Mika has been taking her writing to multiple platforms: after exploring print- and digital options, she conquered 3-D by creating custom shirts for Tobin and herself with puffy ink.

Mika has been sick (on and off) for the past 4 days, hovering around 100°F. This morning, she was running almost 102°F and didn’t want to play in the fresh snow … a serious relapse! However, a ‘sick day’ doesn’t have to be all that miserable: she ate apple pancakes while watching too many episodes of ‘Little Bear‘ and did a lot of her favorite pastime: writing. Mostly all of our names, but also our address.

Update: When Sung got home, he brought a bowl of snow inside so we could scoop snowmen in the living room. Mika ended up building our whole family, including a snow cat for Luna.

Somebody told Tobin and Bruno to watch out for bears … but no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t find them.

Tobin tagged along with Mika and Kai to the ‘Elephant Playground’ (Carroll Park). I am pretty sure i heard him yell “higher … hiiiigher!” … but his voice got a bit muffled by the mitten handwich.

Update: Thank you Tomoko for the extra pictures! :)

When i was a kid, Valentine’s Day was one of the minor Holidays in Germany … celebrated only between lovers or lovers-to-be. Despite some friendly reminders from the flower industry, nobody felt compelled to write ‘valentines’ in school. Let alone preschool.

I only heard about the social pressures of V-day through my friends who grew up in the U.S. … and now i am the mother of a 3-year-old U.S. citizen, who is encouraged to bring valentines to her friends at school. It’s cute, but there are 24 kids in her class and she’s not supposed to be selective.

Heart-shaped Post-Its to the rescue! Mika had fun painting, messing around with ‘sprinkles’, and writing her name 24 times. And i’ll come up with another use for all those peeled-off hearts…

We have updated the Monthly Photo Gallery with new photos for the month of January including Tobin’s Baek-Il. Enjoy.

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It took a whole month of snow-themed preschool craft- and science project ‘voodoo’ to finally bring down a little bit of the white stuff. Mika was so excited to make her first real snow angel on the way home … not just the pretend ones on the classroom floor.

Mami down with pink eye? Tobin too small to run around the house? Slushy snow shower all day long? No problem! It’s a perfect day to visit the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History with daddy.

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Happy New Year (of the Rat) everybody! The biggest shoutout goes to Sooki, who was missing our traditional dinner for the first time … EVER. Also notably missing: Loid, Johan, Eugenie, and John.

Congee Village was a madhouse! A 3rd-trimester pregnant woman and two infants didn’t impress the hostess whatsoever, and we waited almost an hour past our reservation time. On a normal day, the table would’ve accomodated only 2/3rd of our group … but we squeezed in really tight (kids on laps) and made it work. The food was great though, as you can see in the hand-held video (no ‘Lazy Sue’ available for us).

Ok … i am a sucker for tiny baby feet! Tobin’s feet are already so much bigger than they were at birth, but still cute enough for some keepsake footprints. Pretty messy process since an inked baby foot is practically self-stamping … everywhere.

Don’t know what’s more absurd: the fake deer grazing in Carroll Gardens or the 5-wheeled double-stroller/double-kid cluster i am routinely pushing through the rain back home. At least Mika is enjoying her polka dot umbrella…

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One of the first times Tobin’s been able to control when he laughs. Just like Mika who loved to play “got your nose”, looks like Tobin’s taking after his big sister.