Big Boy Class

Khai has officially moved into the big boy classroom.  He is now hanging with the 4 year olds. We are on week 3 of him being in the pre-K class and its going really well. He even gets homework! Sniff!!   Ms. Diana, his teacher seems to be great with the kids and Khai has not come home with any complaints. I'm excited for him to be in this class now because it seems they are doing a little more than in the previous classes, which gives him something great to look forward to, achievements to come home and share with us, and a sense of being a BIG boy now (attitude good and bad included).

In front of the big boy class.

 He's so proud of himself!

Big boy pose..  haha. Leg and all..

First homework packet ever! Aww. I sniffle.

Self Portrait. 

The hair like things on the left are arms.

And he informed me that he drew one big ear because he has big ears (awww), and that he's smiling because he's happy.  And that red blob over his eye is the big red bug bite he had that morning.

I love how the legs are attached to the mouth and chin. haha...

He makes me smile.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman

His orignal request for Halloween this year was to be a ghost - sheet over the head, holes for eyes - followed by the deepest desire to be a bat.  Unfortunately, I slacked a week too long and the greatest bat costume sold out.  Bad mom, bad.  I had to break the sad news to Khai who's face nearly dropped to the floor. I had spent all day at work that day hunting for potential replacements - which I whipped out immediately. He settled on Spiderman. His reasoning (versus Batman) was that red would be seen out in the dark while trick or treating.. whereas nobody could see Batman..  thus the possibility of less candy.   His Spiderman costume arrived last night.  He now requests to be called Spiderman .. not Khai.. and Peter Partsner (despite us constantly telling him its Parker) when he is without mask.  He adores his costume . Success!!!

Spiderman Vs. The World!

Four.

Happy Birthday to my big little man!!  This officially marks your fourth year!  Each year I say time flies by so fast and while its only been four years....holy cow its been four years!!  From a tiny little helpless baby to a young boy full of energy, attitude, opinions, and spirit, I don't know where the time went and just hope the next four don't fly by as quickly.  Once upon a time huge, new changes happened back to back to back- eating solids, teething, rolling over, walking, talking, no more diapers...  and then at some point I started to feel like the big changes seemed to slow down, that they were spread out more and it was almost like I couldn't wait for a new thing to happen.  But once you started school (oh my gosh you're in school!!) I couldn't keep up with all the things you were doing and learning, and I realized once again that this is all happening too fast, that while you had passed the big stages of infancy, you still had a lot of new things in store.  You now tell me about things like best friends and girlfriends (what?!) and while it often is tough to get out of you what you did exactly at school, I know you are learning so many new things each day.  You're learning how to write, draw, share, and take on various characters from your favorite cartoons.  You're a master video gamer and a whiz on my iPhone, and you blow my mind when you talk about things I had no idea you knew about.  I love that while you may not be one of those no-fear kids who leaps off the counter tops, you have no problem letting me know just how you feel.  I adore the fact that you have beautiful, long hair and not a typical boy haircut and that you don't care what anybody has to say about it.  As exasperated as I get while its happening, I often look back and laugh when you stomp and get just so very angry at me because i'm not doing something your way like picking the red shirt instead of the blue shirt or picking the blue shirt instead of the ooooothhherrr blue shirt. You are the best at cheering me up when i'm down and are the sweetest, warmest, most compassionate boy I know and that lets me know I must be doing something right.  You always skip 15 when you count, you hate sleeping with socks on, you call the shower the quickly bath, and you still call me Mama - these are simply a few of the many, many things that make you you and why I will always love you with every bit of my heart.  I love you 21 my sweet love.

These Boots Were Made For Walking...

He will likely kill me one day for posting this...and I will quickly remind him that it was he who put them on himself and pitched a fit when I insisted he take them off before he breaks his ankles.  Sashe Chante!

(that is Ma Moy behind him, holding him and all of his 4 inch heels up...thinking she can possibly hide behind a entire 4 year old child)

Metal Beak

The Legends of the Guardian phase continues. I'm really surprised there aren't any toys from the movie on the market. We searched high and low and the only two related things we've found are Burger King toys and a video game.  Naturally we set out to get him the Burger King toy and possibly we'll get him the video game for his birthday.  John came home with Soren as soon as the toys were available and Khai was ecstatic.  Tonight, Khai and I went out for a Mommy and Khai Khai evening out and stopped at Burger King on the way home so that he could get another toy as his special treat.  I let him know that there could be a chance they didn't have any of the other characters, which were much bigger in size, as usually they only have a handful of those.  Khai was close to instant meltdown. He said we could not leave until he got a different one than Soren and planted his butt on the floor.  When our meals arrived...Soren was in the bag.  Khai flipped out and I pleaded with the lady behind the counter to please search the box for ANY other character.  She said unfortunately she didn't think she had any others left. I implored her to take one last look, this could make or break the rest of the evening.  Oh my lucky stars... Metal Beak was in the box!!!   Phew!!
No seriously..... phew....

