11/06/2012

(originally posted on my other blog)


I'm a little annoyed at some remarks by parents who deem themselves "failures" because their children do not vote in line with them.

Be grateful that your children have minds of their own and are able to make decisions. You have provided them with the resources to form their own opinions and look at the world with discerning eyes.

Hopefully, this means they respectfully disagree with you and are able to articulate their reasons. Whether you vote Republican or Democrat, you do not get to decide how your children vote or what they believe. And if you do feel entitled to controlling your children's beliefs and actions, you are in the wrong line of work. Good parenting allows our children the freedom to grow up to be thinkers, achievers, and innovators. Be a good parent.

Respect your children's decisions because it doesn't change who they are.

I respect my children as thinking and feeling human beings. As long as they remember that their beliefs, actions, and words affect everyone around them, they are free to choose how they live, whom they love, and what they do.

8/30/2012

I just saw this article on CNN about kids playing across gender lines, and I had to laugh. Of course, I don't believe that gender roles should be reinforced at any age. I laughed because it made me think of Eric, who has been having a lot of fun lately pushing around a doll stroller and a shopping cart.

It's cute. It's funny. It doesn't (necessarily) mean he is gay. He's just a baby pushing a thing with wheels. It goes where he wants, and that is fun for him. He doesn't play with the baby at all; he simply wants it to sit in the stroller and make sure its hat doesn't fall off. He also doesn't want anything in the shopping cart; anything you put in, he simply throws out. He loves playing with Anneli's jewelry. But he also loves cars, trucks, trains, and airplanes. He loves throwing balls. He loves riding his trike.

Anneli loves to play with Lego blocks. She spent almost all her time building with Lego blocks when we were at Grandpa's house, and she has done it almost every day since coming home. Yes, she has a set in a pink box (from Grandpa), but she loves building cars and houses. Let's not forget the bucket full of cars she has (Cars and just regular cars). She loves the movie Cars. She has pillows, markers, shirts, and books with Lightning McQueen emblazoned on them. She does a little princess dress-up now and then, but it's short-lived. She will be going to preschool with her Lightning McQueen backpack, and if any of the girls or boys have a problem with it, they can suck it.

My children will grow up to be well-adjusted with no hang-ups about gender roles or gender identity. I want my kids to be happy, to enjoy whatever activity they like, to know that girls and boys can do whatever they want. People need to stop worrying about making their children follow stereotypes and let them just be kids.

8/15/2012

Anneli had a crying fit, so I spanked her once. As I got out of the shower, this is what I saw on the floor in front of the bathroom:



Notice all the question marks around the drawing.

3/31/2012

Milestone: Eric's walking!

Trouble to come, I know it.

Just this week, Eric started walking. He's not very good at it; in fact, he gets so excited, his legs can't keep up with his head, and he ends up on his face pretty quickly. He can manage about 10 steps at the most, and he doesn't like to do it all that often. He prefers to be carried, and he lets me know that when I try to put him on his feet. He'll probably get it within the next week.

Both of the kids are taking play classes at the rec center. Both of them absolutely love it! This is Eric's first real exposure to socialization with other kids, and he plays just fine. He's not as shy as Anneli was. Anneli has outgrown a lot of her shyness, and she actually plays without coaxing from me.

2/26/2012

Milestones: Anneli 4, Eric 1

I've got to get better about posting on time.

So, both of the babies had their birthdays this month, and we also conducted our annual visit to the pediatrician. Our stats are below:

Eric: weight - 25 lbs.; height - 30 in.; head - 19 in.
It seems Eric has actually lost weight, although you can't tell by holding him. It certainly feels like he weighs 50 lbs. He didn't cry during his physical as he has done in the past; he was actually cheerful and laughed when the doctor was examining him. She declared him very healthy and definitely happy.


Anneli: weight - 38 lbs.; height - 42.5 in.
I don't know how it's even possible for both of my children not to have gained any weight! Anneli weighs a ton, too. She did grow a few inches, as evidenced by the sudden shortness of her pants; she is wearing a size 5, and even that she is ready to outgrow soon. I guess Anneli got her height gene from Husband, and Eric from me.


Both of them had some booster shots, and they both cried terribly. Of course, Anneli cried even more because Eric started crying. "We are both crying!" according to Anneli.

