The Im Family

when ozzy was 15 mos old i signed him up as a participant in some research done by Georgetown University to determine how media is able to teach babies.  it's not paid, we just did it for fun.  the first test ozzy was shown a box that looked like a bus front.  if you pressed a red button it made a honking sound.  then he was shown that same bus front on a computer touch screen and we waited to see if he would try to touch the button on the screen.  he didnt do it.  none of the babies at this age do.  so it wasnt until after we showed him that he kept pushing it over and over. then 3 months later they came back to our house to do two more tests.  the first one was to see if a baby could learn to do a complex task by looking at it in a book.  they showed him a book, literally just flipping thru the pages without stopping.  i saw the pictures in the book but none of what was in there really registered in my head.  i saw hands and som...

when ozzy plays with mimi... more fun playing with water... when it's too damn cold to go outside and play in the snow, bring the snow inside! 

mimi's mad science party:  i tell her i booked Mad Science for her party.  she goes, why do we have to be mad?  we should be a happy at a party.  no, mad can mean crazy.  she gives me this look and says, whatever.  i dont get it.

tonight was mimi's first piano recital.  here's some video clips of her playing.  the first one is a piece from the start of the fall semester.  the second is piece from the end of the fall semester.  and the third one is an ensemble piece that she played with two other classmates.  (by the way, she did GREAT!  i was so proud of her i wanted to cry.  she was so proud of herself that she could not help cheesin' big afterwards!)

18 months is such a fun age.  what they understand, how they communicate, what they find interesting, the connections they make, 18 month olds have such a wonderful way about that them that i find so endearing and endlessly fascinating. Ha Fied!  like jane goodall observing the chimps, i watch my own charming chip for clues to understand what he tries to communicate day to day in his toddlerese.  a couple of days ago, i observed him gently hugging a baby doll and happily playing with it, when suddenly he yells out "Ha Fied!" and then slaps the baby.  again, "Ha Fied" and then slap the baby.  this happened a few more times before i noticed that he was aiming at the same spot, right at the baby's hand which sort of lay across the dolls chest.  high five .  oh.  so i put out my hand and he says, "Ha Fied" and smacks my hand.  ah-ha.   Are you being served? mimi really likes those chewy fruit snacks, so i bought some for her to have...

mimi made this picture over the holiday weekend.  she wanted me to help her color the bowl, but she did the rest.  i really want to get mimi into an art class.  she says her favorite subjects at school are art and writing.  she reminds me so much of myself as a kid.  the difference is, my parents didnt value those things and rather than encouraging my passion, they tried their best to squelch it...my dad wanted me to use my time studying math and science instead.  while i understand their motivations, i still wonder where my life would have led me had my parents supported my interests. 

ozzy is now a year and a half!  noooooo!  i'm so conflicted!  i am so sad that he's already 18 months old, but so thrilled by all the ways he is growing.  these top two pictures were taken a month ago.  the one below was taken a week ago...can you see how much he's changed even in the course of this past month?  (yes, that is a doll stroller that he's sitting in...he loves to climb into it.  it's amazingly sturdy for a toy made to hold dolls.) he's looking more like a little boy and less like a baby and it makes me so sad.  he still likes me to hold him while he takes his bottle and i do, gladly, hold him, almost hoping that by doing so, i can keep him a baby for a little while longer.  it's a terrible shame how with my first child i was in such an all fired hurry to have her grow up and then one day i see that she's all grown up and i realize sadly that i didnt enjoy the moments and now they are gone, so i vow that i WILL slow down and e...

this little train, a set i saw on a friend's facebook wall and KNEW when i saw it that ozzy had to have it, has been such a hit with ozzy.  the first day, he hugged the train and refused to be parted with it for two days, saying 'train' over and again, keeping a death grip on it even when his coat was being put on/taken off.  when the track was set up, mimi and ozzy played with it all afternoon.  i finally got around to putting batteries in it today, and the excitement over it mounts.  *sigh*  when i was little i had to make my own train out of notebook paper and scotch tape. it was pathetic. 

