Well, it does seem that Jonathan, as the first born, does get all the press. I am pretty sure I haven't even written an introduction post about David yet, and here he is having already been around for 16 months. So here's a long-overdue snapshot of another little boy we have around here.
I call David my Joy Boy. It's like he knew he was baby number three and has this totally laid back, cooperative little personality to go along with it. Where Jonathan would treat "no" like the biggest joke, David breaks down and cries if you speak harshly to him. Where Jonathan would treat getting dressed as a power struggle, David holds out his arms and legs to help you get the clothes on him.
He also figured out kissing the earliest of my kiddos, and he will sometimes stop what he is doing just to give you a kiss. Oh, the sweetness.
His favorite things in the world are water cups and stickers.
His hair no longer grows in a natural mohawk.
He loves eating -- especially bananas and dried cranberries.
He doesn't talk yet, but he understands a lot.
He loves shutting doors.
Nodding his head both means yes and thank you.
Sometimes he won't want to do what you ask him to do but he still does it even while he cries about it.
He loves sitting in empty boxes.
Have I mentioned his obsessed with stickers? Because that really should make the list a few times, given his level of commitment to them.
We have finally transitioned him into sleeping in his own bed, although I nurse him in the rocking chair before putting him down. He cries when I do, but he falls asleep so much faster than his sister ever did.
I may get around to posting a few more points, and I really should add a few pictures, but for now, I just want to say, man, I love this kid.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Saturday, October 25, 2014
A snapshot of a boy
Yesterday was Jonathan's birthday. If I were one for keeping up with this blog, I'm sure I would write all about it, but realistically we all know that's never going to happen. I would, however, like to give a little snapshot of who this wonderful little man is right now, if only for my own record. Read as many as you like -- or just scroll through for the pictures!
Recently he has begun saying, "It's a fun day, right mommy?" from time to time. (His birthday today definitely counted as a fun day in his opinion.)
He used to be pretty unwilling to speak Chinese, despite having a whole lot of exposure from birth, but recently I've heard him using it more and more. He will inform you, "Sometimes I speak English and sometimes I speak Chinese and sometimes I speak French." I have no idea where the idea he can speak French comes from, because he most definitely can't, but thanks to Dora he can count to ten in Spanish in addition to English and Chinese.
He has just recently become willing to look at baby pictures and hear that he was once smaller than he is now.
He finally decided it was time to take us up on the potty-training offer -- for the day time, at least.
He loves his "Stomping shoes" that grandma brought from America last year, and will tell you, "My rocket shoes are too small so now I wear my stomping shoes."
His favorite foods at home are eggs, pasta, shrimp, corn (on the cob) and broccoli -- preferable all at once and definitely cold.
He is fine with Vivienne dressing up. He'll even call her "Princess Anna" when she's wearing her Princess Anna dress. However, under no circumstances does he have any desire to dress up as anything but himself personally. (He thinks the idea of "pirate pants," as in part of a pirate costume, to be particularly laughable.)
He loves cement trucks.
He loves saying "please," "thank you," "I'm sorry," and "it's all right," and will remind others to say so as well. (An oft-heard conversation around here: J: Vivienne, say I'm sorry. V: I'm sorry. J: It's all right.)
He loves watching daddy play computer games, but he's a little less-than-supportive when Stephen dies (as in, he laughs maniacally at Stephen's misfortune and thinks it's great fun).
Sometimes he likes to threaten punishments on his sister of "no happy birthday and no Merry Christmas" if she doesn't do as she is told.
Sticks are the best outdoor toys ever!
Every time he sees a plane he thinks it's grandma and grandpa and Uncle Jon flying home.
He has always been a kid that gets into everything. One sign of his growing up, though, is now he tells me, "Mommy, put it where I can't get it," when I yell at him for getting into something he shouldn't. (Of course, there are very, very few places he can't get to.)
He still loves sweeping up messes.
He's a little monkey who climbs absolutely everything.
He has to be in the middle of every activity. "I do it" is one of his favorite phrases.
He LOVES roughhousing with daddy.
He was very excited to get his "tadpole blanket" for his birthday today. (It's an Ikea duvet cover we chose a while back on-line that they didn't have in the store when we looked for it. Once I knew I could give it to him, I mentioned it a few times to keep up his interest. Recently, I think he was getting worried he couldn't get it, so when he opened it today he hugged it for about two minutes straight with the biggest grin across his face.)
