Marshmallows

Last night we went to our friend's house for burgers on the grill. It was nice to see our friends and their kids since I don't get to see them as often as I used to (yes, they are SAHMs who lounge around all day at the park with their kids). After dinner the marshmallows came out! Always the cautious one, Taipan was hesitant to roast the marshmallow by himself at first. He eventually lit one on fire, but not until the very end, and after I'd done about 3 or 4 first. Even then though he wasn't interested in tasting one.

Taisim got right up there with her stick, and she was also up for tasting the roasted marshmallow.

Taipan's song requests

After I finished working yesterday I went into the loft to play with the kids. After a while he asked for music. Here are the songs he requested:

"Summer Nights" & "You're the One That I Want" from Grease
"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" & "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by TMBG
"Mockingbird" by James Taylor and Carly Simon

I love it! Now if we can move into the 1990s and the 2000s....

IKEA!!!

We spent our Memorial Day driving to Michigan to go to Ikea. Since our tv wasn't working, we decided to get it out of the house, get rid of the entertainment center we had (thank you, craigslist.com), rearrange our living room, and buy a desk to hold a new monitor and computer that will be our media center, and where Yuta can play the Wii and watch DVDs.

I found everything we were looking for in a desk at Ikea. The problem was that it wasn't available for online ordering. So I looked around to see if I could find something else that would fit the bill, and couldn't find anything that was in our price range that we liked. We originally planned to get it in Pittsburgh - it was in stock there on Friday, but not on Sunday - which is about a 2 hour drive. The next closest Ikea is in Canton, Michigan, which is about 3 hours away, west of Detroit. So off we went.

We left home at 11:30am, and didn't get back until 9:30pm. We loved it. The kids did okay - Taipan wasn't pleased on the drive there, and Taisim complained a bit on the way home (which resulted in an hour-long stop at a service plaza). They both had a good time playing at Ikea, and they both loved the Swedish meatballs that they sell at the Ikea cafe (and we ended up bringing home two bags of frozen meatballs).

We also got a cool table for the kids to use as a computer table/craft table with a couple of chairs (in red) - I acutally worked at it a bit this morning and it's nice. I got a few other odds and ends, but showed great restraint and didn't get much that wasn't on our shopping list.

Yuta put together the kids table last night, and the bottom portion of his desk this morning. I am really happy with the choices. Taisim had a good time helping Papa with the tools and screws last night. I was too tired to get the camera, but you can use your imagination :-)

For the Florida folks - your Ikea opens in the fall of 2007 at the Mall at Millenia.

Auntie Yuli & Uncle Keith were here

Our Memorial Day weekend got off to a great start. Yuta's sister, Yuli, and her new fiance, Keith came to visit. We've known Keith for a while, but he just proposed after a whirlwind day of surprises, topped off by a surprise trip to England, where he proposed at Scarborough Castle. A very romantic story indeed. And of course she said yes. (actually, the story is that he said, "so are you gonna marry me or what?" and she responded, "ok")

So they came to town and the kids had a blast. Unfortunately Yuli was a bit sick on Saturday, but that didn't stop them from offering to watch the kids that night so that Yuta and I could go out for a bit. And of course we're so lame that we couldn't think of anything to do .... there were no movies we really wanted to see, we weren't hungry, it was rainy so we couldn't sit outside or go for a walk. We ended up at a Buffalo Wild Wings for drinks and trivia!

They left for Pittsburgh on Sunday, taking along some of the baby paraphernalia that has been cluttering up my garage (Keith's brother is expecting twins any day now, so we passed some things on to the Fisher clan).

Yuta's mom and dad are in Taiwan right now, and last I heard Yuli had not been able to reach them to share news of the engagement. Here's hoping that they don't find out from this blog :-/

(yuli & keith... send up some pics to post... we left the picture taking to you while you were here)

The Coloring is on the Wall

Taipan is not a big crayon, marker, coloring kinda kid. Never was, especially at 15 months. Well, of course, every kid is different.... and Taisim loves pens, crayons, markers, chalk, not so much into paint though.

Anyway, we have a box of crayons and markers that we pull out frequently. And she often eyes a stray pen lying around and asks to play with it. Until recently she kept mostly to paper (sometimes the paper was in books, but that's just a minor detail).

The other day I found ball point pen on the big red chair. It's almost all out now.

