okay, great, what will you wish for?”
- Maddy: “Hmmm. Maddy! And mommy and daddy and Hayden.”
- Meagan: “That’s nice, we will all be together on Christmas.”
- Maddy (to Hayden): “Hayden, you want it wishbox? I share my wishbox with you.”

Upon discussing her sister:

- Maddy: “Hayden’s going to get bigger bigger bigger, like me!”
- Meagan: “Oh yeah? What’s she going do to when she gets bigger?”
- Maddy: “When Hayden gets bigger bigger, she’s going to eat pizza with me! And she’s going to dance with me!”

I am just giddy for the holidays this year! It all started when I saw the huge Christmas tree at our hotel in Oregon over Thanksgiving weekend, and then when we got back to California daddy brought home our very own Christmas tree.

I jumped and danced and ran around in circles the whole time we were decorating it because I was so excited. I love to sit next to the tree and just gaze at all the cool ornaments. I love even more to take them off the tree and play with them, but mommy and daddy don’t like that so much. I don’t see why, I’ve only broken one so far – too bad it was our favorite Otto the Orange ornament

Also, this year I found out there’s this guy Santa Claus who supposedly grants Christmas wishes. That sounds pretty cool, but not so cool that I was ready to jump on some strange guy in a red coat’s lap when we met him at the library. Eventually I did sit on his lap, but only to say thank you for the YUMMY candycane he gave me.

In other news, I have some fun games I like to play now. Lately, I like pretending to be different animals. My favorites are being a butterfly, panda bear or alligator.

I also LOVE to play the WHY game, because it’s great to see mom and dad get exasperated. Today when mom said it was time for dinner, this is how the conversation went: ME: Why? MOM: Because it’s almost bedtime. ME: Why? MOM: Because it’s dark out. ME: Why? MOM: Because the sun went to bed. ME: Why? MOM: Because it was tired and you should be too. ME: WHY? MOM: Because you’ve been running circles around this house all day. ME: Why? MOM: Because you’re crazy. ME: Why? MOM: I don’t know, you tell me…

Aren’t I funny? I also like to say “What?” all the time when I want to pretend I don’t know what I’m being told to do, and whenever anyone says “Why?” to me, I always respond with a prompt “Because.”

I’ve also figured out some good things to say when I get really frustrated and am not getting what I want. It’s interesting to see the reactions I get, like the other day when I angrily said “I’m mad at you mom!” and then tried to push my mom, I think I almost caught her laughing. That was weird. She doesn’t laugh when I hit her, though.

Ugh, I’m so sick of time outs.

Highlights
- Yummy food by everyone, and chaotic, yet fun times with my siblings and their families
- The serene mountain setting we had for a week up at Mt. Hood in Oregon, where we got to see snow (who knew we would see it again just a week later in the Bay Area)!
- Lorna’s great photoshoots with us Phamsters, which she blogged about here, here and here
- Hearing Gavin’s reaction to changing Maddy’s poopie diaper
- Hot tub-ing with my sisters at our condo
- Sage teaching Maddy how to ballroom dance at Lorna’s house
- Swimming with Eva and Maren at our hotel’s indoor pool, where Maddy went from frightened to fearless in 60 seconds

Lowlights
- Maddy, and then Hayden and I, getting sick (thankfully we’re all healthy now)
- Missing out on going tube-ing and on a sleigh ride because we didn’t have chains to get far enough up the mountain in the snow
- Flight home alone with both kids (Hayden made a point of pooping just before the plane took off and then screamed for the first hour of the flight because she didn’t understand why it had taken me so long to change her – guess 5-month-olds don’t understand the concept of a seat-belt rule)

While Hayden just sat around passively, this was the first year Maddy actively participated in the Halloween festivities.

In addition to two pumpkin patch visits, she also went trick-or-treating on our street and helped us pass out candy to the 300+ trick-or-treaters that made it to our house before we ran out of candy.

Her ladybug costume fit her better this year, and since she doesn’t remember the 10 minutes that she wore it in New Jersey last year, she was very excited to dress up. She was also thrilled to get some candy, until she realized that she first had to brave streets filled with monster, witches and ghosts.

She insisted that her daddy carry her everywhere, and the day after Halloween she explained that this was because she was afraid the monsters would take her basket of candy.

The costume that really peaked her anxiety right at the beginning of the night was one of our first trick-or-treaters dressed as Chucky. I could totally understand this, because I was deathly afraid of Chucky after I saw Child’s Play as a tween and had nightmares about him for many years.

Since Saturday, I’ve instituted a once-piece-of-candy-for-each-successful-potty-time rule, and as a result Maddy’s interest in the potty was reborn. Unfortunately, we’ve only had one successful pee-pee on the potty in about 20 attempts, so now interest is waning again.

Daddy lets me climb all over him even when he’s trying to take a nap.

He lets me eat his chips and sometimes drink his Thai iced teas.

He lets me mess up the house with all my toys, even though clutter is one of his biggest “pet peeves” (whatever that means).

He gives me really great baths every night so I’m nice and clean, and he even changes my poopie diapers from time-to-time.

When I’m scared of the dark at night or just don’t want to take a nap during the day, mommy leaves me crying in my crib but daddy comes in and lays down on the floor next to me so I have company.

Mommy’s been really tired lately but daddy makes up for it by giving me lots and lots of attention.

Thank you daddy!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy! Hope you like the video.

Love you,
-Maddy