Rules are for fools

Daddy sent me this image he took of you guys after dinner time today. Apparently both of you were bad so he put you in time out. A little ironic that you are wearing a shirt that says, "Rules are for fools." Oh really now???

First dance performance

After last week's tantrum fiasco, I wanted to make sure you would go to your class today without a hitch. I talked to you all this week preparing for your dance class. I kept asking you all week, "Aidan, are you going to cry at dance class?" Where you would answer, "No!"

I then kept saying, "Remember, if you listen you get EVERYTHING. If you don't listen, you get…" And you would answer, "NOTHING!" Lately, you've been acting up and just being a total nightmare. It's really draining daddy and I out because we're already tired as it is. Every day is just go, go, go and having to deal with tantrums is just so… hard.

Luckily, you were pretty good today. You went in your class without any hesitation and I even got to go in near the end of the class to observe you. Because of your good behaviour I took you to Walmart where I treated you with your own Batman umbrella. You've been asking me for your own umbrella and it was the perfect day to get it as it was rainy. I even treated you with your favourite lunch- a cheeseburger (hold the pickels) happy mean at McDonald's. This is what happens when you listen!

How can a boy so cute by so… BAD?!

I really don't know what to do with you. You can make me so mad!

What started off as a nice morning- you playing with spoons (I know, you're weird…) and singing The Wheels on the Bus turned into a nightmare of a day. I really didn't think you were going to have a tantrum when I took you to hip hop class because you've been to several classes now and it's been pretty good, but I should have known better. I realize that I have to constantly talk to you so that you don't suddenly turn a 180… 

We got to the community centre a little early so we were watching the kids by the swimming pool. We always pass the swimming pool area when we are heading to your hip hop class. You kept saying, "Mommy, how come you never take me swimming. I want to go swimming…" I took a mental note to sign you up for swimming classes in January, once your hip hop class is over. I guess the longer you stayed with me, made you more clingy and just not wanting to go. When I told you it was time to start heading to your class, you started whining and saying how you didn't want to go. I tried taking off your jacket and you freaked out. I just started walking ahead telling you to follow me. You started screaming at me and you actually charged at me and hit me. I was shocked and embarrassed as there were a lot of parents milling around waiting for the hip hop class to start. I was so mad that I started grabbing your arm and talking to you sternly (I would have yelled at the top of my lungs if we were alone). You were just flailing your arms and just screaming. I thought once the teacher came out of the class to take you guys in you would calm down, but no. You were not consolable. I dragged you into your class and tried to get you to stand up, but I couldn't. All the other kids were being distracted by your screaming/crying so I told the teachers that I couldn't put you in this week. All my energy was put into getting you to calm down that I forgot your water bottle in your class. By this time I was fuming and so angry that I just started screaming at you in the parking lot. When we got to the car I just yelled at you nonstop. I was so angry that you couldn't be like the other kids in your class, angry that you didn't go to your class when I had paid for it, angry that you never listen and angry that I forgot your water bottle. 

I know it doesn't seem like it, but this was you before the whole tantrum fiasco. It's like a switch.
One minute you're such a sweet boy, and the next a little devil.

I was so angry when I got home that I just didn't want to deal with you. I literally threw you down in bed and forced you to take your nap time.

I was so angry at daddy too because he never takes you on Saturday mornings to dance class. It's always me. I never spend time with Kendall because I'm always with you. I think daddy just doesn't want to deal with you sometimes. I just am hoping and praying that this is just a phase and it will pass…

The only thing that made my day a little brighter was when Kendall smiled and played with me.

Getting ready for kindergarten

Mommy's been running around like a headless chicken getting you ready for kindergarten. I had to get a whole bunch of school supplies (see above) that you have bring to school as well as get the whole daycare transition in order. Yesterday I went shopping at Walmart to shop for lunch stuff that I have to start packing for you. My boy is all grown up!