When he turned three a year ago he was barely speaking in two or three word sentences. Now, he is the master of talking.
He really likes his Spiderman sunglasses and his Diego hat.
He's a huge fan on Play-Doh.
He loves church, especially Uncle Fawkes, Uncle Michael, Aunt Katie, and Teacher Ariel.
He has gotten over his fear of the beach, though he's not sure he wants to make actual contact with the water yet. Sand no longer petrifies him, though. In fact, he's a big fan.
The pink water bottle is his. So is the monkey cup.
He loves belts, but insists on doing them himself.
Baby Giraffe is still his best friend and companion. And he still gets lost on a regular basis.
Contraband is most often his in the pirate ship, a pop-up tent clubhouse in his room that was his birthday present last year.
Sometimes he likes to say, "Ay-ay, Captain," instead of "OK, mommy."
He is Vivienne's best friend and a great helper with David -- when he's not in too crazy a mood at least.
He has finally figured out that he is supposed to say "two" and not just grunt for English's second integer. (Or is two the third integer since you start with zero?)
He doesn't like scarey things, so no shirts with dinosaurs or lions or superheros for us at the moment.
However, watching videos of dinosaurs with mommy or daddy on the computer can be fun.
He's a fan of "Tommy Train" (Thomas the Tank Engine), though he isn't familiar with the show. He particularly loves when he gets to put on his "Tommy Train" helmet and go on an adventure with mommy. He is particularly impressed with Costco.
He loves Diego, Dora the Explorer's cousin.
Technically, the only legal name he has at the moment is his Chinese one, which he doesn't actually recognize since it's only ever used to call us in the waiting room at the doctor's office.
Although he was more into it a few months ago, he loves the iPad app "My Singing Monsters," which I maintain for him and he visits from time to time.
He loves playing in the water in the shower for as long as you'll let him.
Every once in a while, I'll catch his dad's British accent coming through, like the way he says the word "laugh." With things like the "r" sound, I'm not sure if he's being British or just toddler, which is him main accent.
He gets a Mister Men book read to him every night by daddy. He is still a fan of Curious George, the old favorite. Sometimes he likes to pretend to be Mister Topsy Turvey and put two socks on the same foot or a shirt on backwards or upside down. ("Ooops! Silly." Followed by really cute giggles.)
Last doctor's visit, he actually cooperated fully. My baby's growing up!
The only Bible verse song he lets us play in the app we bought is the first one, so it's the only Bible verse he knows. "I John 4:10 - God loved us and sent his Son." His favorite Bible story is Jonah (I think because of the lift-the-flaps whale) and he tells us "Sometimes Jesus loves me and sometimes Jesus don't love me." When he's "XiangFan XianSheng" (my name for him which means "Mr. Opposite" in Chinese) he'll say, "No, Jesus don't love me." We're working on his theology, but a few months ago he didn't really like talking about God or Jesus at all since they were too abstract for him to handle (like the aforementioned baby pictures) so we're getting somewhere.
He thinks grandma and grandpa (my parents, I'm guessing) own everything in the store. He's never been to their house, so I'm not sure where he's getting that idea from.
In good, little boy fashion, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING can be a weapon. (His sister is not always a fan of this. Good thing he has a little brother growing up fast who can join him in his boy games soon!)
If he says the wrong thing he'll say, "Oops! Sorry! I said the wrong magic word." He's got his sister doing this, too.
"When the sun go down, we say 'ah-men' but when we're awake we say "ay-men." (Mommy's American and Daddy's British. Mommy prays on the way to school; daddy does bedtime prayers.)
He is bothered by mess and chaos. However, he is usually the cause of it in the first place.
He is a highly opinionated, sweet, wild, crazy, loveable, absolutely adorable, happy, sensitive, fun-loving, talented, happy, moody, and all-together wonderful little boy, and I am ridiculously blessed to be his mother -- even if he does complicate the family's international paperwork at times.
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| We went with the whale cake -- again. The icing got tested a bit before I pulled out the camera, though. |
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|
He has just recently become willing to look at baby pictures and hear that he was once smaller than he is now.
He finally decided it was time to take us up on the potty-training offer -- for the day time, at least.
He loves his "Stomping shoes" that grandma brought from America last year, and will tell you, "My rocket shoes are too small so now I wear my stomping shoes."
