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!

Speaking of which...

I was sorting through our pictures the other day, and I happened to find something rather disturbing...



I had to confront the guilty party at once (ahem...Dad) and ask him why there were pictures of Bear playing St@rcraft.

He said he needed to get her started early.

Busy...busy...summer

I know most people look forward to the summer. I don't. I think I tend to look forward to the wintertime. Summertime has always been just too busy for me. Even when I was teaching, although I had my summers off, it just felt busier. Isn't that weird?

This summer is no exception. I'm not sure what it is. I'm not complaining though...just making a casual observation.

A Lesson in Manners

Bear: Ma ma! Muuuuhhhh! (Bear comes running into the livingroom from the kitchen with a bag of uncooked macaroni)

Me: No, Bear. It's not cooked, you can't eat it.

Bear: Muh?

Me: No. Go put the pasta back.

Bear: Path-da (Pasta).

Me: Yes, put the pasta back on the shelf.

Bear: Bahk? (Back?)

Me: Yes, put the pasta back in the kitchen, on the shelf.

Bear: (Looks mom squarely in the eyes and says...) PEEZ!

Me: You want me to say "please"?

Bear: (nods) Peez.

Me: Okay, you're right. Will you please put the pasta back?

Bear: (Scurries away to the kitchen to put the pasta away)

Perhaps she's getting me back for all the times that I've been having her "ask nicely" for things lately.

Bear Speaks

Lately, Bear has been extra verbal...we don't always understand what she's telling us, but she's trying to tell us something. If we don't get it, she waves her arms around and yells louder. That still doesn't help us. Nor does it help with her impending frustration.

She has always been fairly expressive vocally. Her voice raises an octave when she talks to Sonja or smaller babies. When she's angry, she yells. When she is really hungry and yelling for "muuuuuhhhhh!"(more) she will roar like a tyrannosaurus rex. Seriously.

She just started stringing words together. Yesterday in the car, I heard, "ma ma, peez bhup" (Mommy, please cup). Today she told me, "boo boo pah-ee" as she was sitting on her potty. This morning she said, "sid chae beow" (sit chair bear) when she found her pooh bear sitting in her booster seat or "boon bap" (spoon rice) when she was shoveling rice at lunch.

I just need to learn to be patient to listen to what Bear is trying to tell me...or I need to hire a translator. Anyone out there speak Baby?

Things I'd love to learn...

1. ...how to take proper photos
2. ...how to organize my home
3. ...how to play the drums
4. ...how to do brush calligraphy
5. ...how to cook better Korean food
6. ...how to sing jazz
7. ...how to start my own business
8. ...how to cover a couch
9. ...how to drive a manual transmission car
10. ...how to decorate a cake

Physical Therapist Daddy

Yesterday, we had this conversation:

Bear: "Sduhk!" (Stuck!)

Daddy: "Um, Bear is trying to lift a 5 pound bag of potatoes."

Mommy: "What? That's like a fifth of her weight!"

Bear: "SDUHK!"

Daddy: "Bear! Lift with your legs, not your back!"

How in the World?

These past couple of days have been kind of a nightmare cramming for potty training. I wasn't planning on potty training for a while, but somehow...and Matt and I are just so confused about the whole thing...somehow Bear decided to start potty training herself. Seriously. No joke. Not even exaggeration for effect.

A couple of days ago, as I was changing Bear's diaper, she told me she needed to go. I was taken aback. After a couple of seconds I snapped back to sense and ran her to the potty. After a minute or two, she happily held out her hands and said, "aw dun" (which means "all done"). And sure enough her potty was full...(number 1 if you must know).

I was stunned...and totally UNPREPARED! I was trying to decide what to do next. So I firmly told Bear to stay seated and ran to get a diaper and wipes. Of course, when I returned 5 seconds later, I found Bear standing up with one foot in her potty (ew!).

Okay, so she's not fully potty trained or anything, but this wasn't a one-time-only performance and number 1 hasn't been the only thing I've found these past couple of days. And in the meantime, Matt and I are just watching with astonishment...mostly because we're not sure what to do next...or how she learned about using the potty in the first place.

So if you catch us in the next couple of days and we have these befuddled looks upon our faces, you'll know why.

In the News today... "My life for Aiur" (by Padawanlee)

I very rarely post or blog, Momma Bear seems to have this blogging all under control. I guess I'm not much of a blogger unless something random catches my attention...like a story about an unlucky nectarine or what inhabits the freezer. Today as I was getting my daily fix of news I came across this article that invokes memories from my college days...well, what I can remember of them. I shared this article with Momma Bear and all she had to say was "I guess I won't see you for a while". Now why on earth would she say that?

