cindy's world

This past Saturday, Mr. W and I missed Allie’s bedtime routine for the second time since she’s had a bedtime routine (infancy). The first time was recent, too. It’s a little easier to do that now since Allie’s in the process of weaning herself. In the last two weeks, if she nurses as part of her “old” bedtime routine, she’ll only do so for a few minutes then announce she’s done, and in the past week, she’s mostly told me immediately, “No, done-done” and pointed straight at her crib, telling me she’d prefer to skip the nursing and go straight to bed. That is why we were able to attend Claudio and Jenny’s wedding on Saturday.

My parents came over during Allie’s noontime nap so that they’d be there to put her to bed; the wedding time was 4pm so we had to leave by 3pm. This was my parents’ first time doing Allie’s bedtime routine. Mr. W asked them to babysit for this occasion about a month ago, without discussing it with me beforehand, and I wasn’t happy. My mom doesn’t like to do what I tell her, and she projects all kinds of things on Allie that she makes up in her own head, and if she doesn’t agree with something I’m doing, she just won’t do it. =P Mr. W said this is their “trial” and that if they don’t do what we ask, then we’ll revoke the week of babysitting that he’d offered to them in mid-August (which again was offered to them without consulting me first).

Allie was excited to see “Gong-gong, po-po,” but whimpered when she saw us leaving. She knows our leaving in mid-day and leaving her to my parents is not a normal thing. But she didn’t cry and I was sure she’d immediately be fine. I saw the three of them waving to us from her bedroom window upstairs when I pulled the car out of the garage.
Mr. W and I were 10 minutes early to the ceremony, which took place at Cal State Fullerton’s Alumni House.

This is a selfie by Mr. W and blurry, but he blamed my phone. I think it was him, cuz MY pictures are clear. =P
Meanwhile, back at the house, Allie was having fun goofing off with her Gong-gong and Po-po. This is a nice clear view of her broken teeth. My poor Baby Vampire.

Mr. W was a little alarmed when he saw this photo (emailed to me by my mom) because there were also other photos where she was in the boppy on top of an outdoor side table without an adult sitting next to her. Now that she’s older and more active, we don’t let her sit on high surfaces alone, and definitely not in a Boppy that can tumble down with her stuck in it. But moving on…
Where we were, the ceremony had begun. If the best man looks familiar, that’s because it’s Dwaine! He’s made several guest appearances on this blog already. (So has Claudio, the groom.)

I was only armed with my cell phone, so many of my photos didn’t turn out all that well. Their wedding party was so big (5 groomsmen and 5 bridesmaids, plus 2 flower girls and 1 ring bearer boy) that I couldn’t fit them in the frame of my phone camera.
The bride and groom looked great. They’d both lost a significant amount of weight for their wedding, and were already attractive people to begin with.

This was the first time I’d seen or heard of a unit necklace, and I liked the symbolism.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Allie was enjoying a private Sesame Street puppet show.

And she had her dinner dessert-first, which isn’t a big deal because it’s just fresh fruit with my mom’s homemade plain yogurt. My mom told me that Allie still ate her main course well afterwards.

At the wedding, we had made it to the reception. I just happened to match the wedding party’s attire. Andrae (left) was a groomsman, and Dwaine (right) was the best man. And photobombing us was the groom. I was clueless, altho Andrae, the multi-degree blackbelt, seemed to have better awareness of his surroundings.

Mr. W and I had a great time, even tho he made me walk REALLY FAR to see the campus arboretum after hearing great things about it from Dwaine’s mom and my high heels were killing my feet, and all for nothing, as it turned out the arboretum closes and is locked down at 4:30p daily. It was a fun walk, tho. We laughed and joked as we hadn’t done in a long time.
Mr. W offered (jokingly) to “borrow” some bicycles chained to bike racks on campus to give me a ride back to the wedding since my feet were in so much pain. I turned down the opportunity to commit burglary. He said it was “joyriding” and not “burglary,” because we weren’t going to permanently deprive the owners of their bike. I claimed that if we were caught with the bikes, the defense (us) wouldn’t be able to prove we did not have the intent of stealing the bikes as opposed to just borrowing them. He said sure we do, we have our car here so clearly we weren’t going to ride the bikes home. I pointed out the fact that we have empty bike racks on our car which could be seen as premeditation to steal bikes and bring them back with us. He laughed. I had a point. So we ambled back, joking about chalk arrows on the ground, me limping slightly, waving off his offers to carry me back to the wedding on his shoulders like he carries Allie.
And then as if he’d forgotten my pain, when we got back, he MADE ME DANCE WITH HIM. Ouch! Dwaine snuck by to take a photo and I faked it for the camera. See?

It was also nice to meet some of Claudio and Dwaine’s friends that until then I’d only heard about, or seen on their social networking pages. They’ve heard of me, too, and another groomsman, Geoff, said he’d been wanting to meet me. Another groomsman named Tony exclaimed mid-dinner that he didn’t realize I was THE Cindy, and if he’d sooner realized I was THE Cindy, he would’ve thrown himself at my feet upon meeting me and bowed down to me. I said I was VERY flattered and that would be an impressive thing, indeed, because Tony is a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic. He said he would’ve been impressed, too. Their friends (college buddies) are goofballs, and very witty and funny.

(L-R: Dwaine, me, Andrae, Claudio, Geoff. I joked that this photo makes no sense. It’s all wedding party people…and then me. It’s all old guy buddies…and then me. It’s all Arizona State University people…and then me. I guess I’m special cuz I even fit into places I don’t fit into.)

During dinner, I checked the babycam at 6:45p and saw my parents and Allie in the living room playing. I checked again at 7:15p and Allie was already asleep in her crib. Success! I was very happy. My mom texted that it’s fine for us to stay out as long as we’d like, since Allie was already asleep, but we felt a little bad and left the wedding early — but not too early. We left while the party was still in full swing a little before 10pm, with an hour to go according to their schedule. My parents had a long drive home from our house.

