His name is Horsey. Pink Horsey.

I've been trying to get Malia attached to a lovey since birth. I've bought dozens of blankets of different sizes, different fabrics, satin lined, taggied, flannel on one-side, animal head at the end. I've tried them all. And she's rejected them all. I was pretty disappointed as I thought if she had a lovey, she'd sleep better, longer. Meaning, I wouldn't be the Human Pacifier anymore. It was especially hard while traveling. I had given up all hope of relinquishing my title.

Then November 2007, Thanksgiving trip to the Bay Area. We took the kids (all 5 of them) to Toys R Us where Truong allowed her to select a stuffed animal.

Meet Horsey. (Full name: Pink Horsey)



I made it my mission to have them fall in love. I'd have her hold it while nursing. I'd cradle it (I mean "him") while reading her a bedtime story. I'd remind her to push him in the toy stroller. I made sure they slept together. And most importantly, I continued the "arranged marriage" at home.

And it worked! She gradually fell more and more in love with him. But she was no Linus by any means. She was perfectly content to leave him in her crib when she woke. But she would ask for him to hold when it was story time.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that she started to take him out with her. I'd see him in Kael's room. Or in my room. Occasionally he'd make it as far as downstairs. But that wasn't often. Then Spring Break 2008 -- he traveled a lot with us. He made it to the beaches of Santa Cruz (as in on the sand, almost to the water before I told her Horsey doesn't like the waves so she left him with me on the blanket). He almost came to Gilroy Gardens with us. There were a few tantrums thrown because while they were allowed to sleep together, they weren't allowed to shower together.

I made the comment to Truong that she seemed to be getting very attached to Horsey, that we should get another one just in case Horsey #1 met an untimely death. He pfshh'ed me and said one is enough, she doesn't need anymore. Stupidly I listened to him.

Fast forward to last week. We had a long playdate with Megan and Parker. It was 3:00pm before we left and 3:30pm before I put her down (Malia's naptime was overshot by over 2 hours). She was so tired that she slept through an outfit change and a face, hands and feet wash. I didn't bother with story time and settled on just rocking her for a few minutes. I carried her (asleep) to her crib to get Horsey...

And he wasn't there.

Crap. I look around her room. He's nowhere to be seen. Oh well. She's too tired anyway. So I lay her down and pat her tummy. She's dead asleep. I slowly take my hand away and take a few seconds to gaze lovingly at her face. What a sweet baby! As I make my move to walk away, she slowly turned her face to the right. (I freeze, wondering what's she doing.) Then she slowly turns her face to the left. (My breath catches in fear.) And then my heart plummets: "Horsey? Where's Horsey?"

Shit. I quickly rub her tummy again, quietly shushing her, telling her to go back to sleep, you don't need Horsey, you're tired, go to sleep. Sure, it took me almost 2 years to get that attachment going, but come on! It's 3:30pm and I'm tired!

"Horsey? Where's Horsey?"

She looks to the right again, but this time further down the crib. She does the same to the left side. All while I'm frantically (but outwardly calmly) rubbing her and telling her to go back to sleep. Finally she struggles to sit up.

"Mama, where's horsey?"

SHIT! So I tell her, "Lie back down, I'll go get Horsey," while in the back of my mind I'm thinking if I take long enough maybe she'll fall asleep. No dice. She says "OK Mama, find Horsey. Where's Horsey?" and proceeds to sit up and wait for me.

So I run to my room: Horsey? No Horsey.
I run past her room where I can her chanting: "Horsey? Where's Horsey?"
The study: Horsey? No Horsey.
Kael's room: Horsey? No Horsey.
She's still chanting "Horsey? Where's Horsey?"

Where the *F* is that stupid horse?? I take a chance and run downstairs. Not in the living room. Not in the kitchen. Hell, I even check the garage and he's not there. I'm cursing Truong that he convinced me not to get another Horsey. Somehow this is his fault. I don't know how, I just know that it is! I glance at the couch and see a flash of pink. I throw off the cushions and find Horsey, buried.

Thank god! It's like I won the lottery. I can still hear her chanting "Horsey? Where's Horsey?" so I race back upstairs and all but thrust him in her face. The look of complete happiness and the "ahhh! Horsey!" that she uttered before saying "Goodnight mama, naptime!" made it crystal clear to me: I needed to find another Horsey, or 3.

