March 2012

March 2012: March always begins with Aurora's birthday, followed by a spring break trip to visit Wai Po and Wai Gong. This year also included a special treat at the end of the month - a visit from Grandma.

Aurora continues to be big for her age. Dr. Brown is happy that her height and weight are closely matched. Here are her 4 year old stats:
Height = 40.75 inches (73.5 percentile)
Weight = 38.6 pounds (77 percentile)
BMI = 16.34 (77 percentile)

Her vision is fine - no need for glasses yet! The biggest news from her annual check up is that Aurora failed her hearing test, which resulted in a referral to see a pediatric audiologist. She also has "tongue thrust" and some speech issues, which resulted in a referral to see a pediatric speech therapist for evaluation. Kathy contacted the various specialists is a timely manner, and managed to get Aurora appointments in June and July.

March 1, 2012: Happy 4th birthday, Aurora! Kathy can't help wondering what happened to her baby girl, and Jon is trying to figure out when we became a family of 3 independent thinkers! We brought cupcakes, fruit salad, and goodie bags to school for the preschool and pre-K classes that day.

Our family tradition is dinner out at Bertucci's.

How old are you? (she gets it right eventually)

Someone is "so 'cited" that it is her birthday!

We get home quite late that evening, so there is only time to open one present. Aurora chooses one that Greer gave her.

March 2, 2012: By the time we made the 10 minute drive from daycare to Gymboree, Aurora was fast asleep, with her hand stuck in her snack bag!

March 3, 2012: It snowed! After breakfast, Aurora went to her room to get dressed to go outside. This is how we found her 10 minutes later.

Once again, the real reason to have kids is to get free labor. Aurora did a really great job helping to clear the deck of snow.

Video: Shoveling 1

Video: Shoveling 2

Of course, after shoveling, there's time to play in the backyard.

Video: Snowball fight 1

Video: Snowball fight 2

Later, more birthday presents need opening.

We met Greer, Amy & George for dinner at Paissano, a South American food restaurant. Aurora and Greer enjoyed dancing to the live mariachi music.

Video: Dancing at Paissano

March 4, 2012: More birthday presents!

March 5, 2012: And still more presents!

March 6, 2012: Aurora decides to sweep before going to school.

March 7, 2012: Aurora has her 4 year old check up this morning. Afterwards, we stop in the hospital coffee shop for a snack.

March 8, 2012: A huge box from Wai Po and Wai Gong. What can it be?

Clothes!

Who is this present for? It says "A-U-R-O-R-A" on the card. It's for me!

Video: Pants and dresses

Video: Clothes and more clothes

March 10, 2012: Visiting Wai Po and Wai Gong for the weekend. Aurora gets a few more birthday presents. Aurora and Wai Po work with each other to put together her new farm puzzle.

Then it's outside for sidewalk chalk and hopscotch!

Video: Hopscotch 1

Helping Wai Gong get the mail.

Video: With Wai Gong

Back to hopscotch.

Video: Hopscotch 2

Jon returns from his coffee run and is forced to play too.

Video: Aurora's final piano recital in Yorktown

March 11, 2012: Lunch at Aurora's favorite restaurant, the local diner! Then a race with Wai Po before getting into the car for the drive back to Boston.

But the fun wasn't over after we got home. That evening was Veera's party at My Gym.

Video: Jon tries to coach gymnastics

Video: Zipline!

March 12, 2012: We are so proud of Aurora - not only does she cheer us on when we exercise, sometimes she participates too!

March 13, 2012: Dinner out with Jon's former roommates resulted in "Team Aurora" winning trivia night! (we rocked the science questions) The grand prize? Red Sox tickets!

March 16, 2012: Aurora shows off her favorite dress.

March 17, 2012: We meet Grandma and Uncle Anthony for dinner. Afterwards, Aurora enjoys the music from the bar.

March 18, 2012: It's Teagan's birthday party! Aurora plays with Greer and Ariana. The Chans did an awesome job with the storybook themed decorations and snacks.

Aurora also enjoyed playing outside in the giant sandbox and playground.

Video: Jungle gym

Video: Scooper

That evening, Grandma and Uncle Anthony came over for a mini celebration for Aurora's birthday. Aurora chose a "thin mint" ice cream cake! She helped put the candles in.

Video: Happy birthday!

Yummy!

Video: What color is a burp?

And more presents...

Presenting, for the first time, Aurora and her pink toe nails!

March 23, 2012: A beautiful spring day! Aurora shows off the new pink flowers in the yard.

At Gymboree that evening.

Video: Chasing Noah and Jack

March 24, 2012: Jon is off to Asia for a week. Aurora likes to take him to the airport. Not sure if it is because she likes to look at the planes, if she wants to spend as much time as possible with Baba, or is she just likes stopping at Dunkin Donuts afterwards.