Sadie has added a few words to her vocabulary lately (not that many of you probably care, this is more for my own record-keeping.....)
Grandma
Night-night
Baby
Mine (What toddler doesn't learn that pretty early on?)
Hi
And she made a good attempt to say 1-2-3 while I pushed her and Sam on the swings the other day at the park.
Oh yeah - and Ni Hao! Amidst my constant trying to get her to say English words (which is usually met with a smile and a shake of the head no) Joe is teaching her random words in Mandarin (which is different than the Cantonese dialect that was spoken where she's from). She looks right back him and says it. Maybe I should just switch to Chinese!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I want to be a Panther!
Apparently Sadie would like to be a football player.
And with the coat on underneath the jersey (and on top of footie-jammies for a nice touch) she looks like she has enough girth to knock over a few people.
And with the coat on underneath the jersey (and on top of footie-jammies for a nice touch) she looks like she has enough girth to knock over a few people.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Little Miss Bedhead
I used to think my dad had the worst bedhead ever......not so. Sadie has him beat - big time!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Lunar New Year Party Pictures
Here are some random pictures from our playgroup's Lunar New Year Celebration (often called Chinese New Year, but other countries celebrate it as well.)
Sadie with her "Chinese yo-yo." She immediately knew what to do with it, so I am suspecting she has seen one before.... It reminded of me when we bought her a little drum in China and I was very impressed that she figured out how to make it work so quickly (until I saw a picture from her in the orphanage playing with one!) Sometimes I forget there are almost 2 years of experiences in that brain that I know nothing about.
Proof that my 2 children were both seated quietly in the same place at the same time! It probably helped they each had a lollipop in their hands.
The group photo after the lion dance. Sadie is off running around somewhere. Sam is actually sitting.
Sam in the midst of the girls.
Sadie making a little noise with her drum.
The kids getting their red envelopes after the lion parade. Neither of my children are in the picture. I'm carrying Sadie around looking for Sam, who I couldn't believe was missing from the handing out of treats. Then we found him in the lobby looking frantically for the bathroom. Guess this kid is potty trained after all!
Sadie was very interested in Bob - I thought she was going to climb in to try to take a ride.
My attempt to take a Joe and the kids picture. No one was particularly interested in smiling for me.
Sadie with her "Chinese yo-yo." She immediately knew what to do with it, so I am suspecting she has seen one before.... It reminded of me when we bought her a little drum in China and I was very impressed that she figured out how to make it work so quickly (until I saw a picture from her in the orphanage playing with one!) Sometimes I forget there are almost 2 years of experiences in that brain that I know nothing about.
Proof that my 2 children were both seated quietly in the same place at the same time! It probably helped they each had a lollipop in their hands.
The group photo after the lion dance. Sadie is off running around somewhere. Sam is actually sitting.
Sam in the midst of the girls.
Sadie making a little noise with her drum.
The kids getting their red envelopes after the lion parade. Neither of my children are in the picture. I'm carrying Sadie around looking for Sam, who I couldn't believe was missing from the handing out of treats. Then we found him in the lobby looking frantically for the bathroom. Guess this kid is potty trained after all!
Sadie was very interested in Bob - I thought she was going to climb in to try to take a ride.
My attempt to take a Joe and the kids picture. No one was particularly interested in smiling for me.
Saehae bok mani batuseyo
Sam and I got to be the official Korean greeters for our Lunar New Year celebration. (Hopefully we didn't mispronounce it too badly.)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Hard to get anything by this kid
Since we have been speaking about Bob, I do have to thank my brother Matt and his friend Azure for locating additional Bobs for me online. I ordered two a couple weeks ago and was very happy when they arrived in the mail. (This will become important later in the story.)
Ever since Sam became so attached to Bob, I have been on the lookout in every baby store and children's department I have been in for a "backup Bob" in case, heaven forbid, the real Bob should ever go missing-in-action. I did find one once, but lost it within a couple weeks somewhere between my parents' house in Minnesota and Joe's parents' house in Cedar Falls, and hadn't been able to find one again. (And Sam has rubbed the tag so much that I couldn't tell what brand it was anymore.) We thankfully have only had one night that we had to put Sam to bed without Bob (which was not particularily pretty) but I found him again that night so Sam was able to wake up with him in his arms.
And then tonight......We arrived home past bedtime from our local playgroup's Lunar New Year celebration (which was AWESOME, but I will post pictures from that later). My hope was that both kids would be asleep when we got here and all we'd have to do was cart them up to bed, but they both somehow defied their exhaustion and were quite wide awake when we pulled into the garage. Sam had asked for Bob on the way home, but since I am trying to not let him leave the house, he was out of luck.
