Long awaited update

Wow, it's been over a year since the last post???  Clearly we've been a bit busy.  Here's a recap of some events that stick out in my mind from the last year.

July 2012
Jeremy turns 2.  Lots of Disneyland this year.  Finally weans off the bottle.

I go to Miami for a much needed girls only trip.  Chris survived with the kids at Grandma's house.

August 2012
Cathleya starts Kindergarten at a new school, room 7 with Mrs. Shah.  So excited.  She's shy at first but opens up and makes new friends.  Luckily a few girls from her preschool join her in room 7.

The kids get a new bunk bed to share.  No more crib.

September 2012
Cathleya starts her after school gymnastics class.  She loves it.  Jeremy eventually tries to copy her as she learns more things.

Firefly 5k run at night in our neighborhood.  We all participate.  Cathleya walks with Daddy as I push Jeremy in the stroller full of glow bracelets on the wheels.

October 2012
Breaking ground on our house expansion.  Pushing out the back to add a bedroom, bathroom, and basement stairs inside the house, and pushing out the front room and adding a new porch.  New garage and no more cottage.

Cathleya turns 5.  She gets student of the month.

November 2012
Jeremy starts talking more.  Still baby talk but definitely more engaging.

Last Disneyland trip for a while.  No more annual pass.

December 2012
Jeremy gets a growth spurt and talks and acts like a toddler now.  Forming more structured thoughts and sentences.  Not full complete ones, but getting there. 

January 2013
The new roof gets put up.  New porch put in.  Our house looks like a house again.

February 2013
The new garage gets built.

Cathleya's Ninang passes away.  Cathleya takes it well.  Don't think she completely understands death, but she knows she won't see her again and that she's in heaven.  I didn't think I'd have to have that conversation with her so young. 

March 2013
Jeremy starts preschool.  Daycare couldn't handle his terrible 2's with the other girl going through it at the same time.  So they both move to the preschool at Cathleya's elementary school.  One drop off and pick up is great.  Now to get that boy out of diapers so I can pay less for tuition.  Cathleya checks on him at recess across the fence.  He doesn't take long to get acquainted with the place and the teachers.  He still has his occasional melt down mornings, but we take it in stride.

April 2013
The house is nearly done.  We do the bathrooms finishing work ourselves.  It takes longer than we planned but we get through it.  Waiting on the floor guy.  Dragging his feet.

May 2013
Since Cathleya is in gymnastics, she'll be in the school wide end of the year show, Mary Poppins, at the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose.  Costumes come in, pictures are taken, rehearsals on the weekends.  I didn't know she'd be in it or have to commit to so much but Cathleya loves every minute of it. 

Final inspection on the house just in time for Cinco de Mayo.  Party time!!  There will always be flaws that we discover as time goes on, but the new space is amazing.  Cathleya loves having the room to do cartwheels all over the new family room.  Jeremy loves running his cars back and forth.  Cathleya still to this day doesn't want to sleep in her own new room, but I guess we'll live with it for a while.  She doesn't want to be far from everyone.  But her clothes and toys are more than happy to get its own room.  She even starts taking big girl showers now that she has her own bathroom.  Such an accomplishment.

June 2013
Cathleya's debut in Mary Poppins.  She has to sit through the whole show until nearly the last act where her gymnastics group is on stage maybe a whopping 3 minutes, of which Cathleya only gets like 20 seconds of stage time.  The grandmas are peeved but Cathleya had a blast.  She got to wear makeup and everything.  She definitely wants to do it again next year.

July 2013
Jeremy turns 3 years old.  Potty training in full force at school.  The teachers realized changing him on a changing table was counter productive.  Doing it next to the toilet helps him get used to the toilet and what it's used for.  Such a difference.  Still has accidents but isn't wearing pull ups at night either.  What a trooper.  We do a whole lot more laundry now but that will pass.  He's so much more social now and learning the songs from school.  He still gets in some scraps and arguments with other kids which result in biting and scratching (both given and received), and phone calls from the teacher.

Cathleya's 2 week swimming camp goes great.  Getting used to the water but must wear goggles to be comfortable.  Eh, its a start.

