The boy who loved to read...

There's one thing you love and that's reading books. Actually you don't know how to read yet so I guess it would be for me to read you books. Auntie Sara and Uncle Dan just came back from their England vacation yesterday and they brought you back Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit book. I had the chance to read it to you today and you really enjoyed it. I was so afraid that you would rip out the pop ups (because you had already done that to your other books) and I didn't want you ruining such a beautiful book. Luckily you didn't :-)

One thing I'm noticing is how much you are changing. You try to copy everything we are saying now. This morning when daddy brought you to our bed after you had woken up you started pointing to the picture frames above our bed and started pointing and saying 'daddy, umma, Aidan!' Well, you don't say 'Aidan' quite perfectly. You say 'Ah-Den'. You then sat on mommy's stomach and started pointing to all my parts starting with my eyes. It was very cute.

Then at church you grabbed the wooden puzzle toys- the ones where you match the cut-out shapes to the puzzle back. You were fitting all the shapes into their proper place like a pro. And when I ask you what you want you nod your head as if you understand everything I am saying now. For example, if I say, "Aidan, do you want cheese?" You then nod your head. And then I ask you, "Say please." Then you say "peace" (as in please). After I give you the cheese I ask you to say thank you. Then you say, "Tank you". After you eat the cheese I ask you to throw it in the garbage and you run to the garbage can and throw it out. It's quite amazing. How did something that was nothing become this amazing little creature???

Time Out!

Lately we, meaning daddy and I, have been implementing the Time Out method of disciplining you. Basically we move you from the situation where you are throwing a tantrum or if you have done something bad and we put you against a corner of a wall. I'm not sure if you are getting it though. Most of the time you are mocking us when we put you there. Almost like you think we are joking. Then you start getting a little antsy and start slowly moving away. When we put you back in the corner that's when you get really upset. You start crying and throwing a hissy fit on the ground. Nonetheless we aren't going to stop trying this method. Unless you want the spanking method... Muhahaha!

The video below of you is when I put you in the Time Out corner. Don't I sound scary in the video? You don't want to mess with mommy...

Family day- Kim style!

Both mommy and daddy had a day off from work today. Daddy kept insisting that today was family day and I guess in a way it was. Too bad the weather was crummy :-S

The day started off with us dropping by your Toronto grandparent's café in the morning. We were able to get free food and they, meaning your grandparents, were able to spend time with you. The photos above were of you and your grandpa today. He was delivering a catering order and he took you along with him in his little cart. It was so cute! I think you were scared to fall off so you sat very still the whole way there.

Afterwards mommy had to stop by the dentist and then we headed over to Pacific Mall to grab some lunch and to browse around. You kept insisting that I hold you the whole time we were there so we couldn't stay for too long. You are getting so heavy now- I think you are about 25lbs so it's really hard for both mommy and daddy to hold you for a long time.

We headed back home to rest and take a nap, but you know how you are with sleeping- you hate it! I tried for an hour to put you down for a nap, but you weren't having any of it. Eventually I gave up in frustration. I thought that family day was over, but apparently not! Daddy wanted to go to another mall nearby to buy a visor for his hockey helmet and also soccer shoes so we headed out again. This time around you were so cranky and tired so it wasn't a pleasant trip. The trick is to take you in the morning or right after a nap because that's when you are happiest.

Aidan's tree

Do you like this wall decal that I put up today in your room? I've been on a serious décor mode this weekend. I get like that every time I get inspired. This time I was inspired when I went over to Auntie Jess' house on Friday. Her place is sooooo nice. I've been wanting to put wall decals in your room ever since we moved in 2 years ago, but I haven't found any that I liked until today. We were at Vaughan Mills Mall for the Victoria Day holiday and I saw this really cute tree decal at Baby's R Us. I couldn't resist. It was $39.99 and I thought that was a good price. Most of the wall decals that I've seen were almost $100. Or even more for that matter...

Daddy wasn't so sure about it though. He's always like that. He always questions me when in the end everything turns out to be ok. I convinced him to get it anyways and I'm glad we did. As soon as we got home I put it up. It was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I had to be very careful when peeling off the stickers because some of them ripped past the perforation line. All in all I'm pleased with how it looks in your room. Makes it more personalized.

So the question is- did you like it?

You were more interested in using the sticker pads as your stomping ground. You loved the sound it made when you stepped on it. Oh well. You were so cute doing it.

So tomorrow is back to work/daycare for everyone. It was a great relaxing weekend for all of us. We were able to spend good quality time with each other. I'm so sad that it has come to an end, but the good thing is mommy has this Friday off.

I Gotta Feeling... That tonight's gonna be a good night...

Mommy was finally able to stick up some art work you've done at daycare on the wall. And I must say it looks pretty awesome! I think you have a real penchant for art. I have a huge stack of your other artwork in my office that I still have to decide what to do with. I'll think of something...