His favorite foods at home are eggs, pasta, shrimp, corn (on the cob) and broccoli -- preferable all at once and definitely cold.
 |
| A birthday dinner of his favorite things. All cold, of course. |
He is fine with Vivienne dressing up. He'll even call her "Princess Anna" when she's wearing her Princess Anna dress. However, under no circumstances does he have any desire to dress up as anything but himself personally. (He thinks the idea of "pirate pants," as in part of a pirate costume, to be particularly laughable.)
 |
| Costumes may not be his thing, but sunglasses are great. |
He loves saying "please," "thank you," "I'm sorry," and "it's all right," and will remind others to say so as well. (An oft-heard conversation around here: J: Vivienne, say I'm sorry. V: I'm sorry. J: It's all right.)
He loves watching daddy play computer games, but he's a little less-than-supportive when Stephen dies (as in, he laughs maniacally at Stephen's misfortune and thinks it's great fun).
Sometimes he likes to threaten punishments on his sister of "no happy birthday and no Merry Christmas" if she doesn't do as she is told.
Sticks are the best outdoor toys ever!
 |
| This is how Jonathan loves posing for photos these days. |
Every time he sees a plane he thinks it's grandma and grandpa and Uncle Jon flying home.
He has always been a kid that gets into everything. One sign of his growing up, though, is now he tells me, "Mommy, put it where I can't get it," when I yell at him for getting into something he shouldn't. (Of course, there are very, very few places he can't get to.)
He still loves sweeping up messes.
He's a little monkey who climbs absolutely everything.
He has to be in the middle of every activity. "I do it" is one of his favorite phrases.
He LOVES roughhousing with daddy.
He was very excited to get his "tadpole blanket" for his birthday today. (It's an Ikea duvet cover we chose a while back on-line that they didn't have in the store when we looked for it. Once I knew I could give it to him, I mentioned it a few times to keep up his interest. Recently, I think he was getting worried he couldn't get it, so when he opened it today he hugged it for about two minutes straight with the biggest grin across his face.)
When he turned three a year ago he was barely speaking in two or three word sentences. Now, he is the master of talking.
He really likes his Spiderman sunglasses and his Diego hat.
 |
| Jonathan in the hat mommy made for him, not his Diego hat. He insisted on wearing right away. |
He loves church, especially Uncle Fawkes, Uncle Michael, Aunt Katie, and Teacher Ariel.
He has gotten over his fear of the beach, though he's not sure he wants to make actual contact with the water yet. Sand no longer petrifies him, though. In fact, he's a big fan.
The pink water bottle is his. So is the monkey cup.
He loves belts, but insists on doing them himself.
Baby Giraffe is still his best friend and companion. And he still gets lost on a regular basis.
Contraband is most often his in the pirate ship, a pop-up tent clubhouse in his room that was his birthday present last year.
Sometimes he likes to say, "Ay-ay, Captain," instead of "OK, mommy."
He is Vivienne's best friend and a great helper with David -- when he's not in too crazy a mood at least.
 |
| Back when they were one, two, three -- years old, that is. |
He has finally figured out that he is supposed to say "two" and not just grunt for English's second integer. (Or is two the third integer since you start with zero?)
He doesn't like scarey things, so no shirts with dinosaurs or lions or superheros for us at the moment.
However, watching videos of dinosaurs with mommy or daddy on the computer can be fun.
He's a fan of "Tommy Train" (Thomas the Tank Engine), though he isn't familiar with the show. He particularly loves when he gets to put on his "Tommy Train" helmet and go on an adventure with mommy. He is particularly impressed with Costco.
He loves Diego, Dora the Explorer's cousin.
Technically, the only legal name he has at the moment is his Chinese one, which he doesn't actually recognize since it's only ever used to call us in the waiting room at the doctor's office.
Although he was more into it a few months ago, he loves the iPad app "My Singing Monsters," which I maintain for him and he visits from time to time.
He loves playing in the water in the shower for as long as you'll let him.
Every once in a while, I'll catch his dad's British accent coming through, like the way he says the word "laugh." With things like the "r" sound, I'm not sure if he's being British or just toddler, which is him main accent.
He gets a Mister Men book read to him every night by daddy. He is still a fan of Curious George, the old favorite. Sometimes he likes to pretend to be Mister Topsy Turvey and put two socks on the same foot or a shirt on backwards or upside down. ("Ooops! Silly." Followed by really cute giggles.)
 |
| Yes, I know four is too old for a pacifier, and I am sure if he didn't have a little brother we would have been on that by now. |
Last doctor's visit, he actually cooperated fully. My baby's growing up!
