Updates on Alden

Wow, time does really fly and kids grow and change so fast, I don't even know where to begin. Alden is learning so much so fast, and he LOVES to learn. I remember when he was about 1 year old, he hated reading books, and we were so worried that he wouldn't like books for the rest of his life. Now, we have to set a limit on how many books he gets to read before going to bed, because he will just want to read one after another. Three used to be the biggest number he knew, and he always used to ask for three books, and he still does ask for "Three books!" But sometimes, he will try to bargain up to five books or even ten books. He likes to try to read words with me or just listen while I read aloud and help me turn the pages. His favorite book is still the Cat in the Hat, and he loves other Dr. Seuss books. We borrowed "Hop on Pop" from the library, and he liked reading it very much, we pretty much read it every night the whole time we had that book. We are thinking about buying one for him.

His vocabulary, which includes words he recognizes, understands, says, and reads, has improved tremendously, and he surprises everyday with a new vocabulary. He is starting to put more words together to make complete sentences, and sometimes put 5, 6 words together to make a coherent sentence. Yesterday, my mom went to IKEA and bought him a little igloo tent. He kept crawling in, pretending to sleep saying, "Sleep!" and crawling back out. He wanted my mom to join, so he said, "Alden, 할미 (grandma), all come in to tent." So my mom said, "Grandma's too big," and Al said, "할미 (grandma) too big no. Too big no. Too big no!" Then Joe offered to play with him and said, "How about daddy?" Alden said, "No daddy. Daddy too big." Ha ha. Later, after my mom left the room, Joe asked if Ellie could join him in the tent. Al said, "No. Baby too small."

So most of what he says is in English, I think because English is a lot easier to just lay out words. I am trying to get him to answer me in Korean more, and just love it when he does speak or answer me in Korean. The other day, I was too tired to get up (because Al woke up in the middle of the night, Ellie woke up early in the morning to eat, and I just plain couldn't sleep very well all night), and Alden was trying to get me to get up and play with him like most days... He kept saying, "엄마 (mommy) sleep no. Sleep no. Sleep all done. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." I just kept lying in bed and sleeping, and he started saying, "일어나 (wake up)." After saying that many times, he saw that I was still sleeping, he said, "엄마, 일어나 주세요 (wake up, please)." That got me right up because it was soooo cute and I just coudln't believe that he'd said that in Korean...

I'm slowly starting to teach him the Korean letters too, and it's not going as well as the English, but I think Alden can at least distinguish Enligh from Korean and vice versa. He can also recognize a few Korean letters and written words.

As far as potty training goes, we still haven't succeeded. I'm kinda taking a break and waiting to see if he'd want to go by himself. Once in a while, I will get him to sit on the toilet with no success. I've figured out that the problem with Alden's potty training is not that he is too young, it is that he is just plain too smart! For some strange reason, he doesn't like to go in the toilet. And even though he will sometimes sit on the toilet for the candy or the popsicle we offer to get him to sit there, he will not go in the toilet at all. He knows that there are rewards (more candy, praises, ice cream, and most importantly, the Wii - we haven't played the wii in a long time because he's only allowed to play it if he goes in the toilet). However, he will hold as long as he needs or can if he is sitting on the toilet. Many times, he will sit there, enjoy the candy, the attention, games, songs, books, etc., and asked to get down only to pee or poop in the diaper right after. I have no idea how to motivate him to go in the potty, and right now the plan is to just see if he will want to go when he gets a little older... We'll see what happens..

He's also gotten into dancing lately, and he will dance to any song that has a beat and if he has another person to dance with. Most times he head bangs and moves his head up and down - I think because the only place we turn on the music is in the car and he can't move his body in the carseat. He's also starting to sing a little bit too, although a lot of times, he is very off key or just chants and lyrics (kinda like how Joe sings. ha ha). When Alden sings the ABCs, he just reads off from A to Z, and very quicky says, "now I ABCs, next sing with ME!" When we get in the car, he asks for his music. We have a Korean children's song CD in the car, and after listening to it probably 5000 times or more, he is starting to follow along with a couple of songs and saying the lyrics. I'm so excited that he is starting to learn Korean songs!

