Bits of Randomness

Little Miss Spider is one of my favorite books to read with June. It's about a baby spider who can't find her mother and who's adopted (although the word isn't used) by a beetle named Betty. It's been a while since we've read it, and this time, June brought a new awareness to it. When we got to the part where Betty offers to be the spider's mama, June started laughing and said, "She can't be her mama!" I took the bait and asked why not. "Because she's green, and the spider's yerow!" she said in her "duh, don't you know anything, mama" voice. I couldn't let it go so I asked her if we looked alike. "Noooooo," pause, then, "Let's read another book now." Ok, let's.

Tonight we compared faces. Two eyes, check. Two cheeks, check. Two eyebrows, check. Nose? Yep, smack in the middle. Then, the following:
"June, does my nose look like your nose?"
"No. Yours goes straight up."
"How's your nose?"
"It's squished down."

For the "People Say the Stupidest Things" file:
- A nurse walks into an X-ray room, sees me holding June, then asks: "Oh, she's so cute. Are you watching her?" I tell her she's my daughter. The reply I wish I gave, but only figured out on the way home: "Yup, for the next 18 years!"
- A dad at toddlertime comments that June is so smart. I smile. He replies, "I don't care what they say, Chinese people are smarter than others." I keep smiling.
- A neighbor sees us playing in the yard with June, then says, "You know, Asian kids, they show respect. Kids over here, they don't care." Apparently, it's in June's genes to behave and listen to us at all times. I'll tell her that the next time she refuses to stop jumping on her bed as I try, pointlessly, to get her socks on.

Ingredients for a Money Pie, from Chef June: Water, Salt, Pepper, Wind, and Sprinkles. Oh yeah, and money. Maybe she can cook one up and replenish our 401k with it.

June decided to wear Masala Papa's glasses one night. We asked her to draw his face. This is what we got. I like his ears and wavy hair. The connected eyes are pretty good too.

The Hills Are Alive...

We borrowed the soundtrack to The Sound of Music from the library last week. We're wearing out Track #8. It's the most recommended song in the car, in the house, in the tub, yeah, just about everywhere. Hit it, June!

Thomas and Me

Seven of June’s Favorite Things: 

1. her Thomas bed. No drama, no fussing as Masala Papa dismantled her crib last weekend. She’s already demonstrated how she can climb it and sit on top, thanks to our super helpful 9-year-old neighbor who showed her how. Oy.
2. Croco. Can’t sleep without it, ever since Day One. That's him behind her in the picture. We have visions of her sucking him in her dorm room. No need to test her olfactory senses - she tells me whenever Croco’s stinky. Which means I have to wash it. Which brings me to…
3. Telling Masala Mama what to do. Little Miss Commando orders me around like a drill seargent in boot camp: Mama, turn off the light, it’s too bright in here. Mama, I don’t want to pull my underwear up. You do it. Mama, put Pepper downstairs, he’s bothering me. She’s got imperative sentences down pat.
4. Telling Masala Mama that she made a great meal several times during the course of dinner. This makes up for #3.
5. Typing. She loves, loves, loves the computer. She knows all her letters and can spell her name. All those nights watching Wheel of Fortune are paying off!
6. Picking a chocolate from the Godiva box. When will this box be finished?
7. Things around the house currently on the most popular list: flashlights, nail polish, sparkly tiara with equally sparkly jewels for her finger and ears, easel, Telulah the turtle, keys, the kitchen stool, her sparkly red party shoes (worn below) and pictures of Pepper when he was a puppy, which she pulls out whenever someone visits.

Happy Holidays!

A shout-out to Maggie who gets special recognition in this video! More about the holidays in upcoming posts. Right now, I'm too busy feeding the reindeer. Sorry for the title page on this video that's completely illegible. I'm still figuring out iMovie, YouTube, blah, blah, blah.

Queen of Hearts

All October, we asked June what she wanted to be for Halloween. A queen, a queen, was all we heard. Then, a week before the Big Day, she told us Angelina Ballerina, a cartoon mouse that dresses up in a tutu. Okaaaaay. Thanks to Auntie Sheebie for the tutu, the leotard, the tiara and magic wand...actually, the entire outfit except for the tights and butterfly wings (every ballerina must have wings, didn't you know?). My favorite moment was when I told June that she had to hold her magic wand up HIGH and she proceeded to carry it like the torch on the Statue of Liberty. My second favorite moment was when she told me we had to go home because her pumpkin was too heavy from all of the candy. She had seven pieces in it. Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Who Wants to Put June to Bed Tonight?