It's been an awesome weekend after my hellish week at work. I was able to visit Auntie Jess on Friday and yesterday we had brunch with your Toronto grandparents at Oliver & Bonaccini. Today we went to church and afterwards I took you to the park and you actually walked by yourself to Starbucks with me and then back home. You were in such a good mood this weekend that I was so happy. Tomorrow is Victoria Day so we have another day together. :-)

Meet Lloyd Christmas

That's Jim Carrey's character in the movie Dumb & Dumber.

Lloyd Christmas

You went from having long surfer hair to Lloyd Christmas' hair in Dumb & Dumber. How did this happen? Well, I asked the hairdresser that was cutting your hair to cut a little at the front (but not too much) and thin out the back and this is what happened. Sigh.

Daddy even got his hair cut by the same lady and she cut his hair way too short! Double sigh.

Work/life balance- Part 2

What a brutal week.

I was home so late all this week because of work that I didn't have a chance to see you at all before you went to bed. Daddy was sweet enough to send me videos of you saying hi and goodbye to me. However, it made me cry at work because I missed you so much and I felt so guilty. I'm not sure if I can keep doing this. One of my co-worker who has 3 boys actually quit because she couldn't handle the late nights. My boss, though, didn't want to lose her so she gave her the opportunity to work from home full-time. What a lucky girl. Sometimes I wish I was in a field that was a little less demanding and the hours were pretty much set. I hate missing out on stuff with you...

You are a gift

Every day I'm reminded how blessed I am to have you.
Today while I was playing with you after your late afternoon nap I got a call from Auntie Sara. She was asking me if I had talked to Auntie Jess this week. Auntie Jess had gone to see her OBGYN on Thursday. What had happened apparently was that the doctors found out from her ultrasound that Jess was starting to dilate. That is not a good thing at this stage of her pregnancy- she is 24 weeks now. I don't know if I had mentioned it, but Auntie Jess is currently on bed rest due to complications of her pregnancy. Basically her cervix is short- much smaller than regular pregnant women so she could have a miscarriage at any moment. It's such a scary thought that every time I think about it I get a tear in my eye. I can't imagine what they (Wayne and Jess) must be going through. However, I'm so proud of her and how she is handling this. She is basically leaving it in God's hands.

I know I get angry and frustrated with you... especially lately since you are at your terrible 2 stage. However, I know I should be more patient and truly think of you as a gift every day of my life. This morning you woke up quite early (considering you slept at 1am the night before) so I was frustrated and started yelling, "Go to sleep!" and "Ddook!" (meaning "hush" in Korean). You were crying and I was just so annoyed and tired. Then when I picked you up from your crib I realized you woke up because you had wet your bed and your clothes were all soaked. I felt completely guilty and terrible that I had yelled at you when you were just calling out for me because you needed my help.

Yes, there are times when I want to just be responsible for myself and myself only, but then I realize that I can't live without you anymore. Just the thought of not having you by my side would be devastating. So I want to apologize for being short tempered sometimes.

Here's a video of you playing with mommy today.


You know Auntie Jess told me she chose a name for their daughter? It's Emma- short for Emmanuel. Emmanuel means "God with us". I was crying inside when she told me that. Emma needs to be ok. God needs to take care of her. God has to give her a chance at life! That is my prayer...

Today was your daycare's Mother's Day tea party. Originally I wasn't planning to go because it was at 3:30pm and mommy ends work at 5:30pm. Plus, mommy is in production right now at work. However, I was talking to my coworker last week and she said that I should go. She mentioned that it would be bad if you were the only one in your class with an MIA mother. I never thought of it that way... So I tried my very best to get out of work earlier and rush to your daycare to make it for the Mother's Day tea party. And I'm glad I did. There were only 2 kids in your daycare with an MIA mother.

My only complaint was that you threw 3 temper tantrums while I was there. It wasn't cool because the other mothers probably thought I wasn't a very good mother. You freaked out when I told you to clean up all the toys that you brought out. You fell to the floor and started shrieking/crying. I didn't know what to do. It was very stressful. Then during snack time after I fed you cake you freaked out when I took the plate away. You ran to the middle of the room and started throwing a temper tantrum. I had to quickly grab another piece of cake to quiet you down. I'm not happy with these fits of tantrums that you are doing lately. It is annoying and drains the energy out of me.

I've been wanting to get flash cards for a long time now. However, it's been hard to find everywhere. While we were in Vancouver we got a gift from your Vancouver grandparents' neighbours- a Baby Einstein kit with all these goodies inside of it- one of them being flashcards! Yesterday I had a chance to open the kit and I took about 10 cards and laid it out. I showed you what each one looked like and I read it out to you. Then I laid it all out in a straight line and asked, "Aidan, where is the flower?" Then I would give you a chance to point to the according card. Of course you got it wrong a few times, but by today you were really starting to understand what each one was. I'm planning to teach you different words in batches. So far you know:

flower
bear
truck (I also tell you the sound it makes so that it's easier for you to associate it. For this one I say, "Truck. Beep beep!"
sun
cow (I say "moo moo")
apple
dog (I say "woof woof!")
robotfish

I taped you sounding out the words. Watch the video to see you in action!