The next morning I took her to Toys R Us (TRU) to get another Horsey. But there wasn't another Horsey. I started to get a sick feeling in my stomach. What if they don't have any more? What if Horsey was last year's model and they are no longer in stock, no longer in production? Am I going to have to search Ebay to buy that stupid $6.99 horse for $50 now?!

I go home empty handed. In a slight panic. I'm now extra careful with Horsey. I take notes of where he's at and when I can, I toss his pink ass back in her crib. I don't let Kael play with him, not even touch him. I don't want Kael to understand the hold Horsey's got over his sister and use that knowledge to his advantage (don't get lured to the Dark Side, my son). Saturday rolls around and I take her to another TRU. As we walk to the stuffed animal section, Malia spies the new Wonder Pets toys. Her eyes bug out and she reverently whispers: "Linny... Tuck... Ming-Ming!" It was so funny. I hand her all 3 stuffed toys and she's got the biggest grin in her face as she struggled to hold onto all 3 and walk at the same time. As she plays with the Wonder Pets, I search the animal bin for Horsey #2. Nothing. Shit! I search it again. And finally a third time, but this time, I take out all the animals and place them back one by one.

Hallelujah. I found a Horsey! Buried in the way back corner under all the new 2008 Horsey's. I couldn't believe my luck. I showed Malia and her eyes bugged out again, like "Where have you been?" kind of look. Unfortunately I was only able to find one Horsey but at least I've got a back-up.

Here's a picture of Malia with Horsey #2, Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming on the way home. She wouldn't let them go long enough to get scanned so I had to rip off all the tags and hand them to the cashier.



I called home and told Truong I found another Horsey, so please take the old one and hide it. So now she's loving the new one so we can wash the old one and get them both to the same loved softness.

So that's my lovey story. On the one hand I'm glad she's found something to give her comfort at night. On the other, I live in fear of something happening to him. At least I've got one back-up. I'm still looking for another one so if anyone runs across Horsey #3, please send him my way. I'll pay for postage of course. (But not $50!)

Damn that Crayon!

Truong did a load of laundry today and found to his dismay that Malia had tucked in a blue crayon in her pocket. It ran through a warm cycle wash and the dryer (!!) before the pilfered crayon was discovered. We didn't find the actual crayon. We found the wrapper and the carcass of said blue crayon melted over 75% of the wash. Did I mention it was a load of lights?

Ackk!

I've been searching on-line for a solution and I've come across a lot. Unfortunately most of them recommend scrubbing each and every spot with a toothbrush (!!) either with Dawn soap or WD-40 before soaking and washing the scrubbed load in a hot wash loaded down with various cleaning products (detergent, oxyclean, borax to name a few). A chemist's concoction.

If there's an easier (and faster) way to clean the load, I'm all ears. The stains are everywhere. It would take me hours to spot scrub every last spot.

Malia has recently discovered pockets. It's really cute when she walks around with her hands in her pocket but I'm definitely going to start checking them since she's squirreling stuff away in them now.

Spring Break Wrap-up

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break -- we sure did! The kids had a great time with all their Northern California relatives. We made the drive up in less than 5 hours with one gas stop so that was nice. The first day was a little off because G'parents weren't home (funeral in Sacramento), Dad had to take a conference call at 9:00am then head off to Walnut Creek for work until 6:00pm, and all the cousins were in school. I was dead tired so I couldn't wait for naptime.

The next day we headed to Gilroy Gardens, a small family amusement park where 95% of the rides are geared towards kids 10 years and younger. It was just the 4 of us so we had a very nice family outing. The kids enjoyed the park as they were able to ride almost every ride. Malia started wilting at about 3:00pm so I decided to take out my wrap to wear her so she could sleep. I hadn't wrapped her in months since she's so insistent on walking everywhere but when she saw the wrap this time, she couldn't wait to hop on and snuggle in. She fell asleep in about 10 minutes. Some strange woman accosted me and asked: "That wrap -- does it work for you?"
I was so confused: "What do you mean 'does it work' for me?" What the hell was she talking about? I was wearing it, wasn't I?!
Then she said: "Is it comfortable? Does your baby like it?"
Well duh, lady! Do you see my baby sleeping in it?! She was so odd. I swear I get all the weirdos after me whenever I wear my kid. We finally left the park at 5:00pm to head for home. The kids slept great that night.

