Back to Russo's

Congrats to JL and TC on their marriage yesterday!  Thanks for including us in the festivities and for having it at Russo's On The Bay (oh how I love that place)!  It's been eight years... the last time we were there was for our own wedding.  It was great to actually be able to eat this time, though having a sickly 16-month old in tow did not make it easy (I ended up doggy-bagging my entree home).  The bride and groom were beautiful (as expected), the ceremony was sweet (and sappy me did shed some tears), food during cocktail hour was delicious, service was excellent, and the ambiance was impeccable.  The only downside to the night was having a fussy baby in our hands (M even missed the ceremony because he had to take baby M outside).  M and I took turns holding baby M, who would cry bloody murder the second we sat down.  Meanwhile, big sister K had a blast out on the dance floor.  Here's one of the videos (notice at this point, she is the only person out on the dance floor):

 The beautiful bride and groom enjoying their first dance:

This is one of my favorite photos of the night:

Big sister K was enamored by the bride's wedding gown and insisted on dancing with the happy couple (though she's never met them before):

Daycare Drama

Last week was quite a stressful one for me on the daycare front.  Big sister K came home two weeks ago telling me a child in her class hit her (we'll refer to him as "X").  She couldn't explain to me in what context he hit her, so I dismissed it as a one-time event.  Then last Monday, we were driving home from daycare and big sister K tells me X hit her again, so Tuesday morning, I called up her teacher and spoke to her about it.  I was promised that they'd keep an eye on the situation, but on Wednesday, it happened again.  M and I decided to speak to the director about it on Thursday, but he didn't get a break from work all morning, so we were going to call in the afternoon.  Before we even got a chance to, I received a call from her teacher informing me that X pushed big sister K and her face landed on the couch.  I was absolutely livid.  Four incidents in less than two weeks (and three in less than one!) was unacceptable!  I called up M and told him he had to make time right away.  We called the daycare but the director was already gone for the day, so we spoke to the head of the preschool program and voiced our concerns.  Friday morning, M went in with me to drop the kids off and we had a long conversation with the director.  There have been incidents with other children in the past, but more recently, he seems to be directing his attention on big sister K.  X has to be constantly shadowed by one of the teachers and they have a special developmental plan for him with his parents.  While I am not confident that's the answer (there are two teachers and 20 kids in the class... it hardly seems fair to have one teacher dedicated to one child), as long as big sister K is kept safe, that's my main priority.

When I went to pick big sister K up today, X came near her again.  It's not my job to discipline someone else's child, so as he was about to put his hands on my daughter, I had my arms around her and told him "nice touches."  The teacher saw this and immediately pulled him away.  Five minutes later, as I was helping big sister K put her coat on, X came over again.  I blocked his path so that he couldn't touch big sister K.  The teacher saw him next to us and took him to the other side of the room.  As we were leaving, X kept shouting, "Bye K!  Bye K!  Bye K!"  I don't think he means any harm, but it's kind of freaking me out that this 3-year old kid seems obsessed with my daughter, following her around, trying to get her attention.  Every day now, I have to remind big sister K to stay away from X; if he goes near her, she is to walk away.  I plan to have another talk with the director tomorrow about what happened today during pickup.  I don't know what (if anything) will come out of it, but if X is having developmental issues, he may need more help than what this center can offer him.

Fifteen Month Update

It's hard to believe my little boy is 15 months already.  He's busy running around, scaling bookshelves, sticking his finger into outlets, opening drawers and getting his hand stuck in them, making a mess in the living room right after I cleaned everything up, and causing havoc like I never would have imagined.  Are all boys naturally born with an instinct to be troublemakers?

Baby M had his 15-month check-up earlier this week.  He's 31 inches tall and weighs 21 lbs, 1.4 oz... slightly shorter and lighter than big sister K when she was his age.  He eats just about everything in sight, so it must be his quick metabolism.  We mentioned to the doctor that we were a bit concerned baby M hasn't really started talking yet.  He understands what we tell him and will listen if he feels like it (which is not very often), but he hasn't really started verbally communicating to us yet other than mama, dada, milk (in Chinese), and ball.  I'm actually quite surprised he isn't talking a mile a minute considering he has a big sister to model from.  In any event, the doctor said to wait until he's 18 months, and if he still hasn't progressed much, then we will have him evaluated for early intervention.