According to my mom, Allie had protested and cried when she was placed in her crib for bedtime, so my mom picked her back up. And then my mom dropped her off in her crib again, so Allie cried again. So my mom picked her up again. And then my mom tried again, and Allie cried, and my mom picked her up again. My dad finally told her to put the baby in her crib and get out of the room already. So my mom did that and Allie went right to sleep. Meanwhile, my mom texted me, “Hope Allie won’t hate me that I left her in the dark room while she cried & reached her hand out to me! My heart was melt!” Two graphics of crying emoticons. Sucker. I told Mr. W that Allie had better not try that with me, and Allie didn’t. The subsequent nights went as normal; Mr. W and I went thru her bedtime routine, we said goodnight to Dada, leaving her alone with me in her room, she pointed to her crib to go in, I put her in, she stretched out her palms toward me for kisses, smiling, then I went to turn off the light and close her bathroom door, came back to her crib where she was waiting laying on her side with her hands sticking out of her crib slats, playfully smiling at me, I kiss her fingers thru the slats, I blow her kisses as I back out of her room and close the door, she sits up and watches me leave, then lays back down and settles onto her fuzzy bear.

I’d say it was a successful night.

Toddler-boo is 20 months old today! I said a couple of times yesterday to Mr. W that our baby will be 20 months old tomorrow (today), and I totally didn’t realize until after he went to bed that Mr. W’s actual annual birthday is today, too. So happy birthday to both of them. =P

Significant things this past month:
* Allie started self-weaning about a week ago from her last remaining nursing session, the one shortly before bed. The nursing got shorter, then last week she would finish one side and refuse the other, telling me she’s “done-done.” I’d ask in different ways to make sure she means it, like “You’re done with nom nom?” “Just a little bit?” “Are you sure?” “You want to go in your crib now?” (“Yah. No-no-no. Yah. Yah.”) So I’d put her on her fuzzy bear in the crib (she still needs him for nighttime), kiss her hands while offers her palms up toward me playfully, go turn off the lights, return to her crib side and kiss her fingers that she’d offer to me through the slats of her crib as she smiles and giggles, then I’d blow her kisses and close her bedroom door. Last night, for the first time, as soon as we said night-night to her dada and went to her nursing chair in her room, she pointed to her bed and requested with a, “Mmm? Hmm?” So I asked her, “You want nom-nom? You want to go right to bed? Are you sure?” “No. Yah. Yah.” So that’s what I did, and she was fine. I think she’s weaned.
* She’s saying short phrases/sentences, and she’s got verbs and prepositions. “Mama, look. Look, dada,” are the common ones. And “I’m done.” She sees an action and will say, “Mama peel” when she sees me peeling oranges, loquats, etc. “Lay down,” she’d say pointing to a stuffed animal or her doll laying down or referring to herself laying down. When she wants to sit on a counter or access something high, it’s “Up up up pah pah pah!” And “Down down down down” when she’s in a high chair and she’s done. “In in in in in” when she wants something (like a bottle or a wrapped toy) opened for her so she can get “in” to the packaging.
* She knocked out chunks of her front teeth.
* She moves people. She will take my hand and pull me out of my seat, walk me a few steps away, then drop my hand and return to my old seat and steal it from me, looking all happy and proud of herself after she settles into my chair. Or if she wants me to see something, she’ll take my hand and pull me up and walk me to whatever she wants me to look at.
* Unfortunately she now knows her way around the iPad, since she’s recently gotten more access to it.

Loves:
* Dancing, singing, humming, still.
* Requesting that we call “Gong-gong, po-po, i-pah” so we can facetime with my parents with her on iPad, but she treats FT like a video; she just stares and doesn’t talk. As soon as we hang up, tho, she protests and wants to reconnect. If we do — same thing…nothing.
* Watching her own videos, playing with kid apps on iPad.
* “Reading” a book or magazine with mama and/or dada. It’s really just pointing to and talking about the pictures. When she sees text, she’ll point and identify them as alphabet letters by saying, “A-Bs, A-Bs.”
* Running around outside, at the park, with other kids, etc. She rarely wants to be carried. It’s usually “Walk walk walk walk! Walk walk walk walk walk walk walk” until we put her down.
* Animals.

Dislikes:
* Hearing an overplayed song, watching an overplayed video. She likes fresh content or at least fresh context.
* Getting into the car and carseat if it means leaving a place she was having fun.

Mom & Dad’s Dislikes:
* Allie pushing half-chewed food out of her mouth with her tongue. What the heck.
* Allie sweeping (with her entire arm) and flicking (with her hand) half-chewed food that she’d just spit out on her tray onto the floor. ARGH!

Allie has a love/hate relationship with “Elmo’s Song.” She loved it initially, but then demanded to hear it so often that it became overplayed and then she hated it. She’d protest and demand that we turn it off immediately when it comes up on the playlist by saying, “Aaaah! No, no! No! Noooo!” If she’s within reach of the playing device, she’d push the “home” button herself so it’d stop. But that didn’t stop her from singing it on her own, when she’s going about her day, or when she’s alone in her crib. (She’s actually like this with one other song, “Sing After Me,” performed by Ernie and Elmo. Except even more so.) But sometimes, when the delivery method is fresh (streamed to the car’s radio via Bluetooth, for example), she’s excited to listen to the song(s).

The premise of “Elmo’s Song” is about rewriting and sharing ownership of this song: Elmo tells Big Bird and Snuffy that he’s written a song, which he then plays for them. The lyrics are repetitions of “La la la, Elmo’s song.” During the performance, Big Bird says wistfully, “I wish *I* had a song!” Elmo offers to “share” his song with Big Bird. “How?” Big Bird asks. Elmo responds, “Just sing ‘Big Bird’ instead of ‘Elmo!’ They do that replacing “Elmo” with “Big Bird,” then do it again replacing “Elmo” with “Snuffy.” When the song ends, the Sesame Street characters go off in search of other characters so that they could sing the song again using other names.
Last week when listening to this in the car, when the song ended…
Mr. W: That’s it, that was “Elmo’s Song.”
Allie: Elmo Song?
Mr. W: That’s right, Elmo’s Song.
Allie: Mama Song.
Mr. W: *laughing* Mama’s Song?
Allie: Dada Song. Allie Song.
Me: She got the joke!

