Asterisk

pursed lips

poised to disperse

a thousand star-tipped

seeds

she asks me,

"did you know

that if you ask

for more whooshes [wishes]

you'll definitely

get it?"

Emi's morning routine

Ahh! Emi made the cutest routine chart on Friday, the very next day after I had made my habit tracker. I actually don't think she had seen my tracker at all. I forgot that on Thursday morning I had gotten fed up with how hard it was for Theo to follow his morning routine so I made him a tiny checklist*--before I had even made my habit tracker. (So really, I inceptioned myself and had forgotten that my list for Theo inspired me to make my own chart.)

* I got out a sticky note and said, "Let's start backwards." I made a checkbox at the bottom and wrote "chocolate chip"** and then we wrote everything else that needed to happen before that. I "laminated" it with shipping tape and then he asked me to cut a slit so he could attach a clip lanyard to it. He wore it around his neck and used a dry-erase marker to check things off. (And he said, "Thank you, Mama." Like he had just been waiting for me to do this...)

** Can we please talk about rewards/motivation? I really want to know your guys' thoughts on this. For adults and children. I've been surprised how my perspective on this has changed in the last two years.

Okay without further ado, here is Emi's adorable drawing (with her permission):

Left: Post-breakfast routine; Right: Waking to breakfast routine. (My favorite is step 4 where she ascends from her bedroom in the basement to the main level of the house hahaha.) Also, please note the number of times that hand-washing occurs. ;p

Digging spring

 

I'm growing up and I'm also leveling up as a PNW-er (no pun intended).

In other words, I'm starting to garden. (Ahoy!)

Instead of just looking forward to summer, I'm reveling in spring and soaking it up.

Well before March 21, I started counting down the days until I could put some seeds into the ground.

I've tried - and failed - before at a garden, so this year, we are taking it small. We are essentializing. Whatever each of us really wants - enough to take care of - we get to plant. 

I've put in some mesclun, a few Easter egg radishes, some peas and cucumbers. We'll get four blueberry bushes - one for each kiddo. I also scattered a box of wildflower seeds I got from the Dollar Tree. We'll see what happens.

Theo picked and arranged this little bouquet.

I'm not one for instruction manuals, so I needs must accept with full responsibility what results (or doesn't) this year. 

Either way, in taking a page from Emily P. Freeman, Thursdays have become my gardening day: we get our hands in the dirt, plant another row of lettuce, weed, water, check on the yard as a whole. Basically, I channel Michelle Obama.

It doesn't mean that we can't do any gardening on the other days of the week (we do), but Thursday is intentionally set aside to make progress on it. I love seeing how much happens in just 7 days.

Tell me what you are growing this time of year! (In your literal garden, or just your life, y'know.)

Gold for us, or, Brainless Crowdpleasers

As promised, here is our family's list of BCPs. Note that it includes some take-out, eat-out, and frozen options. It's not limited to just what we can prepare from scratch; it's a list of what we can have for dinner that should mostly please everyone at the table. A lot of them are similar - permutations of each other - and that's okay. In fact, that's part of why this works.

I didn't do the exact math, but I think it's about 75% Asian, the reason for which I expounded upon in my previous post.

This is close to the order in which I originally brainstormed them, so you'll see funny associations and a lot of things grouped together because one thing made me think of another.

Nice to know I had Noona's approval on my list

It seemed weird to write all of them out, but I think that's the beauty of it. Having this list is gold for us, even if it doesn't look like much to anyone else.

1. Pork egg omelette
2. Costco rotisserie chicken and rice
3. Spring rolls (usually with rotisserie chicken)
4. Rotisserie chicken pho
5. Bún bowls w/ rotisserie chicken or steak (are you sensing a pattern here? ;P)
6. Thit kho / braised pork belly (Viet-Chinese blend)
7. Kalbi
8. Bulgogi that my MIL marinates, freezes, and brings over
9. Fried pompano from Evergreen Market
10. Cabbage Patch Soup
11. Pizza, homemade
12. Pizza, from Costco
13. Oxtail soup with noodles or rice, or turned into pho with the addition of fish sauce and rice noodles (we love any of these options with kale boiled in the broth at the last minute and removed)
14. Pho Asia take out or eat-in
15. Xuxu (chayote) soup
16. Canh with ground pork meatballs and opo squash or cabbage
17. Hamburgers
18. Homemade Hamburger Helper (I modify this with oregano instead of rosemary, and with minced garlic; also I use a lot more pasta water, and don't always use the full amount of chicken stock)
19. Pasta with bulk Italian sausage, spinach, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes
20. Sheet pan chicken
21. Fried rice
22. Green bean and egg with rice
23. Dumplings (frozen), noodles, and vegetable in chicken broth
24. Cauliflower alfredo fettucine
25. Vietnamese chicken curry
26. Golden curry with chicken thighs
27. Sunday Night Stew
28. Pot roast
29. Corned beef and cabbage
30. Chile verde for tacos or rice bowls
31. BBQ beef brisket
32. Whole chicken soup with ginger and garlic
33. Chicken or pork meatball porridge with Chinese fried donut, cilantro/ginger/green onion
34. Ginger fried rice
35. Take-out sullungtang or soondubu
36. Ground pork sauce over thin spaghetti or Shandong noodles (I posted on something similar once, and have since learned a better marinade for the meat, so I might update that)
37. Ham and green beans
38. Ginger chicken - plain or with celery, bell pepper, or whatever other vegetable needs to be used up (a cross between Viet ga kho gung and Chinese ginger chicken)
39. Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce
40. Yakisoba or japchae
41. Israeli couscous with chicken, zucchini, and tomato (I made this once with orzo and it was a hit, although also a confusing mind trip because orzo is rice-shaped.)
42. Spaghetti with the marinara on the side
43. Beef, vegetable, macaroni soup (like minestrone)