Stupid Bands

Whoever invented these things is a genius.  Silly Bands are the most ridiculous thing and the latest craze for kids.  Colored rubber bands in various shapes, which sell at $2 + a pack.  The kids collect them, wear them all the way up their arm, trade them, I don't know what else..  but I've done my best to keep Khai's interest away from them because I think they are a stupid waste of money.   Well, well....guess who came home with a pack tonight.... John.  He rationalized it by saying "but they are Iron Man ones".   Now, I know dam well he thinks this Silly Band phase is as ridiculous as I do, so what possessed him to even think Iron Man ones are acceptable is beyond me.  Khai was stoked.  I can only hope this hasn't started something....

2nd Dentist Appointment

What started out as a very promising dental visit turned into total disaster.  As you may remember, Khai's first appointment ever was horrible. He cried so much, so hard, and was in total fear the entire time.  This time around, we talked about it for weeks prior to the date. We even practiced what it would be like in the dentists chair - I had Khai lay back on the drivers seat in the car and pushed the recline button which moved the seat exactly like the dentists chair. We did this several times and while he was nervous at first, he quickly realized it wasn't scary at all and enjoyed himself. For weeks he announced he was going to the dentist and wasn't scared.   The day of the appointment, he excitedly talked about the appointment all the way there.  We got inside and everything was still perfect. We were called to the back, and even then things were still fine.   Khai climbed into the dentists chair and as you can see was still all smiles.  The hygienist remembered him from his first visit because of how scared he was and commented on on his big smiles.  Then she reclined the chair and the fear set in and Khai immediately tried to escape. And while it wasn't nearly as bad as the first visit, it was eventful to say the least. Khai walked away with good teeth, puffy eyes, and a new toothbrush, while I walked away completely sweaty from the whole ordeal.

3D

Khai has been dying to see the movie Legends of the Guardians.  All I could think was how boring this movie was going to be.. a movie about owls... and pretty much was dreading it the entire ride to the theater tonight.  We decided to catch it in 3D, which for the four of us, including a bag of popcorn and Twizzlers, the price came out to be a ridiculous $70 plus!! Good grief!!!  But, as soon as the movie started I have to say I was instantly impressed.  Holy 3D wow!!  I have never seen a 3D movie like this.. the 3D movies I've seen involved those dinky paper blue and red glasses that never seemed to work for me. And even more so, I was shocked at how glued to this movie Khai was. He sat through the entire time and barely moved. I'm pretty certain all of us were equally impressed and now all Khai talks about are these owls. I still dunno that I can justify the $70 though. I'm keeping my glasses dammit. 

Jr. Shopper

How cute are these little shopping carts?!?
He was so happy to have one just his size.

Carnival Pets

We went to the Bull Run Carnival this weekend.  Carter enjoyed the rides much more than Khai, but with a little encouragement and the thrill of his first ride, he soon was asking to go on the rides again and again.  We got there early in the day so the place wasn't packed and no lines and we ended it at the ball toss game - winner gets a goldfish.  I can't tell you how much we spent just so the boys could get more ping pong balls to get a darn fish but each boy eventually got their prize fish and then lucked out when another player offered up her two.  Four goldfish and two happy boys, we headed home.  As the evening progressed, we lost a fish belly up, followed by another.  Each boy was down a fish and by the next morning, fish #3 was gone.  The final fish, Khai's fish, finally joined the others and John took it to the bathroom to flush it down the toilet.  Khai walked in and oh the sadness in his voice and look on his face when he saw Mr. Fish twirling down the toilet bowl.   This was Khai's 2nd time experiencing death. He seemed a little more shaken up this time, but also got over it a little quicker.  Don't think we'll be doing the carnival fish thing again...

** update 11/6/10 - completely out of the blue this morning, Khai starts crying. I asked him what was wrong, he said he misses Mr. Fish.  :-(

Lil Cereal

Khai hits the jackpot today.

Ma Moy gave him a 30 count box of mini cereal boxes.  Score!!

These mini boxes have been his latest breakfast interest.  Perfect for him!