Well anyone who knows about or is a fan of (or shudders) at zergling rushes or remembers the declaration of a "Nuclear Launch Detected" will eventally hear about the announcement of the unveiling of St@rcraft 2. Until it actually does come out (who knows when), Momma Bear and all the other significant others who lost their loved ones to the original game, can rest assured that they will still be able to see us as much as they want...at least for the time being.

Parallel Universe

My sister and I used to ask each other what we thought our life would be like if we were in a parallel universe. I used to joke with her that I would have been a rock star or a songwriter or something of that sort. She would then tell me what she would have been in a parallel universe (I won't tell you what that was...you can ask her yourself).

The other day I was thinking about this question again, and you know what I came up with this time? A paper sculptor. I know! You're thinking, "what in the world!?! (or possibly, "what a dork!")", right? But I realize that I really like paper. It's just a piece of paper, but it can become all sorts of things...cards, sculptures, books, origami, etc...Paper can be quilled, folded, ripped, dyed, shredded...Paper is just so much fun! Hee hee...but yeah, keep in mind I'm still talking about a parallel universe here. :)

So how about you? What would you be doing in a parallel universe?

Mother's Day Weekend

This past weekend we flew to visit all the grandparents. Remember how worried I was about Bear's first plane trip? Well, here she is after getting off the plane.



No sign of unhappiness at all. The only problem was that her mommy got a little queasy on the flight home. Bear Cub got compliments all around from nearby passengers on how "good" she was. Figures. I worry over things that needn't be worried about.

On to Mother's Day weekend...

My sister (with the help of her sous-chefs) made a wonderful brunch...very fancy shmancy...Bear practically ate half of the baked brie on her own. Pictured here are the yummy apricot tarts.



Bear spent her whole weekend traveling up the stairs at her grandma and grandpa's house.



When she wasn't traveling upstairs, she was following her grandpa around saying "pa-pa" or opening and closing the door saying "doh!"

The funny thing was that I forgot that I was a mother, too. Whenever someone wished me a "Happy Mother's Day" I thought they were talking to someone else at first. Ha ha. I guess even after 2 Mother's Days, I still haven't quite gotten used to being "mommy."

Hope all of you out there had wonderful Mother's Days, too.

Fear of Flying

The title should read "Fear of Flying with a Toddler."

We haven't taken Bear on a plane ride yet. This Friday will be the first time. We're a little wary. Of course, I shouldn't worry too much seeing how most of my fears in the past were abated because of our worry-free, happy-go-lucky child...but nevertheless, I worry.

I don't do well on planes. Never have. My mom tells me horror stories of my plane rides. I remember living some of those horror stories. I must have had terribly bad inner ears, because I could not stand the pressure change going up and down on the plane. Add on top how easily I succumb to motion sickness, and plane rides were never easy.

But so far, Bear has proven that although she may look a lot like me, she doesn't act a whole lot like me (and we're still trying to figure out who she does act like). I am an introvert. She is a total extrovert. She loves pink, fluffy things. I don't really enjoy pink & fluffy too much. She loves putting on jewelry and socks and carrying purses. I just don't have that knack for accesorizing.

So perhaps she'll be just fine on the plane...she'll eat snacks, drink some juice, make friends with the rows of people around her, and arrive at our destination happily...and I'll have worried for nothing.

Toddler Strategy

Matt and I have been more and more tired these days. Raising a toddler sometimes feels like you are raising a herd of wild animals. But not just any wild animals...wild animals who strategize and game plan. We've come to familiarize ourselves with some of Bear's tactics.

The Bait & Switch: Once bathtime is over, we have a toddler who does not want to come out of the tub. Her tactic, when we reach in, she quickly pulls the switcheroo by grabbing our hands and pushing a rubber ducky in instead.

Misdirection: Bear knows which household items she shouldn't play with (namely: the bathroom cabinets). Her strategy is to point us towards her room as if she wants to play there. Once we enter, she asks us to retrieve an item. Once our back is turned, she makes a beeline for the bathroom cabinets. Tricky.

Misinformation: This is similar to misdirection, except it involves the phone. Bear hands me the phone, cries out "Da Dee" (yes, she finally started calling daddy something other than his first name). After asking about 10 times, I call Matt, but by the time Matt answers, Bear is halfway across the apartment making mischief. And I feel like a sucker.

