Basketball and other big boy stuff

It's only Wednesday and we've already had a really big week! Honestly, it seems like K is maturing by months over the course of days! Here's the run down:

On Sunday he did great playing basketball with Daddy. He was making baskets like nobody's business, I even managed to get a few on video! :-) (OK, you gotta watch close at the very beginning, that's when all the action happens) 

On Monday he chose to leave his beloved Kim Chee in the car when he was dropped off at daycare. Joe confirmed with him multiple times and he understood what he was doing. He did great all day and only asked for him once, but was quickly comforted by another snuggie at daycare. He also went #2 in the potty for the first time at daycare on Monday.

On Tuesday he had his first full day of no #1 accidents at daycare (thus, the first time in 3 weeks that I didn't have dirty pants to clean that night...nice). He also behaved wonderfully at a friend's birthday party that evening, after we'd all had a long day at work/ daycare. He was so excited for this party, we talked about it over the weekend and he wanted to go...at that very moment! When I picked him up and reminded him it was time for the party he literally started jumping up and down with excitement, yelling "Jacob party, Jacob party!!!"

I'm happy to be at home with him today and can't wait to see what lies ahead for us! :-)

(By the way...he hasn't had any accidents with us for well over a week and is staying dry at naps!)

Foto Finish Friday

My big boy. He is growing up way too fast! Here he is, eating breakfast sitting on the bar stool, wearing big boy pj's (ie. two piece) and big boy underwear eating raisin bran of all things.  I remember watching him on this morning and wondering what happened to our little baby...

The Guest House

We just got back from 2 days at the coast...2 stormy, windy, cold days. We stayed at one of my favorite places, a guest house owned by a friend. We've stayed there several times before, but this was K's first experience there. This house is great, fully stocked with amenities of home. K found the toys in the play room within 30 seconds of entering the house and didn't come out for nearly a half hour!  When we got there, the weather was so-so. Partly sunny, but still pretty cold and windy. We made our way down to the beach and played for a bit until our fingers started going numb. This is what the sky looked like then. 
After we returned to the house, the clouds started rolling in, but that didn't stop K from trying to spot a whale (or anything). He found the binoculars and was in love. 
I don't know why I love this house so much, it's just so comfortable. I could lounge around it all day (and I have on previous trips when we weren't also trying to entertain a 2 yr old!). This is one of the best places to sit in the house, right in front of the picture window which looks out to the ocean. 

And this is what you see. I never tire of this view:

Shortly after the rain came, and it didn't really stop through the whole next day. Hence, we mostly just stayed in our cozy little home by the sea, playing games and watching movies. We did make a trip into Newport for a little sight-seeing and lunch. 

On the day we left, it was fairly nice in the morning. The wind died down for a while and the sun came out, it was actually pleasant. We hit the beach on last time and had a nice walk, until the clouds started rolling back in and we got cold...

When we got home, it was still early in the day and very nice out so we went to the park. We realized that K played in the sand more at the park that day than he did during our 2 days at the coast. :-)

He's doing WHAT?!?!

The big news...dare I say it?? At just over 25 months old, our brilliant little boy is nearly potty trained! We honestly had no plan to address this until at least this summer, but he had other plans! He's been wearing big boy undies around the house for several months now, and they were usually wet within about 20 minutes. Shortly after his birthday, something changed... first he kept them dry for 30 minutes, then 45, then a whole hour! We continued doing this on a sporadic, only at home type basis until a couple weeks ago. We'd just been hanging at home most of the weekend, and he had done amazingly well in his underwear (or uh-wareh, as he calls it), so we decided to take a risk...running errands with no diaper and he did great! We decided to just go for it and he has embraced the concept! He is improving daily, and aside from a couple times when we just couldn't get his clothes off fast enough, he's only had one accident at home in the past week. His daycare provider is on board as well, although he's having a little harder time at her house. This week though, he only had one accident per day there (which means 3 total) and I think that's wonderful! Most days, his diaper after nap is dry so I'm sure it's only a matter of time until he's out of his nap diaper. We are just so amazed (and relieved) this has happened so quickly (and easily) and he is doing so well with it, but also a little sad that our baby is really growing up (but not so sad about not changing poopy diapers). I think he looks absolutely adorable in his little Elmo or Thomas the Tank Engine underwear and would love to plaster pictures of them all over this page, but I will restrain myself...I would not want pictures of me in my undies on the internet. 

Foto Finish Friday

In case you haven't noticed, I've neglected these posts (again) over the past few weeks. So, here a double doosey one to make up for it. Here's a few pics from our trip to the zoo last weekend. It was cold and wet, but still fun. And thanks again to Grandma & Grandpa C for the zoo membership! 