I went out earlier today to pick up an extra epipen for you (your new daycare needs 1 and your
school needs 2!). While I was out I guess you were not behaving. Daddy was so angry and
you were a crying mess. I took this photo of you after I calmed you down and put you
down for nap time. Yes, you can be a total nightmare when you are bad, but when you sleeping
like this it makes my heart hurt that we were angry with you. I know daddy feels the same way.
Please behave, my little monster!

Candyland fiasco

What a tough tough day…

What started off as a promising day turned out into a disaster.

My friend YJ and I decided that we would take our kids to Candyland- an indoor playground that she's been raving about. It was perfect since it was supposed to rain all day. We also decided to invite our other friend, Jenn and her 3 kids. 

We went at 10:30am and right away, I was loving the set-up and how kid-friendly it was. It was also so CLEAN. I thought you would be excited right away because there were so many things to see and to play with, but you were so shy and clung to me. Asher and Austin were running around trying to play with everything, but you were looking so disinterested. I tried to warm you up by introducing you to all the fun things that they had. Eventually you started opening up and getting excited. Then you found the arcade games… There was one video game in particular that you were really attached to- a shooting game. It's weird, but you seem to love shooting games. Even at Canada's Wonderland your favourite ride is Boo Blaster- a ride where you shoot ghosts and haunted things with a gun. I thought you would get tired of playing the shooting game after a while, but once you get in your zone it's hard to get you do anything else. I asked you several times that your friends were playing in the basketball/soccer zone and that you should join them, but you yelled at me that you weren't interested. I was not impressed. I had to go back to the sitting area because I had to feed Kendall. I was hoping you would tire of the game and move onto something else. 

While I was feeding Kendall, YJ told me that it wasn't good that you were only playing that one shooting game. She's also anti-gun. I agreed with her and she told me she would try to get you to play something else (even if it meant she had to be firm with you). Next thing I know, I hear you screaming and crying. I think YJ tried to get you to do something else and you lost it on her. She tried to remove you from the video game and you were screaming/crying while trying to slap her at the same time. You kept crying out, "She a BAD girl!" I was shocked. I know how bad your tantrums are, but this was BAD. I made YJ switch with me while I took you off to a corner to discipline you. You were trying to run back to the video game so I just grabbed you and took you to the sitting area. You were so mad that you screamed out loud in frustration. You actually made several moms (my friend, Jenn included) jump. I was mortified, but I eventually calmed you down. I'm always very firm with you when I talk to you, but I try to eventually sway my tone to a nicer tone because I notice that if I yell at you you yell at me back. Once I start talking to you in a nicer way you come around. 

I thought that was going to be the end of the tantrum fiasco, but it was not meant to be. You had another blowout near the end of the day. You were playing in a play house and an older girl tried to get in and I think you didn't want her coming into the house. I was sitting in the sitting area and all I saw was you hitting the older girl while crying hysterically. The girl wasn't doing anything. She wasn't even hitting you back. I think she was more shocked than anything at your crazy outbursts. I ran over and asked the girl if she was just trying to get in the house and she nodded yes. You were just screaming/crying saying, "She a bad girl!" That's when I lost it. I took you to a corner and started yelling at you. I was so angry that you were trying to blame everyone for your bad behaviour. I think you cried for a good 20 minutes. I think all the parents there were thinking how bad you were. Some of them even gave me a sympathetic look. It was so stressful that I cried in front of YJ. She was trying to tell me that it was ok. She said all I could do was to pray extra hard for you. She also went through (and still is going through) a hard time with her son Asher. I was so appreciative that she didn't judge me because I know how some parents judge the parents if the kid is acting up. I think you felt bad when I started crying because you calmed down a lot. 

Let's just say I didn't stay much longer after that. By the time we got home I was so exhausted from all the yelling. I told daddy all about what happened and he was quite shocked. Well, I thought that was the end of that, but again, you did something bad. You called Kendall S-T-U-P-I-D when daddy was changing her diaper. I don't even know where you learned that word, but you are starting to curse now. Daddy was so angry that you said that word to her so he started yelling at you. You had another tantrum bout. Daddy was so angry that he decided to put you to bed- at 6:30pm. You fell asleep crying. I seriously don't know what to do with you. I'm so sad because you are so bad when you are bad. Is it something we are doing that is causing you to not listen to us? Are we bad parents???