Today, she tolerated playback of the song again, because for the first time, Mr. W loaded it on Allie’s iPod Touch and handed it to her. I’ll script it for you.
[Before the video started…Elmo: Just sing “Big –“]
[My video starts]
Elmo: …Bird instead of Elmo!
Allie: Elmo!
Big Bird: Great idea! Here I go! Heh heh!
Allie: Heh heh! La la.
Big Bird: This is the song, la la la la —
Allie: La la laaa.
Big Bird: –Big Bird’s song…
Snuffy: Hey, it works.
Big Bird: La la la la —
Allie: Whoa!
Big Bird: — La la la la, Big Bird’s song
Allie: Hmm, hmm-hmm
Big Bird, Elmo: La la la
Big Bird, Elmo and Allie: La la la laaaaaa, la; La la la, la la la laaaaa
Mr. W: She harmonizes. Haha!
Allie: *simultaneously with Big Bird* La la la la la, *in harmony* la la laaa
Big Bird: *simultaneously with Allie* I love to sing, La la la la, Big Bird’s Song
Big Bird: La la la la, La la la la, Big Bird’s Song
I love the music, I love the words, That’s Big Bird’s Song
Allie: Soooong
Big Bird: Your turn, Snuff ol’ pal!
Snuffy: All right —
Allie: All right!
Snuffy: Stand back!
Allie: Hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm *simultaneously with Snuffy* Hmm hmm hmm.
Snuffy: *simultaneously with Allie* This is the song,
La la la la, Snuffy’s Song
Big Bird: Sing it, Mr. S!
Snuffy: La la la la, la la la la, Snuffy’s Song
Big Bird, Snuffy, Elmo: La la la, la la la laaaa, la la la, la la la laaaa
Snuffy: I love to sing, la la la la, Snuffy’s song, La la la la, la la la la, Snuffy’s Song
Allie: *trying to shut the music up by putting it on her beanbag chair, then throwing a blanket over it, and when that doesn’t work, sitting on it*
Big Bird, Snuffy, Elmo: We wrote the music, we wrote the words, That’s Snuffy’s, That’s Big Bird’s–
Allie: I’m done.
Big Bird, Snuffy, Elmo: Thaaaaaat’s Eeeellll —
Allie: *turns off music* *turns to me with a mischievous fake grin, which drops off her face immediately (revealing its fake nature) upon turning back to the iPod*

Remember my kid with the early pearly whites and the cute smile?

The cute little teeth that we painstakingly brush twice a day and floss nightly to keep looking perfect? That we made sure to maintain as healthy and straight as possible by not having her on a pacifier and being bottle-free since well before age 1 (per her pediatrician recommendations), not giving her juice and especially no bottle to sleep?

Allie was downstairs yesterday morning before we’d left for work; Mr. W was there with her and Jayne had already arrived. I was upstairs and heard Allie start crying. When I came down a few minutes later, she wasn’t crying anymore but was still slightly whimpering as I held her, and I asked her, “What happened?” She told me she went boom, and pointed to where it happened, at the travertine tiles in the hallway between the living room and the kitchen. Mr. W explained that he had gone into the kitchen and Allie went running after him, and tripped over the metal ledge at the doorway of the baby gate. (I’ve often looked at that thing when Allie would hold on to the side of the frame and step carefully over the metal bar at the bottom, and I’d wondered how many kids and people trip on that.) Apparently she’d gone flying onto the travertine tile floor. She seemed fine at that point and moved on to eat some nectarine and grapes. She did take one bite out of the nectarine and start looking at it funny, pointing to where she’d bitten it, and the refused to bite again, so we cut it up into pieces for her and she ate it fine that way. She appeared to be sucking on her lower lip so I thought there may have been injury there, but didn’t see anything upon inspection.

Well, as soon as I’d finished with my noontime yoga yesterday, I checked my phone and read this text message from Jayne.

I’m not sure if [Mr. W] listened to the message I left shortly after you left the house. Allie broke her 2 front teeth when she fell this morning, which is so bizarre because I saw her fall and I never would have thought it would result in her teeth getting chipped! You probably want to contact a pediatric dentist and have her checked. I was so sad when I noticed it. At first it seemed like she had only bitten the middle part of her upper lip. 🙁

I was SO angry. It completely ruined my afternoon. I texted back, “This is the first I heard of it. She’s not bleeding? Do the teeth seem loose?”
Jayne responded, “No to both. I did try to wiggle them and they seem ok. I just can’t figure out how they broke when all there was was a little irritation on her lip and no bruise to her face. I didn’t even think she hit any part of her face or head when she tripped. She’s had falls that have seemed worse. I was so nervous at the park that she might fall and break more of the 2 teeth. She can tell something is different but doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable. But I’m wondering if they should be checked. Thank goodness they’re baby teeth!”

I took the advice and checked on Yelp for good pediatric dentists near our home. Two offices popped up with 5-star reviews exclusively (meaning 100% of the people reviewing gave them 5 stars). The one slightly farther had more reviews, therefore more 5-stars; 5 dentists work there, but were all males and Allie does better with women right now. The one closer had less reviews altho they were also all 5-star reviews, had only 1 dentist, but she’s female and has a pair of twin toddler girls of her own. From the photos on Yelp, her office looks amazing, like visiting an aquarium museum. When I read that she graduated summa cum laude from UCLA School of Dentistry (Go Bruins!), it was a no-brainer. I called and spoke to a very nice receptionist who gave us a next-day appointment and took our dental insurance info over the phone so that she could call them and check for coverage before we get in there.

