Do You Have a Family Tradition?

I was flipping through our family album this past weekend and looked at the old pictures of my siblings and I. My younger brother is now 27. My sister just graduated from college last year. My youngest brother is now a 16 year old high school kid learning to drive. Where have all the years gone?

It has been said over and over again that your child will grow so fast that you will not know what happened to all the years. Now a mother, I finally understand. Little Mochi is now 15 months, almost 16 months, and I’m wondering where all the months have gone. I can’t even begin to think about him learning to drive. Before I know it, I’m going to be one of those mothers who thinks no one is good enough for my baby so I’m going to hate every girl he dates (oh gosh, I really hope I don’t become like that!).

As I sat there holding the page with school pictures of my youngest brother from every year since kindergarten, I almost cried. Where did the years go? He’s 16 now. And I remember back in Jr. High when my mother brought him home from the hospital. And now that I look around the house, I realized that my mom, who is extremely busy with her own business, never really did anything to preserve your childhood. The only “family tradition” we had was going to Vegas every Christmas for a few days because that’s the only time my parents ever closed the shop. What I regret, however, is the fact that we never take a family picture in front of a Christmas tree while in Vegas! It would have been nice to see the changes every year. Hey, it’s not too late, right?

I think keeping a tradition brings the family closer. It helps create great childhood memories. I have decided to start a family “tradition” myself with my own family.

Here are two things that I would like to do to bring my family closer and to create fond childhood memories for my kids. If I think of more later, I’ll update.

  1. Have you heard of Kids’ Step Stone Kit? Using this kit, I would like to create a “growing foot path” in my backyard. We’ll be able to see how big their feet has grown over the years. Perhaps create one on their birthdays (or some day close to their birthdays).
  2. Gotta finish off every year with a picture with Santa Claus until they are too old or until they realize that Santa is not real.

Other “traditions” that I have heard other families do or have read about that you may want to consider:

  1. Time capsules. Every year, you can stuff a capsule with your kid’s favorite things, quotes, pictures. Anything that reminds you of him that year. Keep it in a hidden place until next year. Pick a special day to give him last year’s time capsule and go over the items together. Keep a camera handy because you’re bound to see some great facial expressions.
  2. At year end, write a “letter” to your child telling him of his past year’s achievements.
  3. Stuff the easter eggs with something else other than toys or candy – something that you can stuff every year, but in a different color, style, size, etc.
  4. Plant a tree together in the back yard every year. You both can see how big your child grows relative to how fast the tree grows.
  5. Make a family year book with all of your child’s cousins. Be sure to include a picture of each cousin and his/her favorite color, cartoon character, places to go, etc.

Do you have a family tradition?  Share with us.  =)

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Get a Website – Make Money Online

With times as tough as the recent economy, many people have turned to look for other ways to make money.  I have noticed that a lot of my friends have considered the “making money online” route.  It looks quite easy, actually.  You put up a site, stick some google Adsense to it, and wham!  You make a few bucks.  But it really isn’t as easy as it sounds.

What a lot of people don’t realize with this “online” business is that it’s a three part equation: Content, Monetization, and Marketing Plan.  If you are missing one of these three, you don’t have $$$.

Content.  Of the two, It’s the easiest to acquire.  Buy articles.  Build a forum site where your readers build content for you.    Or start a blog like the one you are reading (or go here to start one).  Or pay someone to put up a coupon exchange or textbook exchange site.  You get the point.  Getting content is easy.

Monetization.    There are numerous ways in which you can monetize your site.  If you own a blog, you can sell links.  Whether it’s a Blogroll link, or a link in your post, people are willing to pay you to link back to their site.  The cost can range for $5 a month to $50+ a month, depending on the type of link and the PR of the site.  The higher the PR, the more you’re probably going to pay.

google Adsense is always a popular option.  It’s also easy.  You just slap on your google code and when people click on your ads, you get paid.  But don’t be stupid about it – your account will get banned if you click on it yourself or if you ask your friends to click on it everyday.  They track your IP address to make sure your clicks are natural clicks.