Pork egg omelette  (#1 on this list and for good reason) is my shorthand for what some may call coin-purse egg omelettes. This post on Woks of Life has good pictures of what they look like when you make them the "real" way - they really look like coin purses of egg filled with ground pork inside, and you can make them smaller to make them kid-sized. 

My mom made them this way growing up, but I do a simplified version that works for us, and is faster. It doesn't look nearly as pretty, hence the lack of pictures here, but it tastes the same to me.

You basically marinate ground pork in what my mom would call "the standard marinade" (the ingredients of which would remain a mystery to me until I got into my 30s - maybe she was waiting for me to reach Mom Status before she revealed to me these secrets??), saute the meat, then, pour beaten eggs over it.

I use my spatula to cut the "omelette" into fourths, and then carefully flip over each quarter and let them cook until set. You can add green onions if you're feeling fancy, and then serve over rice. 

This is a basic weeknight meal that usually goes over well with kids because it's not meat that requires intensive chewing. ;)

Pork Egg Omelette

Marinate 16-20 oz ground pork in salt (~1/2 t), a couple rounds of soy sauce, a swirl of sesame oil, 1-2 t corn starch, ~1/4 cup water, and couple of good shakes of ground white pepper. I usually mix this up with a fork.

Heat up a skillet over medium high heat. Add a swirl of oil, and brown all the meat. While the meat is browning, crack 3-4 eggs into a bowl, add a splash of water and beat with a fork. (Ultimately I will do this twice, so maybe you might just want to start with 6-8? For some reason, I do each batch separately.) I bet that a dash of shiaoxing wine in the egg mixture would be awesome.

When the meat is browned, remove half of it to a plate. Spread out the other half in the pan. Pour the beaten egg mixture (or half of it, if you've beat the full amount) over the ground pork and let cook until you think it's ready to cut into four pieces and flip them over. 

Repeat the process with the other half of the meat. Serve with green onions (which could have also gone into the egg), rice, and extra soy sauce for those who wish.

Emi's drawing of multi-colored fried eggs, with crocheted "chicky" on the side

--

I'll gradually work on adding more recipes for these BCPS, but feel free to comment if you'd like me to bump up a certain recipe in the queue. 

--

Also, this list seems heavily fall/winter influenced. I wonder if I'll add/update when spring and summer come around.

...which, at this rate, doesn't seem like will ever arrive.

But until then, we'll keep enjoying Kayla's snow cream (milk, sugar, and vanilla poured over snow).

A few randoms, IV

#shelfie

1. Theo and Emi have been obsessed with chickens and eggs lately. (We also got three new Barred Rock chicks last Friday!) A couple weeks ago, Theo created an imaginary friend/chickie that he has named Eggy, and it's made of one of my knit hats stuffed with socks wrapped inside a towel. The two have since gathered more knit hats and made more "chickies" with these. Last night Emi asked me to crochet her a tiny hat for one. It's about the size of a cotton ball and perfect for her newest chickie. They love making nests and coops for their chickies.

2. Mari Andrew was on Forever35 talking about how even in her dream job (of being artist, I assume she means), she realizes how important it is to start the day with gratitude as a self-care practice. I enjoyed listening to this segment beginning around 41 minutes (Episode 38).

3. My friends Kayla and Marla and I have been talking and thinking about the concept of intuitive eating as brought up in The Lazy Genius and Healthy Eating episode which was very intriguing and provocative. If you give it a listen, let me know what you think!

4. If you need some laughs, check out this funny list of mom memes that my brother, of all people, sent me.

5. I have been desperately wanting more houseplants and found some new fun ones I'm super excited about. I even made a simple macrame plant hanger for one of them (not shown, because lighting is bad in basement, which is precisely why plants are needed to cheer up the space).

