18-Month Old Bonus Videos (Happy Half-Birthday to Me!)

Me and Ah-gong



I gotta dance!

March 2008 - Houston, We Have a Toddler!

Guest Blogger: Bryce's Mommy

Hello everyone,

As promised, I wanted to check in with everyone who reads Bryce's blog and let you know what's been going on with him (and us!) Bryce is --unbelievably-- almost 18 months old now, and is no longer a baby, but a busy little boy. He is walking, talking, running (for short bursts - usually until he trips over his own feet), and intently investigating the world around him.

His first word (for a long time) was "uh oh", which he's been saying since he was barely a year old. But the first object he really named (back in December) was an "apple"; now this is also his name for bananas, oranges, avocados, etc. In fact it has become a game now, so that if I say "orange," (or hold one up) he replies "apple!" Other words include: ball (his favorite toy), balloon, bubble, bath ("ba"), mama, and lots of babbling we don't understand yet. He imitates and understands far more words than he can say on his own, and happily responds to simple requests like, "Bring mama the book," or "Where's the kitty?" And one of his new favorite games is pointing to his (or my) body parts, when I say "Where's your tummy?", or head, toes, nose, eyes, fingers, etc.

Speaking of body parts, Bryce now has 16 teeth and continues to be a champion eater for the most part, eating pretty much whatever we do (including spicy foods.) However he does have his "toddler moments", like when he decided last week that he doesn't like peas anymore (?!&*?), or wonders what kind of noise the spoon will make when it hits the floor....

Ever since he's been mobile and talking, Bryce is constantly pointing at things and now saying, "iss-iss", which we think is "What's this?" It's as if he's realized there's a code for all these things and he needs to know how to label them. When he was younger, I wondered if he got much out of the stories we read him, but in the last several months he's developed a real interest in books, especially now that he can point at things in them and we'll name them for him.

Besides his books (or pointing at lights or airplanes or birds...), Bryce is also engrossed with his new Legos (building and taking apart things), blocks (he builds towers but knocks them down once they're 2 or 3 high), and shape sorters (he knows to put shapes through the holes, but not yet how to distinguish triangles from circles, etc.) He's not a big fan of cuddly toys (except for Ugly Doll, whom he sleeps with), so I tried teaching him to hug his panda bear - which he does, right before gleefully throwing it on the floor. * Sigh * At least he gets along with the cat: we've taught him to pet her gently, so she tolerates him, at least till he gets overexcited and starts yelling, at which point she scrams.

But Bryce's favorite thing of all? Balls. Big ones, little ones, bouncy, squishy, whatever -- as long as it's round and he can carry it, roll it, throw it or even kick it. (I think his fascination with bubbles and balloons is because they resemble balls....) He can't dribble yet, but he has discovered Daddy's basketball, and loves when Daddy will play with him.Speaking of Bryce and Daddy, they've been spending a lot of quality time together, since I was gone on business (to Las Vegas and Barcelona) for 2 of the 4 weeks in February. It's hard for me to be away, and Daddy has to play Mr. Mom 24/7 (in addition to his day job.) But the boys are troopers, and unlike last time I was gone, nobody got sick (well, no sicker than before I left) and most everybody slept through the night! It does make my time at home all the more precious, and we easily fill our weekends with fun family activities: hiking, playdates, museum visits, and sometimes just simple stuff like pancakes and coloring (though not at the same time.....)

So that gives you an idea of what our lives are like these day with Bryce the toddler. To wrap up, I'm including something new: a multimedia slideshow including pics from last December up through last weekend. Highlights include Christmas in Utah, plus new activities like fingerpainting and puddles. To see all the images, click here (don't use the links in the slideshow). Enjoy! and if you have any requests or comments, feel free to add them below, or email me directly.

