A Conversation



What did she say?

So you know how some kids have like lisps?  Like their R's sound like W's or whatever.  It's so cute, at least when they're little.
Anyway, Eggy kind of has one.  Sometimes, her S's sound like D's.  She was talking to her dad about Snow White and it kept sounding like Do-white and her dad kept thinking she was saying Dwight.  And we were at the market one time and she kept talking about "dodges" and I had no idea what she was saying.  I finally figured out she was saying sausages.  But today?  This one takes the cake.
So Eggy and her appah were at the park.  Sometimes, she likes to collect sticks at the park and give them to us.  Anyway, they're getting ready to leave and Eggy notices that appah does not have the stick that she so carefully and thoughtfully picked out for him.  So she yells, "Where's your big stick, appah?"  Of course, when she said it, stick sounded like something else.  And her dad says, "I don't need it."  And she gets more upset, yelling even louder, "Yeah, you need it!  You need your big stick!  Where is it?"  If there was no one else at the park, it wouldn't be so bad but of course, there was another dad there with his two kids.  And the hubs doesn't embarrass too easily but he said he could feel himself turning red, especially since she kept yelling louder and louder about his missing big stick.

Chinese New Year

Breakfast Time

The Blueberry Killer

The girl loooooooooooooves blueberries.  Can't get enough of them.  She's devoured so many that her poop has been black the last few days.  TMI?  Sorry.

First bowl

We have to tell her to slow down when she's eating them because she'll just pop them in her mouth one after the other.  One at a time!  Remember to chew!  

Second bowl

One time, hani tried to give her some apples instead but Eggy said, "No no apples!  Blue!"  (She can't say blueberries so she just calls them "blue" instead.)  And she stood in front of the fridge asking for blueberries.  When my mom told us the story, we all laughed.  Eggy knew we were talking about her so she said it again.  "No no apples!  Blue!"  Complete with the finger shake.  She likes to think she's funny.  So now it's kind of a joke.  Whenever she asks for blueberries, we ask her if she wants apples instead.  

Third bowl

At this rate, she's going to turn into Violet Beauregarde.  Without the gum smacking.  

Happy 21 Months!

Happy New Year!  We're old and boring so we spent New Year's Eve at home for the second year in a row.  Eggy ended up taking a 30 minute nap for the whole day so she was knocked out before 7:30pm.  We watched the celebrations on TV and were in bed by 12:05pm.  Exciting, I know.

Sorry, but I realized that all the pictures I took of Eggy this month, I've already posted.  So this post is mostly for me to remind me what Eggy was like at this age.  And you get recycled pictures from the year.

I feel like we went through a lot this month.

Eggy went for her 6 month check up at the dentist.  She cried, of course, but I think it was mostly because she had to lie down with her head in the dentist's lap.  At least, her mouth was open from all the screaming and crying so the dentist could check her teeth.  Yay, no cavities!  The dentist did suggest flossing Eggy's teeth because her teeth are kind of close together.  I haven't really started yet.  I should though especially once her second year molars come in.

Eggy's just taking one nap a day now.  It was a weird transition.  We went back and forth a lot the past couple months.  She'd sleep fine for her morning nap (at 11am) but her afternoon nap (at 4pm-ish) would vary from 30 minutes to over an hour.  Sometimes, she wouldn't even take her afternoon nap; she's just lay there.  So we tried to get her to take just one nap (pushed back to 1pm), hoping that she'd sleep a little longer, but she'd still wake up after just an hour.  And she'd all cranky the rest of the day and her sleep at night wouldn't be as good.  So we'd have to go back to two naps again.  And she'd sleep really well for about a week for both naps but then she'd go back to sleeping all weird again.  So we moved up her nap time to noon (instead of 1pm) and she seemed to do better.  Also, we had to move up her bedtime to about 7:40pm (from 8pm).  The upside to that is Eggy seems to be sleeping in a little bit more.  Instead of waking up at 7am, she'll wake up between 7:30 - 8am.
In the beginning, I really really missed those two naps.  Going to one nap was tiring for me too.  Sure, the two naps were a little restricting sometimes, especially when we wanted to go somewhere or be somewhere, but two naps equaled about 2-2 1/2 solid hours of quiet, just me time.  It was a good break.  I needed those breaks.  Now, I'm lucky if I get an hour and a half.  But like I said, now we have more time and freedom to go out and do more things.

