Saturday, April 7, 2012

"I need something on my butt."

Maybe it's because I'm just so tired first thing in the morning or because it sounds so weird, I always say: "Huh? Oh." In the morning, he goes to the bathroom first thing when he gets up. He takes his diaper off (he still wears one to bed only) and won't put his pants back on. I guess he doesn't like the feel of pants without underwear on. So he shuffles his feet to the sink to wash his hands and then to his room to put on underwear.

Dim Sum

We went to a baby's one month celebratory dim sum gathering. NJ was in food heaven, he's a true Taiwanese boy! Once he was done, I was happy to see him socializing with everyone. He went around giving stickers, but by giving stickers I mean he was putting them on their backs and butts! He did it a couple of times, got laughter from it, so of coarse he keeps going. Oh dear. This kid had everyone feeling around on their backs and bottoms to make sure they didn't miss any. As I say to him all the time, "Ai-yo." All that fun made him loopy and by the time we got to the car he says, "I'm not tired." But we all know that "I'm not tired" = I'm going to fall asleep now! And he did.

"I want to weed too!"

NJ was my little helper with picking up weeds. I made him go in the house to get gloves, though since some were quite thorny. I thought I waited late enough in the afternoon, but it was still so hot even at nearly 6:00pm. NJ blew bubbles while I did some much needed de-weeding out front (it's even worse in the backyard, that'll be next). As I got towards the end of driveway, the neighbor's two little girls game over to watch. We said our hello's and NJ was excited to meet them. They are so cute, the older one asked me a bunch of questions...
"So you live here?"
"Did you know you have a tree house?"
"Can we climb your tree house?"
"You have a dog?"
"Can I see her?"
"So you just have him (NJ)?"
They had the cutest little spring dresses on and she said that they were going to a party. It's really sad that we've barely even seen them in passing, usually as we're driving away. Hopefully now that I'm back to myself, I can go outside more with NJ to play, upkeep the yard, and all that normal stuff!

"Play train with me, Mama..."

I finally found them! I put them away a while back and of coarse when I do he asks for them (I like to rotate his toys). I've been looking everywhere and it turns out to be in a box I thought I checked. Well, he was so excited to have them back... he was hiding in his room most of the day just playing with his train track. He's happy and I'm happy (I was starting to think I was crazy)!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Conversations of the Day

NJ missed out on some Target time this morning. How nice that someone actually looked forward to time with my little mr. antsy pants! It worked out nicely though, I really enjoyed the good conversation with some chewy boba and tea. (Thanks, Auntie Susan!)
On the way home from visiting mom in the afternoon, I found myself shaking my head, rolling my eyes, and laughing. NJ was on a roll with his why's. It really wasn't all that funny, but I think I was getting deliriously hungry and a bit tired. He said something that I didn't quite understand, I said: "What? Your underwear fell out?"
NJ: Noooo! (in a very annoyed tone) I said, Why we go under the bridge and then come out? Like that!"
Between mom's place and ours, he almost always asks about two buildings in particular. One is Uncle Chris' work, where he asks if Cooper and Aunt Julie are there too. And this big church, where he asks if that's a church. Today as we're passing, there were lots of cars and people going in. He saw this and said, "Is this a church? Why all those people going right now?"
- "Because it's good Friday, so they have service."
NJ-"I want to go to church."
- "Good, we're going on Sunday."
NJ- "No, I want to go to this church, right now."
- "We're not going to this church, it's a Catholic church."
NJ- "Why?"
- "Because we're Christian, we go to a Christian church."
NJ-"But I want to go to cat-lick church!"

"I want to use the chopsticks, please"

NJ's been asking to use his chopsticks, so finally let him. He was doing great until I caught him trying to pick up a piece of Dotty's food. I didn't think I needed to say, chopsticks are for your food, on your plate, not dog food! For dinner, I shared my leftovers from yesterday's lunch. I gave him half the bread I brought home too. He wanted both pieces. He ran off to say goodbye to Baba who was leaving for judo. When he came back, he said: "Where's my bread? Did I eat it? It's gone?" Umm, yes! Don't try to trick me into giving you my half!

"Look, the flowers I pick!"

I put all the flowers he picked into some water in a jar.

"Let me cut the flower..."

"Mama, for you!"

"And this one too."

"For you, Ah-ma (grandma)!"

"One more for me!"

"See?"

He did everything to delay going home...
"I want to ride my bike."
"I need to water the plants. And these plants."
"I want to eat dinner with Ah-ma."
Sorry, we're eating dinner at home.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Lunch Date

NJ had a ton of fun at lunch. He loved putting stickers onto his star balloon, eating mini corn dogs, and playing footsie with miss Gabriella! How cute are they together? Us mommies had fun too! :)

"I want bear cookie!"

I turn my head for a second and instantly my bowl is empty and his has a lot more!

M-"Hey, did you take my cookies?"

NJ-"Noooo."

M-"Why did you take them? Can I have them back?"

NJ-"No."

M-"That's not nice! You can't just take food from other people. You have to ask!"

NJ-"I ask nicely, can I have your food and then take it?"

