legoland

had our first visit to legoland and legoland sealife today. we had been trying to go to disneyland since november, but funds were low and we were all taking turns getting sick. malia had suggested legoland since she had heard about it from a classmate. it was a perfect solution and we were finally well enough to go.

some of my favorite pics of the day:

this one sums up the whole day - malia will stop and pose for a picture, micah is everywhere

observation

today i was scheduled to observe malia at her school. she wasn't supposed to talk to me while i observed, but i could tell she was so excited to have me in her class. she kept smiling at me and waving, which made it hard for her to decide what to work on. her teacher noticed and suggested some material for her to choose. montessori schools have a method of letting the children choose different material to work on, the teachers make sure they are choosing age appropriate ones and are on track of what they are supposed to be learning. being in her class today was like a flashback from when i first visited the school 2 years ago to decide if i would enroll her there -- all the kids were well behaved and really enjoyed doing their work, they even rolled up their mats perfectly by patting the sides to make it straight when they were finished. and there malia was today, just like those kids i saw 2 years ago. it was amazing.

first bukol

micah had another asthma exacerbation and ear infection just before the holiday on monday and has been hyper and/or moody from the albuterol and antibiotics. yesterday he wasn't too social at daycare. and today, when i picked him up, he had a HUGE bump on his forehead. apparently, his daycare provider left him for a second, and he got mad. when he gets upset, he kinda kneels down on the floor, but sometimes he goes further and puts his head on the floor as well. so he probably did that, but directly on the tile. ouch! i wanted to cry immediately when i saw him. inside i was freaking out, but i calmly asked questions and acted like everything was okay. i know every kid gets there first major bump or bruise in the toddler years, i remember malia's, but not now while he's sick! of course i was quizzing him on the way home to check if he remembered all of his little sayings and gestures. he's fine. i should really take a picture of him so i can show it to him when he's older, but it just breaks my heart when i see the big bump. i should get used to it, he's a boy after all, there will be more.

unexpected kisses

that's the best part about toddlerhood. ever since micah learned how to kiss, my heart melts every time he gives me one without me asking. and he does it quite often! so i am enjoying it while i can, and hopefully it will last for a very long time (wishful thinking).

happy valentiMe's day

malia still says it like that. and this year she noticed she was saying it wrong, but no matter how many times she tried to say it correctly, it still came out like that 95% of the time. funny girl. valentine's day is malia's 2nd favorite holiday. 

ever since she started school, holidays always start earlier and end later than normal. this year, valentine's day started wednesday night when we were getting her cards/gifts ready for thursday's valentine's party. we made cookies together, constructed flowers out of foam, and filled out her cards. she was excited to bring all her goodies to school. both malia and micah came home with handprint art. i love these!

on friday, the choir sang at our church talent show. so again we were at the table, making flowers out of hershey's kisses this time and filling out more cards to pass out. she's so eager to do arts and crafts and such a good helper, but by the time the 3rd or 4th piece is done she tells me she's tired and moves on to something else. of course, we have to make extras for micah to play around with or else he's grabbing everything in sight. i also tried doing a valentine's picture...

this morning, instead of micah waking up and yelling at me to pick him up, he noticed what i had put on the wall and was talking to it. i had put some heart shaped cards on the wall. these are playing cards malia and i had bought when she was 2 years old. every valentine's day, they go up on the wall as decoration since no one will really play cards with them. malia enjoys waking up to them and adding her own. this morning, micah wanted to take them off. boys!

my mama's boy

after lunch, we headed to the new children's museum downtown. a first time visit for all of us. it was so much fun.

malia and i finished off our day by making a heart shaped pizza together, thanks to a kit from sammy's woodfired pizza given to us by the adventos. i'm sure we'll still be doing valentine's arts and crafts through next week. i should probably get ready for easter.