5b. Speaking of the basement, we've recently shifted the indoor trampoline that was in the basement out to the carport (which wasn't being well utilized) so that the basement could be more of a playroom/office/studio. Changes! Good changes, for once. ;p Transforming the carport into a covered, outdoor play space has been awesome for winter. I self-five myself for my great ideas.

6. This isn't anything that new to our life/routine but I want to capture it here on my blog because I'm sure I'll forget in the years to come. A lot of our evenings these days look like me and David alternating nights going gai gai (outing in Cantonese) with Kathy, while the littles sleep. TJMaxx, Target, Michaels, and Winco are some of regular destinations.

7. My meal planning game has really been upped since I took a course with The Lazy Genius. I plan on sharing more about that in this space soon. Stay tuned!

8. Another thing I am likely to forget about in the future is how long this current phase with Cori has felt. She's a little over four months now and up until this last week has not fallen asleep for bed before 10 or 11pm. For many weeks it was midnight or 1am. David and I got used to staying up late doing things but it was exhausting (probably especially for David who usually gets up at 5am). Now she's finally creeping up on an earlier bedtime and it's wonderful. Also, her naps are so irregular compared to T + E (although as my friend Kelli pointed out, Theo and Emilyn were probably both "my worst sleeper" when they were in that stage, too, lol). I've tried so many different waketime lengths and frequently end up with 45 minute naps. So these last couple of days I'm also keeping her up longer (much longer than I did with T + E) and seeing some moderate success. But we shall see.

It's rilly hard to be mad at this face, tho.

We are obsessed with her dough-soft cheeks. Kathy came up with the nickname Cori bao (or cork-u-bao, a blend of porcupine and cha siew bao). We also call her Corky.

9. I'm crocheting another blanket and am excited for how it will turn out. It's nice to have a project where I can see progress and growth!

10. Theo and Emilyn are saying the funniest things and I need to do a round-up of all those quotes here soon. For now, here's something that just happened yesterday:
Theo (eating gyoza): Mama, what are these dumplings called? (Because we usually eat boiled dumplings and not pan-fried.)
Me: Well, you could call them gyoza or potstickers.
Theo: Oh, okay. I really like these potstickers!

11. I started my own One Line A Day journal using a beautiful Moleskine journal my friend Kayla had gotten me years ago that was too pretty to write in. The mint green is just so on point. We will see how long this lasts. So far I have written a sentence for Jan 8-15 :D

Yes week

My journey of coming into my own as a parent in the Northwest has felt not unlike what I imagine it would be like to train for a marathon in higher altitudes. There are so many days when I think, it'd be so much easier for me to do this in the Bay Area - easier weather on me and the kids, and the support of family.

But then there are days I look up (or maybe slow down) and realize that all my effort and striving is actually providing sweeter fruit. And I am stronger for having worked harder at this thing called life.

I so resonated with my friend Christine's recent post, where she talked about slowing down being the perfect (if not unexpected) antidote to the stress of busyness.

Parenting a two- and four-year old feels relentless most days (especially when observed from the span of a week, or a month, or a year), so when I find those moments when I manage to sink deeper into the mess of whatever is that moment, or better yet, when I can contribute to that mess in my own way, I actually find that the time passes more quickly. Or is it rather that the passage of time ceases to matter so much? We're just here, fully in this moment.

We fell/flowed into a pretty creative groove this week. It may have started when my friend Kayla texted me this how-to draw your own mandala blog post.

When the kids were out with David on a quick errand, I brewed myself a cup of ginger turmeric tea, borrowed a compass from Kathy, and got started on the template.

Half an hour into it, the kids ran in and wanted to join me. We keep art supplies somewhat reachable for them whenever they want, so they both climbed up and started their own projects. I didn't say anything about what I was doing, so it was fascinating to see Emilyn draw her circles. Theo noticed the compass and wanted me to show him how to use it. His first drawing here is within those penciled circles, and his next one is completely his own creation.

Another day I had had some weird time block to fill, so I cut up a cereal box into a puzzle - the front panel into 12 pieces for Theo, and the back into 6 pieces for Emilyn. They were occupied for a solid 25 minutes.

And then just today I made some playdough. They have been loving it at other people's houses (you know, where the nice moms live). I'm not a huge fan (who is?) but today I felt like making it. I had some old whole wheat flour that was going a little stale (lol) so I guess I made hippie playdough.

It made me happy dance inside to see Theo with it. First of all, he helped me with mixing and kneading it, and then when I came back upstairs from waking Emilyn up, I saw that he had split the dough into two piles, placing one of them in front of a chair for his sister.

First, Theo made a snowman. (If you look closely above, you can see a snowman with a tiny head and no midsection.)

Next, he opened up a soup/noodles/dumpling shop and asked me what I wanted from the "calendar" (menu). He then asked if I wanted it "hand shaved" (as opposed to hand cut, the other option available at King Noodle).