Alden's favorite TV shows are now Dora the Explorer and Go! Diego, Go! He gets to watch them on my mom's tv, and he always sneaks into my mom's room and makes a really cute face next to the tv, so my mom has to say yes. The shows are the main reason I think his English has improved a lot, and I think I even heard him count to 4 in Spanish the other day... He always asks for Mario story, Star (from super mario) story, and Mario Kart story at night. But lately, it's been either Dora story or Diego story.

I also bought him a few interactive learning CDs from DI like jumpstart, etc. Alden's favorite is called "Arthur's Reading Games." It reads him an Arthur story, and he can click on different things on the page to make them move or talk. He also likes to play this board game where you have to match the words with the pictures to advance on the board.

Now that the weather's warming up, I've been trying to take him outdoors a little more, and he loves to go to the playground. The other day, he went on the swing for the first time since he was less than a year old, and just loved it! He wouldn't get down, and kept saying "Wee!" every time the swing moved forward. He has also gotten very brave with the slides, and goes down them the right way instead of belly down like he used to. He can now go on the tall slides at the playground without any help and loves to go down them too. He's also gotten a lot independent and has become quite extrovert at the playground. He is still very polite and knows to wait until the slide is clear to go down, but is not afraid to get in line or stand up for himself if another kid tries to butt in line or something. (Probably because he can now say, "My turn!" and "Wait!").

Race track!

At the playground

Reading the "Book of Mornin'."

Ellie is growing so fast!

A couple weeks ago, March 10th, we celebrated Ellie's 100 day birthday. In Korea, being a 100 day old is very significant. It is a tradition to have a big party and celebrate the coming of the baby. I guess the tradition comes from how a lot of babies didn't really make it to a hundred days, and if they did, their chance of survival was very high, and it was very likely that they'll live long. Most babies now survive well past the 100 day mark now, but the tradition still continues and we like to recognize the new addition to the family. We don't have baby showers in Korea (and you don't even get to see the baby when you go to a shower), and we didn't have one when I was pregnant w/ Ellie. So we got to celebrate Ellie joining our family that day.

My mom ordered a bunch of chinese food from a buffet, and we had dessert, fruit, and cake. A lot of family came to the party, as well as friends and some of Joe's co-workers. Joe's mom got work off that day and came down early with Sophie. Alden, Ellie, and I met up with her at Walmart, and bought a whole bunch of fruit for the party. Alden was so excited that Sophie came, and they were going crazy at Walmart, running around and chasing each other. Towards the end, they both got so tired but they both refused to take naps (neither of them slept all day..). We even went to the mall to find a dress for Ellie, and Sophie and Al behaved really well. After we got back from shopping, we got a table ready for Ellie. I decorated a table with some balloons and ribbons, put plates of fruit and cake on the table, and put a high chair behind it with a slideshow going on on the tv as background. Joe was able to get off early from work to help out.

Ellie did so well through the party and the picture taking sessions. She looked great in her new dress that Joe's mom bought for her. A lot of people took turns holding her (except me because I was busy hosting the party. lol), and she was just a doll.

So, she is approaching 4 months now, and she is such a good baby, I sometimes forget that she is even there. She is just so happy lying down on her play mat thingy, and when she wakes up in the morning, she just lies there quietly and waits for me to come get her (this morning I thought she was still asleep and found her with her eyes open in her bassinet). She now sleeps in Alden's room, and she will sleep through most nights. Rarely does she ever wake up before 6 am. She usually averages 7 hours of sleep, eats and goes back to sleep for another 4, 5 hours. When I go in the morning to get her from the room, she looks up and makes the cutest smile!

During the day, she will just lie on her mat and look up at the toys or look around and puts herself to sleep. She still loves to be held and be talked to, and she tries to talk back when I talk to her. She is so curious about everything and looks around at her surroundings, even when I am nursing her. Sometimes, it becomes a problem when i nurse her, because she will turn her head around and not eat very well. While she eats, she likes to look up at my face and smile. She is just sooo cute!

Shortly after she was born, she had congestion for almost a month and a half, but since then, she's only been sick once. She is very healthy and happy, and she makes everyone around her very happy. The other day, I went to the mall with the kids, and as I was holding her and walking around in the department store, the store clerks kept stopping me to ask me about Ellie and wanted to look at her.

