Growing up

We started Matthew on cereal last Saturday. LOVES it. Cries in between spoonfuls because he wants more so badly. Coincidentally, Ellie's baby dolly has also started cereal. She can also roll over from back to tummy, as can Matthew. Baby dolly also enjoys being lifted in the air like Superman and needs a binky in the car. Anyway, I can't believe he's already on solids. I cried when Ellie started because it represented a move towards independence. Well, just not being completely dependent on me anymore. Sad. Here's a video of Matthew eating. Harold took it and made a point to show Peter videotaping with our video camera, and Ellie videotaping with her video camera that came in Dora's Talking Backpack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5RwMLiNZyY

As a side note, for any moms of infants out there, I got this new product at Babies R Us. I forget what it's called, but it's this little mesh pouch with a handle. You put fresh fruit in there, and the baby can gnaw at it without getting chunks for potential choking. Matthew devoured a piece of peach (yes, I went from rice cereal to peaches in a matter of 3 days), but got frustrated because he couldn't keep it in his mouth himself. That's probably because you're not supposed to give peaches to a baby who can't hold stuff in his mouth himself. Whatever. But it's in the feeding section at Babies R Us, next to sippy cups and spoons and stuff. Great product. Usually when you puree stuff, you have to cook it and lose nutrients, so this is a nice alternative. We'll see if I end up making his food like I did Ellie's. I'm going to try.

We met Ellie's teacher yesterday. I have a pretty good feeling about her going to school. I think she'll love it. I know I'm going to cry that first day, though. My baby... I actually WAS crying once when I was cuddling with her after she woke up from her nap (soon after potty training started). She asked why I was crying, and I said, "Soon you aren't going to need me anymore, Ellie. You're such a big girl. You still need me, right?" She answers, "Um... sometimes I need you. When I go on the potty I still need you. Sometimes I no need you anymore." I laughed, but I was still kinda sad. So now she knows; when she's trying to butter me up, she goes, "I still need you, Mommy." But other times she tells me, "I no need you anymore. I go potty by myself." And it makes me sad. My big girl... :( Think of me from 9-1 next Tuesday. I will be all mopey and crying. Maybe it's the hormones... but probably just my unhealthy attachment issues again.

By the way, go down to the bottom of this page and look at my Flickr thing. Those first pics of Matthew... who does he look like? When I first saw them, I was like, "OH MY GOODNESS, he looks EXACTLY like..." then I couldn't finish the sentence. I'm fairly certain it's someone in my family, but I'm not sure who. Any takers?

A boring update

So... what's been going on with us? Not too much.

With Ellie, potty-training is going fairly well. Some days, no accidents. Some days, two accidents. She finally told me she had to poo BEFORE she did it, so that was exciting. She earned all her stickers on her potty chart and got her Dora's Talking Backpack, about which she is VERY excited. She takes it everywhere and sleeps with it (it's hard plastic). I kinda think she's more excited about it because she earned it. I dunno... maybe I'm giving her more credit than she deserves, but this is the most enthusiastic she's been about any toy ever. Now she says she wants a talking Boots, but such a toy doesn't exist. Earning of the toys has been a good experience, though, so we may keep up the chart and just reward her with stuff we'd get her anyway.

Matthew got his first haircut yesterday. We went to a special kiddie haircut place and paid a stinkin' $15. RIP OFF! The lady just hacked away at it and it looks all crazy. It also makes him look like a big boy, which, of course, makes me sad. His hair isn't all soft and wispy anymore. Ooh, look! I embedded a video. The funniest part of this video is Ellie repeating everything I say in the same sing-songy voice.


I also started making Matthew "cry it out" at night instead of feeding/consoling/cuddling him when he wakes up. I never had the heart to do it to Ellie. We failed Ferberizing several times, but I guess that's OK since Feberizers have been discovered to be a cult. Anyway, I'm in the bed with him, and I just turn my back to him when he cries. It helps me tremendously. I don't know about Matthew. I couldn't NOT have him sleep through the night any longer, you know? I'm tired. It's working, though. The first night he woke up and cried 3 times in 8 hours, the second time once in 10 hours, then he slept over 8 hours, and last night he slept 9 hours. So we're on our way.

I'm reading Blue Like Jazz, since Paul left it for us. People are totally into this book, I guess, but I'm totally not. I presume the author has some pretty interesting perspectives and some insightful things to say, but I'm just so annoyed with his writing style that I can't concentrate on what he's talking about. I HATE the way he keeps explaining himself by saying "I am talking about" such and such. And he's so jumpy with his subject matter. Very annoying.

SYTYCD is over. Yesterday was so... unexciting. I just put the kids to bed, cleaned up, and went to bed. Sad. Soon there will be Dancing with the Stars. Just gotta hold on to that.