We got Sadie in bed, Sam read his bedtime books, and then we were on our nightly Bob hunt. We knew he had made it out of bed this morning, since Sam tried to share his caramel roll with him at breakfast. The next logical place to look was the basement, since Joe and the kids had spent the morning down there playing trains. No luck. Then it was back to our bedroom in case he had made it back in our bed while Sam was watching TV up there. No luck there either. I then had a slight moment of panic because the kids and I had run errands this morning and I feared Sam may have taken him along without my knowledge, but then I remembered he had his trucks along for that trip so we were most likely safe. We checked all the bathrooms and I sent Sam to look under his bed to no avail.
At that point, all I wanted was to get the kid in bed asleep. We probably could have looked a bit harder, but I was just not up to it. Plus - I knew I now had spare Bobs! Why not put them to some use? I signaled to Joe to get a spare while I put Sam in bed and turned out the lights. (The real Bob has some blue paint from a bathroom-painting mishap and I was afraid if Sam got a close enough look at the replacement Bob we would be busted.)
So - Sam is in bed, lights out, and Joe delivers the replacement Bob. I make a big deal of how Daddy found Bob for him. Sam snuggles up to the new Bob.
"Where's Bob?"
"What? Right there. Daddy just found him." What in the world is wrong!?
"This isn't Bob. This is Dot." (That's Sadie's blanky - which I do already have 2 of - that is apparently much softer than Bob.)
"What are you talking about honey?" I start to panic. I can't decide if he would easily accept the fact that this is actually a new Bob or if he would completely freak out and want the old one back.
"This isn't Bob. It's Dot. It's so soft." Darn - didn't think to drag the spares around with me to rough them up a little bit.
"No, it's not Dot. See?" I have Joe turn the lights on and off quickly so he can see it is a Bob, but not long enough to really examine it. Please...buy it.....please.....
"How'd he get so soft?" Very good question, my boy.
"Ummm....he must have taken a bath while we were gone."
"Oh." Then he holds Bob up to his face and tells him "Bob....I missed you SO much. I wish you would have been with me."
Now I start to feel a bit guilty. What am I going to do in the morning when he gets a good look at this thing and knows it is a replacement? He keeps rubbing Bob and feeling the tag between his fingers. I know he knows something is different, but I just lay there in silence praying he will just fall asleep and not ask me any more questions. He does.
Then I go on a Bob hunt of my own. I have to find the real thing and switch it before morning. I recheck the basement, check the van, and start to look around for a flashlight so I can sneak back into his room and look under his bed myself. In my quest for a flashlight (I am looking for it amidst the toys in the family room since Sadie seems to think that is where it belongs) I stumble upon Bob stuffed into a bucket sitting on the entertainment center. Jackpot!
So now all I have to worry about is how I am going to explain Bob's transformation back to his not-so-soft-anymore condition. Maybe he won't remember....
Ever since Sam became so attached to Bob, I have been on the lookout in every baby store and children's department I have been in for a "backup Bob" in case, heaven forbid, the real Bob should ever go missing-in-action. I did find one once, but lost it within a couple weeks somewhere between my parents' house in Minnesota and Joe's parents' house in Cedar Falls, and hadn't been able to find one again. (And Sam has rubbed the tag so much that I couldn't tell what brand it was anymore.) We thankfully have only had one night that we had to put Sam to bed without Bob (which was not particularily pretty) but I found him again that night so Sam was able to wake up with him in his arms.
And then tonight......We arrived home past bedtime from our local playgroup's Lunar New Year celebration (which was AWESOME, but I will post pictures from that later). My hope was that both kids would be asleep when we got here and all we'd have to do was cart them up to bed, but they both somehow defied their exhaustion and were quite wide awake when we pulled into the garage. Sam had asked for Bob on the way home, but since I am trying to not let him leave the house, he was out of luck.
We got Sadie in bed, Sam read his bedtime books, and then we were on our nightly Bob hunt. We knew he had made it out of bed this morning, since Sam tried to share his caramel roll with him at breakfast. The next logical place to look was the basement, since Joe and the kids had spent the morning down there playing trains. No luck. Then it was back to our bedroom in case he had made it back in our bed while Sam was watching TV up there. No luck there either. I then had a slight moment of panic because the kids and I had run errands this morning and I feared Sam may have taken him along without my knowledge, but then I remembered he had his trucks along for that trip so we were most likely safe. We checked all the bathrooms and I sent Sam to look under his bed to no avail.
At that point, all I wanted was to get the kid in bed asleep. We probably could have looked a bit harder, but I was just not up to it. Plus - I knew I now had spare Bobs! Why not put them to some use? I signaled to Joe to get a spare while I put Sam in bed and turned out the lights. (The real Bob has some blue paint from a bathroom-painting mishap and I was afraid if Sam got a close enough look at the replacement Bob we would be busted.)
So - Sam is in bed, lights out, and Joe delivers the replacement Bob. I make a big deal of how Daddy found Bob for him. Sam snuggles up to the new Bob.
"Where's Bob?"
"What? Right there. Daddy just found him." What in the world is wrong!?
