Be My Little Baby

Sam is growing up way too quickly. As excited as I am to enter the next stage of my life once Sam goes to preschool, I don't want him to stop being a baby. He is really just so deliciously adorable. The day that I have to stop translating Sammynese will be a really sad day for me. In order to keep him younger, I have been encouraging little mispronunciations when he speaks. When the girls were younger and even now, I can't help but correct them.

"No sweetie, it is precipitation, not perspiration. You need to be a little more perspicacious about your diction. I don't care that you are only four or six. You should know better."

But with Sam, I purposely use his baby words because whenever he says something slightly (or even dramatically askew), it just tickles my heart.

My favorite is balloon-a-woona. A close second is wa-wa (for Big Bird). And last, but not least, is when he sings the Barney clean up song, he sings, "Clean bup, clean bup." And today, he called cantaloupes, bangoo drums (bangoo is fart in Korean). Love it!

Back on Track

Sorry for being so bad about missing out on the blogging world these last couple of months. I don't even remember what made the summer so crazy except that the girls were home for about a month. Yeah, I guess that would make my life pretty crazy having three kids home with me 24/7...

I completely quit Savvy now that I helped them transition over to their new format. It's strange not having anything other to do except just the normal household stuff. I feel like I have so much time on my hands now.



We've had to wake up earlier so that we can get Joey to school on time. I don't know if it is due to lack of sleep but we have all been really cranky. By the time the kids go to sleep, I am so tired that I just completely veg in front of the TV while eating ice cream. I have discovered the CW shows and I am officially in love with America's Top Model. I find it completely fascinating but I'm not sure why. Maybe it is because I enjoy hating these vapid pretty girls and their petty catfights...but that doesn't explain the tears of sympathy I shed for the girls who get kicked off, and why I am so looking forward to watching the new episode tonight!

Sam had a verbal explosion and he talks like crazy. It's really cute and a huge relief that he can communicate his needs instead of pointing his fingers and grunting. But he also says things like, "That's funny Mommy!" or "Stop it, Daddy!" or "I want ice cream."



We ran out of formula and I decided it's time to say good-bye to the bottle. I thought it would be a difficult transition since the moment he sees his little 4 oz bottle of formula at night, he would grab it, open the cap, start drinking it, go to his sisters and say good-night (and give them a big formula-tasting kiss), and then grab his blankie and a book, climb up the glider and get ready for bed. He loved his bottle and honestly, I loved giving it to him. It was my way of hindering his development and keeping him my little baby. Obviously, he was ready to move on because he hasn't had any problems with the adjustment. Now it is just the thin but super-absorbent line of diapers that keeps Sam in babyland. But that is something I would be more than happy to be done with so we'll start working on potty training. I have no idea how to potty train a boy so this will be a challenge I'm sure.



Joey has a loose tooth! She is so excited. "I'm going to get A LOT of money from the tooth fairy!" she exclaimed. Without looking at her I said, "Mmmm, maybe not a lot of money. Maybe just a quarter which you can put in your piggy bank and put towards your college savings."



We have also been working on Joey not sucking her thumb since August. For the last few years, she has said that she wanted to stop but it was hard for her to commit to it. I finally broke down a bought a thumb guard and it worked really well. Within a week, she didn't need it during the days. At nights, however, she pulls it off and sucks her thumb. But since her tooth came loose, she said that she stopped sucking at nights too because we told her that it might make her tooth come out too early and it will hurt. So Joey might have finally stopped with her thumb sucking which is a major achievement. She found her thumb at three months and has sucked it non-stop since then.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The other day Joey and Elysha were playing horse racing in the car with their My Little Ponies. Joey pretended to be blowing past Elysha so she said, "See you later, alligator!"

So Elysha said to Joey, "See you later, hippopotamus!"

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We went to our elementary school's ice cream social for incoming kindergarteners. Joey was really excited and all day, changed her clothes, added and removed accessories, and decided she was going to wear her fancy shoes. When Chang got home from work, he put on a pair of shorts, but didn't put on a shirt since it has been blistering hot these days (we don't have any form of air conditioning so it's pretty hot inside our house). Chang was trying to corral the kids to get ready to go, so he said, "Come on, let's get going."