Emotional Manipulation: I don't know how she does it, but this kid can get about anything she wants. She seems to know the right emotion to "act" for each person she comes in contact with. With "Da Dee" she gives him the "oh-so-cute" smile and giggles, races up to the door to greet him when he comes home, and promptly will ask him for something that I just told her "no" to about 5 minutes ago. With Auntie R, she is utterly persistent. She will repeat herself over and over again, until Auntie finally gives in. With Granny, she gives the hugs and kisses - and somehow Granny always seems to show up with little gifts for her. With Grandma & Grandpa, she does the "fake cry" whereupon Grandma & Grandpa will instantly swipe her out of our hands to comfort her and give her whatever she wants. Even with the general public, she pretends to be shy and gives this mischievous smile, shows them Sonja, and says, "Doh Dya"...and I always hear how "she's such an angel"...And somehow she works her charm and by the time we leave a restaurant, all the surrounding tables are waving and saying goodbye to Bear (seriously! It happens all the time!).

So beware, take heed and don't fall for her "evil genius" strategies. And if you are one of those out there who have been victimized by Bear's charisma and charm, we sympathize with you for being duped by our toddler...If you haven't yet...uh, don't say we didn't warn you.

Boo!

I haven't posted much in the past couple of days because our family has been under the weather. Baby Bear, who got the bug first and therefore is recovering first, has been running around our apartment as she pleases (sometimes you lose the will to parent when your head feels like it's going to implode). I was sofa-bound. Sitting or standing was dizzying for a couple of days there. I've been feeling better, but sometimes I still have to sit down for a spell.

Today she meandered over to the kitchen, played with some of the plasticware and returned to where I was sitting, pointed to her diaper and said, "Boo!"

I thought Nah, she couldn't be telling me...

So I changed her diaper, and sure enough she had "Boo."

I told my mom what happened. She replied, "That means it's time to start thinking about potty training."

What?! Oh "Boo."

Yogurt

I admit it. I let Bear feed herself most of the time. I realize that it usually means there will be a horrible mess to clean up, but I figure that she's going to have to learn sometime. Although I guess it might have gotten a little out of hand today.



I gave her a bowl of yogurt, a spoon, and a couple of graham crackers. This is what resulted. I'm guessing the yogurt exploded.

Turmoil...

I had to turn off the television. Every news channel has this story plastered all over. It's weird because the other day when Matt and I were watching The @pprentice I was commenting on how Asians were starting to appear more mainstream on television. I guess that has to include the bad news, too.

So I turned off the television because I couldn't watch anymore. And I heard yelling outside our door and our window. Van man has been asked to leave quite a few times. Our building manager has come to talk to him. His ex has come over and yelled at him a few times (of which he responded with a few expletives). His sister came over and yelled at him (of which he responded with a few expletives). A guy friend of his ex has come and had discussions with him. Seriously, I'm not eavesdropping...they're just that loud. I try to ignore it, but when they're yelling right outside your doors and windows, it's hard to tune out. At present, he is yelling at someone...I don't know who.

So I turned the television back on. Maybe I'll find some old Cosby show reruns.

Tidbits...

I realize that I haven't been posting as much as I would like to. For those of you faithful readers out there, I'm sure that you're bored seeing the same thing on our site day after day. I just don't like writing any old thing...I strive to have purpose and thoughtfulness in my writings. Unfortunately, today is not one of those days. Here are some tidbits...

CRAFTSY

Lately I've been finding myself being "craftsy." In some ways it's a release for me. After running after a toddler all day, I find I have this need to create...so lately, I've been knitting, sewing, papercrafting, cooking, etc. I probably would be playing my guitar as well if it wouldn't wake up Baby Bear. I know it's not that out of character for me (for those of you who do know me), but seriously I actually recovered a chair. I crocheted a small hammock so I could hang up all of Bear's stuffed toys. I knit a dress for Baby Bear, and I'm considering creating a wall hanging for Bear's room. Perhaps I've finally gone insane.

NOT SO BABY BEAR

Baby Bear is no longer a "Baby." I'll probably have to start referring to her as "Bear Cub" or just plain "Bear." She's toddling around, talking up a storm (of which we understand a quarter of it), and asserting her independence here and there. I catch Matt every so often looking at Bear and saying, "She's not a baby anymore," with a sad look in his eye. *Sigh*

TODDLER TRAUMA

Last week Bear had a traumatic experience. We were in a parking lot when Bear lost her grip on Sonia. Sonia fell flat on her back into a mud puddle. Bear just looked at her muddy Sonia and started crying. Matt took the doll inside to wash her off, but as she was still dirty, we couldn't return Sonia to Bear. So the whole car ride home she cried, intermittently shouting out, "Doh-Dya!, Doh-Dya!" Poor kid. So needless to say we did some laundry that afternoon, and by bedtime Sonia was back into Bear's waiting little arms...

Neighbors...

I have these faint memories of the couple who lived next door to us as I was growing up. They were nice, helpful, and hospitable. I remember their little fluffy dog named Muffin. I also remember their garden, of which my sister and I would water when they were away.

