Exploitative Costumes

Tonight we dressed up our girls. Natalie was dressed up as the Chick-Fil-A cow (their mascot is a cow whose motto is "Eat More Chikin") and Vanessa was dressed up as the "Chikin." They are sooooo dang cute! So of course we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. The restaurant workers were just laughing. They even took a picture of them. Unfortunately we didn't get any comps but oh well, the girls are adorable. Vanessa, as you can tell doesn't like her outfit (she is probably thinking that it makes her look fat). So she was miserable over dinner and Natalie was getting restless. To make things worse, Jadon somehow made himself puke. So we ended up packing the food up and bringing it home. We were planning to take the kids out to the Irvine Spectrum dressed in their costumes but the girls were too cranky so we just took them out plained dressed. Let's just say they didn't cry for the rest of the night. They behaved like little angels.

Where Is He Getting It From?

The other day I was sitting on the couch and Jadon says "Dadda is a panzi (pronounced pantsee)." I asked him to repeat the same thing and he said it again. Where the heck....? I looked at Fiona and she had no clue. Great!!! So no this kid thinks his dadda is a panzi. To those readers who are going to ridicule me over this...shat up! =)

Eating Habits.

For identical twins, the girls don't look the same or act the same. More specifically, aside from their personality differences, their eating habits are almost opposites. When we feed the girls "boob juice" (whether through nursing or through the bottle) Vanessa just thrives at it whereas Natalie has problems sucking it down. Vanessa could just slurp an entire bottle down in less then ten minutes. Natalie on the other hand can take twice as long to take down half the amount that Vanessa takes. So what do you think would happen when we have them on solids? Well the outcome has been reversed. Natalie just loves eating solids and Vanessa seems to just dread it. Natalie, while being feed, squeals of happiness while Vanessa whines and looks uninterested. Natalie begins to whine when she is finishes her food because she wants more. Vanessa whines when she finishes her food because she wants to get out of her high chair. We have recently started to give Cheerios to the girls. Natalie has just figured how to eat them and she was just happy as can be. Vanessa, upon seeing the Cheerios on her tray, just broke out into full on tears. Fiona and I were like "What the...?" She has done this twice now and it has just astonished us how she can do so well on breast milk but when it comes to solids, she just detests it. It can be a little frustrating but for the most part we just take it in stride and look back and laugh about it.

Jadonisms as of late.

Two nights ago Fiona's parents came by to pick up Jadon so he can spend the night at their house. I was wishing a goodnight to Jadon and his response was "Goodnight Dad!" Now to the naked ear that sounds normal, but to me I was kind of taken back. My ears focused on the word "Dad" and has resonated over the past two days. What happened to calling me "dadda," "daddy," or even "pops" (as he has been known to even call me)? I told Fiona this and she told me that he has been using "Dad" as in "Where did dad go?" I haven't been expecting this for quite sometime. The kid is growing up fast.

A word that Jadon has started to use a little bit more than usual is "punk." I'll notice his response to a question of mine is "That one over there, punk." or "No like that one, punk." I have to say that's hilarious but I think that Fiona and I will have to stop using that word because I don't want him to say it to other people. That little punk. =)

Last night Jadon said something funny and at the same time left Fiona and I wondering where he learned it from. Fiona was feeding one of the girls upstairs while on the computer. I was downstairs but able to hear what was going on. Jadon had hit his head somehow and Fiona asked him "Jadon, doesn't that hurt?" Jadon responded "Big time." Hilarious....

Foot/Hand Prints and Bob the Builder

Last night we had an appointment at Footprints 'N More to get clay molds of our girls' hand and foot prints. We took Jadon here 2 and a half years ago and got conned into getting hand and foot prints. This time around we wanted to get conned again. Actually the lady raised her prices since. We ended up shelling out as much as we did when we had Jadon go through with it. It came out to under $80. Doh! Fiona told me that it will be their Christmas present. We wanted to do this for the girls because we did it with Jadon. We want to eliminate as much jealous reasons as possible (boy is it costly). With Jadon, we had gotten both feet and both hand prints on a custom shaped boat resembling the Ark (this was when he was 8 weeks old which the size is really cute). This time (at nine months) the girls each got their own one-foot-and-one-hand print on a heart shape claycature. I tell you, the owner of this store is probably making a fortune. She just opened a second location.

