my boy's conscience

Usually when we come home, Sophia yells out "hello?" and the kids will come downstairs to see which one of us is home. Then we chat a little bit about the day with Teresa and then get lots of hugs and kisses from the kids. One day last week, I came home and Sophia was her usually cheery self, but I noticed that Nicholas was unusually quiet. I asked him how his day was and he said it was ok. He stayed on the floor and didn't really say much. A little while later, he was still quiet and I asked him to come give me some love and asked him if something happened at school. He nodded yes but said he didn't want to tell me. I told him he wasn't going to get in trouble for telling me, but that I couldn't help him feel better unless he told me. He still didn't say anything.

Fast forward to bedtime and as we were saying good night, he said he wanted to tell us, but that he didn't want to hear it. He put his hands over his ears and then had Greg put his hands over Nicholas's hands. After a few minutes of saying that he could still hear himself, he finally told us that some of his friends were not being nice to him at school. He said he was on the playground and a few of his good friends had come up to him and he told them that he wanted to be alone. He said that his friends then said, well, maybe we should sit next to you since you're being mean. I asked Nicholas if he had been mean or if he said something that was not nice to them. He hesitated and then finally nodded his head yes. We explained to him that if he ever wants to be left alone, he should just tell him friends nicely and that under no circumstance was he ever to be mean to anyone. We asked him what he does when he wants Sophia to leave him alone. He said he goes to his room or walks away from her for a little bit. We explained to him that if he wants to play alone for a little while, he should just tell his friends and then just walk away for a little bit and then come back when he was ready to play with them again. He said ok and said he felt better for telling us.

Then yesterday, something similar happened. When I came home, Nicholas was again unusually quiet. He was quiet all through dinner and bath. He and Sophia are usually really loud and goofy during bathtime. I kept asking him if he was ok and he just said yes. After they got ready for bed, we all got into our bed and he read a book to me for a little while. (By the way, he is getting SO good at reading on his own...). Anyway, I told Greg when he came home that Nicholas was being quiet, but it seemed like by the time he went to bed, he seemed a little more cheerful.

Tonight, Greg told me that Nicholas told him what was buggging him yesterday. Nicholas had apparently taken a couple of his small bulldozers to school with him--probably a couple of his Matchbox cars. I guess he was playing with them on the playground, which I guess is also against the rules, so his teacher, Mrs. Avila told him not to and had him put them away. But then at the end of the day, she let him play with them. He felt bad that he had done something that was against the rules.

As Greg and I were talking about these incidents, we commented on how lucky we were to have a kid who had such a big conscience. It makes me a little sad to know that these small things had weighed so heavily on my boy and how he must have felt bad about them. At the same time, it gives me some reassurance that despite the fact that our kids never came with instructions, we must have done something right along the way.

just another saturday

This past Saturday, the kids were supposed to have swim class, but Nicholas had been feeling a little under the weather so he decided that he didn't want to go to swim class. He said he didn't want to cough and drink the water. Anytime I don't have to get into a bathing suit while being 8 months pregnant is fine with me. Sophia, on the other hand, was a little disappointed about missing swim class. She loves jumping in the pool. I'll be glad when Greg is done with his Saturday teaching and data collection for his dissertation.

Anyway, Nicholas needed a haircut in a big way, so we went to Snippets instead and he got about 10 pounds of hair cut off. It seems like he gets a haircut and the next thing I know, he's got a thick mop on his head again. Here's the "after" shot - although now that I look at it, his head looks kind of fuzzy. I assure you it looks better in person, especially when he's not looking at the camera at a funny angle (and you're not distracted by Sophia preening next to him...).

The kids had been asking to go to Trader Joe's to get lime bars so I promised them we would go...after a quick stop at Joann's fabric store. It was a bold move on my part, since it was close to lunch and Sophia's naptime, but I hate driving up to Lincoln Park, so I had to make the most of this trip. I told Nicholas he could pick out an art or craft project and I told Sophia we would find something to make her time worthwhile. We passed by the bridal section and the purple and pink row of tulle caught her eye. Since she had been on a ballerina/princess/queen kick lately, I told her that we could make her a tutu. She was thrilled and decided she wanted two - pink and purple. I know. Shocking. Then we waited in line for 35 minutes to get 2 yards of the tulle cut. Nicholas decided his legs hurt. Sophia, if not for the death grip she had on the tulle and ribbon, would have been rolling on the floor.

Well, we finally made it out of there, got lime bars at TJ's, came home, Sophia took a nap, and I made tutus. And she has been wearing them non-stop, except for church and school. She wore them for her nap and puts them on when she wakes up. Her favorite is to wear them with nothing else but her underwear, but I think we have convinced her that ballerinas and princesses wear shirts and pants, too. Especially when the go outside to garden.

more knock knock jokes

This morning as I came downstairs and we were all getting ready to walk out the door:

Nicholas: Knock, knock.
Hyeyoung: Who's there?
N: Ivan.
H: Ivan who?
N: I-van working on the railroad, all the live long days...

