Friday, August 31, 2007

So You Think You Can Dance?

Kael at 21 months - the dancing fiend.

The Lucy and Ethel Workout

I know I promised you all a post on our workout. Erin even sent out an email last night wanting to know if we sustained any injuries. But there's really nothing to write about.

Here's our (non) story:

Malia got up from her nap around 6:00pm so the kids and I had dinner with Grandma. Truong was coming home late from work so it would have been tight in terms of getting the kids bathed and in bed before I headed out to the gym. All this was running in the back of my mind as I was eating dinner. Mind you, our plans were to hit the gym between 8:00pm and 8:30pm. It's 7:30pm, Truong shows up and he eats dinner. I'm still eating. It's Grandma's cooking so it's really good. I eat a little more. The kids are done so they start playing. I'm still eating. Grandma's done and she hangs out, chatting. I'm still eating. Truong was still eating so I felt compelled to keep him company.

In the end, I ate so much I felt a little ill. Well, OK, more than a little ill. I felt so ill that it was hard doing the post-dinner walk. This happens regularly with Grandma's cooking: you put food in front of me (that I didn't cook myself) and I'll just keep eating and eating until it's gone. Then I end up getting really sick from over-eating. You'd think I'd learn my lesson some time but apparently my stomach isn't connected to my brain.

As I'm slowly (and painfully) walking with the family, I suddenly remember that I'm supposed to work out tonight. And I had a horrible vision of projectile vomiting while on the treadmill and getting banned from the gym on my first day. Plus I can't believe I'm already slacking and we haven't even done a single workout yet.

I am reluctant to tell Truong how I'm feeling when he asks me when I plan on picking up Shana. I don't want to hear him say whatever dumb thing I'm sure he'd say about signing up and not using the membership. But I feel so bloated that I'd rather hear his "I told you so's" than be the "Girl Who Vomited at 24 Hour Fitness." So I tell him. He doesn't say a word at first. Then he says "I just don't want to see another late night Denny's receipt."

That wasn't so painful. A little embarrassing that he's caught on to our late night food runs and we can't even use the "we're pregnant" excuse, but I can live with that.

Next I call Shana. She picks up and there's hope for me: she sounds totally *blah* on the phone. Like she's expecting me to drag her off to the gym and she's not wanting to go but expecting a nag session. I tell her that I ate too much and can't go now -- but I should be able to go by 8:30pm, 8:45pm (I'm totally lying through my teeth here - going later would just mean me throwing up food that's more digested than if we were to go now). She tells me it's OK because Patrick just took Ryan to Best Buy and they won't be home until later anyway (around 9:00pm). Too late for the gym by then because she's got Gina and Gina's sleeping. Then she says "Good, you're my 'out' for Patrick" -- meaning my over-eating and feeling sick is her excuse for not going to the gym when Patrick gives her beef about slacking off.

Clearly our first foray into our work-out routine did not go as planned. This does not bode well for our "Bodies of Steel" image.

However, our next scheduled work-out is Sunday -- so we can still redeem ourselves.

Are you reading this Shana??

SUNDAY.
I'll pick you up.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

The House of Bugs

That's what the neighbors will be calling our home. Kael is so completely fascinated with creepy crawlies. I know he's going to bring home some weird insect to keep as a pet in his room. He's not afraid to touch bugs and actually likes it when they crawl on him. Yuck! He must get this from Truong because I am beyond creeped out with bugs and it takes everything I have to not run away screaming when he sticks a bug inches from my face to get a closer look.

Thanks to Dad, he's now chasing after and sometimes even catching lizards in our yard. Wouldn't that be a great life-cycle teaching lesson: keeping a lizard in the same container as his bug?


Kael found an inch worm and he was in heaven.











Ugh - I'm getting itchy just looking at this picture.








I am already dreading the time when he asks about raising those #$%*@ silk worms again. My hopes that he'll eventually forget about them are pretty futile as he still talks about them to everyone he meets.



Our Little Angel
Here are some pictures I took of Malia napping this morning.


Doesn't she look so angelic?











So sweet?












So precious?













Well... it took her about 2 hours of goofing off in the crib, with one poopy diaper change and one putting-her-pants-back-on visit before she finally nodded off. Unfortunately, she fell asleep close to 11:00am and I had to wake her up at 11:30am to pick up Kael from school.

Random Pictures

Kael is swimming with a friend and Malia is still asleep so I'll take this time to post the random pictures I've taken.

The Sweat Test
Remember we had to do that sweat test to check for cystic fibrosis? On the phone they told me they had to hook up electrodes on her arms for 3 minutes. I'm expecting those little white dots with wires, just slap them on under her sleeves and *voile* we're done. In reality, it's these copper cuffs that have a band of velcro around them that need to be secured around her arm (completely around her arm) and there's TWO that need to be fastened. Additionally, there's a current that runs through them, causing a pins and needles feeling in her arm. You all know how teeny tiny Malia is -- the two cuffs basically encircled her entire arm from bicep to wrist.

She. Freaked. Out.

Holy cow she was pissed off. AND it wasn't three minutes. It was FIVE minutes. Per arm. And we could only test one arm at a time!! When she realized we had to do her other arm, she was a flailing mess. The nurse kept saying "Wow, she's really strong... she's really really strong!"

After zapping the right arm, we had to strap the cuffs on the left arm while trying not to touch the right arm and thus contaminating it. Okaaayyy, sure, no problem. Once we got the left arm strapped, we had to hold the right arm still (again not touching the forearm) so the nurse could wrap these special sterile pads in this neat stretchy plastic wrap around Malia's arm to collect her sweat. And when I say "wrap" I mean "WRAP."

After wrapping both arms, I was given a timer set for 20 minutes to do... whatever I could do with a 15 month old to get her sweating. Malia looked like a mini-Michelin man with her white bandage wrapped arms waving around, trying to fling it off.


Here she is - happy to be out of the torture chamber.

I bundled her up hoping to get her sweating.















But then I realized I just needed her arms to sweat so I took her outside and put babylegs on her arms. That did the trick - the nurse complimented me on my sweaty baby.


The Fruit Eaters
I've given up all hope of keeping the car and most notably, the car seat clean. There's no way around it. Both kids can see what I have in the front seat and will demand to eat what I snack on. Of course, there are those of you believe I shouldn't be eating in the car at all (Truong) but when you're home with two kids, you eat what you can and when you can!


Malia taking her first bite out of a pluot. Literally. I usually cut fruits into bite sized chunks but she seems to really like eating fruits this way.

She's started to take my nectarines and peaches as I'm eating them and won't give them back, claiming them for her own.




