Let's play the QUIET game

There is an upper limit to how much chatter one can stand in a day. I remember when I worked in an office that I would get "talked out" after work and welcomed coming home to a couple of dogs whose worst offense was sticking their noses up my crotch.

Yesterday, I thought being an "experienced" parent to two kids would prepare for me anything and everything. Today, I'm acutely aware that nothing can help me build an immunity to the non-stop chatter hound that is my son.

Oh. My. Gosh. This kid never - NEVER - stops talking. It's driving me crazy. If he was talking to himself, having a soliloquy, a monologue that requires simple head nods I'd be OK with it. But no. He wants a dialogue, a conversation, a discourse with me. Don't get me wrong. I love talking to Kael. I really do. I don't want you to think what a horrible mom I am for not wanting to verbally interact with my son.

It's just really hard to focus and keep a running thread on a conversation that makes no sense. No sense. At all. I guess you can say he's being philosophical and questioning the whys and hows of how the world turns... but honestly, I really don't know why his toy plane is painted black beyond perhaps that's the color paint they had at the toy factory at that time. I don't know why they picked black for this jet and blue for the other. Maybe they ran out of black paint and had to go buy blue? Why are the stripes white? Gee whiz, maybe because they liked white stripes and you can see it better. Oh, the other stripes are blue? Maybe blue stripes looked better on the blue plane. I don't know why blue stripes doesn't look good on a black plane. Yes, I agree - you should have both white and blue stripes on your plane when you grow up. Will having both white and blue stripes make you fly faster? Sure, why not? Oh, the other plane has red stripes too? Why does it have red stripes? Why do YOU think it has red stripes? No, I don't think the red stripes make it crash harder. I like the red stripes. I think it makes the jet look faster. Yes, I know Daddy drives super fast. Why doesn't he have red stripes on his car? I don't know Kael, I really don't know. Why don't we ask DADDY??

Do you see where this conversation is going?? NOWHERE!!

This is when I plead with him to play the Leapster. Read a book. Play the Quiet Game. Tease Malia. Anything!! Just please give me 5 minutes of utter quiet so I can gather my thoughts and go on auto-pilot. My brain cells need time to recharge and it's turning into mush from the constant bombardment of chatter.

Don't even get me started on our conversation about whether or not ladybugs, cockroaches and spiders get along.

The Beast Within

Malia is almost 15 months old and she's already perfecting the diva attitude. She was on a warpath today - like a mini Mack truck, racing downhill with no brakes.

Incident #1
We're at Gymboree enjoying the music, the bubbles, the parachute, the toys...

The toys! Malia was playing with a toy then she picked up toy#2. She gave me toy #2 to hold and walked away. I wasn't aware that I was to hold #2 forever. A little boy crawled over and reached for #2 and I gave it to him. How could I resist those big blue eyes? Malia came running back, saying her favorite phrase: "nonononono" and then she tried to snatch the toy back. When she couldn't reach it, she tried to hit him! Several times! I calmly redirected her hand while telling her it's OK to take turns. Sheesh. With Kael, I didn't have to deal with this until he was around 2 years old!

Incident #2
She woke up from her afternoon nap a little fiesty. Chatting and bouncing around in her crib. I picked her up and she hit my face. What the...?! I stared at her in shock and then she did it again. This time I took her hand and sternly told her "You don't hit mommy. You do not hit mommy." I didn't raise my voice, but I did look at her very seriously. She burst into tears and started sobbing like her world just ended. Can we say "Drama Queen"?

