1) A short but very sweet visit from my former college housemate Amy, her husband and 3 boys. Maddy and Hayden just loved playing with Nathan, Chase and Aiden, and especially having them sleep over in their respective rooms. Despite the weather wimpy-ness of our Southern Cal visitors, we all enjoyed Multnomah Falls, the Portland Air Tram and Out of this World Pizza. Hayden’s still talking about those “Guys” and missing them.

2) While Dave was in NYC for the Big East Tournament, we had a fun girls weekend (plus Elijah and Jared) at my sister Maren’s house in Lebanon. Hayden and Maddy took turns holding “Baby Yia” and thankfully didn’t drop her. Maddy and Eva played/grabbed-toys-from-each-other, and I took the girls to see the Lorax, which was a great movie. Eva sat quietly and watched the whole thing intently, while Maddy and Hayden sat still but interjected with questions every 3-4 minutes (mostly from Hayden: “where’d Yorax go, mummy?”). We also had a really great visit with my grandparents and Aunt Doris, who all doted over the kids and played fun games with them.

3) I got to watch Maddy and Hayden’s last “Sibling Dance Fun” class of the Winter session (they loved it so much, they’ll be taking it again in the Spring). I wasn’t surprised to see Maddy do her performance thang, but I was quite impressed at Hayden’s ability to follow along with the instructor and successfully do some semi-real dance moves.

4) Last but not least, I took Maddy to check out our local elementary school’s Kindergarten round up this week. We’re not sure yet if she’ll start in Fall 2012 or 2013, but we figured it couldn’t hurt to get her used to the idea early. It was a little overwhelming at first, but both Maddy and I managed our nerves well, and she loved doing “kindergarten stuff” with the teachers and other kids in the classroom while I attended the Principal’s presentation. She even went on a little school bus ride with the other kids, which she absolutely loved despite her initial fears. I was so proud of her for keeping it together and handling being away from me in a new, big place.

Then things got really fun, when we left for a family vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at our Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jaimy’s villa. My college roommate Joanne joined us there with her husband and son, and we all had a fabulous week of relaxation, sunshine and more than a little wind. Here are some favorite pics of the trip (check out this slide show for more):

Highlights included the many whales we spotted on our whale-watching cruise, hours of fun at the pool, and Maddy’s focused rock/shell collecting on the beach. Maddy practiced her swimming and got around the whole pool quite well with her floaties. She also got in some good Spanish practice. Hayden loved wading around on her hands in the shallow end of the pool, but was not as fond of all the “messy” sand at the beach. What she did love about the beach was taking control of the vendor situation. Every time someone would approach within 20 feet of our chairs with goods to sell, Hayden would yell out “Non gracias!!!!!!” as loud as she could.

The girls loved their red envelopes, and we especially appreciated being able to celebrate with at least some family (even though it’s not a holiday my blue-eyed family knows much about).

In other news, Hayden’s using the potty quite frequently and even tells us when she’s ready to poo. Pee is a little harder for her to predict still, so she just does that on the potty when the timing works out. We’ve been spending many hours reading her favorite Dr. Seuss books while she sits there hoping to get lucky, and so far she’s managed to stay dry all day today (big milestone)!

She’s talking all the time, and loves to repeat things Maddy says, like “that’s beautiful.” Hayden’s adopted a British accent from Peppa Pig and calls us “Mummy” and “Deddy.” She puts together pretty complex sentences and sometimes finds her own ways to explain things when she can’t get the right words. For example, every time she wants/sees 2 or more of something, she says “3-5-6″ all as if it’s one word, meaning “multiple items.” For example, if she has one crayon but wants more she says “356″ over and over again until we give her another.

More on Maddy and other recent Phamster adventures shortly…

Last week was our wedding anniversary, and Maddy had more questions than usual about what that meant. We watched our wedding video and she was fascinated by the whole event, especially everyone who was there. She thought that we’d be having the wedding again that night and was very offended not to be invited, until I explained that mommy and daddy were just going to a boring dinner alone.

She decided that she really wants to marry her daddy when she grows up, and cried when I told her that wasn’t an option. She thinks we should all live together forever. She asked when Dave “found” me and when (how long after) we got married. When I told her it was 6 years later, she said “oh, so you had time to play together?”