Kael enjoying his pluot. I just noticed that his forehead is shiny so he must have smeared the pluot on his face. This explains the mile-wide smile.



"No, I'm not sharing. It's all mine."












Sounds like Malia is finally up. We're going swimming with big brother. Tonight is workout #1 with Ethel. I'm sure I will have plenty of blog-worthy material.

"Don't Leave Your Child in the Car"

I'm sure everyone's read, heard and knows that.

But has anyone heard "Don't Lock Your Mom Out of the House"? If not, you may want to review that with your children. And make sure they can open the front door too.

I was chatting with the gardener this afternoon when Kael slammed the front door on me. Usually this isn't a problem - I just open the door again. However, I chatted with the Orkin guy this morning and locked the bottom lock on the handle (it's usually unlocked from when Truong leaves the house in the morning). When this lock is engaged, it becomes self-locking.

That means when Kael slammed the door on me, I was locked out. For real. And the slider in the back was locked too. I didn't have my cell phone to call Grandma and my neighbors were at work. It was 98 degrees out and I wasn't going to walk the mile and a half to Shana's house for my extra key. I'd pass out from the heat before I got to the end of the block! This door knob is not only sticky but it's also a knob not a handle - so when you add those two elements together, Kael has a really hard time opening it. In fact, I don't remember if he's ever opened the front door.

So the gardener and I are looking at each other - each with an "oh sh*t, what do I do now?" look on our faces. Well, his is probably more of a "Can I, in good conscience, leave her -- I've got other houses to do before my day is done" look. I call Kael through the door, telling him to open the door, please. I hear the knob rattle.

Kael: "Mom! I can't."
Me: "Yes you can!"
More rattling.
K: "Mom, help me!"
I see Malia through the window, banging on it and laughing.
M: "Just turn the knob! Use both hands!"
More rattling.
K: "I can't."
M: "Yes you can! Use both hands and turn really hard!"
More rattling and now there's banging on the door.
K: "Mom! Let me out!"
M: "KAEL USE BOTH HANDS AND OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

He must have sensed my urgency because all of a sudden the door whooshed open, surprising both of us. And we just stood there, not sure of how we should act or feel. In the heat of the moment, it felt like a "panic situation" but afterwards, it felt kind of silly as it was a simple matter of opening the dumb door. Plus only a couple of minutes had passed so no damage had occurred. Quite honestly, it was kind of anticlimactic.

I'm sure the gardener is thinking "Geez, this family is weird."

Especially since Truong just installed a remote garage door opener with the new system and I could have gone through that way.

DOH!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

It's the first day of school!

I had a bad mommy moment and left the camera at home. So I have no pictures documenting his first day of school BUT I will have pictures from the second day of school. That's almost the same thing, right? Ugh, I feel awful. I can't believe I did that.

Today Kael started school at his new school. It was chaos! A bigger campus means more people and there were people milling around like ants on an ant hill. I was worried Kael would freak out as he doesn't like crowds but he did great. Having him go to summer school really did the trick - he looked comfortable as he entered his classroom and even called out to his summer buddies. If you were to ask him what their names were though, he'd have no clue. They are simply "my new friends."

He did run into a pal from his old school and it was the sweetest moment - a Kodak moment. (I'm really kicking myself in the butt for forgetting the camera.) His "best friend" from the old school is Max and for a while we didn't know if Max was staying at Hillsborough (old school) or coming to Fairmont (new school). Mom Kathy decided at the ninth hour to move Max over but I didn't tell Kael because I didn't know until yesterday. At parent-music time before class this morning, he saw Max, pushed his way through the crowd (an amazing feat if you know Kael and his crowd anxiety) and the look of happiness on the two boys' faces as they hugged each other was priceless. I still get warm and squishy inside remembering the moment. I'm a little bummed that they aren't in the same class but hopefully they get recess together.

Kael is in the 5 half-days a week preschool program. I'm OK with the half-days part (8:30am - 12:00pm). It's the 5 days a week part that I'm still struggling with. I have fears that it's too much for him... but I also have to remember it's only 3.5 hours a day. I figure Fridays will be a free day - if he's struggling with the week then we'll play hooky and have an early weekend. People ask me what I'm going to do with all my "free time", to which I respond: "What free time??" (clearly these people don't have two kids). Malia still takes a morning nap which kills any free time I've got. By the time she wakes up, it's time to pick up Kael and I haven't done anything as far as errands. I can't wait for her to go down to one nap, although I really don't know how that's going to happen if she continues to wake up at 6:00am.

Speaking of non-existent free time... I recently joined a gym (*gasp*). It's been about 4 years since I last stepped inside one, and I have to tell you - it was pretty darn intimidating walking back through the machines and free weights, and looking at all the sweaty people. While I haven't deteriorated too badly into a flabby schlob, I'm not exactly at my toned peak, either. I read somewhere that a woman hits her prime in her 30's, and let's just say I'm still waiting to blossom and starting to panic because my 30-something year old clock is running out of time. I called Ethel and hammered out a nighttime work-out schedule with her so the husbands can watch the kids. We're starting with 3 days a week with the goal of bumping it up to 4-5 days a week after we ascertain our bodies can handle all that exercise and not rebel by keeling over while on the treadmill.

Keeping in mind that we are the pair who in the recent past have gone out for ice cream at 9:30pm and a late-night second dinner at Denny's at 10:00pm - I deep down in my heart believe we will stick to the schedule and will get our bodies of steel by Christmas.

That is... if we don't get sidetracked by the Coldstone Creamery shop just a few doors down from the gym.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Part IV: Sacramento

It's 5:00pm'ish and we've had a full day at Discovery Kingdom. We head back to the parking lot with loose plans for dinner - which is smashed to smithereens when it's discovered Collin (almost 3 years old) dead asleep in the stroller. My sister is reluctant to wake him for dinner since he's never missed a nap. So they head for home and the Mai's head up I-80 towards Sacramento with eyes peeled for a decent restaurant.

We get stuck in traffic. I-80 up north is like our SR-91 down south: always clogged with traffic at the dumbest times. We spy a mall and pull in, heading for a Mimi's Cafe.

Never. Never. NEVER eat out at a restaurant after spending all day at a theme park. Holy cow. The kids were a mess. We're getting to that stage with Malia where eating out (in public) is a thing of the past. She throws food (and unfortunately she's got really good aim), wants down to wander around, stands up in her high chair, crawls on the table, bangs her utensils on the table. We've become ONE OF THOSE FAMILIES. Suffice it to say that we ate as quickly as possible and left a huge tip to compensate for the mess and destruction.