Incident #3
After dinner we went to Border's -- just because. The kids like going there to read books and Malia loves walking up and down the aisles. She was very particular about which books she wanted to read and wouldn't even let me open books that she didn't approve of. I thought we were going home with a Cookie Monster doll that she dragged around but luckily she dropped it somewhere in the board book aisle. Finally it was time to leave and I told her so. She looked at me then walked away, again saying her favorite phrase: "nonononono" but this time adding the head shake for emphasis. I picked her up as she tried to race away and she hit me AGAIN! I took her hand and said "You don't hit mommy." As expected, she didn't listen and hit me again. So I strapped her in the stroller and started to wheel out. I was waiting to hear some wailing as she always screams bloody murder when she gets strapped in after being free for some time. But not a peep. We get to the car and I take her out to put her in the car seat when she took another swing at me. This time, I lightly smacked her hand while saying "you don't hit mommy." The smack was to get her attention, not punitive in any way. She then started wailing as I put her in the car seat. Then she stopped. In fact, she was quiet the whole 10 minutes home. It was very odd. We get home and I go get her. We engaged in a bit of a staring contest when I loosened the straps and she didn't leap out of the seat as she usually does. After a few seconds of The Stare Down, she leaned out into my arms... and gave me a kiss. It was very sweet. She gave me another kiss and hugged my neck. I guess that was her way of saying "sorry."

It's funny (in a funny-scary kind of way) to see that she "gets it" already. I thought I had a few more months before having to deal with behavioral adjustments but I'm slowly learning that my kids are most definitely not alike at all. Malia is showing strong signs on being quite a handful. Already. And we're nowhere near the puberty years....

Where's a stripper post when you need one?

Today was HOT in the Hills. It reached 98 degrees and was kind of muggy which made it even worse. As such, Malia wore just a diaper and a diaper cover for her nap. She usually wears a onesie but we had been running errands and she felt pretty hot. We had some issues with Malia pulling her diaper off but I figured with the diaper cover on, she wouldn't be able to reach the velcro fasteners so we should be safe. I was hoping that she'd be nice and cool and that would pave the way for a nice, long nap.

Who was I kidding? She didn't nap at all. She goofed around, turned on all her toys in the crib, threw her pillow and then her blankie out of the crib (this took several attempts as she's not tall enough to completely clear the sides), opened and shut the shutters... she basically did everything and anything one can possibly do in a small, confined area except nap. After 20 minutes of her shenanigans, I stopped paying attention to the video monitor and went about my business. Another 20 minutes passed and I happened to glance at the monitor. I see her walking across her crib, holding something in her hands but couldn't figure out what it was. Mind you, the monitor image is black, white and shades of gray so it's near impossible to see any details. I look at little closer and then all of a sudden she swings the thing she's holding around her head like a stripper swinging her bra. Around and around it goes above her head. That's when I realize she's taken off her diaper cover. I look a little closer and then I realize she's taken off her diaper and she's butt naked in the crib!

Holy cow! I run into the room and spot the diaper on the floor where she flung it along with everything else in the crib. She's still got the diaper cover in her hands and she's happily swinging it above her head with a huge smile on her face. I make the move to try to take it away so I can reattach the diaper -- and she knows this -- so before I even reach her, she turns away from me with the cover clutched to her chest, saying "nononononono!" I don't know how long she was naked in the crib but luckily she didn't have an accident. By this time, I knew napping was wishful thinking so I took her out and headed to the mall.

"Where's Kael" is the question you're probably thinking. Well, let me tell you: Kael and Truong are camping at Pine Flat Lake near Fresno until Sunday. The boys packed up their tent and other manly stuff to rough it for the weekend and left this morning. It was really hard to watch them leave as Kael has never been away from me for more than one night. I was (still am) very nervous but Truong's a mature, responsible adult....

Truong's a responsible adult....

Truong's an adult who I know will take good care of my boy. Just kidding. Truong's a great parent and I know the boys will have a great time. Or as a great a time as one can have in 104 degrees weather on a lake near Fresno. Unfortunately, where they are at, there is no cell reception so I'll have to wait until Sunday to get trip updates. This is probably good for Truong as I called him three times on the way there and it's a 4 hour drive. I did have Kael take his camera to document the trip so we'll see what kind of pictures he comes home with. I have a feeling we're going to get a documentary on the rocks, sand, water and dirt near and around their campsite. I expect at least one "and here's my shadow" picture.

So back to the mall... there is a little water feature at the nearby mall that I let Malia play in. I full expected her to get soaked and she didn't disappoint me. I wasn't able to get too many pictures because she was too mobile, too fast and I couldn't take pictures and watch over her at the same time.

This is why I couldn't take a lot of pictures. She kept walking up the waterfall steps and I was afraid she was 1) going slip and crack open her head or 2) reach the top and fall into the basin.