Love,

Bryce's Mommy

Bryce's Photo Albums and Videos

2008

• My Home Videos on YouTube
• June 2008 - Father's Day and Family Birthdays
• Mother's Day 2008 with Bryce and the Beans (slideshow from Uncle Ivan)
• April 2008 - Playing at Home and Trip to the DeYoung (slideshow from Uncle Ivan)
• 18-Month-Old Album (Dec 2007-Mar 2008)

2007

• October 2007 Album
• Sept 2007 - My One-Year-Old Album
• Sept 2007 - Uncle Ivan's Photos of My Birthday (including cake-eating!)
• June 2007 - My 9-Month Photo Album
• Uncle Ivan's Pictures from Mother's Day 2007
• Mar 2007 - My 6-Month Photo Album
• Chinese New Year Album - Feb. 2007

2006 Photos

• Uncle Ivan's Christmas Photos
• Christmas Part 2: California
• Christmas Part 1: Utah
• Thanksgiving 2006
• My Birth Photo Gallery
• Susan's Baby Shower (August 2006)
• Getting Ready for Baby (Summer 2006)
• Honeymoon in Kauai (June 2006)
• Scott and Susan's Wedding (May 2006)
• Marc's photos
• Wedding Celebration at the Moorwoods (May 2006)

2005 (and before) Photos (Back when we used to travel - Bryce is obviously not in these!)

• Banff trip for Gary and Madeline's wedding (July 2005)
• Belize (April 2005)
• Susan's Travels Round the World (2004-2005)
• Maui (May 2004)
• Learning to surf
• Costa Rica (March 2004)
• Australia (Jan 2003)

Last Saturday Morning

What I was up to while Mommy slept in and Daddy was in the shower....

Christmas Highlights

Hi everyone! here's a few photos from my recent trip to Utah for the holidays. This is at Christmas morning brunch with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Randy Lindberg.

I also went outside to play in the snow. It's COLD and I didn't like it that much. I'd much rather be inside, fighting over new toys with cousin Evan.

On Christmas Eve we had a Lindberg family dinner and gifts: here we are with our traditional cereal boxes (it's a family joke) - except for me. I'm playing with my new favorite toy from that night - an Mula push toy from Ikea (thanks Aunt Cassie & Uncle Chris!) That's all for this month! Mommy promises a very detailed guest post next time. Happy New Year!

Halloween and other October Events

October was another busy month for us. First of all: BIG NEWS! I am walking, and here's some evidence.

We celebrated Halloween a little early, since Mommy was going to be out of town, by dressing me up funny and going to Pumpkins in the Park.

In late October, we took a trip to Nevada and Utah, including meeting up with the rest of the Lindbergs for a big family vacation. I got to see all my cousins that I haven't seen since last Christmas!

For more photos from October, check out the album here. See you all during the holidays!

Love,
Bryce

Happy First Birthday to Me!

Hello everyone! It's official: I am one year old! We celebrated with balloons, cupcakes and presents.
In case you would like to see more great photos from Uncle Ivan click here.
Mommy also took some other photos over the last month, which are not as good as Uncle Ivan's but can be seen here. Highlights include my first haircut and first trip to the zoo.

Almost One Year Old.....

Hi everybody! We have been so very busy, that this will just be some quick photos and videos before the countdown to the big ONE-point-oh (yes, my birthday!) coming up soon.... Anyway, in the last couple months I've done so many new things. I went camping and slept in a tent for the first time over 4th of July weekend. We went to a place called Salt Point State Park, on the Northern California coast, an area popular with abalone divers. My uncle Ivan also came and took pictures, which are here.

Here I am in the tent - wake up Daddy, it's time to play!
I have 6 teeth now (I got 4 all at once) but unfortunately don't have any photos showing them off. I tried hummus for the first time, and somehow (I'm not sure how) it got all over my face. QUICK, get it off!

I am sort of walking now, with help (in this case, one of Mommy's garage sale finds.)

Here is a longer video demo, which includes not only walking, but crawling, chasing the cat, and "talking".

I played on a swing for the first time and really liked it!
Ah-gong and Ah-mah got me a cool truck and I love it! I get so excited every time I see it and demand to play with it immediately.Here I am in action pushing my truck around; I am also getting pretty good at riding and steering it.

That's all the news for this month - see you again when I am a One-Year-Old (can you believe it?)