Back on the road again and it was a trip down memory lane. I-80 was a well traveled road for us back in the college days. From visiting my family to camping trips to volleyball tournaments - we knew every inch of that road.

We get to our hotel and it's 7:45pm'ish. Pretty late for a day with no nap for Kael. And you could tell. The kid was AMPED up. My gosh! He could not walk anywhere to save his life. Everything was at a dead run. And in our room, he jumped from the arm chair to one full bed to the next bed and back again. Naked. (Of course he's naked - when is he ever not naked??) We finally get them bathed and settled in bed. I will admit to using pharmaceuticals to help: Tylenol for Malia's teething and Hyland's Calms Forte 4 Kids for calming both of them down. Truong is now asking to incorporate these items into the kids' daily diet.

Next morning, we head out to visit Truong's brother Thien, Maureen and their new baby, Ronan (17 days old). He is an exact replica of Thien - except cute. Kael was so excited to meet his new cousin (that was all he talked about) - until he realized Ronan was too little to play with. His attention then switched to their dog Hobbes. Between him and Malia, all I have to say is: poor dog.

We spent a very nice relaxing day with the new family with a trip to the park, the hotel pool, dinner, and the mall. Looking at Ronan makes me want to have another -- until I see the food Malia's thrown at Truong slide down his chest and Kael demanding to eat something that's not listed on the menu -- and then I get reality slapped at me in the face. For now I'll enjoy what I have and satisfy my baby urges by holding theirs.

And that concluded our very fast trip up north. Roundtrip, we logged over 1,000 miles from Thursday 3:30am till Sunday. Next time, THEY come visit US.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Part III: Discovery Kingdom

What day are we at now? Oh yeah - it's Friday and we headed out to meet my sister and her family at Discovery Kingdom. But wait. I need to tell you about our night.

I decide to sleep on the floor with Malia because our room has a raised Cal King pillow-top bed. I swear the drop is about 4 feet to the ground. No way am I sleeping up there with the nomad. So the boys get the nice cushy bed while the girls get the... hard ground. Malia is still teething. And it's still those 2 dumb molars. So to say that she's cranky is an understatement. Add to this equation her being a horrible co-sleeper, Truong snoring like Paul Bunyan, and Kael talking in his sleep -- you have a very unhappy mom. Usually at home, if Truong snores, I either kick him awake (there's no gentle nudge in this household) or I pinch his nose until he wakes up gasping for air. When he looks over at me, I tell him that I almost killed him and if he doesn't stop snoring, I will finish the job. I swear that's what I tell him. You can ask him yourself. But since Malia is attached to me, I can't do either and have to suffer in silence, listening to him snore the night away, getting mad because he's obviously sleeping and I am not. And when I say "attached to Malia" I mean literally Malia is attached to me. She's "plugged in" all night. Just comfort sucking, using me as her human pacifier. This was one of those moments when I dearly wished she took a binky. But despite my discomfort lying on my side all night, I am profoundly glad I chose to sleep on the ground. When Malia woke up at 7:30am the next morning, she just sat up and walked away. It was the weirdest thing. She just rolled over, popped up and started walking away. Her eyes were kind of squinched, half open but I don't think she saw anything. She walked until she tripped over the blanket, popped up again and walked away in the other direction until she fell again. By that time she was more awake, saw me and started talking, walking back in my direction. I am thinking that she's going to be in her crib for a long time.

We get our act together, pack everything up, load up the car (again), give hugs and kisses, and head up to Discovery Kingdom. The kids had a great time. It was interesting to see my theme park philosophy vs my sister's theme park philosophy. Being annual pass holders to Disneyland and having gone to many theme parks down here, I'm pretty relaxed about what we do. I figure we start at Point A and work our way around the park until we leave. I almost never use a map, letting whatever catches Kael's eyes lead the way. My sister on the other hand whips out the map, whips out the show schedule and starts planning our route down to the minute, including which way we should walk to hit the maximum number of shows. It was hilarious. We ended up going up the middle of the park to see the Killer Whale show, which sort of left us stranded - do we go right then backtrack left, then head back up and retrace our steps down? It was pretty funny - in the end it didn't matter because the kids had the best time at the playground area anyway.

My favorite part of the whole day: when Truong bought all the kids Super Hero capes. Kael and Amelie got Batman capes while Jarod and Collin got Superman capes. It was freaking hilarious to see Kael do his Batman poses in line for rides. He kept referring Amelie as Batgirl and refused to respond to "Kael", saying in a very exasperated tone of voice "MOM! I'm not Kael! I'm Batman!"

And that concluded our Friday. Kael had no nap, Malia napped for almost 2 hours wrapped on me and we still had to drive another 90 minutes to Sacramento to the hotel at the end of the day.

Part II: San Jose

We made really good time to San Jose - just over 5 hours. Earlier than what Truong and I expected. If we hadn't made that 60 minute "breakfast" stop, I'm sure it would have been some kind of record. It's just before 9:00am and we have an hour until miniature golf so we decide to head home, drop stuff off, say HI to mom and head back out to Milpitas (another 20 minutes north). But just as we get to the exit, Malia finally decides to take her nap - of course - so we keep on driving and get to the golf place way early. So we keep on driving some more and loop around to see if we can find my brother's house down the road (he recently moved).

We pull up and see... a sail boat (!!!). My brother has varied tastes in hobbies and apparently his current one is sail boating. Most people would -- rent a sail boat? Borrow a sail boat from a friend? Go on sail boating trips? My brother - he buys a sailboat. I really need to catch up on the family grapevine. My sister also tells me that my niece Jackie is driving with a learner's permit. When we came up in April, she was permit-less but knew how to drive. Truong took her driving and all he said was "good thing we live down south." So if you are in the San Jose area: BEWARE.

Miniature golfing was fun. Kael was a little frustrated because it was sort of like soccer: everyone clustered around and was hitting the little rubber golf balls all at the same time (there were 8 of us playing, 11 people total). There was no semblance of individual tee time - it was pretty much "hit it when you get there and be sure to duck if you're ahead." Then there those "mean doors" that kept on closing on him. And those hills that kept rolling his ball back down. I can totally see how miniature golfing can completely frustrate a 4 year old. And we had Malia who was an added obstacle (or hazard) at every hole and would take people's golf balls and try to throw it. But all good things must come to an end. In this case, it ended when Kael got wacked on the hand with Jarod's club. Honestly, I was expecting worse given the way clubs were swinging around all over the place so getting hit on the hand was sort of a letdown given Kael's track record for head injuries.

We then headed home for lunch, nap, pool, dinner then bedtime. Whew. What a day. Truong and I were beat - our day started at 3:00am. Even with an almost 2 hour nap with the kids, we were ready to turn in with them at 8:00pm. The next day we head out to Marine World (or Six Flags Discovery Kingdom as it's known as now).