MOM!! Look there's water here!! WOO HOO!!










Almost got sprayed in the face.













Direct hit. By this time, people were standing and watching her play. I could hear the gasps from the crowd as she got hit in the face and then the laughter when they saw how much she was enjoying it.


Malia playing with the big girls but not really getting the game.

Teething Hell

Malia is the slowest teether on this green planet. She goes for months of no teeth growth then one day I'll see huge teeth buds under her gums. And there they will sit: angry, red and swollen. Days pass into weeks, weeks pass into months... Jeez, after almost two months of agonizingly slow teething, bad attitude, not wanting to eat, and irrational behavior, I want to dig into her mouth and pull the suckers out myself.

Her top 4 came in within 2-3 days of each other and she was inconsolable. Now she's got the 2 top molars trying to push their way through and she's a wreck. Constantly gnawing on her fingers, can't decide what she wants to eat or do, wants something cold to chew on, no - hot, no - cold, no - hot!

Her naps are a mess (no real change there) and she's kind of mean to Kael. She doesn't like it when I cuddle him and will try to push him out of the way. Luckily Kael takes it in stride and loves to give her hugs and kisses. At least I like to think they are hugs he's giving her, on the ground, with his arms and legs wrapped tight around her....


Poor baby - up early from a nap due to to teething pain.























One of these days I'm going to find just stump
where her finger used to be.








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The Hair Guard


This would be great at keeping Malia from smearing food in her hair.

Just in time for Monday

Malia finally kicked her fever! She woke up feeling a touch warm but by afternoon her temperature was back to normal.

We had a weird night last night: Kael woke up at midnight, calling for Mom. Luckily for me, since I'm still nursing Malia, Dad gets to take those calls. Apparently Kael had a nightmare so Dad went to reassure him... and I didn't see Truong again until morning. I don't know how Truong and Kael both fit in a twin sized bed, packed with pillows, stuffed guardian dogs named Mikah and Sami (Thanks Tracey, Brian and Bryce) and his various other "going to sleep but keeping the monsters at bay" paraphernalia. I'll have to take a picture one of these nights.

Then at 4am Malia woke up. I guess this was expected since she went down before 7pm and she hadn't eaten much all day - she was probably hungry. I took her into bed with me, nursed her and she fell back asleep. The "falling back asleep" part is the weird part since she usually doesn't co-sleep well at all. If she wakes up early in the morning, I always nurse her in my bed (because I'm lazy) and then she gets transferred back to her crib awake where she falls back asleep. Because I wasn't used to sleeping with her, because I was used to her being awake in bed with me, because I was afraid of falling asleep to wake up to the loud <<.thud.>> of her hitting the floor, I couldn't sleep. I was so tired this morning!

But the good news is she slept until 8:30am, when her brother ran out of his room talking at the top of his lungs (jeez, that kid has no volume control, just 2 settings: loud and louder). The best news is she woke up with a very slight fever that went away by this afternoon. She was still tired looking so Truong and Kael went to the beach while the girls stayed home to veg.

That was pretty much our very low key day. It was nice to hang out at home with no engagements to go to, no pressing chores to complete. Hopefully Kael will sleep through tonight - for Truong's sake. He's been saying "don't let the spooky eyes get me" at night. This has been a prevailing theme the past few weeks. He sleeps under the covers at night to hide from the spooky eyes. Poor kid... at the last bedtime check, I'll pull the covers back and he's slick with sweat. That's with the ceiling fan on and the windows open. Tonight he covered his eyes with his hands as we walked up the stairs to bed and he requested to sleep in the tent with the doors zipped up. His imagination runs in cycles: he'll be great for a couple of months, then the next few months it's monsters and spooky eyes everywhere.

Yes, you read that right: there is a tent set up in his room. A real tent from REI. It's just a 2-person tent, but it's still a tent. I was tempted to stick some glow in the dark stars on his ceiling but didn't know if he would mistake them for dozens and dozens of spooky eyes looking at him in the middle of the night. Wouldn't that be his worst nightmare??