August 2013
Annual family Yosemite trip.  Cathleya is willing to take showers there now that she's gotten used to the idea at home.  Makes life so much easier.  Although she does make us wait for the handicap stall which has a seat and is bigger.  But I won't complain about having more room.  Jeremy is big enough to enjoy himself more too.  Runs around chasing squirrels with a water gun, getting super dirty.  The both have a blast with their cousins, playing in the river on the boat, camp fires and s'mores.

We go to SLO to take family pictures by my friend Mike.  They turn out great.  So hard to keep those two kids sitting still and smiling nice.  Mike does amazing things with a camera and we get a bunch of good shots.  Thanks Mike!

School starts again.  Jeremy is in the same preschool class, until he can go a week without an accident.  Cathleya moves to first grade with Mr. Martin in room 1.  More homework but now there's study hall after school.  She's there for extended day anyway, so she might as well do her homework there too.  No more homework tantrums at home... hopefully.

September 2013
Gymnastics starts again.  Same teacher as last year.  There's some back and forth if she'll be in the intermediate class or the beginners which she's technically listed in.  We'll see what happens.  She's good enough to be in the big kid class, but, well, she is the smallest one there.  But she's skilled enough for it.  That means, she wants to wear the same things the big girls wear... sports bras and biker shorts.  Uhh... not for this 6 year old.  Tank tops will do fine.

Jeremy's been doing so good with potty training this month.  Very few accidents overnight.  He might come in and say he needs to go, but it's good he's waking up and telling us.  I mean me.  Daddy sleeps like a rock.  Jeremy did have some night terrors early on the potty training, but we haven't had any lately.  Keep our fingers crossed.  If he gets through a month without accidents at school, he'll move to the next class.  He even knows the difference when he needs to stand or sit on the toilet.

Kids' 2nd drive in movie experience.  Planes and Despicable Me 2.  Long night, but a great time with Haylee and Kayla.

So we've inherited a refrigerator.  We finally bring it in this past weekend.  Cathleya sees it and it hits her that the old one is going away.  The next morning she nearly has a breakdown because she's going to miss the old fridge.  She even hugs it.  So confused.  She's lethargic, doesn't want to get dressed for school, nearly cries over it.  She says she wants us to give it to someone we see often so she can "visit it".  Visit the refrigerator???  Daddy picks her up from school that day.  She says, "I'm still sad about the refrigerator."  I wonder how long this will last.

October 2013
Cathleya's picture day.  She picks out her fancy dress the night before and what she's going to wear.  She gets up this morning, "Do I change now or after I eat and brush my teeth so I don't get it dirty?"  Who is this girl?  So she eats, brushes, I fix her hair, help her change.  In a rush to find a necklace, she asks if she can wear her lip gloss.  She's got a small collection so I say yeah, fine, whatever.  We get to school and I look her once over.  The lip gloss is purple.  "Uh, no, take that off. You look like a clown."  She almost had a tantrum but I think she didn't want to have a tantrum in front of her class and I let her wear my color lip gloss.  It's light but still a little pink so she was ok with it.  What a girly girl.  Things to look forward to.

Up next, Cathleya's costume birthday party.  Not sure where yet.  Still have planning to do.

Freedom

July 4th week Trimble is shut down for the week so we decide to go on vacation to Southern California.  We'd go to Disneyland for two days, then I'd leave the kids with Daddy at Grandma's house and I'd go to Miami with some girlfriends until Sunday.

Day 2 at Disneyland our last stop is the ice cream shop.  Jeremy has been using his baby bottle as a pacifier for longer than he should be.  It was always understood that after his 2nd birthday, no more baby bottle... just like Cathleya.  So somewhere between the ice cream shop and the tram back to the car, Jeremy lost his bottle.  I ask him, "Jeremy, where's your bottle?"  He shrugs, "Lost it?!?"  He's not worried.  His reply is more mater of fact than of concern.

I take the opportunity to try to wean him off the baby bottle.  I told him that's the only one we have and he'll have to use the Buzz or Lightning McQueen sippy cup from now on.  That day was the day before my flight to Miami.  On the way home from Disneyland Chris says, "Do we have to do this while you're gone???"  But we have to seize the moment.