Watching polar bear play

Inside the "ice cave"

Trying to get picture lined up next to the bears,

little boy running away...

Finally got it (sort of), thanks to Grandpa M!

more than just clothes

Spring is approaching, and my baby is growing...right out of all his clothes! I loved his fall/winter wardrobe, and am having a harder time than I expected letting it go. To me, these are more than just clothes. Almost all of these clothes were given to us as shower gifts, and I hate to see them go. These are the clothes that I looked at day after day, folded and refolded until they were just right, passing those long 4 1/2 months waiting to meet our sweet boy. I tried to imagine what he would look like in them, what we would do together in them and what parenthood would be like in general. Before he came home, it was hard to believe that my son would really be wearing them. Our journey was a long and bumpy one and it was hard to fathom that we would be parents until he was in our arms. That was not even a year and a half ago, and here we are "on the other side", outgrowing some of the first gifts we were given for him. Go ahead, call me a sentimental sap... that's just what I am. 

Along the lines of clothes, I stripped his dresser of all his onesies...won't be able to use those any more!  Oh, by the way, could anyone use some brand new short sleeve 24 month size onesies (some T-shirt, some polo style), I just found a slew of them he won't be able to wear this Spring. More on that later.

"How old is your son?"

Such a simple question...

We were at the park last Friday, swinging next to a cute little baby girl. One of the ladies with the little girl asked me, "How old is your son?". I answered, not thinking much of it. As I thought about it more and more, I realized this was probably the first time that a total stranger has referred to K as my son before asking me for sure if he was my son.  I really appreciated this small gesture from a total stranger...

Bowling Craze

We've got a bit of a bowling craze going on at our house right now. For the past few months, K has been wild about bowling! I think it started when we got our Wii, and he loves to "play" bowling on that. Then, we started making bowling pins out of his megablocks and knocking them over with his balls. Then, we found a computer bowling game that he likes to "play". We decided it was time for him to experience the real thing. So, last Sunday, we took him bowling for the first time! It was great! Of course, it was a typical activity with a 2 yr old...lots of running after him and trying to keep him next to us, lots of explaining about how we take turns, and a few little yelps of displeasure from all of us. When we walked into the bowling alley, he was soooo excited, it was all we could do to keep him from running down to grab all the bowling pins. I was so amazed that he could lift the 6lb ball all by himself, although walking with it and rolling it was another story. They only had to come rescue his ball twice, when it stopped completely on it's way down the chute. It's a little embarrassing to admit that he actually got the best score out of the three of us. Although, he did get to have his bumpers up so that may have helped him a little. ;-)

Of course, he only wanted the balls that weren't his.

I made a deal with him...if he could lift it, he could use it.

Please pardon the posterior view, this was the best "action shot" we got!

And this is pretty much what we did the whole time...

All in all, a good afternoon of family fun!

We love Kim Chee!

Anyone who knows us IRL, knows that when K arrived from Korea he brought with him a very special dog. We think he has had this dog since he was about 2 weeks old. We have many pictures from his time in Korea, and the dog is never far from him. Thank goodness the nice Korean woman who came off his plane told us about the dog in his travel bag. When he started fussing just minutes after he was in our arms, we gave him his dog and it was like magic. Suddenly, this new strange place wasn't so strange anymore. We knew we had gained another (unexpected) family member. We instantly named him Kim Chee. Honestly, it was the first word that popped into our heads, so that became his name. We truly believe Kim Chee has helped K through his adjustment in unimaginable ways. Those first days were tough, and I actually had moments that I was angry at this stuffed animal because my son loved it more than he loved (or even liked) me. I can probably count on my fingers the number of times we've left our house over the past 15 months without Kim Chee. He comes everywhere with us. I have done several surgical procedures on this poor puppy, he's (literally) being loved to death! This week we had the scariest incident yet, when K got up one morning, there was stuffing on his floor. From where? Guess! Yes, poor Kim Chee somehow acquired a slit in his neck during the night. Just our luck, it was a day we were both working so for the first time K went to daycare without his most favorite stuffy ever. (Luckily, we have Rover, his #2 dog he could take) Joe said he only screamed half way there and was pretty OK with the situation when they arrived, he even told his day care provider: "Chin Chee...owiee".  And don't worry, Kim Chee has made a full recovery from the surgery I performed that evening.

When K first arrived, and we learned how attached he was to Kim Chee, we really realized how much his foster mom loved him, and how well she prepared a 10 month old for the huge change he was about to go through. In our eyes, she is simply brilliant for attaching him to this dog and sending it home with him. 