Fever Watch: Day 2

We are on Day 2 of Malia's mystery fever. I'm usually not one to worry overmuch when my kids get a fever, however I'm starting to get a little antsy with this one. I can't remember the last time Kael had a fever that lasted more than a day. Heck, I can't even remember the last time he got sick. But Malia seems to be my little petri dish of germs. Her fever peaked today at 103.7, with the average around 102.6. She can't stomach Motrin so I've been giving her Tylenol whenever she naps to help her get some rest. Quite honestly, I'm not even sure if the Tylenol is working as she's hot all the time. She had a pretty fretful nap this afternoon so I ended up holding her with a wet, cool wash cloth on her head that got warm very fast. I switched over to a frozen boo-boo buddy (a gel filled cold pack) and that warmed up quickly too. She's pretty blobby but the difference between her blobbiness and Kael's blobbiness is she wants to blob on me or Truong while Kael can blob on his own. She actually blobs better on Truong, allowing him to kick back on the couch and watch TV. With me, she wants me to stand (!!). If I start to sit down she starts to fuss. The problem with blobbing on Truong is he's hot and that doesn't help with her fever.

Her appetite is of course non-existent. Sort of. We made a trek to Costco this afternoon and in the car before I buckled her in, she signed for food. On Thursday on the car ride to ice skating lessons Kael snacked on Granola Bites and he couldn't reach over to hand her any. The poor girl kept calling for me and signing "more" the entire car ride while staring intently at her brother eating. This time she immediately signed "more" and said.... I don't know the exact words she said but I recognized the sounds to mean "Mom, I want some!" So she apparently has a hunger for Granola Bites, just not anything else.

I emailed our pediatrician and was told that 72 hours is the usual limit for fevers with no other symptoms. Hopefully her fever will break tomorrow otherwise we're making a fun-filled trip out to the doctor's office Monday morning. Tomorrow Truong is taking Kael out to the beach for some fun. Poor guy (meaning Kael) -- since Malia's been sick the entire family has been pretty much on house arrest. No wonder he loves school so much.

This morning we had a make-up swim lesson for Kael where I attempted to take a video on my new camera. It's woefully apparent that I didn't read any of the manuals that came with it. It's not the best quality as I recorded it on "compact" to save space (I'll be posting videos of varying quality as I slowly figure out the camera). Anyway, his usual instructor is Ms. Sara who plays with him and lets him do things at his pace. Today his lesson was with Ms. Jamie, who really makes him work. You can hear him breathing hard as he's swimming across the pool.




Here's a video of Kael doing the backstroke. He was meandering across the pool but at least he was going in some sort of direction. I love how his arms kind of flop around when he loses his concentration and forgets how to backstroke correctly.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Poor Malia. A few weeks ago she was hit with a mystery rash that covered her entire body. Last night she got the mystery fever. It got as high as 104 but today it was a manageable 102. She was so grouchy and mad at the world. Whenever Kael gets sick (which isn't very often - knock on wood) he's a blob: plop him in front of the TV and he's content to zone out for a while. Malia on the other hand is very demanding and kind of bossy. All she wanted was to be read to all day. Kael also wanted me to read him books so the kids took turns. At least that was what Kael was attempting to do. Malia would get so mad at him whenever she vacated my lap to get another book and Kael scooted on, that she would give Kael a ferocious frown, say "nonononono!" while trying to pull his book away. She'd try to toss it or lay her book on top of his, which of course infuriated Kael: "It's my turn, Malia!" Then they'd fight with Malia trying to shove him off my lap and Kael refusing to budge because it was, after all, his turn. Watching this drama unfold was very... enlightening. I got a glimpse of what to expect a few years on down the line. And I swear I felt more gray hairs sprout out of my head.

I stepped in and told Malia that it was her brother's turn and she could share my lap. She did not want to share and proceeded to fling herself on the floor next to my lap and throw a tantrum. A full tantrum, complete with the body-flailing-like-a-fish and leg thumping/thrashing. It was hilarious! I wished I had my camera on hand to record it.


This is what we look like when the kids cooperate and share.














She likes to practice her frowns.











Remember Malia's cup fetish? Here she is digging into her favorite cubby.
















Look at how happy she is to have found something in there. She's paying more interest in that bottle now than she ever did and she still doesn't know how to drink out of it.







