Growing Up Baby

My little baby is more a little boy as each day goes by. He is now not interested in going up or down the stairs on his hands and knees. He wants to be just like mama and dada, on his two little feet. He loves being helpful. He reminds me every morning to close the garage door as we leave the house. He also likes to remind us to turn off the light or better yet, he turns them off himself. When I come out from the shower, he brings out my hair dryer and says, "Hair!". He loves helping us put the clothes in the wash. Once it is done, he opens the washer door and wants us to help him put the clothes in the dryer. He comes and leads us to the dryer and say "Dry!". Can you tell he is a little bossy?? His dada says he is silly 24/7. I guess that's why we are keeping him. :)
He is very observant too. One day when his dada took the trash out, he opened the cupboard to get can liners to line the trashcan. We are constantly amazed by the things that he is learning daily. He is a little climber too. Let's just say he knows how to get to what he wants. Nothing deters him. The daycare provider told my husband that one day, he wanted some snacks off the kitchen countertop. So the boy pulled a chair next to the high chair. Climbed on top of the chair onto the high chair, then climbed from the high chair to the countertop to get his snack.
I think this is the stage of "Monkey see, monkey do." We have been careful not to let him see what we don't want him to learn. Nothing bad. Just stuff like cleaning the bathroom. Otherwise, he will be playing with the toilet brush! Yuck!
He is growing up way too fast.

Finally ... An American

This process is finally over. Only took a little less than a year!

So I went for my Oath Ceremony today and came out an American. The ceremony was surprisingly short. Just that there were 5150 other people there for the same reason! Lines were long but conducted in a very efficient manner.

A little about the ceremony. Went in there. Followed the lines, handed in the Notice and Green Card. The Officer wrote down a booth number in which I should go to after the ceremony to collect my Naturalization Certificate. Went back in line to take a seat. Officers handed out Voting Registration Cards and small flag of the USA. Waited until everyone was seated. Some announcements. The Judge presiding led us on the Oath. Pronouced us Americans. Everyone waved their little flag and cheered. Short speech. Someone else came up and told a short story about the Statue of Liberty. Then we watched a short video clip of President Bush welcoming us as new citizens. Video clip of the song "Proud to be an American" sung by Lee Greenwood. Said the Pledge of Allegiance. A lady got up to sing the Star Spangled Banner. More cheers and waving of flag because the news media wanted to take some pictures and stuff. Waited for our turn to get up to go collect our Certificate. And it was all over. 2 and 1/2 hours. Not bad at all.


Timeline for process:
March 13, 2007 - Mailed Application
March 22, 2007 - Receipt of Notice of Action
April 24, 2007 - Notice to get fingerprints taken.
May 17, 2007 - Fingerprints taken.
November 15, 2007 (guestimate)- Notice for Interview
Jan 4, 2008 - Interview
Jan 25, 2008 - Notice for Oath Ceremony
Feb 21, 2008 - Oath Ceremony

Need I Say More?

I have been trying to upload this video to Youtube for the past two weeks. It just wouldn't load. Finally asked my brother for help and he said to try using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. Needless to say, it worked so here it is.

Cael's 2nd Birthday

Cael celebrated his 2nd birthday this past week. We took him out to dinner on Tuesday to Chili's and ordered him his very first kiddie meal. He is a big boy now, no more sharing his mommy and daddy's food, not to mention he has a voracious appetite lately.
On Sat, we had a little celebration. Bought him a cake and his Uncle David and family and Cael's friend, Isabella, and her mommy and daddy celebrated with us.