Getting June to bed these days is a lesson in patience. First, we have to get her upstairs. Then, brush her teeth to get the "gunk" out. Off to her bedroom where we must read at least three books before we can even think about getting her in the crib. Last night, we read "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" together and I got her in by telling her that the line "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairs" meant climbing into her crib. Heh-heh, it worked. At least this time. Then we have to say our prayers, give each other a hug and finally, 30 minutes after this whole bedtime ritual started, I'm out the door...when the demands start. Mama, close the closet door. Mama, put away the books. Mama, move the diaper pad on the floor so it's this way, not that way. Mama, put the little potty back between the orange basket and my reading chair. Everything has to be just so, or else. Pretty funny coming from a kid who's only concept of "clean up" is to clean up her plate.

Favorite Things, according to June

Here’s what she told us the other day:
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Porridge
Favorite Song: Farmer in the Dell

Favorite Toy: Gigaball. The yellow honeycombed thing in the video. I saw it on a blog and sent the link to Masala Papa, knowing full well we’d have to get one asap. We did, less than 6 hours later.
Favorite Fruit: Pineapple

Other June favorites that we’ve noticed lately:
Screaming “Kill Buddy!” while leaping from the top of the couch. At least that’s what we think she’s saying. We have no idea where she picked it up, but she thinks it’s hilarious.
Picking up ants, worms and other creatures.
Green Eggs and Ham. The book, not literally.

Drawing faces. See the video for demo. She's since added ears and moustaches.
Licking cake and cookie batter.
Talking anytime, anywhere about anything. The other day in the car, she and I were talking about big and little. I asked her if Masala Papa was bigger than her, and she said yes. Then I asked her if I was bigger than Masala Papa. “No Mama, you’re not grown up yet,” she said. So true!

Sorry if the video is small. I'm still figuring out my software!

Sand, sand everywhere

Just back from a week in Wildwood. Beach, boardwalk, ice cream every night, what more could a two-and-a-half year old need in life? Somehow we didn’t destroy our 1 bedroom place, despite June jumping on the beds, playing with the TV, throwing food on the floor and casually showing us that one of the kitchen chairs was broken. (Honestly, I don’t think she did it. Can we have our security deposit back, please?) She gave us lots of memorable moments – finding shells in the sand, strong-arming us so we couldn’t get the ice-cream cone out of her clutches, going on the little boat ride all by herself, waving and yelling hello (actually, it sounded more like heh-row) from our third floor room to the fresh-fruit guy on the street (by day 3, he started waving back). And, she’s now as dark as Masala Papa.

On vacation, she started to walk up the stairs like a big kid (not one step at a time) and mastered the new question, “Can I…?” As in, “Mama, my stomach is making some noise. Can I have another cracker?” Can I, Can I, Can I…By the end of the week, all I could think of when I heard her was Canei wine.


We’re starting June’s dictionary. Latest entries:

Ear muffins: Headphones. As in, “Dada-ji (Masala Papa’s dad) is wearing his ear muffins so he can listen to the TV.”
Battery: Cake batter. Coined a few weeks ago: “Are you gonna lick the battery, Mama?”
Airporch: Where you go to get on a plane.
Rami: Salami.

Strawberry Fields Forever

We went strawberry picking on Saturday, although it was more like strawberry eating for June. Her mouth and hands were streaked red after only a few minutes in the fields. Every time we found a good one - and it wasn't easy, given that the season is almost over - we told her to pick it and put it in the box. She listened to the first half of that statement, then shoved the "whole shing" in her little mouth. Couldn't really blame her - the berries were really good. This is what she told us on the way home in the car:

- How many strawberries did you eat today, June?

- Two.

- Only two?

- Yeah, just two.

That was the last sane conversation in the car. Moments later, she launched into an ear-splitting scream to "Get out!" which lasted all the way home. Arms flailing, tears flowing, complete meltdown in the backseat for the next 15 minutes. Overheated? Exhaustion? Two pounds of strawberries swooshing around in her belly? Probably all of the above. We prefer to remember the happier part of the day frolicking in the fields.

Where's the Party?

June's Favorite Things, as of 1:12 p.m, June 19, 2008:

Cookies, Witul Bear (translation: Little Bear), 'rami (salami), beans of any variety, broccoli (still a winner at dinner!), Pinky Bear (which looks more like Grey Bear since he desperately needs a wash), MMs, feeding the farm animals at the park, finger-painting, blowing bubbles, swinging on the big kids' swing all by herself, playing with her next door neighbor, Sophie, singing her ABCs, telling me what CD to play in the car, making silly faces when we take her picture, keeping the paper industry in business by using at least 5 napkins at each meal (ribs the other night took at least 10) and lots of other things I can't remember right now.