Cup #2.


























I see something way back there....




















Got it! Cup #3























And Cup #4






















Call me crazy but I just put all her Take-n-Toss cups and lids in there too. So now we've got about 20 cups and their corresponding lids all over the damn place. Why do I do this to myself?!

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The Hayfever Hat


Never run out of tissue again.

Mom's Way vs Dad's Way

As individual persons with different experiences in life, Truong and I bring distinctive aspects and viewpoints into our parenting. Truong is fond of pointing out to me that just because he does things differently, that doesn't mean he's wrong. But there is a saying: "There's the mom-way and there's the wrong-way."

MOM'S WAY
Let's take an example: toileting. A mom, when taking her child to the bathroom, goes through an intricate, orchestrated dance to accomplish correct toileting. "Correct toileting" is not merely a means to an end. It's a lesson in good hygiene, something that is very important later in life if you want your child to find and maintain a happy relationship.

We enter the bathroom and first make sure there's toilet paper. This is the Golden Rule: make sure there's toilet paper. Next, if we are in a public restroom, we line the toilet seat with several liners, overlapping each other then pull our child's pants down. However, since Kael is so tall, I skip this step and go straight to lifting the seat (only if we are at home - if we're in public, he is in no way allowed to touch anything). So the seat is lifted, the pants are down, and I remind him to take careful aim. "Point down!" is our bathroom mantra. When he's done, I instruct him to take 2 squares of toilet paper, fold it and dab or pat dry. He informs me that Dad tells him to just shake. I calmly tell him that "Dad is wrong; everyone uses toilet paper." (Mental note to self: have a talk with Dad re: correct toileting procedures.) Kael finishes dabbing dry, drop the paper in the toilet and flushes. He pulls up his pants and I remind him to close the lid and wash his hands. At the sink, we wash using antibacterial foam hand soap. We sing the ABC song, scrubbing in-between fingers and under nails. Then pat dry.

That's the Mom's Way to correct toileting.

DAD'S WAY















Apparently the boys were doing something wrong as Patrick felt the need to demonstrate the correct way of toileting au naturel.

Second Runner Up Summer Pool

The weather once again turned hot so we hauled out the trusty old pool for the kids to splash around in. I was too lazy to go look for a replacement water mat but it looks like I didn't have to worry about it after all. I think my kids would have fun in a puddle, as long as it's wet.


Our bathing beauty.

Sorry for the blurry image but she was walking too fast for even my camera to get a clear shot.

And yes, that's a plastic cup. She likes to walk around with a cup in her hands. You will see several drinking vessels strewn about my house on any given day.




Kael taking a dive into the pool .














I don't think this pool will fit them both next year. However, at Malia's current rate of growth, you never know...




Kael about to make another big splash and Malia has a giddy smile on her face.











Kael is beyond happy to be in the pool. Now why can't he be this ecstatic in the shower?!





The next few shots tell a funny story:


What a sweet smile on Malia!











Oops! She slips.











Gets a face full of water.














And doesn't look too happy. In fact, she's so pissed she vacates the pool.




Finally -- the pool all to myself!

Floam: Toy of the DEVIL

I don't know how people play with this stuff. At first it was fun -- in a "it's fun now but I know I'm going to regret this later" kind of way. And the longer we played with it, the bigger a mess we made. You're supposed to squish it around and the more you squish it, the less sticky it gets. This was not the case for us. It got into and onto everything and it wouldn't clean off! It's like making rice crispy treats with extra extra marshmallows and trying to spread it over your pan with an unbuttered spatula. Impossible, right?

First, let me try to explain what floam is so you understand what I'm talking about. It's little styrofoam-like beads in a gooey, sticky, gel-like.... goo. Like really juicy molding beads. And when you press your hands together then pull it apart, it makes threads that get thinner and thinner as you pull your hands further and further apart before it finally breaks.

Kael kept flailing it around, making threads in the air, saying "Look Mom! I made spiderwebs!" Ack!! So now it's not only all over us, it's all over the house! And the more we tried to clean it off our fingers, the more we got on there. Pretty soon both our hands and fingers - even the backs of our hands - were encased in this stuff. Then somehow it got all over Kael's arm. And my shirt. His shorts. My capris. The floor mats. We tried to wash it off in the bathroom and despite scrubbing and scraping with finger nails, we still had residual goo on our fingers.

