A Roaring Good Birthday Party

We went to Zachary's 3rd birthday party today.  He had a dinosaur theme'd party at his house.

There were lots of kids.  Most of them I didn't know well.  The only kids I knew well were Kyden and Sienna.  But I did get to meet new baby friends, Nate (1 month), Betty (4 months) and Kaiden (11.5 months).  They were kinda boring.  Maybe they can be friends with Mason.

Z had a cool train table, similar to Kyden's.  I loved it.  That's all I wanted to do the entire time...play trains.  Z's mama hired a magician to come entertain us.  When the magic show was starting, Mama asked me if I wanted to go watch the show and I said, "No. I want to play trains."

Eventually, mama got me to go outside with the other kids and watch the show.  As it got started, Mama thought the show seemed vaguely familiar.  Turns out it was the same company that Leo's mom hired for his party, except she wasn't a cow girl.  Mama couldn't quite figure out what the magician was dressed as.  In fact, when she arrived, mama thought she might've arrived at the wrong party because she was wearing a lace bustier.

Part way through the show, I got bored and went back inside to play trains.  Mama thinks I'd appreciate the magic show more when I'm older, like 5 or 6.  The magic lady stayed and made us balloon animals and painted our faces/arms.  I didn't want a balloon animal, but I did get my arm painted.  Guess what I got?  Trains of course!

I played outside for a little bit too.  I cooked food in his play bbq/kitchen.  I also mowed the pavers and rode on some cars.  But I always went back inside to the train table.  

Happy Birthday Z!  Thanks for inviting me to your party!

Mason is 9 months old!

Happy 9 months to Mason!

What he likes:

• Crawling: he'll crawl over anything and anyone.  The other day he crawled over 3 toddlers in his room. He even has a turbo speed.
• Babbling: every now and then, mama or dada will ask me what Mason's saying. I have no idea what he's babbling about, but I take a guess.
• Being sung to when he's getting a diaper change. It's one of the few things that will keep him still long enough to change his diapers. 
• Tachi: he always smiles when he sees Tachi. When Tachi hangs out under his high chair, Mason'll lean over his high chair and stick his hands out for Tachi to lick them. Gross...
• Being busy: if he's being fed, he wants to have a spoon to play with. when he's getting a bath, he needs to stand up in the tub. if he's being put down for a nap and i come in the room, his head pops up and he has to see what's going on. I don't think he knows how to be still.
• When I push him. You might think that this would be something he doesn't like, but I'm onto him. He just cries when this happens to get me in trouble. He's got mama wrapped around his finger and he's milking it. This kid is sly.
• Whatever toy I happen to have

What he doesn't like:

• Getting into his car seat: He'll arch his back and stiffen up and protest.
• Cold food: If you give him cold food, he'll spit it out.  He prefers his meals warm. He's quite a persnickety baby
• Being put down and left: He's okay if you put him down and stay with him for a while. Then *maybe* he'll be okay with you leaving the room. 
• Napping at daycare...still.

I'm 2 1/2 years old!

Happy 2 1/2 years to me!

Here's what my typical day is like:

• 6:45 am: wake-up, sit on the potty, get dressed and brush my teeth.  while i am not potty trained or actively being potty trained, i am getting closer to being ready for potty training.  when i sit on the potty and actually pee, i get stickers.
• 7:30 am: breakfast
• 8:00 am: say goodbye to mama and drive to daycare with dada and mason
• 8:30 am: drop-off; sometimes we drop mason of first and sometimes we drop me off first.  it ususally depends on what time it is and if dada has a meeting or not
• 9:00 am: morning snack
• the rest of the morning: mama and dada have no idea what i do in the mornings at daycare. sure they get daily reports of what we do. they just have no idea when it actually happens. since i have no concept of time, i can't help fill in the blanks either. oh well. one thing is for sure, i have circle time. sometimes we read stories. sometimes we sing songs. sometimes we do both. friday is sharing day so we usually share the things we bring from home during circle time.
• 12:00 pm: lunch
• 12:45 pm: afternoon nap. my naps can last anywhere from 1 to 2 hours.
• 4:30 pm: play outside; we actually play outside twice a day but mama and dada don't know when the other time is...probably sometime in the morning.
• 6:00 - 6:30 pm: mama or dada pick me and mason up and we drive home - except wednesdays.  on wednesdays, we go to little gym instead of going home. after class we go to dinner with my friends. if i'm asked where i want to go for dinner, my standard response is gombei.  sometimes i'll say the galleria (korean food court).
• 7:00 pm: dinner
• 7:45 pm: sit on potty, bath, change into pjs, floss and brush teeth
• 8:15 pm: say good night to dada by giving him a hug and a kiss
• 8:20 pm: mama reads me a bedtime story. then we turn the lights out, lay in bed playing the animal game (mama gives me clues and i have to guess the animal) or singing songs and talking about our day.  i'm not very chatty about my day.  when mama asks how my day was, i usually just say, "Good."
• 8:30pm: say good night to mama by giving her a hug and a kiss.  sometimes i protest. i ask for water or i ask mama to keep me company just a little bit longer.  on nights when mama is really tired and practically falling asleep in my bed, it works and she stays...but she starts snoring.