Charge a fee for the priveledge to gain access to the information on your site.  If you have a site with a lot of good information, people will pay to get good information.

If you have a lot of knowledge in an  area, write a report and sell it on Craigslist (use their free traffic to your advantage) Ebay, Clickbank, or even Amazon if you can turn it into a digital “book”.  People are willing to pay for good information.

These are the most basic and most simple forms of monetization.  Keep in mind, however, that the site will not and can not make money if you don’t have anyone visiting your site.  Who’s going to buy your product or service?  Who is going to click on your ads?  Who is going to know that you’re selling links on your blog?  So how do you get people to “stumble” upon your site?

Marketing your site is the most important variable in the equation, in my opinion.  Even if you have have a great site, with lots of ways to make money, and it’s being marketed.  How do you even know that the marketing plan even works?

There are a plethora of ways to market and the way you chose may not work for your particular site.  If you have a site that is making money strictly on google Adsense alone, beware.  google’s algorithm may change tomorrow and the source of your “extra income” is gone.

Or if arbitrage is your game plan, beware.  The cost to purchase a keyword may increase so much that your profit margin may dwindle down to nothing.

Online marketing seems to change constantly.  That’s why it’s so important to stay abreast of the latest things going on in the ether world.  It’s also important to monetize your site in more than just one way.  The most important thing about marketing is to remember who your target audience is.  You don’t want to be wasting your time and money on marketing to the wrong crowd.

For more tips on marketing your website online and making passive income from it, visit this site: NetPassiveIncome.com

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The 15 Month Check Up

It was originally scheduled this past Monday, but he had a fever. Since he was getting his immunization shots, I had to cancel the appointment. I couldn’t reschedule the appointment until his fever is gone.

After some Tylenol, Little Mochi’s fever was gone by Wednesday. So Friday morning, I called the pediatrician’s office to see if I could bring him in that afternoon for his shots. They squeezed me in at 4:45 pm.

The nurse told me that I technically should wait at least 4 days after the fever to give him his hots. But since it was only one day, we decided to go forward.

She did the routine check up. Asked about his development, measured his height, weight, and temperature.

Height = 31 inches
Weight = 24.7 lbs
Temp = 99.5.

Uh oh. 99.5 degrees. Since the temperature was measured through the ears, that’s a low grade fever. The doc said it should be ok to give the shots, but it’s really up to the parent to decide if they would rather wait or not.

If I had known that he had a very small fever, I would have scheduled the visit for next Monday. I really didn’t feel comfortable with giving Little Mochi the shot since you never know how they will react to any immunization shots. So I postponed it to next Monday.

Great. Another $10 for the copay plus 20 miles of freeway getting to the office and another 20 miles getting back home. Plus the time. I wish I would have just given him the shot. But at least I know he won’t be reacting differently or more sensitively to the agents in the shot. Little Mochi will also be getting the flu shot so an even more reason not to go through with the immunizations. I have always, always gotten terribly sick after I get a flu shot.

On the physical development side, however, Little Mochi seems to be doing quite well. He is able to feed himself finger foods quite well, drinks out of a straw, is able to chew quite well, and is running now. After visiting my aunt’s kid (who is 5 weeks younger than Little Mochi is and crawls as fast as Little Mochi can walk), he finally learned to crawl. How backwards is that!

The only thing that Little Mochi needs improvement on is his speech. I think he’s a little slow in that area. My cousin’s kid, who is 2 weeks older than Little Mochi, is already has a lot of words in his vocabulary. Little Mochi is still babbling baby talk. He’s quite good at pointing at things and saying “Oh!” but that’s about it. I think he’s almost ready to talk, though. He’s definitely been babbling a lot more these past few weeks.

The Doc did say that we shouldn’t be too concerned about his speech just yet. Yes, he should be able to call Mom or Dad or any other 3 words, but boys tend to be slower than girls. In addition, Little Mochi is surrounded by 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Who wouldn’t get confused if their trying to learn to talk?