Eric hasn't started walking yet. In fact, when we put him on his feet, he throws his head back and goes limp, as he whines to be picked up. He does, however, enjoy pushing around Anneli's little shopping cart and doll stroller. He also pushes around his Lightning McQueen ride-on car; he prefers that to actually riding on it (he gets off immediately). But you put him on his feet with nothing to push? Forget it. We did get him some shoes--very cute, by the way!--and he's gotten used to having them on his feet. He cried the first few times, but he doesn't mind anymore.

Anneli is working on learning to read. She recognizes several dozen short words, and she's figuring out how to sound out new ones. She is also working on basic addition and subtraction; she can do calculations up to 10 using her fingers. She can count past 100 now. She is also working on Korean; she can write her name in Korean (한별), and she recognizes Eric's name (한섭) and some other words. I think we've got a smarty on our hands.

2/11/2012

I'm pretty sure your child is a brat.

Mine are definitely not. They behave. They don't scream in public. They are polite to adults and other children.


1/24/2012

So I haven't updated in ages, so here we go...

Eric is approaching his first birthday. We took him to get professional portraits done two weekends ago, and they turned out nicely! I will be picking up the CD today, so I will post a few later.

Eric would really love to walk, but he hasn't quite mastered standing. We'll catch him standing (after he's pulled himself up) and he won't realize it. He's definitely mastered crawling, and if he's determined, he can scoot across the floor in just a few seconds. He loves climbing the stairs, and he'll go right for them if he sees someone go up or down.

Eric has three "words" down: uh-oh, and food and peek-a-boo (in Korean). He's been saying "uh-oh" for a couple months now, and sometimes the timing is so perfect!

Anneli is just Anneli. Her obsession with her cars has plateaued, and her interests now include My Little Pony and Disney Princesses. She will be turning four in a few weeks, and she's so sure she'll really be a big girl when that happens.

Also, I came across this, which really made me wonder why exactly this country is against socialized medicine: Finnish maternity package. Imagine the impact that this could have on new, and especially young, mothers. I'd be willing to bet that fewer babies would be abandoned to die, just because their mothers were able to save money on clothes and buy food instead. The one parts that make me laugh are the fourth image from the bottom--"condoms 6 inserts"--and the last image--a box that "can be used as crib."

12/16/2011

Eric now has six teeth, and he is finally crawling. It's still a painstaking effort, but he scoots along. It's uncanny how similar he and Anneli are; Eric is reaching his milestones almost at exactly the same times that Anneli did. Eric just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I'm sure he's at least 25 lbs. now, if not more. He hasn't started saying words yet, but this week he has been saying, "Uh-oh. Uh-oh." We say that a lot around him, and he seems to have picked it up. He even says it with the same inflections we use.

Anneli got her Christmas presents from us (i.e. parents and grandparents) early, and she's excited about getting more from other family members. She got an InnoTab tablet, which she enjoys, and she got a camera from a cousin. Eric got... nothing. :( My little boy just keeps getting the short end of the stick. He'll get some gifts from other family, so I don't worry.

Anneli is working on learning her address. She remembers individual parts of it, but she needs help on stringing it all together. She's been practicing with my mom, so naturally her pronunciation of it is a little "fobby."

12/04/2011

(Late) Updates

Eric now has four teeth, with another one coming in. Still waiting on his to learn to crawl, although he has mastered sliding backwards on his belly. He finds it really frustrating--he attempts to crawl forward toward something just out of reach, only to find himself going backward and farther away. Cue whining.

He's now pooping regularly. I had been concerned since he was only going once every 4-5 days. I increased the amount of cereal he eats, and now he poops daily.

We have discovered that furry stuff animals scare Eric. Anneli has a fuzzy penguin, and Eric does not like it. It made him cry the first time he saw it. He backs away from it if you put the penguin in front of him, and he swats at it if you get it too close.

Anneli watched "Happy Feet Two" yesterday, so now she loves this penguin. (It has been sitting in her bedroom for the past year, untouched.) She also cried several times during the movie. She is too empathetic and sensitive. She got worried that Eric (the penguin in the movie) was being left behind by his dad, and that Eric would not reunite with his mom. Even at the end, she was still sad.

Anneli is now very much into princesses and dressing up. She still enjoys her cars and other "boy" toys, but she now works in the girly stuff, too. She's been asking (rather persistently) for a princess scooter; it's on her Christmas list, but her continued bratty and whiny behavior may not be helping her.

9/29/2011

Milestone: First Teeth!