Isn't that funny?

a conversation with nicholas

While we were in SLC, we called the kids every night just to check in and say hello. We called them Friday night while we were out at dinner. Nicholas had apprently made a point of telling Greg before we left that he would like us to bring him back something from our trip. When Greg asked him what he wanted, Nicholas said he wouldn't mind some new Legos. There was a little toy store near where we went for dinner and we found a set that we thought he would like. So when we called the kids, Nicholas, of course, wanted to know if we had gotten him anything.

Nicholas: Did you find anything for me?
Hyeyoung: Yes, we got you something.
N: What is it?
H: I'm not going to tell you. It's a surprise.
N: Well, how many letters are there?
H: Four.
N: Does it start with a L?
H: Yes.
N: Does it end with an O?
H: Yes.
N: Is it spelled L-E-G-O?
H: I'm not going to say anything more.
N: Can you tell me anything else?
H: It's yellow.
N: Well, is it new Legos?
H: I told you, I'm not telling you anything else.
N: What is the vowel sound in the middle?
H: I'm not telling you.
N: Let me talk to Dad.

is you happy?

Whenever Sophia thinks there's possibility of unhappiness (at least those that involve her, anyway), she will stop and ask, "Is Mommy happy?" Even if you tell her yes, she will ask at least several times more, just to make sure nothing has changed. For example, everytime she gets in and out of time-out, she'll ask, "Is Mommy happy?"

A bigger example: last Friday, Greg and I went to Salt Lake City for our friend Jennifer's wedding. A little background...We had a 9:15 a.m. flight and as before all trips, we had almost zero sleep the night before. In fact, I had pretty much pulled an all-nighter to finish writing my brief to the judge from my last case. I had to leave work early on Thursday for a doctor's appointment and parent-teacher conference so I had to bring all my junk home and I didn't want to spend my entire time in SLC writing the stupid thing. The upshot to staying up all night was that I was awake for the earthquake that hit downstate Illinois. I must have fallen asleep on the couch and woke up because I heard stuff rattling. I thought maybe it was just the laundry rattling stuff in the basement--apparently, it was an earthquake. Neato.

Ok, I digress. Back to Sophia: Greg's dad was coming right around 7am so we could leave by 7:15 since we had to park the car and all. I was a little sad that Sophia might not wake up before we had to go, but a few minutes after 7, I heard her moaning in her room. I went in and holy crap (literally), did her room stink. I walked over to her bed and sure enough, she had pooped in her underwear. The first thing she asks me is, "Is Mommy happy?" Of course, you don't want to be like, "well, actually, I'm not since now we have to clean up this mess and I should be walking out to the car right now to get to the airport." That might not go over well in the history of good mommies. So I say, "well, I'm ok." I have to say that it was relatively well-contained, although it did mean the demise of the Jasmine underwear, and Jasmine is one of Sophia's favorites. I think she is often sadder about having to throw out underwear than she is about actually having poop smooshed all over her behind.

So we go to the tub, clean her off, bathe her, and get her dressed...and every 2 minutes or so, Sophia asks, "Is Mommy happy?" It's kind of sweet, so it's hard to say no. Of course, depending on your perspective, it could also be brilliantly manipulative. We'll go with sweet for now.

This morning, we gave the kids little presents from the trip--some new Legos for Nicholas and an Angelina Ballerina and Posey Prefers Pink (super cute story about a girl who loves all things pink and then decides at the end that she prefers purple) books for Sophia. Sophia woke up and asked us if we were happy. We said yes. Then she says, "Is Mommy and Daddy really, really, really happy?" We told her yes.

glucose flunkie

My least favorite part of being pregnant is the glucose test around 7 months. Aside from the fact that the glucola they make you drink for the test is way too sweet and gross for my taste buds, I never thought much about it before--probably because I never had any problems with it. Well, this time, I flunked it. Apparently, the cut off is 140 and my results came in at 143. Let's just say, this was not what I wanted to hear from my doctor first thing this last Monday when I got into work. And having to watch every bite that went into my mouth last week did not make me happy. The happy week culminated in a 3-hour test all Thursday morning.

The fun began last night when I had to fast after midnight--it didn't help that I was actually AWAKE at midnight and starving since we had dinner at 6:30 p.m. and I didn't realize I was hungry until like 11:45 p.m. They did say that I could drink a little water just so I didn't get dehydrated. I mean, what fun is going in to get your blood drawn when you're so dehydrated your veins all collapse, right?? They basically draw your blood before the test, then make you drink something that is akin to corn syrup (I mean, you know it's pretty gross when the "drink" clings to the sides of the bottle like corn syrup, right?) Then for 3 hours, on the hour, they drew your blood. My good vein in my left arm gave out after 2 draws. Then they found 2 on the SIDES of my right arm and squeezed out 2 more vials. By the time I had my last draw, I was bandaid-ed up on both arms, starving, shaking from hunger, and tired of the waiting area in my doctor's office. Good times.