The only Bible verse song he lets us play in the app we bought is the first one, so it's the only Bible verse he knows. "I John 4:10 - God loved us and sent his Son." His favorite Bible story is Jonah (I think because of the lift-the-flaps whale) and he tells us "Sometimes Jesus loves me and sometimes Jesus don't love me." When he's "XiangFan XianSheng" (my name for him which means "Mr. Opposite" in Chinese) he'll say, "No, Jesus don't love me." We're working on his theology, but a few months ago he didn't really like talking about God or Jesus at all since they were too abstract for him to handle (like the aforementioned baby pictures) so we're getting somewhere.
He thinks grandma and grandpa (my parents, I'm guessing) own everything in the store. He's never been to their house, so I'm not sure where he's getting that idea from.
In good, little boy fashion, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING can be a weapon. (His sister is not always a fan of this. Good thing he has a little brother growing up fast who can join him in his boy games soon!)
If he says the wrong thing he'll say, "Oops! Sorry! I said the wrong magic word." He's got his sister doing this, too.
"When the sun go down, we say 'ah-men' but when we're awake we say "ay-men." (Mommy's American and Daddy's British. Mommy prays on the way to school; daddy does bedtime prayers.)
He is bothered by mess and chaos. However, he is usually the cause of it in the first place.
 |
| Yeah, this is definitely a trio that knows how to create chaos. |
Friday, June 27, 2014
Home is where the fun is.
The big news around here is that we have moved Jonathan and Vivienne into an actual kids' room of their own. (Basically, we will have the house set up to where it's actually livable about three weeks before we have to pack it in a shipping crate and send it off to America.) I have a closet, an alcove, a shelf, and the top of a bookcase to clear out/off, but other than that, Stephen's entire computer room has been gutted and totally transformed into a kid-friendly space. (I'll attempt to post pictures here or on Facebook once those holdouts have surrendered.) Our house still has a long way to go, but it definitely improves the living conditions in the rest of the house now that there are designated, categorized toy bins, and the kids really enjoy playing there -- so much so that bedtime has been pushed back way too late, but we're working on that. As an added bonus, the baby loves their room and will occasionally even let mommy leave him in there with them, until he gets run over, knocked down, hugged too lightly, or launches himself off the (very low) little Japanese table or kid-sized chairs. One day in the not-too-distant future, he'll be able to hold his own, and Jonathan will finally get his shooting companion.
Yup. Jonathan is all little boy and loves watching his father shoot the aliens and bad people in his video game. I think the other boys at school also have influenced him, and so he goes around killing us all. This doesn't disturb me as much as it might, having grown up with a brother very close in age who was into all things army for most of his childhood, but I still try to keep him from killing me too many times a day. The house rule (which is not always successfully enforced) is no killing mommy, but you can shoot daddy if you must. His favorite "gun" to use is his toy train track, but really anything will do.
One benefit of their new room is that I have some hope of keeping it in order, so the other night I was in there picking up (and keeping in sight of the baby, as he likes it) and found myself in the middle of their play. Vivienne kept throwing fits -- "Gege's" -- Older brother -- "killing me. I no like it!" So, being the peacemaker, I decided to try to redirect the fire to the aliens behind Vivienne. That way, he could still shoot in her general direction but he could save her instead. This has had some limited success the past few days, and my ever-grateful son has been saved by his sister on occasion, too. "Oh dank you, dank you Vivienne for killing de awiens." We also turned our fire to the posters on the wall. Sometimes Mickey gets replaced by an alien we have to kill so the good Mickey can come back, and the little boy at the picnic hugging his dog is so happy because we killed the bad alien dog so his good dog can come back. (Yeah, kids bring out the imagination in me.) Well, Vivienne naturally gravitates to less raucous things, like pretending the art sponge is a flute and playing the songs she learned on Little Einsteins (or "Rocket" as she calls the show). Jonathan is way more interested in killing and dying (which he has no concept of, of course -- really reminds me of a scene in the book The Giver that I was doing with my tutoring student a while back). He wanted some acknowledgement of his collapsing in death, so I decided to tell Vivienne that she had a magic medicine to heal him. (Of course, I stole this from Narnia -- she'd make a great Lucy. Maybe killing aliens can teach about resurrection and set the stage for the gospel when they're ready. Why not.) They loved this, and soon it turned into a magic flute song to make him better, thus incorporating her game into his.