I can hardly keep up with all the new words that Eggy is saying these days.  It seems like she's learning a new word or two every day.  She mimics us a lot but I don't know if she's just repeating after us or if she really knows what she's saying.  So I don't count it as a word unless she uses it on her own.  But a lot of times, we don't understand her and it's not until later that we figure out what she's telling us.

• Toby - except she calls him, "babo" which incidentally means stupid in korean.  Her eemoh isn't thrilled about having her dog be called a dummy.  
• Eemoh's name
• Donald - as in the duck
• boots
• kong - beans in korean
• chip
• dduk -korean rice cake
• coat
• Crong - from Pororo
• Bravo! 
• dinner
• bucket
• balloon
• oh-ee - cucumber in korean
• corn
• (bell) pepper - but she only says, "peppuh" and not the bell part
• onion - Eggy learned all these veggies from her new toys!
• paper
• ji-ji - dirty 
• diaper
• banana
• orange - the color and the fruit
• green
• red - except she says, "elmo" but she means red
• blue - She used to say everything was blue but now I think she gets what different colors mean.  
• two - Although I'm not sure if she 100% understands what two means.  Sometimes, she'll hold up two things and say, "two!" but if I ask her how many fingers while holding up just one, she still says, "two."
• uh buh - piggyback in korean
• No! - I hate this one.  It sucks.  I tell her to do something and it's, "no no, no no."  Sometimes, she'll even wag her pointer finger too.  What?!?  You little....!  I really hope she grows out of this phase but something tells me it's not happening any time soon.

That's a lot of new words, right?  So with all these new words in Eggy's vocabulary, you would think that communicating would be a lot easier, right?  Yes, in some ways.  But I can also tell that it frustrates her more not to be able to get her point across.  She'll say something and repeat it multiple times because we don't understand what she's saying and I can see it in her eyes, like "Why the hell don't you get it?!?"  So she cries a lot about that.  I try not to lose my patience with her because I know it's not her fault that she can't say the right words yet but I also don't want to end up spoiling her.  Parenting is a tricky balance.

Anyway, we went through some ups and downs in 2010 but overall, it was still a great year.  I wouldn't mind if 2011 brought more of the same.  There'll be some new challenges (Eggy's terrible two's, being a first time home owner, not having the help of family so close by) but I'm optimistic.  I hope 2011 brings you all love, good health, and happiness!

A year ago, 2010!

The Bottomless Pit

I guess Eggy is not overly concerned about gaining too much weight this holiday season.  

Just so you know, the little piggy had just finished eating a HUGE bowl of rice and chicken soup an hour before.  She should weigh like 50 pounds, the way she eats.  Seriously, where does it all go?

Happy 20 Months!

Doesn't she look like such a big kid, here?

I say this all the time but it's true:  Eggy's growing up so fast.  I had a reality check when I realized that pretty soon I won't be able to shop in the "newborn" or "baby" section anymore.  Which is too bad because I think the baby stuff is usually cuter.
Speaking of clothes, Eggy still insists on trying to put her clothes on her own.  She's getting better too.  Sometimes, she can get her socks on.  And just this morning, Eggy almost put her pants on by herself.   Sometimes, she even picks out what she wants to wear.

She seems to like her new red coat, especially the pockets.

Every time Eggy goes to sleep, she always has to take one of her friends with her.  She doesn't have any particular strong attachment to a specific doll; it varies from nap to nap, day to day.  Then other times, the weirdo wants to sleep with a teacup, a book, a plastic block, and other odd items.  One time, she wouldn't let go of her dad's driver's license.