When I got home, I asked Allie to show me her teeth. This is what’s left.

She looks like a Turok-Han vampire from the “Buffy” series. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Thankfully, Allie’s behavior was no different and the sharp new points of her front teeth don’t deter her from sucking her thumb as she falls asleep. I did feel them while nursing her to sleep, but they didn’t hurt. Just felt sharp points pressing against my skin. She’s in the process of self-weaning so it wasn’t bad. For the past 4 nights she would stop nursing early on the first side and refuse the second side, telling me she’s “done-done,” and I like this tapering off because it helps my body adjust, too.

I keep thinking of things my dad said about my front teeth being knocked out in preschool. He’d said (in Mandarin) that my little teeth had recently all come in and were white and beautiful and I looked so cute when I smiled, and then they were knocked out, and he was and is still so mad.
In my situation, I was in preschool (my mom called it daycare), around 3 or 4 years old, and I was among a handful of kids who were on the playground “carousel” — a large metal disk platform with metal bars attached to the top of it at intervals so that the kids on the ground can spin the disk by pushing on the bars and the kids on the platform can hold on to the bars for support while the disk spun. We were taking turns being the spinner, and when it was my turn, I stepped off the disk with one hand, while the kid who was supposed to come on the platform for his turn suddenly decided to push the disk really hard and spin it again. I either fell against the metal bar or the bar hit me in the mouth, but I ended up losing both upper front teeth right there in the sand. I cried, of course, I remember how numb my lips felt afterwards, how swollen, and I remember the teacher on duty in the playground saying spitefully to me, “You deserve that. That’s what you get for running around.”
My mom’s memory picks up after that — she came to pick me up as usual after work, and when she called me, I turned around to greet her, and she saw my swollen mouth, half my face and clothing still crusted over with dried blood. She freaked out. The teacher turned and tossed over her shoulder, “Oh, she fell earlier.”
Both my parents were furious that they were never contacted by the daycare/preschool, and that I was never given any medical or any attention, not even to clean me up. They even went back to the playground over the weekend to try to find my teeth to see if a dentist could put them back in, but couldn’t find the teeth. I had a raging infection in my gums and lip for over a month, and didn’t have front teeth until my adult teeth grew in sometime between 2nd and 3rd grade.
I had front teeth for only a couple of years before I lost them for the next 5 or so years, so for me, it was just how things were; I didn’t feel like I was missing out on much, I wasn’t self-conscious, I just did my own thing. I never understood why my dad was still so upset, even to this day if it’s brought up.

I get it now. I keep thinking about how Allie will have a hard time biting into apples now, or eating her new favorite thing: sandwiches (she loves turkey, cheese & avocado on whole grain). How is she going to cut the noodles she loves in a bite? She can now drink through straws without having to open her mouth. 🙁 She has a photoshoot coming up in September, how’s she going to look in those photos, and every other photo until her permanent teeth come in? How will she be received by other kids when she starts school? Her smile looks “goofy” now, as her dad described.
Allie, however, much like I was, doesn’t appear to be very affected. She occasionally puts her fingers in her mouth to feel her new points, the tongue comes out as she prods the new jagged edges of her upper teeth, but nothing else is much different. Of course, we haven’t been giving her popsicles or sandwiches in the last day. I expect her to be temperature-sensitive for awhile.

Lots of people and/or their toddlers have been having teeth/gum injury issues in the past week, so at least Allie’s trendy.

Q: How many generations does it take to produce the above?
A: Three. (rest mouse pointer on photo for caption, as with all my photos)

Over the weekend, I wanted to take a side-view shot of me doing an elephant trunk yoga pose (I’ve never seen myself do it, and if I looked over at a mirror, I’d fall), so I set up my Samsung Galaxy S3 cell phone by propping it against one of Allie’s toys and setting the timer.

The lighting was dim and the flash on my phone wouldn’t work because I was really low on battery. I considered changing the Scene Mode on the Android phone to “Dim Lighting” so it’d extend the exposure to make things brighter. All of a sudden, I thought, “Hey, I can take this photo on the iPad Mini. Duh! And I don’t even need a prop because the case props the iPad up on its own.” So for the first time, I touched the iPad’s camera icon and prepared to set up the shot. I touched the slider to make the camera forward-facing, then I looked for the option to set the timer. Since iPad has no “Menu” button like Android has, I could not figure out how to bring up the Options menu. There are no buttons on the camera screen to do anything but take the photo, choose video or photo, and to turn forward-facing or backward-facing. I exited the camera app and went into basic Settings to see if, like other things, options for the apps are actually hidden in basic Settings and not in the app itself. Nope, no options for doing anything with the camera at all. WTF.
I went on the social networking site and asked for tips. Someone said their iPhone has an “Options” button on the camera, but that it only had the options of panorama, gridlines, and HD. Another friend told me there ARE no options for the camera; I’d have to look for an App in the iTunes Store and download a separate camera app to do what I want. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I consider this BASIC. How can Apple be “such a superior product” and not even have basic crap like a timer function and different settings on its built-in camera? My Galaxy S3 phone has, built-in, 5 shooting modes (single shot, share shot, buddy photo share, beauty, smile shot, not that I’ve even tried any of those), 3 effects modes (black & white, sepia, photo negative), and 10 scene modes (portrait, landscape, sports, party/indoor, beach/snow, sunset, dawn, fall color, text, and candlelight). If none of those make you happy, you can also manually set the exposure value, white balance, ISO, metering, focus mode (auto or macro), resolution, and you can also turn on/off various other options like flash, timer, auto contrast, guidelines, anti-shake, image) Of course you can also choose where you want the photo to be stored, such as in the phone or in a separate SD card, which is an option no Apple device will give no matter what app is used, because Apple products do not want you to access the internal hardware so they do not allow for memory to be added by an SD card. It’s also, I’m sure, a way to sell iDevices with progressively larger internal memory options and charge people more.

