"i want blanket"

We went out in the morning and in the car he asked for the blanket. I turned around and I saw all blanket with a little smiling face barely showing. He was happy and warm.

"i don't want these"

it's gotten a bit chilly in the mornings and at night. so i took out these jeans for him to wear (his clothes had gotten so dirty from earlier in the day. he's never even worn these jeans, the length was perfect, but it barely buttoned. as soon as i had it buttoned, he looked down and pop it opened. it was a bit snug, but i buttoned it again and told him to move along. he starts walking and in about two steps, i hear another pop! ha, ha, ok this isn't going to work. i ask him to come back and grab him another pair of pants. before i even get a chance, he's already got his pants off and says he doesn't want them. maybe they were uncomfortable since they were tight on his waist. oh well, there goes a pair of perfectly good pants. it's sad that they were never even worn by him, but i suppose it's not a waste since they were given to us. now i'm wondering how many of his pants still fit him since he's been wearing stretchy shorts for months now. he's growing too fast.

"grapes, please"

after his nap, i told him he could have one snack (and one snack only). his choices were pretzels, shrimp chips, goldfish, apple, or grapes. which one? his answer, "yes". no, which one? finally, he chooses grapes. yay, good choice. i was proud of him for making a good choice and praised him for it.

he was quite polite today, when i asked him to put away his puzzles i also helped him. one piece was next to me (on the other side of him) and he said, "mama, can i have that? can i have cat?" i didn't know what he was talking about at first, until i saw that he was putting the farm animal puzzle back and the cat was right by my hand. "of coarse, thank you for asking so nicely!" and later, he wanted to show me something. from the other room i hear him say, "mama, come here please!" awww, i went without hesitation since he asked so nicely. usually i don't give in to his demands. or at least teach him patience. everything for him lately is right now, right away, his way or he whines or cries. it drives us crazy. not everything is about you, little mr.

there was a poster that i set in the living room temporarily. nj saw it and said, "Jesus" as he points at it. hmm... where did get that from? i thought it was so odd (of all things, it was a toulouse lautrec piece). i said, "no there's no Jesus in this picture, baby." he replied, "Jesus in the bible." he pointed up at his bible that i have up on the shelf, a baby version. i said yes and then he asked for me to read it to him. sure! we only got through about two stories, but not bad.

"want to fix"

baba was out in the garage putting something away. nj wanted to go see and help. i told him to stay and wait for him inside. next thing i know, i see him crouched down by the front door. i asked him what he was doing, he said he's fixing the door. i look and he's got his play screw driver and he's digging it in between the door and the floor. it was nice of him to want to help so i thanked him, but told him those were play toys and not for real fixing because it might ruin or break the toy.

"auntie becca, uncle dan coming over!"

he had a lot of fun rolling, kicking, and throwing the ball back and forth with uncle dan. he loves playing ball, it gives him the giggles.

and in the car, he played peek a boo with auntie becca. he also got tickled quite a bit. hee, hee.

we told nj they were coming over as motivation to clean up his toys. he did a pretty good job, but we helped.

we took them to eat taiwanese sizzling steaks. yum, haven't had that in a long time. we got to talk about a lot of things one being the decision of our new pastor at hope. back at home, we tried to also plan a weekend away. not for a while, of coarse, i'm not even sure when it's ok to travel again. but just thinking about something as simple as a local weekend trip feels great. on another note, nj needed to go to the bathroom. auntie becca was nice enough to offer to take him. he usually doesn't let anyone take him (except me, baba, and the grandmas), so i asked him if he would go with her. he said yes! awww, that's a first!

nj sharing his goldfish with baba

"want to help mama"

he pointed out a spot on the kitchen floor that was wet. i asked him why it was wet. he said, "my water, i spilled a little bit." oh, ok... gave him a napkin and asked him to wipe it up. i guess i didn't give him enough because once he threw that one away, he ran off and got another one himself and proceeded to wipe some more. he wiped all around his entire chair. silly. i thanked him for cleaning.

we had a few leftovers plus i fried an egg and cooked some zucchini for dinner. nj really wanted to watch, he asked to see everything before cooking it and after. he pulled up a stool, but i got nervous about him being around the hot stove. i asked him to stay in the corner and not touch anything. he listened pretty well except for pulling off the kitchen towel several times. he kept attempting to put it back, but it just kept falling. it was kind of cute, he finally said, "mama, this." as he pointed at the towel on the floor. i thanked him for trying anyway.

as i sat him down for dinner, i got a call from his ah-goo (his uncle perry). during the conversation nj kept saying, "mama, mama. mama. mama? mama. mama." so i asked nj if he wanted to say hi to ah-goo, he was so excited. i told him he has to talk, no weird lingering, you have to say something. so he says, "hi ah-goo. i'm eating rice and zucchini and these." (he points to the chicken and pork on his plate). he said a few more things, all about food of coarse. when they were done, i continued my conversation. when nj was finished with dinner, i let him down from his booster. but then he doesn't stop tugging at me and trying to climb me saying, "i want to talk to ah-goo. i want to talk to ah-goo. i want to talk to ah-goo." over and over and over! when we hung up, i told nj that ah-goo is not on the phone anymore. so he changed it to, "i want to call ah-goo." over and over and over! really? is this necessary? my goodness! it does make me happy, though that he loves him that much. i told nj that if he's a good boy we can try to call him again tomorrow.