Ah, how I miss them...

We've had interesting neighbors come and go from our complex. There were the twenty-something musician types who changed their apartment number from "6" to three 6s. There was the guy above us who was an in-home tattoo artist who had visitors at all hours of the night, plus two large dogs. We have the family across the way who barbecues and invite extended family to eat with them on cardtables in the driveway (wouldn't be a problem if the smoke wasn't flooding into our apartment). But I think our most recent addition is by far the oddest.

Currently I'm having an allergic reaction to incense. This neighbor apparently received a large package of incense, and although it's put away, our whole complex smells like sandalwood. Yuck. Our livingroom smells like aromatherapy gone wrong. Even with our windows and doors closed, the aroma has wafted it's way into our home seeping into everything we own.

This same neighbor is also living in his van in the garage. We suspect that "he's in the doghouse." I haven't seen hide nor hair of his pregnant girlfriend or 3 year old son in the past few days.

A couple of nights ago, there were these strange noises coming from the direction of his van. It sounded like a loud radio being turned on every once in while. We found out that he's putting together a studio in his van (although I'm not sure what that means). He has a cable line running into the van from upstairs as well as a power cable running out of the van.

Our other neighbors have called the police on him twice. We only know this because the "van man" asked Matt if he was the one to call the police.

Every time we leave our apartment he's out there, hanging by his van, eating his meals by the dumpster, pacing up and down our driveway, yelling at the handyman who is fixing the 2 empty apartments...

At this rate, there will be 3 empty apartments.

Snow Day

This past weekend we took a little family outing to the snow. I was so excited to take Baby Bear to play in the snow...It wasn't too cold outside, so we made sure to put on some mittens and a jacket. When we placed her down to walk in the snow, she promptly started crying. Then she tried to take a step, but ended up falling. When she had pulled herself up again, her mittens were covered with snow. When she cries she tends to rub her face...so poor kid got another surprise when she felt that cold snow against her face. Needless to say, she wasn't too happy with the snow.

So we let her carry Sonja...and she seemed a little bit happier. She wouldn't walk around though, she just stood in one spot.



Perhaps she'll have more fun next season.

Dolly...er Baby Bear

Matt claims that Baby Bear is my clone. I keep reminding him that I am physically unable to just spawn another human being on my own. He likes to joke that the genes from my side of the family are just too dominating. What do you think?





Uh, if you can't tell, I'm the baby on the top and Baby Bear is the cutie on the bottom.

Prunes

"Baby Bear, it's time to come out of the bathtub."

"Moe." (translation: no)

"You've been in there for twenty minutes now. It's time to come out."

"Duhk!"

"Yes, you have a duck. You can take it with you, but it's time to come out of the bath."

"Moe."

"All right, but I bet your feet are prunes now."

Unburdening

It's amazing how much stuff you can acquire in 30 years. These days I've been going through a "cleansing" process, I guess you can say. After years of being a packrat, I suddenly decided that it was time to throw everything away. I'm not sure what prompted it, but one day I noticed that we just had too much stuff. I felt like the masses of acquired goods were suffocating me.

I've always been a believer in simplifying to live a well-ordered lifestyle, but you wouldn't know it if you looked at our apartment. Perhaps sentimentality had a play in the increasing clutter - "I can't throw it away because so-and-so gave it to me." The future unknowns also had it's hand - "I might use this someday so I better not get rid of it." Or perhaps it was just flat out materialism. Who knows?

So little by little I'm throwing away, donating and questioning the use of objects in our home, and in a way it's helping to unburden my soul. The more objects I toss, the lighter I feel. It's wonderful.

Although, looking around our place I see it still looks horrible, but hey, at least I feel better about it.

Nya-Nya

Meet Sonja. She's less than a foot tall, blond haired, blue eyed, loves to wear flowers in her hair, and always has a smile on her face. Her cheery disposition never wanes even though she looks weathered and worn. She has braved trips through the washer and dryer several times in her short lifetime. She is also well traveled as the constant companion to a one-year old.

It's funny how Baby Bear interacts with her. Baby Bear's actions tell me how much she loves Sonja. For example, I catch Baby Bear often feeding her Cheerios and water. She holds the food/cup to her mouth saying, "nyum nyum nyum."

Sonja's place of honor is always beside Baby Bear whether in the car seat, stroller or highchair. Bear wouldn't have it any other way. Traveling without Sonja is preposterous.

Baby Bear isn't walking yet, but it's still important for her to take Sonja along despite lack of a free hand to carry her. She grabs Sonja with her teeth like a mother lion carries her cub and crawls to her next location.

