Uh oh. Puke.

Poor DT has some GI issues.  It's nothing serious, but he seems to spit up quite a lot recently.  Junior likes to alert us whenever DT has an episode.  "Uh oh!  Puke!"  he likes to say, as he points to it.  Normally Junior doesn't care where DT causes a mess, with one exception.  Yesterday DT was threatening to spit up a little too close to Junior's precious blanket.  He rushed over to rescue it saying "Don't puke on my blanket!"

Halloween 2013

We weren't planning to dress up the boys for Halloween.  Plans changed though, because when Mommy picked up Jr from daycare on the night before Halloween, the director enthusiastically reminded us not to forget our costumes the next day.  Oops.  Daddy not only had to think of a costume that could be put together with what we already had in the house, but also one that Junior would actually wear.  This is his masterpiece.  Junior apparently had the most popular costume at daycare.  All the kids wanted to press his emergency shut-off button.

Initial design: Front

Back

Test run

Final product:  Had to cut the length because Jr couldn't walk without falling down.

Robot JR with little bro MLB rookie

Little brother

3 1/2 months

It's hard keeping up with a blog now that we have two of the little munchkins around.  We feel a little guilty about not starting one for DT, but there's only so much that we can do when we're both working full time.  It is so true that the second child doesn't have nearly as many baby pictures as the oldest.

DT is 5 months old now.  He just very recently started sleeping through the night.  We had to do the dreaded sleep training with him, but it was relatively painless.  We had to do it for our sanity.  He was waking up every 1.5-2.5 hours at night to eat, and he wasn't eating as much as he should during the day.  It took 1 hour and 15 minutes of crying at 2am the first night before he fell back asleep.  The second night he woke up again in the wee hours, but he cried for only a few minutes before going back to sleep.  He's been sleeping through the night since then.

He's looking pretty chubby these days, but he's actually smaller than Junior was at this stage.

4 months

DT seems more relaxed that Jr was.  DT is still sleeping calmly in his bassinet at 5 months, whereas Jr moved out by 3 months because he was shaking the bassinet so much with his kicking.   DT exercises his legs in other ways though.  He enjoys standing and jumping while you hold him in your lap.

4 1/2 months

We started solids a little early with DT.  Before he turned 5 months old, he started watching very intently as we ate dinner.  He would even start moving his mouth as he watched us chew.
Here's a video of DT's first experience with solids.  He's not yet 5 months old here.  Notice Mr. Cranky Pants Junior in the background. 

He screams pretty loud this one.  Here he is rolling over at almost 5 months.  He needs to use his voice to get the extra boost to complete the task.

Make new friends

First day!

On the way to his first day of daycare.

Mommy went back to work last month, so we enrolled Junior into daycare a few weeks before her start date.  The first day went pretty smoothly.  The second day was anything but smooth.  He realized that he was going away for the whole day, and he did not like that idea.  The first 2 days he refused to take a nap.  The third day we let him go with his blanket, so he was able to take a nap without too much trouble.  Eventually after about a week or so, he decided he liked going to daycare.  After he got home in the afternoon though, he seemed very cranky.  We finally realized that he was just really hungry.  The daycare says he eats all his food, but when they ask him if he wants more, he always says no.   They didn't realize that he eats as much as an adult.  He probably doesn't ask for seconds, because he wants to hurry up and go play.  Now we try to feed him a snack as soon as he gets home, and that seems to help calm the cranky monster.

More yogurt please.

Every once in a while he will come back with some art project that he made.  One of the first ones he brought back was a little pumpkin drawing that he colored in.  His daycare is a Spanish immersion daycare, so he learned that the drawing is a 'calabaza'.  Now his favorite Spanish word is 'calabaza'.  

"Arr!"

If you ask him what he did at daycare, no matter what he'll say, "Make new friends."  

Junior is 2!

