Sunday, May 30, 2010

What is love?



Notice that he also said a person loves himself. We've always taught him that. :)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

four is such a beautiful number

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It's overdue, I know. The moment and inspiration came together finally, so here they are. My little man is only 7 weeks and already he is loosing his newborn look. The interesting thing is that we are getting comments from people that all four of them look a lot like each other (I know, imagine that!) and that they all look like their Daddy. What a compliment, huh?...a compliment to their Daddy, that is. :)

All three are enamored with their baby brother. J is always googley-eyed over him, K is a quite the little Mommy, and Big M is very much a big brother in his plans to teach him a lot of things as he gets older.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

the interactive baby

Little M will be 7 weeks tomorrow and he is becoming quite interactive. He has been smiling for the past 2 weeks, mostly for his big brother. I don't know what it is he finds funny in him but when Big M dances around like a fool and talks to him, he just can't help himself. But lately, if he's in a good mood he smiles instantly when you talk to him. He even does it with strangers (Big M's teacher).







And what's up with the eyebrows? Daddy said it must be a male thing. :)

Monday, May 24, 2010

Big M's Big 5

Big M turned 5 on March 11, but for many many reasons, I never got to post a blog about it. In case this little man looks back on this blog, I want to post a couple of pictures. It was a Thursday, so Daddy was at work and the kids were at home. I cooked birthday pancakes, as requested by Big M. The pancake seems to be a tradition now (it started last year). He opened a few gifts that morning, some that night when Daddy came home and then of course the majority was at the party that Saturday.

The party was at a Chuck-E-Cheeses type place and his friends from school were there. The hit presents were Star Wars (his cake was Star Wars) and Lego. We had a lot of fun, though K was left at home with the babysitter since she was very sick with asthma.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

we have a mr. smarty pants

I found an envelop in Big M's school bag containing a test result that the school had done. Big M was tested for school readiness using BSRA test. I had no idea what this test is, so I Googled it. Apparently, some schools in the U.S. (particularly NY) use this test as a measure of who gets into a Gifted program.

My little man scored in the 97th percentile. This prompted Daddy and I to look into the school districts Gifted program and what it takes to get into it for Kindergarten. I found out that there is a testing for it in the fall, and those who are accepted starts in the Gifted program in January. For Kindergarten, this means the student is pulled away from his class for 30 minutes a week. By 1st grade, the student is pulled away from his class for a total of 2 hours a week.

Our very own Mr. Smarty Pants has always been bright and we've always been told about it. But to someone who doesn't quite know how to take a compliment, I have always thought that surely he's just like other kids his age. This test is the first to make me think that, hmmm, maybe he is very smart. Daddy and I are not the kind of parents that would plan out out where the children would attend college and what kind of professionals they're going to be, but this does alert us of what kind of things we need to provide for them in order to facilitate their learning and help them become what they may want to be as adults.

We have already seen that Big M is not the kind of child who would sit in class and do the same thing over and over again. He's the kind of child who needs to be taught how to think so that he may apply what he has learned into something outside what he was just taught. He thinks outside the box. He gets from A to C by skipping B. He needs to be told "why" and not just "what". In other words, he drives us crazy most of the time. :)

The other day I explained to him what "liquid" is. And being spur of the moment, I will admit that I gave a very poor definition. I told him that liquid is something that can change shape, and in order to help him, I said that the opposite is "solid" - something that can't change shape. So then I listed things and I asked him to tell me whether they're solid or liquid. I asked him to identify a house (again, a poor choice) and he said it is a liquid because it changes shape when you wreck it. He went on to say that his poo (I swear I didn't bring this up) is also liquid because it can change shape. Yeah, let's just chuck this up to him being a smarty pants shall we?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Spring Program

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K is the one with a hair part right on the middle, and J is the one with a white bow on her head (with pink shoes).

The girls' school has their Spring Program on Friday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish all preschools would present their kids like this at least once a year. There is just something about the off-key singing and wild movement of little ones that can put a smile in your face and make you beam with overwhelming pride for your kids.







Notice K and J are pretty much the only one yelling something to the song (I don't know what they're saying though). J then notices the microphones and want to touch them, but her teacher tells her no. And then there is of course the unmistakable mope. Watch out for their teacher's response - she droops her head and laughs. You can tell by the teacher's reaction that the moping is not an isolated response.