Sometimes Baby Bear will wail loudly after naps. When I enter her room she has tears running down her face and points to the space between the crib and the wall crying out, "ma ma, nya nya!" I must then save Sonja from the dark spaces where she has fallen.

Sonja is the last thing she sees before falling asleep and the first thing she grabs for when she wakes up. Baby Bear cares for Sonja with tenderness and affection that makes me smile whenever I see it.

Even a one-year old needs a best friend.

inglês por favor

I was 12 when we got cable television in our house. It was the same week when my mom, my sis, and I all had chicken pox. So I guess you can say that thanks to the chicken pox, my mom broke down and got us cable.

One day our cable went on the blitz. We couldn't figure out what went wrong and neither could the customer service rep on the phone. We had snow on all of our channels except for 2-3 of them. This lasted for a few days until a serviceman could arrive to fix the problem. They believed it was some sort of wiring problem.

Uh, no. It turns out that my brother (1.5 years old at the time) managed to password protect and block most of the channels. All the serviceman had to do was reset the password and all was good again.

We still don't know how he did it. We didn't even know our cable box had that kind of capability.

Yesterday, I opened my Netfl1x movie, popped The Lakehouse into my DVD player and realized that I couldn't understand a thing. I changed the subtitle from "espanhol" to "frances" and then to "ingles" and thought, "Hmmm...that can't be right?" Then I started hitting random buttons and I got, "operação proibida atualmente pelo disco."

Baby Bear somehow changed the language of our DVD player to Portuguese. Matt and I are still scratching our heads because once we found the DVD instruction manual, it was a 10-step process to change everything back to English.

Kids are amazing.

The Real Baby Bear

This is the real Baby Bear:



Our Bear is quite the expressive one. She's not even really that sad...she just happened to not get what she wanted.

Typical toddler behavior has appeared. Beware.

Celebrations!

Our Baby Bear truly is a lucky one.

At 100 days old she got to celebrate her baekil Her Granny came over and brought her some white Korean rice cakes to toast the occasion.

At the age of 3 months old she had a Red Egg and Ginger Party thrown just for her. Baby Bear got to celebrate life and she even received her Chinese name.

Now at 1 year, she gets yet another celebration. Lucky girl!



She loves fish, so just for her, Auntie made her these cellophane fish which hung from balloons all around the room. Granny made sure there were lots of balloons to create an ocean just for Baby Bear.



She got all dressed up in her hanbok and participated in her dohl jabi. (Not sure what that is? You can read about it here) Baby Bear picked up a paintbrush, waved it around, then handed it to mom. Afterwards she played with the rice a little bit.



There was cake. Oh boy, was there cake. Just for Baby Bear, Nemo and Dory were affixed on a beautiful blue cake.



Here's to the next celebration!

The Holidays (By Baby Bear)

A couple of weeks ago my mommy and daddy threw all my belongings in the car, strapped me into my carseat where I was trapped for 7 hours! They only let me out when I needed to eat or have my diaper changed.

After our car trip, I met these nice people who said their names were "grandma" and "grandpa." They fed me good food. All I had to do was say "more" and I got whatever I wanted.

Christmas? What is Christmas? Everyone kept saying that it was my first Christmas, but I still have no idea what that is. I guess that's okay. I got lots of presents, and mommy and daddy even told me it was okay to rip the paper on the presents. The paper was fun! And the ribbons! Wow! I think there was something inside, but I didn't really know what to do with it.



See, here I am confused. My Uncle gave me something that everyone said was really neat, but sheesh, it's just a box.

I loved all the attention! I didn't have to crawl anywhere...All I had to do was pretend to cry and hold out my arms and I got a free ride. Other times I would just point and say "Bah" and people would give me food, drinks, or toys. It was fabulous!

My favorite part of the week was when mommy and daddy took me to the park. It was cold outside, but I got to see ducks! If you know me, you know that I love ducks! Daddy kept saying something about geese, but whatever...they're ducks. I also got to see a really small dog. Mommy said something about a squirrel, but whatever...My parents are so silly.



Alas, the week came to an end and mommy and daddy shoved me back in the carseat again. But at least my pink pony got to ride shotgun! Daddy was happy to have company in the front seat, because mommy sat in the back with me. I made sure that she wasn't bored by telling her to feed me and entertain me the whole way. Aren't I nice?

I had fun, but it was good to come home and sleep in my own bed.

A Week of Firsts...

For the week between Christmas and New Years Eve, we were visiting my in-laws. I call it a week of firsts...Here we go!