I was not going to pay money to bring this remedial camera up to par on the iPad Mini, so I guess that’ll be yet another function I will not use the iPad for. You’d think that with such a bare bones system being sold, Apple would charge a lot less for iDevices, but nope. I don’t think I’m asking for a lot, here. I’m not asking for as many options as the Galaxy S3 has, I just want a few simple options, such as either manual adjustment of exposure time, or an “indoor” mode since the iPad does not have a flash, and a timer. Basic, basic. I’m not telling it to do what a DSLR camera does. (BTW, the last time I used my DSLR, I took this shot of the Supermoon on June 22. A few of my DSLR-savvy friends had to deal with my whining about settings, and Mr. W had to crop the shot for me, but ultimately, I guess I’m happy with it. Just for fun, here it is: 200mm lens, F/11, 1/250 secs, ISO at 250

I was confused why my settings were so different from my friends’ settings on their Supermoon shots, especially the ISO. That’s what I get for being SO rusty I had to brush cobwebs off the DSLR when I pulled it out, and I had needed a quick tutorial on setting up the tripod from Mr. W.)

On the drive to work, I asked Mr. W, “Okay, I do NOT understand why so many people like Apple. The more I learn, the more I don’t understand this. Can you explain this to me?”
He pointed out a few things, such as:
* Apple hardware is very stable and reliable
* Apple community is better than Android because it’s less fragmented. I asked what he meant by “fragmented,” and he said because so many devices by different manufacturers use Android, there is inconsistent tech support, different OS updates being used/available to different devices at different times, and too many third-party app developers.
He admitted that the Samsung Galaxy hardware is in fact, “very good,” but that it doesn’t change the fact that the Android apps available in the open-source environment are hit-or-miss on quality. He said Apple controls their developers and apps, so they will not allow for a release of an inferior quality app, and if one slips by, Apple will see to it that it’s “taken care of” ASAP. I said that it sounds like Apple is a control-freak company, and he agreed and said that’s what makes them so good — tight hold on quality control, to run their system as they wanted.

Our conversation brought up the possibility in my head that I may not be as much an Android fan as a Samsung Galaxy fan, because my first smartphone was an LG Ally (which I drowned in the lake by using my kayak as a stand-up paddle and doing a little dance with my feet on the outer edges of the kayak), and I was NOT impressed by that Android phone at all. Hmmm.

Generally, in theory, I still lean toward Android’s way of doing things. It’s like a communist government vs. a capitalistic free market government. I like and am comfortable with the concept that people can put stuff out there for consumers, and if consumers don’t like it, they can vote with their wallets. Besides, I have no problem doing a little homework reading reviews. The Apple way just feels like the corporation has too much control, in the same way “rumor” has it that we’ve had the technology for electric or hydrogen or other environmentally-friendly cars for a long time, but the big gasoline industry had been knocking out their competition with their fat wallets and influence.

My birthday today was, for the most part, like any other day. I wouldn’t have even acknowledged it except that others were kind enough to send me birthday greetings and wishes online and via text messaging, and my judge and former court reporter gave me cards and a gift on Friday. I had not even realized my birthday was already upon us except for my friends’ reminders, and I didn’t even know how old I was turning. The stepkidlet actually had to do the math on her calculator last night. All I remember was that I gave birth when I was 35 so since Allie is 1.5 years old…and that was as far as I’d gotten.

Speaking of my judge’s card… on Friday after lunch, I returned to my desk to see the card envelope sitting there with my name on it. Since we were busy picking a jury for a criminal trial, it was almost an hour later before I was able to get to the card. I opened the envelope and pulled out a glittery Snoopy card, then opened it slowly as cut-outs of presents and ribbons popped up on the inside of the card. I opened it further to appreciate the 3-D effects, and suddenly it burst into song, VERY LOUDLY. I freaked out and clamped the card shut, afraid to look up. My judge upholds a very professional, formal tone in his courtroom, and here I was in front of multiple attorneys, a criminal defendant, approximately 35 prospective jurors, and an audience full of spectators. I looked at the card envelope again. Nope, he definitely did not leave a post-it note on the envelope warning me not to open the card while we’re in session. Looking around, it didn’t seem like anyone had reacted to the few notes that came screaming out of the card. Even so, my heart was pounding. Thanks for giving me a heart attack for my birthday, judge.

This morning, Mr. W juiced some fruit (apple, papaya, pear, grape, cantaloupe, lemon) and veggies (romaine lettuce, kale, beet, broccoli, ginger, spinach, cucumber) in his new juicer and we had that as a pre-breakfast treat, then I made Allie some healthy mini pancakes (1 ripe banana, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oatmeal, that’s it) and fed her breakfast. The morning was hot so we pretty much stayed inside, although we did let her play in the backyard for a bit. My parents came over during Allie’s nap, and when Allie woke up, the 5 of us went to Rose Canyon Cantina for an early dinner. Allie wolfed down her Mexican food (shrimp ceviche, bits of my mom’s chicken enchilada, some of my red Spanish rice, black beans, grilled fish, and spinach enchilada, some of of Mr. W’s refried beans and green Mexican rice) but was uncooperative for photos. There’s one in which she looks like she’s plotting my demise. My social networking friends theorize that she’s just crabby from being out in near triple-digit temperatures.

After dinner, we stopped by a man-made lake that had a nice walking path and park-like setting all the way around it so Allie could run around. Her mood was much better at the park.

My parents are overly protective and paranoid about Allie’s safety, but would let her do stuff like pick up duck poop. :/ Baby wipes come in handy for times like this.

I’ve never seen her so sweaty that her hair stringed up almost like she’d just gotten out of a bath, until today. She did say “hot” as soon as we stepped out of the air-conditioned restaurant (even tho we ate on a shaded patio), but didn’t have a complaint after that. She drank a ton of water, though, and we had to stop by a Little Caesar’s Pizza to buy a couple of cold bottled waters (which she chugged) to refill her sippy cup before we headed home.