Don't let the sweet face fool you... he's a little terror.

Snow on Saturday

We received about eight inches of snow last night and woke up to a winter wonderland. This was the first snowstorm all season and big sister K was very excited to go out and play.

Here she is, cleaning the snow off her wagon:

Baby M decides to help:

Or not... he's just happy to be outside:

My little snow angel =):

 

The kids enjoying their sled ride:

I don't know who's having more fun here... big sister K or baby M:

Friday Night Family Fun

Baby M loves squeezing himself into the tiny space between the play-kitchen and box of toy foods.  When you call out his name, he'll peek his head out and smile.  You would never have guessed that he was sick with a fever and ear infection three days ago:

 Baby M finally comes out of his hiding spot:



Meanwhile, big sister K is busy putting together her princess puzzle:

 The kids playing with daddy:

Me and my boy:

Ice Skating

We took big sister K ice skating today at an open skate session at ProSkate.  I must say, she did pretty well for her first time being on the ice.  She liked it and told us she'd like to go back, so I think we're going to sign her up for some lessons.  Now that she's a bit older, hopefully it'll go better than the piano lessons she had six months ago.

M and I were exhausted and our feet hurt after an hour of pushing big sister K along the ice (though she was using a walker) and taking care of baby M (who was fussy the whole time and kept wanting to go on the ice himself).  As a parent, I felt awful because we came so ill-equipped: we didn't have a helmet for big sister K and even forgot to bring her gloves (not the safest measures to take, but as I told M, we just had to make sure big sister K didn't fall down).  Meanwhile, we saw kids of all ages out on the ice with helmets on, including those who already knew how to skate, and everyone's hands were kept nice and warm with gloves.  Big sister K didn't seem to notice or mind, but we'll have to invest in a helmet for her before her lessons start next month.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of big sister K out on the ice, but here she is posting (sort of) for the camera (and yes, I probably should have fixed her hairband before taking the picture).

And a picture with mommy and baby brother.

Dancing in the Morning

This is what my kids were doing bright and early Saturday morning... big sister K teaching baby M some dance moves.  I love these two kids!  There is no gift greater than being a parent.  Seeing the two of them smiling and playing together makes me almost forget the fact that baby M kept us up all night... almost!  Time for some sleep!

 

Mid-January Posting

The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind that I can't believe it is mid-January already.  We are finally over our illnesses (it certainly took long enough!).  Baby M is already 14 months old and big sister K turns 50 months old in two days... the kids are growing up too fast for my liking.  Baby M still refuses to walk on his own (those first few steps he took two months ago turned out to be a fluke), but he's getting there.  We've been working with big sister K on spelling and how to sound out the word to come up with the next letter.  M thinks she spends too much time playing, coloring, and watching TV, so we've limited her television time to once a week now (which in my opinion isn't much different from the amount of TV she does watch).

Some of you may know that I recently switched jobs (within the same company), thereby also switching offices.  My commute has been half an hour longer since the beginning of the year; from door to door, it takes me about an hour and 20 minutes each way.  I leave the house 15 minutes earlier at a quarter to eight, drop off the kids (and I don't even spend as long of a time with them as I used to), and it's past 9:00am by the time I get into the office.  I still have to find my groove between the longer drive and getting stuck in traffic in the mornings, but if this continues, I may have to consider a daycare closer to home for the kids so M can help out with the drop-off routine.

I thought I'd share something amusing.  During dinner earlier this week, big sister K said she only wanted vegetables and didn't want to eat chicken (she had a few pieces and found it too dry).  I told her she had to eat some more, so she said she'll eat only six more pieces.  I agreed.  She counted five pieces of chicken in her bowl.  Rather than only eating the five, she went ahead and got another piece of chicken so that there were six, then true to her word, she finished all of it.