Saturday we visited Truong's side of the family in Santa Cruz. We have a new nephew (Son, Thai's brother) born just 2 weeks ago so this was to be our first visit. Malia about blew a gasket when she saw me holding Son (she freaked out enough for Truong to insist that I return the baby to his rightful mother before Malia had a heart attack). She eventually got over her anxiety and went back to bothering Kael and Thai, thus allowing me to enjoy holding a wee tiny baby. I've forgotten how small babies are when they first come out! We spent the rest of the day at the local playground and beach. We finally left at 4:00pm after Malia's nap on Ingrid, transferred to Trieu, transferred to G'ma. She was so dead tired she didn't even notice they were playing Musical Baby with her. Again, the kids slept great that night.

Sunday morning the cousins came over (Jarod, Amelie and Colin) and we all headed over to the park for a picnic. Unfortunately, the early Easter crowed claimed every square inch of the park so we had no place to set up. The kids played for a bit there and then they decided that they wanted to eat lunch at a McDonald's with a playground. They had a better time going up and down the one slide at McD's than they did on the playground equipment at the park. Go figure. Malia climbed up after Kael in the structure at McD's and got stuck, not wanting to go down the tunnel slide, but not wanting to go back down either. Truong was sent up to retrieve her and almost got stuck himself. That evening we had a family BBQ with about 32 family members (immediate and extended) where my cousin said I looked "a little fatter, but that's good since I was always so skinny."

Oh. Great. Thanks.

Moving on... once again the kids slept great. I'm seeing a trend. Late nap for Malia (no nap for Kael) + nonstop activity + late nights = great bedtime sleep. Remember that Malia's sleeping in the closet by herself and she's not making a single peep the entire night until morning!

Monday we headed back to Gilroy Gardens with my sister's family. We bought a season pass so with the 2 trips, we more than made up the cost. We did this on purpose so now there's no pressure to come back later (we're so thrifty). Kids had an awesome time. I'm glad we were able to go first with just our family as Kael got a different kind of enjoyment out of the second trip with his cousins.

Unfortunately we had to cut our trip short as Truong had a few emergencies at work he had to attend to (he had to be in the office Tuesday afternoon). Rather than drive Tuesday morning, be on the road all day then ditch me and the kids when we got home to head into work, we decided it was best to drive Monday night at 8:00pm (after Gilroy Gardens, after our last dinner with the family) and get home around 2:00am. We'd be able to sleep for about 5 hours before the kids woke up, Truong would be home in the morning to help unpack the car and then head into work when the kids napped.

Saying goodbye was hard as usual. Kael didn't want to leave and begged and cried to stay a little bit longer. He kept saying he wasn't ready to leave. It was really heartbreaking. He was really upset and there was nothing I could say to ease his misery. Eventually the kids fell asleep and we made it home by 1:30am.

I gorged myself as usual but this time we had a cooler that my mom packed with food, so I've been able to continue the engorgement at home (it's been great). The last supper we had in San Jose, my mom made my favorite dishes and I made sure to eat slowly so I wouldn't get too full too fast. It's a little scary that I planned it all out. I ate so much that my mom eventually took away the food from under my nose saying that I was eating too much. Can you believe that?? She took away my food as I was eating it!! My cousin's words haunt me, but I'm ignoring it. Besides, I'll lose the weight once I go back to eating my own "cooking."

Pictures are up but it's not much since we were too busy and I forgot to haul out the camera. (Truong would say that I was too busy eating -- humpff, whatever!)

Happy Springtime!

We're mostly packed, the car's gassed up, and there are 4 bottles of Starbuck's coffee fraps strategically located throughout the car. We just need to add 2 hopefully sleepy kids and we'll be on our way to San Jose.