My BFF at daycare is Henry.  Whenever mama asks me who I played with at daycare, I say, "Henry." I play with the other kids, like Edison and Mitra too.  But Henry and I are best buds.

Things I like/am good at

• Testing mama and dada. It's normal 2 1/2 year old behavior, but it drives mama and dada crazy.  Good times.
• Expressing my opinions, especially when I don't want to do something or it's something I don't like. Actually I'm pretty good at letting people know when I want something too. 
• Identifying letters. I can identify all the letters in the alphabet.
• Telling mama or dada that I have to go pee-pee while I'm going pee-pee. Guess I have to work on letting them know earlier.
• Identifying colors and shapes
• Singing songs.  I can sing lots of songs, but my favorite is Wheels on the Bus.
• Playing on the iPad. I get really upset when mama and dada say it's time to stop. The funny thing is that I try to touch mama's laptop screen, but nothing happens.  What gives? 

Things I don't like/am working on

• Sharing toys with Mason. Whenever he gets close to "my" toys, I start to say, "No Mason, no!" 
• Listening: I can hear what mama and dada say, but I choose not to listen to them. Like when they ask me to put my shoes on, I keep on playing.
• Putting my crocs on by myself, even though I can actually do it. I prefer to whine and say that I can't do it or need help.

The road to deliquency

Mirriam Webster defines delinquency as:

noun \di-ˈliŋ-kwən-sē\

1a: a delinquent act

1b: conduct that is out of accord with accepted behavior or the law; especially juvenile deliquency

2: a debt on which payment is overdue

3: my behavior the past week and half at daycare

Here's the list of my offenses:

• I attacked Gia's mama with a sand shovel in the play yard
• I spit water all over Mitra and was reloading for round 2 when I got caught
• I threw sand on Dominic
• I ripped one of the books in my classroom

Mama and dada have been very disappointed and sad about my behavior.  They're not sure if this is just a phase that I'm going through or if I'm acting out because I have to compete for attention with Mason now.  I don't know either, but they've made it abundantly clear that it's not okay for me to behave the way that I have been.  If you have any advice for mama and dada, feel free to leave a comment. 

 

A sunday afternoon surprise

All morning, mama and dada kept telling me they had a surprise for me this afternoon.  Hmmm...what could it be?  The only clue I had was it wasn't going to be at our house because dada was packing stuff up.  An adventure!  Fun!

After lunch, we all piled into the swagger wagon.  Still no idea where we were going.  It was a surprise.  Mama and dada told me to close my eyes and take a nap.  They'd wake me up when we got there.  Sounds good to me!

When I woke up, I saw a pier, water and boats.  Is this my surprise?  I was excited.  But we didn't stop.  We kept driving.  When we finally parked, I figured out that we were going to the quarium!  Mama said there were more surprises. Turns out my other surprises were Matthew and Edison!  An afternoon at the quarium with my buddies.  How fun!

We ran all over the quarium together.  We saw hammerhead sharks, touched starfish, watched a feeding in kelp forest and played in the Splash Zone.  We had a blast!  All that running and exploring made us hungry.  So we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  Edison had to go home and couldn't join us for dinner.  Maybe next time.

Since we finished dinner earlier than expected, Matthew and I checked out Dennis the Menace playground.  That place is amazing!  There are a lots of jungle gyms and slides of all kinds.  The best part is that we had the playground all to ourselves! 

I had a great time.  Thanks for inviting me to Monterey, Matthew.  Can't wait to go again!