All day long, we were working on her to get her to say “Happy birthday, mama.” In the below video, my mom was supposedly recording Allie on her iPhone, but turned out she didn’t get any of it. My dad luckily was standing by video-recording on his camera.

At the end of day, when I was nursing her before bed, she was dozing off when I pulled her away to switch sides. She sat up drowsily with a sigh, looked up at me with sleepy eyes, and said, “Happy mama.” Then she smiled sweetly and proudly, like we shared a private joke. I smiled and kissed her on her cheek. It’s not the full “happy birthday,” but it’s shrewdly accurate as an observation.

I spent significant time personalizing the iPad Mini last night, trying to make it “mine” and usable. I think Mr. W believes that if I gave it more of a chance and really worked with it, I’d see how wonderful Apple products are and jump in his bandwagon and make claims about how Apple truly “makes a superior product.” The end result…the more I use this Apple, the more I appreciate my Android.

Let me point out first that I would not have gotten an Android tablet. I wouldn’t have gotten any tablet because with my Galaxy S3, any tablet would just be redundant to me. But I can see why Mr. W would want a tablet on top of his smartphone, since he needs objects/words to be visually larger in order to be comfortable viewing them. I’m not there. People with iPhones are always amazed at the larger size screen of the Galaxy S3 Android phone. That being said, if I WERE to have a tablet, I think it makes sense to get one of a different system like Apple so that things I can’t get on Android, I can get on Apple. For one, Apple has an app called Stream To Me that allows the Apple device to stream videos, photos, movies from our home PC to the remote device. I’m not sure if Android has something like that, I haven’t really explored it, but hubby’s already spent time and money on the Stream To Me thing so that’s what we used on Allie’s iPad and everyone else’s iPads. (I haven’t been able to test this, tho, cuz I can’t get Stream To Me to work on the Mini presently.)

Okay, so now that I’ve gotten to know Apple better, I’m not any more impressed. In fact, I have new complaints that I never knew about because I’d never spent enough time with an Apple product to know about these shortcomings, until now.
* No “menu” button. I’m not able to bring up submenus and options within an app, which I can do on Android by tapping the menu button or by long-pressing within the app. But I guess there’s no point in having a menu button on the iPad anyway, because…
* No way to edit functions within an app. Are you kidding? There’s no way to modify display options of email (I can’t even find a “delete” option when I check my emails), I can’t modify how my people are displayed in Contacts, I can’t add calendars in Calendar! No, I have to go to Settings, then look for the app I need to modify within Settings, go into those options there, and then hope there’s an option for what I need to do, such as display my Contacts in order by first name instead of last name. I also found out I can’t just “add” a calendar within Calendar (I wanted to get US Holidays to automatically display in the Calendar without having to input all the holidays every year manually); I have to go into…yup, Settings, then select Calendar, and then go thru a couple of more screens to “subscribe” to an existing calendar by entering the website address of the particular iCalendar. It worked, but altho there’s the whisper of some mystical place where one can get many different types of iCalendars to incorporate into a personal iPad/Mac calendar such as sports game schedules, I have yet to be able to find such a list of addresses or menu of calendars I can add. I only found the address of the US Holidays calendar because some random on YouTube posted it (ical.mac.com/ical/US32Holidays.ics, for anyone as frustrated as I was, and I found out it’s case-sensitive *eyeroll*). Which brings me to…
* No “back” button. You know how many screens I have to go thru to get to the spot where I need to enter that calendar address? Let’s count them. Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Add Account -> Other -> Add Subscribed Calendar -> Subscription. Six screens. Six before you can enter that address I gave you up there. If you mis-touch somewhere else on your journey and the wrong screen pops up, all you (or I, as I found) can do is hit the one and only function button on the whole thing, the round “Home” button, to go back to the general “desktop,” and you have to start your sojourn all over again.
Android has a “back” button, not that you’d have to go thru this on Android because you’d just press the “menu” button within the app and voila, all the options for modification show up!
* Basic apps are different, in a suckier way. Apple seems to advocate more commercialism. I can’t play Candy Crush Saga on the Candy Crush Saga app without it forcing me to simultaneously be logged into the social networking site it’s affiliated with, AND it forces me to allow the app to post all my game-playing info on the social networking site. I’d have to litter my friends’ feeds with crap like, “Cindy just gave life in Candy Crush Saga!” “Cindy just mixed a Striped Candy with another Striped Candy!” “Cindy just passed level 164!” I see that all the time since a lot of my social networking friends play Candy Crush Saga and I’ve always wondered why they’re posting all that crap, and now I know it’s because they’re playing on an iDevice and have no choice. I went around and around in a loop pressing “skip” when it requests me to post my game stats on the social networking site, then it’d take me to the game screen but immediately take me back to the “post stats” screen. I deleted the Candy Crush Saga app because it won’t let me play without announcing to everyone else that I’m playing. (I found an option for the game stats to just post for myself and not on public feed, but I don’t to litter my own feed with game crap, either.) On Android, I play the game independently of the social networking site and it just syncs my game with the info there every so often so that I can continue on the same progress when I switch between playing on the PC vs Android phone.
And the social networking app? It wants to announce to everyone that I’m online and available to chat. I don’t want people to know I’m online and available to chat. I have that option turned off on the PC and my Android phone, but I’ve looked it up and there’s NO WAY to turn it off on the Apple app. No privacy. I will not be doing any regular surfing of the networking site via the iPad Mini, either.
* Cumbersome keyboard. Really, Apple? You think if I were typing words, that I wouldn’t need all my punctuation on the same keyboard as my letters? I have to go to a separate keyboard display for an apostrophe, hyphen or a quote mark? You know where it is on the Android keyboard? Apostrophe’s above the period, hyphen’s above the comma, quotation mark’s above the L. To access them, I simply long-press on that key or I press “shift” first. Or I can Swype it, in which case I simply draw to the key when I’m drawing a line letter-to-letter in forming my word and the correct usage would just come up automatically. Swype is not something Apple knows anything about.
* No Flash/videos. I can’t see the videos on this blog in the iPad Mini. I can’t see my own videos on the social networking site either thru the Internet on the iPad or thru the social networking site’s app itself. I think I’m doing something wrong here, since too many people use their Apple products to get on the social networking site for me to think that none of them are viewing videos. But that goes to show how not user-friendly this stuff is to not just WORK on its own because I’ve opened the app. (My Android phone just plays the videos with a tap.)
* Adding Contacts isn’t automatic. I’ve added my Gmail account. It doesn’t just infuse my contacts into the Contacts app, the way it did with my social networking site contacts once I connected with the app? I still have to type in my contacts manually? I thought maybe when I’m in Mail, that my Gmail contacts would just be there even tho they don’t show up in Contacts, but nope; the email address book only has contacts that are in the Contacts app address book. I did not have this problem on Android. On Android, I connected to Gmail, to the social networking site, and my phone service, and Android’s Contacts incorporated all 3 address books into one, AND I can pick how I want the contacts displayed/grouped while I’m IN Android’s Contacts.
* No widgets. The Calendar app icon is sort of a widget because it does show the current date. But that’s it. On Android, I have a widget for my workout app so that the icon representation of the app shows my calorie burn thus far in the day; I have a widget for my calendar so that it not only gives me the day and date, but a preview of the upcoming events on calendar in the next week so I have it at-a-glance without opening the app itself; I have a weather widget that shows the time, current temperature and weather of the location(s) I choose in a pretty picture and a brief word, and to see other preset locations’ weather, I just flip my finger across the widget and it scrolls thru my preset locations. If there’s a way to get widgets on iPad, I haven’t found it. On Android, I can long-press and select “add Widget,” I can hit the “Menu” button and go to “Add apps and widgets,” or I can add the widget within the app itself.