Today Taisim was playing upstairs, and she has a renewed interest in the bath toys, so she's been opening the bathroom drawers a lot and pulling out toys. I kinda forgot we had bathtub crayons in there. And she didn't show me when she found them. So I didn't know to get paper for her. And she find her own canvas. Our bedroom wall.

Here's the picture of her work:



And here's how pissed she was when we stopped her:



So she was tired, which contributed to how upset she was. We showed her that she could color on paper or the bathtub, but no-go.

She keeps us on our toes. It never occurred to me that one of the kids would write on our walls. Well, I was wrong :-)

T.O.R.

Last weekend Yuta, the kids and I went to Train-O-Rama. It's one of Taipan's favorite places, and it is fast becoming a favorite of Taisim's too.



Yuta hadn't been there in about six months (since Ling went with us at Thanksgiving), and I don't think he realized how much he'd missed visiting.

















While were there we reminisced about our first visit to T.O.R. last fall. Taisim was about eight months old, so not walking, and not talking at all. She spent her time in the sling, and would often times take naps. Taipan wasn't yet 3, and the biggest difference is his height! We used to not be able to see his head over all of the plexi-glass barriers, but now it's easy to spot him no matter where he is in the place.







After T.O.R. we drove over to the Marblehead lighthouse - it wasn't open for tours yet, but there's a pretty big area to walk around and play in. The kids climbed on rocks, and across the lake you can see Cedar Point and the roller coasters, which Taipan loved. We had a nice lunch at the picnic tables, and then drove home.

Tooth #7

I'm not sure I would normally post about each and every tooth, but since it's the third one we've seen in about a week, I gotta do it. Bottom, lower right. Just waiting for #8 now.

Tooth #6

And tooth #6 is in too! Slowly but surely teething will end....

Tooth #5

Taisim has a new tooth! It's just her fifth one - upper left side. I thought she'd have just four teeth forever, but she's proved me wrong. I hope the rest come in soon so we can be done with teething.

Taipan's Photography III

So Karen mentioned that she had to pick up Taipan from Akon & Ama's house last night, and her brilliant idea of giving Taipan the camera to help him with transitioning to the trip home paid off not only in a calm Taipan for the ride home, but in these...


"Akon!"


"Ama!"


"Mama's seat!"


"That's Papa's seat"


"Cheese Hi Cheese"

Taipan's Photography II

"That was the table"


"This is the couch"


"Here's the Wedgits"


"Lightning McQueen"


"That's a speaker"


"Giraffe!"


"It's our new log dump car"


"It's our red box car"


"Hi Taisim!"


"It's a Chicago Trolley"

This week (so far)

This week has been a bit uneventful. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. We had an unplanned trip to the pediatrician on Monday, but even that turned out to be minor (thank goodness). Yuta and the kids were playing at the mall, and Taisim fell down and braced herself with an outstretched arm behind her. Yuta says he heard a pop, and then Taisim started crying. Yuta was able to collect the kids and get to the van. He called me and told me what happened. I called the pediatrician and they were able to see us in thirty minutes.

I met Yuta and the kids there, the doctor was right on time, and was able to pop Taisim's arm back. She has a common injury in kids called nursemaid's elbow

You can see an immediate difference in her. Prior to the doctor rotating her arm back in place, she sobbed and cried when she tried to move her arm. The doctor said it could take 10-15 minutes to see if the rotation worked, but it took more like 10 seconds. We were so relieved it was something so simple. And Yuta learned the technique to fix it in case it ever happens again.

We also have a charcoal grill now! We left our old grill in Florida and have been grill-less for the past year. A family I know here was giving away their barely used grill, and we were the first takers. Yuta grilled some yummy burgers on Tuesday, and we're looking forward to his famous grilled salmon next.

Oh, what else? Taipan and Taisim always have a blast at their Ama & Akon's house. Taipan typically is very very reluctant to leave - crying, screaming, etc, when it's time to go. Well, last night he was still very sad about leaving, but thank goodness it didn't morph into 45 minutes of crying! It's the small things that make the biggest difference. Yuta was working last night, and both kids were sleeping when we got home, and the transfer to bed for both of them was successful, so my solo bedtime last night was pretty easy. I lucked out.