And that's about it. Pretty boring.

The ambitious potty trainer

So I started off bribing with jellybeans. By noon of the second day, Ellie had eaten 12 jellybeans. Change of plans. I made a chart with 25 squares on it. For each potty, she got to put on a sticker. Then when she filled it, she would get Dora's Talking Backpack (I put a picture of the toy on the chart so she would be reminded).

She had just peed before I made the chart, so we went ahead and put one sticker on it. Then she said she wanted to go again. I was doubtful and didn't want her to feel bad, so I tried to discourage her. She insisted, so I put her back on the potty and lo and behold, there was pee pee. We cheered, we danced, we put on a sticker. Then she said she wanted to go AGAIN. I tried to explain that your body doesn't always have pee pee in it and such, but again she insisted. So we sat down, she grimaced, and sure enough, there was more pee pee. Three stickers in ten minutes.

Three things I realized from this experience. 1) Whereas she only needed about 4 diaper changes a day before, the thrill of getting stickers has somehow caused her bladder to shrink. By the end of day 2 of the chart, we now have 13 stickers. 2) She obviously did not inherit my lack of ambition that my mom always gripes about. Sheesh. I didn't even know you could will your body to produce more urine. 3) Ellie probably could've been potty trained awhile ago. I just didn't put the effort into it. Dora's Potty Book helped.

So my show is over. Fairly anti-climactic as Benji won, like I expected. My DVR did cut off the last few minutes, after which I completely panicked, but I checked the message boards and found I didn't really miss anything.

BTW, these message board people are INSANE. They write fictional stories about the contestants and are convinced that Donyelle and Benji are a couple. They swore that Benji would propose during the finale. OK, crazies!

Now what do I do on Wednesdays?

An unfortunate development, a victorious day

Matthew STILL does not sleep through the night. Unfortunately, he learned to roll over (while we were in our NY hotel, all four of us sleeping in one king size bed). So now when he wakes up at night, he rolls over and flails like a cockroach and cries until consoled. Unfortunate. I'm trying to give him a binky instead of feeding him with the hopes that that'll make him eventually sleep through the night. What happened when I did that last night, however, was that he peed so much he leaked through his diaper. (I usually change him after I feed him, and I didn't want to change him and wake him up.) I got a good ripping-on from Peter's partner the other week for still feeding him at night. Apparently he's a big fan of the "cry your brains out until you learn" method.

One really cute thing about the rolling over is that when he's ready to wake up in the morning, he'll roll over and just start smiling like crazy. He doesn't even smile AT people. He just grins like a madman. So happy to not have his face mushed into the bed. Then when you DO look at him, he smiles even more. I almost don't mind the waking up at night when he smiles like that.

Ellie slept through the night when she was 7 weeks old, but putting her to sleep was always an issue (still is, really). She had to be fed, rocked, sung to, read to, cuddled, and stayed with (in that progressive order) until she fell asleep. Then she slept for at least 10 hours. Matthew has no problem going to sleep. If he's drowsy, I can pretty much put him on the bed on his tummy and pat him on the back a little, then he'll go to sleep on his own. He just wakes up after a few hours.

Anyway, he has also cut his first tooth. Three and a half months is pretty early. That means constant drooling and gnawing, but he's lacking the development to hold a teething toy in his hand and put it in his mouth. Again unfortunate. People always think it's hard to breastfeed a baby with teeth, but the truth is that you don't feel it. The tongue covers the bottom teeth, so we're OK in that aspect.

HOWEVER... Ellie and I decided that today would be the first real day of potty training. I put her in underwear, and she actually went in the potty three times! OK, so she pooped and peed in her diaper during/after her nap (thank goodness I had the foresight to stick a diaper on her), and she DID pee in the carseat on the way home from Grandma's, but still. Three times in the potty - MAJOR victory! And she's been going to bed by herself for the past few nights, too. We're making progress, people. There was a lot of dancing and cheering going on today.

So I'm happy, but at the same time I'm also kind of sad. She's growing up so much. I feel guilty because since she's become the older child, there are so many more expectations put on her. She's become so much more functional and independent, which I want... sort of. I really wish she'd just stay a baby, though. I don't want a big girl. I want my sweet baby forever. When she got up on her stepping stool and turned on the faucet, got soap, washed her hands, came down and dried them for the first time, I was sadly proud. When I got paperwork from her Mothers' Day Out program yesterday, I almost cried. When she pulled up her underwear by herself without the back hooking under her butt, I got a little misty. Sigh. My baby really is a big girl.

Maybe it's the breastfeeding hormones. Maybe it's my unhealthy attachment issues. Maybe it's normal. I dunno. I can't decide if I'm more proud or more sad about her accomplishments. At least I only have to buy one size of diapers from now on.