"This isn't Bob. This is Dot." (That's Sadie's blanky - which I do already have 2 of - that is apparently much softer than Bob.)
"What are you talking about honey?" I start to panic. I can't decide if he would easily accept the fact that this is actually a new Bob or if he would completely freak out and want the old one back.
"This isn't Bob. It's Dot. It's so soft." Darn - didn't think to drag the spares around with me to rough them up a little bit.
"No, it's not Dot. See?" I have Joe turn the lights on and off quickly so he can see it is a Bob, but not long enough to really examine it. Please...buy it.....please.....
"How'd he get so soft?" Very good question, my boy.
"Ummm....he must have taken a bath while we were gone."
"Oh." Then he holds Bob up to his face and tells him "Bob....I missed you SO much. I wish you would have been with me."
Now I start to feel a bit guilty. What am I going to do in the morning when he gets a good look at this thing and knows it is a replacement? He keeps rubbing Bob and feeling the tag between his fingers. I know he knows something is different, but I just lay there in silence praying he will just fall asleep and not ask me any more questions. He does.
Then I go on a Bob hunt of my own. I have to find the real thing and switch it before morning. I recheck the basement, check the van, and start to look around for a flashlight so I can sneak back into his room and look under his bed myself. In my quest for a flashlight (I am looking for it amidst the toys in the family room since Sadie seems to think that is where it belongs) I stumble upon Bob stuffed into a bucket sitting on the entertainment center. Jackpot!
So now all I have to worry about is how I am going to explain Bob's transformation back to his not-so-soft-anymore condition. Maybe he won't remember....
Friday, February 6, 2009
Going on a Bob hunt
So - many of you know of Sam's attachment to his blanket/lovey/stuffed animal thingee, who is named Bob. (Someday I'll explain why what every other child in the world calls blanky or lovey is named Bob at our house.....) He sleeps with him every night.
Since he feels the need to have him in bed with him every night, you would think that Sam would take good care of him during the day, always aware of his whereabouts: this is not the case. Most nights around here you will find Sam and me going on a "Bob hunt," wandering around the house saying, "Oh, Bob-by, where are you?" If I am not able to produce him within minutes, it usually deteriorates to Sam whining "Mom, Bob is crying for me. Find him." If I am lucky, Bob was forgotten in my bed in the morning and has not been moved since. However, most of the time I am not lucky. Bob has been found under couch cushions, in the basement, in the van, on a swing in the backyard, and inside a garbage truck (the play kind), among other places. He was even left in the church nursery one day, which we thankfully realized well before bedtime so we could make the 30 minute trip up there to retrieve him. (That incident resulted in a ban on Bob ever being brought inside another building.)
The whole Bob hunt scenario reminds me of my childhood. Only it was not a blanket or stuffed animal we were looking for - it was my dad's keys. A very intelligent man, he has a knack for misplacing his keys about 7 times a day (OK.....maybe that's a slight exaggeration....) However, multiple members of the family could often be found retracing his steps with him in another kind of Bob hunt - a hunt for Bob's keys. They have been found in every room of the house, including downstairs on the ping pong table and out in the garage. My mom claims to have found them once on a rock out in the yard, and I distinctly remember them being found in the fridge one day.
Which is why I was nearly rolling on the floor with laughter the other day when I found this:
Yes - that is Bob - in my fridge, snuggled up next to the produce.
Since he feels the need to have him in bed with him every night, you would think that Sam would take good care of him during the day, always aware of his whereabouts: this is not the case. Most nights around here you will find Sam and me going on a "Bob hunt," wandering around the house saying, "Oh, Bob-by, where are you?" If I am not able to produce him within minutes, it usually deteriorates to Sam whining "Mom, Bob is crying for me. Find him." If I am lucky, Bob was forgotten in my bed in the morning and has not been moved since. However, most of the time I am not lucky. Bob has been found under couch cushions, in the basement, in the van, on a swing in the backyard, and inside a garbage truck (the play kind), among other places. He was even left in the church nursery one day, which we thankfully realized well before bedtime so we could make the 30 minute trip up there to retrieve him. (That incident resulted in a ban on Bob ever being brought inside another building.)
The whole Bob hunt scenario reminds me of my childhood. Only it was not a blanket or stuffed animal we were looking for - it was my dad's keys. A very intelligent man, he has a knack for misplacing his keys about 7 times a day (OK.....maybe that's a slight exaggeration....) However, multiple members of the family could often be found retracing his steps with him in another kind of Bob hunt - a hunt for Bob's keys. They have been found in every room of the house, including downstairs on the ping pong table and out in the garage. My mom claims to have found them once on a rock out in the yard, and I distinctly remember them being found in the fridge one day.
Which is why I was nearly rolling on the floor with laughter the other day when I found this:
Yes - that is Bob - in my fridge, snuggled up next to the produce.
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