August 2008 Archives

Checking under a mushroom for a fairy.

We glittered the pinecones from the park for an afternoon craft while Craig spent a few hours (on a Sunday!) at work.

We bought Anna a pair of actual walking shoes yesterday (as opposed to sparkly red shoes) so she was super excited to get out on a hike this morning! Sarah did great in the backpack and it wasn't too humid or sunny out so we all had a nice time.

Hanging out with the cats first thing in the morning (Sarah modeling one of her cloth diapers, isn't it cute?).

Watching the food coloring seep into the frosting.

Conversation with Clementine.

Today was a great day. We like to have music on in the late afternoon and dance around, sing, play instruments, etc. Today we somehow got started singing "Ring around the rosie..." and the girls had so much fun doing it over and over and over. Sarah said, "more mama" which was irrisistible! Then she started "falling down" as soon as we started singing (Anna was singing with me today which really made my day) and it was impossible to get through the rhyme (although we kept trying!).

Tonight we made Fairy Cakes to celebrate Craig's first week at Engineering Lead in his office. Again, Anna & Craig loved them and Sarah and I thought they were so-so. (Super easy to make though and we made lemon frosting instead of just vanilla. If we make them again I will put lemon zest in the cakes for some flavor.)

I let the girls eat popcorn and watch (part of ) Thumbelina tonight after dinner. Sarah acted like this is something she does all the time. They're going to be fairies for Halloween this year (Anna's choice) so we've been doing all things "fairy" lately.

The girls and I have been having a great time at home playing each morning and then going to the pool in the afternoons. We're going to be sad when colder weather comes! I might look into taking Sarah over to the Jangsangpo pool for something to do this fall and winter although getting her to wear a swimming cap might be too much to ask of her...

We made another recipe from Anna's Fairies Cookbook this afternoon. These were super easy to make and Anna & Craig loved them (Sarah & I thought they were just OK).

Sorry if you're sick of these, I think kittens sleeping together just don't stop being cute.

Anna is at the right climbing up the slide and Sarah is on the left in a blue dress.

We went out to the ferry terminal beef restaurant (no, that's not the actual name of the place; I need to write it down sometime when we go again because I can never remember it by the time we get home) for dinner tonight and then the kids played at the park at the ferry terminal. Both girls tried and liked the beef at the restaurant tonight which means maybe I won't have to bring an extra back-up meal for them any more...

Anna has decided to call Dr. Lee "Clementine" instead of Dr. Lee so we're going with that. Of course her full name is Dr. Clementine Lee so nothing has actually changed.

I made the cupcakes for Jaynie's party (vanilla with cream cheese frosting and vanilla with a chocolate dip.

We went to Jaynie's birthday party at the beach again this year. The weather was so much better than last year (last year it was so hot we had to strip Sarah down to just her diaper to keep her cool) but the food and company were as great as last year.

I feel like my notes on Sarah's signing/speaking are totally scattered so I went through old posts and notes to myself and created an up-to-date list of signs, spoken words, and animal noises that Sarah is doing (and I am sure I'm forgetting some but I will try to stay on top of the list from here on out):

Spoken:
Anna, dada, mama, clock, light, hotdog, dog, that, owl, pole (it's in a book!), uh-oh, up, no, knock-knock (also in a book), oops, hi, hello, lap

Signed:
more, milk, brush teeth, drink, daddy, all-done, down, elephant, light, eat, bed, hot, bird, duck, fish, bunny, banana, bath, train, thank you, potty, help, car, strong, dog, fan, butterfly, music, doll, swimming, bear, monkey, waves goodbye (although her timing is way off!)

Animal noises:
meow, hoo (owl), neigh, woof

I also wanted to note that Sarah is walking up the stairs every day but I still put her in the sling to come down. She keeps up with Anna's pace. I am holding both hands for balance but her legs are doing the work. We are working on her walking more instead of me carrying her but she only gets so many chances before she gets tossed back in the sling (she doesn't want to hold hands or follow my instruction for very long).

Sarah cannot stop herself from dancing if there is music on. We are listening to music a lot at home now because when we're not, she points to the TV and signs "music." She dances at Home Plus (or where ever we are out) and to any style of music. It is so adorable!

One other big thing here is that we are trying cloth diapers again. I think the reason cloth didn't work with Anna in Doha was I was using the wrong detergent (Tide Free). I have no idea what I'm using here (I chose a random Korean brand) but it seems to be working so far! We are having much better success this time around and I am pleased. A box of diapers costs $11-12 dollars more here and I'm saving myself the hassle (pretty big!) of bringing the box down 74 stairs every two weeks and then also of bringing the dirty diapers back up those 74 stairs.