Three months into her 5th year, she’s already decided she wants a scooter and miniature broom/dustpan for her birthday in September, and wants a party at Out of this World Pizza. I’m sure the list of requests will be getting longer and longer over the next 9 months.

Speaking of being demanding, ever since Halloween, Maddy’s had an obsession with treats. I should’ve gotten rid of her candy, because she’s been accumulating more faster than I let her eat it and now we have a huge stash on the top shelf of our pantry. She’s inherited my sweet tooth, and pretty much begs for a treat after every meal.

She’s also inherited Dave’s TV addiction, and her favorite shows these days are Super Why, Dinosaur Train, Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot about That, Franklin, Peppa Pig, Pocoyo, and Curious George. Interestingly, she doesn’t ask for Kai-Lan or Dora anymore, so she’s either forgotten about her old favorites or matured beyond them. When she watches TV her eyes glaze over and she’s completely oblivious to anything happening around her, which is why I attempt to limit her TV viewing to 30-60 min/day). She’s wily enough to find ways around that by getting Dave or Jimmy to put on shows for her, or sweet talking me into letting her use my Kindle to “play games” and then putting on videos.

Despite my concerns that the TV is mushifying her brain, she’s learned to count to 100 (with help remembering 20, 30, 40, etc.) and is working on the months of the year and days of the week. Maddy’s vocabulary seems to be doubling every week or so these days, and her memory skills never cease to amaze me. She can recite her entire “Super Friends: Attack of the Robot” book, including favorite lines like “Superman was trapped in the robot’s mechanical kryptonite claw!” and “That’s the voice of Superman’s archenemy, Lex Luthor.” The other day when we were reading the part about how Green Lantern protects us from threats in outer space she commented that maybe he sees Buzz Lightyear out there.

Unfortunately, she also enjoys using baby talk for some reason. We’re not sure if her intention is to mimic Hayden’s verbal abilities, or if it’s a sign that she wants to slow down her childhood.

Regardless of which “language” she’s speaking, she’s always either performing or bossing around whoever will listen (Hayden, friends, dolls, me), as can be seen in this video:

Maddy’s finally getting better at staying dry all night, although after one full week of success, she had a few wet nights this past week. Oh well.

For the record, here’s a compilation of my favorite recent Maddy quotes:

1/18/12 – “Sometimes I like to pretend I’m throwing up rainbow colors.” (using her rainbow-colored slinky)

1/17/12 – “Wow, there are more snowflakes than those birds we saw” (meaning the Swift birds back in Sept)

1/7/12 – “Why was Annie crying when she was hanging off the bridge? If I was hanging there and I saw the Super Friends, I’d say ‘hey guys, wanna hang with me?’” (watching Annie movie)

12/28/11 – “Look at that mad house” (regarding our neighbor’s extensive holiday decorations)

12/27/11 – Me: “These PJs are getting too small for you.” Maddy: “No, mom. I’m getting too big for THEM!”

12/5/11 – “Hayden, I’m going to put a force field around my dollhouse, so only big kids can play with it.”

11/25/11 – “That Eva is so silly, I can’t keep up with her.”

11/24/11 – Maddy: (regarding what she’s thankful for) “Thanksgiving.” Me: “Are you sure you can’t think of anything else?” Maddy: “Christmas.” Me: “How about something that’s not a holiday?” Maddy: “Halloween.”

11/6/11 – “Today I’m going to eat yogurt to pay for my garlic bread, instead of pasta, okay?”

11/2/11 – “I don’t like someone messing me up when I’m playing a game of order…all putting blues together, reds together and greens together.”

10/25/11 – (deciding whether she wants cake or candy for desert) “You could just put the candy inside the cake…”

10/6/11 – “The problem is that I don’t really like TV, but my brain keeps telling me that I want to watch kids shows and that’s why I have to ask you to watch them all the time.”

10/5/11 – “Mom, you’re a good chocolate (milk) maker, just like…what’s that clown with the red M at McDonald’s?”

9/27/11 – (singing): “Oh Jimmy, don’t you cry for me, cause I come from New York with a banjo on my knee! Oh Dave, don’t you cry for me, cause I come from Oregon with a banjo on my knee! Oh everyone, don’t you cry for me, cause we come from our states with a banjo on our kneeeeeeeeessss!!!!!”

Even though I can be reserved at times, I actually have a lot to say. Like when I’m disagreeing with my big sister Maddy about something, I’m always sure to say “doan yike it!” (I don’t like it) or to tell on her with “Maddy hitting” or “Maddy shawing” (Maddy’s not sharing with me).