Finally, he started rolling balls of cookie dough, so that his customers could "enjoy it." I was most impressed by the uniformity of his balls. I think he's learned from watching Kathy bake.

***

When I talked to my counselor today I was trying to figure out why exactly this spontaneous week of creativity was so life-giving for me as their mom. I figured out that it's because I got to create as well, not just set them up for creating. I got to draw, and so I cared less about what they did (and yet they blew me out of the water with their drawings). I got to make playdough and so it didn't matter how much they enjoyed the playdough. I cut up the puzzle using stuff we already had and which was going to the recycling bin anyway.

It's a little like what Dave Ramsey refers to as happy-happy situations - happy if it works out and happy if it doesn't. I didn't spend a million dollars or buy products with tons of packaging.

I recently listened to a podcast where they talked about a "yes hour" - when you actually say yes to your kids instead of the usual no along with the litany of excuses why not. It can be such a good reset. And while I did not tell any people under the age of 5 that we are having a "yes week" I think I have succeeded in shaking things up.

***

Closing randoms:

Kendra of The Lazy Genius has been killing it lately with her podcasts. Her recent two series on routine and summer have inspired and guided me.

Also really blessed by Emily P. Freeman's podcast The Next Right Thing. (Maybe listen from the beginning?? Recent memorable episodes are number 25 and 34.)

Made these raspberry yogurt popsicles last week. It's the second time I've made them and I was still weirded out by the Pepto-Bismol look of them when you're blending it up. But it freezes beautifully. If you have a Vitamix I recommend not trying to blitz the seeds to pieces or else they won't go through the strainer as well and you'll end up with even more seediness. Third time's the charm, I guess. (Also, Molly says she reduces the sugar from 3/4 cup down to 1/2 cup now. Go with your gut, I've done both.)

(Last year's post on popsicles. And have I not yet posted about golden milk popsicles??)

Mango sticky rice is always a good idea.

Emilyn says

Here are some things about Emilyn since May (16 months) to now (2 years):

She is as playful (if not more than) Theo. She has a hammy/mischievous grin, and she also does this thing where she turns her head sideways while keeping her eyes on you.

At 16 months (on May 15, to be exact) she said "Nigh nigh and I love you" when I laid her down for bed.

She says "jammy jammy" for Sandra Boynton's Pajama Time.

"Be you!" for "bless you!"

She calls keys "gee"

She's been calling Kathy either "nunu" or "nono" and able to call David's parent "harby" and "harmy"

She says "my" for me/I (e.g., "my do it")

When I asked her if she had a good nap, she said yes, and then she pointed at me, to ask if I had a good nap. Then the same question regarding Theo, and Kathy.

Around 18 months she started calling Theo "Tho-dor" even though we always referred to him as either "Theo" or "oppa." Recently she has changed it to "Thee-dor." (Even Theo the other day said, "she used to call me Tho-dor. Now she calls me Thee-dor.")

She still loves food, especially meat and fruit. Unlike everyone else int he family, she doesn't finish carbs. She can eat spicy food like curry, Shin Ramyun, and even Sriracha without freaking out.

She's a full-on toddler who looks at me while disobeying.

She says "uh oh" for something that's broken or fallen.

She constantly asks "ay" which means "where...?" "Ay nunu go? Ay appa?"

She says "yah" for "yes" in a very definitive manner.

She says "ticka ticka" (tickle) and goes through each person, e.g., "Ticka ticka umma, ticka ticka nunu, ticka ticka tho-dor"

When our friend Jason offered to push her on the swing at camp (21 months) she said to him (and she likes this guy) "no no no no no" followed by "go go go go go."  Jason clarified, "you don't want me to push you?" and Emi said, "Yah!"

When you wake her up, she can tell if you've been eating something and she says "foo foo foo" or "ea ea ea" all while signing food/eat. (Update: now at 2yo 3mo she asks, "What Umma eating?")

She loves to ask about each person in the family, repeatedly.

"Aighee" is ice cream. "Geekgee" is cookie. "Geegoh" is thank you.

One day when we left a restaurant, David was going to give Emilyn the rest of her shaved ice drink in the car. I told him we should wait until we got home. Without missing a beat, Emilyn piped in with, "Bib. No mess." (Only, she pronounces "mess" like "mesh.")

She has a strong sense of where everyone should be sitting - at the dining table, or in the car.

David and Theo often say, "What the??" to feign surprise. Emilyn copies them, and says, "bah-dah?!"

She still pronounces I love you like "I la voo."

She often says "Emi do it."

One time when David was rubbing her back, she surprised him and said "no dutch" by which she meant, "no touch."

So then weeks later when David made dutch baby pancakes, it was easy to get her to say "dutch baby."