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Part 1: Getting There

As you can tell, we made it up north and back. For as hellish as it sounded (waking at 3:00am to drive 6+ hours) it was actually way better than driving after dinner and getting there at 3:00am with the hopes that the kids will settle down in a new bedroom. Plus with our 'wake up at the butt crack of dawn' kids, we'd only get 2.5 to 3 hours of sleep before Truong and I played the 'let's pretend I don't hear them so s/he'll get them' game.

This trip was so packed with activities that I'm going to break it down into several postings.

PART 1 - Getting There
So, we hit the road at 3:20am. It was so nice. We flew by downtown LA and hit the Grapevine in less than 2 hours. Malia stayed up for 20 minutes before falling back asleep and Kael took an hour before nodding off. Truong and I drove in shifts, each taking turns to nap. For as big a car that we have (an Expedition) the front seat is agonizingly uncomfortable. I felt so bad for Truong as he tried to contort his body to find a comfortable position to bend his body into for a nap.

I had no idea where we were on the road as everything was dark. We usually don't drive at night so it was a different experience. There's literally nothing to see. There's already nothing to see in the daytime and at night - it's even worse. I was dependent on the radio to keep me awake. For a few stretches of the drive, I tried to teach myself Spanish as that was all I was getting. Then on one of my many scanning trips all around the radio stations, I hit payday - a song I recognized! It was probably the only time in the history of man's existence that I will ever be so happy to hear REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" - I actually said "YES!" with the accompanying arm pump. Jeez, how embarrassing.

Around 6:20am we were near, in or past Bakersfield (I know this because the radio station mentioned Bakersfield) and it was already 80 degrees. Holy cow!! My friend Marie just moved there and I hope they have a great air conditioning unit.

We get to Gilroy at 8:00am'ish and it's time for breakfast. The Breakfast of Champions. Malia woke up at 6:30am (as usual) and Kael woke up at 7:30am. Let's see... our choices are: Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, McDonald's, and In-N-Out Burger. We pull into McDonald's. I'm in my pajamas (bottoms, tank top and nursing bra), Malia's in her pajamas (food stained onesie and mismatched pants), Kael's in his pajamas (short sleeves and shorts) and only Truong is dressed (T shirt and shorts). Truong changes Malia's diaper but keeps her in the onesie (we're eating, she's only going to get dirty) and I change Kael into sweat pants as it's 64 degrees in the Bay Area. The problem is Kael hasn't worn his sweat pants since... spring?? He's sprouted several inches and the pants are about 3 inches too short. He also took a shower the night before and do you know what happens to short wet hair when you sleep on it then move to a car seat where you get nice and sweaty? And he's wearing his Crocs.

We were looking pretty good at the McDonald's in Gilroy.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

On the road again

We're off to see the wizard...

The original plan was to leave for San Jose after dinner and get there around 1:00-2:00am. However, we're pretty tired since Malia didn't sleep much last night and Truong came home from work at 7:00pm. We still had to pack the car, pushing our departure time to past 9:00pm with an arrival of 3:00-4:00am. Call us crazy if you want - just don't call us crazy-stupid. We decided to sleep at home, wake up at 3:00am, hit the road with *hopefully* sleepy kids and get to San Jose at 9:00am.

Oh, and did I tell you that my sister got us a tee time for miniature golf for 10:00am? She actually told me to make sure I leave by 3:00am to make the 10:00am game. What a sweetheart.

Anyway this was a last minute decision so we packed all of Kael's sleepy-time stuff: his pillow, his Baby Jaguar, Mikah and Sami (his dogs) in the car. On the bottom. So of course he's telling me he can't sleep without them.

It's going to be a long night...

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Wouldn't it be great to be four years old again, when the hardest decision to make is whether or not you want regular milk or chocolate milk with your lunch? To have the world be black and white with no shades of gray to muddy up the day? You knew if you hit your sister you'd get into trouble and if you ate all your veggies you'd get a high-five. Why would anyone want to grow up, to become an adult and have to face making decisions that could and would affect your life, big and small?

When you become a parent that role and responsibility takes on a much heavier weight because it's not just your life you're playing with. It's your child's life - how he views himself, how the world views him, how he makes decisions that will later affect his life, how he interacts with the world - all that falls on your shoulders. So of course you want to make the best decision possible. But no one can predict how a decision today will turn out tomorrow. All you have is the information you have in front of you, based on history and past behaviors, and you hope for the best. Sometimes it's a no-brainer: No soccer now. There's too much physical pushing and contact, and no kind of organization - just 40 kids globbing around a little ball - you'd hate it, trust me. Other decisions are much harder to make as a parent. Decisions involving family, friends, schools, teachers... decisions involving emotions.

But the responsibility is still there to protect the best interests of your child, regardless of how and where the chips fall, regardless of the aftermath. If you don't do it, then who will? As a parent of a young child, you must choose your child before all others, even before yourself. Even if that means siding with your child against family, friends, and those you hold dear. In a good situation, friends and family stand by you, with the understanding that it's your decision you're making for the benefit of your child even if they don't understand it. After all, you have been with your child since birth so who would know best what paths to take for success and what roads to avoid, knowing that to go down that road would cause more damage? That's the ideal. Unfortunately, life isn't about ideals. And sometimes you lose a little bit of... your happiness... in your pursuit to forge the best life for your family. I guess the question to ask is this: At the end of the day, when you weigh your happiness against your child's happiness what do you see?

Personally, if I could work it so it's balanced - that'd be great. But that's not always the case and so more often than not, I let my child's happiness tip the scales. And that's OK because when they are happy, then I am happy. That's what life is about, right?

Monday, August 20, 2007

Busy busy weekend

Alright, alright, ALRIGHT ALREADY! I'll update the blog!! Sheesh.

Let's see... the last entry I did I collected some poop. I am still waiting to hear back from the doctor's office as to the results. The final test will take place Wednesday morning and it's a doozy. It's a sweat chloride test to check for cystic fibrosis. I had to take notes for this test: no lotions or soaps the day before and day of; well hydrate Malia 2 days prior; and come with extra jackets, pants, etc. They stick a couple of electrodes on her arm for 3 minutes for... something. I forgot what the nurse told me. I was too busy thinking "how in the hell am I going to keep the electrodes on Malia for 3 minutes?!" Next they slap some pads on her to collect her sweat and then I bundle her up and take her outside for 20 minutes. I'm supposed to do something with her to work up a sweat so they can measure how much salt chemical her sweat contains. What I'm supposed to do - I don't know as she's only 15 months. It's not as if I can take her jogging or make her do jumping jacks. All in all the test should take about 90 minutes. I'm betting all the screaming I know Malia will be doing will really work up a good sweat without having to bundle her up. Maybe we can even finish early.

