Actually, Bunny’s fancy new “home office” was NOT created to honor Chinese New Year – it’s more like the typical output in recycling art Mika crafts on a weekend afternoon. Today, she stayed home to recover from a sudden fever bout that caused an early dismissal from school yesterday. As you can see, she was feeling much better already, but her remaining temperature didn’t permit her to go back just yet.
Mika and Tobin love to play with their new cat- and kitten pillows – thank you, Halmoni and Harabogi! The pillows were actually Xmas gifts, but their delivery got delayed until this week. Luna doesn’t really interact with them, but it sure is fun to have them pose together…
Here are a few (phone camera) impressions from our morning commute to Tobin’s school. We were lucky to have dodged the massive snow fall this time, but teetering at the edge of a historic storm system had brought us two straight days of ice rain. This morning, a solid crust of about 1/2 inch of ice was covering everything: cars, a lost doll, our neighborhood bakery, every shrub, gate, and street sign along the way … all while continuing to pour rain and slush on top. Officially THE nastiest day so far this Winter. Tobin however didn’t suffer one bit. He enjoyed the snuggled ride and held on to his ‘biggest icicle ever’.
Dear Halmoni, we hope you have a great (Sunday!) Birthday and wish you all the best for the new year to come. Lots of hugs and kisses from all of us in Brooklyn!
I love slow weekend mornings with no particular agenda. Sometimes, we all stay in PJs until noon and tinker around the house. Today, Mika was busy crafting her very own slippers out of bubble- and gift wrap. They’re not only stylish, but they pop as you walk! Tobin had his counterfeit product prototyped in no time, but his shoes are no serious competition yet…
This morning, Mika and Tobin didn’t spend the first, too-early half hour fighting for space under our blanket. Or playing in the kids’ room. They decided that they wanted to go back to bed – Tobin’s bed – and snuggle. So cute!
When i walked in 20 minutes later, they were still huddled peacefully under his blanket, making up stories about their favorite stuffed animals. Those are the moments that outweigh any extra stress that comes with raising more than one child. They will always have each other as friends, for life.
This January is now officially the snowiest ever in NYC history. We got hit with yet another storm (the eighth-largest on record, which dumped 19 inches* of snow, on top of Wednesday’s 4 inches, and all the older remnants), and Major Bloomberg called a snow day for NYC public schools. This almost never happens – it’s only the seventh snow day for city schools since 1978!
We celebrated this rare occasion with a Calexico snow picnic at the Urban Meadow, where the kids played in a winter wonderland for hours. So many holes to dig, igloos to build, so much snow to eat! Tobin still had a few moments of frustration with the abundance of white stuff, but Mika was in heaven…
On the side lines of Mika and Esme’s after school dinner play dates, Tobin and Cleo grew to be great friends. Both were thrilled to finally get together again after the Holiday break. They alternated between playing “couch fortress” and chasing each other wildly around the living room table … until they were happily wiped out.
We met with Team DeCheser for a deee-licious Korean feast, followed by a visit to their place. It had gotten pretty late and, to make matters worse, everybody had fallen into a food coma. As a result, Mika’s highly anticipated live reading of The Mitten to her one and only fan, Roman, didn’t happen. She read other books out loud on the iphone, and The Mitten half heartedly to Tobin, but all three kids’ attention spans just didn’t align anymore. In the end, Roman took matters into his own hands and enjoyed the book nonetheless…
Tobin was under the weather today with a cough and low fever, so he stayed at home to recover fully before hitting the icy/rainy streets and sickly class mates again. He wasn’t sick enough to be a vegetable on the couch though, and kept entertaining himself with various low energy activities. His favorite game was an extension of the friendly competition he had this past weekend with Sung at a restaurant: to come up with the most (unique) ways to stack 3 special vehicles. Only today, he stacked all variations by himself, like playing solitaire. Whenever one combination was up, he’d call out “i know another one!” and assemble the stack over again. He needed me to acknowledge every single one of them, so i didn’t get anything done during this time – except for taking pictures. I stopped after well over 100, so this is only an excerpt…
Since our post xmas trip to Baltimore got canceled due to the 12/2010 blizzard, we went for a visit this past weekend. Unlike NYC, almost all snow had melted but the kids romped around the last few patches nonetheless. Most excited about our visit was 할머니 할머니, who hadn’t seen the kids in ages. She made an awesome new hat for Tobin, and the two of them got along splendidly. Mika showed 할머니 her reading skills, and both kids played for hours with 할아버지, including a match of Yut, which they got introduced to this past New Year’s Day. The second day of our visit was all about Sung sorting through his childhood treasures … 1980s records, board games, and collectibles in particular. Tobin was most excited about the Animaniacs, since he inherited both boys (Yakko and Wakko) and Mika only the girl (Dot).
Tobin lucked out today: Mika and Mica had to read their homework assignment during our play date – 3 books each – and he sat in to listen to all 6 stories. Now that the girls are on an advanced reading level, it’s a lot of fun to listen in (better story lines, more dynamic reading). The last two pictures are taken on request: the girls wanted to show off their apple crowns* before gobbling them up.
* Zauberapfel (magic apple) is neat trick my mom invented to get me to eat more apples as a kid.
