Kids update

When doing up posts about my kids, my conscience always reminds me of the Demetri Martin comedy bit that shows a simple bar chart. The tall one reads "How interested you are in your kids." A second, much shorter one reads, "How interested I am in your kids."

Still, my parents occasionally read this, so I think it's worth it. I've been keeping track of stories about the kids to anecdotally chart their development. Here's what I've gotten since mid-October:

In October, SY taught P how to use practice chopsticks.

Once, after yelling at him for something, SY felt guilty about losing her temper. He sympathized with her, though, saying, "Are you sad? I'm sorry."

Another time, SY laid down on the couch to catch a few extra morning Zs. P didn't like that, though, and reasoned with her, "No 고자. Not 검검해." [No sleep, not dark.] I think it's interesting to see how his mind works across languages like that.

He's putting together some linguistic cool elements. I'll often tell him "Watch out" or "Be carefull." He'll reply is usually, "I'm be carefulling," or "I'm watch outing."

He told SY, "You have beautiful eyes." We think he learned that from day care.

P likes to help. Sometimes he'll clean up C's spit up. Most of the time, if you ask him to help, he'll come running, and he'll get upset if you do something for him that he wanted to do.

When he's talking to someone on the phone (like SY or his grandparents) and you interrupt, he'll tell you, "I am talking to _____." I think he learned that from his mother.

Perhaps the most annoying things he's learned are, "What are you doing?" and "Because why?" And he'll ask not just once, but several times with the span of only five minutes. Today, for example, we were watching football and he asked me four times while we were still sitting in the same places. I don't mind the "why?" questions so much, but I can see now how parents can lose it if asked too much. Though I've vowed never to say, "Because I said so," sometimes I just tell him to stop.

We came home on a clear night one time, and he said, "Look! Stars!" He then immediately counted them all. "One, two, three, four, five!" So there you have it -- there are five stars in the known universe.

He also learned how to say, "Nevermind." I don't think I caught it the first time he said it, but I only recently realized that he not only knows it but also knows how it works.

P does well at the grocery store. He holds onto the baby stroller and doesn't wander off except when we're in the baby food aisle and he sees the Matchbox cars. It's tough to pry him away from them.

C's development is, of course, much less sophisticated, but just as adorable. She'd learned to flip from her back to her stomach a while back, but about a month ago learned to flip from her stomach to her back. Flipping onto her stomach scared her the first couple times because she quickly tired of keeping her head up, so we tried to put come pillows around her the first couple nights so she wouldn't cry.

Nowadays she's a champ at both, and if you put her on the floor she's able to haphazardly flip, roll, and squirm her way around. I don't think it will be too long before she figures out how to keep her knees underneath her.

She has a much bigger appetite than I realized. Before the hospital stuff happened, she only nursed and had rice cereal. Since then, I've set her up to have rice cereal for breakfast, formula for lunch when we visit SY in the hospital, and baby food for dinner. She usually eats a stage 1 vegetable (like carrots), followed by a fruit (pears), and then have 6 oz bottle before she goes to sleep. This is usually enough to get her through the night, but she's still waking up at about 6 (still a bit early for me).

In all the places I drop them off, the kids are very well adjusted. P starts off a bit sad when you leave him, but he picks up quickly. As long as C is clean, fed, held, and has access to her thumb, she's a happy little girl. You can't go too wrong with her.

P hasn't yet perfected his lavatory skills, but we're working on it. Skittles seem to work well as an incentive.

P and C get along well, too. As I said earlier, he'll sometimes clean her spit up, and he often entertain her when she's fussy. She coos at the action, and returns smiles well. She especially likes being lifted up a little so she can practice standing. She really enjoys that.

All in all, I like my kids. They're very fun to be around.