1) Baby Bear's 1st Christmas - She just missed last Christmas by 12 hours.
2) My 1st whole week at the in-laws - I got to see more of why padawanlee is the way he is...(I mean all good things, of course)
3) Baby Bear's 1st Birthday - Yay!
4) Baby Bear's 1st bite of cake - Tiramisu cake - yum!
5) Baby Bear's 1st bump on the noggin - she fell off her new toy car, cried, but was soon appeased with another toy
6) My 1st ride in a Porsche - Padawanlee was driving, I was closing my eyes and holding on tight.
7) Baby Bear's 1st Stuffed Animal that is larger than she is - Er, it's a 4 foot stuffed pink pony. Try to imagine driving 7 hours in the car with that thing in the front passenger seat (Carpool lane anyone?).
8) Baby Bear's 1st (and hopefully last) Stomach Bug - Yuck! She promptly passed it on to her dad, her grandma & grandpa (and upon returning home - her auntie and her granny).

Needless to say it was a busy week. Pictures to come soon...

Oh, 2006...where did you go?

Did anyone else feel like 2006 went by in a blur? I sure do.

I am stunned at how quickly this past year flew for me. It behooves me that I can't even remember how I rang in 2006. Seriously, I can't remember what we did to celebrate New Years a year ago. All I know is that we had a less-than-a-week old baby at the time.

But a year has now gone by and we have a one-year old baby bear.

We've gone from this:



To this:



Wow. What a trip.

Can You Say Daddy?

For those of you Simps*ns fans out there, here's a couple of quotes:

Bart: Homer!
Homer: No, Bart. Homer is what grownups call me. Call me Daddy.
Bart: Homer.
Homer: Daddy.
Bart: Homer.
Homer: Daddy.
Bart: Da…da…Domer.
Homer: Why, you little…?!

Homer: Can you say Daddy?
Lisa: Homer.

Seriously though, trying to get Baby Bear to say "daddy" has been something straight out of the Simps*ns. It goes something like this...

Matt: Say Daddy!
Bear: Maaaaat!
Matt: No, Daddy! Da-yee!
Bear: (says with a smile) Maaaaatt!
Matt: Da-da?
Bear: Matt!
Matt: Argh! (Or perhaps he should say "Doh!")

A Little Rain...

Sometimes in life, a little rain must fall.

For a while there, I thought it was raining. At least I could hear the rain falling outside...

Or at least I thought I heard rain falling.

Then I realized that it was a bright, sunny day... (huh?)

...and the rain was falling in our bathroom.

Yup, our bathroom ceiling is leaking again.

Check out our ceiling.



Not looking so good, eh?

Update: Well, it's less than an hour since I last posted...and our ceiling caved in about 5 minutes ago. Ergh.

Here's the damage:



At least you can't see into the 2nd floor apartment...

Ms. P

There is a woman who lives in the UK named Ms. P. Every once in a while, I receive an email from her updating us about her life and circumstances. She sends pictures and jokes and writes about her vacations and friends. She's been letting me know how she's doing by email for about 5-6 years now.

The problem is: I don't know who this woman is.

At first, I thought it was just a spam email, but the emails kept coming. I was so confused. I even sat there and thought through any possible way I could have met this woman, and how she came to have my email address on her friends list.

I just don't know.

So I wrote to her last year and asked her to remove me from her list and mentioned that perhaps she has my email address mixed up with someone else's email. I was very nice in my email.

Today I received an email from her continuing to tell me about how she's doing and what her plans are for the holidays.

*Sigh*

Trouble? Me?

This picture is so fitting of our Baby Bear these days: A mischievous smile on her face and horns growing from her head. She's still cute and lovable, but man, is she starting to become a little bundle of trouble. Of course, no one ever sees it, so we can't prove a thing. And that's probably why she's smiling...

Baby Bear and the Giant Nectarine (aka Stop the Carnage) - by Padawanlee

WARNING: Scenes may not be suitable for young eyes or produce.

This story takes place 1 month ago at a dining table far far away...
Once upon a time there was a lonely nectarine named Nenny.
Nenny was happily playing and rolling around with his other fellow Nectarines...
...when suddenly he rolled away and found himself all alone on the dining room table.

As Nenny was rolling across the table to find his friends, he suddenly heard a "oooo..." sound approaching behind him.

Suddenly a great big hand out of nowhere was drawing closer to Nenny.

Just as sudden as the first hand, another one drew near until both hands were around poor Nenny.
Nenny was in the clutches of a Baby Bear.
The massive hands brought Nenny closer to what one person would call a black hole or bottomless pit with 7 menacing pearly whites about to close in on our poor nectarine.
A "Chomp" was suddenly heard with a "smack, smack" sound following. What could be happening to poor Nenny?
One "squishy "chomp" was followed by another and another...
and another... Oh please stop the carnage, somebody!
Until there was almost nothing left of poor Nenny.
Baby Bear's encounter was by happenstance and it was just unfortunate that Baby Bear's curiosity at first innocent turned to a messy and yet delicious treat.
Alternate story line: Momma and Papa Bear were feasting on other goods when they gave the poor nectarine to Baby Bear to play with to pass the time for a few more minutes since she already finished her feast. To their surprise Baby Bear no longer was playing with the round object, but rather decided to try to eat it. Once she broke the skin of the fruit, curiosity turned into an irresistable dessert for Baby Bear (she really likes fruit). And the rest is history (or in the trash).