some of the stuff i ordered for mimi's Mad Science birthday party arrived in the mail yesterday.  mimi, ozzy and i had fun playing around with it.  it's so freakin' cyooooote!  can't wait for the party!

when ozzy wants me to look at something, usually him or what he did to the t.v., he says to me, mama, wook (look).  last week i heard him saying "see.  see.  see."  over and again.  when i finally went to investigate, i see him holding this in his hand.  C.

my family keeps requesting to see videos of the kids, so i'm dutifully complying.  the first is mimi at ballet.  the camera shake is because i'm trying to hold a wiggly ozzy at the same time.  the second is ozzy trying to ride a tricycle.  he's getting the mechanics of it, but his legs are still a little short.  the last is ozzy riding his Tot Rod.  i love how he takes the time to carefully buckle up before he drives.

i bought two new games for mimi.  they are really fun and a WELCOME departure from mindnumbing candyland and coma inducing chutes and ladders.  i am embarrassed to admit that she has been beating me fair and square in both games.  one game is called Blokus .  it's a spatial strategic thinking game.  from school tests, i know my spatial skills are pretty good so i'm thinking that i'm going to totally rock this game, only to find out, i have no strategy!  durrrr.  so while we play, mimi is like, "oooh!  i'm going to block you here.  ha! ha! i'm coming after you, mom!"  and before i know it, i've lost to a 5 year old.  i totally have to build up that killer instinct. the other game is Gobblet Gobblers.  we just got it today.  i told mimi when i picked her up from school that i bought her a new game.  she's asks me, how do you play it?  i said, it's like tic tac toe except you get to gobble up your opponents....

i'm having one of those days when having two kids, spaced years apart, with widely divergent developmental needs and interests, is making my head hurt.  to help you understand this mind-cramping task, sit holding a book in each hand, doesnt matter what kind, and hold each book out on either side of you, and then try to make your eyes work independently of one another to read both books at the same time.  and even though it's giving you a migraine, keep at it OR ELSE YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE EFFED UP FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES!!! waaah.  okay, i'm done cryin' about it.  not to confuse anyone.  this is not just a periodic event.  oh, nay, my friends and family.  it is usually the norm, but most days i have gotten some semblance of a routine going that i can manage without wanting to walk into oncoming traffic.  but some days, the puppet master decides to throw in one extra thing in the play of my life and throws off the balance of the whole thing ...

while snuggling down in bed with mimi as she read me a story (one of her favorites: books by graham base, she loves all the hidden pictures and clues he puts in his fabulously detailed illustrations and could literally sit and peruse his books for two hours straight), her soft voice and the warm room and the soft blankets and a bellyful of hot pho making it impossible to resist the gentle lull of sleep pulling at my lids.  my last thought before i fell asleep was how i hope that when mimi looked back on her life as an adult, these would be some of the memories she would remember and that even if this was the only good thing that she could remember, how lucky she was. when i think back on my childhood and the time i spent with my parents, very little stands out.  my parents both worked so much and were often so stressed out and tired that i never really got much by way of attention from them.  we never read together, never cuddled up together in bed to chat, as i did eve...

in the years past, holiday gifts for the teachers/staff were a pretty well organized event at mimi's preschool where money was collected and pooled together to present each teacher and staff member with a nice gift card or goody.  since mimi started kindergarten, i dont even know who the room parent is.  there is a schoolwide pta collection of cookies and gift cards, and i could give a gift card, but there's no telling which teacher would receive it.  so i sent in cookies, but decided to make something a little more personalized and useful for mimi's classroom teachers this year.  in retrospect, i think i should have just gotten them a gift card. anyway, this is what they were supposed to get (but have been slow to get around to doing since the snow days that cancelled school before the winter break).  notecards designed by mimi, stickers, an emory board, a pen, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, and a container to hold them all.  this one pictured was for mi...

"god is a girl because she makes everything like a mommy" mimi asks about heaven.  i tried to tell her how wonderful it was so she wouldnt be afraid and she's like, awesome, i wish i could die now and go to heaven. i'll miss you. i say lets both die. she answers. i'm not ready to die.  i have a lot to do here on earth first.  i say.