But the day doesn't end for poor little Malia. We have swim class on Wednesdays. It's lesson #4 and while she's not screaming the entire 15 minute lesson, she's still screaming as though she's being fed to a pool of piranhas or getting dunked in a vat of acid. I'm still hedging my bets on it being lesson #6 or #7 before she starts enjoying the lesson - or at least keep the shrieking down to a minimum. Well, after all the testing she's been doing, I think I'll have to revise that and maybe bump it back to lesson #8 or #9 as her stranger anxiety is at an all-time high.

And then after a full day at the dreaded doctor's office and the hated swim lesson, she gets stuck in a car seat for 7 hours as we leave for Northern California Wednesday night after dinner. Poor Malia... Wednesday is really going to suck.

We had a full weekend with visiting uncles from Santa Cruz and cousins from France and a company beach party and a birthday party on Sunday -- I didn't have time to do much else.

BEACH PARTY
At the company party Truong had Malia duty on the beach. This entailed him watching her (the baby) to make sure she didn't wander off, eat sand, fall in the water, eat seaweed, get kidnapped, eat bird poop, walk through people's camp, eat trash... etc. So, being a typical mom, I watch Truong watch Malia first before completely trusting him with the task. To give him credit, he's looking in the right direction and if Malia's hot pink clad body were to suddenly disappear from his line of vision, he'd (probably) notice it. However, he's totally ogling the bikini clad girls behind our daughter and in the meantime I'm watching Malia eat fistfuls of sand, pop some seaweed in her mouth and stick a straw from who knows where it came from in her mouth. I calmly tell Truong that he needs to pay attention to his daughter and he tells me "I see her, honey." Then I let him in on my watching-the-baby secret: you need to see her FACE if you are going to watch her properly. He poos-poos me and says "don't worry - she's fine." So I tell him to look at her and tell me what you see. He looks down at Malia, under her hat, and her face is rimmed in sand, it's in her mouth, in her nose, in her eyes, she spits out some seaweed and she's got the random straw clutched in her hands. Boy, Truong sure jumped to attention then -- and actually exclaimed (in astonishment, no less!) how did she become such a mess. I just shake my head, roll my eyes and think boys never grow up -- ever.

COUSINS FROM FRANCE
Kids are amazing. No matter where they go, no matter what language they speak, kids will always find a way to play. Kael had a great time playing with Zoe and Maxim, who spoke not a lick of English. We brought presents for the kids and poor Kael was so dying for Maxim's gift: a dinosaur dress-up costume. Zoe is totally into the whole princess thing and let me tell you: it was really hard buying it for her as it went against everything I believed in. I had to ask a couple of ladies at Toys R Us for princess advice. They assured me that the princess skirt, tiara, earring, necklace, bracelets, purse, shoes and princess wand-thingy gift pack was the perfect gift for a 5 year old. They were right - Zoe loved it. She walked around the house all decked out in her jewelery and heels. Maxim loved his dinosaur costume too, but Kael loved it more. He was very good at leaving it with Maxim and didn't ask to take it home even though it was painfully obvious that he really wanted to snatch it and run for the hills. I'm going to have to find another one and get it for him for his birthday.

Here are some pictures of Kael swimming with his uncles.


Kael getting ready for the launch.











Blast off!














A 3-point landing.

Robert is a pretty good rocket launcher.






Trieu - he's not so good.

At first the launch looked promising: good lift.







But something happens - is it the trajectory? The landing looks off.






And the inevitable BELLY-FLOP. See the resulting splash?








So no more rocket launches. Kael requested dolphin dives instead.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

You know your car is a mess when...

On a car ride, your daughter reaches under her bottom, into the crevices of the car seat and pulls out goldfish crackers to snack on. Not just one, but a few -- apparently enough to last from home to the ice skating rink as she was still munching when I got her out.

I think it's time to shop-vac the car again. But then again there is something to be said about not having to reach back to hand her crackers while driving. It is much safer.

I'm beat. Beyond tired so I'm going to hit the sack and hopefully sleep until morning. The kids obviously got together, had a meeting and decided that the new wake-up time in the morning is 5:50am. So I don't have a lot of time to catch my zzz's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Office Tie

Christmas is just around the corner...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Collecting Poop

What a day! The kids woke up at 5:52am and the day didn't end until Kael went to bed at... well, actually he's still up, talking our ear off. I don't know how that kid takes in enough oxygen to feed the brain with the way he's constantly talking and talking and talking. He just finished a variety of art projects for his grandma and his uncles, and now we're trying to talk up the merits of taking a shower before heading off to bed. I have gladly handed off that duty to Dad.

I should have gotten a clue about how the day was going to be this morning when Kael informed me that he didn't want me to make him a lunch. He wanted a school lunch instead. I'm thinking to myself "what's wrong with my food?!" So at 7:23am, I called the preschool to inquire about the lunch menu and was told today was going to be a Turkey Dog, bag of Doritos, grapes and milk day. Hmmm... let's see: meat parts and bits squeezed in what is essentially an edible pantyhose or all natural, zero trans-fat peanut butter with organic, no sugar added fruit jelly on whole grain wheat bread. There's no question - he picked the meat parts and bits.

After dropping Kael off at school, Malia and I went to the pediatrician's office to pick up a lab slip for some tests for Malia. With her slow weight gain and weird looking poops (we'll get into that later) she's getting tested for cystic fibrosis (very unlikely), celiac disease and malabsorption. Since it was relatively early in the morning (9am) the wait for the blood test was only 30 minutes so I decide to just get it done. Malia was happily playing and flirting with everyone in the waiting room... and then it was our turn. How quickly the tide turns. She freaked out when the tech held out her arms to check her veins. She wigged out even more when another tech came to hold her arm out. She just about shattered glass when I bear hugged her to keep her from thrashing. Poor baby, I didn't think she could get any louder -- and then they inserted the needle. I think she's scarred for life in regards to the whole medical profession. She's still pretty hysterical when they bandage her up, and when I walk out into the waiting room, I see about 5 kids all staring at us with their eyes as wide as dinner plates, scared to death. It was kind of funny in a dark sort of way.

