Monthly blogging is turning out to be more challenging, now that my TV binge watching has gone off the rails! I'm almost done with OITNB and can soon reclaim some of my precious night time (when I'm not "on call" with Josiah)...that is, until I get sucked into other shows!Well, back to the kids. That's all people care about anyway, right? This past month, we went to Clearwater Beach with the extended Lee family and it was wonderful. Location was beautiful, the kids had a BLAST (especially in the sand), and we were even able to make time for Universal Studios for us adults. Lots of fun and memories to mark the end of summer.
JOSIAH: 38.5 months
"Josiah Daniel Minjong Lee", as he now proudly chants is doing great, and continues to be the family clown. He says all kinds of phrases that make us burst out laughing ("Hi little fellas", "You can cry all you want, Samantha", "The king is here") and also melt us completely ("I so so love my family", "Sometimes you go to work and you come back. I thought I lost you, but it's ok!"). He loves the attention that he gets from his funny antics, especially by his grown-up "friends" at church. Interestingly enough, he doesn't really acknowledge other friends his own age. His favorite attention-grabber these days is lip singing to music, especially "Sugar" by Maroon 5. The minute he heard it, he instantly loved it and started assigning instruments to the rest of us for his band. He loves singing and dancing, and has the strangest moves (e.g. foot twists and twirls) and facial expressions. I hope he continues to be uninhibited like that...unlike his self-conscious Mommy.
We continue to listen to VeggieTales Silly Songs on repeat every.single.day. By this point, we've collectively memorized every word, melody and harmony...so much so that we have assigned parts in the duet, and even Samantha croons along. He also improv raps pretty well. I give him a beat and he says his name and random other things like "boom boom chika doo". He cracks me up! He also plays more independently these days and he can keep himself occupied for longer stretches without the TV. He loves his Octonaut and Minion "characters" and will be role-playing with them for hours...well at least until Samantha comes and ruins his fun.As fun and sweet as he is, he continues to push boundaries. He used to always make sure we were within his sight...especially me. Not only has he shed his Mommy preference (*tear), he also seems to be much more confident on his own. Just this week at church, I noticed him creeping out of the room and exploring more on his own. The funny thing is that he does it gradually...goes a bit further each time. I guess his independence is a good thing, but I was surprised when he actually left the room and I momentarily couldn't find him. It doesn't help that his listening/response skills are also poor. He just flat out ignores us sometimes and gets really huffy when he doesn't want to do what we say. He even talks back and defiantly says "But I SAID..." and "Excuse ME" when we are trying to sternly talk to him. We've followed through on Time Outs a bit more, which actually works ok...but then he becomes a mush-ball afterwards and becomes extra affectionate...he knows how to work me! He can't bear the thought of being in trouble.
Last topic is potty train...and not much to say except that we tried for a day and quickly gave up after he had 2 accidents in 20 minutes. We don't have the stamina for it right now, so back to diapers for now!
SAMANTHA: 17 months
She finally walks! Despite her general fearlessness, it sure took her a while to take her first real steps on her own. The funny part is you could totally see her calculating every move and object in her path when she finally did it. And while she is much more confident now than in her first few days doing it, she still walks tentatively, holding her belly for support and humming a bit under her breath. While I'm so relieved that she's finally doing it, her mobility has just opened up a whole new world of mischievous possibilities. We constantly find her by the fridge, the shoes, the TV, or the bathtub.Samantita is also gibbering away. Her fave word is definitely "Daddy". She even says it repeatedly to me, which I am sure she does to get a rise out of me. She also says "no no no" when she doesn't want what we are feeding her and will dramatically toss the food over her shoulder. She also says it when she doesn't like the song I'm singing. She also learned "go go go" with her pointed finger when she wants us to bring her elsewhere. She instigates with all of us constantly, especially Josiah. She even started hitting him while saying "hiya". When he fights back and grabs toys from her, she shrieks like a victim and falls on the floor dramatically. Hmm - why does this bring up memories of me and my brother growing up?
She is an interesting gal - very sweet at first, but will not give you many chances. For example, she is an early riser and will wake from even the slightest rustling of bed sheets. She usually gives us one holler and if we don't come to get her, she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. And little miss "Hot Mess" is not her best self when she wakes up. Another example - she likes to feed us snacks and will say "ahh" and expect us to open up. If we don't comply immediately, she starts screaming once again.
I hope all his ear-shattering screaming will stop once she picks up even more language. Her vocabulary is not too shabby, but still limited to a few objects - ball, shoes, dog, meow, door, cup ("p'cup"). This is generally all she needs to say in a given day, along with her commands of "more", "see" and "meeenaaa", which I think is combo of her nanny's name and just a general bossy phrase.
Some of her favorite things right now: bath time (loves splashing from the faucet), carbs, miso soup ("mmmm!"), balls, and dogs. And despite how grumpy and bossy she can be, she's equally giggly and fun-loving. She especially loves being tickled all over and spun around.
