what winter break?

Has it really been about a month since our last post? Here's a belated happy new year to all loyal fans of iloveberrberrs! And, a brief summary of events in the life of Binbin since December 28, 2007.

We celebrated the new year with Yeye and Nainai, and though there was champagne to go around, Binbin stuck with the smoked salmon. His days were filled with PBS kids cartoons, running circles around the house telling one or another of us to be a "scary robot", reading pre-PC Babar stories, playing PBS kids video games, cooking in the kitchen with Nainai, and playing with Yeye's train. We took regular trips to the grocery store, and he would run around there like a maniac, and try to say "boo!" to Yeye or Nainai as they came down the aisles.

With the long break, I decided that it was time. It was time to...potty train. Day after day was really load after load (of laundry). Binbin would wet his pants as he called out "potty!" throughout the house. There were moments of short-lived triumph...say 2 uses of the potty in a row. But more typically, we would resort to pull-ups by noon. As I write now...Binbin is still not fully potty trained, but those weeks of constant laundering are paying off. He is more willing to use the potty, and lately, he's been peeing standing up!

Binbin's new favorite snack or light meal ever since being in Rockford is "two crackers; two cookies!" meaning 2 Carr's water crackers and 2 Carr's whole wheat crackers. They are pretty darn good, and they must *always* be eaten in twos.

We came home to Maine on the 3rd and readjusted to life with daycare. Binbin's losing his naps on the weekends, but if he naps...he cannot get to sleep before 9. We've shifted his bedtime milk to before brushing teeth and before reading stories without too much of a battle. But, in many ways he's still our baby.

Ah-po came for a visit this past week, and amazingly, our shy guy was not nearly so shy! Binbin was particularly taken with Ah-po's red phone. It played a little jingle whenever it opened or shut. And, he could see the numbers and symbols clearly in the large screen. He would proudly open and close it before you, demonstrating this amazing gadget! Binbin also showed much interest in using Ah-po's camera. The results were most impressive. Binbin smiled his biggest smile on cue, posing with pretzels and corn puffs in his little hands. I'll try to have Ah-po email some os those snapshots and post them soon.

New words and new ideas sprout and multiply constantly from Binbin, not all are greeted with excitement. After Jack brought home a Curious George DVD, Binbin decided that in imitation of George (and to our consternation) he should be afraid of the dark. That made for some rocky bedtimes and nights. Lots more has happened, but I should head off to bed myself.