Yes, once again we're leaving at 2:00am. No matter how many times I say it or how many times we do it, it still sounds completely insane. This time, when we get to SJ, Truong's got a conference call he must take at 9:00am so he's going to lock himself in one of the rooms for about an hour so or, then I need to drop him off to get a rental car so he can drive to the Walnut Creek office by 1:00pm. I have an aunt in Sacramento who just passed away a few days ago and my parents are attending the funeral. They are leaving at 6:00am. Thursday. As in tomorrow. As in the same day we arrive. We will probably not see them until Thursday evening. So my kids are going to wake up in the car, to go to Ba's and Ong's house, except Ba and Ong won't be there and on top of that, Dad's leaving too. Mom's going to be dead tired and they will probably will be too excited to nap.

Good thing I'm packing a bottle of Benadryl... heh heh heh.

I'll try to post when I can. Have a great Spring eveyone and for those of you who celebrate: Happy Easter too!

Can't we all just get along?

Stop fighting. Stop fighting. Stop fighting.

The kids need to stop fighting. If Malia could hold more eloquent conversations, I swear they'd fight about the color of the sky. Or if the grass was just green or very green. Or if Mommy is my mommy or MY MOMMY.

Malia wants everything Kael has. Doesn't matter if she's got the same damn thing. If Kael is touching it, she wants it. Of course I don't give it to her. If he's playing with it, then it's his. However, when he's done with fiddling with whatever he's fiddling with, I'll ask that he give it to her. Lately, I've seen him taunt her with the thing and when he's done with it, he'll place it way up high on a counter or shelf and say: "Here Malia. It's yours. If you can reach it!" and then he prances away laughing while Malia screams in frustration. At this point, I just hunch my head down further into my shoulders and do my dead set best to ignore them. I can't intervene for the rest of my living days. She's going to have to deal with him at some point in her life.

Then the tables get turned. Malia will have a prized item and Kael, knowing that he's bigger and stronger, will usually snatch it away from her. In the past I've had to reprimand him and make him give it back. But Malia's caught on: she now has a death grip on it and as soon as she sees him coming with that crazed that's-my-toy look on his face, she spins the other way (usually towards me, the stinker) and runs for all she's worth, while screaming "mine-mine-mine" at the top of her lungs. (BTW, everything is his toy so it's not as if she's digging into his prized possessions.) I usually then have to intervene to prevent Kael from tackling her to the ground and ripping the toy out of her fingers. Then I remind him "Remember when she wanted to play with XYZ and you didn't let her? Well, because you weren't so nice to her, she's not going to share now. You have to show her how to share and how to be nice so she will share and be nice to you."

Of course he doesn't get it (or doesn't remember): "She's not sharing, she's being not nice, she needs to get in trouble..." Or if he does remember, he says he was just kidding so she needs to share now. Doesn't help the situation in the least bit when Malia dances in front of him, waving the controversial contraband in front of his face, knowing that he can't physically take it away from her.

Oi.

Kael's new Get Out of Jail tactic is to say "I didn't mean to; it was an accident." For example (real life examples, I might say): he beans her with a stuffed bear ("I didn't mean to; it was an accident"); her turn with a toy and instead of handing it her, he tosses it way far away... in the opposite direction of where she's at ("I didn't mean to; it was an accident"); they're supposed to share water and he practically drowns himself, chugging it all to hand her an empty bottle ("I didn't mean to; it was an accident"). First of all, when you take aim, sight your target and have an evil smile on your face as you launch a teddy bear at your sister, it's no longer considered an accident. Nor is it an accident when you look to see where your sister is, turn 180 degrees and toss the toy away from her (the evil chuckling is also a dead giveaway). And it's certainly not an accident when you complain that your tummy hurts from drinking too much water.

Help me.

As much as I hate to admit it, a guaranteed no-fight time is when they watch TV together. Sure they fight about what show to watch (her: The Wonder Pets; him: anything BUT the Wonder Pets) but once the show's rolling, they actually sit together, sometimes even holding hands.

So I guess my choices for a peaceful household are:
(1) have the TV on 24/7; or

(2) start konking some heads together and hope the resulting headache will keep them from fighting.

A Kael Question

I haven't written up any of our conversations in a long time and it's not because I'm lazy. Well, I am, but that's not the real reason. The real reason is because we haven't had any. Sure we have conversations but nothing out of far left field. What he's been doing lately is throwing out observations and questions from far left field.