"want to hold the door for mama"

we had a lot of stuff to bring in today too and nj stayed by the door to wait for baba to ask him to open it for him. he was our little door man and helper.

"some pineapple please"

thank goodness, no snack time mess today!

"i want to hug baba."

he was interested in what baba was doing, it was really cute. he climbs up with his mouth full as he says, cheeeeesh.

"i want to drink milk in the car."

you don't want to drink it now?

nj: no. the milk drip all over, make a mess.

the backseat whisperer

any time we're in the car, we always hear this weird whispering in the backseat. so strange how he does that. it's kind of funny and kind of creepy all at the same time. it makes me laugh, though. who knows what he's talking to himself about! between whispers we'll randomly hear him shout: "digger!" or "green garbage truck!" or "volkswagon bus!" sometimes when there's a bunch of his favorite cars/vehicles, then he starts shouting them faster and faster until his excitement builds and it seems like his head will explode. it's quite amusing.

"baba forgot"

every time we leave the house, before we step out the door nj says, "i want to press the button!" (to unlock the car doors) today baba pressed the button, but he let him press it a second time. when he stopped to let him press it, nj said "baba forgot". ha, ha.

"we going to sam's club"

"we are at sam's club!" ha, ha. he corrects himself just like when he says, "i want to go home." and then says, "you are home!" and then laughs. sometimes we'll all chime in. on our way there, we were stopped at a red light. there was a man sitting on the sidewalk, homeless, barely wearing really tattered clothes, obviously looked uneasy or disturbed. this was the second time we had seen him sitting in the same exact spot. i guess we all saw him or couldn't help looking (even for a second).

and then nj says, "baba, who's that?"

baba: "who?"

nj: "that man." (points at the homeless man)

we both look at each other surprised and speechless.

baba: "that's a homeless man, baby. see, you are blessed because you have a home. not everyone has a home. this man doesn't have one."

nj: "baba has a home too. and mama has a home too."

seems silly, but i was almost in tears that we were explaining this to our two year old. he probably doesn't totally understand, but it makes me think about the things we'll be explaining to him in the future. there's much to explain in life.

"mama, i can't step on the floor!"

(i guess he didn't want to get his feet dirty. ironic considering what he did!) "mama, clean it!" hmmm... well, if you didn't decide to dump your crumbs all over the table, all on your face, clothes, chair, and floor then there wouldn't be a problem! ugh. i got the vacuum out to get all the crumbs. dotty starts barking at it as she always does and i've got nj yelling at dotty to be quiet. ugh again, both of you shush!! both of them have been driving me crazy... all the yelling, running, barking, growling. they're both instigators and just as bad as the other. nj likes to eat his snacks at the table, but sometimes he'll sit on the floor with them. dotty will be so tempted and get really close. he sometimes teases her with snacks, she sometimes steals one. when she gets too close, he'll put his foot out at her or swat at the air to get her away. she gets mad and starts barking, he starts yelling at her to stop. they chase each other around and somehow it seems that all day long i'm hearing the running of two little feet and the claws from four little legs. today baba called the pair little sister and big brother. that's what they've been, just bothering each other and getting each other in trouble. it's so annoying! what happens when he actually gets a little sister?

"i'm going to sleep, mama"

nj met a new mei-mei today. isn't she so cute, nj? he was funny and tried to show her how to get on his tricycle and also how to push the button on his car/train track. but there were other things he did that were not so nice. not to mention being bossy and telling her, "take off your shoes" and "finish your milk". oh my. how embarrassing. at least we (the adults) had some nice conversation while the two warmed up to each other.

"i like this snack, from uncle jason." well good, i'm glad. he seems to be asking for food non-stop. i suppose that's nothing new with this kid, but now i have to be careful because he doesn't seem to be eating as much during his real meals. although, we suspect that it really just has to do with what kind of food we're eating. anything taiwanese/chinese he eats so much of. everything else is hit and miss. he's truly our taiwanese boy. i think i just need to learn to cook better. i'm not doing a very good job with meal planning, cooking, or preparing food, i'm just so tired all the time. i can't wait for the day that i don't have to keep saying that. it's starting to feel like an excuse for everything.

happy 70th ah-gong!

nj was so happy to be eating his kind of food and to be there with his ah-gong and ah-ma. as he (grandpa) opened his first gift, nj told him what it was! ha, ha. that was from grandma, though. then when it was time to open ours, he asked nj what it was. and he had no answer, he never saw it before we wrapped it. ha, ha! now we know not to tell him anything that's supposed to be a surprise!

squishy face

we took a couple of photos of him, all looked at them and laughed. but nj didn't laugh. so to not make him feel like we were just laughing at him, we did the same and laughed at ourselves. nj laughed the most at baba's.

lately when i wipe his face after a meal, he'll start to name everything he ate and say it's on his face. i'll say, "ok, let's wipe your face."

and he'll say, (today for example) "have cheese and bread and tomato and turkey on my face."

hello cousins...

and second cousins! i wish we lived closer, but it was so nice to see them. we brought them In & Out burgers, fries, and shakes (by their request), yum. nj loves babies of coarse, so he was right up to the baby, breathing on the glass (glass or plastic?). i told him to say hi. so he did and he put his hand over and tried to wave at him. before i knew he was only wanting to wave, i got a bit startled at him putting his hand over so suddenly. not that he'd do anything, but my goodness... it made me nervous! the little guy's only about ten days old and oh, so cute!