My arms now resemble that of junkies you see on TV. Red marks where the needles went in and all black and blue around the needle marks. Good thing the weather is still chilly here and I'm not tempted to run around in short-sleeved shirts quite yet.

Anyway, my doctor called me Thursday night and told me that I had passed the test and do not have gestational diabetes. She said she didn't expect me to have any problems, but that something like 1 out of 10 women will get a false positive on the 1-hour screen. Nice. Anyway, one of the possible results of gestational diabetes is a overweight baby. My babies tend to be jumbo-trons anyway all on their own, so it's good that they don't have any help.

That all said, I feel like dessert.

knock, knock

Sophia: Knock knock!
You: Who's there?
Sophia: Auntie.
You: Auntie who?
Sophia: Hyeson.

A variation:
S: Knock knock!
Y: Who's there?
S: Mommy.
Y: Mommy who?
S: Hyeyoung.

Another variation:
S: Knock knock!
Y: Who's there?
S: Uncle (or phonetically, "un-tall")
Y: Uncle who?
S: Untall Turtiss (Uncle Curtis).

All three variations inevitably concludes with a big round of belly laughs from our comedian herself.

and it goes something like this

Sophia: "What, T?"
Nicholas: "I'm not listening to you."
S: "What, T? What?"
N: "I'm not listening to you."
S: "What, T? What?"
N: "I'm not listening to you."
S: "What, T? Huh? What? Huh?"
N: "I'm not listening to you, so stop saying, what!"
S: "What, T? Huh? What, T?"
N: "I SAID I AM NOT LISTENING TO YOU, SO STOP SAYING WHAT, T, WHAT!"
S: "Huh? What, T?"
N: "La la la la la la la la...blah blah blah blah...."
S: "What, T? Huh? What did you say, T?"
N: "Hey, Mom?"
Hyeyoung: "Yeah, what is it?"
N: "Mom?"
H: "What?"
N: "Can Sophia watch her princess movie?"
H: "Yeah."
N: "Huh?"
H: "Yeah."
N: "Mom? What?"
H: "I said YES!"
N: "What?"
H: "YES!"
N: "Hey, Mom?"
H: "Don't you say another what or huh!"

the house that nicholas and sophia built

I meant to post these last week, but our computer sometimes gets all weird and won't read the memory card and I was too lazy to reboot the computer. Anyway, when I came home, the kids had built a house in the dining room with the chairs and blankets and brought down their pillows. This is one where they are pretending to be asleep. You'll notice that Sophia has yet to perfect the fake-sleep look that Nicholas clearly has developed and perfected over the years.

This is one where Nicholas is reading to Sophia. And no, she is not constipated. She is just continuing to play the part of being asleep, except with her eyes open.

work in progress

The other day, in a fit of impending-child anxiety, I made a list of all the things I want to get done this spring. Well, despite the actual weather, we are already several weeks into spring. Anyway, the list is relatively doable (if I keep it on a post-it rather than a bigger sheet of paper):

1. except to paint the kids' rooms (at their request),
2. buy or re-upholster the couch and loveseat,
3. replace things that are on the fritz (TV and microwave),
4. organize and clean out everything (our clothes, kids' clothes, toys, craft supplies, if I have to be more specific),
5. figure out how to fit a crib, toddler bed, a bookcase, and two dressers (one which must be purchased) in the Sophia's bedroom which will soon become the girls' room,
6. buy a new infant carseat,
7. dig out all the baby girl clothes,
8. write a will (it's been in draft form for the past 3 years), and
9. find and assemble baby cradle.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I'm also trying to re-do my blog. This one is made a bit more difficult by the fact that I am completely blog-illiterate and my old (not referring to age, by the way) friend Heather (who seems to change the look of her super blog everyday...) has been so sweet about sending me step-by-step directions. And after I spend a few hours figuring one thing out, I realize I don't even like it and start over. So yes, I know that my page background color does NOT match the rest of the blog, but for some reason, it just won't take the change.

april fool's

When Nicholas went to bed on March 31st, he told us that the next day was April Fool's day. Not really sure where he picked it up, but probably at school. Kids pick up everything at school these days, so if my kid comes home knowing about April Fool's day, then I feel ok.

Greg came home late last night, just as the kids were getting ready to go upstairs and get ready for bed. When Greg came upstairs, Nicholas yells out to him, "Dad, it's really coming down outside." I was in the kitchen and I actually looked outside to see if it was raining. It didn't look like it, but then again, we'd been having such crappy weather and it was all cloudy and dark yesterday, so I thought maybe it was raining and I just couldn't tell from the angle I was looking out.

Greg: "I just came from outside and it wasn't raining. I must have just missed it."
Nicholas: "Come look. It's really coming down. Hurry."
Greg (running up the stairs to the front window): "Really? That was fast."
Nicholas: "Gotcha--I made you look! April Fool's day!"

The humor in that exchange doesn't come through quite as well written down as it did last night between them. It was pretty funny in person. Really.