Erin thinks I should write all this stuff down in a journal because Kael asks some really really good questions. Her favorite by far is his "Do monsters drive the trucks?" Monster Truck question. I don't have a favorite as they are all my favorites but some are definitely harder to answer than others. Especially those pertaining to body parts and bodily functions.

His latest stumper happened last week as we were driving to school. Let me first explain that he has an understanding of the police force and their function in society. Our neighborhood has a pretty good police presence. Not because we're a high crime area, but because they get easy money from writing speeding tickets from all the speeders coming down the hills so Kael sees people getting tickets all the time. His "What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up" answer has been (since he turned 3) and still is "A policeman so I can catch bad guys." He's fascinated with the motorcycle patrol because "they go super fast" (thanks to Dad for glamorizing that).

So we're driving to school and from out of nowhere he says: "Mom? When the motorcycle police catch a bad guy.... how do they take them to jail?"





Uh... Wow. That was a good one. I've never thought about that. Do motorcycle cops actually catch bad guys? Or do they only write tickets? But they're cops too, right? So of course they would catch bad guys. They wouldn't shackle the bad guy to the back seat, would they? No, of course not.

"Mom? How do they take the bad guys to jail?"

"Oh. Well, I think they would have to call for a police car to come and help. Then they put the bad guys in the back seat to take them to jail."

"Oh." He has a thoughtful look on his face as he mulls that over. Then he goes back to his Leapster, leaving me to wonder where in the world did that come from?!

It's pretty cool to see how his thoughts and questions have evolved as he matures and gets a better understanding of the world. I really like that he questions everything, that he sees and understands enough of his world to ask these kinds of questions in the first place. It makes for reading bedtime stories a long drawn out affair (and a pain in the ass): Why did he do that? What does that mean? Why did that happen? but I'm glad he's curious enough to question the Why's and the How's. He's nosy -- just like his mom!

The Glamourous Life of a Mom

Being a mom, one of my duties is to keep track of my kids' bowel movements. There's no calendar that you're checking off, no schedule that you're writing down... you just keep a mental record in your head of how many days have gone by and when to expect the next BM. After a while you sort of just know when.

Kael is more problematic than Malia. She eats way more fruit and veggies so even if she doesn't go every day, she's pretty consistent at every other day at least. Whenever Kael gets backed up, I feed him oatmeal and that will get things back on track by that afternoon. Malia also gets a dose of oatmeal too because you can never eat too much oatmeal, right?

I know you're all wondering (and anticipating) where this is leading. You won't be disappointed.

So a couple of days ago, I suddenly realized that Malia hadn't pooped in 2 days. Holy cow! Not only that, she ate oatmeal the day before and still no golden nuggets in her diaper. Clearly this called for another dose of oatmeal for breakfast in addition to more fruits and veggies.

Yesterday afternoon as I was getting the kids ready for naps, which included a shower for Malia, she disappeared into her room. This was a good sign as that meant she was trying to poop. I walked into her room and she started crying. Poor little baby -- she was so constipated. She asked me to hold her so there we sat in her room as she tried to push the offending poop out. After 10 long minutes of grunting and crying, her saggy diaper proclaimed success (as if the smell wasn't a good enough indicator). I asked her if she was done (Yes.) and did she want me to change her diaper? (Yes.) Are you sure you're done? (Yes.) Do you need to poop some more? (No, momma.) OK, good enough for me. So I washed her bottom and tossed her in my shower. I went back to her bathroom to clean up and get clean clothes ready. Then I heard her crying and I thought: shoot, was the water too warm? too cold? I ran back and threw open the shower door....

And saw a poop hanging out of her butt. As I stood there in shock (neither of my kids have ever had a poop accident in the shower or tub), it fell off and hit the drain where (amazingly) it stood upright. Like a little brown troll wearing a pointy hat.

Holy cow - what do I do? What do I do?? I told her to "Hold on, Malia! Don't touch it!" and got a plastic bag from under the sink and a sizeable wad of toilet paper. I opened the shower door again and the Little Troll was still standing up. Malia (having never seen her poop before) was clearly fascinated with it and inched out a toe to touch it.

"NO DON'T TOUCH IT!"