I can hardly keep up with all the new words that Eggy is learning.  She is babbling all the time.  When she was younger, she was pretty quiet, she didn't "talk" a lot.  I guess she's making up for lost time.  Also, most of the words she's been saying have just been monosyllables or the same vowel sounds, like haji is ah-ja.  She can't say the "ee" part.  But the past few days, she's been saying, "akamo" over and over.  I have no idea what it means but it's like the longest "word" that Eggy's said so far.  Maybe it doesn't mean anything, maybe she just likes saying it.  Anyway, words that are now part of Eggy's vocab:

• down
• up
• GooGoo (her aunt)
• Ma-ma (her paternal grandmother)
• hat
• kam (Korean for persimmon, which happens to be her favorite fruit of the moment)
• gloves
• milk
• Pororo
• more
• bike

She's also copying us a lot more.  The other night, the hubby was watching the Laker game on TV and he was getting all mad and yelling at the TV, like "Come on!" and "Dude!" and "Man!"  And Eggy would try to repeat after him.  hahaha.  I guess we're really going to have to watch what we say around her.  Actually, I think she's already started saying dumb dumb.  I forgot why I first said it, probably calling the dog a dumb dumb or something and she laughed.  So every time I would say it, she'd laugh.  Well, now I think she's actually saying it herself.  Oops.  It sounds like "demo" so maybe she's saying Dumbo.  I don't think she understands what it means though.  Either way, I better stop saying it.  


Eggy still loves music and dancing.  She's always asking someone to sing her a song.  The ones she's always requesting are "The Wheels On the Bus" and this apple song she heard at story time which is to the tune of "The More We Get Together."  


She knows how to close doors but she hasn't learned how to open them yet.  


The other night, we found out that Eggy can jump now.  She actually gets off the ground.  Gravity, Eggy has conquered you.  At least, for half a second.

Other random pictures from this past month:

Ooh, a pocket!

Mmmilk!

Back at Disneyland

Amen!

Eggy's trying to be a good girl lately because I told her Santa's watching.

Eggy's saying new words all the time, especially these last few weeks.
Harabuji - Grandpa in korean.  We shortened it to haji so it'd be easier for Eggy to say but it comes out as ah-ja.
Her cousin's name - She keeps saying his name when she sees our laptop because she Skyped with him a few times.
Eemo - Sounds the same as Elmo though
bahl - korean for foot
poopoo - She points to her butt when she says this.  Ready for the potty maybe?

park

hot
moon

hop - for bunny

nya nya - her Crocs, because that's how a crocodile chomps, like nya nya nya

baby - This is what she calls her Hello Kitty doll

Ming Ming - That's what she calls her stuffed ducky, after Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets.
Pooh - Winnie the Pooh
Nui nui - This is huge.  This is what she calls herself now which means little baby girl in chinese.  She says it alllllll the time.  She's always pointing at herself and going, "nui nui!"  And I say, "Yes, you're nui nui!"  She's even introduced herself to a few strangers as Nui Nui.  And now that she knows what to call herself, she's Miss Independent all of a sudden.  She wants to do everything by herself: feed herself, bathe herself, brush her own teeth, put on her own shoes, buckle herself into her toy car, EVERYTHING.  She just keeps saying, "nui nui, nui nui, nui nui" and she'll get mad if you try to even help her.  Punk ass.

Ingrate

Eggy can now say:

ko (nose in Korean) 

noon (eye in Korean) 

mool (water in Korean)

Happy 19 Months!

Yesterday was a busy day.  In the morning, Mrs. Miyagi and I went to visit our friend Jamo who just had a baby boy a few weeks ago!  He's so tiny and precious.  Later, we went trick or treating with the Miyagis and their son, D-san, who's about 9 months.  Anyway, seeing all these younger babies makes me realize how much Eggy has grown and changed.  She really is a toddler, not a baby anymore.  Pretty soon, I won't even be shopping in the baby section anymore.  I was looking back at her pictures from a year ago and I hardly remember that baby!!  It makes me a little sad.  But I'm also enjoying this stage too.

Lately, Eggy's favorite game is to change her dolls' diaper, usually her Hello Kitty doll.  Okay, so Hello Kitty doesn't have a diaper but we pretend.  Eggy will bring me her HK doll and either point to its butt or pat her own crotch.  So, I tell her to smell HK's butt and ask if her baby pooped.  I pretend to take off a diaper and wipe HK's butt and give Eggy the "diaper" to throw away.  And she actually does it.  It's kind of funny because she always makes me change her dolls; she won't do it herself.  And she doesn't even care if I put a clean diaper back on, she just wants to throw away the dirty diaper.  What a weirdo.

Also, Eggy seems to be picking up more words lately.  Just today, she told me to "mmooooh!"  Translation: move!  (I was sitting in her chair.)  I don't know whether to be proud or offended.