After the foot and hand printing we headed over to Toys R Us to look for a costume for Jadon to dress in. We didn't really want to buy an outfit that he was going to wear a few times and outgrow. So we went to look for Bob the Builder (Jadon's new favorite character show) paraphernalia. We ended up finding what we wanted at Target. It was a 7 piece out fit that contains a hard hat, tool belt, and 5 tools. Jadon just loves it. So this is a two-bird-one-stone item, a toy and a costume. I'll take pictures, of course, and post it. As for the girls, I am not at liberty to divulge that information. Suffice to say, their costumes are sooooo cute and hilarious (exploitation at it's finest). I will definitely post pictures on them.

Doh!

This morning I woke up an hour and twenty minutes late! Eeeeek! I woke up at 6:20 am. My alarm was set but I forgot to set the right time. I had it set on Fiona's wake up time (which is 8:00am). I have never woken up that late before. I ended up an hour late to work which has never happened in my life. Luckily I was still the first one at work. Most of the time I can wake up right before my alarm and this morning I remember my mind consciously waking up but I didn't open my eyes to look at the clock. I just thought to myself "I'll just let the alarm wake me up." Damn biological chromometer. Well that was an adrenaline rush. I didn't speed to work (well maybe just a little). The light signals were really good to me. I hit probably 80% of them when they were green. Now I think I am starting to hit a low point (*yawn*).

A Funny Quote...

Yesterday my coworker showed me an ism that he got in his email. It read something like:

"It takes the first two years to teach a kid to stand and talk. Then you take the next sixteen years to tell your kid to sit down and shut up."

I found it to be quite amusing and probably true (to a certain extent).

Good News, Frustrating News...

GOOD NEWS

Over the past couple of days, we have been suspicious that Natalie can get into a sitting position. Fiona notice that Natalie was in a sitting position but questioned me if I put her in that position. Clueless me, I can't remember. Well last night our suspicions were confirmed. Fiona went to get Natalie from her evening nap and there she was, sitting in her crib. Yea! Hopefully she'll crawl soon because I think she whines a lot because she's not mobile like her sister. Another thing that Natalie does is if she doesn't get what she wants, she whines. Crap! It's already starting.

Vanessa is pulling herself up in a standing position quite well. She fall every now and then and sometimes she'll bonk herself. When that happens, I'll pick her up quickly but I won't acknowledge that she's been hurt. I'll find some way to make her laugh that way I can get her mind/senses off the fact that she might start feeling pain. So far I have been successful and she'll smile and she resume her crawling and standing exercises.

FRUSTRATING NEWS

Lately Jadon has been a nuisance. His 'terrible twos' stage seems to get a little worse. He's been defiant at times and a lot of times he's been oversensitive. He has been hitting and pushing. He's pushed Vanessa before and made her cry. Nighttimes are the worse. He'll start to whine at night because he knows that bath and bedtime are coming. He'll start to cry in his bath. He'll cry, at times, after his bath. I can't figure out this kid. He use to be fine with bath time and bedtime. I find myself on a short fuse with him. I've yelled at him, ignored him, and punished him. This past weekend I felt really really guilty. Over breakfast, I was getting frustrated with him because he was fidgety and wouldn't sit still. He ended up throwing something and I just snapped. I grabbed him and put him in timeout (holding him against the corner of the wall). He was kicking, screaming, and crying. He was flailing so much that he banged the wall a few times. When I got him out I noticed on his forehead a couple of small red bruises. And on his neck were all these broken capilaries from his intense crying. I felt really bad about that. I even cursed myself for losing my temper. So the past few days, I have been nicer to him and have toned down my strict policies on him. I guess I just have to get back to the olden days of when I was patient and tolerant.

Pee Of Relief

Vanessa is so cute. In recent weeks, when I give her a bath, she tends to pee in her bath (that's not the cute thing). Leaned back in her bath tub, she'll let out a sigh of relief. Her sighs sound sooo adorable. It's as if she had a hard day of being a baby, and when I give her a bath, she seems to enjoy it as if she were sitting in a warm relaxing spa. Ah, what a life. Naps, eating all day, playing, full maid service, full bath service.....