Test 1 - Completed

She falls asleep in the car and I transfer her to the crib. Here's where her true disposition shines through. On days when we're doing nothing - absolutely nothing - she won't nap even though she clearly needs to. And on days when Kael's in school and we need to leave the house by 11:45am to pick him up, she will nap so deeply and so soundly that I feel awful for waking her up. Since she had such a traumatic morning, I let her sleep but stare at the monitor, willing her to wake up through my ESP powers. She wakes at 11:45am and I think "Hallelujah - we may not be late after all!" And then I discover she pooped. Why am I surprised, I wonder, after all she is in her favorite pooping spot. But this is good as I need her poop to complete Test 2. Her poops have been mostly food pieces and not so much poop, if you can visualize that. That's an indication of malabsorption, and how they find out is scooping a poop sample, placing it into a liquid filled jar, shaking it up and seeing how it, well, floats. So here I am in the bathroom at 11:50am with 2 sample jars on the sink, latex gloves on my hands, and several long wooden, flat sticks laid out, ready to scoop. I look at Malia and try to come up with a game plan before taking her diaper off to minimize smearing. I decide to clean her off as much as possible with the diaper and scoop off my bounty from the diaper. I get the deed done and the specimen cups are securely capped and bagged. Now I have a dilemma: I need to pick up Kael (we're so late) but do I really want to drive around with poop in my car?? Plus the lab closes at 12pm, reopening at 1pm so not only would I have to drive around with poop in my car, but I'd have to drive around with poop in my car for AN HOUR!! And is there a shelf life to poop? Am I supposed to, I don't know, keep it on ice or something like a body part? In the end, I get a cooler, put an ice pack in there and place the bag of poop in it. Before you think "I'm never EVER going to picnic with them" please know that the poop is in the sealed lab bag, in a gallon ziplock bag, in a paper bag, in the cooler.

Test 2 - Completed

I pick Kael up, go run some errands and head back to the lab at 1:30pm. I park and think how am I going get this sample up to the lab on the second floor? It's about 100 degrees out, I'm hot, Malia's hungry, Kael's amped from school and I'm not about to take our cooler up to the lab and pull out a bag of poop. So I take out the lab bag, hitch Malia on my hip and ask Kael to hold onto my shorts as we walk across the parking lot.

Of course what's the first think that comes out of his mouth: "Mom, what's that in the bag?"
Me: "Uhh, Malia's sample for the doctor."
Kael: "Samples of what, Mom?"
Here's the thing: I don't want to tell him I have her poop in the bag. I just (1) don't want to give him any ideas and (2) have him tell everyone he runs into for the next few months that we carried Malia's poop in a bag across the parking lot.
Me: "Just stuff the doctor needs, baby."
Kael: "What kind of stuff, Mom?"
Me: "Just stuff, OK??!!"

Jeez, save me from kids and their endless questions. We walk into the lab, there's a ton of people and here I am with 2 kids and a big bag of poop, which I plunk down on the counter. I try to be as inconspicuous as possible but it's kind of hard with Malia and Kael playing peek-a-boo around me and the technician lifting the bag to the light (much like you would a bag of goldfish) to read the paperwork inside so he wouldn't have to open the bag to retrieve it. God, it was so embarrassing - I hope I don't have to go back there again.

We are finally on our way home, Malia's starved and getting fussy, it's way past Kael's nap and we have swimming tonight. I decide to toss Kael in the shower first, quickly start feeding Malia while he's cleaning up, get him into bed then put her down. It's a perfect use time where every second is efficiently planned. Like a dance.

Until Kael yells out from the shower: "MOM I HAVE TO POOP!" and throws a wrench in the whole damn thing.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Perseid Meteor Shower

Perhaps you knew, but in case you didn't... the Perseid meteor shower peaked Sunday night on through dawn Monday morning. According to reports, Sunday was the perfect night: no moon, clear skies and Mars was a bright red dot marking the northeastern sky. With Kael being so interested in comets from a Little Einstein show, I decided to take him out to watch Sunday night. The problem was the best time to watch would have been between 1am to 4am. Supposedly you could start seeing some streak across the night sky starting at 10pm. If he was still awake at 10pm, then I'd bundle him up and head on out.

I was quite excited to do this - so excited that at 9:20pm, I cruised around in Truong's car for about 30 minutes looking for the perfect spot. I found it near back where our old house was, up on a hill in an exclusive community. There's a trail head there and I spoke to a couple of women who were just leaving. They told me if I walked up the trail for about two minutes, there was a perfect spot to watch the show.

I went home, flushed with excitement and told Truong about it... and got a very lukewarm response. Clearly he had better things to do. Like... watch TV. Read a Golf magazine in bed. Sleep. So it was just me and Kael.

The problem is: I'm afraid of the dark. Especially walking up a trail head. In the dark. With a flashlight and an almost 4 year old for protection.

Wait... it should be ME protecting the 4 year old. Yeah, that's right. Clearly I need some back-up. So who do I call? Who CAN I call at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night? And who would be crazy enough to actually head out with me?

Why Ethel, of course. I mean Shana. I call her up and tell her to put some pants on, I'm picking her up in 3 minutes. She says "Where are we going? Can I wear my pajamas?" God I love her! And there's Patrick, not quite understanding what we're doing, wondering why Sonya was taking his wife to make-out point at night and asking if he could come too.

I load Kael in the car with 2 flashlights and motor over to pick up Shana for another Lucy and Ethel Adventure.

We get to the trail head, walk up the trail in the dark and run across another couple (who incidentally hadn't seen any shooting stars yet). We keep on walking and looking. Kael by this time is a little nervous and keeps asking if we can go home yet. Mind you, we just left the car! It's a beautiful view of the city from the trail. On one side of the trail is the hillside where you can still see the fire damage and on the other is the city in all its glittering and twinkling glory. We look up at the sky and see... planes. Lots of planes. But no meteors.

So there we were, in the dark: me in my jeans and Tevas, Shana in her pajamas and flip flops looking up at the night sky, and Kael with his flashlight pointing up at the sky searching for meteors. But he wasn't looking UP up, he was looking across the trail up, at the horizon up, at the hill up. It was pretty funny. I actually saw one meteor - and it was very bright. I was very surprised (and disappointed) that neither Shana nor Kael saw it (well, Kael was looking nowhere near in the right direction, so that wasn't a surprise). I got the feeling that Shana was worrying the whole "make-out point" thought in her head as we walked back to the car.

At the start of the trail head where the sign posts are is a huge spider web where a black widow was spinning her catch of the night. I point it out to Kael (he's totally into spiders) so the night's not a complete wash. Shana is just as fascinated and also a little creeped out. She happens to read a large sign nailed to the post and asked me what the date was. I respond "August 12, why?" She points out the sign and there's a picture of a mountain lion on it with the words "Last spotted August 10." We both look at each other with a holy sh*t look on our faces. Then I look around towards the trail we just left and start replaying all the funny little noises we heard while out there all alone, like big packages of fresh meat, wondering if it really was a cricket that I heard and not something more sinister. I start getting a little creeped out. I continue walking to the car this time calling Kael to walk a little faster. Shana is still reading the posted signs and this time she sees pictures of ticks and snakes. She finally walks to the car, itching a bit, scratching herself.