Joey was mortified and yelled at Chang, "Daddy put a shirt on! It's rude to go without a shirt!" Of course, Chang had every intention of putting on a shirt before we left the house. But that wasn't clear to Joey. I'm sure she was just concerned that the other kids would be jealous of her father's amazing physique.

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Sam's vocabulary continues to expand. The other day in the car he kept repeating something. I wasn't quite sure what he was saying but it sounded like he wanted something. Then we passed the Golden Arches and his repetitive cry became more emphatic.

"I want McDonald's!"

I'm too sexy for my shirt...

My Adorable Kids

I don't know what is wrong with me these days but I just think that my kids are so adorable! Maybe it is because the girls are back in school after a two week vacation. Or maybe it is because I know that I am done having more babies so I am just trying to enjoy every second of Sam's baby stages.

Sam's language development has been increasing these days. He doesn't have a lot of words but like Elysha at this age, he is learning phrases more than single words. For instance he says, "It's a drum!" Instead of just saying "drum."

Today, in the car, he called out "mama?" and when I responded to him, "Yes?" He just said, "Ummm..." then silence. Two seconds later, "Mama?" Again, I replied, "Yes?" And again, "Ummm..." Elysha does this to me all the time, but eventually, she would figure out what she really wanted to say. For Sam, however, "Ummm" is what he really wanted to say.

One phrase that he has been saying for a while is, "Mama...where are youuuuuuuuuu?" He repeats this over and over as he wonders around the house looking for me. What a sad statement about how little I actually play with him during the day that he has to go around the house calling for me.

He completely mimics the way Chang brushes his teeth. He stands on the step stool at the sink, grabs his toothbrush, brushes his teeth, turns on the sink, rinses his toothbrush, taps it on the side of the sink, put it away, grabs a cup, turns on the sink, fills the cup up with water, takes a sip and spits it out. For a while, he would drink the water, but he has finally learned to spit it out.

He also has been singing the Barney song all the time these days. "I love you, You love me." Although it sounds more like, "I oh ooo, oooo oh eeee!" At least he has the melody right...

The girls are going to be on TV (unless, they get edited out)! But we got a chance to meet Lisa Henson (Jim Henson's daughter) and the other producers and creators of a new PBS Kids show coming out this fall called the Dinosaur Train. It was kind of stressful but cool.

Sam is 18 months!

So hard to believe he is one and a half. He is 75% in weight and height. And just becoming more and more of a handful. Still determined to be the youngest rock star ever. I guess he is working on the complete package with the rock star/troubled youth thing.

He is determined to do EVERYTHING on his own and I am inclined to let him. As far as I am concerned, the more independent, the better. If I can't hold him all day long, then I would rather he be able to take care of himself. He feeds himself for the most part (I just need to teach him how to use the microwave). The other day, he zippered up his pj's by himself.



We started the cloth diapers but the soggy, wet diaper doesn't seem to bother him at all. I have been sitting him on the potty every now and then, but nothing. He was about to poop so I got him on the toilet, and he held it in and got constipated. So obviously he has the muscle control. I think using the potty is just too strange of a concept for him. At some point, I will get serious about it. The cloth diapers are going well so far, so I am glad we made the switch.

His language development is great considering he hasn't learned to say no or mine yet. He hasn't learned to say much at all, but as long as he isn't saying those two words, it doesn't bother me. If anything, the first phrase he is going to learn to say (because he hears it all the time), "Oh my gosh, you are just crazy!" What really blows my mind is Elysha was speaking in full sentences by this time. I have a voicemail on my cell phone where she is saying, "I love you. I miss you. Come home soon." She was 19 months at the time. Sam says, "eeoo" for Elmo and "puh-puh" for poo-poo. I think I might be the only person who understands the ten words he has right now. Except "dah-dah" which he yells out constantly in the morning so that Chang will get him when he wakes up. It's great!

Sam is 17 months

Sam still seems like such a baby to me. He has been talking more these days, though I keep thinking he is just babbling. Then I realize he just said, "no on" (he LOVES tv and always runs over to it and asks, "on?"). Today at music class he said bubbles. I'm so shocked that he is talking, as if he just came from my womb. But that is how I feel. It literally feels like just yesterday.