That night before bed, he asks for his baby bottle of milk.  I tell him he lost it and we only have the Buzz cup.  Of course the screaming and crying begin.  It goes on for a good 30 minutes or more.  Then out of desperation, he takes the Buzz cup.

The morning is met with brief confrontation, but he gives in and takes the Buzz cup.  FREE AT LAST!!!

I think the rest of the week wasn't as hard, but now 3 weeks later, he is at peace with the Buzz cup and loss of his baby bottle.  At most we're left with debates over Buzz cup vs. Lighting cup.  But he drinks way less milk now that his pacifier is gone.  I'm sure he's healthier because of it too. 

Not the Mama

Jeremy is so clingy these days. Such the Mama's boy. If I get him distracted doing something else and try to do a load of laundry or brush my teeth or whatever, he comes looking for me, whimpering "Mommy! Mommy!" I think as soon as he figured out my name wasn't Daddy, he only wanted me after that. Its endearing and yet tiring. I don't get to eat hot food when we go out to a restaurant. He doesn't like sitting still. And since he doesn't want to go to Daddy, I get to walk him around or try to make him sit on my lap. High chairs seem to be so beneath him, no pun intended. He'd rather sit on his knees in a chair, playing drums with his chopsticks or forks. Of course that's after watching his sister do the exact same thing.

He's such a sponge and talks more too. He'll take his cars and say 'Set, go!', as if you were the one to say "Ready" for him. He'll do that on the slides at the playground too. This morning he said, "Out pease" and pointed to the end of the bed. Then he lifted his hand up toward the ceiling and said, "Mommy, Up." He's also mastering "NO!" with the head shaking.

Cathleya will say, "aaahhhhh" as we go down a hill in the car. Jeremy will join in midway. Wherever she's sitting, he wants to sit. Whatever she's playing with, he wants to play with the same exact thing. Cathleya will sometimes give up her toy right away but usually just tries to "No, not for you" him. Or just scream. There's a lot more screaming going on in our house. So much love.

Enero, Febrero, Marzo

Yep, Cathleya's learning spanish. Jr. K has a spanish teacher come in every Friday and music teacher every Tuesday. That's more than I ever had pre jr high. She took about a month to get used to no naps at school. The afternoon teachers said she'd get droopy eyed around 4pm. They started calling her Sleeping Beauty. But she's better now. She does occasionally pass out after getting home from school while waiting for dinner. She's even slept through til morning a few times. Lucky. But she's learning so much and she's not even in kindergarten yet. She's doing addition and subtraction, site reading, not to mention spanish and music.

Jeremy is starting to communicate so much more than before. He'll bump his toe or something, lift up his foot and say "Hurt. Owee. Kiss. Kiss." Waiting for you to kiss his owee. Such a cutie. Dangerous!! He's also learning site words at daycare. She only has 3 kids right now but she'll play a site words dvd and they all watch. He recognizes little words like on, it, are, and bigger words like play & look. He can recite his numbers up to the teens, although he always skips 6. And he can recognize all of the letters. He still pronounces the words with baby talk, but the concepts are there. Jeremy is always amazing me. I'm lucky to have such smart kids. Although he still calls Mushu, Elmo now and then.

Being the youngest, Jeremy always wants to play with his older cousins. And being the youngest, he's always shunned and they don't want to play with him. But I think once he starts talking more they'll include him more often. They do let him join in once and a while. But once he starts grabbing their crayons or throwing them around, drawing on their paper instead of his, they decide to play something else and leave him where he is. Oh, to be young.

We drove down to LA in the new (used) Odyssey to meet the new cousin, Malia, and for Grandma’s belated birthday. The kids loved the dvd player. We were holding out as long as we could for a portable dvd player for the car. But now that Cathleya’s older, it helped a lot. But then she starts complaining that he neck hurts or she leans over sideways funny in her seat (just like on the couch). We used the booster seat function rather than the 5 point harness so she’s more comfy. But that means more freedom to not sit properly in her chair. That’s probably not the best thing to do in the car. But I remember the station wagon days growing up where you lay across the whole bench seat to take a nap with the center lap belt loosely fitted around your waist to claim that you’re still in your seat belt. How times have changed.