Candyland. The owner is actually Korean and goes to our church.

You were so happy when we first entered, but it was all downhill from there…

Kendall- she was soooooo good.

The sitting area where the moms hung out.

The Choi boys were going wild trying to play with everything.

Anti-social Aidan at the beginning :-/

Kendall was happy riding all the cars that they had.

They had tons and tons of stuff to play with.

You playing.

Kendall in her princess car.

I took this video below of you in the morning when you were in a better mood.

Your wish is my demand

Nowadays when you see something that you like you always ask me to buy it for you. Exhibit A- Robo Car Poli Sketchbook (above). You first saw this a couple of weeks ago at Korean school. When I picked you up you were holding a Robo Car Poli Sketchbook in your hand. When I told you to leave it there you asked me to in your sweet innocent voice, "Buy it for me." I've been looking at several stores, but I couldn't find it. I then saw it at my friend, YJ's house, and her son, Asher had it. I asked her where she got it and she said Home and Home had it. I went there today with Kendall right before I picked you up from daycare (daddy worked late today). I gave it to you as soon as you got in the car and you were so excited and happy. I've been teaching you lately that you only get stuff if you listen to mommy and daddy and if you don't listen, then you get nothing. I'm hoping these little incentives will get you to listen to us better. It's a constant battle…

Here's a video of you showing off your sketchbook as soon as we got home.

And here's a video of Kendall playing with her toys during the day right before I picked you up. She loves exploring and touching everything.

Don't mess with daddy

I took this photo of you right after you got "meh meh" (spanking) from daddy.

You have been acting up lately- talking back to us, throwing huge temper tantrums, crying when you don't get your way and saying bad words (i.e., hot Jesus [I think you learned this from daycare]). We were trying to put you down for a nap today, but you were not having it so daddy lost it and gave you a pretty bad spanking. I usually don't butt in when you are getting in trouble by daddy because I don't want our parenting to be contradictory. It also takes A LOT for daddy to get angry so you can imaging how bad you get sometimes. However, you were crying so much and daddy was so fed up with you that I had to go into your room and calm you down. I calmly explained to you why daddy got angry and that he did that out of love. This was the sad face that was staring back at me. Inside I was pretty torn up, but I knew that I can't baby you or else your bad behaviour will continue on.

You're stuck!

I hate the terrible 2's… but oh wait, you're almost 3 1/2 now…

Ever since you were a year and a half it's been hard controlling your tantrums. At first daddy and I tried the spanking method, but that just made you hit us back so we stopped that for a while. Then we tried putting you in time out, but that didn't work- you would not stay in time out. Then your Vancouver grandmother told us about the "stuck" method that she saw on a Korean reality show that is very similar to the American Supernanny show. She said that the "teacher" made the parent hold the child between their legs while they are throwing a tantrum or about to until they calmed down. She said that this clutch made it impossible for the child to get out. She said while the child is throwing their tantrum the parent was to talk, in a stern voice, why they were there. Sometimes this would last a couple of hours depending on the child, but in the end it would work. We've been trying this method for a month now and I'm liking it. I can't do it in public for obvious reasons, but you seem to stop your screaming/crying after about 10 minutes. Daddy usually doesn't have the patience for it and I don't know if he knows how to do the clutch perfectly (you seem to escape when he does it), but I like it.

100th day celebrations

Your official 100th day is on October 29, but we decided to celebrate it today with the family (your Vancouver grandparents, Auntie Jane, Auntie Jessica, Uncle Wayne, baby Emma, Auntie Sara and Uncle Dan. Your Toronto grandparents are in Korea right now) by going to Mandarin Restaurant. People in Korea celebrate a baby's 100th day and sometimes it is as big as a 1-year old birthday party. I think the importance of the 100th day was because back in the day babies didn't live past their 100th day. It was a huge milestone surpassing that 100th day mark. Nowadays babies are much more healthier, but I think people in Korea still celebrate it. 