Although I can't say I'm 100% attached to the kittens yet, I can see Anna forming a bond with Dr. Clementine Lee already.

Anna & I made blueberry popsicles for dessert tonight and they were a hit!

Making "Mystical Moon Pies" from her Fairies cookbook.

Sarah enjoying the finished product.

These were obnoxious to make partly because of the marshmallow creme and partly because I was approached not once but twice by Jehovah's Witnesses while we were out gathering ingredients. I swear I have been approached more here than I ever have in the US!

Waiting for Sarah to wake up from her nap so we can go bike riding!

I've been taking the girls around to every place I can think of to get Anna a new bike. They are all either too big or too expensive or have music or some other silly extra that I just can't agree to. Finally we found one at Lotte Mart that was on sale, was pink, and wasn't too big. Sarah now gets to ride on the Radio Flyer bike we gave Anna for her second birthday. Both girls seemed excited about their bikes but it's a little too hot (especially when some members of our party refuse to wear short sleeves and prefer knee-high socks!) and I think Craig or I need to spend some individual time with Anna on hers to get her more comfortable with it (it is a big step up and only has hand-brakes which I think might be awkward for her).

We've been playing a lot of dress-up lately.

We're having fun getting back into our routines now that we're over jet lag and settled back into our apartment. The girls seem to be playing together better (read: Sarah is learning how to play and not only create a path of destruction everywhere she goes).

I wasn't totally happy with the dots before (I think the colors were too dark) so I was happy to find some more dots to add to the wall in the US (the old dots won't come off the wallpaper without tearing it so they have to stay!). It's a little crazy but I like how it looks now more than before. I also got each of the girls an animal bag for their stuffed animals. I'm not sure how much I like them yet but I do like them more than the baskets they were in.

This is the print Craig picked out for Anna's room.

Sarah is super into shape sorting, solving puzzles, and reading now that we are home. I don't know what prompted this behavior but I love it!

Dr. Lee/Clementine sometimes joins the kids in activities like reading or playing cars, etc. I really like that she isn't scared of them (especially Sarah). Chopstick is still a little reserved but not as much as when we first brought him in. ... Note there is a little flip a the end of Sarah's hair in the back. This is new and I wonder if it will stay/is a sign of things to come. So far her hair has been absolutely straight.

Neko. (Photo by Craig.)

I will try to get more kid-shots this week, I promise.

Chopstick on the left, Dr. Lee on the right.

Dr. Lee checking out Sarah's book (don't you love Craig's bunny ears?).

This was supposed to be a video but I messed up the transfer from my new camera and didn't check it before I deleted the files off of the camera... will do better next time!

I've been unpacking, sorting, and throwing out stuff today. Lucky for us, today was a holiday so we had Craig at home with us. We went to Home Plus for a few groceries (I noticed a lot of the foreigner-items (like Goldfish crackers, imported beef, French bread, etc.) were either not in stock or not there any more. I really hope it's a good stockist who knows the foreigners leave for the summer and not that they're never getting this stuff in again! We went to the pool this afternoon to get some sunlight and activity in. It's so nice that Anna isn't afraid of the water and is having fun jumping in, etc. I am just too short to do much with Sarah though which is too bad. We'll see if the three of us girls venture out on our own there next week or not.

Our trip back to Korea was both better and worse than the trip to the US. Better because both girls slept more (and I got to get some very light sleeping in as well) but worse because Sarah cried a lot on the first two flights and a bit on the third. Worse because I had to run with the girls and our suitcases in Minneapolis from the farthest gate possible to get our Tokyo flight as the only announcement going overhead was "Final boarding call for Tokyo. All passengers must be on board."

Anna did better on the plane bathroom this time (the trick is to not flush the toilet until she leaves the bathroom (that's a note to all of my readers out there with little kids feeling anxious about the super-loud toilet flush in there)).

A Korean agent met me at the gateway and helped me get all the way to Craig (carting my luggage for me, helping me through customs, waiting at the carousel, etc.) People got more polite the closer we got to Korea (even while on the Tokyo flight!).

The girls were super excited to see Craig and slept most of the way home (Anna slept the whole way). It was raining so that slowed us down a little but I think we were all at the point where nothing mattered any more!

We are glad we're home! Hopefully it won't take too long to readjust to Korean time and get back to our routines.