Eric now has two teeth! They appeared over the weekend, and he's been chewing on everything in sight. He's been a bit cranky, but he's not crying all day like some other babies I know. His teeth have come in a little later than Anneli's did. Anneli is very excited about his teeth; she likes to remind us that he has two teeth now. :)

Anneli's tantrums have mostly gone away, although there are some flare-ups here and there. She had one on Sunday because she did not want to take a nap. (She eventually fell asleep.) I do blame her behavior on my parents, who coddle her and basically undermine me. I've talked to them about enforcing the rules when I'm not at home (and also not bending the rules because she cries), but that will take some time.

Eric is still growing... big, fat roly-poly baby. I squeeze him into one of Anneli's old fleeze footie pajamas (size 12 mons) and had a hard time zipping him up. I had to take him out and put him in one of own pajamas that actually fit properly. He is the size of a one-year-old; imagine having to carry a one-year-old everywhere. He no longer wants to lie back in the tub; he kicks angrily and wants to sit up. I end up with water all down the front of my clothes. We've been showing him how to take steps, and he can swing his legs when we hold him up. I think we get more of a workout than he does.

We've not really solved the poop issue. He still doesn't poop every day. It happens every 4-5 days, which I guess is regular...? Enormous, adult-size poop. Gross. He had one yesterday, so we'll see when it happens again.

8/09/2011

Milestone: Eric 6 months & other stuff...

Weight: 20 lbs. 4 oz. (90th percentile)
Height: 26 in.
Head: 17.5 in.
Chest: 18.25 in.

I'm not surprised that he gained weight, but geez... 20 pounds?! The doctor was not concerned with his weight, as he is on breastmilk. He did ask me if anyone in the family has a big head (I don't know what constitutes "big"), as he measured Eric's head twice to confirm the measurement.

Anneli has not been eating for the last two days. She starts to cry and gags when I try to get her to eat. Today, she did eat a little at lunch--about half of what she normally eats--but I was thankful for that and didn't push it. She came home and had a half cup of milk and some Doritos, so I hope this means she's getting her appetite back. We've had a tough go of her behavior this past week, but I think she's just acting out for two reasons: (1) she is jealous of the time and attention I give to Eric, and (2) she misses her grandparents (my parents). As to reason 1, I've been trying to give her more individual attention when Eric is asleep, but Eric is not a heavy sleeper, so that gives me at most 30-45 minutes I can spend with her, if I don't have to pump. It's difficult to work in time with her when I have so many things I need to do (laundry, cleaning, cooking...). (I'm on the computer right now because she said she would rather watch an episode of Backyardigans than read with me. And if you know how much she hates Backyardigans, you know how surprising this decision is.) As for reason 2, she has been telling my parents that she's been "waiting too much" for them to return. My mom will be back in two and a half weeks, my dad another week after, so the planets will realign in her universe in short order.

But she has been well-behaved today, so I caved and bought her a My Little Pony book. (We had some time to kill before the doctor's appointment, so we stopped at Barnes & Noble.) She's taken a liking to My Little Pony (the strange reincarnation of the '80s show), and it's pretty harmless so I let her indulge.

7/29/2011

Anneli likes to play with "stuffes." We are trying to figure out at what point she decided the word "stuff" requires an "-es" ending.

7/28/2011

Some funny things:

Anneli recognizes the Aquabats now, ha! Except she can't really pronounce it very well, calling them "acrobats."

Anneli has this obsession with smelling her hands after she touches something. o_O So this morning, I was lying in bed with her, when she sniffed her hand. I said, "You need to see a psychotherapist." She responded, "What, shopping?" She must have thought I said "retail therapy." :)

Last night, while playing with her dad, Anneli called him "Max." She immediately realized her mistake and bashfully covered her mouth as she giggled.

7/27/2011

A little bit of a change here... I've decided to add Eric to this blog, so I don't have to update one for each of them. Not only is it easier with just one blog, but it makes more sense since their lives are so intertwined.

So today Anneli and I had another knock-down-drag-out screaming match. She got angry when I wouldn't change the channel on the TV; she started stomping her feet and threw herself on the floor. I told her to go to her room, and she got up and smacked my stomach. She continued screaming as she ran away from me, but I eventually dragged her to her room. She kept screaming, so I told her I wouldn't talk to her until she had calmed down. At that point, she claimed she was hungry; she repeated that several times until she realized I wasn't buying it. I left her in her room for five minutes. When I went up, she had calmed down considerably and was just lying on her bed. We talked about what happened and why I had gotten angry. I took away her pig and blanket for the night. She wanted to cry in response, but I told her I would keep them an extra day if she started crying again. A little harsh I admit, but those two things are the only things I can use against her. The threat of losing them keeps her in check. At bedtime, she looked like she was going to cry again, so I lay in bed with her until she fell asleep. She was out in 15 minutes, a record for her. Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow...