Updated:

Picture Realms:
-Jadon: Year Three (2005)
-Natalie & Vanessa: Year One (2005)

Movie Realms:
-Jadon Movies
-Natalie & Vanessa Movies

Enjoy!

More First Fight Probing.

Yesterday, during dinner, Fiona and I asked Jadon some more questions regarding this supposed fight that Jadon was involved in. Here's what we have gathered from him.

-The friend's name, that hit Jadon and that he hit back, is Frank (or some form of Frank).
-He is bigger then Jadon.
-He looks like Jadon.

Now, I believe I recall a kid that had a buzz cut just like Jadon and resembled closely to him. So he might not be too far off. But I think he has quite an imagination and he could be suffering from multiple personalities. For all I know he could have gotten in a fight with himself and called himself Frank.

First Fight?

Here was a conversation between Jadon, Mama, and I after his Sunday school class:

Fiona asks "Jadon what did you do in class today?"
Jadon responds as usual "Eat cookies, drink water."
Fiona probes "Did you do anything else?"
Jadon says "Go playground."
I ask "Did you have fun at the playground?"
He responds "Yeah." Then he adds "Jadon cry."
Fiona asks "Why did you cry?"
Jadon answers "Friend hit you." (he gets 'you' and 'me' mixed up so he meant 'Friend hit me.")
Fiona double checks "A friend hit you and you cried?"
Jadon says "Yeah. " Then he adds "Hit back."
I mumble to Fiona "That's my boy."

We can't be sure if he is speaking the truth or not because he'll tell us made up stories. Our boy, in his first fight. *sniff* He's growing up.

Talking about fights, I just read that Stallone is doing a 6th installment of Rocky called "Rocky Balboa." Talk about over-over kill. I hope this time he kills off this character.

Funny Accent

I'm sure that most kids who learn to speak have an accent but I can't help but laugh and make fun of Jadon's accent. It's a mixture of a fobbish, New York, French accent. Here is a list of words/phrases and how he pronounces them:

"Car" - Coiya
"Door" - Doiya
"More" - Moiya
"Dinosaur" - Dinosoiya
"Orange Juice" - Oren Jews
"French" - Fwen
"Bob The Builder" - Bob da Beel-da
"Screwdriver" - Coo-die-va
"Spicy" - Picey
"Spider" - Pie-da
"Jadon" - Zay-don

Here is a another list of some things he has said recently that I find amusing:

"Dada is Don. Mama is Fioma." (that's how he pronouces Fiona)
"Where did dada/mama go?"
"Wait a minute."
"Funky ass." (he got that one from his mother)
"Big one is .... (i.e. crying, eating, sleeping)." (referring to his baby sister, Vanessa)

Blog Spammers.

Does anyone one know if the word verification when leaving comments works well to keep out blog spamming? Well I have it activated to see if that solves it.

Scary.....Bubbles?

Lately Jadon has been scared of bubbles of all things. He use to love them and he was intrigued by them. Last night, I was washing the dishes and bubbles were squirting from the dishwashing soap. Jadon saw this and then went to his mama and said "No more bubbles. Pick me up, pick me up." Then I produced more bubbles (just to torment the little kid) and he ended up crying. He claimed that some went into his eyes. I just rolled my eyes, the little scammer. I told my Fiona that maybe I'd point out the bubbles when I give him a bath. Dang, I'm a mean and cruel father.

Wrongly Accused

Yesterday, after I got home from work Fiona had asked me if there was anything wrong with our fan. She was wondering if the fan, when tilted up, has a tendency to tilt back down. -We have a rotating Vornado fan circulating throughout the day which is placed on the floor next to our dining table.- I told her that it does and that there's a knob that needs to be tightened so it doesn't tilt back down. I don't think that was the answer she truly wanted to hear. Apparently she had thought that Jadon was doing it. She scolded him a couple of times and threatened not only to put him in timeout but also that if he kept touching it, she wouldn't feed him lunch. Pour little guy. He probably had no idea what was happening. Fiona felt really bad about it. Later she apologized for it but I don't think he had a clue as to what she was apologizing about. As for me, I just find it amusing and just laugh about the whole thing.

