Friday, May 22, 2015

34.5 month / 13 month update



Life is so full and crazy these days.  I missed my last post, so I'll try to recall all that's happened during these past two months.  It's amazing what you can remember, in spite of foggy, sleep deprived brain!

The big stuff:
  • Samantha turned 1 in April and we celebrated with a big bash.  We officially have two toddlers in the house! They are still angry at each other most of the time, but doing better at co-existing these days.
  • My brother Ed and his family visited from Japan in May.  The last time I saw my brother was before my kids were born. And this was the first time that our children met.  It was crazy corralling 12 people in and out of NYC and doing all kinds of touristy things, but totally worth it. We miss them already.
  • Two rounds of sicknesses - stomach bug in March and fevers in May shortly following my brother's visit.  As much as we tried to separate the kids and avoid the contagion, I realize it's just futile.  Next time, I'm going to at least try to coordinate them so we can get it over in one shot versus a seemingly never-ending cycle.  Now I know why my mom was obsessed with me getting chicken pox from my brother...
  • Shaggy went away to DC for a conference for a FULL WEEKEND in May, leaving me with the kids by myself.  I know I've already received enough sympathy from friends, but it's worth documenting :)  And although it felt like endless cooking, cleaning, and refereeing, it was actually pretty sweet to spend so much time with the kids.  And I really do think it's true that kids ease up a bit when they know they've outnumbered you.
  • We are in the process of selling our place and looking for a new home in the real 'burbs.  I spend all my waking moments on real estate sites.  We love our place so much and have so many memories here. But we need more space!  Praying for an easy search.
  • ALLERGIES!

SAMANTHA - 13 months


Our girl "Samantita" or "Octopus" (according to Josiah), is no longer a baby!  However, she remains on the small side, so we'll keep thinking she's a baby as long as she'll let us.  But don't let her little 10 percentile body fool you - she is one tough cookie!  She gets into screaming matches with her brother constantly and will even grab a tuft of his hair and occasionally bite.  She's got quite the grip and will not let go of whatever it is that she wants - whether it's crumbs of food, Josiah's toys, electric cords, remote controls or most of all, my iPhone! Whenever she catches a glimpse, she starts panting with excitement and will do anything to get her hands on it, even nose-dive for it.  It's so funny to see how much she's picked up by just watching me (or perhaps it just reinforces how attached I am to that darn thing).  She pushes the home button, swipes at the screen with her fingers, and puts it to her ear and says "Ho?"  Taking it away from her causes immediate tantrums. She's picked up the nasty habit of throwing her body on the floor (while kneeled) when she gets really upset.  In fact, she cries and gets mad at us a lot...when she wakes up and we don't immediate get her, when she doesn't want anymore food, when Josiah takes toys away...she's always letting us know when her needs are not being met!

Here are some other recent Samantha-isms:
  • Top 2 teeth have come in! This means teething pain..but also an increased desire for our table food! She wants nothing to do with purees anymore, and wants whatever we're eating.  She pretty much eats anything Josiah does now (eggs, fruit, rice, chicken, cheese, etc.). And she LOVES donuts.
  • She's beginning to stand on her own, but not for longer than a few seconds.  And then she gives herself applause!  She's still pretty careful and calculated with her movements. It's fun watching her figure out a path to her desired destination, testing various items for their level of sturdiness and support.  I don't see her walking anytime soon, but you never know!
  • She's our future engineer.  She likes to hover around the TV, press buttons, pull out the cable card, etc.  She seems to always be examining things and tossing them on the ground.
  • She still doesn't verbalize much other than "do do" and "uh" (while pointing).  She still shakes her head at everything (we're convinced "no" means "yes"), but has started to nod here and there.  She's a girl of a few words.
  • She loves to wave and blow kisses to everyone when you're holding her.  But when not held, she freaks out when other people get close.  Not a social butterfly like Josiah was at her age. 
  • She still loves it best when we swing her around, blow in her face, or squish our nose against hers. Her absolute favorite is when we take her diaper off before the bath. Don't know why, but she starts kicking up her legs and cackling. 
  • During diaper changes, we say "hands up", and the hands go flying up. When we say "oreja", she points to her ear
  • Her hair is getting longer and harder to tame each day. We try to avoid her natural ajuma hairstyle, so she's always in pigtails.
  • She watches all the same TV shows as her brother and likes to dance (or awkwardly sway off-beat) to the music
  • She's starting to get interested in shoes...
JOSIAH - 34.5 months