I do have lots of nice things to say also, like “I wuv you” and “swit drems” (sweet dreams). I’ve noticed that other people call my mom and dad different things, so I’ve been trying it out lately, too. When mom is too slow to respond to a request, I just yell “Meagan Momma!” and that gets her attention. It’s fun to call daddy “Dave” too.

I’m very good at knowing when it is “naptime!” and when it is “waketime!,” and I don’t like it when sometime starts talking about naptime/bedtime before I’m ready. I’m always sure to tell them “No, not naptime. Waketime!”

Maddy’s been having some trouble sleeping at night lately, which is annoying ’cause we like to sleep in the same room. A few nights ago, she opened our door and woke me up just when I was falling asleep, so she’s been back in her own room lately. I know my parents are trying to help me get more sleep, but I don’t like it when bedtime changes, so I’ve been sure to protest cry for 30+ minutes when I’ve been put to bed alone the last 3 nights, and then I sleep really really good after I give up.

During waketime, I’ve also been watching Maddy at school and trying to learn some of the things she knows. I’m obsessed with our toy computer, and the other day I surprised my parents by correctly recognizing a bunch of alphabet letters (and they thought I just loved singing the alphabet song, silly parents). I couldn’t remember some of the letters they showed me, but I had no problem remembering the words my computer says when I press those letter (for example L=Lion!).

I still LOVE to count, in both English and Vietnamese. It’s so fun, sometimes I just look around me and try to find something I can count. I can count almost to 20, but not always in the right order. I usually go with something like “1…2…3…4…5…7…8…6…10…9…11…15…13…16″.

Counting is one reason why I love to play hide-and-seek. Our big girl neighbor Abby came over a couple weeks ago when I was sick with a 104 fever and feeling very lethargic. However, once she started playing hide-and-seek with Maddy, I decided my monkey grip on mommy was getting old and started following them around. Before I knew it I was feeling much better and giggling hysterically every time I was found or I found someone. When I play with mommy, I make her count while I run into the other room. Then as soon as she says “ready or not, here I come!” I run back to her and laugh really hard when she says “got you!”

Another skill I’ve been working on more is using the potty. I got new pullups and undies for Christmas, and I love my sticker charts. I’m pretty good about using the toilet before naps or bedtime. I don’t always feel like going when mommy tries to get me to during the day, but I’m more cooperative at school. I’m getting good at telling people when I need to poop, although usually that’s in the middle of the process so mom says it doesn’t really help her cause that much.

We took the girls back for their first visit to Cali in the 18 months since we moved, and they had a blast.

It was fun to see a lot of our old friends, and Maddy especially loved getting a Santa hat at Dave’s Bix reunion party, as well as her playtime with six of the craziest Yahoo! offspring…

We also celebrated our nephew Jimmy’s 21st birthday, as well as Dave’s birthday of course.

Dave got very “special” treatment this year, because Maddy had saved up a lot of quarters to buy him tokens at Chuck-e-Cheeses. They had lots of fun playing all the games and redeeming prizes.

The girls enjoyed celebrating the holidays more than ever this year, including making gingerbread houses, caroling with neighbors, and having Grandma (Ba Noi) in town for a visit.

(They kind of liked opening their gifts, too.)

My mom (Ba Ngoai) and I took Hayden for her first viewing of the Nutcracker (Maddy was supposed to go but got sick right before and was devastated to miss it). Hayden watched intently the entire time, and enjoyed sitting on Grandma’s lap. After Maddy recovered, Dave took her to her first symphony performance, where she loved all the holiday music.

And after Christmas, we had even more fun outings – the Portland Art Museum, the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie (Hayden’s 1st, with amazingly no squirming or fear of scary scenes), and ZooLights.

It’s going to be tough to start 2012 with nearly as much fun as we ended 2011, but I’m sure we’ll manage. Especially now that we’re getting more home performances like “the Dance of the Lemon Fairy.” Here’s just a short excerpt of the long show, which Maddy and Hayden regaled us with the other night:

I’m SOOOO excited for Christmas this year, it just can’t come soon enough. Mom says I have to think less about what I want Santa to bring for me, and think more about what I could give other people. So, I told her I’m going to take the whole family – mom, dad, Hayden, Jimmy and Uncle Gavin – to Chuck-e-Cheeses. Then she explained how you have to pay money to play those games, which is kind of a bummer. But I decided I’m old enough to do chores.