Love,
Bryce

Our Experience with Kawasaki Disease (August 2007)

I am writing this more than a year later (January 2009) so hopefully I still remember clearly....

The week before he got really sick, Bryce got sent home from daycare on Thursday with a fever. He seemed better already on Friday, but we kept him home due to the daycare's policy of not taking kids back for 24H. He seemed a little cranky over the weekend, but not really sick, so we figured he had a mild virus and was recovering.

But on Sunday and Monday, his fever came back, and we realized he couldn't go back to daycare. We took him for the first of several doctor's visits, but were told he just had a viral infection. Worryingly, he seemed to have no appetite (that NEVER happens!) and ate little besides applesauce/fruit and a little yogurt. The doctor said she saw inflammation in his throat; I also wondered if it could be teething pain that caused his loss of appetite. Scott and I juggled our work schedules all week so we could take turns staying home, and my parents offered to come up on Friday to give us a break.

By Friday I was getting really worried. His fever came and went (esp. with Tylenol) but never completely abated, and it had now been over a week. His lack of appetite, crankiness and lethargy were really worrying - he just didn't seem his normal happy self. At one point I thought he was crying in pain while peeing, so I rushed him to the doctor to check for a bladder infection. Doctor Husaini was out but Dr. Foster (her partner) ruled out a bladder infection. He did notice, however, that Bryce had swollen lymph nodes in his neck, so he decided it was some other infection and started him on antibiotics.

Sunday, my parents left, and I was at my wit's end - Bryce seemed no better, even with the antibiotics (i.e. they weren't working!) and in fact my parents had noticed on Saturday that Bryce's hands and feet seemed swollen. We noticed too, that, although he had been crawling on his hands and feet for a few months now, he seemed to be avoiding putting weight on his hands all of sudden, and acted like they hurt him. I thought about it for a while (could it mean anything?) and finally called the doctor again (actually, her answering service, since it was Sunday), thinking I might just mention it to her....

Well, it's a good thing I did, because she called back within minutes, asking if he also had any rash on his body, or red eyes. He didn't, but I did mention that his lips were flushed and red, though I assumed it was due to his fever. Apparently, these last few symptoms were enough, and she told us that Bryce most likely had "atypical Kawasaki Disease", and we needed to take him immediately to the hospital to get a treatment called IVIG. She would have all the orders prepared by the time we got there.

I was crying by the time I got off the phone, but I told Scott what the doctor said, and we immediately packed Bryce into the car and took him to the Lucile Packard Children's Unit at El Camino Hospital. They started Bryce on IVIG that night and we ended up staying 2 nights until the doctors gave him the all-clear (no more fever and no obvious damage from the KD). We were so scared, because the effect of untreated KD is permanent arterial damage, most commonly life-threatening aneurysms that you have the rest of your life....

The hospital stay was not fun (my poor tiny baby had to stay in an industrial-type metal crib) but I was with him the whole time (so was Scott a lot of it) and they knew what they were doing - except for getting the original IV in (that was NOT PRETTY - imagine trying to comfort a poor screaming 11-month-old with no anesthesia, and no way to explain to him why the nurses keep poking him with sharp needles in the hands and feet!) Fortunately, Packard is quiet that time of year - I think there were maybe 2 other rooms occupied, out of maybe a dozen? - and the staff were great (except for that IV!) By the time we left, Bryce was our smiling, eating boy again. He had to stay home with us for 2 more weeks after that, take aspirin for several weeks, and go for follow-ups, including seeing the cardiologist for heart ultrasounds (an annual exercise now). So far, everything is OK and he seems to have escaped any heart/arterial damage and will hopefully have no lasting effects from having had KD.

We are so grateful our pediatrician got her training in San Francisco and had therefore seen cases of KD before - it is so unusual a disease, that she had never actually had a patient with it, since completing her training years ago. Neither my radiologist father nor pulmonologist brother knew what it was, though to be fair, neither is a pediatric specialist. Also, in researching it on the Web, I found lots of stories about kids (here is just one example) getting misdiagnosed, due to: a) similarity of many of the symptoms to other diseases, including meningitis, hand, foot-and-mouth, coxsackie, or just a plain old virus or bacterial infection; and b) ignorance of KD on the part of the doctor.

