"Can I eat it now?"

My Giggle Place

Class field trip number six, I think? It's the last day of class and we spent it at an indoor play place. It was pretty nice, better than the one in Pasadena we've been to (my only comparison). I couldn't find NJ half the time, he'd just take off. He had a lot of fun running around, climbing, and sliding. I made another round of cookies to give to the mommies today. And something extra for the teacher. :) I was exhausted by the time we got home. I didn't have too much time to rest, but at least I got to a little. 

Graduation

I was sad in deciding not to bring NJ, but it's better that we didn't. He would have been so restless, antsy, and bored. Plus we were out late, it would have been extra late for him. I was exhausted so he would have been too. It was nice to catch up with some friends and hang out. It feels strange to have friends with kids graduating high school already! They grow up way too fast. Congrats to Meliza! 

"It's a bowl, Mama"

Smiling big for his fourth pancake! I only had two.

NJ: "Can you wipe my thumb?" Thumb? He's always so concerned about his hands being clean, but never seems to care about food all over his face! 

He was asking me for something, so I said: "If you want one, bring your plate over here." He came over, nudged me and said: "It's a bowl, Mama." Sheesh, can't get away with anything. 

Happy Adopt-aversary!

Celebrating our third year as a family, we're so blessed! We visited Ah-goo (Uncle Perry) and had dinner with him. We got a quick visit from Auntie Sherry too! After, we had a little treat. That's when Ah-goo tells NJ, "Happy adoptaversary!" Ha, ha. It does sound better than adoption day or gotcha day. I showed NJ his adoption book that we made for him again and he loves the photos. 

Cupcakes for Class

My little taste tester... With all this baking it must seem like all I do is feed him sugar! But part of the joy in baking is the sharing. Each of us eat one to try and the rest go straight into give-away plates, bags, or containers. NJ is very persistent with asking for more, but he doesn't get it. I tell him if we eat them then there's nothing to share. He watches me put them away and he says, "Don't give all of them, then I can't eat any!" (Yes, that's the point! None of us need more sugar...)

Cupcakes are ready to go from my late night baking! I frosted, sprinkled, and put the decoration together frantically since it took some time. I was sweating! I had NJ's help, but it didn't exactly speed up the process. He was good about watching when I wanted him to. I'm surprised he was able to last without drooling on them!

My little finished product model...

I'm happy to say, I came home from his class with none left! Yay!

Class Graduation & Party

Final day of class! Except for the last field trip on Friday. Ahh, what a relief! So much fun... NJ gets to play, sing, dance, do crafts, eat, interact with other kids, and learn so much. And I got to socialize with other mommies, help and encourage him, and watch him learn and do new things. He's grown and learned much more than what I could have taught him at home. This class of his has been such a source of guilt, brought out my insecurities, was overwhelming, and very tiring. It's been a test of my physical and emotional limits. I wanted to be 100% at all times for him when it came to this class, but I couldn't be. I thank God for my mom who could help me by taking him when I couldn't make it. Couldn't have done it without her. I'm still happy that we could both have the experience of all that we learned. Now the debate is, do we continue in the fall or find a preschool? Or both? We'll just have to see!

"But I want to go back to Auntie Ma-chelle house."

We visited a friend after class today, that was really nice. It was so cute the way they played and whispered together (little sister asleep). NJ loved all the toys, he didn't want to leave. Even when we got home he was asking to go back. 

"Can we go outside to walk and Dotty too?"

"Ba-loom!" 
Baba blew up a balloon for him (he got it from the teacher) and he played so happily with it. It was like a little giggle fit every time he hit the balloon. He started counting every hit for as long as he could keep it in the air. I think the highest he got was thirteen, not bad. 

"Ooh, there's jelly on it?"

NJ spotted the cookies right away. I gave him a small one that he thoroughly enjoyed slowly. 

More baking! Well, mixing since I didn't get to the actual baking until later tonight. NJ was holding the side of the mixing bowl and said, "I'm putting my hand here because to keep it in." Sometimes if put too much of the dry ingredients at once, it flies out of the bowl. He's getting really good at helping, watching, and listening. As opposed to grabbing and trying to touch everything. I love when he's a nice helper, it makes it that much more enjoyable.

"Go Oka-la-homa!"

NJ cheered excitedly for the game we watched with our relatives. He always asks, "Which one are we clapping?" (except his "l" in the last word sounds more like an "r" most of the time). I told him we're cheering for the white. On the way home he tells me and Baba, "The jello was good. The food was bad." Yikes! He really liked the almond jello (with fruit) that Ah-ma and Auntie made. We even got to bring some home (thank you, Ah-ma)! Good thing the food was bought by the family, not made. I was surprised that he wasn't interested in eating it and didn't like it much. It's so unlike him. Baba said, "That's Filipino food, baby... get used to it!"

Some late night baking

It's NJ's class graduation party tomorrow. I signed up for dessert. I finally decided on baking some mini chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. The morning will go by quickly, so I didn't want to rush. So tomorrow I just need to frost and sprinkle them. I also tried out a baking pan a good friend generously passed on to me. I had extra batter left, otherwise I realize yellow cake would make more sense for it to look like an ice cream cone. I just wanted to see how they'd turn out. And I had a happy taste tester in the waiting! He was also very good in helping me while baking. It would have taken much longer if I didn't have Baba's help and his company. 

"Can you please put this away?"

A helpful boy as always. Mixing the blueberry pancakes...

Putting the dishes away, and trying to wash them...

Picking up fallen lemons...

And bagging the lemons.

We brought two big bags full to his class for the other moms to take. I brought another bag to my group tonight, and there are still more on that tree! Lemons anyone?

The last few days NJ's been asking me to put things away (not totally unusual, another of his polite persuasions), but adding a long list of reasons to it. He says something like, "Can you please put this away? Because then I'm going to touch it, and I'm going to spill it, or it's gonna break, and then it's gonna all over the place, and it's gonna be a mess... so..." Well, how considerate!