As K is getting older, more secure, more confident and more independent he's needing his dog less and less. There have been days recently when Kim Chee hasn't even left the crib between K's sleeping times. He's learning to leave him in the car when we go places, or if we happen to forget him at home that Willie will take good care of Kim Chee and he will be there when we return. (Which, by the way, could be a whole no

ther post: how Willie somehow has known from the start not to mess with this particular stuffy.) Now we're just hoping and praying that he will outgrow needing to take the dog everywhere before he falls apart!

K and Kim Chee reading in the rocking chair

3/4/09

Run

by Ann Patchett

I just finished reading this book and I thought it was great. I'm not a big fan of reading books more than once, but I would definitely consider reading this one again in the future. The subject matter was a bit heavy, but kept me going since it was one close to my heart...adoption. I should say, the story was based around bio brothers who had been adopted (transracially) when they were very young. So many other themes echoed through the book: religion, relationships, life-long deception... several different story lines all webbed together very understandably. This was a book that, at a few points, I could literally not put down. In fact, I read about 100 pages over the few days we were away from K on our trip to Las Vegas. This book was so full of surprises, by the end I could not even imagine what might be coming next. Two big thumbs up from me! :-)

Foto Finish Friday

Fun with soap. Last weekend I was trying to clean the bathroom, so I let K "help". He had fun for several minutes getting good and clean. :-)

Can you see his little face? 

He's trying so hard to get the soap out...

breaking new ground

In the fall of 1998, a few short months after we were married, Joe and I attended a public open house for Lane Transit District, where they were showing the community their plans to build one of the country's first bus rapid transit systems. At that point, Joe was nearly 2 years from completing his degree, but he was very excited about this project and even said how he would love to work on it someday.

10 years later...

The past week LTD broke ground on their second phase of EmX (M-X), and guess who is the project manager...that's right, my hubby!  He began his internship with LTD in 1999, and was hired as a planning technician after he graduated.  Since then, he has worked very hard on many projects (including the first phase of EmX) and moved his way up through the ranks.  The timeline for this project has been set for some time, but construction is starting at a time when it's really needed, it will generate hundreds of jobs in our community. 

Here are some pictures from the ground breaking ceremony...

It was a packed "house"

EmX bus and future stop, in front of the new hospital

My Boys

Kai took full advantage of his Daddy's relationship with the construction guys

and scored himself a sit on the backhoe

Foto Finish Friday

Strikin' a pose

Seriously, have you seen a more adorable child?

And, he's got a personality too!

Why???

The why's have begun! Starting the day he turned 2, this has been the response K gives us to everything we say! I honestly thought we had a few more years (or at least months) until all the questioning began... apparently not. 

Kai turns 2!!

Let me tell you, we have celebrated this little boy's birthday in style this year! 

Last Saturday we had his party, where we had close to 25 of our favorite people come and celebrate with us. Of course the theme was Thomas, and K had the time of his life. That whole day, as we were getting ready for it, he walked around the house saying, "My party, my party, my party!" He handled himself fantastically for only having a one hour nap, and I think everyone had a great time. Luckily, it wasn't raining, so after the main festivities were over we let the 11 kids who were in attendance go outside to play. It was so fun to have all those kids running around our backyard, playing basketball and squealing with delight! 

His actual B-day was Thursday, which he got to spend at daycare. I won't go into the Mommy guilt I had for having to send him there on his birthday, but he had a wonderful time. They were also having their Valentine's party that day, so along with the cupcakes I sent for him to share with his friends, it turned into quite the celebration. Of course, he thought it was all "My party, my party, my party".  His care provider told me that when they were all singing Happy Birthday to him, he was just beaming and clapping his hands!

I was able to get off work early on Thurs., so I picked him up and we went home to relax for a little while. Later, we met Joe at Red Robin for his birthday dinner. It was his first Red Robin experience, and he thought it was just great. He loved looking around at everything, but wasn't sure what to think when the big red bird started walking around the place. After dinner we went home and he opened a few gifts from us. Today the festivities finally concluded when we gave him our "big gift", a tricycle! We didn't want to give it to him right before bedtime expecting him to go to sleep right away, so we waited a few days until he could play with it. He loves it!

The other aspect of his birthday which will always be on our minds, is thoughts of his birthmother on this special day. We hope and pray that above all, she has peace in her heart that she made the right decision and that she could know how much we love him. 

Please enjoy the video montage below, the video footage right at the end shows you a very tired, very wired little birthday boy! 

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Foto Finish Friday

Yesterday at daycare they had their Valentine's party. See the little bucket K is putting the pencil into? It's filled with his Valentine goodies from all his friends. After we got home yesterday, he carried that bucket around for nearly an hour. Taking everything out, putting it all back in, inspecting everything intently. It was so adorable. He even wanted to make a fort to hide in and keep it safe from Willie. It was all too cute!

