It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Ends Up in the E.R.

Dear Kids,
As Hailey as approaching 23 months old, I am finally feeling like my brain is coming back. The past 2 weeks you have been sleeping through the night more than 50% of the time and that stretch of uninterrupted sleep has been GOLDEN! Ya'll I even cracked a joke on the spot the other day!

So, this is a very late post, but I will make it up with lots of adorable pics of you guys, which is pretty much why people read this blog anyways, right?

For Hailey, going milk free has been amazing. Your eczema has been clearing up, your appetite is improving and you can actually eat all the fruit without getting horrible diaper rash. You are saying a few words in both English and Mandarin. "'meer" means come here. "Biper" means diaper. 

 And then I'll let you all guess the next 2.

"Vee Vee" 

Hint: sign language for _____. 

Yep, so the first one is TV and the second one is ice-cream. You pretty much ask for these all day. When you don't get what you want and throw a big tantrum, sometimes you'll just suddenly stop screaming, look at me and say "Vee Vee" with the most hopeful little look on your face. Or pretty much anytime you walk by the fridge, you'll stick your tongue out and lick your finger, which means ice cream. 

When you first started to talk, we would honor most of your requests to encourage communication. Now that you can undertand more, we've been starting to say "No" more often. Do you like it? 

Not at all, but you are starting to learn that no means no. You've even learned to negotiate a bite of food for one strawberry. You are just super fun to be around and you surprise me with new abilities every day. 

***

So 5 years later, we find ourselves back to the E.R. once again. This time it was due to a laceration in the scalp. Nathan, you attempted to do a forward flip into the pool and your head caught the edge of the pool. I later found out that Dad just reminded you the day before to jump out instead of up so this exact thing doesn't happen to you. 

You were very brave throughout the whole thing and you said that the most painful part was when they smeared the lidocaine on your wound. 

 When I took a picture to show you your cool "hat" you managed to give me an adorable smile.

 And in the end, the doctor put 4 staples on your wound. As you were lying there waiting, you suddenly said, "Mommy, you know, this is kind of like a date, you know, just you and me."
I chuckled, didn't know what to say at first, as I thought to myself, aw man, you don't have to split your head open for us to have one-on-one time! And then I thought back to the days when it was just me and you and now you have to share me with 2 other very demanding little sisters. I put down my phone, we played games together and then I decided to make this date official by stopping for some ice cream before heading home.

The next morning, we went to the playground in the morning before it got too hot. We also recently started to play Pokemon Go, so when we are out, we will spend some time looking for new Pokemon.

I just had to take a pic of this sweet moment. 

 On Wednesday, Nathan and Hannah, you both tested up in martial arts. Despite the staples in your head, Nathan, you did a great job performing all of the elements, rolling, and completing the physical challenge. Hannah, I was so proud to see you perform the same things with strength and confidence.

 You both are now Yellow with white stripes!

On Saturday I had my first roller derby bout. Daddy took the 3 of you to come watch. A few of our other friends came by and I felt so special to have people cheering me on. When I was a kid, Ama and Gong Gong were never able to come watch any of my school performances so when you all were able to come, it was extra special to me.

 On Sunday, Hannah, you invited the girls who you love to play with the most to a super sparkly princess tea party. Just wanted to point out that I made you rainbow cupcakes, and fancy French macarons...so I don't want you ever pulling the middle child card out on me! 

As my mini-me, you have also developed a passion for food, but unlike me, you've also developed a liking of rainbows. So I had you make up the menu with all of your favorite tea goodies and I tried to rainbowfy them all as much as possible.

Everyone got to decorate their own cupcakes, try different types of tea (including color changing floral tea) and snack on various tea goodies. 

Tea, scones, sandwiches, macarons, rainbow cupcakes and rice crispy treats. 

 We played a few group games, including frozen princesses, pin the horn on the unicorn, glitterfied everyone's hair and of course, had a princess dance party!

 I think both the young and older kids had fun. I had fun! Nathan, you had an idea of being the prince and possibly dancing with all the princesses. When I announced that we had a prince who was going to dance with them, they were all very excited and kept on asking when you would arrive. You made your presence, tried dancing for like a minute and ran back upstairs, overwhelmed. It was kind of funny, not gonna lie.

 For dinner that night, we went out to eat and then we tried a new frozen yogurt place that just opened up next to our favorite Slab BBQ. I let you all get whatever you wanted. You both pretty much just went down the line and put every. singe. flavor. in your cup. Then you both topped it with...too much stuff. As you scarfed down your delicious culinary creation, Hannah, you exclaimed, this was the best thing ever!!!

I really like All-Star because they actually store all the nut ingredients in a separate area so there's no chance of cross contamination. A plus for this family with 2 nut allergies.

 Hannah, on your actual birthday, which also happened to be the day before the first day of school, I decided to meet up with a friend up north at Catch Air. I had heard amazing things about this place, but had never been. I was pleasantly surprised as there were things to do for everyone!

 And a bonus was that my favorite bubble tea cafe is right across the street! This place doesn't give you the stink eye when you ask to split the cup for the kids. They understand and already have cups just for that purpose.

 And then that day we went straight from Catch Air to martial arts where Hannah, you got to sit on Sensei's shoulders and hold the pork chop.

 And then summer ended and first day of school. Both of you were pretty calm, not super anxious or as excited as some of your friends (who woke up super early that day). We are fortunate to have many of our neighbors in the same class this year.

 2 kids from across the street are in Hannah's class.

1 kid from across the street is in Nathan's class, and then 2 kids from your Kindergarten class are in your 1st grade class.

At first Hailey, you would occasionally ask  "Nay Nay?" "Nah Nah?" and when you finally figured out that they came back after your nap, you've stopped asking about them during the day.

We play at home, run errands, go to the gym, come home for lunch. You take a nap at 1:30 and then I have 90 minutes to myself before I have to pick up the big kids from school. I thought I would have so much more time to myself, but it seems pretty much the same.

Daddy snapped this sweet photo of all reading together before bed. Right now you all love to sit and listen to stories, but I know that this is not going to last forever.

Yesterday marked the end of the first week of school. We celebrated with frozen yogurt and double play dates. I'm so glad that this year has started without a hitch. You both are making friends and doing great at school!

 This morning, after martial arts, we went to the playground to take advantage of this overcast day. Hailey, you really love the swings and this combo swing made the experience even more fun. You two giggled non stop as Hannah pumped back and forth as you blew air into her face.

 And the next 2 pics just show the sheer joy of being on a swing together.

Well, that's about it for now. Oh update on the tantrum thing with Nathan.

We are continuing respond to "It's not fair" with "life is not fair." Another thing that I am being more conscious of doing is prepping you for changes in schedule or when you start to show signs of being upset, I'll step back and ask you what you really want and then try to figure out how to express what you are feeling verbally.

I'm really having to work on parenting after the fact, as I always want to try to stop or control the situation by trying to explain and teach when you are still emotional. I know I probably just sound like the adults do from the Peanuts, but the few times I've waited to talk to you about a previous tantrum, everyone is more productive.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to bed!

Love,
Mommy