Oh - here's a video of Ellie from last summer riding one of those quarter ride things. I don't know why I find it so funny, but Peter and I couldn't stop laughing when we watched this (three times in a row). Sigh. Back when she was an only child, dependent on Mommy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCUsqwEE0yI

Impressed with Myself

I know it's totally unimpressive to most people who read this, but I just downloaded SYTYCD, joined Flickr, uploaded my photos, made an icon for myself, and created a badge (is that common terminology?) for this page. I have no idea how I did it. I mostly just followed directions, but even that is pretty impressive to me. I was all excited when I figured out how to put links on this page, too. I still don't know how to embed videos, but maybe in time (and after reading a lot of FAQ pages) I'll figure it out. I've never taken a computer class more intricate than, like, How To Use Windows in my life.

I posted our NY trip photos for anyone who wants to see them. They're all hazy. That teaches us to let Ellie play with expensive equipment.

Oh yeah, and Cousin Pete directed me on how to download the show. So I have it. It took FOREVER! Why do people watch TV only in this manner? I don't get it. Anyway, it's really late, so I'm saving it to watch in its entirety tomorrow. I just watched the intro where each dancer does a little ditty then the girls and boys walk to the front of then across the stage. That's the lamest part of the show. Still, I'm super excited. Thanks, Cousin Pete!

It's so late. Ellie's going to be up in a few hours. Better get to bed. Just wanted to share my personal victory.

Cousins

What a nice thing, cousins. It's like, more than a friend, less than a sibling. OK, that's so not deep. Anyway, I have six cousins total on both sides of my family. We saw the Oregon ones the most often, which, sadly, was about 3 times during childhood. Somehow, with the Korean connection that happens in college/young adulthood, we've become much closer. Also, we're all fairly close in age. Danny's the oldest at 30, and Maggie's the youngest at 24. Peter, on the other hand, has about 37 bajillion cousins, some of whom have children that are closer to us in age. All but 3 live in Korea. Of the 3, one is 47. So very different situations.

Maybe it's different for those who grew up around extended family, but, like I said, we rarely saw each other growing up. But I love seeing them because there's just no awkwardness and instant comfortable-ness. Comfortability? Whatever. And Ellie keeps saying Maggie Eemo is her favorite eemo and Uncle Pete is her favorite uncle (sorry, Paul, Danny, and Marsh).

As of late, we've seen our cousins pretty often. We've seen them 3 times in the past year, which is equivalent to the number of times we saw each other in the first 20 years of my life. It's great. I was so excited to take a picture at Pete's restaurant with him. Mostly because there is no picture in existence of just the two of us. Aw... cute.

So now Ellie and Matthew have a cousin. Ellie was really excited to meet Abby. We thank God for her everyday before bed, so there was definitely some hype surrounding the meeting. Did Abby like Ellie? Maybe not so much since she's so LOUD all the time, but Ellie did not care. Just as she does not care when Matthew is protesting her "affection". They are cousins, so Ellie instantly loved her. Like she says, Abby is her favorite cousin. I'm hoping that since they're so close in age, Matthew and Abby will grow up being fairly close. They'll definitely see each other more often than Danny and I saw our Oregon cousins, so that should help.

One thing about my cousins that has always been so striking to me is the fact that our families are SOOO different. Theirs is affectionate and emotional (much bawling took place during Marsh's reception by all named Cho), ours was rather dignified and prudish. The Chos are super close, even all living together in the same apartment, Maggie and Marsh even sharing a ROOM. Danny and I couldn't even fathom sharing a large house. And somehow, their dad and my mom are siblings. It's hard to imagine them living together, sharing a life together, at one point playing together.

Abby and my kids are pretty different, too. Abby is very serious, introverted, and calm. My kids are happy-go-lucky, silly, and active. Ellie is a social butterfly, always has been. Even in infancy, she loved being in groups of people, let anyone hold her, smiled at everybody. Matthew's a little more withdrawn. He gets flustered when it's too loud or he's passed around too many times, but he's mostly OK with it. Abby clearly takes after Danny, and I think Matthew takes after me. I like people, but I need my quiet time even more. Ellie, obviously, is just like Peter. Ham. Clown.

My parents are not close to any of their siblings, even less so with their cousins. It makes me happy that our generation has changed that. I hope our kids' generation will be even closer. Aw... cute.

Sorry for the smudginess and flashes. Turns out Ellie had been playing with the camera and smeared the lens with her fingers. Boo.

Oh NOOOOOOO!

I feel like I'm going to throw up.