She also started giggling, and although she hasn't giggled at me yet, our babysitters never fail to make her giggle. Since Joe is studying for the GMAT, and hiring a personal tutor costs anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour, we decided that it was best if we got a babysitter instead so I could tutor Joe. So we have a young woman in the ward named Kelli come twice a week to babysit while we study, and she brings her little sister Anna to help out. They are so good with the kids, and Alden just LOVES to play with them. If we mention Kelli or Anna's name, he will stop whatever he is doing and do what we ask him to do (like eat food, wake up, change clothes, go to church!). It's gotten to a point that he is now starting to almost cry when they have to leave... lol. Anyway, Alden likes to play ball with Anna, and Kelli watches Ellie while they play, and Kelli tells me that Ellie always giggles when she sees Alden throwing or kicking a ball with Anna. The other day, Joe also got Ellie to giggle at him while I was trying to put Alden to sleep. We were able to get some her laughing a little on video and I will post that sometime.. (it's on facebook already).

Ellie has been such a big blessing for us, and it has made having a second kid so easy on me and Joe. I don't even notice that having two kids is any harder than just having one, maybe even easier now because Alden is more independent and Ellie is so easy to take care of. I just have to remember to give her as much love and attention as I do to Alden even if she doesn't cry for it.

At the party

:S

So.. there are so many things i should be posting about. Updates about our family, mainly the kids, and what fun things we've been doing... But i don't want to do a super long one post, so please bear with me as I catch up for the last month and publish like five hundred posts at onces... Plus my internet's been really slow, so please be understanding about the lack of pictures.. i will post them as soon as we've got the internet issue resolved...

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Joe and I have this thing with Valentine's Day, and every year, someone ends up getting sick (me, Joe, or one of the kids) and something happens and we have to change our plans for Valentine's Day. So this year, we didn't even bother making any plans for the day. And of course, Alden started getting sick on Sunday (cough and a slight fever) so Joe had to bring him home after sacrament (that was after Ellie pooped all over herself and Alden puked during sacrament). Alden is such an active kid, even when he is sick, he refuses to slow down. He will run around the house and take off his socks and jump around, etc. So yesterday, we just let him watch tv all day. He sat in my mom's heated bed and watched Dora the Explorer all day long (he finished season 2, which has like 25 episodes in it). In the afternoon, we got a text message from Joe's brother John that grandpa had had a stroke and was being transported to the hospital. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad and he is doing okay, but we decided to visit him at the hospital. Joe didn't get off work until later so we didn't end up leaving the house until 7. We left Alden with my mom and took Ellie to visit grandma and grandpa. On the way up, we got our Valentine's dinner at Wendy's and ate on our way on I-15. :)  It was good to see the family and visit and to see that grandpa was doing okay. We even got to see Jamie (a rare treat. lol). We didn't get home until Valentine's day was almost over, but it was a pretty good day considering we gave each other good gifts and we also got to spend some alone time in the car during the drive (with a sleeping baby in the back). Joe gave me some nursing garments (he says they're not exactly the type of lingerie he wanted to get for me. lol) and a really pretty jar of canned peach. I specifically asked him not to get me any chocolate or candy (I can only take so much sugar) so that was such a nice gesture for him to get me the peach beacuse I LOVE canned peaches... I got him a set of black gold toe socks (which i have to return to Costco because Joe says they don't fit).

The Saturday before Valentine's day, we went up to Bountiful/Centerville to visit family and celebrate Joe's mom's birthday. We went to Joe's dad's house around noon, and Joe took a Kaplan practice test for the GMAT. Sophie and Laura came by for a while to play, and we got great pictures of Alden and Sophie. They also had great time together.

Then we visited grandma and grandpa and had a great time there. Alden loved playing with the toys, and Ellie loved being held by grandma. :)

For dinner, we went to Applebee's for dinner. It was my first time there, and I LOVED it!!!! We ordered two two-for-20's. We got a stuffed meatballs with fetuccini, sirloin stake, spicy riblets, asian salad, spinach and artichoke dip, and mozarella sticks. EVERYTHING, I mean, everything tasted so wonderful, and considering the fact that we've been very disappointed last couple times we've eaten out, i was soooooo happy and satisfied with the food. Except for the time Ellie pooped all over herself, it was a very nice evening. :) I am definitely going back to Applebees!

