07.12.02

Happy Friday! Wow...I can't believe it's already the end of another week. The days just seem to fly by. Today was pretty uneventful....did laundry, vacuumed, cleaned the house. Not that you'd be able to notice though. Since we emptied Aric's home office (to install the laminate flooring), all the stuff in the office has been moved to the living room, kitchen, and downstair's bath. And if you've ever seen Aric's home office, you'd know that he had a TON of stuff in there.

This morning Ashlyn greeted me with a brief hug and a kiss for the very first time! And even though her kiss was open-mouth and very slobbery, I was overjoyed! You don't know how long I've been waiting for her to return affection. The fruits of my labor is finally paying off. hehehe Anyhow, I spent the day playing with her and I noticed that her cognitive skills are developing rapidly. Lately she's been clapping her feet together, and every time she does so, I'll say in chinese: "pai pai jiow" (clap feet). Well today, as we were playing, I said, "pai pai jiow"...and she did! *angels sing-HALLELUJAH!* =D How very exciting! She's finally able to make the connection! I've been totally looking forward to this stage...where her mind is like a sponge and she soaks up information like it ain't no thang.
You know when kids get to the age where all they say is, "Why?...but why?...why?...how come?" I know a lot of parents find this stage annoying. Nope, not me! I'm totally and utterly prepared to answer all of her questions and then some. For example:

Ashlyn: "Mommy, why the sky is blue?"
Peg: "Well dear, the sky is blue because the atmosphere is the mixture of gas molecules and other materials surrounding the earth. It is made mostly of the gases nitrogen (78%), and oxygen (21%). Argon gas and water (in the form of vapor, droplets and ice crystals) are the next most common things. There are also small amounts of other gases, plus many small solid particles, like dust, soot, ashes, pollen, and salt from the oceans. The composition of the atmosphere varies, depending on your location, the weather, and many other things. There may be more water in the air after a rainstorm, or near the ocean. Volcanoes can put large amounts of dust particles high into the atmosphere. Pollution can add different gases or dust and soot. The atmosphere is densest at the bottom, near the Earth. It gradually thins out as you go higher and higher up. There is no sharp break between the atmosphere and space. Light is a kind of energy that radiates in waves. Many different kinds of energy travel in waves. For example, sound is a wave of vibrating air. Light is a wave of vibrating electric and magnetic fields. It is one small part of a larger range of vibrating electromagnetic fields. This range is called the electromagnetic spectrum. Electromagnetic waves travel through space at 299,792 km/sec (186,282 miles/sec). This is called the speed of light. The energy of the radiation depends on its wavelength and frequency. Wavelength is the distance between the tops of the waves. Frequency is the number of waves that pass by each second. The longer the wavelength of the light, the lower the frequency, and the less energy it contains. Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes can see. Light from the sun or a light bulb may look white, but it is actually a combination of many colors. We can see the different colors of the spectrum by splitting the light with a prism. The spectrum is also visible when you see a rainbow in the sky. The colors blend continuously into one another. At one end of the spectrum are the reds and oranges. These gradually shade into yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The colors have different wavelengths, frequencies, and energies. Violet has the shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum. That means it has the highest frequency and energy. Red has the longest wavelength, and lowest frequency and energy. Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits. Dust particles and water droplets are much larger than the wavelength of visible light. When light hits these large particles, it gets reflected in different directions. The different colors of light are all reflected by the particle in the same way. The reflected light appears white because it still contains all of the same colors. Gas molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. If light bumps into them, it acts differently. When light hits a gas molecule, some of it may get absorbed. After awhile, the molecule gives off the light in a different direction. The color that is radiated is the same color that was absorbed. The different colors of light are affected differently. All of the colors can be absorbed. But the higher frequencies (blues) are absorbed more often than the lower frequencies (reds). This process is called Rayleigh scattering...it is named after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first described it in the 1870's. The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Therefore, since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue." *deep breath*

By then, Ashlyn would have been sorry she ever asked. HAHAHAHA! Right now, I'm just working on getting her familiar with the alphabet and parts of the body (ie...eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc...). Oh, by the way, I'm not a geek....really I'm not. =P

Tonight Aric, Ashlyn, and I went over to my Father-in-law and Netty's place. My Father-in-law needed Aric to look at his computer, so we headed up and joined them for dinner. It seems like everyone calls Aric for PC support. =P hehehe
After Aric was done, we walked over to Regent Cafe in Monterey Park. Aric and I always seem to order the same thing every time...which is whatever they have on special. I suppose it's because they include so much for the same price as ala carte. We both had the New York Steak with pepper sauce, borsch, dinner roll, rice, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, and a drink...for only $9.95! We ate kind of late, but that place stays open late anyhow. By the time we got back to Aric's dad's place, it was 11pm. Ashlyn had a great time with her grandfather and Netty. But by 11pm, she was rubbing her eyes and getting cranky....plus she's still fighting her cold. We left shortly after and got home by midnight.

Pictures from tonight:

Ashlyn with Grandpa

me and Aric

Ashlyn having fun with Grandpa and Netty

What a nice day! I'm pretty pooped! Have a great weekend! G'nite!

Ashlyn watching Cartoon Network

...crawling around

"mirror-mirror on the wall.."

Ashlyn's pics of the day