Eric must be going through a growth spurt because he's a bottomless pit; he is constantly hungry! Today, he had 5 oz. at 6:00 pm, but he was crying for more by 7:30 pm. I fed him some cereal (probably 3 tbsp.) and 4 oz. of milk; it must have been barely enough because he wanted more. I'm still producing more milk than he can keep up with, so I don't worry about having enough. (I think two freezers entirely filled with milk should give you an idea of why I don't worry.) If only selling breastmilk weren't illegal... I could be rich!

7/13/2011

The last few days have been especially trying. Anneli has been unusually weepy--she cries at the drop of a hat. I'm not sure why she's crying, and I don't really know how to handle it. I wonder if she is now feeling jealous of the attention I give Eric.

This morning, I had reprimanded Anneli for her early morning crying fit. Later, as I was getting Eric into the car seat, Anneli walked up and said, "Umma, you are being nice to Eric." I nodded. Then she said, "Umma, you should be nice to Anneli, too." She almost seemed embarrassed by her statement, but she repeated it when I asked her what she meant.

I need to spend some time with just Anneli, but it's difficult to get away from Eric...

7/09/2011

Milestone: Eric 5 months

Eric is now able to roll himself over (but only in one direction). He has been working really hard on accomplishing this, and it's been funny to watch him. He survived a trip to NY (and gave me lots of poop, to boot).

His weight gain seems to have plateaued for now, but he must be close to 20lbs. now! He's just all sorts of fat, especially his legs. My mom asked if he was able to roll over yet (before he was able to do it), and when I said no, my dad chimed in, "Because he's fat!" :)

Compared to Anneli, Eric is very vocal, and very loud. Anneli's vocalizations were soft and feminine, but Eric tends to screech, blabber, and gurgle. He blows raspberries when he's angry, he yells when he's tired, he giggles hysterically when Anneli talks to him. It's fun to see the differences between the two kids, and I wonder if Eric is more vocal because he has another baby talking to him.

I've also been having a little fun with Eric. I put Anneli's Hello Kitty hairband on him. He's so cute! One day, I will show that picture to his fiancee, and he will hate me for it.

6/25/2011

[returning from Costco, after eating some frozen yogurt]
Anneli: Omma, my tongue is wet.
Me: Okay.
Anneli: My mouth is wet.
Me: Okay.
Anneli: My mouth smells like... [looks up, trying to think]
Me: What does it smell like?
Anneli: It smells like butt.

6/20/2011

Eric has had some difficulty pooping lately. He has pooped once in the last six days. The most probable reason is the rice cereal he had. It's normal for rice cereal to cause some constipation (Anneli went 2-3 days at a time without a poop), but one poop in a week is a little strange. He doesn't seem uncomfortable, although his farts are STINKY. He's been sneaking out some silent ones, too. We've been giving him prune juice hoping to help the poop, but it doesn't seem to be working. Suggestions welcome.

6/13/2011

Milestone: Eric 4 months

Weight: 17 lbs. 6 oz. (90th percentile)
Head: 16.75 in. (60th percentile)
Chest: 17.25 in. (85th percentile)
Length: 26 in. (80th percentile)

And that's on an empty stomach! What a fatty.
Anneli has obviously inherited her clumsiness from me. She had a rough day yesterday. We were at Target ("red circle shopping") and she ran into the arm of a clothes rack. Banged up her cheek. Later in the evening, she fell face first down a set of stairs and landed on the opposite cheek! Luckily she didn't break a tooth, although there was some bleeding. She had a big lip this morning. She tried to blame me for her falling, said my foot made her fall. She didn't believe me when I said she fell by herself.

So let's update on her newly acquired skills:
- count to one hundred by ones and tens
- write every letter of the alphabet
- write basic words (cat, cow, car, mom, dad, eye, pig)
- spell and write her name and Eric's
- draw flowers, ants, rainbows, suns, people
- using adverbs (definitely, surely)

She can draw people much better now. She now includes a body and limbs, and she adds hair when applicable. ("Oppa, you don't have hair on top.") I should start scanning her pictures so I can show them to her when she's older.