When she picked up something for her cousin Baby Amara and put it back on her booster tray, she told her, "say geekgoo unni" (unni is older sister in Korean).

She loves tea, especially drinking my chai.

Overall Emilyn is as her middle name, a pure joy. She loves playing with Theo, whether it be Legos, chase, or digging in the dirt. She loves food and music and making people laugh.

Fearless

I love how these boots make her look like a fishmonger.

It’s such a wild exercise to pay attention to everything my kids are doing as they grow and develop. I worry sometimes that “blog summaries” of them oversimplify their personhood into bulleted lists, but for now, this is still better than not writing anything.

Before I picked up blogging again with regularity, I was only remembering to capture things here and there, and it really felt like a chore. Now I’m a bit quicker to jot something down in my Notes app.

Knowing that my collections are headed somewhere (and that you all really seem to like these! Especially you, Molly, it’s your lucky week!) makes it feel even more worthwhile.

And I know that in 20 years (or even just next year) I’ll be really grateful I did that. (Ha, I just used the word grateful and it didn’t make me gag. Maybe it’s because I’m being grateful to myself, not to some vague Other.)

Oh, you didn't know that monkeys are marsupials?

So, without further ado, a little update on Emilyn.

She started walking just shortly before our trip to Virginia, so I’d say that was right around the beginning of April, after she turned 15 months. (Is this so classic second child, that I don’t have the exact day written down?)

Theo was walking just after his first birthday, but nobody was worried about anything with Emilyn. Nonetheless, I am so happy that the days are here now that I can take her more easily to the playground and know that she’s not just going to shred up her pants from crawling.

I didn’t entirely wait for her to be fully walking before letting her play outside with Brother, though. For the last probably two months, I threw her out and let her get dirty in the mud and grass in the yard. (Though we’re still having to constantly tell her “don’t put nature in your mouth.”)

Speaking of playgrounds, she is FEARLESS. She discovered the slides, and she will climb up and go down, multiple times. Even if it knocks the wind out of her, she is almost always grinning from ear to ear and ready to do it again. She loves to try to climb up the slides backwards as well.

She still loves to tickle people’s feet, all while jibber-jabbering the phrase “ticke ticke ticke” which means “tickle tickle tickle” if you didn’t catch that.

In general, she talks like R2D2. It’s hilarious when she opens a book and “reads.”

Speaking of Star Wars, doesn't she looks like some SW princess wearing my puffy vest? (And May the Fourth be with you!)

The funniest thing she started doing this last month is squinting her eyes at us. Technically, she thinks she is blinking. She did this after seeing David’s dad putting in eye drops, and blinking to get the excess out. As soon as she saw him do it, she closed her eyes like a squint and got laughs out of all of us.

It almost looked as though she was trying to close her eyes while simultaneously watching to see if we were watching her. That’s what made it look like a squint.

And so obviously now that she knows it bowls us over with laughter, she keeps it in her back pocket to lighten the mood.

It looks a little like this.

She continues to have the utmost patience for Theo, but she can be more stubborn with me, David, or even Kathy.

One day I told her, “You’re so easy, until you’re not.”

Other names I call her besides Emily: Emi,  Emi-baby, Dolly / Dolly Pie (mostly when I wake her up), Sister, Sissy Missy, Miss E, Princess Emilyn.

We look at her and wonder, How can you be so smart for someone who has lived on this earth for little more than 1 year?

It’s this crazy mixture of her being a second-born and a girl that makes her incredibly quick and it constantly surprises me how much she knows and understands. I’m always like, “who taught you that?” Ohhhhh.

She often stays near people / conversation / food, whereas Theo may run off to bigger and better things. (Read: monster trucks.)

Both of them love to dance, but she dances like an old man: both feet flat on the ground, hand on tummy, and swaying to the music with her shoulders. If the song is faster, she may bend her knees to bounce. She gets a glimmer in her eyes when she is excited.

Says: mama, dada, hi, bye, ball, doggie (duck-ga), nuh-nuh (for nuna/Kathy); I think she calls Theo “da”; I’m really trying to get her to not just go “ehh ehh” while waving her hands towards anything she wants. Sigh.

Signs: please (by rubbing her protruding tummy, lol), milk, all done, sister, brother, banana, avocado (we googled and learned “sausage” this week which was funny; she did her best to repeat it)

Loves: singing, dancing, blowing kisses

Firsts: being put to bed by David while I went out to dinner with a friend (she kept saying “my mama, mama, me mama” and signing for nursing/milk, but she did eventually go down without a fuss)

Simultaneously fast and slow

These two little people fill my days with laughs and aggravation. My friend Christine said it best when she said that motherhood sometimes makes her feel like a crumpled piece of paper.

One of the consistently best moments of every day is waking them up from their naps. I love entering their warm and dark rooms, hearing their soft breathing, and inhaling their fermented honey / yeasted bread smell.