Junior turned the big 2 last month.  We celebrated by having a party at a local park.  It was a low-key affair.  The weather was just perfect, and the kids seemed to really enjoy running around the playground.  Here are some pictures.

23 months

I love my dupps (puffs)

Junior's first experience at daycare was a success.  We had to take him to the backup daycare at Daddy's work, because Nanny was out that day.  We were worried about how he would react to spending the whole day with strangers away from home.  Daddy dropped him off, and apparently Junior ran off to play with the toys and barely said bye.  The teachers reported that he played with at the lego table most of the day, as well as with the fire truck and bus.  He also came home with a little art project that he drew with chalk on black paper.  The only hitch was that he did not want to take a nap.  He did sleep eventually, for about 1.5 hours.  When Daddy came to pick him up at the end of the day, he didn't want to come home.   He was sitting at the kids' table with a big bib on (he never lets us put bibs on him at home), and muffin crumbs all over him.  The teacher said he had been sitting there quietly savoring his mini-muffin for over an hour.

Picasso?

He's been having busy days with Mommy the past couple of months.  She's still at home on maternity leave, so every day they go out on their own to do some activities.  In addition to the childcare at Mommy's exercise studio and gymboree, we've added trips to the library and luncheon outings.  Junior pretty much goes along with everything and never complains when we're out of the house.

We have to be careful about what we do around the house, even when we think Junior isn't looking or listening.  Mommy likes to eat snacks once Junior goes to bed.  One day after gymboree, Mommy and Junior stopped at the bakery and bought a few pastries.  That night after Junior was tucked away in his crib, Mommy came to the kitchen to open up the bag full of pastries to eat one.  Junior must have heard the plastic bag rustling, because a moment later he started yelling from his crib over and over, "WANT SOME BAO BAO!!" meaning "want some bread" in Cantonese.  There is nothing wrong with this boy's hearing.

Sleeping

Junior likes to move around a lot in his crib and sleeps in all sorts of poses.

diagonal

in his "time out" pack 'n play

water within reach

Marty McFly

Bonus DT "I surrender"

Like father like son

Can't wait to work on the Volvo

Putting the bed together

Helping Daddy

Grandma Y visits and DT's first major trip

Grandma Y stayed with us for a couple of weeks earlier this month.  Junior was really enjoying having another roommate.  She spent most of her time helping with things around the house, cooking and playing with the boys.  One night she and Auntie L took care of Junior while Mommy, Daddy and DT went to a wedding.  Junior was perfectly fine spending the day without us.  He apparently was telling them what to do to get him ready for bed.

One day we took a field trip to Daddy's work.  We had lunch at the cafeteria and walked around a bit.  Junior was too distracted to really eat much for lunch, but he got his first taste of ice cream sandwich, and boy did he enjoy it.

After lunch

Ice cream sandwich monster

DT's first road trip was to wine country in late July for the wedding mentioned above.  It was about 3 hours each direction.  There were a few rough patches along the way, but overall he did pretty well.

Ready for one of your own, Uncle B?

DT with Daddy

DT sleeping in the moby

Junior's language developments

Junior can clearly express what he wants.

Junior:  "Bpo bpo [DT]!"  (meaning "kiss DT" in Korean)
Mommy:  "Okay here you go." (Let's Junior kiss him on the top of his head)
Junior:  "On the face, not the head!"


He can make conversation now.

Junior:  "Hi [DT]!!"  (as he runs over and crouches in front of his baby bro who is sitting in the swing)
DT: ......
Junior:  "Do you like it?"

Another example:

Junior:  "Hi [DT]!!"  (as he runs over and crouches in front of his baby bro who is sitting in the swing)
DT: ......
Junior:  "Do you want a ball?
DT: ......
Junior:  "Here you go." (putting the soft ball on DT's lap)

He can make complex decisions.