Our TV is broken, which should be a post in and of itself, but it means Yuta hasn't been able to game lately, so after work last night he went to his friend Jeff's house to play the Halo 3 beta. I guess they had some problems with the download and didn't start playing until 2:30 or so. It was about 4am when Yuta got home I think. Taipan was up at 8:15, with Taisim up at 9. Yuta was tired today. It was a good thing our sitter was here for a bit so Yuta could nap.

Ok - so this post isn't anything too exciting, but that's our life this week.

Oh - one thing. Taisim says "Taipan", but it sounds just like how she says "Papa", only with a slightly different intonation. It's very cute.

Taipan's Photography

This past Christmas Taipan received a Fisher-Price digital camera, which he used for a bit, but really hasn't picked it up in a while. Well, that apparently doesn't mean he doesn't like to take pictures! Recently he's discovered OUR digital camera, and has been taking photos with it. What's really cute is he'll go up to something (or someone), snap the pic, and announce what he just photographed. Below are some of his first shots...

more to come...


"Those are your slippers"


"That's Taisim"


"I took a picture of the kitchen table"


"That's a Hummer"


"Say cheese hi cheese!"

Mother's Day 2007... Eve

Every Father's Day since the kids have been born I've been lucky enough to receive gifts that were either made by the kids or involved pictures of the kids, so this year I decided to get the kids to make something for Mother's Day. I had this grand plan all laid out...

1. While Karen was at the spa enjoying a much deserved break, the kids & I were to go to Starbucks and pick up a "Create Your Own Tumbler" I had set aside, a Starbucks handle bag, and Starbucks tissue paper.

2. Once home, have the kids write and draw on a piece of paper cut to fit into the aforementioned tumbler.

3. Assemble tumbler and wrap in tissue paper.

4. Wrap other Mother's Day gift in tissue paper.

5. Place both in paper bag and top with tissue paper.

6. Leave for work at 5:45am Sunday morning and leave bag in bed to surprise Karen.

Everything went fairly well until somewhere in between #5 and #6. As soon as Karen got home from the spa, Taipan, in his excitement to have Mama home says "Mama, we got a cup for you at Starbucks!"

Curses... foiled again! So I decided to give Karen her Mother's Day gift early, and all was well in the world.
And I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for that meddling kid :)


The decorated insert. Taipan wrote the message mostly by himself. Taisim did the doodles and stickers all by herself.


The final product!

Crazy Kids (bedtime)

Our kids are crazy. We've had interesting bedtimes over the past few weeks, and usually it's Taipan that makes things interesting. Last night was different though. Yuta was at a store meeting, and within 20 minutes of him walking through the door I took Taisim upstairs for bed. Despite seeming very tired the whole time Yuta was gone, she was not even close to falling asleep. So we went back downstairs to play with Yuta and Taipan.

Around 11pm (yes, late, I know) we came back upstairs - surely she'd be tired by then. Well, I think she was tired, but maybe delirious too. She was on the bed and at first started wiggling her head around and rocking back and forth (think Stevie Wonder). This progressed to minor flopping around on the bed.... which progressed to wall-banging. She'd stand up on the bed, bang into the wall and laugh and laugh and laugh. Then do it again. And flop around. And bang into the wall. For about 45 minutes. Of course Taipan thought this looked like fun too, so he joined in. Yuta and I did the best we could to protect ourselves and make sure no one fell off the bed.

So it was a late night. And I was very tired. But we had fun with our crazy, giggling, wall-banging, bed-flopping kids.

Cinco de Mayo

Our friends had a cinco de mayo party last Saturday, complete with sombreros & margaritas. Here are some pictures of us from the party.

Writing letters

Over the past couple of weeks Taipan has been writing a few letters in the air with his finger, and once or twice he wrote a j or u with a dry erase marker.

Tonight he expanded a bit. We were out doing chalk on the driveway, and he wrote a bunch of Us, Vs, Ws, Ts, and S, X & A .... and backwards 7s & 9s, plus a bunch of zeros.... he wanted me to write the numbers up to 9900. I cheated a bit and counted by 100s.

He wasn't quite ready to try writing his name. If the chalk is on the driveway in the morning we'll snap a pic.



A portion of the 9900


Taipan's 8 (in blue)


Taipan's 9 (backwards)


Taipan's zeros


More zeros


He wrote HI


N, O, P