Come out of the computer!

I was webcamming with Joshua the other night and he said, "Come out of the computer and play with me daddy!" I can't wait to see him and Samuel and Annette tomorrow! Merry Christmas everyone.

Webcam with Josh

I can't resist blogging about Joshua even though he's not around.

Tonight, we had a lot of fun playing through the webcam. I would point the camera out the window and show him all the snow that had accumulated on the street outside and more importantly, the snow plows working feverishly to clear the roads. He was entranced and said, "I want to go back to Boston!" We also sang some songs, "ABC', "San Toki--the rabbit song", "London Bridges", "I'm a little acorn nut". He would also listen and comment about the discussion that Annette and I were having, like when daddy "almost" crashed in the snow (not really), or that my windshield wiper was broken (temporarily) and that it was "scary."

I can't wait to see my family in 3 days, and be free to play with them for 2 weeks!

Conversations with Aspen

Joshua has been in California playing with his younger cousin Aspen for a week and a half now. They love playing together. Sometimes they will spontaneously hug and hold hands. They have conversations like this:
J: Aspen you HAVE to share.
A: No, I don't want to share.
J: Aspen you have to share.
A: No, I don't want to share.
etc. etc.

J: I'm first.
A: No, I'm first!
J: I'm first.
A: No, I'm first!
......

J: Dayo! (what does that mean?)
A: Dayo!
J: laughter...
A: laughter....
and it just goes on and on....

The Boys and Mom

are in California. We went to the beach the day I came back to Boston. Joshua has been showing a lot of maturity which I am very proud of. He's a good sharer. And takes good care of his brother Samuel. He was an excellent passenger flying to California, and didn't complain once on the long 8 hour flight--1.5 sitting at the gate waiting for them to de-ice the plane at Logan, and then another 6.5 in the air. He really enjoyed the JetBlue "orange chips"--the Doritos/Cheetos mix, and ate 2 bags worth--enough to give him a "tummy ache."

Joshua has really been enjoying playing with his cousin Aspen, which is so great to see. The other night, they just gave each other spontaneous hugs.

Annette says that Samuel has been an angel baby in California. He is so content and quiet that we often forget he's there.

I miss the boys and mom a lot!

First In&Out Burger

Joshua had (devoured) his first In&Out Burger on vacation in California.

Hubris

Joshua and I were reading a book together this morning--he loves to play the "matching" game with his books. And we do "I spy..." as well. He was getting a lot of questions correct and I was telling him, "Excellent!" and "Good Job!" And then he added, "I'm a genius!" I asked him "Who told you that?" And he replied, "God."

Veteran's Day Parade

We took Joshua to watch his first parade on Veteran's Day. He got a flag and enthusiastically waved to the marchers: "Hi Soldiers!" When we got home, he wanted to reenact the parade, especially the drummers section and wanted Samuel to participate as a parade watcher:

Santa photo

We went to the Burlington Mall today to experience the Rainforest Cafe. Joshua said he didn't like the animals--a bit scary and loud. But the mall did have Santa available to take wish lists and photos. Voila:

Milk in a sippee cup

We had hoped to wean Joshua off his sippee cup now that he's three. But for some strange reason, he will only drink milk from a sippee cup. Even at school, he prefers water over milk. So for the sake of him getting more calcium, we are going back to the sippee cup for 1 or 2 cups of milk a day. Hmm.

Analytical

At the Science Museum today, Joshua was looking at the big Rube Goldberg contraption and pronounced, "This is like the one in the airport." "But the one at the airport has 2 cymbals." I find it remarkable he associates the two machines, and then is able to remind specific features and can compare them. I think he's going to be an engineer.

He also successfully built a Tumble Tree Timbers roof on his own, which really surprised me.

Joshua's diapers training has been going well. 2 nites ago, while brushing his teeth, he said he wanted to go poop, so as he was sitting down and I thought this was going to take a while like usual, he suddenly pushed out a big adult size one into the toilet. Impressive. I immediately ordered him another toy train to celebrate. In the daytime, he stays pretty dry in his pullups. We used up the last of his diapers this week, and we bought about 200 new pullups for home and school use. Joshua is becoming a big boy.