Both of them always worked themselves into the corner and slept like froggies.

However, and related to that, one of the things that is about to drive me crazy is the nap transitions we are currently in. Emilyn is in the transition to drop to one nap, and I think we're smack in the middle of the time where having a nap makes it hard for Theo to fall asleep at night, but no nap is no bueno (probably more for me than for him, insert sweating emoji).

Gah, I can't get enough of this.

Every day, I am just in awe of how simultaneously fast and slow time moves.

Both of them have grown so much - physically and mentally - in the past couple weeks and it shocks me when I look at them. Theo's thighs and legs suddenly got super chunky, and Emilyn is solidly heavy to hold. I definitely think Theo shot up an inch or two overnight, because one day he was tripping all over himself, when he is normally very careful. Emilyn's pants got short on her one day as well. Crazy.

Here are a couple notes on them at their current stages.

Emilyn {15 mos}:

• is juuust about walking. She can do a number of steps in a row. The last few days she's been "running" for a couple steps before she falls, as if she thinks she can get more steps in before the fall this way. 
• does squats and pliés when music is on.
• is starting to learn to go down the stairs backwards.
• loves putting on accessories, like headbands and especially purses. She doesn't even mind socks! (Though she will pull them off in the car, obviously.) She grabs clothes and signals to you that she wants you to help her put it on, and cooperates when you put clothes on. (Except for diapers, of course.) This is the complete opposite of Theo, whom I can barely get to wear pants most days.
• (Related: we had a stretched-out strap from an LED headlamp, which she would put over herself like a beauty pageant sash, so we called her Miss LED for a while.)
• is more clearly saying mama/umma, dada, and nuna (big sis). 
• says "tck-a tck-a tck-a" (tickle tickle tickle) while tickling your feet.
• still loves her food. One day I shared a smoothie with her and she drank more than half of it. I seriously thought to myself, oh, no I cannot share food with her when she grows up. We will both be like, "Who ate my hamburger? / Where did my hamburger go??" Basically, we'll be really mad at each other.

Theo {3yr 3mos}:

• says "Oh, hi, ____!" when people are around, as in "Oh, hi, Appa!" The "oh" adds this element of surprise in his tone, like's so delighted to see you, which he is.
• said, "Can someone watch the kids?" when he saw me going upstairs one day.
• found an evangelism tract one day and decided to call it "my college." When he dropped it from his carseat, he exclaimed, "Oh, no! My college!"
• loves shaved ice. We discovered a couple places we like and it's our way of embracing/getting through winter. One night after dinner, he stage whispered across the table to Kathy, "Should we go to shaved ice?"
• responded when I told him we were going to Ace, "Oh, for popcorn? Paint? Wood? A new house?"
• said, "I can't hear you downstairs when I'm going upstairs!"
• told me "put your phone in your pocket" when it fell on the steps when I was going to the car.
• told David, "finish your coffee, don't spill" when he was carrying his coffee to the car. (Totally different day.)
• sings "the shadow proves the sunshine" from Switchfoot.
• ended one walk with the song "Mama Knows Best" because, even though he wasn't too reluctant to go for the walk in the first place, he wanted me to feel appreciated for making a good suggestion that we go for a walk. I guess he really understands how much work it is to get clothes on both of them and get loaded up to go! Especially when it is so gloomy and/or raining.
• slipped a small cardboard sleeve over his elbow one day and proclaimed that he was a "doctor for babies!" Maybe he remembered how I would always get my blood pressure measured at the OB/GYN when I was pregnant with E?
• folds up hand towels and "warms" them up over of the heater registers and calls them burritos. (He did this before he turned 3 but I forgot to write about this earlier.)
• told me "it will stop raining, when you go to your nap, in your dreams" when I told him I was tired of all this precipitation.
• asked David if he would "talk it over with umma"; "it" being getting a John Deere monster truck/tractor.
• asked Emilyn, "why are you crying? We're almost home" on the drive home yesterday. And when we chuckled over his sweetness, he deadpanned,"don't laugh, it's not a laugh game."
• fake-breathed in and out very quickly when he started getting upset on a walk, because I had taught him just the day before to take a deep breath when you get upset.
• asked me to get new sidewalk chalk, and when I said, "maybe in a week or two when it's more spring-like," he responded by going to the camellias blooming around the corner of the house, and said, "look, it's spring! Can we go get sidewalk chalk now?"
• uses a baby bird voice to call me "Mama!" every night when we play hide-and-seek before bed, and when he wants me to feed him a snack.
• says "have fun, good luck!" whenever we put him to bed/nap because he used to always say that to Uncle Kenny when he was playing games before T's bedtime
• asked me "you wearin' shoes?" when he wanted me to climb into his bed, and when I said, "no," he clarified, "just your feet?"
• is staying dry at night on his own. We used elimination communication very casually (which I loved) so he was using the potty before 1 (mostly for #2), day trained somewhere in year 2 (#1 didn't come until after 2yo), and now starting to night train himself. A few times we did a "dream pee" and it was so sweet to see him sleepily sit on the baby potty, his long, lanky legs propped up on the floor.