Mosquitoes Suck

Mosquitoes suck in every way.  As a kid living in Asia, I remember being eaten alive by these nasty little suckers. I remember having to take malaria pills when we were stationed in Bangladesh. I remember my legs being a spotted war zone of itchiness and scabs. A total disaster.  Once I moved back to the States I didn't encounter as many mosquito issues but when I do get bitten I am left with huge red welts. We're talking silver dollar sized.  And now, my poor little boy.. he is going thru the same thing, if not worse. The mosquitoes love him and frequently make a meal out of him.  Poor thing.   This recent attack was one of his worst - especially because he got one on the bottom of his foot which caused him alot of pain to walk for about three days. His forehead, as you can see from the picture, exploded into a mountain of red itch. It looked so horrible that I felt the need to keep him out of school for a few days.  And when I brought him back, his teachers wondered what had happened to him - did he fall, get hit, what?   No.. mosquito bite I told them...  

I feel so bad for him .

How He Says Things

I forgot -  I pusagot.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey!! -
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh mcfun it is to ride in a one horse snow ho way. hey!!

Surprise - Sakwize

String - Skwing

Think - Fink

Trying - Cwying

Give - Gib

Six Flags

 

An insanely hot day, but the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves!!

We initially decided to go to Six Flags because of the new Thomas Town they just opened up there.  Khai has been extremely excited to go visit Thomas and his friends. I personally wasn't impressed with it - felt there could have been more to it than what they had, but Khai enjoyed it and of course that's all that matters. After several hours of roasting, the boys wound up at the water park (smart choice!) where they played until it was time to go. But never again will I go in the middle of the hot, hot summer! Ever!!

RIP Pepe

I've had Pepe since she was a week old - she's always been my best buddy, been there with me through a million things in life, including the addition of Khai. She's never been too sweet to many people, but from the day I brought him home, she's always been accepting of him.
On 6/23/10, Pepe, passed away from a combo of old age, a failing liver, and a few other health conditions.  This was Khai's first experience with death.  I didn't break the news to him until the next day- wasn't sure how I would or when, but despite suggestions from others I felt the right thing to do was to tell him honestly. The day she passed, John picked Khai up from school and kept him out for an evening of fun while my mom and I buried her in the yard.  When Khai got home he didn't notice she was missing.  After school the next day though, I decided then was the time and so I took Khai out to the yard and told him there was something important I wanted to talk to him about.  Brought him to her grave and explained she had died.  His bottom lip fell out as he asked where she was and why she was gone.  He was concerned about her being buried underground - so in my struggle to keep things cool, I told him Pepe was hanging out with Buddha and not feeling sick anymore - of course this then presented a new dilemma in that I had to figure out a way to explain how Pepe could possibly be in the ground AND with Buddha.  I'm not sure that I did a good job, but he was ok with it.  He pat the ground and said Bye Pepe, I love you and i'll come visit you and bring you treats.   Sniff*  
Today is the first time I've really looked at these pictures since it happened.  Heartbreaking.
He still talks about her quite a bit. He doesn't question that she's gone, he has accepted and understands it in his own way. And importantly, he's extremely sweet to Lily, our other little kitty - gives her tons of love, plays with her and helps her through her loss.   RIP Pepe. We love you always.

All dressed up.

This is what happens when you let a 3 year old dress himself:  1 pair of skull leggings, 1 Iron Man tshirt, 1 KISS wrist band, 1 lei.  And voila...  dressed and ready for action.

Made By Khai

I present to you my very first necklace made by Khai.  

This is no macaroni necklace people.  This is fine jewelry!

(though had it been macaroni, I would have loved it just the same)

4th of July Weekend.... in pictures.

Fathers Day

HAPPY FATHERS DAY PAPA!
We love you heaps even when you drive us crazy!
We started our busy day at Chuck E Cheese today - Khai had a play date with his buddy Zack this morning, and when we arrived, we were extremely happy to find it nearly empty - at most, there were 4 other families there - no crazy crowds, loudness, pushing, shoving..  Phew!  After three hours of fun and the place starting to fill up, we cashed in our tickets - over 1000 in total between the boys!  We headed over to Mose and Sassy's for a BBQ for the remainder of the afternoon.  A laid back dinner with everyone, it was really nice to have both boys there as well as Mose home.  The heat definitely got to all of us though, and Khai conked out a good two hours before his normal bedtime - I have no idea what to do with all this free time!! 

Khai made mugs for Papa and Mose.