But what weirds me out even more is that Joey was only 17 months when I gave birth to Elysha. Whenever I look at Sam now I just wonder what I was thinking? Of course, I wouldn't change a thing. Tonight, when I put the girls to bed, as I left the room, they started to cuddle together and Joey brushed Elysha's hair away from her eyes. It was so sweet. I love that they have each other. It would be nice if I could have another boy for Sam but maybe a dog will have to do.

What Rhymes with Spit?

It's been a busy week. My in-laws have been in town, one of my closest friends was visiting from the east coast, and a very dear friend of mine is going back to her home country. So I have only had time to blog for the site that actually pays me. However, Joey said the funniest thing the other day and I just had to document it.

The girls have been into rhyming words. Oftentimes in the car, we will play the rhyming game and Joey will come up with some clever word and then Elysha will copy Joey:

Joey: Oh, I've got one. Duck/Truck. Does that rhyme Mommy?
Me: Yes it does. Good job.
Elysha: My turn, my turn! Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...duck/truck! Does that rhyme Mommy?
Joey: I just said that! You're copying me.
Elysha: No, you're copying me.
Joey: Stop copying me!
Elysha: You stop copying me!
Both: Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Me: STOOOOOOOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! Both of you just stop it before I pull this car over and ...(I refuse to actually document the things that I say to the kids that could be damaging in court).

Anyhow, usually, they actually make the effort to think of real words. But the other day, they wanted to advance their skills so they tried to rhyme more difficult words. This, however, just resulted in them making up words to rhyme with the aforementioned difficult words, like this:
Elysha: Kitchen...kitchen...bitchen! Kitchen/bitchen! Daddy, is bitchen a word?
Chang: (dying inside to suppress his laugh) Not really.

Also, the girls have been learning sign language in school. Over Valentine's day, they learned how to sign "I love you" which is the thumb, index finger and pinkie up and the two other fingers down. Joey, was counting a while back and accidentally flipped the bird. I told Joey to be careful because people do that when they don't like someone.

So the other day, Joey signed "I love you" and said, "this means I love you!" And then she proceeded to raise her middle finger and said, "and this means, I don't love you."

Elysha continues to fart and blames Sam for it.

Sam has major anger management issues. He wants to do everything the girls are doing and when he can't, he has a major meltdown. It hasn't been fun. But he is starting to speak more these days so he has been saying, nigh-nigh, poo-poo, milk in korean (though he says ah-wah), hi (though he says hieeeeeeeeeeee) and byeeeeeeeeee while waving, and today he said thank you and baby. He also loves playing the drums, piano, acoustic and electric guitar. And he dances like Austin Powers. It's hilarious.

No, No, No

Joey and Elysha enjoy role playing these days. Usually Joey pretends to be mommy and Elysha pretends to be a kitty. Why a kitty and not a child, I do not know.

Months ago, they were playing the same game and Elysha hurt herself and called out for mommy. I went to her and she said, "no, unni is mommy." So Mommy Joey rushed to her side and consoled her as only a mommy could. "Oh, sweetie, are you okay? Mommy will make it all better." I was secretly relieved that Mommy Joey didn't yell out, "I'm busy right now. If you are not bleeding, then it can't be that bad."

Today, however, they were playing the same game and this is how their conversation went:

Kitty: Mommy, can I...

Mommy: No

Kitty: But mommy...

Mommy: No

Kitty: I just want to...

Mommy: No

Hmmm...yeah, that is probably a more accurate portrayal of me.

Joey's Word for the Day

She's said it before but I think it is cute. BLAND. Aren't 4 year olds supposed to say yucky? I don't remember what they were eating but Joey said it was bland and Elysha said that it had a yucky taste.

And something that bothered me. Joey was drawing a princess and she said, "she is going to be beautiful with fair skin." Hmmm...as in not yellow skin? Why can't they put Mulan in cuter clothes? Thank goodness Jasmine has some fancy clothes but still she's in on the periphery of the princesses my girls like. Though I think it is cool that Mulan kicks butt, little girls...well, my little girlie girls, aren't going to find that as interesting as a sparkly dress that twirls.