We are anxiously waiting for the city to approve our last iteration of our expansion plans for the house. Hopefully we'll get to break ground in April or May. We're so jaded now that its never going to happen that we haven't started packing things up and preparing for strangers to trample all over our house tearing down walls and putting them back up again. But we're a lot closer than we were before so we better get off our posterior and get packing. We'll be able to live in the house while the construction is going on so that helps. It will just be dusty for a while. But it will be worth it.

End of another year

The last few months have flown by. For Jeremy, October and November were teething months. Mid October he was working on his top two molars. Then his bottom K9s. After that was his bottom molars and top K9s. That brought him to December which was a sickly month. Fever, stuffy nose, & whiny yuckiness. He seems healthier once the new year came. December was also the month of advancement for Jeremy. He's attempting to say a lot more words and understand their meaning. He won't hesitate to stab you in they eye and say "eye" a few hundred times. He's identifying ears, nose, mouth and teeth too. He tries to put on his own socks and "shoos". And if you count with him, he tries to follow along.

Cathleya has been memorizing songs for her holiday show for school. The Chipmunk's Christmas song and a banana song. I'm not sure why a banana song is Christmasy. It makes no reference to anything associated with the holidays. But she loves to sing them and practice the hand and body motions. I'm trying to get a video of it to share. Before the show she would be very shy when I asked her to sing it for Grandma or her Aunties and Uncles. But now that the show is over, she is more than willing to belt out her rendition of the Chipmunk Christmas song.

The kids had a great time in Disneyland over Thanksgiving week. Cathleya got to go to the aquarium outside of Legoland one of the days too. Traffic and other delays prevented us from getting to Legoland in time to make paying for it worth it. So we spent the 3 hours we had before closing to see the fish instead.

Christmas was full of Daddy's very first fried turkey at Uncle Corey's house. It turned out great. He has now been volunteered to fry the turkey every year. Cathleya and Jeremy got some great clothes and toys from all of their friends and relatives. Mommy got a new camera and Daddy got a new wallet and some nice collared shirts for work. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for part of the week and Cathleya watched most of the new Muppet movie on New Years Eve with us and her cousin. She got restless during the last half hour so Daddy had to take her out. Someday he'll get to see the end.

Cathleya's news for 2012 is betting moved up to Junior Kindergarten. No more nap time. But she gets to go to class with her favorite friend, Ellie again. They will be taking the school van to the off-site Jr. K class and back in the afternoon for extended care at preschool. Today is her first day. I hope it went well.

2012 should be a lot of fun with our Disneyland annual passes, location weddings to attend in Hawaii and Tahoe, and a new cousin on the way next month. Hopefully we'll get a change to relax and do nothing in between all the trips, weddings, birthdays, house remodel (if it ever starts), and whatever else seems to keep us constantly busy all the time. It will definitely be a busy year.

Cold Turkey

About 2-3 weeks ago, somewhere between the kitchen and the bathroom, Jeremy lost his pacifier. He's got 4 and there's 1 backup pacifier safely stored away. The other three are probably where the mismatched socks end up. But he goes all day at daycare without one and the day he lost this one he didn't even notice it was gone. Bed time went well. He didn't scream for it like he so often does. We thought maybe he doesn't need it any more.

In all honesty, we haven't tried hard to find the other three but Jeremy's managing without it. Nap time during that first weekend was very hard. Car or stroller rides after extreme exhaustion was the only thing that would work without his beloved pacifier.

During the last 2-3 weeks Jeremy has been quite the jabber mouth. He's been babbling, singing (sorta), and saying a lot more words. Maybe without the plug in his mouth he's free to truly express himself. Although that may mean more screaming and whining. But he's been doing very well. And he gives the best hugs. Although sometimes those big two armed, nose smashing hugs are followed by hair pulling or two handed head slapping. Or if you're Daddy, bites on the cheek that leave teeth marks, ear pulling, nose scratching, or other signs of endearment.