I’m sure there are more things/irritations that have frustrated me that I’m not recalling right now. An interesting angle, tho — a high school friend, Alan, was trying to help me with the Apple calendar issue (altho I’d already found the holiday calendar address by the time he wrote me, telling me the exact same instructions), and he wrote:

I’ve had an Android phone before, and I loved it too, so no biases here on my part. Dare I say it, I consider Android more “techy” than Apple OS… so your inner-geek might be the one revolting against Apple.
The way I see it, I recommend Apple to people I know who don’t like fooling with tech (usually don’t check email much, still write notes by hand, don’t work with computers, etc), and Android to people who are more comfortable with tech.

I responded:

It’s so weird to think my inner geek may be revolting. Geeks are so self-righteous. *sigh* So you think I’m actually upset because Apple makes things too remedial for the control I want? I’ve just been thinking it’s not user-friendly enough cuz I can’t find the options I want for the mods/personalizations I want.

Alan:

That’s exactly right. Apple’s motto is “simplicity”. So they hide the customization rather than inundate the non-techy people with it. It’s still there, just gotta look for it. Which is why I disliked the Mac when switching from a PC. But once you figure out their M.O. It all makes sense.

And then my lightbulb:

Then I don’t understand why all my geeky friends love Apple.
Oh wait…is this why they jailbreak?!

Mr. W’s Apple everything is jailbroken. Same with other techy friends’ iDevices. Mine is not. My mom had someone jailbreak her iPad but had so many problems with it (she’s not a techie) that Mr. W restored it back to the original form. I don’t have to jailbreak, or “root,” as it’s called in Android, my Galaxy S3 because everything I want to customize is offered in built-in options already. To this day, I still occasionally accidentally find a menu or option on my Android and I’d think, “I didn’t know about this! It’s genius!” Or sometimes Allie does something and when I get my phone back I’m like, “What’s THAT? I didn’t know I could have that!” I don’t want to jailbreak the iPad, I don’t want to be some sneaky techy pirate, I just want my stuff to function in a way that I think they should function without my having to rewrite the software for them.

OH. One hardware thing. Why does the iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone all use super-exclusively-sized charger heads? So Apple can make more money selling connectors, chargers, adapters, accessories like radios and speakers that the device is supposed to dock into? You know what I charge my Galaxy S3 Android phone with? At home, the charger it came with when upstairs, the USB charger/cord for the Galaxy S (1st generation) when downstairs by the computer, the USB charger/cord for the KINDLE when at work. Yes. They’re standard. Apple has always been about building their own exclusive monopolistic bubble (hence, iTunes for everything, no open-source apps unless jailbroken). So now I have to take the iPad’s charger everywhere.

Best thing I can say about the iPad Mini right now? It’s beautiful. There’s no shortage of accessories on the market to play dress-up with Apple.

See?

Where in the world did the time go? My mom wrote a social networking site comment on a photo of Allie today about how she’s 19 months old today, and I had to double-check the calendar. Didn’t I JUST post about her 18-month birthday? Jeesh. Today, I packed up all her 18-month clothes and onesies (too short on torso length) and left her with only 24-month or 2T clothes in her dresser.

Loves:
* Kids. She still calls them “baby.” She’ll go up to any kid at the playground and wave and affectionately touch their hand. I’ve noticed that maybe 10% of the kids welcome this contact. The other 90% glare at her and move away, or start hovering over their toys yelling “No!” at her before she even reaches them.
* Parks and playgrounds. New this month: She’ll have a fit and cry, sometimes throwing herself on the ground, when it’s time to leave.

* Music. Listening to it, singing it (she recognizes songs that I’m mindlessly humming and will sing out the next line or identify a character that sings it, and she’s surprisingly accurate on her tones and pitch), dancing to it, playing it on piano or guitar. Last weekend, she got to play with an Allie’s sized stringed instrument.