Not-her-favorite things: Flies. She panics whenever one flies by her. Yesterday, she found two in the den. One was limping along on the rug--I think Pepper got a piece of it. I opted not to smoosh it in a tissue, figuring she would freak out, so we took him outside to "play." She found the other fly "sleeping" on her little green chair--Pepper strikes again. We brought it outside to finish its nap.

Funny story: A couple weeks ago, when June wasn't wearing any socks or shoes, I told her that she had bare feet. She looked at me oddly and said, "No Mama, June no got bare feet. June got June feet." Bare, bear, all the same to a two-year-old.

Spring Snippet

June got her first haircut last week. She didn't know what to make of the fire truck chair or the lady cutting her locks, but she was mesmerized by the Thomas cartoon on the TV. Hence the dumbfounded look on her face. The blow dryer really freaked her out, no surprise since she's never seen or heard one.

She went to her first Memorial Day parade last weekend and scored a little American flag (and loads of lollipops from marchers - a toddler's fantasy come true). The next day she walked up and down our street waving her flag in her own little parade. Too cute.

Yesterday, she took the tiniest piece of waffle outside to feed the ants. She put the crumb on the driveway and yelled, "Come on, ants! I brought you waffle!" When no ants showed up to her feast, I casually suggested we find an ant to feed. "No mama, the ants come here," she insisted. A big ant named Pepper helped himself later.

A Pixie in Pigtails

June's Favorite Things, as of May 8, 2008, 1:18 pm:
Fingerpainting
Sitting on the front stoop eating an ice-cream cone
Worms. She calls them No Feet. She picks them up and brings them over to her swingset for a ride down the slide. Masala Mama tries not to flinch when June dangles them inches from her face.
Where is Thumper, Pointer, Tall Man and Pinkie song. She can't do Ring Man, so she skips it.
Little Bear cartoon on Noggin. Totally. Transfixed. By. Brown. Little. Bear. Not. Blinking. Not. Talking. Little. Bear. For. President.
Playgrounds. The bigger the slide, the better. This child knows no fear.
Flossing. Actually, it's more like sucking on a white string, but hey, never too early to instill good dental habits.
Strawberries. As long as they're sugarized.
Chalks. It's plural in our house.
Picking out her own clothes.

And some of her Least Favorites:
Sitting in her car seat. It's like Wrestlemania in the back seat and I'm losing big time.
Sitting in her booster seat. I sense a trend here...
Cold, uncooked vegetables.
Coming inside on a bright sunny day.

The Soup Dragon Strikes Again!

Who is the Soup Dragon? The Soup Dragon is a friendly character that appears in a BBC children’s program called the Clangers. It’s one of many zany British children’s shows that I watched when growing up in England. I recently purchased a bunch of them from England and now watch them with June – yes, I’m re-living my childhood, it’s my main incentive for having children! She loves the Hangers, as she calls them and is fascinated with the Soup Dragon Character. The Soup Dragon lives in underground caves and supplies soup to the Clangers. Check out wiki for more details on the Clangers – I love Wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clangers

So now Pepper, our dog has officially assumed the name Soup Dragon. And last Saturday Grandma Lach made June a double layer sponge cake with chocwut-as June says-frosting. The cake was made lovingly and placed in the sunroom overnight. In the morning Grandma Lach put the Soup Dragon in the sun room for two minutes so she could come upstairs and wake us up. When she returned to the sunroom to let the Soup Dragon out she was shocked to see that the Soup dragon eats more than soup! The cake was half eaten!!!! The Soup Dragon loves cake! Long live the Soup Dragon!!!!

See How She Grows

One year ago today, we met Junebug. It was probably the longest day of our lives, starting with a 4 am wake-up call in Beijing, followed by a 2-hour flight to Wuhan, an hourlong bus ride to the hotel, showers, lunch, and then an hour to sit around staring at each other in our room until 3 pm when we finally took the elevator downstairs to the conference room to meet June. Actually, it was probably more like 3:30 by the time she was in our arms. It was such a wonderful, crazy, emotional, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants day. In the first hour of parenthood, we screwed up her formula. We changed her diaper without the changing pad (and subsequently cleaned pee from the duvet -- sorry Best Western of Wuhan). We held her and rocked her and tried to soothe her as she cried, cried, cried. We tore into the Gerber Puffs I lugged from home and miracle of miracles, she loved him. Scoffed them down. Stopped crying. Started feeding them to me and Masala Papa. All was good in the world. In fact, everything was beautiful. Happy first anniversary, Junebug. 

P.S. The top picture was taken April 9, 2007. The bottom one was taken today.

June-isms

June has quite a collection of favorite phrases these days. 

"Whole sing." You can probably guess what this means, given June's non-stop appetite. Yeah, she wants the whole thing. The whole banana, the whole pancake, the whole rice cracker, you get the picture.  

"Ma feet down." She has a real problem with crossed legs. Crossed ankles, too. Two feet, flat on the floor, that's the way she likes it. Masala Papa gets the same treatment, too. She won't stop saying it until you fix your feet.

"Something special." Said in a sing-songy, I'm-gonna-get-something-good voice. Expectations run high. Last night after dinner, Masala Papa tried to pass off two little gingersnap cookies as something special. Uh, no, daddy. Where's the ice cream, the jello, the lollipops? Now, that's something special. Gingersnap cookies? Lame-o.

"Chocwut." Chocolate, in any shape or form. She'll have the whole sing, please. 

Happy Birthday, June!

I'm a little early with this post, but what the heck. June turns two on Monday and she's totally ready to blow the candles, eat the cake, the works. Here's her dress rehearsal. Notice the bending of the knees in time with the song. Cameo appearance by Pepper who wishes it were HIS birthday, but he'll be happy to eat some cake at June's party. If she shares it, which is a big IF. 

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We celebrated Chinese New Year with our new friends--June's babysitter, her husband, son and parents. It's amazing to see the changes in  June since I first dropped her off at Yuan's house in October. She would cry as soon as I turned into Yuan's street, then break into a full-blown wail when I pulled into the driveway. When I picked her up, she'd cling to me and say home, home, home. Broke my heart. Now I can barely get her coat on because she wants to stay and play with "ge-ge" (older bro' in Chinese, pronounced guh-guh). She calls Yuan "ai" - ah-eee, which means aunty -- and her parents, po-po and gong-gong (literally, old woman and old man, but apparently they're also used for grandma and grandpa). That's them in the bottom picture, and Yuan is with her mom, June and ge-ge above. June's picking up more and more Chinese--the other day, she walked into the house and said "ni hao, pepper!" I nearly died from the cuteness.

 

June's Favorite Things, Take 22

This is June's latest accessory: Her $2 stool from the thrift shop. She carries it all over the house so she can reach whatever she can get her little hands on. She loves to stand at the kitchen counter and watch me cook. She's also fond of grabbing utensils out of the sink -- we've made a few dashes to keep away the knives. 

More of her favorite things: croco (who maintains his #1 status among the small army of stuffed animals that have invaded our house), hershey kisses, the color yerow, Toma (as in Thomas the Tank Engine), Tubby (either the bathroom variety or the silly ones on TV), broccoli (most of the time), applesauce (which she says with gusto whenever she gets to eat it -- video coming soon), singing Deck the Halls, finding the moon in the sky (and getting irritated when the clouds are in the way), feeding Pepper, watering the plants, moving the laundry basket (hey, when is she going to learn how to vac?), pretending a french fry is a phone (demonstrated the other night at dinner), making pretend eggs and toast with her pots and pans, climbing in and out of her crib (when the railing is down--at least for now), unzipping her blanket sleeper for her Elvis look (that snap at the top? who are they kidding?), and all sorts of other wonderful things that I can't remember right now. 

Not her favorite thing: Getting blood drawn. We went over two weeks ago and she's still talking about it. She rolls up her sleeve and says nee-al, pointing to her vein. Then she gets this pained look on her face. The worst part? We didn't get enough blood out of her, so we have to do it again. Anyone wanna volunteer? 

Beijing 2008

June has been training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She can be seen here with her sparring partner Hovan, and their coach and mentor Aleni in the middle. All three had a fabulous time jumping, running and bumping into each other last month. Yes, there were small scuffles over TV programming…with Hovan being adamant…”I don’t want to watch spongebob” and quite frankly, who can blame him? We all ate cheeeeeese, and some delicious chowder soup made by Mama Patricia, and finished our meal with chocolate cake. It was great to see June's friends again and we look forward to another whiz bang session. 

Moo-Moo June

First costume, first lollipop, first encounter with a gorilla...oh yeah, June wants Halloween everyday (maybe minus the gorilla, aka Masala Papa). The big, bad gorilla is available for parties, parades and banana feedings. Please contact the zookeeper, aka Masala Mama.