Last week we put n on the balance bike and this week he is riding his 2-wheeler! Yesterday was his first time trying to ride on two wheels. He kept on falling, of course, and when we asked him if he wanted to take a break, he would just say no and kept going. He didn’t seem frustrated in the least. This video was taken this morning when we went to the park so that there would be more room for him to practice. He really took off! Now we’re thinking we should get him a boy’s 12″ bike instead of having him ride k’s hand-me-down pink princess bike. [Does anyone have one they want to sell/give away?] Meanwhile, k is riding a hand-me-down blue boy’s bike. We did give k a pink flower basket to add to her bike for her half-birthday, though. She enjoys giving her stuffed animals a ride. Soon D and I will have to get bikes too so we can do family rides!
Mommy, Me Need To Show You Something
When n says those words, I never know what to expect. Sometimes, it is a sweet drawing he made for me. Other times, he knows he did something wrong.
This was the scene when I came into n’s room. Do you notice anything, aside from the mess and lack of décor?
Someone threw his “sticky foot” up in the air and it stuck to the ceiling. So gross.
Happy 3rd Birthday n!
Friday was n’s third birthday. At his request, we had spaghetti for dinner…he is so easy to please. 
For the past couple of weeks, n has also been very good about expressing his thankfulness. The first time occurred after dinner, when I was resting on the couch to digest my food. Out of the blue he came up to me and said “Thank you mommy, for making me dinner.” That really melted my heart because he wasn’t copying anyone, and just said it on his own, without any prompting. Since then, he has been saying “thank you” for everything, including his vitamins–haha. He also said thank you for his birthday party, which we had on Saturday.
It was a camping-themed party. We were planning to have at least part of the party in our small backyard. Unfortunately, it was raining (it rained before when we had k’s party at our house too). However, we had contingent plans. D barbecued Trader Joe’s Korean beef under our retractable awning and we set up our tent in the living room.
I also picked green for the theme color since it was also St. Patrick’s day.
This was the sign at our front door. As you can see, one of our guests left a note on the way out.
I forgot to take a picture of the s’mores kits we handed out as favors to each family. They looked cute in this wooden CD holder.
For lunch, we bought chap chae, kim chee and beef sushi from Zion. Chicken meatballs, chicken potstickers and salad were courtesy of Costco. Very easy.
While playing in the tent, one girl was feeding mini marshmallows to a very willing and compliant n, one after the other. I’m not sure how many he ate, but another little girl estimated the number was around 20…eep! Of course, I put a stop to it, but I just had to take a picture first.
We kind of went overboard on the desserts.
Lemon Meringue Cupcakes (made by my mom)
Not sure what these are called, but they are made with pretzels-hugs-m&ms. Fun to make because you can use different colors for different occasions. The coconut m&ms are made in green, brown and white, so they went with our theme.
S’mores Tower
S’mores on a Stick
And last, but not least, a Camping cake, made by my mom:
We also had Girl Scout cookie ice cream in Thin Mint and Samoa flavors.
It was a fun time, and we are looking forward to the next year of development for n.
n’s Stage Debut
“He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!”
Inked
n’s new hobby is inking himself.
k never did this. I’m not sure if it was because she didn’t have access to markers at this age, or if it is just the difference in their personalities.
Two (For Real)
Happy birthday to our little n. (Not sure when I’ll stop calling him little). We are so grateful that he is in our lives. It’s funny to think that k doesn’t even remember life without him. He still has his sweet disposition, and is very forthcoming with his affection. He loves to copy k in everything she does. He is starting to express his opinions with more force, however, so we’ll see if the terrible 2’s live up to their name.
D was able to come home somewhat early for our family birthday dinner.
I took the kids upstairs into k’s room while D set up n’s present outside.
A water table! The idea for this present came to me because n has become obssessed with bringing a stool (or chair, or whatever is closest) up to the sink, turning on the water, playing with the water, and leaving the water running. He and k had a good time with the table, but it will be better when the weather warms up a bit.
n’s shirt was pretty soaked by the end, so we took it off during our dessert time which featured chocolate pudding. (No cake since we have been finishing the cake from the weekend all week). 
Two (Almost)
We continued our pre-celebration of n’s 2nd birthday at my parents house on Sunday.
n has been practicing saying how old he is.
n loves chocolate, so Zaza made him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
He enjoyed it, as you can tell.
Running Errands
This past weekend wasn’t too busy, mostly just running errands.
Look who we saw outside of Sports Authority!
Ikea: Looking forward to the 2011 catalogue next month.
Chicken Maison: Our newest Yelp find, by South Coast Plaza. Must try the spicy lemon garlic chicken…so good. We also had a gyro, not pictured, which was also very tasty.
It’s been pretty hot recently, but it cooled down nicely today. n, D and k all hang out without their shirts on, but n was the only one that seemed appropriate to take a picture of.
Oh yes, for those of you not on Facebook, we saw Jason Lezak at Pick Up Stix on Saturday night. You know, the gold medal Olympic swimmer that beat the French guy in the 4×100 freestyle relay in Beijing? I wouldn’t have recognized him, but after D pointed him out, I could tell it was him. He was waiting for his food to go, so D struck up a little conversation with him.
BoardWalk Ice Cream Co.
Since we had the day off on Monday, our adventure was to go to the Spectrum. I wanted to use the coupon I bought from www.dealperk.com for BoardWalk Ice Cream Co. The deal was $2 for 2 ice cream bars. The normal price is $3.75 each. They have vanilla ice cream bars, they dip them in your choice of dark or milk chocolate, and then you can have them rolled in unlimited toppings. D chose dark chocolate with oreo crumbles and I chose milk chocolate with coconut, waffle cone pieces and sprinkles. We were both careful not get anything with nuts so the kids could share with us. I guess the concept is based on the Balboa bar, which we’ve never had (we had the frozen banana). Anyway, is was very good, but you cannot help feel bad about eating it, at least I couldn’t. I also wanted k to ride on the ferris wheel, but it was closed for refurbishment. It is supposed to open up later in the summer. Boo.
In other news, n has developed some new “tricks”, some good, some bad. Good: He likes to give k hugs. He loves to wave at people and point at babies and dogs. He holds up one finger when you ask him how old he is. Bad: He scratches our faces with both hands and thinks it is funny. He climbed out of his crib yesterday (it is now on the lowest notch…hopefully that will keep him in for a while longer). He likes to throw things (anything) off of the top of our stairs.
15 Months
D’s parents were in town this past weekend so there has been a whirlwind of activity around here. However, before I go into details, I would like to pause to recognize n’s 15 month birthday, which occurred last Wednesday. It is fascinating to observe the gender differences. He is definitely more into building with blocks and Legos and likes his toy cars. We suspect that he is allergic to green peas, and not wheat. He has a sweet tooth and mealtimes can be a struggle. He usually sleeps through the night, at least until 4:30 a.m. (which is actually the worst, since our alarm is set to go off at 5:10).
Another development is that k has taken to sleeping on the floor in n’s room, “to keep him company”. It all started when she saw a couple of ants crawling on the wall near her bed one night. She became hysterical, and my quick fix was to ask if she wanted to sleep in n’s room. She did, and hasn’t slept in her bed since. I thought the novelty would wear off, but I think she does actually like being near him, which I find sweet. We’ll see how long this phase lasts.