Christmas with the Kims

Dot com generation and Lego lessons

Last night at dinner, we were talking about snow plows, and I asked Joshua why some snow plows have brushes and others have shovels. He said, "I don't know dad. Let's google snowplow dot com and find out!"

Today, our babysitter heard Joshua saying, "Samuel come here. I'm going to give you a Lego lesson!"

5th Birthday

Annette made her annual cake extravangaza for Joshua again this year.

Construction crew

At Sparrow park near our old house in the South End

Lego Firetruck

Joshua still loves his legos, and making firetrucks.

Joshua's Christmas Concert

Hawaii tip for dad and girlfriends

Joshua told me this morning, "When you go to Hawaii, leave your ring at home." He has taken my lost wedding rings stories to heart.

When I told Joshua the other day that he might have a lot of girlfriends someday, he looked sheepishly aside and said, "But I just like my brother Samuel." And the love is mutual. I jokingly asked Samuel tonight who he loves more, Mommy or Daddy, and he said, "Joshua!"

These days in addition to their favorite game of "garbage", where they take buckets of toys and dump them onto the sofa and bed, they also enjoy playing:
1) Christmas. In this pretend game, the boys led by Joshua make presents and put them in boxes to distribute to the rest of us. Opening them immediately is mandatory! One can also be selected to be Santa Claus and decide whether the boys and girls have been good or bad.
2) the boys have rediscovered the Thomas train sets again and it is so sweet to watch them build tracks together. Joshua is a generous teacher, always willing to show Samuel what to do when he gets stuck.
3) gym time. The boys like to run around in the hallway outside our dorm gym, playing with the Pilates balls, creating tents, runways, obstacle courses with the mats, taking breaks to drink water, and wrestling with one of us.
4) and of course, building legos is still a staple of their daily activities.

1st Christmas concert

I was lucky enough to be a one of Joshua's classes practice for his first ever Christmas concert. I've seen other kids' shows at schools which have moved me. I'm sure I'll be all teary eyed on Monday night watching Joshua.

Here is a link to the video:

http://db.tt/7MOozjH

School picture

Drawing mommy

We are at the library, and Joshua decides to spontaneously draw a picture of his mommy.

Sunday brunch

We played hooky from church and had brunch at Full Moon cafe.

Apple picking with Sam

We went apple picking with Joshua's best friend from preschool, also named Sam.

First Day of Pre-K

Waiting for the shuttle that will take us to the subway on Joshua's first day of Pre-K!

I do not like Green Eggs and Ham

Last day of preschool

We had a pizza party for his class the 2nd to last day of his school. Even Sam came. Joshua has had a fantastic 2 years in his preschool, and we've really loved his teachers and his wonderful classmates.

Finally, "I like dad a little better"

Annette was taking Joshua to school today and he said to her, "I wish Dad was taking me to school. I like him a little better. "
Of course, a couple of weeks ago, he said, "I want to change parents, but keep mommy. You can go dad."

Let's play garbage

Samuel is sleeping and I ask Joshua what game he would like to play together. "Let's play garbage," he says. With all the toys and games he has available, I find it interesting that he just wants to throw everything he can find onto our garbage truck, i.e., the sofa.  OK, let's go!

Acadia National Park

In between graduating from preschool and moving to preK (that's pretty much the same thing isn't it?), we took our first long driving trip (5hrs) to Mt Desert Island / Acadia National Park with our friend Michelle and her family.


Enjoying lunch on the lawn of the Jordan Pond House. Nice place. Yummy popovers. "The best I've had," says Annette. Josh got to eat popover a la mode with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce for his lunch!


Joshua came over and gave me this spontaneous hug at the pond. Annette captured the moment on camera.

Joshua gets a back hug from his friend Evan on top of Cadillac mountain.

Joshua, Samuel, and Evan doing their favorite thing on Sand Beach, digging and building with sand!

I am confused

Joshua had a breakdown at school the other day. And while he didn't tell his teachers what happened, he finally told Annette: "Samuel (his best friend at school) pinched my finger. Why does he do that? You shouldn't hurt your friends. That confuses me!"

First Beach Day of the Summer

We finally made it out to the beach this summer, to our favorite: Wingaersheek Beach

Kickin' it.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

New Journey!

I asked Joshua last night if he was sad about leaving his preschool, which he has attended the past 2 years. He said, "No dad, I'm excited about starting my new journey!" I guess he's ready for pre-K!

Joshua Summer 2010

Joshua is just about 4 years 9 months now, and I can't believe he is turning 5 this fall.

Today, he woke up and spent some time surfing the internet. He knows how to use the mouse pretty well, and usually will navigate around the PBS sproutonline.com website, looking at videos of Bob, Fireman Sam, Caiyou. 

He wasn't thrilled about going to church, but was overjoyed when we arrived to find out that there was no Sunday school today. We played in the foyer, the yard, and pretty much skipped the entire service.

We went to the MIT pool to swim. Josh is getting more comfortable in the water, but still very far away from bring able to swim comfortably independently in the water. He says, "I like swimming, with a grown up!"