I decided to sacrifice a hand towel and rubbed it off (kind of like rubbing semi-dried glue) and then cracked open some molding foam, which is similar to floam but way way less gooey. We were trying to make animals and it was very apparent that floam was not going to do it for us today (if ever). I ran upstairs to get the camera in case we actually succeeded in making something recognizable and needed documentation -- and when I came back downstairs, this is what I found Kael doing:

Do you see the green floam running down his arm?

I don't know what he was doing but I'm guessing that he didn't want his fingers to get gooey again so he used his feet.














Luckily this stuff isn't as sticky as floam.

I really like saying FLOAM. I think it's a fun word to say: floam floam floam floam.








Gotcha!!





























Honest Mom, I wasn't doing anything!

Calgon take me away!

What a rough day. For everyone.
Mom is tired.
Kael is bored.
Malia is... well, there's nothing wrong with Malia unless you count the fact that Mom's tired and Kael's bored so she's easy pickings.

Kael is still asking to go to school. In fact, yesterday he didn't want to go ice-skating and instead he demanded to be taken to school. I told him that school was closed -- and it was actually the TRUTH this time -- but he would have none of that. I finally convinced him to get in the car with the promise that I would call the school to see if they were open. Luckily "no one was there" to open the school so we ended up at ice skating. I signed him up for school starting next week, for two days, and I tell you I'm going to just roll down the window and toss him out at drop-off! Now I fully understand why parents always look at summer break with such trepidation.

This morning he woke up and asked me, with evil eyes and a barely contained eye roll: "Are we going to do something fun today, Mom?" Sheesh. Like I wake up in the morning and think: "muhwahhahaa - another day to bore my prisoner to death!"

Malia is holding her own against Kael. And me. And Dad. If you try to take anything away from her, she will let out a "nononononono!" and yank it back. I can very accurately discern from her yelling what's happening -- if Kael's trying to take something away, if she bonked herself, if she wants something. Her favorite thing to do now is reading. She love loves loves to bring you a book, say "buhk," turn around and then back into your lap for a reading. It's the cutest thing. Kael is also a lover of books and reading so now the kids fight for lap space. It's pretty funny to see Malia get mad when he's there first - she tries to push him off and if that doesn't work then she drops her book on top of his and sits on him. He however doesn't find it remotely funny or cute.

You know how there are times when you want to eat something but can't find anything appealing? Malia's in that funk and it's driving me bonkers. She's got a whole buffet spread out in front of her: spinach and cheese ravioli, mac and cheese, chicken pieces, turkey pieces, cheese, baby food, green beans, cheese quesadilla, peaches. I pretty much empty out my fridge and it's just not the right taste. She'll take one or two bites then she's done. She points to my food, I give it to her, she spits it out. She points to Kael's food, tastes it, spits it out. The most she's eaten this week: mangoes and cold cereal. She's driving me insane. But since she's just over 15lbs at 14 months, I have to keep trying. It's really scary how fast little kids learn to differentiate between "nutritious food eaten at meals" vs "snacks like granola bites and junk like fries" and go for the snacks and junk every time. I'm in a real quandary: do I wait until she wants to eat the healthy stuff even though it's been days or do I give her the so-so, not remotely healthy or organic foods just to fill her up?

Lastly (and sadly), my prediction for the water mat proved true. I let the kids play on it after lunch today and after 20 minutes of jumping and splashing and falling on it, the mat is now kaputt. There's a huge hole where Kael landed on a whale and popped it. It was so sad. The water jets were barely spraying and Malia kept tapping it, wondering what happened. At $20 a pop plus a week wait time for the on-line order, I'm back to scouring Toys R Us for the not-so-perfect-but-cheaper-and-quicker-to-get summer aquatic toy.

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The Baby Mop
No comment.

Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin

I took Kael to visit his new preschool so he can get the lay of the land, so to speak, before he starts his new year. I plan on enrolling him in summer camps there so he has something fun to do for a few hours in the morning and get him used to the new campus. He was so excited and wanted to start school that day, at that visit. I told him he can go next week and while he's wasn't thrilled at the prospect of leaving, he was OK with coming back "later, after my nap."

