Oh Happy [Reading] Day!

Today Katelynn read the following words all on her own, using phonics:  am, an, ad, at, rat, pat, sat, cat, fat, mat, bat, hat, man, fan, ban, ran, can, van, tan

What an amazing parenting moment to see that lightbulb over her head go "click!"  I was a little hesitant about this post because I don't want to come across as a show off and I certainly try not to be one of "those parents" who talks incessantly about her kids.  But I am posting away, because it was truly a joyful moment that I couldn't help but document!  She was beyond excited; it's rare to see my often serious girl with such a big smile plastered on her face.  And mommy was excited too.  We called Daddy and Nanna right away.  


For anyone interested or curious, we have been working through The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington.  My friend Erin recommended it.  The format is easy to follow for both parent and child, and has been fun for both of us.

A Post for Nanna

Well, I know that Nanna will not be happy about the Pinterest post unless it is followed with appropriate posting and pictures of one of her grandchildren.  Tyler has been up to a lot of cute things lately that I felt deserved a mention anyway.

13 months is such a fun age.  It is also really interesting to watch your second grow and see how different kids are from one another.  Things I somehow expected to be the "same" as his big sis are so different.  For example, Tyler walked a little earlier than KK - but that's not what surprised me.  I knew there might be differences like that.  But he did surprise me with the insane speed in which he has ramped up to coordinated FAST walking.  The little guy could tear across the living room at warp speed with a couple of weeks of his first steps.  KK's ramp up to fast walking was much more slow and cautious and took a couple of months.  

Tyler is super expressive and chatty - this is the same as his sis.  However while she spoke her first clear word at 7 months, he still mainly babbles. However, it is clear he is trying to communicate.  His favorite word besides "mama" is "Oh!" - said in all sorts of cute and different ways and with different kinds of emphasis, often as a means to point out things he wants to touch or "discuss" with mommy. I really need to capture it on video because it is melt-your-heart adorable.   

He loves to take things in and out of bags and can occupy himself for quite awhile with this task.  He likes to get into the plastic cups in the pantry and take them in and out of the various school lunch bags that reside there.  He then proudly carries his filled bag around the living room.  He has become super observant of the world around him.  He likes to get his own wad of toilet tissue and hurl it into the potty after mommy, sister or daddy are done.  He also likes to take a wet wash cloth and "clean" the floor the way he sees mommy do so frequently. 

Who knew these tiny little people would capture my heart so... Yes, Nanna, you knew - didn't you?!

Pinterest Projects

So, I can thank/blame my lovely SIL Jen and this blog post for introducing me to Pinterest.  Not only am I copying Pinterest, but I am also copying her with my latest projects.  I will also attempt to use this as my latest sorry excuse for not blogging too much these days...a girl can only focus on so many things at once!

Project 1
I finally tackled the "art wall" that I had wanted to create for the little girl, to display all her creative drawings and crafts.   Here's the inspiration from Pinterest, which Jen found for me... she is also doing a smaller version for her daughter's play room:

And here's my almost identical take on it:

I got the vinyl letters from DIY Lettering, and the service/ quality was great. 

Project 2
I love candy displays and have seen some cute ones on Pinterest, but they seemed pretty loud and large.  Then I saw my SIL's take on the Pinterest project and pretty much exactly copied her version.  This will be my new tribute to seasonal decorating, since I basically do NONE other than Christmas.  At least  now I will have some appropriate candy for each holiday/season.  Here's the original idea from Pinterest:

And here's my version which is similar to Jen's...I might add a cute ribbon to it to liven it up a bit:

Also thanks to Pinterest/Jen I have become re-enthused about home decorating.  I feel I am below average at it, but I am trying to improve by copying all these great ideas.  I am also finding that browsing lots of pictures helps to train my eye as to what looks good in a room.  It still does not come naturally for me at all.  But I have spruced up a few things in my living room and bedroom without spending too much $$.  Maybe a separate post later about that! 



iPad

The other night our creative little 4 year old brought us a picture she had created and asked if we knew what it was.  The answer?  It was her personal iPad that she thinks she should receive for Christmas - ha!  I have nothing else to say here...

KK's picture

This is what she was drawing - not bad!

The Incident

So, last weekend we were at our favorite Mexican place, Mi Chulas.  Lately we find ourselves there a lot after Gene's long Saturday morning run.  He is starving hungry and wants lot of carbs.  It is a nice family outing and combination fajitas for two feeds our entire clan - even TyTy now chows down on the beans and rice and indulges in a bit of fajita meat too.  The managers know us as regulars.
I had taken KK to the pool that morning.  As is typical, she did not eat much breakfast before we went.  Then I took her for a slurpee after our pool trip.  Gene was at home recovering from his run and taking care of Tyler.  Then we all got ready and headed out to lunch - by the time we got there it was nearly 1 pm and all Kims were starving, not just the runner.  The restaurant was packed because of tax free shopping weekend.

We were all inhaling the chips and salsa.  Then Katelynn said "Mommy, I feel like I need to cough - but I can't."  Suddenly, vomit was pouring out of her.  I mean POURING out.  To quote my brother's longtime friend Kevin: "It was quite the launch."  At this particular restaurant, they use cloth napkins and keep them stacked in a square bin on the table.  Gene rapidly began unwrapping the napkins and tossing them under Katelynn's faucet mouth.  Every time he would get another napkin down, more would pour out and he would frantically unwrap another.  We went through about 6 nice cloth napkins before it all seemed to be over.  I tried to make a big mountain out of the napkins to hide the situation from our closest table mates.