Junior:  "Watch tv"
Mommy:  "After dinner, ok?"
[one hour later]
Mommy:  "It's time for a bath soon"
Junior:  "Watch tv" (as he sits in his high chair devouring his second bowl of grapes)
Mommy:  "OK I did say you could watch after dinner, but we only have five minutes left"
Junior:   "Want more grapes"
Mommy:   "If you eat more grapes you won't have time to watch tv.  Do you want more grapes and not watch tv, or watch tv but have no more grapes?"
Junior:  ........ "eat more grapes.  No tv."

Junior and DT

We are still getting used to the new addition to the family.  Junior is no exception.  He seems to like having his little bro around, however, there are definitely times when he makes things challenging.  He's never shown any bad behavior toward DT, thankfully.  The problem is that there are times when he shows signs of regression, especially when he is tired or just after waking up from his nap.  When he sees DT in the moby, Junior sometimes gets envious and demands that he be carried too.  Of course it is nearly impossible for Mommy to carry both boys safely, so Junior resorts to throwing tantrums.  On the other hand, he seems to enjoy the big brother role by helping his little brother out whenever possible.  He'll fetch the pacifier for him and put blankets on him.  He finds toys that he thinks little bro might enjoy and places them carefully next to him.  He'll even alert Mommy that DT is crying if she happens to be asleep and unable to hear.  He doesn't mind if Mommy has to leave in the middle of the bedtime ritual to tend to DT.

It's hard not to compare Junior and DT.  Junior was a ravenous eater since the beginning.  He was always complaining that the milk wasn't coming out fast enough.  DT on the other hand often chokes if the milk comes out too fast and also stops eating after just one side.  In the first month DT slept much more and was barely ever awake.  Junior was able to stay up for hours even at less than a month old.  Junior was also born with his day/night mixed up, so he was a night owl for the first couple of weeks.  Junior was better at tummy time earlier than DT, but that is probably because we were more diligent about making him practice than we are with DT. 

Junior at 2 months

DT at 2 months

Both are pretty bald at 2 months old.  DT has a rounder face, bigger cheeks and a smaller mouth than Junior.

Junior

DT

Grandma and Junior

Grandma and DT

Junior loved his "baby crack" aka baby swing.  It was one of the only ways to get him to take a nap during his earlier months.  DT does not fall asleep well in the swing and most of the time cries to be taken out.

Junior enjoying his swing

DT not happy

Both have had their fair share of poop explosions.  We took a picture of Junior's first poop bomb, but we won't post it since you can see a peek of his wee wee.  Here's DT's first major poop bomb.   Daddy was the unfortunate target.

21 months

Junior recently became a big brother.  We were surprised how well he's adjusted to this huge change.  He is definitely more clingy to Mommy now, but he doesn't seem to get jealous of his little brother.  In fact, he is always excited to see his bro (code name "Double Trouble") awake.  Whenever Junior can get the chance,  he'll give his brother a kiss.  When DT cries Junior tries to give him one of his toys or his blanket.   He's always saying to us in Chinese "Little brother is sleeping.  Be quiet."




Grandma K was staying with us for about a month after DT's birth.  She and Junior were roommates the whole time.  Junior loved having Grandma around to play with, and he was sad to see her go back east.



We really have to watch what we say in front of Junior now.  He remembers everything you say and will repeat it at an opportune time.  We fished out some old wooden blocks of various shapes the other day.  There were 2 pieces that looked amusingly similar to breasts, so Mommy mentioned to Daddy in front of Junior "Hey these kinda look like boobies."  From then on Junior started calling them "boobies" whenever he played with them.  It took about a week of Daddy trying to correct Junior into calling them "tops" before Junior stopped calling them "boobies".  He is now also saying "Oh man!" whenever DT wakes up crying from a nap, because he heard Mommy saying that first.

We've enrolled Junior in a Gymboree class recently.  We felt that he was not getting enough exposure to other kids his age, and he was becoming increasingly shy and afraid of new things.  He seems to enjoy going, but he's not interested in participating in the group singing and activities.  We'll see if he starts to open up to those things as time goes on.