You have to love a kid's perspective of time.

Uncle Trieu came for a visit and Kael was beyond thrilled (I seriously think he's so over spending time with me and Malia). It's always such a fun treat to watch a single, kidless uncle play with your child. All the interesting things young children learn from their uncles...

Kael has been listening to a CD burned by Ms Jackie (his former preschool teacher) of the class favorites and his current song is a rock rendition of The Three Little Pigs set to the song "Bad to the Bones" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers (you know: "B-B-B-Bad... B-B-B-Bad to the bones"). Anyway Kael's been building his house all week and last night he got out all his tools so he and his uncle can build a sturdy house to keep the wolf out.

First you have to put up the walls by screwing in screws with the drill. In case you're wondering, the monkey cups help with the drilling. I missed that portion of the tutorial on building a wolf-proof house as I was getting the camera but that's what Kael told Trieu.

Next you saw the wood. Kael tells Trieu to be careful with the saw.













Then you hammer in some nails. Trieu takes over the sawing duties and asks Kael if he can "saw off Kael's arm." Kael says "NO!" and then Trieu tells him "Come on, we need to saw off your arms. We can use your arms to hold up the walls." (Do you see where Trieu is trying to saw off Kael's arms?)

After last night's construction, I'm now on the look out for Kael sawing off or hammering nails into his sister. Thanks, Trieu.

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Everyone who meets Malia think she's just the cutest little baby, such a sweet little angel. And don't get me wrong, she really is cute. But here's proof of what she's really like.

Kael gets a rinse every morning because he's a sweaty sleeper. And every morning it's a balancing act to get one kid out of the shower while keeping the other out.

Here she is trying to get in. I've already taken her away a couple of times. The door is open because I need to rinse down the walls and re-stick Kael's dinosaurs to the glass. All while Kael is running amuck in my bedroom naked as a jay bird.









Malia: "I'm getting in that shower whether you like it or not!"

















And here she is trying again. She's obviously an obedient child.

















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The Ear Wax Camera+Cleaner
For the obsessive clean freak, this neat little device allows you to see your built-up ear wax as you clean your ear... by scooping out the wax.

We have a winner!

Summer is not complete without the multiple purchases of plastic backyard water activity toys. I was on a quest for the perfect one -- and I can happily say that I have found it!

There is a science to finding the right pool that will not only keep the preschooler entertained but also keep the baby safe. You can't really utilize a pool for all it's worth due to fear of drowning for the baby. Or you can just not fill it up as much but then what fun is ankle deep water for a daredevil 3.5 year old?

I found a water mat that combines a shallow area for great splash-ability and little holes all around for water sprinkling. When Truong took it out of the box, we couldn't figure out how the thing worked. Do you blow it up? Where do you put the pump? How big is it? So we decided to hook it up and check it out. It was late afternoon (5pm) and the weather, while still warm, was in no way hot enough to take the chill out of hose water. We figured our pampered kids wouldn't want to venture in. But just in case, we specifically told Kael and Malia: "DO NOT GO IN!"

And let me tell you: our kids don't listen to us worth a damn.

The instant Truong turned his back to adjust the water pressure, the kids dove right in. Fully clothed. And laid there. They looked so utterly delighted at the new pool that we didn't have the heart to haul them out.

Can Malia look any happier?











Malia is trying to catch the water with her mouth.











If the kids could sleep in water, I think they would be totally happy.









Big splash!


















My wet happy boy.






She had a really odd look on her face and I couldn't figure out why. She was in this position for several seconds. I thought something was wrong.




Then I saw why: one of the water sprinklers was shooting up in her ear.











Full facial














Ohh, that's a lot of water.
















Alright - I'm outta here. Me and my 60 pound diaper.










The way the kids were jumping around in there, I hope the pool will resist popping and last the rest of the summer. I think I'm going to order another one -- just in case!

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The Cruzin Cooler
For the dedicated picnic'er. The nice part about it is it's environmentally friendly: it can be either gas or electric powered. Just another way to help save the environment without losing out on any fun.