My dilemma was how was I going to get it out? Do I turn off the water and take her out so I could get the Troll in the bag? But I need to wash her bottom first. Plus she'd get cold. I couldn't use my large wad of toilet paper - it'd just get torn up in the shower spray, go down the drain, clog it and then I'd have poop soup in the shower. Do I use the plastic bag and wrap my hand around it? Then I'd get water all over the bathroom when I went to dump the bag. I needed to make a decision fast because that toe was creeping out again.

"MALIA, DON'T TOUCH IT!"

So I did the unthinkable. Just remember, as parents you do whatever it takes to keep your kids safe and comfortable and happy. In this case, I touched poop. Yes, I picked up the Little Troll with my two fingers and plopped it in the bag. I double-knotted the bag and threw it in another bag, double-knotted that bag, and left it in her potty to take out. I then washed my hands in scalding hot water with Cetaphil cleansing soap. But I deemed that was too gentle (it says it right there on the label: "Gentle enough for babies") so I ran to the kids' bathroom and washed my now red hand from hot water in more hot water and washed with their soap. It was still too gentle so I took some Clorox wipes I keep under the sink for bathroom accidents and very diligently scrubbed every finger. On the way back to my bathroom, I grabbed a cup from the kids' play kitchen and filled it up with Listerine. I swirled my fingers in the blue stuff for good measure. I figured if Listerine could kill bad breath germs for 12 hours, it could probably do some damage to poop germs, right?

As I stood there with my fingers soaking blue Listerine, I happened to look over at the shower and noticed that Malia was standing on the perimeter of the shower spray. That's odd, I thought. She's usually the poster child for those soap commercials where she's in the middle of the spray with her face turned up into the water with a blissed-out expression. This time was she looking down, standing to the side. With a feeling of dread, I wash my fingers and open the shower door.

Sure enough, Little Troll invited 3 Troll Friends to come visit. But this time, they weren't standing up. They were on their sides, looking kind of beat up. Hopefully that was because they were in direct line of the shower spray and not because Malia was stomping on them.

"MALIA DON'T TOUCH IT!!"

I had no idea how long they've been there but it was long enough to where I couldn't pick them up. I'd just end up smearing it. So once again, I put on my Mommy Cape and used my freshly disinfected finger to push the Troll Friends through the drain. Then I took the shower head off and blasted the drain clean at close range on pulse setting. I then soaped Malia (twice), took her out, dressed her and disinfected my fingers again. I threw out the cup along with the poop bag.

Not exactly a shining moment in Mommy-hood, but this shows the sacrifices you make when you become a parent. It also teaches a very good lesson: Don't trust the word of a 22 month old.

At least it's clean.

I don't mind doing laundry. I don't even mind folding laundry. It's the putting away part that really bites. So clean folded laundry will sit in the laundry basket for days. Until one of three things happen:

1) I need the basket to store dirty clothes that's piling up in my closet;

2) Truong can't stand it anymore and he takes the clean piles and stacks them in the closet (thus freeing the basket for the dirty laundry) where it sits until I put them away; or

3) Malia gets into it and throws everything out. Then I have to refold everything and seriously, folding once is enough.

It's usually #3 that gets my butt in gear. The funny thing about Malia is she's got her favorite pieces of my clothing that she likes to wear:



Yes, you are seeing correctly. That's my underwear (it's clean by the way). She likes to wear it around her neck. And it's always the same one. Unfortunately (for me since now I've got my underwear posted on the web) she really likes to wear what i call my Old Trusty. You girls all know what I'm talking about: the one underwear that's been worn so many times it's softer than any baby blanket. Sure it's stretched to hell and back but it's so comfortable you can't tell you're wearing underwear.


Look at how happy she is. And yes, that's food on her face. We were eating and somehow I missed that spot. This post doesn't exactly show us at our best.


And here's the stinky face I got when I told her it was time to take off Mommy's underwear. In the end I had to wrestle her to the floor, pry it out of her fingers and stretched out even more my already stretched-to-hell panties. I may have to retire them.

Potty Training Gone Awry

I haven't formally started potty training Malia yet, but the pot's been out so she's used to it. She sits on it fine and has even gone #1 a few times.

Ok. So maybe that's not the full truth. The real truth is: she did in fact start to pee in it. She freaked out. Stood up. Looked in and ran into my closet to finish the job. Thank god she's got a small bladder. After that incident, she will sit on the pot but finish the job elsewhere. Usually in the corner of my bedroom somewhere. Needless to say, we don't let her run around naked as freely as Kael.