The two of them together are a such a sweet pair. It surprises me how extremely and mutually tolerant they are of each other. Theo is so gracious about sharing toys, noticing when she doesn't have something and getting it for her (or grabbing her purse and putting her phone in it), offering her water to drink, etc. And Emilyn doesn't mind his wrestling or pommeling her. She worships her oppa and wants to do everything he is doing.

Okay, and lol, the main reason I had to write this post is to share this hilarious series of drawings by Theo.

A couple of days ago, Theo asked me if Emilyn could be in his tummy when he grew up. (I said no.) So then a day or two later, he drew this picture:

"That's Emilyn in my tummy, when I'm a grown-up."

And then a minute later he drew this:

"That's Emilyn in my tummy. She lookin' for food."

There are no words.

(Also, we think it's amazing that he knows how to draw smiley faces because in all the drawing we do together we never taught him explicitly how to draw smileys. Maybe he studied those Costco receipts?)

Emilyn, lately {13 months}

Here's a little bit about Emilyn at 13-ish months, although this first set of photos is from 7-9 months.

Kathy calls her Jack-Jack because of this picture (upper-right) where she looks like the baby from The Incredibles. Bottom-right is Sharkfin-soup-Emibaby

She is generous with smiles and laughter. She has this goofy grin that is hard to capture on camera but is classic Emilyn. All teeth and no eyes.

Speaking of teeth, she has at least 9 teeth already and is cutting a million more (feels like 6 more but I don't dare stick my finger in there for too long to check!). 

She mimics behaviors such as rubbing her hands together if she sees you washing hands, or if she is near a bottle of lotion or hand sanitizer.

When Kathy washes her hands with our family-splurge Williams-Sonoma Meyer Lemon soap, Emilyn will sniff her own hands, even if she's clear across the kitchen, and she loves when Kathy comes over to let her smell her hands. You can audibly hear Emilyn make the sniffing sound out of her nose.

She is great at picking up her toys after independent play in the crib. She will squat down, grab a toy, and throw it over the crib rail into the basket I hold for her. She can understand directions to grab a specific toy.

She opens her mouth like a bird when you bring food to her mouth.

She can sign: please, milk, water, book, banana (she points with her index finger at the bananas on the shelf, which is half of the sign; the other half is to "peel" your finger with your other hand), avocado, all done, help. She loves to learn new signs and has copied when I've taught her "doll" and "sister"/nuna.

She can wave and say, "hi!" David has heard her say "ball." 

She says "mama" and "dada" but it's not clear she's necessarily using it to call for us; she says "da!" for Theo, and she can say "nunu" for Kathy. She jibber-jabbers a lot and it's super cute. (Update: since drafting this earlier this week, she did say "Appa" for David at the library yesterday and it was clear she was calling him.)

She just started blowing kisses, but she does the release very slowly, like a generous royal person. For regular kisses, she opens her mouth super big and comes at you like she is going to eat you.

Theo has a wooden motorcycle rocker (like a rocking horse but a motorcycle) and when you put Emilyn on it, she makes engine revving noises. 

She knows she's being cute when she all of a sudden she lays her head down on a soft surface (e.g., bed, sofa, rug) because we all go, "aww...." She thinks it's a thing, "going aww." We call it "flump-da" when she does it, especially if the rest of her body is on the ground too, in froggy position. Sometimes she will just get in that position, wait for you to notice her, and then give a mischievous smile.

It's hard to describe her personality. In some ways, she seems like she has a vast serenity about her, that it takes a lot for her to be disturbed. But lately, she can absolutely get upset, most often when you are eating something in front of her that you are not willing to share. (No idea where she got that from.)

I used to joke when I would take her out of the high chair and put her on the ground that she could clean up after the mess she made because she eats everything (food and otherwise) off the ground. Once we found her in the kitchen happily chewing on a piece of red onion. The robotic vacuum that Kathy got us from Christmas is Emilyn's frenemy.

We weren't as consistent with reading Emilyn bedtime stories as we were with Theo (#secondkidproblems) but since last week she has gotten obsessed with Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop. She asks for it (there's a jibber-jabber she uses to say "llama llama" and I think I'm the only person in the world who could decipher it, ha), brings it to me, or (newly) signs "book."

We are still going strong with nursing and I'm sure that helps with the bond I feel with her.

She has a short morning nap and a slightly longer afternoon nap but we may be entering into the transition phase for dropping to one nap.