Imperfections

I think the scariest thing about being a parent is having another person watch your every move, listen to your every word, and try to imitate every action. I mean, yes, there are the good things that children pick up on, but every once in a while I find that my child is a mirror to my imperfections.

These days, Baby Bear is a sponge. Not so much verbally, but she tries to mimic as best as possible many of the things we do. She picks up clothes and tries to put it on, picks up the remote control and pushes the buttons, and sometimes I catch her trying to feed her doll Cheerios and water.

Sometimes I hear in her tone how she vocalizes frustration or anger...and it reminds me of how I deal with my own frustration and anger. I cringe inside when I hear it, because I'm not proud of the way I exude these emotions. I can have a short temper...and I've always disliked that about myself. It's one of those things that I wished I could have changed more.

I'm afraid of what darker things I might learn about myself as I come face to face with it in my daughter...let's hope she picks up on Matt's patience and temperament.

Our little piggy...

Bad Hair Day...

Matt and I have been trying to take Baby Bear to have pictures taken. Now that she's almost 10 months old, we thought that it was about time to do some of those typical parental duties like taking portrait shots at Sears. That way, the grandparents would be appeased for a while (especially since it's been 2 years and we still haven't gotten our wedding album put together....shhh!).

So we've been trying to take her for a few weeks now, but something always comes up. She catches a cold and we figure dripping snot would not be something we want captured for years to come. So we wait. She wakes up with a scratch on her face that left a red mark from her forehead to her cheek. So we wait again.

So finally after days of waiting, I was going to take her today. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a little bit longer. She seems to have developed the most stubborn cowlick I have ever seen. I tried water, combing, rubbing...everything short of hair products, and it still pops back up. Oh well, pictures will just have to wait...again.

Words...

"Muh muh muh!"
"What do you want, Baby Bear?"
"Muh muh muh!"
"Mama? Mum mum? A cow says moo?"
"Muh muh muh!"
"Milk?"
"Muh muh muh!" (Motions wildly with hands).
"More? Oh, you want more cereal? Okay!"

I am so relieved that Baby Bear is starting to actually talk. A little less than 10 months ago, I remember complaining to Matt about how I felt like the worst mom ever because I had no clue what she wanted or needed. It made me feel worse when I read books that said, "You will soon learn to know what your baby needs by the sound of his/her cry." Uh, I never figured that out. I read stories where fathers were amazed at their wife's ability to sense what was wrong just by the sound of the baby's cry. Matt was never amazed at my sensing abilities, he was more amused by my utter confusion. Baby Bear either had the same cry for everything or I just didn't know what to listen for.

These days Baby Bear says "muh(more)" and "ah-puh(up)." She asks for milk (ah-ma) and asks me where daddy is (da-da?). She picks up her rubber ducks (duhhk) and watches dogs (dohd) from her stroller on walks. When she's excited she says "ooh" and "wow(wha--how)" and when she wants us to read her favorite stories she simply says, "buh" (book).

So our conversations consist of one-word remarks, but hey, it's a start.


"Mommy, what is Halloween and why am I wearing piggy ears?"

Phobias

Everyone has a fear of something. I am afraid of heights. I am also afraid of bugs that have hundreds of legs.

We recently discovered that Baby Bear has a phobia. She is afraid of whole avocados. Not sure why, but whenever the avocado came near, she would try with all her might to scoot herself as far as possible. She wouldn't touch the thing, and she started to cry when it got too close.

And I thought my fears were silly.

Perhaps she'll feel better when she watches me gut out the thing and mash it to a pulp.


The offender

Our Super Trooper...

Last weekend was busy...

Seven hours in the car and we found ourselves in my hubby's hometown. We spent some time with Baby Bear's grandparents. We took out some time to also visit her 3 great-grandmas and a grand aunt (all separately). Towards the end of the weekend we managed to see some good friends and then packed ourselves back up for another 7-hour car ride home.

I was pooped.

Surprisingly, Baby Bear went through the whole weekend with a smile on her face. She enjoyed every moment and won over all the relatives with her charm. I felt bad throwing her into her car seat over and over again, but she seemed to take it all in stride.

What a super trooper.

She also picked up some interesting things on our trip...