hilarious

malia is very observant. she's also curious, confident, talkative, full of expression (which is mostly dramatic), and not very shy. if roel and i could describe her in one word, it would be 'hilarious.' we've also heard other people say she's hilarious. anyways, she was sick the past couple of days and couped up in the house. on top of that, i gave her some albuterol and she was pretty much talking non-stop, it was quite exhausting (mentally) for me. so at one point i asked her if she wanted to watch a home movie, which we do every now and then. she chose her 2nd birthday party. she enjoyed it, and we were all laughing. then roel commented that i looked skinny in the video. and i think malia only heard the words mama and skinny. so after i had finished thanking roel for the lovely comment malia says, "mama's not skinny." of course i agreed with her and explained to her what daddy was thoughtfully saying to me. then i was reminded of another time in the car when she had asked me what a pimple was. she said she heard it in a movie. not thinking, i pointed to a pimple on my face, and told her that when people get older sometimes they get pimples. she responded,"you have a lot of pimples mama." although her comments are doing wonders for my self esteem, it gives me the opportunity to teach her tact, so she won't say these kinds of things to a complete stranger. like when she was 3 and we were in target paying for something, she was saying out loud that the cashier was dirty. in my eyes, the cashier just had a lot of freckles on her arm, to malia she was dirty. i couldn't teach her tact then, and thank God the cashier didn't really pay attention to what she was saying. so...to all mothers who complain about their little ones having tantrums, just wait until they start talking!

still my baby

okay, i admit it. i'm in denial that micah is growing up. thank God that i have beverly (his daycare provider) there to remind me of some of the skills he should be tackling at his age, otherwise i wouldn't really know if he was behind or not. i think i'm not as paranoid as i am with malia because my heart still sees micah as a little baby even though my eyes see he's obviously a big boy. he runs away from or chases malia. he knows some sign language, such as asking for more milk, saying please, and asking for fish (goldfish). micah loves to hug. his hugs even include the patting that you do with your hands. and he is building his vocabulary. his favorite word is ball. sometimes he says please. when he asks for things he says this or some? he's currently obsessed with the letter X. and he's in the full blown no stage, but i do love it when he says yes. he's a pretty good listener for his age. i'm so proud of him, yet i want to cuddle, cradle, and kiss him all day! i'm sure i'm not the only mom out there who feels like this.

sisters

jos and i had our annual sisters get together with our other sisters, steph and hannah. we've known them for so long. we have that kind of friendship that just picks up where you leave off when you don't see each other for a while. and that happens with us since steph lives in italy. the kids enjoyed playing with them and opening some more christmas gifts. i don't know what i would do without my sister. there's nothing like a sister bond. i'm glad that malia wanted a brother and she got him. but i'm also really thankful that God gave jos a girl. i want malia to know that sister bond, so i'm hoping that she and joelle will grow up like sisters. maybe joelle can calm her diva side!

buggie vegar (pronounced boo-jee ve-ger)

i can't even remember what malia was talking about last night because we were cracking up when i realized she was trying to say "veggie burger." guess you had to be there. even micah was laughing, though he didn't know why. malia thinks faster than she talks, so words sometimes come out backwards or jumbled. like the other day when it was raining, and we were in a hurry to go somewhere. i quickly put a turtleneck shirt on her. she said,"aww i don't want to wear a nurtleteck." that one is my favorite, even though buggie vegar makes me giggle.

my malia?

had a parent-teacher conference with malia's teachers today. they said malia's doing very well in class. she works independently, is reading/spelling some 4 letter words, doing well in math, excellent with her motor skills, a wiz at art, and is social & friendly. of course at every parent-teacher conference, i'm thinking, "really, my daughter?" somehow she must cross into a different dimension once she enters that school gate. but every parent has told me about how kids act better at school than at home. i'm very proud of her and do see all of her potential. she's already in the advanced kinder class and will soon be in advanced math. (future math teacher daddy is proud of that!) as they continued to tell me all the great things malia does, i was waiting for the "but." and sure enough it was, "but sometimes when working next to a good friend she tends to talk a lot." that's when i knew we were talking about the same girl.