Here's the big difference between Shana and I: I worry about the huge mountain lion pouncing out of the darkness, dragging us away to be eaten alive. She worries about the creepy crawlies, the blood sucking ticks. She hands me her flashlight, furiously scratching herself, asking me to check for the ticks she's convinced are crawling all over her back and in her hair. I reassure her that there are no ticks sucking her blood and she gets in the car. Both she and Kael are in the car and I walk around to get in myself. I SWEAR I feel eyes on me and for a horrible split second, I have a vision of a huge mountain lion running out from the darkness to drag me away. Luckily, I made it safely to the car and we drove home.

I think I read somewhere there's another meteor shower in September. This time we'll come more prepared: a blanket, insect repellent and a baseball bat.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Why we love the Onesie: Reason #237

For those of you who don't remember...

Why we love the Onesie: Reason #128 - to keep diapers on.
I once tried having her wear just a diaper cover to nap and she ended up stripping everything off, chucking the diaper to the floor and swinging the cover over her head. We tried it once, a few weeks ago.

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Here's Reason #237:































I'm not altogether sure how she did this. I just happened to look at the monitor and noticed something was amiss.

She's supposed to be napping but it's obvious she's not. The look on her face indicates that she's on the verge of tears since I didn't immediately pick her up. She's probably thinking "Jeez, it's that stupid camera again!"



So am I a bad mom for wanting to take pictures before comforting my child??






















And here's the view from the back. Like I said, I'm not sure how she did this as the shirt fits pretty well. Or at least I thought it did.

I should be relieved that she didn't take her pants off.














Maybe we are a family of nudists. It's not unusual for Kael to come running out of his room, post-nap, in his birthday suit, screaming "NAKED BOY! NAKED BOY! I'M A NAKED BOY!!"

Friday, August 10, 2007

What Superman wears on Laundry Day

Like most boys, Kael likes to pretend he's Superman, complete with cape. The key is finding the right cape that flies nicely behind him as he runs and is fastened in a safe manner. First we used a towel but it was too thick - it was too heavy to "fly" (Kael's words) and we couldn't find a way to tie it on. No way am I using a safety pin. With our luck, it'd spring open and stab Kael in the throat.

Next we used one of Malia's swaddling blankets (the thin cotton ones). It was better in terms of flyability but we still had issues with getting it to stay on Kael without strangling him. In a pinch, I used binder clips. If he snagged the cape on anything as he flies about the house, the clips will fly off and no harm will be done to life, limb or furniture.

Then one day I came upon the perfect solution: my tank top! Sure, it's a little ghetto. Well, OK, maybe a lot ghetto but it works great. He slips his arms through my "sleeves" and the body of the tank is his cape. It's a nice thin cotton so it flies beautifully:


































Before his nap, after coming home from school, I like to rinse him off. He had been playing in the sandbox, outside in the heat, slathered with sunblock, mixed with sweat, going to the bathroom by himself doing (I'm sure) the Dad Shake... I like to wash off the day before sending him to nap. Today, after his shower, he spied my tank top on the bed and decided that he wanted to fly to bed.

Remember, he's fresh from his shower...



Hopefully this explains why he's flying around butt naked. Contrary to what some people believe (Shana!) we're not nudists. There's aways a reason for our nudity.

(See how nicely the cape flies behind him?)















If you ignore the fact that it's my wife-beater tank top, it really is the perfect cape.































I finally get some underwear on Kael and get him into bed when Malia comes to me with the cape on her head. She's obviously wanting to wear it and be SuperBaby.


She was SO happy to wear it. You can just see how proud she was, to be just like her big brother.

























She's running around like Kael, but she doesn't know why. She just knows that's what she's supposed to do because Kael did it.
















Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The Family Troublemaker

Every family has one. You know, the one who gets in trouble all the time, picks fights with siblings, doesn't listen to mom and dad, acts out, disrespects other's personal stuff.

And our family is not any different. The in-fighting and sibling squabbles have already started: the book hogging, toy throwing, pushing the other out of the way, head spanking, no regard for personal space and belongings...

And Malia is only 15 months old today.

Poor Kael - he's really going to have a time of it with Malia. I can hear him yelling at her: Malia, stop hitting me! Malia, I'm playing with that! Malia, wait your turn! Malia, stop making a mess in my room! Malia, let go! MOOOMMMM!!!

Her latest Kael-torture tactic: turning off the TV while he's engrossed in a show. He gets mad, stomps over to turn it back on, yells at her and sits back on the couch. She wanders back to the TV and turns to look at Kael in the eyes while her little fingers search for the power button. She turns it off and then quickly scurries away while he shrieks with outrage. They do this several times, back and forth until Kael is so frustrated he starts crying. I know he wants to sock her (I can see it in his eyes) but he knows better. Instead he gives her his very evil, very mean if-looks-can-kill face. Malia in the meantime is laughing her head off.

She also did this to Truong last night. She turned on the TV while Kael was eating dinner so Truong used the remote to turn it off. She looked over, gave him a dirty look, and turned it back on. She then walked back to the sofa and leaned against it to watch TV. Truong turned off the TV and again, she gave us a dirty look and turned it back on. This went on for a few more times until we flipped the switch box to VCR to show a black screen. I personally will be very surprised if the TV lasts until Christmas.

Today I scolded her to leave the TV on for Kael and you know what the stinker did instead? She turned on the radio on the stereo so we couldn't hear the TV. I almost turned down the volume in front of her but caught myself. I have to do it when she's not looking otherwise she'll figure out the volume control too. I already made the mistake of doing the switch box in front of her - I saw her fooling around in the area this morning and noticed the box was askew. I can just imagine her nosy little fingers probing the buttons, trying to figure it out.

Today she knocked Kael on the head with a toy hammer (repeatedly), destroyed his lego pirate ship, dumped his underwear drawer, threw it all up in the air like confetti, beaned him with a handful of balls and tossed one of his books in the bathtub and ran the water.

She is a nightmare.

Kael's nightmare.

Monday, August 6, 2007

She's a keeper!

