San Diego

Our little family doesn't travel much. We're just not the traveling type...we're not opposed to it, we just like being home...except recently I started getting a little sick of being home...so I suggested that we should at least take a short trip. So we did.

Good ol' San Diego...It was a really busy weekend in SD. C0mic-con was going on as well as Americ@n Idol auditions. Everywhere we went we saw people with name badges from the convention or armbands from the auditions. Matt participated in one of the two...you can take your guess on which one.

Here are some highlights of our trip...


UCSD...One of the best places in the world...


This is one of my favorites photos from the trip...they have the same smile


Bear enjoying a smoothie


A "Dar" (Star) that Bear was fascinated with at the tidepools at Se@ World


Bear playing at Sh@mu's Happy Harbor

We had a great time. Although one of us ended up rather gloomy looking by the end of the trip.



Guess it's time to do laundry again.

Toy Store Tantrums

I went to the toy store today with Bear. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just needed a place to walk around. After about 3 minutes into the store, I realized that I wouldn't be able to just walk around a toy store with Bear in the future. Everywhere I looked, kids were throwing fits and tantrums, crying out things like, "I want that toy" or "I want a bigger bike" and even "You are a mean mommy!" Granted it was about 4:00pm which is that time of day when kids start losing their sense of reason (and moms lose sanity). I saw a couple of mothers dragging their screaming children out of aisles or bribing their kids with things like popsicles to get them out of the store. I just patted Bear on the head, and said, "if you and I ever act like that, that's when I know we can't come to the toy store anymore, okay?" She responded, "kay."

Being Hit on by Boys

For being 19 months old, Bear does quite well when we go out. Even when she's tired, she's still easily distracted by food, water and toys (especially stickers!). She's my little trooper these days, especially since I've been trying to buy craft items for VBS. We've been all over looking for just the right items.

At one store I was pushing Bear around in a cart. I wanted to go through this one aisle, but another cart with a toddler was in the way. The mom was a few feet away discussing something with a friend so I didn't think she would be moving her cart anytime soon. I looked and I figured I could squeeze past the cart and toddler, but as we were passing by the little boy grabbed onto our cart and managed to maneuver his cart adjacent to ours. And then before I could do anything, he reached out his hand and hit Bear in the face!

I was stunned! And what was even weirder, the boy started crying...not Bear. The mom saw what happened and ran over apologizing furiously. She kept saying, "I'm so sorry...he's just tired." Bear just looked at the crying boy and the apologetic mother and then looked at me as if to say "what just happened?"

So I assured the mother she was okay, and quickly fled the scene. When I got away, I asked Bear is she was okay. Bear just simply replied, "Be'er(Better)" and nodded.

*Sigh* I guess unnecessary violence will happen. I just hope most of it can be shaken off with a nod.

Toddler-ese

If you know anything about me, you know that I'm really bad with languages other than English. I just have a mental block when it comes to learning other languages (I can form the sentences in my head, but they don't come out of my mouth). On the other hand, my mother speaks about 3 languages fluently, and can get by in a couple more. It's quite bizarre that my polyglot of a mother sired three monolinguistic children. Perhaps, it is true that immersion is the best way to learn a language.

I have been immersed. Everyday, I'm learning to speak a foreign language, one that I have come to call "Toddler-ese." Apparently, I'm getting quite good at the language because people are now asking me what Bear is trying to say...and sometimes I can tell them what she is trying to say. I am her interpreter.

But I do have to say that context truly does dictate much of what she is saying. I think if I closed my eyes and tried to figure out what she was saying without so much as a clue what she was doing, I'd fail miserably in my translation efforts.

Some of the more interesting things she's been saying lately:

pih-ee = "pretty" when she refers to jewelry and other shiny objects, future boyfriends beware.

boose = "juice" Although now that I look at it, it reminds me of "booze" and sometimes to my child she guzzles down that juice as if it were booze.

doh = "toe" Whenever her toe slips out of her sandals, she sits wherever she is and yells "DOH!" until I fix her shoe. She did that in the middle of a street once. Perhaps I should teach her about oncoming traffic.

chees = "trees" Uh, if my daughter ever emphatically points out a tree to you, it's because we pretend that trees are the most interesting things ever...which helps especially in a long car ride and you need a distraction. We just yell, "Look, it's a tree!" and she will stare in wonder.

booduh = "booger" Sometimes when I get frustrated with Bear I start to call her a "Booger." Naturally, she often repeats the word back to me.

beh = "bed" Ah, yes, one of our favorite words lately. She doesn't seem to mind naps and bedtime...and even when we try to keep her up (like at the retreat last weekend), if she is truly tired, she will forsake book reading time and just start yelling, "BEH BEH!"

Ah, Toddler-ese.

Catch Up

I haven't really posted much about what we've been doing these days. It's been more stories rather than events...so here's a little catch up on our summer.

1) Weddings - ah yes...wedding...we had some good friends of ours tie the knot this summer and it's been great celebrating with them. Here's Bear picking flowers at one of the weddings...



Congratulations to our dear friends, M & B and D & C!

2) 4th of July fun - We hung out with some of our family, ate lots of food, watched Bear down a bowl full of tomatoes and played fun games like B0ggle. Later on we went to watch the fireworks, where Bear and her friend S were running around sharing Cheet0s. Once the fireworks started, Bear started to cry a little, but soon calmed once Sonja came near.

3) Retreats - went on a church retreat this past weekend and we tried to introduce Bear to the swimming pool. We thought that she would like it, especially since she loves the bath so much. Instead she cried the whole 20 minutes in the pool and Daddy tried his hardest to entertain her. Here she is all dry and happy away from the scary pool.





Perhaps we'll have to try the pool again another time.

Well, now you're caught up with us...we hope you're all enjoying yourselves as well!