little sleeper

we hardly ever see him sleeping anymore (besides the car). today, we got up earlier than normal and had to wake him up. otherwise, it's usually him that wakes us up... he calls out for baba. it's so sweet to actually see him sleeping.

good morning! are you ready for another yard sale search adventure? Every morning he comes out of his room and says, "good morning, mama!" with a big smile. well, most mornings, there's the occasional bad whiney, crying mornings. today, we had his milk and breakfast ready to go. we tried to head out earlier this time. he was super excited at one stop where there were also two old mini's for sale. so cute! we told him to go see it and the first thing he says is, "it's dirty". but he did touch the headlight (i think with one finger). oh boy. we picked up a couple of cool things for nj, but we've kept it hidden until it's cleaned up. even though he saw them, he hasn't been asking for them which is nice.

"more pretzel chips"

nj saw me snacking on pretzel chips and asked for some. I gave him a bowl with a few. he made himself comfortable on the couch eating them. that's a first... he's usually eating snacks in his booster. he looked so relaxed enjoying his snack.

fun at our neighbor's

nj played so much with the girls, it was cute. they really know their ipads. i think this is the first time nj's seen one in use. he was glued to it as one of the girl's watched some Dora on it. ha, ha. i told him he could look, but not touch. he lost interest after a while, i think it's because he doesn't normally watch tv/dvd's. it was so nice to go and spend time there, they even invited us to stay for dinner. only downside of that, he went to bed late. he wanted to keep playing and keep eating.

"baba help"

"strawberry peanut jelly butter"

slow down, dude! when he crams in food or takes too big of a bite we tell him to slow down. his response is always, "don't choke yourself!" yes, please nj!

time out in the middle of shopping

poor guy was getting really tired and hungry. but still! i could hardly keep him from tugging, kneeling, touching stuff. ugh. normally, he's a more pleasant shopper. not today!

"chicken nuggets"

he saw the chick-fil-a sign and i asked him what the place is called. he says, "chicken nuggets". then he said, "chick-o-lay". this time, i shared with nj and he ate just as much as i did (if not more).

ah-goo's cup

mmm, smoothie! seeing uncle perry's old cup brought back memories.

bring on the sunshine, i'm ready to go...

playing with his cars on the floor as he always does. today, he gave me some good smiles. :)

"sit at the table, drink water"

he drank so much water today, i think because it was quite warm. poor guy was so sweaty playing, it looked like we had gelled his hair or something. i found him sitting at the table eating his yogurt nicely after he asked for it. a little ended up on the table, but he did a pretty good job keeping clean.

"this koda"

i brought this book out and went through all the animals with him. when i pointed at the picture of the wolf and asked him what it was, he said: "koda". when i asked again he pointed and said, "this koda". made me laugh. i guess it does kind of look like ah-goo's dog (uncle perry and auntie karen's dog).

"want to count"

he's at 70 stickers, he got ten more and got to choose another car. i'm always surprised at how much more he counts or how much better he's saying the numbers. it's funny how he repeats them in the same tone i do, even when i change it up. nj carried around his car all day, in his pocket or in his hand. he kept calling it a mini cooper even though we kept telling him it's a volkswagon.

"more pretzel please"

oh my, can he eat! i had my own pretzel and barely finished. he had almost a whole one. he probably would have finished one if baba didn't take a little piece. we went to sam's club and sitting there he said, "eating at sam's club". it made me realize that he says it better than he used to. it used to sound more like, sam's crap. especially when said quietly.

"want to watch baba"

nj was getting a bit much in the kitchen so i asked him to go see what baba was doing. he was changing the front door knob to a newer, better one (one of our great garage sale finds... three heavy brass ones for $5!). that occupied him for a while. enough for me to deal with the hot oven, opening and closing.

"mama make cookies"

again, he pulls up a stool to watch me mix and bake cookies. this time i made half a batch of pb & j and half batch of pb with chocolate chips. i figured since i opened a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips this morning to throw them in the pancakes i made. mmm... much better than the trail mix experiment gone awry! never doing that again. well, i had to push the tray back further into the counter so he wouldn't touch them, breath or drool on them. no one wants any extra flavoring. whenever he watches me cook or bake in the kitchen, he gives me a play by play of what i'm doing. and as soon as i have anything on my hands, he says, "mama wash hands!" or if i spill something, get crumbs on the counter, he says, "mama wipe!" sheesh, i've been calling him the kitchen police! i thought i'd bake since baba loves peanut butter and i could give some to his aunties tonight. :) since he was a really good eater during dinner, i gave him the smallest cookie piece there was. he came back for more, but i told him only one! baba got to be my tester too.

nice to meet you aunties!

just before this, i went to change. when i came out, nj said to me: "mama, you look pretty!" awww, i looked at baba (as if to say, did you tell him to say that? he shook his head a shrugged his shoulders). what a sweet boy! it was nj's bedtime, but he briefly met two new aunties. some old friends of mine came to visit and we had a fun mini night out. we got to catch up over drinks and pastries. ah, the feeling of reconnecting with friends! it was a special treat in so many ways. next time, nj might have some new little friends to play with. :)

long day

clinic today was quite long and exhausting as usual. i felt so tired and achey, i had a long nap. so i didn't see nj for long today. :( i got to say goodnight to him, told him i missed him, and that tomorrow we'll have the whole day together. i can't wait until clinic visits become fewer like they used to be.

"want to help!"

this morning i was trying to tidy up for guests coming over. i heard these bottles and i was hoping he hadn't dropped them from the table at the front door. he had to have lifted it enough to get it to the floor, but pushed it the rest of the way. i almost got mad at him since i told him not to touch them, but he was only trying to help.

as i mixed some cake batter, nj pulled up a stool to watch. he helped get a spoon for me in the cabinet. but i had to tell him not to touch and not to get too close. if his face got any closer i'm afraid drool might have fallen in. when he saw me mixing he said, "i want cake!" how do you know i'm making cake? and how do you know if it's for you?

stop breathing all over the food, boys! my goodness... nj wanted to stick his finger in the batter and baba wanted to stir the crock pot. i tried a slow cooker recipe for yellow curry chicken. it was easy to do and pretty good, but recipe and cook time need some adjustments (not sure how or what to do to improve it).

did you have fun with your aunties today? nj was excited to see our guests and of coarse, eat food! i'd post photos, but for privacy reasons i won't! i will say, though that nj loves babies! he was so sweet, but kept getting so close to the baby's face. not sure why. baba says probably because at the home he was from, there were so many kids and babies... they all laid around together on the floor, rolling into each other. then he tells nj, "personal space, baby! this is america!" that made me laugh.

mien mien and shaved ice

we were really hungry after church and went to lunch with the soohoo's. yum, great food and a fun time talking. after lunch, we went to get boba and shared some shaved ice. nj's never had shaved ice, he really liked it. he kept asking for more mango (the topping of choice).

i missed the morning with my boys. i went with a friend (nj's auntie doris) to the long beach flea market. i think it's the first time i've been out with a friend by myself. it was nice to spend some time with a girl friend. especially outside of ucla, where i usually see her (when she visited often). we left at 7:00 am and only got through maybe two rows, there was so much stuff and so many people! when it got more crowded, we were getting tired and had our hands full so we headed home. so much cool stuff, but i was proud of myself for not coming home with more stuff (just one thing). i got home just in time, the boys were ready and we headed to church. it was kind of a special day at hope, our pastoral candidate was the speaker for the first time. i'm excited to participate in the voting as congregational members. at church today, he was only one of three kids in the toddler room. as usual, he had more than his share of snacks and helped clean up. funny guy.