Them we went on a bike ride along the Charles River, with Josh admonishing me to be more careful on my roller blades: "Don't go backwards, go slower,etc." He is still using training wheels.but he can go pretty fast, especially when he spotted the ice cream truck.

Now it's 4:30, and he's asleep with me in the parking lot of BJs.

Lincoln Logs

Joshua is impressing me all the time with his news skills. Here, he's built a log cabin, complete with windows, doors, and a roof.

Playing on the waves

Joshua and Samuel love playing on these sculptures. We call them the "waves!" Here Joshua is pontificating about what he likes to do on them.

Joshua's preschool

We love that Joshua's preschool class is so diverse. His favorite pals in class now are: Minki, Yi Zheng, Sam, and Alina

Tony's pizza

We love this place, thought it's really called "Chicago Pizza." We have a way of giving fake names to places/people based on what we've read. Joshua has a book called the "Name Jar" and that's how we got Tony's Pizza. The crust is crispy and awesome. And now, they have great outdoor furniture so we can sit in the shade and people/traffic watch on Mass Ave.

Stories, stories, stories

Joshua has begun to enjoy reading together small classic chapter books like "Call of the Wild" by Jack London, and "Stuart Little." It's a lot of fun for us too, as it replaces the repetitive firetruck books he's been obsessed with. His obsession with drawing firetrucks has also finally come to an end.

Needing "Assistance"

We got Joshua's latest "report card" from his preschool. Overrall, he is just a superstar. He is "always focused on the teacher during circle time and small group activities". The teachers say that they can always count on Joshua to answer a question about something they have been learning about. "Joshua is a very curious learner." I think he takes after me!
But also, his teachers say, "he continues to need assistance when it involves a peer that has done something to him that he doesn't like ... there are times when his feelings or body is hurt and he needs to cry to move on." The teachers then try using yoga breathing techniques to help him calm down. Joshua is sensitive, and fragile. Annette sees him at school, strategic in his play to avoid conflict. In that way, I guess he is also like me.
Right now, he's been assigned to MLK Jr school in Cambridge, one of the schools with more of the rougher kids. We're not sure how he will do there. We don't think we can shelter him his whole life, but it seems that he is needing more "assistance" with handling conflict with peers right now. So we're thinking about enrolling him in a Montessori school. Never thought I would be sending my child to private school for kindergarten!

Holding Hands

It's very sweet how Joshua likes to hold our hands when we walk together. Today, it was super hot in Cambridge--90 degrees, and as I was walking him to school, we were both sweating profusely (we share that characteristics) and our palms getting soaked. I suggested to him, "How about today let's not hold hands because we are so hot and sweaty?" "OK daddy," he says. He releases my hand, wipes some sweat off his forehead, and then grabs onto my hand again. I didn't mind. I want to remember these days forever.

Playing with Yeh-yeh

The boys had fun playing with yeh-yeh:

Bike Riding

I picked up a bike for Joshua at Target last week, and after an inauspicious start, he has really taken off this week, riding his bike to and from school with Yeh-yeh, who has to run to keep up with Joshua.

Patriot's Day

We celebrated Patriot's day by all going out to watch the Boston Marathon today and Ah-ma and Yeh-yeh. It was a beautiful day and inspiring to watch all the runners coming home toward the finish line.

Springtime!

I was sitting in a conference and I received a text from Annette with the above picture. I couldn't resist. I left my pen ontop of the notebook and just walked out to join my family playing in the sun. It's beginning to feel like Spring!

Hungry Preschooler

Something you see when you have a hungry preschooler at home.

Time Out...I love you!

When Samuel gets a time out (usually for throwing his food), Joshua the enforcer is always right there to make sure we don't miss any infractions. Joshua knows we always give a big hug and kiss after the timeout, so now he'll try to beat us to the punch and runs up to Samuel and says, says, "I love you!"

The Fear of God

Joshua has been really earnest in his bedtime prayers ever since Annette told him that if you look at God, you will die. I told her to stop scaring our son.

Pilgrims and Pirates

Conversation in the car the other day:
JT: "Did you know Pilgrims lived in our home before?"
AK: "What are Pilgrims?"
JT: "Pilgrims are people from the Mayflower"
AK: "What is the Mayflower?"
JT: "The Mayflower is a pirate ship"
AK: "What is a pirate?"
JT: "Pirates are people who wear an eye patch"
AK: "Why do they wear eye patches?"
JT: "To scare people"
RT: "You mean pilgrims were pirates?"
JT: "No!"
RT: "But you said Pilgrims are from pirate ships"
JT" "No, it just looks like a pirate ship."
RT: "Oh, I see."

Dinosaur Tie

We had our annual semi-formal dinner for our residents and Joshua was very excited about wearing his dinosaur tie. He's really looking forward to wearing it again.

Bedtime routine

Every night at around 11pm or midnight, I pick up Joshua from his bed, take him to the bathroom, and just by tapping on his tush and saying "shhhh", I get him to pee. It's amazing to me how he can do this and go right back to sleep. We had to start doing this because he was leaking even out of his overnight diapers. I was tired of changing his bedsheets every day.

Playing together