As usual, I tried to get all my chores done before settling down to watch my show in peace when I discover (GASP!) it didn't record! I KNOW I saw the little symbol thing on the schedule for today, indicating that it was supposed to record.

I seriously want to barf. Is that overboard?

PLEASE tell me someone recorded this. I will pay money to anyone who will give me a copy/let me come over and watch it. Argh, friends of mine who don't care about this show! Especially those of you with Tivo!!!! I shake my fist in frustration!

Home

We're back! It's 2:03 am, 3:03 NY time. What in the world am I doing up?

Crazy trip. We thought traveling with Ellie was hard - traveling with TWO babies? Ridiculous. Plus, I left the Bjorn in the first cab we took, as soon as we got in the city. Oops. Primary mode of transportation for Matthew GONE! Fortunately Danny and Jieun had a Bjorn, so we were able to use theirs while Abby rode in the stroller. Strollers in subway stations? Not fun. Strollers on the Ramble through Central Park? Also not fun. Lolipops and cupcakes as part of a daily diet? Fun for Ellie, not for Mommy. FYI - the Museum of Radio and Television History - all you do is pay money to watch TV. Granted, they have every TV show known to man, but that's seriously all it is. Don't do it. Especially if it'll make you late for your flight home.

Definitely some good times - baby cousins meeting, grown-up cousins getting married, chef cousins taking us to their restaurant... I'll have to write more about it when I have a little more clarity of the mind.

Ellie made it about halfway down the aisle. Marshall had to meet her and take her up the rest of the way. We videotaped it. I'll post it, eventually. We have some hilarious pics, too, mostly of the baby cousins. I don't know when I'll get those up since Jieun took most with her camera.

YES. SYTYCD is on tomorrow (tonight!). BOO. It's the final show.

More Ellieisms

I'm already depressed that next week is the finale of my show. What will I do on my sacred Wednesday night now? There's no point in discussing the show. It's fairly obvious that Benji's going to win. The interesting thing would be seeing how the voting ended up. I'm pretty certain he receives a good majority of votes each week. Sigh. Depressed.

Anyway. I started doing this thing with Ellie once she got older where I'd make Peter out to be, like, her hero. Anytime anything broke, I'd say Daddy would fix it (I mean anything, even a ripped book page or something). So now she thinks he's pretty much invincible. I was trying to figure out carseat situations in NY for our trip while she was napping. When she woke up we had this conversation -
Me: Mommy doesn't want to take your carseat to New York.
Ellie: You no like my carseat?
Me: No, I like it. It's just too heavy. I don't want to bring it.
Ellie: It's not too heavy.
Me: It's pretty heavy.
Ellie: It's not too heavy for Daddy. Daddy strong.
Of course, Peter was all touched when I told him the story. And I've told it so many times, Ellie keeps telling me that Daddy's strong. I love it that she has that image of him, though. That's how it should be, you know?

I've been trying rather fruitlessly to potty train her. I'm bribing her with jellybeans. She gets 3 if she actually goes, and 1 for valiant effort. Unfortunately she's discovered the beauty of the valiant effort bean and manipulates it. The other day she sat on the potty for about 30 seconds, declared "Nothing come out. I think maybe pee pee go night night. One jelly belly, please." Argh.

She's also very excited about Uncle Marshall's wedding. Mostly because I told her Maggie Eemo would give her a lolipop if she did a good job. She's apparently been thinking about it a lot. Tonight she said, "Mommy. At Uncle Marshall's wedding, I flowergirl and I have the flowers and I put it on the ground tink! and I put more on the ground tink! and I put it in my pail. And Maggie Eemo give me a lolipop?" That sounds about right. Another time she was talking to herself about it and said, "I flowergirl Uncle Paul's wedding? No, that's not right. Uncle Marshall's wedding." No, Ellie ... not Uncle Paul's.

She's all into picking her clothes now. So two things that are on her mind are picking her clothes and Uncle Marshall's wedding. She has planned her wardrobe for the trip, which mostly includes wearing Dora underwear over pants, her ballerina skirt, and pink socks with fruit on them with hot pink sneakers that are two sizes too big. She keeps taking stuff out of the closet and telling me, "I wear this at Uncle Marshall's wedding."

Two days ago I let her pick her own outfit. She picked a fairly normal shirt and skirt, then insisted on wearing a hooded sweatshirt (97 degrees outside), sunglasses, a hat (in case it rained, she justified), the pink fruit socks, and her Dora bag on her shoulder. Then she proceeded to sing into her echo microphone. Here's the resulting video (sorry - I don't know how to embed videos). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tOgXkLspEo I was singing the song later on, and at the "merrily merrily" part she goes, "That's not right. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life a putta tree. That's right."

I also found this. Amazing! It would be my dream to coordinate stuff like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI