No Longer Babies

I can't believe the boys are going to be 4 soon. Here's a song for them and some of my favorite baby shots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv-KGMDpEEs

Boys in San Diego, 8 months

Oliver at 6 months

The boys at 9 months

The boys at 9 months

Ronan at 8 months

The boys at 10 months

Newborn Oliver

With Nuna at Thanksgiving, 4 months

Buddies, 7 months

Onni

"Onni" means big sister in Korean, from a girl's perspective. After being called "nuna" (big sister for a boy) all the time, she seems to enjoy being called onni. I remember when Dahin was a baby and all big girls were so incredibly cool. She immediately became enraptured when a big girl would enter the room. Now, it's fun to see Dahin step into the big girl role. To this little girl, "Onni" Dahin is abolutely the greatest. Dahin enjoys the attention, but gets a little embarrassed with requests for "onni" to accompany her to the potty (which happens pretty much everytime we meet). These pictures are so sweet.

Windy Day

The wind was so strong at the Marina yesterday it took zero effort to get the kite up and Ronan was worried the kite would fly off on its own. The temps were in the sixties--a big change from the day before when temps shot into the upper 90s.

Watermelon

Friday and Saturday it was so hot. Cool watermelon really hit the spot. Oliver enjoyed his watermelon so much he was humming to himself while eating. He ate an entire quarter of the watermelon all by himself.

Playdate

The boys had their first real playdate EVER this weekend. I know we are totally lame for not scheduling playdates for them sooner. Usually, they would have playdates by default with the younger siblings of Dahin's friends, who all happened to be girls. This was, admittedly, also a playdate between Dahin and his big sister, but it still counts because it truly was two playdates in one (7 year-olds are not on the same wave-length as 4-5 year-olds; nor do they want to be). The boys all have Thomas the Tank Engine in common and had a blast painting. Now, Oliver and Ronan argue over who, exactly, is best "flends" with this little guy.

Train Boy

I have not tired of the Thomas the Tank Engine phase like I've tired of other phases (like Dora: Do you see Swiper? Where? Right #%$#ing behind you!--ooh, don't get me started...) I'm as much into trains as the boys. I hope the train phase lasts a while. If/when they move onto other interests, I'll miss the "choo-choo" and "woo-woo" sounds, and even their "train" voices: high-pitched voices they use when speaking for the trains; something that would drive a dog nuts, but not me.

Rocking out

The kids held an improve percussion session last night. Note the "dancing" headband Oliver's sporting and Dahin's role as bandleader. Things got really wild later when Ronan donned sunglasses.

Fruit of our labor

Well, today was the day. As soon as I opened the door this afternoon, the boys were shrieking and jumping up and down. "Mommy, come on, come on! We havah show you somedin'. Come on!!" When I went to the patio, I saw what the excitement was all about. Our tomato plant finally produced a red tomato. After weeks of green tomatoes and Ronan exclaiming, "Our mato pwant is NOT wuhking!" we finally got a reward for our potting, re-potting, spider-napping (putting spiders on the plant to keep aphids away), and watering. Before I could say, "Let it ripen a little more," Ronan had ripped it off the plant and screamed, "We havah eat it." So, we did. Too bad the boys hate tomatoes. Dahin, Lily, and I thought it was rather tasty, despite the premature plucking.

Video Message

Grandfather and Bubbie are trying out a new internet video program. They've sent us a couple of messages so far and the kids LOVE it. This afternoon, we watched (and watched, and watched...) a video they sent us and the boys were talking to it as if their grandparents were in the room. Each time we watched it, when Bubbie and Grandfather said "hi" to them, the boys waved and shouted back, "Hi." They could have watched it a hundred times. The video lost its thrill with Dahin, on the other hand, after a couple of viewings, and she complained it was "too short." We need to get hooked up with a webcam and the same service so we can actually video conference in real time.

Truly California Kids

I actually took these photos a while ago, in mid-May. But, today reminded me of the day I took these pictures. That day, the temperature climbed into the '90s, so I thought it would be perfect to go to the zoo since we usually spend days at the zoo bundled up. WRONG. The kids were M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. Totally. All they wanted to do was climb up the stairs to the ampitheatre and sit. And when the supply of watermelon was gone, they decided laying down was their best option. Attempts to make them move elicited whines and pained expressions. Dahin kept scratching her skin screaming, "I'm allergic to the sun, don't make me go out there!." I kept saying, "You don't know hot--this isn't hot!" But, they didn't care. Finally, I gave up and said, "Let's go to the beach." At that, they jumped up, and, as you can tell from the shots below, were in their element playing with the waves and running around on the sand. Today, it was not nearly as hot as that day. I think it barely went over 75 degrees. But, on our little hike to and from the library, they whined about how "hot" it was and kept wanting to rest on every available rock and park bench. When we got home, Dahin doused her face with cold water and the kids begged for watermelon. Of course, I gave it to them; you know, fiber, vitamin A and all. But, wow-- California's mild temperatures have made my children weather wusses.

Playdates

Playdates have become an afterschool sport. I'm glad Dahin is making friends!

Painting

A Boy and His Guinea Pig

Ronan and Lily bond over carrots. Ronan loves putting Lily in his lap and feeding her, and she loves the attention and, especially, the food. She is a total slave to her stomach and will brave the "great outdoors" (I swear she is an agoraphobiac--preferring to stay inside her little cave most of the day) for a tasty treat. We're growing parsley, which the kids love to harvest and feed to Lily.

More Practice Shots

When I went running this morning (yes, I run in a cemetery), I noticed the view was especially good. Normally, mornings here are misty and you can barely see a mile in the distance. But, this morning, the sky was very clear and blue. You can see the red tint of the Golden Gate, the blue waters of the Bay, and the freeway in the distance. I came back after getting ready for work to take some shots and this is the best one (sigh).

Yesterday I had some time after work to test the self-portrait function of the camera. Focus is challenging, but I love that this camera can take photos in low light without a flash.
Jack was ready for his closeup in another shot I took, but I prefer this one. He's too used to posing for ads for car sales--he's got that car salesman smile down. I avoid it when I can. Here, he's talking to the boys.


Little miss toothy got another visit from the tooth fairy this weekend. She has a missing tooth on the top left and one on the bottom right (her perspective). My baby is growing up! Dahin and Ronan have the same color eyes--this beautiful deep amber color. In darker light, her eyes take on a more hazel appearance, with a lot of green in the mix. In the sun, they are definitely an amber.

Oliver's eyes are like his dad's--what Oliver says are "black" eyes. He says he loves his "blown" [brown--the kids tend to use apa's pronunciation on words like "ice cleam"] hair, too, and does NOT want white hair. Dahin and Oliver had a fight the other day over the fact that one day, when he's old, he might have white hair. He was adamently opposed to the idea. Oliver's a little fighter, and a bit of a smart ass. He carries this little magna doodle thing around with him and writes messages on it (normally in the form of pictographs). The other day, I told him to do something NOW (yes, I was in drill sergeant mode) and he scribbled something really fast on his mini magna doodle and said, "See this? It say, 'I don't cawah [care]'." Hmmm. The time-out was well-deserved.

Ronan is quite the model. He likes to have his photo taken, and especially to look at the photos afterwards. He also, unselfconsciously, loves to do or have anything that nuna (Dahin) does or has. Right down to the Barbie backpack he insists on carrying with him everywhere. To entice Dahin to trim her nails, I offer to paint them once they are trimmed. Ronan, as well, now has bright pink toenails and rose-colored fingernails.

To prove that Lily does, indeed, have a distinguishable and cute (HELLO--look at this!) little face from her backside, I took these shots. So there, Paige. Tell me this is not cute--I dare you! Wiwy WUVS her wettuce! Yes, Paige. Just for you.

This is Lily smiling. Really. Or telling me to back off. Hmmm...