Malia had her 15 month appointment this morning and it was a rough well-baby visit for a variety of reasons:

1) She woke up this morning at 5:30am to a massive poop. For reasons known only to her, she's designated her crib as the Primary Pooping Area. She only poops in her crib. It wrecks havoc on her naps but I suppose if a girl's gotta go, then a girl's gotta go. I had hopes of nursing her back to sleep... until Kael walked out of his room at 6:15am and kicked Truong out of the kid's bathroom so HE could poop. It was an odd morning to say the least.

2) She didn't eat breakfast. Since the kids were up early and the house cleaner was coming, I decided to take them out for breakfast -- alone. Bad idea. Malia was so distracted at Kael's antics and Kael was so amped up from waking up early, that breakfast was... well, not quite a complete disaster, but not very successful either. Let's just say I was able to doggy bag a lot of food, despite Malia wearing a good portion of it. Hopefully Kael will eat his lunch at school to make up for the lack of breakfast.

3) She's just an ornery kid. She knows want she wants and will let you (and everyone within a 2 mile radius) know what she doesn't want. She most definitely did NOT want the doctor touching her. She was fine with him in the room chatting with me but once he pulled out the stethoscope, she shook her head, said "nononono" and ran away. I pulled her into my lap and she proceeded to swat his hands away. When that didn't work, she tried to hit him. And when that didn't work, she used her powerful lungs to scream him away. It took both the doctor and I to bear hug her (me) and hold her head still (him) to get the exam done. By the end of the exam (10 minutes) she was so pissed, she was practically foaming at the mouth. It was the fastest exam I've ever gone through. Kael was the best kid (read: mellow) when it came to the well visits (he doesn't cry at all now). The only time he cried was when he got his shots and even then it was over when I picked him up. So this screaming banshee routine - I don't know what to do. When the nurse came in to give Malia her 3 shots, she didn't bat an eye. Well, she did give Stacy a suspicious look (or maybe it was the evil eye) but didn't try to run away or hit her. Since she was already "prepped" by the exam, she knew something was up once I got her on her back to receive the shots. Her kicking was fierce and her screaming was glass shattering. It was a relief to finally get her clothes on to leave. She did throw her shoes across the room to show me how mad she was.

So here are her 15 month stats (drum roll, please):

Weight: 16 lbs (definitely a keeper)
Length: 30 inches

It's not much by most standards but for Malia, it's phenomenal. She's gained 15 oz since her 12 month visit and the doctor is very pleased. She's hitting all her milestones in terms of development and she's obviously very active so we've accepted that she's going to be a petite girl. And given the appointment we just had, being petite in no way affects her ability to being heard.

Our next appointment is her 18 month in November. I'm looking forward to it. Maybe I can get Dad to take her....

Sunday, August 5, 2007

She will not tan.

Sunblock, SPF 50 -- Check!
Hat, wide brimmed -- Check!
Full rash guard suit, SPF 50 -- Check!
Swim shoes -- Check!
Shovel -- Check!





My girl will find it hard to tan, much less burn on my watch. We are prepared for a day at the beach.



















We attended a beach party at Doheny State Beach and the kids had a great time. The weather was great and the water was warm. Malia didn't nap this morning -- at all -- and she's still working on those two molars, so we were expecting the worst but hoping for the best. She did pretty good up until the very end. Malia's a pretty good baby - she's got to be beyond tired to fuss. Around 1:30pm, she started to fuss and she fussed right up until her tush hit the carseat and then she went out like a light... before we finished loading up the car, before I had the chance to load up Kael. She was T-I-R-E-D!

Kael had a great time. He met the grandson of a client and it was pretty funny to watch the boys play. Christopher is 6 and already you can tell he's going to be a hunk and a half when he grows up. He's obviously very athletic, with the innate grace natural athletes exude. Kael is 4 with the expected clumsiness and goofiness of being 4. They were trying to play soccer. "Trying" being the key word... In the end, the kids had a great time chasing each other around and Kael was pretty bummed to leave.


Kael, checking out the beach.



























Found our spot.












Let the digging begin!












Malia didn't like the slope at first but she quickly got over it and started running into the water.






















Digging is very serious business.























Back at the tent, Malia is blissfully eating edamani beans.







1) Luckily she hasn't figured out the zip-lock bag (yet).

2) The proper way of sitting in a chair.





















The improper way of sitting in a chair.



























Ice cream mustache.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Would you like one lump or two?

It's been a while since Kael's gotten into any accidents. I was starting to think that maybe his aura changed and I could put away his crash helmet.

I was wrong.

Wednesday we meet Annie and her two boys at the park and then headed over to Carl's Jr. for lunch. Carl's has an air-conditioned indoor playground that's great for the kids to get out the last wiggles before naptime. While there, Kael konked heads with another kid. Pretty hard. REALLY hard. Both boys came down screaming but only mine got the goose egg. The other kid only had a red spot where the heads hit. My kid - I was worried that he got a concussion!

It's still swollen and discolored today. He says it still hurts but apparently it doesn't hurt enough to not go back to the park. Go figure.


Here he is 10 minutes after the collision. It's already looking really ugly.










But it's the side view that really makes a statement.

OUCH!

Malia's First Scream Lesson -- I mean SWIM Lesson

We finally registered Malia for swimming. I feel so bad - Kael started swim (Mom and Me) at 6 months old and here's Malia, almost 15 months old...

The lesson started out great. I was expecting the crying to start when I handed her off to Sara. Malia loves the water but she's never been in it with a stranger. Surprisingly, she didn't fuss at all and looked at Sara with a befuddled "who ARE you?" look on her face. Sara got her to back float the first time without any problems and dunked her under the water without any problems. But as she repeated the exercises, Malia caught on to the game and started wailing. Then she really understood what was happening and only wailed when Sara counted because it's 1-2-3-DUNK. Malia was fine in between dunkings but when she heard the 1 count, she would starting wailing, arch her back and do the limp noodle act. It took Kael awhile to master the float without freaking out and it looks like Malia is the same. She only sucked in water the wrong way a couple of times and by the end of the 15 minute lesson, she knew to close her eyes and hold her breath.

Kael had his lesson at the same time and I could tell he was really bothered by her crying. I heard him tell Jamie his instructor "That's my baby sister Malia crying - I need to go help her. " It was so sweet. Hopefully she'll get used to the lessons in a couple of weeks and learn to love them as much as Kael.


The first back float.















1-2-3....














DUNK!















What the @#$% just happened?!














She's starting to get fussy with the floats. She's not wailing yet - just eh-eh-eh!










Another dunk. Her eyes are tightly closed.













Now we're full blown wailing.












Otherwise she's just fine and dandy in the water. You like her tie-dye swim suit? It's size 12m and so baggy on her!





So it's really really obvious she hates the back float. But look at her form - it's perfect!









And here's our brave little swimmer at the end of her first lesson.