So, I help mom do dishes and clean my room and vacuum the kitchen, and she gives me shiny quarters! The only annoying thing is that Hayden always wants to copy me and so we have to fight over the vacuum now. But that’s okay, because I have a pretty good stack of coins no, so I’m not bothering with the chores as much.

Besides spending lots of time doing chores, I’ve also been really enjoying school lately. I kind of enjoyed the tennis class I took last month at first, but then I told mom it was harder than I thought to hit those balls with my racquet. Running around the gym for soccer is easier, but I also get tired from that sometimes.

I’ve also had a few very special activities that I want to tell you about. I took mommy to see Pinkilicious: The Musical for her birthday, and it was so cool! My favorite part was when we got to meet the actors at the end and they signed my playbill.

Then we got to have my cousins Elijah and Eva come stay with us for a couple days, which was my favorite kind of chaos. It was even better when we got to go stay with them the following week and help Aunt Maren take care of my itty bitty cousin Lorna Lia. I just loved holding her and Hayden gave her lots and lots of kisses.

After that, we had a super fun Thanksgiving with everyone at our house. Grandma helped us put on a “show” for the grown-ups, and I ate 4 kinds of desert.

Then last week, Grandma took a bunch of us to see Christmas Revels, a show about the longest night that had lots of dancing and singing. I got to dance all around with the audience and actors for the Lord of the Dance song.

Hayden still isn’t as good as me at talking, but I pretty much know what she’s thinking at all times, so I’ll fill you in on the Hayden happenings also. She paid close attention during the whole Revels show, and loved watching the musicians play their instruments. She actually got scared during two parts (even though I told her it wasn’t real), and she turned around to lean on mom’s shoulder so she couldn’t see the stage. But then when those parts were over she turned back around and was fine.

Lately, she’s been learning lots of letters from playing with our computer and likes to try to sing the alphabet song. She also loves to play hide-and-seek with me, mostly the part where you count and then yell “here I come!” She’s getting better at using the potty, and even does it at school now. Hopefully Santa can find panties small enough for her to put into her stocking.

She definitely has her favorite things, like this Pete Seeger story/song called Abiyoyo. When it comes on in the car, she says “Abiyoyo favite!” When my favorite songs come on, though, she says “doan yike it!” and tries to get mom to skip them.

The other day it was so sunny out that mom took us to a park we haven’t been to in a while, and as soon as we turned on the street of the park Hayden yelled “duck park!” That was pretty impressive, since we were still far from being able to see the park or even see the duck pond.

Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you about my scary accident. This week we were decorating our Christmas tree, and I was soooooo excited that I couldn’t hold still. After dumping every single ornament in a pile on the ground, I ran down the hall to get something and on my way back I wasn’t paying attention and ran full speed into the door frame. I was pretty shocked that my face had hit the wall so hard, but luckily mom and dad were right there and put lots of ice on my bump and my fat lip. Today, you can barely even tell anymore, ‘cept for a few purple spots.

Love,
Maddy

And Dave was inspired by Jimmy Kimmel to record this experience the next day:

She’s talking a lot more, and some of the cutest things she says lately are “dank you, mommy!” and “okay mommy!” Less cute is her adamant demand of “not dis!” if there’s a song, TV show, or food she doesn’t like. She also tells me a lot about her “poo poo” and “pee pee,” and sadly she and Maddy find it endearing to say “hi poo poo baby” over and over again to each other for some reason. The two of them go from silly crazy giggles laughing at each other, to screaming and yelling mad about something being claimed “mine,” and back to silly crazy giggles at least 2-3 teams each mealtime.

Hayden loves to count things in both English and Vietnamese, and will grab my finger to point it at the things I’m supposed to count and then attempt to count along. She also practices her alphabet by having me write and spell out her name for her on anything she’s coloring, which remains another favorite pastime. She still loves reading, and two of her favorite books these days are Pinkilicious (even though it has no lift-the-flaps or anything) and her One-two-buckle-my-shoe book (because she loves to “knock on the door”).

I think she’s in love with Calliou, which she pronounces “kay-ya” and will sit down and watch him whenever we’ll let her – sometimes she even sits still for the whole story.