At the museum, he was carrying a large stool around so he could climb up and get a better look at the trains. He explained, "I'm three now and very strong."

Happy Birthday Joshua!

When I wished Joshua a "Happy Birthday" this morning, he said, "Am I three now?" I told him that the mailman had brought him presents from momma, dadda, and Samuel--and he added: "and from Barak Obama!"

Joshua enjoyed getting an Acela train for this birthday!

Annette made another beautiful train birthday cake for Joshua.


A labor of love.

That was well appreciated!

Election Day

After Joshua's birthday party, we took him to participate in the electoral process. Listen to what he says:




Annette made sure we brought the camera along to record this historic day in US presidential elections.

We were prepared to wait hours in line to vote, as we had heard many had needed to do. Fortunately, we showed up at a good time and cast and ballots in no time at all.

Fall Splendor

The New England fall is really something special. This year, because of all the summer rainstorms, the trees are particularly beautiful. This one is just right outside Joshua's preschool.

This shot is from outside Samuel's room.

Trick or Treat

This year, we decided to go trick or treating in the Cambridge neighborhood instead of trekking out to Brookline, the closed-off-to-cars area in Boston that we went to last year. We met a lot of really nice neighbors and were impressed with how many families were out on the street enjoying the festivities. There were a lot of Obama pumpkins around:


Joshua got the hang of trick or treating this year. He would get so excited seeing the decorated houses and getting candy, he would do a celebratory shuffle/stomp dance every once in awhile. It was so cute, and funny, because once he got so excited while doing his dance that he fell and all his candy spilled out.


Joshua meets his match here.

His favorite candy of the night came from a lady who threw a "ghost lollilop" to him. (Joshua is holding it in his hand here)

At the end, we asked Joshua want he wanted to dress up as next year and he said, "a butterfly." We'll see.

Halloween Party

Though it wasn't Halloween yet, we busted out Joshua's pumpkin costume and took him to the annual big Halloween Party put on at the Seaport Trade Center.


He got to see his favorite singer, Dan Zanes. Though Joshua later told me that he preferred listening to his Dan Zanes Night Time CD to seeing Dan live.

He got to graffiti a car.

And he was very friendly with the dressed up characters walking around, like this Sun.

But his favorite part of the party was:
The balls.

Almost 3 thoughts

Joshua is almost 3 years old, and here are some things he says:
"Drink 2 cups of milk so you won't break your bones." I thing Annette taught him this nutrition tidbit.
"The parking garage was full, so they park on the street." He likes to explain his understanding of cause and effect.
"I changed my mind, let's eat sushi, then go to the playground." He has very clear opinions now on what he wants to do. We can't just drag him anywhere we want. There's got to be some convincing and persuasion involved.

Where is Jesus?

At dinner tonite, out of the blue, Joshua asked us, "Where is Jesus?" I was busy watching Cal football, so I left Annette to the tough answers. As Annette explained heaven and how Jesus could be with us if we asked him to "come into our hearts", Joshua replied, "I don't want him to come in." OK. No pressure. This faith thing is very abstract for an almost 3 yr old (and for the rest of us as well.)

Homophones

Joshua asks these questions when tripped up by homophones:

Mom:  "Do you want to eat some plain pancakes?"  Joshua:  "These pancakes are from an airplane?"

Dad:  "Cheers!"  Joshua:  pointing at some chairs, "Those chairs?"

Fall Days

It was the Charles River Rigatta this weekend, and we took the boys out to watch some boat racing!

Everything is a train

Joshua is a few weeks short of turning 3.

It's all about trains for him right now. We went to the circus last weekend, and all he could talk about was the train tracks at North Station where we took the subway. He had some orange slices for breakfast today and even those he lined up into a train.

Josh has been enjoying preschool, staying later. More articulate than ever. Played rhyming games with us at dinner: "What's a favorite dessert that rhymes with Tango? Mango!" "Who lives upstairs and his name sounds like Dodger, "Roger!"