At this point the manager had taken note and was trying to help.  We were desperately trying to shield all the mess with the napkins so as not to completely offend the entire restaurant.  Luckily it was loud and that seemed to help - if anyone did notice they didn't give it away with a look of disgust - as I surely would have at the sight of another child barfing in a restaurant.  KK's shirt and shorts were covered in it - mostly red/purple from the Slurpee. 

I headed to the one-stall bathroom to clean her up.  (Note to self:  Will carry emergency clothes in the car at ALL times from now on.)  She was grossed out by her barfy shirt and shorts, but all I could do was rinse them out a little and make her put them back on - damp clothing heavily stained with purple puke....lovely.  After a few minutes a woman waiting to pee begain to get impatient and knock rudely on the bathroom door.  Whatdoyouwantmetodolady?!

Finally, I return to the table with a little girl streaked in Slurpee vomit.  Tyler has been screaming his head off at the table the entire time I am gone- HUGE mama's boy. In his fury he knocks over a large glass of tea that had been moved too close to him during the great vomit clean-up. Gene and I are both so frazzled by this point!  I am just trying to get my wits about me, and KK begins begging for steak fajitas.  Try explaining to a starving 4 year old that you really don't want them to eat...

Needless to say I did not enjoy my meal.  I shoved a couple of fajitas down, all the while arguing with Katelynn that she should only eat one tortilla for lunch and wait to see if she was ok.  Turns out she was - but mommy and daddy are scarred for life.  If you ever want to see Gene or me recoil in horror, just mention "The Incident" to us.  No additional description needed.

First Steps, First Birthday

 

Tyler John is one now - how did this happen?!  He is at a very FUN age and it will be a little sad to see the "baby" slowly disappear over the next several months.  Sniff sniff.  But I know with that disappearance will come lots of fun new developments as well.  


TyTy took his first steps on August 13th, a little over a week before his big birthday.  As of today he is still very tentatively making little "bursts" of walking from one piece of furniture to another.  I have tried to capture all this on video with no luck so far.  It's like he knows what I am trying to do and immediately sits down when the iPhone comes out.  He is pretty cute though.  His preferred method to attempt walking is to slowly stand up from a sitting position - with no assistance from any furniture or objects!  Then he looks for me, smiles and claps, then takes off for several steps. Then he sits down before he even has a chance to get wobbly.  


Last weekend we had a very fun family party to celebrate one year of our little guy.  I chose a monkey theme and had a lot of fun with that.  We served a yummy lunch and then had all the usual festivities - smash cake for Tyler, opening presents, etc.  We also adorned him in his formal Korean wear purchased by his Grandma Joy and he didn't seem to mind.  We had four kiddos in attendance - KK, cousin Izzy, and our best friends Bobby and Lindsay.  Since it was just a small number of kids I splurged on the goody bags and everyone got an adorable Ty stuffed monkey, plus some monkey tattoos and candy. Pink for the girls, brown for Bobby.  


KK was a wonderful big sister and helped to open presents, dress TyTy in his outfit, etcetera.  She got enough attention that she didn't seem to mind the fact that it wasn't her party.  I know that my dad was giving her lots of positive reinforcement which helped a ton in this regard - THANKS PopPop!  All in all, it was a wonderful time with family.  We are so very blessed!  

What I'm Learning Lately

Hmmmm, I keep thinking I am going to catch up on my family blog posts - some funny incidents, a great first birthday party, some first steps.... and yet God has been putting other blog-items on my heart.  Lately I have tried to ask daily - "God, what are you trying to teach me today?"  And wow, have I been learning a lot!  


So where to start with this one?  A little history perhaps.  College... Aggieland... what a fun time in my life.  I have so many amazing memories and it was such a great time of being independent but with no real responsibilities yet.  I knew it too - I remember telling myself repeatedly to savor those moments.  During college I also met about 5,000 "friends" and was quite the social butterfly.


Yet one interesting thing about college - a lot of the friendships were so fleeting.  You shared a class with some.  You shared a dorm floor with others.  You attended football games, Bible studies, sat in the dining hall together...  It was a revolving door of fun and people!  This became more apparent to me with the advent of Facebook.  I would get friend requests from Aggie friends and I had to rack my brain to even remember who some of them were.  However, Facebook has also given me the opportunity to get to know some of those casual friends better over the past several years.


There is one such friend - we will call him John here on the blog to protect his privacy.  I have gotten to know more about him through "social networking" via Facebook than I ever did in Aggieland.  So when his dad suddenly got sick a few weeks ago, I felt an unexpected tug at my heart for him - one that had me checking his Facebook page for updates, praying for his family, and even giving regular reports to my husband.  


Last night John lost his dad.  He left a very sweetly worded post on Facebook - about God sometimes choosing to heal our loved ones in heaven instead of here on Earth.  Next thing you know I am crying in my car.   Now, I do not consider myself a naturally compassionate person.  It seems to be an area where God is trying to mold me; to make me better.  I never know when compassion with "strike" - but strike it did today, as I think about my college friend and his family, and their terrible loss.