We took the kids to Jumpin' again this afternoon. They all had a great time again. Sarah went down the slides on her own which she loved. The girls & I stuck with Jake & Sam this time (last time my kids played in the toddler area more) and did all of the different rooms. Anna's favorite rooms were "Tinkerbell" and the "Popsicle Purse" (AKA an Obstacle Course but she is insistent that it is a Popsicle Purse and that anyone who says otherwise is wrong).

This morning I camped outside Best Buy to finally get the Wii Fit! I was the only one there early for it, but I'm just glad I got it.

Shortly after I came home, it was time to take Anna to her first dentist appointment. She did a great job. I really expected her to freak out but the hygenist was perfect for her and the dentist was great, too. Anna's teeth are "happy" teeth.

This evening we met Anita down at Corrine & Scott's for one last dinner with them before we go to Korea. Anna & Raisa ran off to play right away which was so nice to see. We had a really good time and I'm glad we were able to get together one more time! Hopefully we'll be able to do video chat with these guys over the next year...

Poor little Sarah has a hot head now (yesterday ad today). I think it must be a reaction to the MMR shot she got last week. Poor kid with that and getting a bunch of teeth! Although the weather was nice I thought it would be better to do something where Sarah didn't have to run around so we went to Build-A-Bear. I wish I had just gotten the animals and skipped the clothes & accessories since the girls didn't know any better. Oh well, they both love their animals (Anna chose a purple bear and Sarah chose a brown bunny).

I found a fun Hannah-Montana wig at the store today and we all had fun playing around with it this afternoon.

This evening we went to the Chautauqua to see some fancy ladies & gentlemen dancing. Anna had her camera with her, I'll have to check to see if she got any good pictures and post them here.

The girls loved helping Grandma vacuum with her light-weight stick vacuum today.

Sarah is getting four new teeth right now. I guess I'd be a little crabbier, too!

I have been taking rotten notes while we are on vacation but I think I can remember a few things my dear little Sarah has been up to lately.

She has been nodding and shaking her head for a while now but I can ask a relatively elaborate yes/no question and get a definitive response from her (if she cares). She follows multi-step instructions well (again, if she wants!). Sarah is also holding my hand better (we walked down to my parents' mailbox today and held hands the whole way and she was very good about listening to me when I told her to stay on the sidewalk or leave the rocks in the yards.

Sarah shreiks "nooooooo!" when she doesn't get her way or if she is fighting over a toy with Anna (because, of course, they both always want what the other has and this is happening with greater frequency). Anna has taken to calling Sarah "Little Honey" which is really cute.

Sarah gets super excited any time an airplane flies overhead (this happens a lot at Grandma & Grandpa's house!) and she has great interest in owls, trains, motorcycles, and pretty much any animal. She also enjoys doing video chat with Craig, Dr. Lee, & Chopstick (and Neko, the cat we're pet sitting).

She is having a great time playing with all of her "big kid" cousins and is doing her best to keep up with them!

New signed words: book, horse
New spoken words: hotdog, dog, hello, hi, uh-oh ... and I think there is more but she is also starting to make sounds that sound like exact repeats of words

This morning we made "Pixie Pancakes" out of Anna's new Fairies Cookbook. Anna's goal today at the pool was to get into the little fenced off area with the other kids in her class. She did it and I think today was her most fun day so far. I'm really glad we went to the pool every day at Anita & Brian's and that we signed her up for lessons here. Hopefully we can use our apartment pool enough to keep her comfortable and confident so we don't have to start all over again.

Sarah is acting a little grumpy and biting more. I see a new little tooth poking up next to her bottom front teeth.

The pictures above show what we did this afternoon... too bad there were so many mosquitoes (even with repellent) that we didn't stay out long.

I've been so happy to see that Anna isn't terrified of Grandpa and Papa this summer and that both have had a chance to spend a little time with her getting to know each other.

I'm not sure why I'm not taking more pictures but today we went to the local airport for breakfast and then this afternoon we hosed the kids off with water in the backyard (it has been pretty hot here!)

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Mat & Sam and Anna & I went on short (tethered) hot air balloon rides at the county fair this morning. We also got to check out some cows, sheep, goats, chickens, pigs and tractors.

The girls skipped their swimming lessons this morning to get their annual exam in the USA (and a couple of vaccinations).

Sarah's stats are:
Weight: 23 pounds 10 ounces (65th percentile)
Height: 30.5 inches (50th percentile)

Anna's stats are:
Weight: 31 pounds (40th percentile)
Height: 38 inches (50th percentile)

This afternoon we went to Jumpin' and then to dinner with Rachel, Mat, Jake, & Sam. Everyone had a blast there and I want to take the girls again before we go to back to Okpo.