03/15/2010 Turning 3!

After 2 weeks of stating EVERY day, "I wan a Tar Birday," Paul finally got to celebrate turning 3 years old. The last three days before his Cars birthday party, Paul began to ask deliberately, "wan eeee my take." (want to eat my cake).

He was so excited about his birthday party that he seemed to be overwhelmed when it finally got here. It was like he did not know what to do with the attention.


Then he began to act shy:


Then he decided to have a little bit of fun:


But when he began to open his presents, he seemed to get shy again. But overall, he had fun and he got to play with his best friends for several hours.



Paul has been quite precious I must say. My son is probably them most wonderful and awesome boy I have ever met - and I have met many. He is a very happy boy and loves to laugh and find humor in most everything. Even strangers tell us that he is the happiest kid they have ever met. I believe it. And yes, he has bad and frustrating moments. He often does not get his way and he will make his frustration known. But overall, he is pretty amazing.

Paul loves cars, trains, motorcycles, and playing with his "Fisher Price little people." He also likes to dress up with Lacie and play "prince and princess." He has a great imagination. He rolls up any piece of paper into a tube and will put it to his eye and say, "I piyat." (I am a pirate.)

One of his favorite statements right now is, "I do dat mytelt." He is very independent. And in the last six months, he has grown up so much. In November he finally gave up the bottle. We told him it broke. He took it very well, but at the time he was not verbal enough to talk about it. Just recently when our little 7 month old friend visited, Paul informed me with a little frown, "my babble boat." (my bottle broke). He is just now getting enough words to use and to feel safe to communicate. During our December/ Christmas break, mommy finally moved out of Paul's room. So that was a big transition as well. He had co-slept since he was with his foster family in Korea. We did move Lacie's bed in his room - so they share a room now and that has helped them both go to sleep easier.

Paul has taken gymnastics now for the last year or so. He began his first class of Taekwondo this evening. He even has a little martial arts uniform to wear. He actually clung to me the whole time, but was told by Master Twyman that he was being very normal for his age and will warm up. The other 3 year olds in the room were so cute and amazing.

Personally - I was sad and gloomy all last week because my baby was turning "3." I did not realize I would take it that hard. I did not feel that way when Lacie turned 3 - but I think that was because we knew we were in the process to adopt another baby and it was easier to take. Now I look at both my babies and I want to hold time still and breathe it all in and savor each moment of the time they are little. But I can't so I will try and enjoy every minute I have with them.

03/08/2010 ITS MAWRCH!

Spring is almost here - but while it is still considered winter I want to share our snow pictures. It seems that the shortest month of the year felt like the longest. We had some bizarre weather and lots of snow - bouts of snow really. So, Lacie kept asking, "when will it be March? But she pronounces it like there is a huge "W" in the word. "maWrch." Ha Ha. So, on March first, she jumped out of bed that morning and began to jump up and down saying, "Its Mawrch! Its Mawrch!" Then she looks at her brother and said, "Paul, this is your birthday month." Paul starts to ask me, "I wan a TAR birday." (I want a Car birthday.) (the movie "Cars.")

So, here are some of our snow photos.







In some of the photos, you can see we were still getting huge snow flakes.

We made two snow men and a fort.




We decided to represent all our countries at our snow fort. So, we stuck our country flags in the rim.





Paul is so familiar with his countries flag that when he sees it in other settings he recognizes it. We were watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and when the Korean team marched in Paul got all excited and pointed to the TV. I said, Yes, Paul, that is the Korean team. Then I realized he noticed the flag they were carrying. He pointed to that flag on the TV and then pointed to his flag in our family room and he said, "My." Yes, Paul, that is your flag. I was so proud of him for noticing his flag.

My baby turns 3 this week. It is amazing and hard to believe that he is not really a baby anymore. I mean, he is MY baby - but he really is a big boy. And also, when I look at Lacie - I too am amazed at how big and old and mature and smart she is. She is going to kindergarten this year. Where did my babies go? AND how did it happen so fast? It is like I woke up one day and they were bigger - and my babies just went away.

Speaking of kindergarten . . . we have struggled with our school system as we have tried to figure where to send our daughter for kindergarten. Kids here don't go to the neighborhood school traditionally. There are multiple schools in an area or a "cluster." It is really too difficult to go in to, but needless to say it has been a headache trying to visit schools and make a proper decision about the "best school" for Lacie and then she may not get in that school anyway. The school we want her in actually teaches Chinese, so we hope she gets in - we think that will be a great opportunity for her.

Paul's birthday is coming and so is Spring. It is good.