When Kael poops, he likes to poop naked. He flings his clothes all over but usually it's in a discernible trail leading towards the bathroom. Dad has taught him that it's polite to turn on the fan and he's started to ask to close the door for privacy. This I can understand since Malia gets all into his face as he's doing his business. Unfortunately for him, he's on the constipated side. Not full blown constipation but it can take some effort to cleanse his system. Even with the door closed and the fan running, you can hear his... efforts.

This particular time you could tell he hadn't been eating his oatmeal. From hearing her brother's grunts behind closed doors, Malia accurately surmised that Kael was pooping. She proceeded to take off her pants (she couldn't take off her top since she was wearing a onesie) and got out the sink from her play kitchen. Sat in it and started to make grunting noises like Kael. It infuriated him so much that he was screaming from the bathroom: "STOP COPPERING ME MALIA! IT'S NOT FUNNY! STOP IT I SAID!" I wish I had video taped it - it was the million dollar clip.


Malia trying to wedge in her bottom into her "new toilet." I don't know the story about her sock. But she did walk around one-on, one-off for hours. I wondered if it bothered her but evidently it didn't.


Still trying to find that right fit.


Ahhh.


I probably should have taken out her "real" toilet but I was laughing too hard. I've probably set back potty training by a few months.

The Belly Molester Strikes Again.

Remember how I told you about Kael's fascination with Shana's belly? Each time he sees her, he loves on her belly, so much so that he's all but molesting her. Rubbing on it, smiling at it, lifting up Shana's shirt to get some skin... it's pretty cute. Shana's been a good sport about the whole thing. We mostly laugh when it happens, she'd shoot me a look (the one that says Get on the baby wagon, Sonya) and once in a while she'd get a little uncomfortable with Kael's belly love -- usually when he tries to lift her shirt -- but always manages to keep herself decent without flashing too much skin.

Recently Shana, Erin and I had a chat about why Kael hadn't done that to Erin yet. We think it's because he doesn't see Erin as much as he sees Shana (the Mai's and the DiDodo's attend the same preschool). Plus Erin's not as big as Shana.

Disclaimer: "big" meaning "heavy with child, popped out" -- not "big" as in "big as a whale." I had to make that distinction clear, just in case.

Also Erin comes with Josh and while Kael loves Erin, she's all but ignored when he's got Josh to play with as they don't get as much playtime as they used to. Last week Kael and Josh got together and met up at the park. They had a great time, running and chasing and sliding, doing all the usual things boys do at the park. It got near dinnertime so we prepared to leave. Mind you, it's been about 90 minutes that we've all been hanging out: the girls, the boys, me and Erin. Kael runs by Erin and sort of sticks his hand out and absently rubs her belly as he's about to fly by. He comes to a screeching stop, takes a step back (his hand is still on her belly) and stares at her belly like she's catching cable signals on it. He runs his hands all over her belly, spreads open her jacket and then looks behind her as if he was looking for the bump's continuation on her back. I don't know why he did that. I'm guessing that if she did in fact have a bump on her back, then that would negate the bump in the front being a baby belly bump? I don't know. He's done stranger things.

Then he asks her in a very awed tone of voice: "Ms. Erin! Do you have a baby in your tummy?!" His hands are still running all over her belly. I did see that he tried to lift her shirt and Erin almost jumped in surprise as she quickly pulled it back down. She tried to do it nonchalantly but clearly she didn't have the same experience as Shana when it came to blocking Kael's attempts at trying to see some skin. Josh came over and said "Hey Kael! There's a baby in my mom's tummy! I'm having a baby brother! Isn't that cool?" Kael's response: "Wow, that is cool!"

It was very very funny. We finally herd the boys down to the car and as he ran by Erin again, Kael snuck in another quick baby belly rub down.

This kid has a serious case of Baby on the Brain. Last Saturday while at Ikea in the dining table area (we were test sitting a table) he let out this huge sigh. Truong and I looked over at him and he said in a very aggrieved tone of voice: "Mom, when is it going to be YOUR turn to get a baby in your tummy? I want a baby brother!"

I felt like asking him if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?! Sheesh.