Two Monkeys: Nicholas & Joshua Read

One years old seems like a magical age. In a matter of a week, I have seen Nicholas transform into a little toddler. He's finally back to his old self after a few weeks of teething, that left him feeling needy and uncomfortable. He had a blast at his birthday party - especially opening his presents from friends and family. He did his monkey face every time he saw a new toy. He really hated putting on his birthday hat. We caught some great pics of his reluctance to wearing his birthday gear. Since turning one, he's been really good at understanding my commands in Cantonese. He doesn't obey them all, but I'm surprised that he understands what I'm asking. In a week, he has learned: "Give that to mom", "go make the monkey dance", "do you want milk?". I also explain all the activities we do in Cantonese in hopes that he will catch on as they get repeated. He has also been playing more independently with his toys. He walks from room to ro...

A year passes so fast when you have a little one. Nicholas is a few days away from turning the big 1. He's grown so much that I look back at pictures and can't remember him being such a tiny baby. He's now almost 20 pounds and about 30 inches. He was 7 lb. 15 oz. and 21 inches when he was born. Jean and I had a bet as to when Nicholas would walk. It turned out that I was right! He took his first steps at 11 months. He was completely fearless and persistent. It's been around 3 weeks and he hasn't resorted back to crawling. I am going to miss the pitter patter of his hands on and feet when he crawled around in the morning! Since he's been walking, I've had fun looking for shoes for the size 5 feet. He now has a cute pair of runner and a pair of waterproof boots for the winter time. He also has a number of tricks now too! He loves to grab our cordless phone, press the messages and page the phones, flushes the toilet, unravels the toilet paper, climbs up our...