She loved crawling under my in-laws coffee table. When I tried to pull her out, she would laugh and crawl away as fast as she possibly could. I didn't quite understand the fun of being under the coffee table, until Matt pointed out some drawings of his on the underside of the table from his childhood.

Great-grandma got a kick out of Baby Bear's talent at feet-sucking. Because great-grandma kept laughing, Baby Bear continued to suck her foot on purpose. What a ham!

Apparently, she's become quite the conversationalist. I'm not sure what she was telling my grandma in this picture, but she loved having a captive audience.

She's our super trooper.

Independence

Throughout our lives we slowly gain our independence, until one day we are on our own. As a baby I placed dependence on my mom and dad for nourishment, to pick me up and carry me places, and to change my diapers and keep me clean. As a child I depended on others for help understanding difficult things in life, to care for me when I was sick, to carry my burdens when I got tired. As a teen I depended on my parents for transportation, for funds, and for permission to attend certain events. Even in college, I was still dependent on my parents for at least a place I could call home and return on weekends and holidays. It was a twenty-something year process of slowly gaining my independence.

These days, I see the process already begun in Baby Bear. She won't let me feed her meals with a spoon anymore (She slaps my hand away when I try). I have to just chop up foods and leave it on her tray for her. I leave her a cup and her food. She happily feeds herself and sips her water.

She sits up, crawls around and happily plays on our livingroom floor. Even when she wakes up in the morning, she crawls over to her toys and keeps herself entertained. At naptimes, she takes her doll, sucks on her finger and falls asleep in her crib without rocking, without patting her.

9 months old and she's already exercising her independence.

Today, I brought her into our bed after she woke up. She crawled up to my side, doll in one hand and finger in her mouth, she lay down with her head on my arm. So I hugged her, and there she stayed until she fell asleep.

I'm glad she still needs me. I'm not ready to let her go just yet.

>

Hmmmm...

Do all babies do this? That is, do all babies smile with their mouths open?







Just curious, that's all...

Temper Temper...

I think Baby Bear just threw a temper tantrum.

I was feeding her breakfast (peaches and oatmeal), and in between bites she started to cry out at me and slap her table. I had no clue why she was doing that. Then she started yelling at me, slapping her table and pushing the spoon away from her whenever I came near. I gave up and I put her food down to wipe her face, but she started crying louder and started violently rocking in her chair. I was so confused.

So there I am just watching Baby Bear crying angrily (tears and snot!) in between rocking in her chair and slapping her table.

I just waited it out. What could I do?

When she finally calmed down, she made a noise, motioned towards the Cheerios box and then slapped her table. Apparently, she didn't want peaches and oatmeal. She wanted Cheerios.

Sheesh. She could have just said so.

Friends...

I have some wonderful friends. Some I have known only for a short while, some I have known since before I learned to walk. They are artists, businessmen (and women), doctors, lawyers, teachers, and more. They are mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers. They are funny, serious, thoughtful, and lighthearted. They love their jobs, they hate their jobs, they dream about other jobs. We became friends in elementary school, or perhaps I met them in college. They've seen me change, and they've caused me to change. Some are blood-related, some are so close I call them family anyway.

I have some wonderful friends.

As I watch Baby Bear grow and change, it means so much to me that there are other kids around her age for her to grow up with. Some of them will become her dearest and valued friends.

As they grow, they will learn patience, responsibility, helping each other, cherishing each other, and supporting one another.

Baby Bear will have some wonderful friends.

Lost Art of Conversation

A couple weekends ago, Baby Bear and I went to Hazelnuut's birthday party. I realized while I was there that I have lost the ability to converse with adults. Okay, so I'm not the most outgoing person, and I'm terrible when it comes to small talk. I just felt like I had nothing to talk about with anyone. It's not a bad thing, I just didn't know how to talk to regular adults anymore. All those years of practice, and I lost it in a few short months.

I don't want to be one of those moms who always start conversations with, "My baby did the cutest thing today..." I love my Baby Bear, but I try not to be a gusher. So naturally, I don't bring up Baby Bear as my conversation initiator. Unfortunately, when you're carrying an 8-month old around who loves social events, she initiates the conversation herself.

But then, what else is there to talk about besides Baby Bear these days? Not much. She is so integrated into my life that she basically is my whole day. People don't really ask me how I'm doing these days. It doesn't bother me. I don't have much going on, so even if they ask, my response would be short and boring.

I was listening though...People were talking about their jobs, their marriages, their friends, their schooling, trips that they took or were going to take, moving plans, future plans, etc. I felt I had nothing of value to add to the conversation. So I just listened.

I guess that's just what I do best. So forgive me if I don't have much to say, but I'll definitely be waiting to hear what you have to say.