31.5 month / 10 month update

I am so late with this post...so much so that I’ve decided to use Samantha’s birthday (18^th) to be the new monthly rhythm.  Whatever makes me feel less behind, right? :)
 

As much as I’ve considered abandoning this blog, there’s so much that happens each month that I don’t want to lose track of those things.  And God knows my memory is not reliable these days!  These past few weeks, in particular, have been crazy.  I took a new job (same parent company, different role), with occasional travel to Philly.  I’m actually typing this on the train now, since I haven’t had a second to do it elsewhere.   It's been exciting to change things up, but also a bit stressful to be adding something new into our busy lives!

Beyond the usual busyness, we went on vacation this past month to Puerto Rico, both kids have gotten sick (first bout of daycare-related illnesses?), and Josiah’s sleep has majorly regressed.  Being a toddler is tough enough, but throw in sickness and a disruption of routine, and all the good habits are undone :/

JOSIAH – 31.5 months

This has been a big month for Jiggy.  He’s been at daycare for a month now, and while it started out rocky, it only took two weeks for him to declare “I like school”.  It’s amazing how kids can go from one extreme to the other.  Now during drop-off, he just waves goodbye to Daddy.  And whenever he gets picked up, he exclaims “you came back!”  I only wish I could watch him in action, but from what the teachers say, he’s doing great.  His only issues are that he won’t use the potty there (not even close to training!), generally doesn’t poop (whereas he’s usually a machine!) and who knows if he’s eating anything since he’s so used to being hand-fed at home!  And as verbal as he is, he won’t tell us a thing.  When I ask him about his teachers, he just says “Miss Alison says SSSHH. Go to sleep.  Turn off light”.  And when I ask him what his friends’ names are, he just laughs and says “Yaya”.  I’m waiting for the day he really makes his first friend!

Perhaps related to the adjustment to daycare, his sleep routine is out the window!  His bedtime is now pushing toward 9pm and he won’t go to sleep without one of us with him.   He teases us and pretends to debate between his options (“I sleep to Mommy or Daddy?”)…yet picks me 9 times out of 10.  And as much as we want to be stern about going to sleep alone, we can’t afford him crying and waking up Samantha.  So, Josiah wins.  And I lose my evening “freedom” and usually wake up in the middle of the night, confused and disoriented.  Shaggy doesn’t stay victorious for long – he usually handles the middle-of-the-night screaming responsibilities.

In general, Josiah’s been on TEAM MOMMY these days.  He flat-out said he loved me more than Daddy! (I win!) He gets upset when I give Samantha attention and will insist that I hold him ("hold me hold me hold me!") and that I give Samantha over to Daddy.  In some ways, we’ve reinforced that since we typically divide/conquer the kids that way – it wasn’t really an intentional thing, but I do think we generally gravitate to our minis”!  As silly and hyper as Josiah is, I have to admit that he gets that from the Cha side.  He reminds me a lot of my brother as a kid, especially with his humor and wild dancing.  And he certainly has acquired my sense of caution and pickiness.

The jealous spurts between the kids have been tough.  I actually can't trust them to be alone for too long, for fear that he will sit and smother her.  Josiah is not great at sharing and has developed a stern voice to yell “No Sa-man-ta!” when she gets close to his toys.  And he monopolizes all of her toys too and loves to yank things away from her.  When we try to encourage him to share or anything else he doesn’t want to do, he immediately pouts and says “I sad” or “I don’t want anything, anymo!” Or he just bursts into tears. How can a 2 year old be so emo?!?  Sometimes he even lashes out and even hits us, which is when we followed through with his first time-outs.  It’s heartbreaking to do and I’m not sure how successful they’ve been beyond just completely freaking him out.  And then he'll just quickly shout out "sorry sorry!", without truly being remorseful.

Now the fun Josiah quotables from this month:

• What the big idea?
• Broccoli is gross.  That’s caca.
• I be patient
• You want special? (referring to his cooking)
• Just one more.  Pinky promise
• Scary monster! Hami is grandma!
• What?!?  I not Min-Jong, I Josiah (when I call him by his Korean name)
• Mommy big, Josiah small (-_-)
• Are you get my blanket? (I love his grammar mistakes)

SAMANTHA – 10 months

Our Sammy Burrito is a real person now, albeit a little one (she’s now 20 percentile!)  What is it about our kids oscillating from one end of the weight curve to the other?!? She is so adorable and I could kiss her all day! 

Her personality is becoming more prominent and she’s becoming more active and verbal by the day.  She started crawling last month and will move around the house without us realizing it sometimes.  She seems very determined and will do whatever it takes to get the object she’s eyeing. Shaggy says she’s like Ursula with her active arms.  But whatever you do, don’t try to take the toy (or iPhone or extension cord) away, or watch her throw a fit and start beating the ground in frustration.  

She still a happy and chill baby and sleeps great at night and can play by herself easily (she loves rolling around in her “cage” with all the balls and toys).  However, she’s no pushover – when Josiah gets in her personal space, she screams and/or pushes/kicks him, probably rightfully so.  Since Josiah is home 2 days out of the week, our nanny has commented how much happier Sammy’s been when her brother’s away!  She loves the 1-on-1 attention and ability to touch all his toys.  And despite how angelic I still believe her to be, she definitely whines and cries more these days.  And she’s begun to show some stranger anxiety this month for the first time.

Samantha’s become very responsive and interactive too.  She knows “baba” for bottle and will scream in the morning until we give it to her.  She runs the extremes - will either be kicking her feet and chuckling like crazy...or screaming with her face all pruned up if we don't give her what she wants immediately.  She's less "deadpan" in facial expressions!

She's trying to talk and makes all kinds of babbles like “na na na” and "ya ya ya" and waves her hands around, best compared to either a conductor, fan-dancer, or pageant queen!  She also puts her hand out for high-fives and makes sounds by playing with her or others’ lips.  She’s often grinning and smirking, especially at Daddy, and has just recently been laughing more like “Ha Ha” these days.  She loves being swung around by Daddy and just squints her eyes in bliss.  Shaggy and I joke around that she’s going to be into action sports like her Daddy, while Josiah will watching from the bench with me :/  However, one commonality with her brother is that she seems to love music.  She bounces her body and kicks her feet along to the music, sometimes even howling along.

Samantha is loving food these days, yet less into milk (she guzzles her morning bottle, then tapers off throughout the day).  Shaggy’s been making amazing purees that she’s been gobbling down.  They’re really good – I even sneak in a taste sometimes! 

I can’t believe how quickly Samantha is growing up.  I definitely wish we could keep her at this stage for longer since it’s so ideal – she’s interactive, yet can’t walk nor talk back to us!  :P  Although her legs are still wobbly and unsteady at the moment, she's starting to pull herself up... so it won’t be too long!