Maybe Eggy will learn the Thriller dance by Halloween next year.
Sometimes, I think Eggy is going to be an amazing dancer when she gets older.  Then, other times, well... not so much.

Besides dancing, Eggy has been perfecting her fake laugh.  Yesterday, when the grown-ups would laugh about something, she'd throw in her fake laugh like she knew what we were talking about.  Also, sometimes when she giggles, she'll also get the hiccups.  So funny.

And the most exciting news!
Today!  For the first time ever!!  Eggy peed in her potty!!!  I am beyond excited!!!!

I picked her up to take her into the house (we had just come back from running errands) and her leg was wet.  She must have just peed and leaked out of her diaper.  Anyway, I had to pee real bad so I took off her pants and diaper and she sat on her potty while I did my business.  Normally, I just leave her diaper and pants on when she sits on her potty.  I don't even know if she ever goes since it just stays in her diaper and I don't check but sometimes, I think she does pee.  Anyway, I just want her to get used to the idea of sitting on it.  So this time, I wasn't really expecting anything since she had just peed herself but she looked like she was concentrating.  And a few seconds later, I heard it!  That tiny little trickle hitting the plastic!  It was hardly any pee, like barely a teaspoon maybe.  (No, I didn't measure it!)  But it was still pee!  In the potty!!  And Eggy put it there!!!  

We still have a looong way to go but I'm just so excited because maybe it means that Eggy is starting to get it.  Or maybe it was just good timing.  Who knows?  It might be another month before Eggy will even go near the potty again!  Still, we're on our way. 

Miss Chatterbox

A few weeks ago, I was filling out a questionnaire about Eggy's development at her pediatrician's office.  One of the questions asked if Eggy could say at least 10 words.  I marked no but when the pediatrician asked me again and I went over the words that Eggy could say, it turned out to be more than ten!  Good for you, Eggy!  Even though they all sound the same, she does mean different things.
I mention that because she learned to say a few more new words these last couple weeks (in bold below).

So far, Eggy can say:
bye-bye
appah
umma
elmo
mamma (food in korean)
baba/papa (pick me up in chinese)
open
glasses
bap (rice in korean)
bbang (bread in korean)
baa (sound for sheep)
moo (for cow)
caw caw (for bird)
quack (for duck)
nnnn (for elephant)
big (while she spreads her arms wide)
ice
apple
ball
book
bear
mickey mouse (sounds like mah)
halmuni (grandma in korean, sounds like ah-na)
kkot (flower in korean)

And some words she can't say but she can sign them or gesture, like:
no
yes
please
thank you
milk
fish
airplane

My baby's growing so fast.  I should do a better job of keeping track of all of Eggy's vocabulary because there's probably a few other words that I've forgotten but I think I've gotten most of it down.  Now I have something to look back on and remember what she could say at this age.  Can't rely on my memory anymore.

Sorry to disappoint

People, I am not pregnant!  That is not my exciting news.  I could see how you might think that but I swear that Eggy is not getting a sibling any time soon.  I am not ready for that kind of craziness.  But it is going to be a big change for our family.  Everything should be official by Tuesday.

Anyway, Eggy's learned a few more words this week!

• aaiiya - ice
• aya - hi (like hiya, maybe?)
• ma - Max from Where the Wild Things Are

I love how she says everything with an exclamation point.  "Mmmo! (Elmo)"  "Aaiiya!"  "Ma!"  A lot of her words sound the same so it's kind of hard to figure out what she's saying sometimes.  But it's still fun and exciting to hear her talking.  Even when she's talking shit about me.  She thinks I don't understand her but I'm on to you, little girl.

Reason #19

...why I'm glad I had a girl.

So I can buy stuff like this:

When I put it on her at the store, she kept it on and walked around with it. It's a little big though because she fell over backwards wearing it. Whoops! But she likes it.

Showing Hello Kitty some love

Aw, kind of makes me sad because it looks like she's ready to go to school.

Anyway, this is how I know she likes her new backpack:

I only told her one time and she repeated it!

Sunglasses

Summer's almost here so I got some new sunnies. Hubs thinks they're too big but psh, what does he know about fashion? Eggy, on the other hand, thinks they're fabu and can't get enough of them. She asked for her own pair.

How appropriate that one of her first words is glasses, no? I'm going to teach her to say "myopia" next.