Favorite music these days is "Dan's Night Time Music". But still a fan of U2 and really likes both "Vertigo" as well as "Elevation"

Josh seems to really like his little brother. When we asked him who he wanted to invite to his birthday party, he said, "Just Samuel." He likes to sing to Samuel, and is always asking to see him.

Hopscotch

Piano Duet with Mommy

Big brother

We've been so proud of Joshua. He really loves being the big brother: holding, talking to, and touching Samuel.

First Dentist Appointment

Joshua went to his first dentist appointment today. I was really impressed with his dentist, Dr. Ala. She was able to examine his teeth, play around with a pick, clean them, floss them all with him being super cooperative, sitting in a dental chair. I was surprised Joshua wasn't frightened and was so helpful--I was really proud of him.


So afterwards, we took him to the playground.

And gave him some cheese puffs--his current favorite snack which he discovered at Whole Foods.

I love you

Joshua is really into saving "I love you" these days. Usually to me and Annette, which we like. :) And then also to Carmen--his babysitter, to his grandma Kim, and to Samuel; but also the other nite to a random student in the dorm. Hmm.

Promequia and Chug

These are words that Joshua has made up. We always wondered what he meant by "promequia"-- one of his favorite words when he was about 2. He was too young to be able to explain it then. "Chug" is what he calls the sticks that connect the train wheels and make that "chug, chug, chug" sound.

Joshua is now enjoying preschool--doesn't cry when we drop him off at school. Still comes home early for his nap.

He really enjoyed our last 2 nites's housemaster dinners. He stands up on the stage, jumps around, and sings into the microphone for the crowd to watch. Afterwards, he wanted to hang around and eat dinner with the students and didn't want to go back home until the party was over!

7 1/2 Koreans

According to his teacher, there are 7.5 Koreans in Joshua's class of 16 students. Guess who is the 0.5 Korean?

They wear these super cute pink tie dyed shirts on trips to help distinguish them from other groups. Works really well!


Walking to school with grandma. Yes, he does dress for success!

Joshua is the shortest (and youngest) kid in the class. This was a real eye-opener for me. Also gives me permission to continue to spoil him and treat him like my little baby!

First field trip

Joshua went on his first school field trip today. He was very excited about getting on the school bus. (He's the guy standing in the window)

Grandma Kim and I accompanied him.


Joshua helped me load up all the kid's pumpkims in our station wagon to transport back to school.

He's a little guy, but he wanted to pick the biggest pumpkin in the patch!

Big Brother Party

We threw Joshua a "Big Brother" party to celebrate him becoming a big brother. He was very excited!

Joshua is very gentle with Samuel and is always asking, "Why is Samuel crying?"


He was especially thrilled with one of his big brother presents: a new umbrella!

Joshua meets Samuel

Samuel's first photo

Samuel was born today. Here is his website.

Preschool Blues

It was probably too good to be true. Joshua didn't cry the first day of preschool. But the next 3 days were full of tears whenever we had to leave. The funny thing is that he's tries to be brave. He said at breakfast, "I'm not going to cry today." But then he did anyway.

On the bright side, he has a new girlfriend: Amy. The first day of school, she said, "He's cute." Yesterday when he was crying at school, she came over, brought him a cup of water, and sat next to him. She's really cute, is older than him (4 yrs old), and pretty smart. A good choice Josh! A chip off the old block!

Sahrang Heiyo!

Joshus said this spontaneously to Annette the other day, and we weren't sure what he was saying. He repeated it, and I asked him what it meant. He said, "I love you", which is right. Annette had taught that to him in Korean just one time a while ago--and he still remembered. We were shocked.

Joshua's Bible Study

I was reading on Joshua's firetruck bed and he decided he wanted to join me saying, "I read Bible Study book too!"

First day of preschool

Joshua was very excited about going to school for the first time today. He did really well. No crying. I was really proud of him. Later on, Annette and I drove by his school to spy on him: he was playing with another girl on the playground. He's the youngest kid and shortest kid there.