My little man...and mama's boy.  He's still all about me, and I kind of love it.  He always wants to play with me, sing silly songs with me, go to A&P with me, hold my hand, sleep with me, etc.  But it's also exhausting!

Josiah continues to be very in tune with his emotions.  He has picked up a few more adjectives and often tells us that he is upset, sad, angry, grumpy, etc. Whenever he doesn't get what he wants, he often crosses his arms and goes "humph.  I'm upset". He's even started to personify his toys - he'll say things like "Mommy, rabbit and frog are hitting each oger (other)" or "Letter A and Z are not nice. They need to take a break".  He must be learning about discipline in school lately, because he acts this scene out a lot. He is so scared at the concept of 'taking a break'! We've threatened him with this once or twice, but stopped once we realized that we were never following through!

Speaking of school, Josiah still doesn't tell us about it at all and actually seems to avoid the topic when we ask. We think he may have a lot of girlfriends because the only people he will occasionally mention are girls names (Azza, Anya, Maddy, etc.). The teachers say he's friendly and perceptive, but sometimes hugs people too hard!

He's a bit kinder to his sister these days - at least his aggression is more passive vs. outright. He'll sometimes throw her a toy (the least desirable one, of course) out of the piles and piles of his toys when we insist that he share. Or he'll say things like "Samantha wants medicine" when he wants to deflect from him!  And when he does things that he knows are wrong, he'll quickly say "sorry sorry!" There are a few moments of unexpected sweetness though, like when he puts his arm around her or runs to her crib saying "she needs her baba" when she's crying.  However, she always seems a bit guarded and suspicious in those moments.

He continues to be really imaginative and musical - has started to make up songs and rhymes, and loves singing along to Veggie Tales Silly Songs in the car.  It's amazing what he's memorized and how he really commits to all the parts!  He is also really into Pocoyo these days and has even assigned us each one of the characters - he's Pocoyo (of course), I'm Pato the duck, Daddy is Ellie the elephant, and Samantha is the Octopus.  He's also been watching 'Finding Nemo" and has been in a sea life kick ever since, constantly asking about Nemo, Daddy fish, and the other sea life.  Out of desperation, I started to feed him saying he was a shark...and it seemed to work! Aside from regular TV and movies, he is also really into YouTube videos about Playdoh and surprise kinder eggs.

Physically, he still tends to be tentative. He's regressed a bit where he's a bit wary of things he used to love...like the playground, dogs, etc. He seems scared of things and is overly careful. For example, when we put him on the swing, he started trembling and screamed to get off.  We need to bring him outside more often and get him exposed to new things.  I'm hoping to enroll him in some swimming lessons this summer, but I can already anticipate the crying. He really seems to want a scooter for his birthday, so maybe that will unleash him a bit.

He still says the darndest things.  Here are some recent funnies:

  • I'm a doctor. Don't be scared.
  • Sa-man-ta stop! She wants to go in cage.
  • I not can see anything!
  • No, I fine. I better.
  • I want to join you!
  • I prayed already!
  • Just one more episode!
  • No, that's silly.  Try again.
  • That's right, mommy.  Good job!
  • I'm Kitchen Josiah!
  • It's good to see you.  Are you doing well (prounounced "weh-yell")?
  • I'm sorry that I'm scared you when I saw you on TV (he quotes this line everytime he thinks he scared someone)

Long post, but it was a long two months.  Looking forward to the summer!