* New words and characters. This morning she surprised me by being able to identify and say “Big Bird,” “Ernie,” “Monster” (Cookie Monster), “Tigger,” and last week, “Eeyore.” She’s even memorized the order of some of the alphabet and numbers in English and Mandarin. I think it’s just phonetic to her, she doesn’t know “five” is a number or how many that really is, for instance.
* Trucks. I don’t get it. But she’ll excitedly point out pickup trucks (“Duck!”, as distinguished from actual quacking ducks, which she calls “duckies”) and dumpster trucks (“Beeeg duck!”).
* Doing things herself. If I don’t give her the spoon quickly enough, or I offer unwanted help as she climbs up steps or playground ladders, she’ll insist in a big rush, “Me me me! Me me me!”

Dislikes:
* Eating the same veggie too many times in a row. She’ll either refuse it or push it out of her mouth with her tongue. Very frustrating. New thing this month: flinging unwanted food onto the floor. This drives Mr. W crazy.
* Being told what to do. She’ll resist it just to resist it and practically have a tantrum over it. Changing a diaper when she didn’t first announce “poo” has once again become a struggle. Same with leaving a place, even if that place is home. Leaving a playground is the worst. “More park! More park!” she’ll protest shortly before whine-crying and then resisting going into the car and carseat.
* Mealtimes. Or so it seems. At least half the time she’s fine, but we’re not used to her being picky so it’s nerve wracking coming up with something she’ll eat. We’re letting her go hungry if she’s very resistant, other than dig around trying to find something, anything, that she actually wants to eat, because we don’t want to train her into thinking she has her own short order cook. This is what the meal is, and if she doesn’t want to finish the main course, she can fill up on the vegetables. IF she won’t, she still has fruit for dessert. She’ll always eat SOMEthing, but sometimes just not much of it without some effort on our parts to distract her so she doesn’t spit it out, or to come up with a game. Last night’s game which worked very well was “Look at Allie.” Her baby doll which she totes around was placed at the dinner table facing her, also wearing a bib. We’d pretend to feed something to the doll, praise baby for eating well, and then offer it to Allie. And then we’ll narrate what Allie’s eating to the baby, as if bragging about it. “Look, baby, Allie’s eating a carrot! Look, baby, Allie’s eating a noodle! Look, baby, Allie’s eating an eggplant!” Allie would lift up her food in the air toward the doll and say, “Look baby!” before stuffing it in her mouth. She cleaned her bowls and plates, and at the end, she lifted her empty bowl to show baby, saying proudly, “Look baby! Nothing! Nothing!” Goes to show, peer pressure starts at a very young age. =P I also took a tip from college roommie Diana and started putting missing nutrients (spinach, kale, other raw veggies and fruits) into a smoothie for Allie if we feel she didn’t have enough nutrients throughout the day.
* Not having mommy. I’ve started driving to reduce the road rage stress for Mr. W, and when we’re coming back from my parents’ house or Disneyland shortly before her nap and she’s tired, she will throw a fit that I’m not there to offer her comfort. Specifically, she wants to suck her thumb and run her fingers through my hair. Dada’s short hair and arm hairs are poor and unacceptable substitutes. Today, she cried “Mama” almost the entire way home from Disneyland. I also feel like we have to re-sleep-train her because a little separation anxiety kicks in at nap/bedtime when I put her in her crib. She only protest-cries for a minute or less, tho, because we’ve always been consistent in not going in there to acknowledge her protest cries.

This morning we went to Disneyland for the last Sunday morning before our annual passes are blocked out for the summer. While I was changing her first thing this morning, I said, “Guess where we’re going today!” She guessed, “Mimi?” and got it right. She’s now able to express her will and get more meaning out of her trips to Disneyland, so it’s pretty different from the first times we would take her when we first got annual passes. Now we can ask her if she wants to go on the train (which she always waves to), or ride the flying Dumbos, and she’ll nod and say “Yah.” She loves the rides and usually will start to protest with “More! More!” when it’s time to get off. She also recognizes more characters now and with her familiarity, she’s less shy, so we make sure to visit Toon Town so she can greet Minnie, Mickey (both “Mimi” to her), Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and we try to stop by the Pooh ride so she can see Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore.

I should make more of an effort to wear makeup. Oh, well.

Just for fun, here’s her doing somersaults at the park a couple of weeks ago.

And here’s Allie and Dada playing follow-the-leader. Guess who the leader is.


Videos from my parents.

Allie’s having a lot of fun mimicking adults in actions and words. She will go into the closet and grab the small floor duster and dusting pan and start sweeping because she saw her daddy do it once. She will sing what we sing, say what we say. Often she’ll remember a word we don’t remember teaching her, but that she must’ve picked up somewhere. So it’s been pretty fun, despite the fact that with her being more vocal, that also means more volume, like in restaurants. That gets uncomfortable sometimes. But mostly it’s fun.

I got this text earlier from Jayne:
Jayne: Ok, so Allie’s latest addition to her vocabulary is Hawaii and she says it so clearly and almost perfectly! I was talking about Missy going to Hawaii.
Jayne: Oh and by the way, she wants to go there. 🙂
I can totally see that happening. Jayne says, “Missy is going to Hawaii!” Allie says, “Ha-wai-ee?” Jayne says, “Yeah, very good, Hawaii! Does Allie want to go to Hawaii?” Allie nods, “Yah?”
Chances are, if Allie hears “go” in front of anything, she wants it. It means she gets to go bye-bye and go play!
I texted back:
Me: Oh no! Tell Allie to pick a place without a time change.
Jayne: Too late.

While Allie’s current fun is with imitating us, Mr. W found a new recreational activity to do with Allie yesterday. Hairstyling! Allie finally got her hair did for the first time yesterday evening. Here is his handiwork.

I’ve never seen Mick Jagger in concert (or in videos, actually) nor Monsters Inc., and due to peer pressure I’ve tried to watch Shrek, like, 3 times already and it’s put me to sleep each time. But hubby’s seen all of them!