FYI, the official symptoms of Kawasaki Disease are as follows (from Wikipedia):

Five days of fever, plus four of the following criteria must be met in order to establish the diagnosis. The criteria are: (1) redness of the lips or oral cavity or cracking of the lips; (2) rash on the trunk; (3) swelling or erythema of the hands or feet; (4) red eyes (conjunctival injection) (5) swollen lymph node in the neck of at least 15 millimeters.

Note that Bryce did NOT have all 5 of the generally required symptoms to indicate KD (he only had 4 out of 5 - that's why it was considered "atypical" and it is often so hard to diagnose because of that), but he did have KD and responded to the treatment. So please spread the word about this disease, and also: trust your instinct as a parent, to know if something is really, seriously wrong with your child, and don't give up!

- Susan

p.s. Some thoughts about the cause of Bryce's KD: basically there is no obvious answer yet. He is slightly more at risk, being a young boy of Asian background - but lots of other types of people also get KD. Some research has suggested links to household cleaning products or living near bodies of water, but if it were that simple I expect someone would have discovered something more conclusive by now. Our guess is that the exact cause is unknown (could be genetic), but it may have been triggered by a previous infection that he had the week before - i.e. that he was sick with something else (probably a minor virus), was getting better, and then the KD (that he may have been pre-disposed to) kicked in. Just our theory.

A Short Trip to the Hospital

I had quite the adventure last week - and not the kind Mommy and Daddy typically enjoy! I was sick and had a fever since late July, and the doctors at first thought I had a virus, and then an infection. After more than a week, and then taking antibiotics (which didn't work), my pediatrician diagnosed me with Kawasaki disease, which is a kind of vasculitis, or inflammation of the arteries. It was very scary because if it is not treated, it can lead to heart aneurysms and other problems. You can read a lot more about it here or here, but I will just say that I was a very unhappy and grumpy boy until they figured out what was wrong with me. Anyway, the doctor sent me to the hospital to get a treatment called IVIG, which was not much fun either (they had a lot of trouble getting needles & IVs into my swollen hands and feet!) but it did the job and made me all better! Here is a picture of me modeling my hospital gown and the hateful IV (taped to my foot.) I had to stay for 2 nights in the hospital but am home now and almost back to my normal happy self. Here are Daddy & me waiting for the doctor to come and discharge me.
It has been a hectic and stressful couple of weeks, so Mommy & Daddy want me to thank everyone for the kind thoughts and prayers, and offers of assistance. Hopefully, we will soon return to our regularly scheduled programming!

Love,

Bryce (and Mommy & Daddy)

I'm 9 months old.... and mobile!

Dear friends and family: guess what - I'm mobile! It has been a busy couple of months, and I'm sorry not to have updated my blog sooner, but with Mommy back at work and me at daycare, our calendar is very full! But I had many firsts in the last two months:

• I helped celebrate my first Mother's and Father's Days, plus my grandpa's 70th birthday.
• I can retrieve and replace my own pacifier (this may not seem like much but Mommy & Daddy are thrilled they no longer have to visit my crib so often at night.)
• Mommy went on her first business trip and Daddy & I did just fine on our own for a few days.
• I started not only rolling over but also sitting up on my own.
• Then I figured out crawling! the world is now my oyster... (and M&D are madly trying to childproof the house.)
• Right after that I started pulling up and standing on my own.
• I got my first 2 teeth (finally!)
• I went for my first bike ride (as a passenger) and swimming in the pool for the first time.

I have a whole 9-month album that you can visit here, and I'll share some highlights here. This is me & Daddy getting ready for daycare in the morning (I'm a happy morning person - must get that from Daddy.) On weekend mornings, when I don't have daycare, I can play in bed with Mommy & Daddy, and (in this case) steal Daddy's book when he's trying to read.

For Mother's Day, Ah-gong and Ah-mah, Aunt Helen & Uncle Ivan all came over and we went for a walk and picnic. Here are Uncle Ivan's pictures.