Oh, and on a side note, we've given up on potty training Alden for now. He's been sick for over a week, and everyone else in the family has been sick for a couple days too. We feel so bad for ellie because she can't breathe and has so much phlem, she keeps coughing but can't produce anything, which makes her throw up sometimes.... Poor little girl...

Alden has also beens studying very diligently. He practices writing the alphabet everyday and loves to read books. I bought him a few jumpstart type CDs from the DI, and he loves to study with them. Right now, his favorite one is Arthur's Reading Game. It reads him a story with animation, and he can play word games.

Tom's birthday

Tom had a birthday party last week, so we spent the weekend up in Bountiful and had a wonderful time with the family.  On the way up, we dropped by the Planetarium at Gateway to look at the big marble run.  As soon as we walked in, Alden couldn't take his eyes off the marble run... And here's a picture to prove it. :)

He just had a blast looking at the marble run, and he thought it was awesome! And he was having the greatest time.  It was so cool because he would just keep looking at it and we were there for more than 40 minutes... Most other kids just took a look at it for a couple minutes and left, but Al was really focused on it.  He has great attention span.

Then we went to Joe's mom's house for dinner and to hang out with Sophie.  Tom and Laura had a birthday party to go to (not Tom's), so Sophie and Alden had a blast together watching Toy Story and playing with each other.

Tom's party was on Sunday, and Sophie and Alden were just so stoked to be able to play with each other again. They had so much fun running around, taking turns on the slide, etc.  We had cupcakes and ice cream. They were both very, very good. :D  We also got to try out Tom's Kinect.

Posing for the camera.

With grandma!

And Ellie got so much love from everyone!

Cutie pie Ellie

I got down on the floor and took some pictures of Ellie. :) She is so cute, and she definitely doesn't get enough pictures taken... We seem to still take more pictures of Alden, so i'm trying hard to get more pictures of her so she doesn't look back and say, "Hey, how come I don't have any baby pictures!?"

A bonus picture of Alden's artistic expression. :)

Updates

Yes... I've gotten really, really lazy. With two kids constantly needing attention, there hardly seems anytime to just sit and type anymore. lol. I've been faithful in uploading pictures and videos on facebook, however, so you are welcome to go there to check on anything you may have missed out on in the last couple months. Ha ha.

I wanted to update everyone on how Alden and Eleen are doing. First of all, Al is now 27 months old. He has mastered all the alphabet, Capital letters and lowercase. He is starting to learn how to spell things already, and he loves to read books. His favorite book is the Cat in the Hat (he calls it the "hat book.") He can count up to 15 in English. He has mastered using the laptop. He can open up internet explorer, go to Youtube, and type in search keywords such as ABC or Mario and watch what he wants to watch. He is really good at using the mouse (he can double click now). And he is realllly good at playing the Wii. His favorite word's got to be "Wii." He is really good at manuvering the wii remote, and he can play most games by himself. His favorite games are Super Mario Bros Wii and MarioKart. He loves playing Mario, and he even calls Mario, "Al." Mario is also Joe's favorite character, but now that Al always plays Mario, Joe only gets to be Luigi, which he doesn't really appreciate much. Al can get through relatively easy boards pretty well, and can usually finish a lap in MarioKart in about 1 minute.

Ellie has been great. She is already past 11 pounds and has grown out of a lot of her clothes already. She has these chubby cheeks that are so kissable, and Al loves to give her kisses on her cheeks. She has been having trouble sleeping lately, and she refuses to sleep unless someone's holding her, which has caused some uncomfortable nights on the lazyboy for joe and me. She seems to sleep better tho if she is sleeping on our bed, and we tested that theory last night and confirmed it after she slept for 7+ hours straight. (But I kept waking up throughout the night cuz there wasn't enough room on the bed...

All in all, having two kids is about the same as i imagined, but I'm fortunate to get a lot of help from my family. I get to take naps and rest when my family helps. :)