M-"Yes. Well, no. You ask nicely and then if they say yes, then you can."

M-"Please can I have my bears back?"

NJ-"One."

M-"One?!"

NJ-"But I'm sharing!"

M-"No, you stole them!"

And then, they're gone... He looks right at me through the bowl as he eats the rest of "his" cookies!

NJ wants me to sit with him to eat mini bear cookies (mini teddy grahams) with him. I pour some in his bowl and a few in mine. I didn't really want any, I was just humoring him... but then I did end up wanting some, just on principle alone! What a little cookie thief! I felt like I wasn't much older than he was begging him for my stolen cookies!

Me and Dot Dot

NJ went to get his white stool from the bathroom to put next to him. He said, "Sit with me, please." How could I resist? I let Dotty sit on my lap and I snapped a few photos, but this one's my favorite!

Easter goody bag raid

"May I open my eggs?" NJ was happy to finally open all his plastic eggs from yesterday's party. He was much more excited about the stickers than the candy, thank goodness. I was surprised that he let me carry them (the candy) off to put in a jar for him for later. This lucky little guy got a second bag of goodies from Auntie Danielle and Gabriella today too!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

"I want to watch it go rrrrr-rrrrr-rrrrrr..."

(which means, he likes watching the mixer run)

"Can I lick the spoon?"

He got to lick the spoon of peanut butter and the spoon of honey too. I've given him the pb before, but not the honey. He really liked that one saying, "Mmm, that's sweet!"

I used my finger to scrape some off the spoon before giving it him and I look up to see him coming at me, mouth open. Eeew, no the spoon is for you! I can lick my own finger, thank you!

Such a good helper, he liked helping me add measured ingredients.

I asked him several times not to put his face over the bowl. Earlier he had already drooled on the counter from eating his apple slices. No one wants any extra flavoring.

I decided in the morning to make a quick half batch of pb&j cookies. I had the fruit salad ready to go along with a bag of clementines, and juice boxes for the class today. I'm glad I made the cookies, but I only ate one and didn't have any to take home. I thought I did- as I covered up all the food, there was half left. Then as I was leaving, I grabbed my plate and it was all gone! Oh well, time for some more baking. NJ will love it too, he was so excited about helping me today and did a great job. :)

Class Easter Party

An Easter party feast of spaghetti, sushi, fresh fruit, salad, cookies, and juice! What a treat.

Getting ready for the egg hunt... He let me put on the cute little visor he made, but it didn't last long.

Having fun finding eggs?

You only have five eggs?

There were no more eggs to "find". Just as I thought: someone's hogging an extra egg! One of the mother's dropped one in his bag.

Yay, six eggs!

He asked repeatedly the rest of the day to open his eggs, but I saved them for a treat tomorrow. NJ had so much fun today, there were lots of kids double the usual amount- everyone shows up when there's a party!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

"I want to do crafts!"

It was more like: "I want to do craps!"
-"It's crafts, baby."
-"I want to do crabs."
-"Crafffff-tah-ssss!"
-"Crafffffsss."
-"That's closer..."

"Hi penguins!"

I showed him the penguin cam at San Diego's Sea World for Frozen Planet. He loved it of coarse. I love clicking on it at least once a day, they're so cute and funny! Thanks Ah-goo and Ah-gim (Uncle Perry and Auntie Karen) for sharing the link! Here it is: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/frozen-planet/penguin-cam/
They're irresistible!

"We getting fruit?"

We needed to pick up fruit for tomorrow's class Easter party. I'm bringing a fruit salad and juice. I hope I can make it through class, it's so tiring!

"Hi Dotty, you're so cute!"

Dotty's room (the laundry room) got invaded by ants and we had to spray it. So I temporarily put her food and water in the kitchen. I had to remind NJ not to bother her while she's eating and not to touch the bowls because they'll spill. I could tell she was uneasy about eating while he was watching so closely, so I made him sit back behind a line he couldn't cross. Then she ate fine without stopping to look at him. She's not used to having an audience. I'm reminded of why we don't keep her food in the kitchen because the rest of the day NJ ran around telling her to "Eat your food! Eat, Dotty! Eat!" Poor Dot Dot.

"Don't pee all over!"

He didn't eat that much for lunch, just had every excuse not to eat. I told him this is your chance to eat otherwise you'll be hungry. He went to nap and woke up crying that he was hungry. So for dinner I told him he better eat enough otherwise, you'll be hungry tonight again. Before bed he stalled any way he could before sleeping. He took so long to change, especially putting his pj's on. I said: "Hurry up, Mama needs to go to the bathroom."
NJ: "You do? Pee pee?"
Me: "Yes, now hurry."
NJ: "Don't pee all over!"
Me: "I won't. Thank you."
I remind him all the time not to pee all over. Sometimes Baba or I will go to the bathroom and it's all over the seat, gross! He goes by himself and sometimes I'll go check on him. He turns his head to look at me and his body turns too. Of coarse I scream NOOOO! Then he'll clean it up. Why not clean it up when I'm not watching? Ugh.