Today, they were both running around the living room with railroad track guns, shooting the aliens and bad "peoples." Although they saved each other on multiple occasions (thanks to some redirecting from mommy), at one point, Jonathan dramatically died, so I said to Vivienne, "Quick. Go get your magic flute." She ran into her room, presumably to get the paint sponge, but came back from her room with a block instead, on which she played her magic song and healed her brother.
After thanking her, he got up and saw what she was holding. "Hey. This not a flute. It's a BLOCK," says the boy who has been shooting aliens -- and everyone else in the house -- with dusters, dustpans, sniper towers made from blocks, train tracks, even his arms in a pinch. But he thought it absolutely hilarious that his sister would try to pass off a block as a magic flute. "That so funny" was his assessment of the situation.
But really, I love seeing the brother/sister dynamic being worked out. This reminds me of playing a dress-up game based on A Little Princess with my best friend Zoe when we were little while her brother Noah and my brother Jonathan were running all around us in their wonderful basement playing pirates who would occasionally step in and beat up Miss Minchin for us. I love how kids came make things work.
Yup. Jonathan is all little boy and loves watching his father shoot the aliens and bad people in his video game. I think the other boys at school also have influenced him, and so he goes around killing us all. This doesn't disturb me as much as it might, having grown up with a brother very close in age who was into all things army for most of his childhood, but I still try to keep him from killing me too many times a day. The house rule (which is not always successfully enforced) is no killing mommy, but you can shoot daddy if you must. His favorite "gun" to use is his toy train track, but really anything will do.
One benefit of their new room is that I have some hope of keeping it in order, so the other night I was in there picking up (and keeping in sight of the baby, as he likes it) and found myself in the middle of their play. Vivienne kept throwing fits -- "Gege's" -- Older brother -- "killing me. I no like it!" So, being the peacemaker, I decided to try to redirect the fire to the aliens behind Vivienne. That way, he could still shoot in her general direction but he could save her instead. This has had some limited success the past few days, and my ever-grateful son has been saved by his sister on occasion, too. "Oh dank you, dank you Vivienne for killing de awiens." We also turned our fire to the posters on the wall. Sometimes Mickey gets replaced by an alien we have to kill so the good Mickey can come back, and the little boy at the picnic hugging his dog is so happy because we killed the bad alien dog so his good dog can come back. (Yeah, kids bring out the imagination in me.) Well, Vivienne naturally gravitates to less raucous things, like pretending the art sponge is a flute and playing the songs she learned on Little Einsteins (or "Rocket" as she calls the show). Jonathan is way more interested in killing and dying (which he has no concept of, of course -- really reminds me of a scene in the book The Giver that I was doing with my tutoring student a while back). He wanted some acknowledgement of his collapsing in death, so I decided to tell Vivienne that she had a magic medicine to heal him. (Of course, I stole this from Narnia -- she'd make a great Lucy. Maybe killing aliens can teach about resurrection and set the stage for the gospel when they're ready. Why not.) They loved this, and soon it turned into a magic flute song to make him better, thus incorporating her game into his.
Today, they were both running around the living room with railroad track guns, shooting the aliens and bad "peoples." Although they saved each other on multiple occasions (thanks to some redirecting from mommy), at one point, Jonathan dramatically died, so I said to Vivienne, "Quick. Go get your magic flute." She ran into her room, presumably to get the paint sponge, but came back from her room with a block instead, on which she played her magic song and healed her brother.
After thanking her, he got up and saw what she was holding. "Hey. This not a flute. It's a BLOCK," says the boy who has been shooting aliens -- and everyone else in the house -- with dusters, dustpans, sniper towers made from blocks, train tracks, even his arms in a pinch. But he thought it absolutely hilarious that his sister would try to pass off a block as a magic flute. "That so funny" was his assessment of the situation.
But really, I love seeing the brother/sister dynamic being worked out. This reminds me of playing a dress-up game based on A Little Princess with my best friend Zoe when we were little while her brother Noah and my brother Jonathan were running all around us in their wonderful basement playing pirates who would occasionally step in and beat up Miss Minchin for us. I love how kids came make things work.
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