So much excitement...

So little time to blog about it. 

We've had lots of fun stuff going on this week, but the details will have to wait another day or so. I just don't have it in me right now. The biggest news, of course, today is K's 2nd Birthday!! He had a great day, and I promise I'll write all about it soon... very soon.

Foto Finish Friday

OK, OK, I know it's not Friday, and I've missed the mark again.  Better late than never, right? We're in the midst of a busy week for us, and I just couldn't get to it yesterday. 

He made this drill all by himself this week. I left him for a few minutes with his blocks and he thought this up. :-) Check back soon for details on some of what's been keeping us so busy...it has to do with someone's birthday coming up!

reading

One of my favorite past-times is reading. Unfortunately, the only time I to read is right before bed. I can get through a few pages before I start falling asleep. Thus, it takes forever for me to read a book. Most of my reading material comes from my Mother-in-Law, who is an avid reader and has great taste in books. Most of the books I own were gifts from her, and the other books I read I borrow from her. I call her my library. :-)

I've added a book shelf to my sidebar so you can see what I'm reading or have read. The first book will always be what I'm currently reading, the rest are books I've read and have loved. I've also added some of Kai's favorite books as well. He gets his love of books from me, I guess. ;-)

If I've read something particularly moving or thought provoking, I just may blog a book review.

LARGER THAN LIFE

(Warning: this post lives up to it's title...it's LARGE!!)

This is the only way I know how to describe Las Vegas. We've been there several times, but every time I get there, I am in awe of how everything is larger than life. The buildings, the food, the entertainment, the cigarette smoke (OK, this is one disgusts me, but honestly, it is everywhere!!), the people; just take every aspect of life and multiply it by 1000. And yes, you got me, I'm going to write about our trip. It's not like we did anything in Vegas that we should "leave in Vegas"...Here are a few highlights:

Bellagio Garden: This place never fails to amaze me. There is always something beautiful to look at in here.

I'm not sure why, but my favorite part was the red lanterns from the ceiling.

At night:

Ethel M. Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden: As to why they decided to combine a chocolate factory and cactus garden...you got me. I'll leave that one to Seinfeld. :-) This factory was opened by Mr. Mars of the candy bar business after he retired in the late 70's. They make fine chocolates here, and yes, they are delicious! It was all I could do to contain myself in the presence of such yummy looking carmel apples! These were going for $12 each in their store! (I love carmel apples, but not THAT much!)

In the "Garden"

These are the treats we 

got for ourselves!

M&M World: Honestly, I'm not sure how we've been to Vegas all these times without ever going in here before. Imagine...4 floors of M&M "stuff". Everything you can think of. We had a very hard time controlling ourselves here, and only got a few things for K. I could have blown a year's salary easily. 

Bellagio Water Fountain: Hands down, the best free entertainment in all of Las Vegas. We could have watched these fountains all day, and we know why they don't put any benches around...because we would have watched them all day if we could have sat down! The experience is only intensified at night.

Paris: This is one casino we haven't ever really spent much time at. We walked around it for a while, and explored the outside a bit. We took a journey to the top of their Eiffel tower (which is half the size of the original)...38 stories in all. These pictures give a pretty good idea as to the scale of things.

From "the Strip"

Yes, we went ALL the way up there!

View from the top

Joe at the base of the tower

New York: Where else can you visit New York just a few "short" blocks from Paris? We went to both in one afternoon! 

Their replica of the Brooklyn Bridge:

I think the scale here is 1/5 the size of the original.

Sorry, these two wouldn't allow pictures:

Mac King Comedy: This guy was hilarious, and did a good job entertaining in this "family show". Every person's worst fear came true; I was picked from the audience to help in his magic show. It wasn't as bad as I would have thought, and I had a few blonde moments up on stage which only made his show funnier.

The Beatles "Love": Each time we visit Vegas, we like to take in a "Cirque du S0leil" show. They are amazing. Definitely worth every cent. This one was no different, set to the familiar music of the Beatles, it was nothing short of fantastic. Of course, they wouldn't allow any pictures, but you can click here for a preview.

We had a fabulous time, and are happy to report the only money we left there was in the form of goods or food purchased.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH...

Lest you think we had all the fun, K spent the weekend getting doted on and spoiled by my parents. Actually, my parents do a great job of not spoiling too much, but grandparents will be grandparents afterall...

Coloring with Grandma

They took him to gymnastics and he got to jump in the bungees!

He got his birthday present early

By Saturday, we were all ready to be back together at home. K did great while we were away, and Joe and I felt refreshed and ready to tackle life with a 2 year old! (Which we got a good dose of the following day)