The Im Family

while cleaning out my desk, i came across an envelope with mimi's writing all over it. it said: to megan from: mimi Mimi Im 5 in Mach (march). i recognized it as one of the 'invitations' that mimi said she was making to prepare for her 5th birthday. she wanted to write her own birthday invitations so she found some random cards in the house and repurposed them for her party. i never sent out these cards that she made, and instead sent out some Fancy Nancy cards since that was the party theme. i couldnt bring myself to throw out the cards that mimi had made so i had tucked them away and forgot about them until now. i didnt really see what she had put inside the envelopes because she told me it was for her friends and not me. i had respected her wishes and left them sealed. now i chanced upon them and decided to throw them out, but before i did, i was curious to see what was inside, so i opened the sealed envelope and when i saw the card, i couldnt help but laugh....

my dear kaya is addicted to greenies and could eat them all day and still beg for more. these jumbo greenies are pricey and she gobbles them up in less than a minute. she just loves them and would do just about anything for one. they are, in the dog world, equivalent to the Klondike Bar... or crack. because i like to remind her that nothing in life is free (or it could just be my devilish nature that delights in thrusting such indignities at her for my own amusement) i like to have her 'work' for these precious treats. here, she is working as a table. one day, i'd like her to be able to confidently hold a cold drink for me while i use my hands to snack on chips and dip while watching Design Star on HGTV. but so far, i can't have her do this job of being a table for very long because she tends to become an extremely slobbery table. a slobbery table with long strands of saliva slooooowly dripping, and dripping, and dripping, forming large puddles of at its base. i ...

a few days ago, while driving mimi to Summer Fun at her preschool, mimi is counting in the car. she is counting by 100's, counting by 10's and counting by 5's. sometimes she skips a number and i gently remind her of the missing number, but generally she is doing quite well. she does this sometimes, random moments, just counts, although it had been awhile since the last time she counted out loud for the fun of it. and well, i may have been partially to blame for that happening. a couple of months ago, mimi asked me why we dont write "one hundred fifty-four" like this: 100504, because in her mind 154 looked like one, five, four. i tried to tell her a little bit about place value and how it conserves how much you have to write for big numbers, etc. but she seemed confused, so that evening i hauled out a bag of mini marshmallows, several small cups, and a basket. we counted out the marshmallows and put them into groups of ten in the small cups, and then when...

the day after ozzy's birthday, we had a number of guests over our house, a mini get together of friends of another friend who was coming into town to visit. i decided to make mimi's favorite Choc-oat-chip cookies (with Guittard chocolate chips, which are peanut free). while mimi was eating a cookie, ozzy saw her and was screaming to have one too. i let him have a small bite. of course he loved it. when he saw the plate of cookies on the table, he had a fit, trying to reach the plate and practically in tears over wanting one. so i let him have one. i have never seen a child enjoy a cookie more. ever.

ozzy came at me with his push popper today. rammed it repeatedly into my shin. i pretended to cry in pain. he took one look at my face and his face crumpled and he started to cry with me. and when i stopped crying, he gave me a hug. later, he took a toy car and smack the back of my head with it. i pretended to cry. he sat there staring at me for a second. then his face broke out in a big grin. and then he giggled. and then he smacked me again.

maybe to those of you who have boys this is nothing surprising or new. i guess i kind of always knew this was coming, but maybe have been blinded by my love for my baby boy to ever imagine he could ever really truly turn into a BOY. the wild, jumping off walls, shooting at everything moving, dirty, smelly thing that i always thought boys were. no, not my sweet little one, who smiles at me in the morning, giggles when tickled, and gently requests to be breastfed with a light tug on my shirt and a series of opening and closing his chubby little fist. not my boy who brushes his hair with mimi's hairbrush, the bristles facing outward so he's stroking his head with the back of the brush. not my boy who likes to put on mimi's pearl necklaces and headbands and giggles and grins sweetly. not my sweet angel who will happily hand over anything to me if i but say, "may i have it? thank you!" i only grew up with girls and appreciate the calm, gentleness of girls, and ...

this saturday we celebrated ozzy's first birthday. in korean, this day is called the Chut Dol, the 'first birthday', and it is an important milestone. in ancient times when infant mortality was high, if a child reached his first birthday, his continued survival was generally assured and thus a cause for great celebration. the tradition continues to this day. it's a fun and special way to celebrate the child's first birthday. the invitations: i found some 'korean dol' digital scrapbook images online that i used to make these invitations to ozzy's birthday party. i printed out several copies of the flower and cut each part as an individual layer and layered them for a dimensional flower. the symbols on either side are the 'longevity' symbol. and the little tag is korean words that say, "happy birthday" when the card is opened, there are two panels on either side. when these panels are fully opened, there's information behind...