You were an angel tonight sleeping in your baby car seat the whole time we were at the restaurant. I'm so blessed to have such a good baby. You love to smile and coo and it's easy to see why everyone loves you. I was afraid when your Vancouver grandparents came that they wouldn't love you as much as they love Aidan, but I was wrong! They said you are much cuter in person and they just adore you. 

You were experiencing a little stranger anxiety with your Vancouver grandma the first few days while she was here, but now you are so good. Your brother, on the other hand, has been a total rascal while your Vancouver grandparents are staying with us. He's been acting up and totally not listening to daddy and mommy. Daddy gave him a scolding today because he didn't want to nap and you threw the biggest tantrum ever. Your Vancouver grandma and Auntie Jane cried because they felt so bad for you. I'm just so fed up with Aidan these days because he mocks us and never listens. Plus, he is such a picky eater. Today he ate only french fries at Mandarin. Sigh.

Kendall getting ready to go out. Look at her new kicks- they are baby Etnies. They were a
gift from Tina, Dennis' family friend's daughter.

Aidan, the rascal

Aidan was not a good boy at the restaurant. It was quite hard getting him to put anything
in his mouth. I swear, one day I'm going to send him to a 3rd world country to get him to
see the living conditions of some of those kids!!

My cutie niece, Emma. She's grown so much! Here's her proud papa, Uncle Wayne.

I thought the backdrop of the restaurant was quite pretty with the flowers.

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures of you while at the restaurant, but you slept the whole time and you were in your baby car seat. However, I was able to take a video of you at home smiling. Enjoy!

Photo op

Kendall, you were so cute today! You were smiling at me every time I looked at you and you were cooing and pulling all the stops. I couldn't help but to have a photo session with you. You are becoming much more expressive these days and I'm so excited for when we can do girly things together.

Today we made it to church finally. Yes, mommy was tired (slept at 12am, woke up at 4am to feed you and then woke up again at 7:30am to feed you again), but we haven't gone to church in so long. Everyone was saying how gorgeous and good you are. You slept the whole time we were there. I wanted to dress you up in a pretty dress, but your hair is short that you look like a little boy dressing up in girl's clothes so I just put you in the outfit that you see now.

Meanwhile, your brother Aidan was not so good today. Yes, daddy left him alone at Mustard Seed (the children's program) for the first time without any hiccups, but when we were ready to go home Aidan didn't want to leave so he threw the biggest tantrum. Daddy hates it when Aidan makes a scene in public so he was very angry. He even had to pull the car over while we were driving home to give Aidan a spanking. Let's just say Aidan threw up all over himself.

Look how cute you are. I heart you~

Zoo day

Daddy's been talking about taking you (Aidan) to the zoo for a few weeks now. Initially it was just going to be a zoo day for you and daddy, but mommy and Kendall decided to go as well. I think daddy thought that it would be too hard for me with a newborn baby since I would have to be breastfeeding Kendall constantly. 

You were pretty excited at the beginning to go to the zoo. Daddy was telling you about today
for a few days now so you were looking forward to today. You even picked out your Scooby
Doo Crocs and sunglasses for today.

Unfortunately as soon as we saw some animals your mood drastically changed and you became
the party pooper that you normally are.

Daddy had to sit you down on a quiet corner and have a "talk" with you.

After "the talk" you were much better.

Ooh… a polar bear

Daddy decided he wanted to take you to ride the zoo mobile.

On the way to the zoo mobile we saw reindeers!

The zoo mobile!

You and daddy rode on it while Kendall and I waited by a picnic table.

Afterwards we breaked for lunch and I recorded a video of you. Enjoy!

We went to look at giraffes, but you kept saying they were tigers.

I think you were being silly.

It's hard to see, but there are white lions in the distance. They were beautiful.

It was so hot and sunny that you kept asking for water.

Mommy had to take Kendall to a few private areas in the zoo to breastfeed her.

Look at her face after a good feeding :-P

It was a long day for both you and Kendall and you guys both passed out in the car.

Here's a video of you two passed out.