If your child has not spoken his first 3 words by 18 months, according to my pediatrician, you should consider seeing a speech therapist. He gave me a number to call in the Northern Orange County area. But if you google Speech Therapist in your area, you should be able to find one. I am reluctant to call because they will teach Little Mochi English. He can learn that in kindergarten. I really would rather have Little Mochi learn Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin, first so that he can be bilingual. I really want to take advantage of that opportunity.

Don’t let the cost of speech therapy be a reason for not getting your child help. The cost of speech therapy is actually free. It is paid for by our tax dollars.

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SpongeBob SquarePants

It wasn’t until recently did I discover what a great show SpongeBob SquarePants is! I have heard of other parents talking about it, and how their kids love it. And I never thought I’d be watching it with my kids. Forget Sesame Street. Big Bird, Elmo, the Cookie Monster and the rest of the gang just doesn’t seem to strike Little Mochi’s interest.

Little Mochi’s only 15 months old so obviously, he does not understand the show yet. But he loves the theme music at the beginning. Every time he hears the tune, he drops everything, runs to the TV and bobs his head with the tune. (I know, how cute!)

I have found that, even when Little Mochi’s attention has been diverted by a toy that he caught in the corner of his eye, I am still giggling at the yellow sponge in the tube. Not only is the show good for losing a few calories, but also depicts kid friendly messages in each episode.

Of course, by the time he is old enough to understand the cartoon, there will be a new one that will capture the heart of young children. I do have to admit, however, that SpongeBob is my preferred choice over Power Rangers. No fighting with wands involved.

“Aye aye, captain!”

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Gelatin Oranges

For those who are looking for a fun kitchen activity with your kids, I ran into an article on FamilyFun that may be of interest to you: Making Gelatin Oranges. 

All you have to do is cut an orange in half, peel out the orange meat (save it so you can use it later), make the gelatin according to the package, add the orange meat, pour the gelatin in the orange halves, and place in fridge.  Once it’s done, cut the orange halves into wedges and serve. 

You can try it with different fruit meat, such as adding pieces of strawberries or blueberries instead of the orange meat.  It’s a great way to get your kid to eat their fruits.

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Getting Baby to Nap

Often times, Little Mochi does not nap at all.  I guess it’s understandable at his age.  He’s 15 months now (Wow, 15 months gone by just like that!)  and walking.  Scratch that.  He’s running now.  And he’s full of curiosity.  He’ll grab a ball from one basket, run to another basket, and throw the ball in that 2nd basket.  He’ll then run back to the first basket, grab another ball, run back to the second basket, throw the ball in, and laugh.  He’ll do this until he either runs out of balls in the first basket or until something else catches his eye.

One would think all that running around would tire a toddler out.  Where does all that energy come from?

I notice that his eyes look extremely tired.  So I wash his his hands, wipe his face, change his diaper, and set him down for a few minutes while I use the restroom.  When I come back, he is up and about, full of energy again.  I have lost that window of opportunity for an hour or two of peace and quiet.

Wouldn’t that be great if you can sleep throughout the night too?  Here is a schedule that shows the number of naps and how many hours of naptime your baby / toddler should be getting:

Age Number of Naps Hours of Naptime
4 months 3 4 – 6
6 months 2 3 – 4
9 months 2 2 1/2 – 4
12 months 1-2 2 – 3
2 years 1 1 – 2
3 years 1 1 – 1 1/2



I sure have trouble getting Little Mochi to lie down these days.  I would be lucky if Little Mochi naps once a day.  Yesterday, my mom had to drive Little Mochi around the block a few times just so he can nap.

This is how I’ve been able to get Little Mochi to nap in the past.

  1. Just what my mom did, drive your baby around the block a few times.  If you’re enviromentally cautious, this may not be your preference.
  2. When you see signs of tiredness, start winding him down.  Do not overtire your baby as he may get even fussier.  It will be even more difficult to put him down.  Some signs of tiredness are eye rubbing, quietness, mubbling nonsense to himself, yawning, looking for pacifier or blanket or other things of comfort, and lying down.  I let him lie on our bed and rub his back.
  3. I turn on the TV and hold him while we watch TV together.  He eventually falls asleep in my arms.

But the question is, how do you get your baby / toddler to take his routine naps?

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