In early June, Mommy & Daddy & I took our first real family vacation and spent a week in Lake Tahoe. Daddy rode in a 100-mile bike ride, along with his friends Matt & Synthia. The rest of the week the 3 of us relaxed, and went hiking and biking. Here are me & Mommy after we hiked to Eagle Lake.

Here are me & Daddy, stopping for a rest during our walk along Meeks Bay Fire Road.
Aunt Helen, Uncle Ivan, Ah-gong and Ah-mah came and joined us for part of the time (and took some of these pictures.) Uncle Ivan's pictures are here.

I am becoming quite the expert at eating food - not only do I eat a LOT, but I am starting to feed myself, as you'll see if you visit my YouTube videos (click on the link at the upper right of this page.) But this month's video highlight -while it takes place in my highchair- is more of a musical than culinary performance (click on the play button on the video below to make it play.)


Now that I'm mobile, the monthly photo shoots with Tad are tiresome, and I don't like sitting still, as you can see from these (rejected) shots. For the final shots, see my "Monthly Photos" link above on the right.

Hopefully by next month, Mommy & Daddy will have captured me in action (crawling, standing, teeth, etc.) - see you all then!

Love,

Bryce

I'm 7 months old!

Hi everyone! Someone recently suggested that I take over writing my own blog (with a little help from Mommy with the typing....) and now that I am over half a year old, I agree it's high time I took charge!

First of all, we have a little catching up to do, as Mommy forgot last month to share some family pictures we took waaaaaaaaaay back in February for Chinese New Year. There is a whole album here for your enjoyment, but here's a favorite of Ah-gong and Ah-mah.
Last month, I had a playdate with my friends (Josh, Max and Drew) from Moms group. Here are Mommy, me and Josh.I wore my new University of Utah shirt, which was a birthday present from Mommy to Daddy, but only fits on me! I really like the great blocks I got from Great-aunt Lisa; I even shared them with Drew and Max.

I also had a playdate with my friend Adam - click here for photos of our adorable selves.

I have been continuing my adventures in eating, with tastes of not only cereal, but also vegetables and fruit. Unfortunately for me, Mommy has been trying to make homemade babyfood, which I'm sure is very nutritious but doesn't taste very good. Here is what I call "My Green Bean Face."
Don't worry, I got over the trauma of the green beans (I ate them anyway) and soon returned to my normal, cheerful self. Here I am tormenting Tad in my monthly photo with him. Pixie (the cat) better watch out! she's next..... In case you want to see all the monthly photos, click on the link on the upper right hand box labled "Monthly Photos". Note that I have also added links to some of my friends' photos - if you would like to be added/deleted from this page, just let my Mommy know. Mommy is also starting an email update list to let people know when this blog is updated - please also let her know if you want to be added to that list. That's all for this month! Love,

Bryce

Bryce is 6 months old

Wow, the months are flying by. It's hard to believe Bryce has been around for half a year now! Soon Mommy will be back to work and these updates will probably get even FARTHER behind. But back to the last month....

The guest star of this month's post is Aunt Helen. She has been generous enough to give Bryce's Mommy and Daddy not just the occasional night out, but last month: a whole NIGHT AWAY to celebrate their birthdays. So they not only had a nice dinner, but also: went wine tasting, hot tubbing, mountain biking, and slept in. All in less than 24 hours (amazing how efficient parenthood makes you.) Meanwhile, here's what Aunt Helen & Bryce were up to:

In other fun, we tried out the new Sherpani pack we got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa. Bryce likes the new view from up high. If he gets bored, he plays with Daddy's hat or yanks his hair.

Bryce had a couple of major milestones this month: first of all he now sits up pretty well on his own (he seems to have skipped rolling over, not surprising since he hates tummy time.) He looks so grown up like this!
Also, he had his first taste of sold food: rice cereal, to be exact. You can't tell by the photo but he is a VERY sloppy eater, so far. But he really enjoys it.


Lastly, his monthly photo with Baby Tad. The complete 6-month album is here. Enjoy!