Cha Gio at Christmas

Mom made a wonderfu Vietnamese meal for everyone!

Christmas in California

Joshua has enjoyed visiting his family and his parents' friends in the Bay Area. Being in New England, I worry that Joshua won't develop deep bonds with his grandparents, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much he enjoys being with yeh-yeh and ah-ma. He likes playing with them and even tries to trick them when he needs a diaper change.

Joshua also got to play with Maki and Hannah, his good friends and daughters of Linda and Stefan. Joshua also had fun with Jackson and Olivia, children of Bob and Sarah. When Joshua is around these kids, he seems like a normal happy boy. Sometimes in the isolation of Boston, it seems like he's so different from the kids I see at work--mainly because they speak Chinese and have different values (parents not engaged in their children's development).

Today at Zachary's red egg party, he surprised yeh-yeh by saying that he wanted a "regular chair!" and not a high chair. Who taught him regular? I don't know.

He's really been into saying that he's "scared" or "sad." Sample monologue Joshua says: "Lamb is sad. Lamb needs a doctor! Oh Gosh! Lamb needs a shot!" We're hoping he doesn't get into a habit of saying he's scared or sad just to get attention. We want to give him positive reinforcement when he says he's happy!

I do throw up again!

Usually Joshua is asleep by 8:30pm, so I was surprised last nite when I came home at 9:30pm to find Joshua sitting alone in the middle of the kitchen wearing only a diaper. I peeked into his bedroom and found the explanation--vomit everywhere! In and on his crib, on the floor, on his stuffed animals, pillows, blanket, you name it (OK not the ceiling). We spent the rest of the night decontaminating the hot zone and finally put him back to bed. While we were cleaning up, Joshua was very happy (now that whatever had been bothering his stomache had been exorcised from his body), and seemed to be enjoying the extra time he was getting to spend with mom and dad. He even said, "I do throw up again!"

Tonite, as I was rushing to cook dinner and get Joshua ready for our small group, I got Joshua into his high chair, his food ready in front of him, and I started digging into my food. Joshua wasn't eating though and he was muttering something quietly. I leaned in and finally understood him saying, "Forgot 'keedo'" "Keedo" means prayer in Korean. I was humbled and amazed at my son's quiet rebuke of his dad who had forgotten to say grace before a meal. So we held hands, and Joshua said, "Thank you God! Amen!" before diving into his noodles.

25 months old

Joshua likes to:
1. jump on the sofa. He says he is a "jumping bean!"
2. likes to read "surprise" books at bedtime. He keeps on patting my shirt to see if I have any more books underneath to pull out. He usually likes to go to bed with 2 books, his lamb and a big comforter.
3. ride his train around the house and dorm
4. still look for easter eggs. He hasn't gotten the concept down of hiding them himself yet.
5. likes to put his treasured items: trains, trick or treat candy, leaves, money, Lego's into the cargo bin of his train
6. kiss momma and dada
7. is looking forward to Christmas and Santa Claus giving him a "green present"
8. still has hair that naturally styles into a mohawk in the morning
9. wants to "go to work also" with dadda in the morning
10. likes to "take Carmen home" at nite and see the "green trains"
11. likes to eat Vietnamese egg rolls ("cha giao!"), Wolfgang veggie pizza at the museum, pasta, blackberries, oranges, pears, blueberries, apples, grapes, and raisins.

I like food!

In the car this morning, Annette asked Joshua if he like trains or trucks more. He responded, "I like both!" And then added, "I like food!"