Predictable...

It doesn't faze me anymore (well maybe just a little). I am no longer surprized, stunned, or shocked. My work, more specifically the CEO of the company I work for, is predictable. Last night I told Fiona that I will shoot to leave work early and try to make it home for lunch. The thing was I put a disclaimer on that saying that I may not make it home, forseeing that my boss, who hasn't been around that often, is probably going to pop in and have a project for me to do. Typically they tend to be some huge-sameday-deadline-rack-your-brain- shoot-myself jobs. Anyways I took my chance this morning and didn't bring my lunch and of course a half an hour ago my boss comes in! So much for leaving early, especially on a Friday (always on a Friday or weekend, never in the beginning of the work week). This projects involves creating a medical data DVD on a particular patient of ours, who will remain nameless, but has featured us on her world renown talk show five years ago. Apparently a few weeks ago, her people contacted us needing her data and now my boss wants to create a dog-and-pony show data disc. Oiy! Time to get back to work....


UPDATE: So it's 4:00pm and I am still freaking here are work waiting for the dang DVD to burn the first version (for review). Sooooo slow! I have to figure out how to record audio narration but that will have to come another day. *smack*

UP-UPDATE: Closing on 5:00pm and this dang DVD is still burning. It has froze a few times since..... sigh. I'm hungry.

Here We Go Again.....

Vanessa takes a stand?

Vanessa has only crawled a short amount of time and she's getting pretty good at it, but another thing that I'm noticing is that she is trying to prop herself in to a half standing position. She'll use a toy (slightly below knee height) or a stool and get up on her legs. Two evenings ago I went to check on Vanessa because she was whining from her pack n' play (aka her crib). She awoke from nap and propped herself into a standing position. She was whining because she couldn't figure out how to get back down. I, of course, just broke out into a laughter. Vanessa, of course, whined and cried even louder. It's funny the first few times but I am sure that sooner or later I am going to get frustrated from this. I remember Jadon doing the same thing. She just better not do this in the middle of the night.

Jadon and the ferris wheel, take 2.

Last night we went down to the Irvine Spectrum to try our hand at the ferris wheel again (it was working). Jadon was even more excited this time. To try to 'score' points with my wife, I told her that she can go with Jadon and I'll watch the girls. I think it backfired because I forgot (my wife too) that she was scared of heights. She told me that when they reached the top, her palms got really sweaty and her legs were shaking. At least Jadon had a great time on his first experience on a ferris wheel. The girls were in a trance looking at the ferris wheel going around. We ended up hanging out at the Spectrum for a whopping 45 minutes! (If you recall last week we were there for what seemed like a lot longer but turned out to be 35 minutes)

Milestone Updates.

Jadon - We're still trying to potty train him. We haven't been as persistent and consistent as we should be in trying to sit him on the potty. Sometimes he'll tell us he has to go 'poo-poo' and we'll ask him if he wants to sit on the potty but he doesn't so we won't push the issue. Sometimes we'll entice him with a toy and he'll want to and he'll sit but he won't poop. Other times he'll tell us he has to go poop and he'll want to sit on the potty but the thing is he has just gone poop in his diaper. Then too add to the pressure, we plan to pre-register him in preschool for fall of 2006. He needs to be trained by then and I'm thinking "this is going to be a challenge." Well we got 10-11 months to go so hopefully the transition will be quick.

Natalie - Over the past week, she has been getting up on all fours and has been rocking back and forth. Fiona first saw her doing this in her bed. This is not only important to us in that it's a milestone but also she is showing muscle strength improvement. It seems that all kids like to practice during their naptime or bedtime. I guess they get bored.

Vanessa - She is going through several milestones at the same time. She is crawling really well now. She's getting quicker and she's going after the fan, outlets, any thing remotely dangerous. She is also able to get into a sitting position on her own as well. Also her first tooth is coming in. It's a lower one and only a single one seems to be breaking out at this point. I think it will look really cute if she has just one tooth sticking out.