This is the last performance by everyone. It was a joy to watch the 1 year olds up to the 5 year olds.

Apologies for the shaky hand. I was wearing Little M and I was standing up so that I didn't videotape everyone else's heads and I was zoomed in since I was sitting in the back.

Friday, May 14, 2010

moon sand



[flickr video=4606402613 show_info=true w=460 h=352.5]




It's so much fun playing with moon sand, especially if it's your brother's and he doesn't know.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

it's all about the good germs vs. the bad germs



I'm not showing you how dirty my mini-van is. I can't even remember the last time it had a wash. What I'm showing here is the Upward.Org magnet that we got when Big M played soccer. This magnet used to be on the left side right under the word Carmax. I don't really pay attention to it, until one day I noticed that it was on the right. It made me pause for a moment. Maybe I just thought wrong and it was really on the right side? I shrugged it off. A few days later, it was back on the left. Was my husband moving it around? But why?

Then one day, when Daddy and Big M came home from school, he told something funny Big M told him. He said Big M moves it around in order to confuse the dirt. We had a good laugh about that one, especially that it proves I'm not senile after all!

Then yesterday, Big M got into it with me. He said that he must move the magnet around to confuse the bad germs in the "car nation" so that the good germ have a chance. Have a chance at what, I don't know. :)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Mother's Day is so much fun, it should be everyday!

Here are my Mother's Day gifts.

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Big M even read his sweet little note to me. J & K's gift is a very appropriate poem. There are tons of hand prints on the walls that that drive me nuts, but they are prints that will fade away just as the prints will. I need to appreciate the now and see the messes they make for what they are - a fun snapshot of their life.

Of course, Little M's gift is Little M. He is healthy and that's all that he needs to be right now. Though his one month check up today was not to his doctor's satisfaction. Today he weighed in at 10 lbs 2 oz. The pediatrician said that at one month, they like babies to have gained 2 lbs from their birth weight, so Little M is behind by 6 oz. He asked if I could pump, which sounded strange to me since I am exclusively breastfeeding. If I needed to pump to give him extra milk, why couldn't he just get it straight from the source? I a torn at the moment on whether to take this weight issue to heart, especially since Little M has been nursing every hour for a few days now. But I guess I can give him one formula feeding a day since the hospital sent us home with a few bottles.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

fun in the sun

Thing 1 is in blue, Thing 2 is in pink.

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A couple days ago brought the first 90 degree day of the season. We let the kids play in the water and they had a lot of fun. The weather was hot, but the water was cold. But I don't think anyone noticed. :)

Saturday, May 8, 2010

the budding athletes

The last couple of days were Field Days at the girls' school. They are quite the
little
athletes. They loved the activity and they loved playing with their friends. The parents were invited to watch and take pictures but Daddy and I and Little M were the only ones there. We just had to take the opportunity to watch them interact with other kids. With the school's carpool, we never get to see them in the school environment. It was a lot of fun and Daddy and I got a kick at seeing that they are the biggest kids in class. :p

Thing 1 is wearing Pink shirt with Blue pants, and Thing 2 is wearing Purple shirt and Pink pants.

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when I grow up, I want to be just like my big brother



This is Little M at almost 2 weeks old trying to eat his blanket, on his big brother's bouncy.



This is Big M when he was 2 months old.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Welcome, Michael David!

Since I no longer have 3 silly ducklings, but 4 little monkeys, I will now post here. :)

Mikey was born on April 9th at 7:54am weighing in at 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 3/4 inches. He is a big boy and it was such an eventful entrance too. I was scheduled for a c-section at 7:30am (we needed to arrive at the hospital at 5:30am) but having trouble falling asleep, I got up at 3:30. From the moment I stood up, I felt contraction every 5 minutes and they intensified very quickly. I think it's yet another sign that this little one will be every bit as strong willed as his big brother and big sisters.

Shortly after I was brought back to my room, Mikey was brought to me to breastfeed. This was a pleasant surprise because when Big M was born, I remember waiting an hour or so for him to be brought back to me from the nursery. And even then, the nurses did not push him to breastfeed. But with Little M, one of the nurses practically undressed me. Little M was a pro! I was still getting situated and he found a nipple himself and latched on. :) His first day was spent sleeping all day long. We never even heard a peep, which worried Daddy and I at first. By day 3, he found his voice and he let us the nurses know.