Oh and she's not quite walking yet, although she has taken a couple steps in a row without support, including some pivots.

She is a pure delight to me and I'm so thankful I get to be her mama.

Emilyn's 1st birthday

With all of the holiday busyness (yes, yes, I am writing this a month late), I had wanted Emilyn's first birthday to be a small family affair, but since both sets of grandparents flew in for it, it ended up anything other than simple.

Although my mom, mother-in-law, and I all love cooking and entertaining, I think we are accepting this season of life where we recognize that we don't have to overexert ourselves with home-cooked food to show our love.

So I encouraged us to cater and do take out where it made sense. I set the tone by ordering 40 fried chicken wings and some vegetable fried rice from our favorite King Noodle.

My mom made Chinese stir-fried noodles (symbolizing long life on a birthday) and red-dyed eggs. She picked up roast pork and roast duck from Ranch 99.

My mother-in-law made savory Korean mung bean pancakes from scratch (soaking and grinding the beans from dried), shopped for boxes of fruit, and ordered jjap chae (sauteed glass noodles - the best!), kimbap (Korean sushi), kimchi, and dduk (rice cake).

When my mother-in-law went to pick up the cake at the bakery, the lady asked her how many candles she needed. She replied, "It's for a first birthday party." The lady was shocked because she somehow thought that such a big cake necessarily meant this was for something on the order of a 70th birthday celebration.

Emilyn v. cake for a 70-year-old

We had zero trouble finishing it. Asian cakes are so fluffy, so they are basically calorie-less, right?

My favorite moment of the day was seeing her get her first balloon from her Auntie Coleen.

We did the traditional Korean dol activity, where you lay out a bunch of objects and let the baby pick an item. Whatever she picks supposedly represents what she is going to be when she grows up (e.g., money = success, book = scholar, paintbrush = artist, etc.) My father-in-law forgot to bring his stethoscope so they had to go out and buy a toy set.

She ended up picking up the pen (my favorite black Pilot Precise V5!) probably because I never let her play with mine.

(Theo actually did the same at his first birthday; he grabbed a highlighter. Are they both going to be writers??)

Princess Emilyn thinks to herself, Whatever shall I choose?

I'm so not that mom who is into all the regular things, tradition, etc. Thankfully, my sister-in-law (are you reading this now? hehe) helped pick up the slack and provided so much support with the spread, the activities, and even wrapping up stuff my MIL would have bought for Emilyn anyway just to ensure that there would be plenty of gifts for Emi-baby. :) Thank you, Diana! As a fellow youngest sibling, I so appreciate everything you did to make Emilyn's party as fabulous as it was!

~

Previous Emilyn mentions on the blog:
first cameo | seventeen weeks | four months | twenty weeks | five months | ten months

A pumpkin round-up: savory and sweet

Before November is over, let's talk about pumpkin for a little bit because YES PLEASE.

1. Pumpkin chili

This chili is decidedly savory and (big surprise) I love it. It is vegetarian as written but I think it'd go great with meat, which is how I'm going to make it today. Kayla - who brought us the tomato paste freezing tip in a previous post - blends the canned tomatoes before adding them, which definitely takes it to the next level.

I highly recommend doubling the recipe and making jalepeno cheese cornbread muffins to go alongside!

2a. Roasted kabocha salad

Trying out another recipe from Vegetarian that I have had bookmarked (literally, ha) for a while. I always steal the kabocha from the tempura pile; it's absolutely my favorite pumpkin (so starchy!).

2b. Oh wait, this is my favorite pumpkin:

Sweet, savory, and tangy.

4. Pumpkin bread

Kathy loves to reminisce about the pumpkin bread I made six years ago when Kenny helped me cut and roast sugar pumpkins and we made the bread from homemade puree.

(It also didn't hurt that I put chocolate chips in the batter.)

We love using this Orangette recipe, but we cut the sugar in half so we can enjoy putting the (optional?!) chocolate in it. I've written it as a doubled recipe (so you can use up a can of pumpkin, or if not you can make the pumpkin chili, see point number 1 above) so you can do one loaf plain (which a lot of our family loves) and the other with chocolate and/or walnuts. We decided we like chocolate best, no walnuts.

Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips
adapted from Orangette

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves

2/3 c water
1 t vanilla

12 T unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/4 c sugar {this is halved from Orangette's recipe}

4 large eggs, room temp
2 cup pumpkin puree (if making homemade puree that is thinner in texture than canned pumpkin, you can reduce the water above)

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans.

Whisk dry ingredients together.

Beat butter until creamy, about 30 seconds, then add sugar and blend until lightened in color, abut 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Add pumpkin puree, and beat on low speed until just blended.

Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the water-vanilla mixture in two parts, beating on low until smooth and just combined.

Fold in chocolate and pour into pans.

Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack for five or ten minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.