Jeremy's had many growth spurts in the past few weeks. He's walking much better. Climbing up and down the stool to couch and back down again. He's pronouncing "Please" much clearer sometimes. He's expanding his vocabulary. He can say, or attempt to say, up please, diaper, cah (car), bah (ball), puple (purple), mommy, mo' (more), ni-ni (milk), wa-wa (water), and probably a few more that I don't realize he's saying. He's also trying to feed himself. That works fine for scrambled eggs or other things that stay on the fork. But when there's rice on the spoon and he turns it over to eat, apparently it works better with the rounded side up, it can be a bit of a mess.

Cathleya is doing very well herself. Every day she comes home singing the newest song that she learned at school. Her writing is getting better but the way she forms her letters are a little backwards. She'll start the s from the bottom or the g is a glorified s but starting from the bottom. She often mirror's her y's. Luckily she's often interested and eager to do her "homework". She'll make her own 'dot to dots' or 'draw a line to the pictures that are the same.' She loves doing her art projects at school and giving all the teachers flowers from my hibiscus bushes. She is still easily frustrated when things don't go her way or alludes to what she means instead of asks me straight out. Like "I want a girl to help me brush my teeth." So why don't you just say you want Mommy to do it?

Cathleya loves her brother. She'll shoosh us in the car if he's napping and we're talking too loud. She's quick to tattle on him when he's trying to take her toys. She often tries to kiss his head despite all of Jeremy's refusals. He'd stop fussing for a bit to listen to her sing Twinkle Twinkle to him. That's her go-to song for him. They keep growing so fast. Sometimes it's hard to just savor the moment.

He's Walking!!!

Jeremy can walk!! He took his first few steps at about 14 months old. Chris saw it first but I was in denial. It wasn't until he walked for me a few days later that it became real. It took him a few weeks but now he's a pro. During the transition between steps and walking he decided climbing would be fun to learn too. On the chair, off the chair, on the chair, off the chair. No, he can't sit still.

Cathleya needs to watch out now because she and her toys are now fair game. He likes to crawl or walk over to her to see what she's doing, grabs whatever she's playing with, or pulls her hair. He doesn't mean anything by it but it drive Cathleya nuts. Sometimes it is because he wants her toy. Sometimes he's just curious.

He's been saying thank you or 'tank cue', 'tang coo', or something sounding like that. But its always when he's giving you something. He's mastering car, ball, shoe. Sometimes you say a word and he actually tries to say it, like yellow & purple. Mama is too close to mum mum which some how is too close to na na like banana, but more of a universal 'give me food' meaning. So I'm trying for Mommy instead. He can sorta say Dad but its hard to say if its intentional. He recognizes his name and sometimes can point to people if you ask who that is. But most of the time he's too busy playing. He's identified his favorite blanket, a light green Pooh Bear blanket that is way too warm for summer. But, that's his blankie, or pae-pae in Chinese.

Now at 15 months old he's starting to push out two more teeth on the bottom and a molar on the top. It's been interesting. On and off runny noses, a bout of a cough, Cathleya getting over a cough... It's a good thing the rest of us haven't gotten sick. (Knock on wood)

Cathleya has been pushing her boundaries with not listening and repeatedly doing what we tell her not to. I've resorted to taking away her coveted Leapster game for one day for every act she continues to do by the 3rd warning to stop. I think it's working. By warning #2 and the reminder that the game is at stake, she gets up and does what I ask. I hope it sticks.

She's also doing a lot better at writing and trying to sound out letters and words. She still gets frustrated when you try to make her read Dr. Seuss books. Sometimes she's willing because she memorized them all, but if you point out words out of order, she's not willing anymore.

I'm trying to work on her anger management. She'll get upset and frustrated when, say her sleeve is stuck and her arm won't go through. She'll stomp her foot, scream, cry, anything but ask for help. And her "asking" is more like, 'I need blank'. I keep reminding her that's not asking. Or she'll beat around the bush to ask for things, "I want the toy with the buttons." So I hand her a button. She gets mad at me. I say, "It's a button." She says, "No something with buttons to push." So I push on the button. It just angers her more. Aren't plays on words wonderful? Just say what you want. I know she knows exactly what it is that she wants, but she doesn't out right say it. Not sure where she learned that one.

Jeremy, on the other hand, knows exactly what he wants. He just can't verbalize it yet. That causes its own heaps of frustration. Hopefully he'll start communicating better soon. And then on the next adventure.