AE: can I take a coloring book to Mabel’s house?
me: you can take whatever you want, but don’t expect to bring it back. You should leave it with Mabel.
AE: Elmo
me: what?
AE: I’ll take the Elmo coloring book.
me: OK
…
wait, isn’t that EV’s coloring book?
AE: yah.
…
it’s OK, she doesn’t want it.

AE: mommy mommy just now the radio said “Stanford”! You didn’t hear it but I did!
AE: did you know Stanford and Snoopy are the same size? (She has a t-shirt)

Me: AE, Stanford is the best school in the whole world. You have to be the best student to go there. It means you have to learn how to read. Are you the best student in your class?
AE: no….
Me: no? Why not?
AE: because I don’t eat my 菜菜. (vegetables)

AE: mommy! A mosquito!
Me: are you sure? It could have been a small fly. Just because it has wings, doesn’t make it a mosquito.
AE: (irritated) a butterfly has wings, but I know this wasn’t a butterfly!

AE: mommy, feel my hair. Isn’t it soft?
Me (feeling her freshly combed hair): yes. It is very soft
AE (feeling my hair): yours is not soft. It’s crunchy.

Me: AE, can you stay 4 forever? Please stay 4 forever. I love you when you are 4!
AE: no, silly. I must turn 5.
Me: no no no. Stop growing, ok? Just stay little.
AE: don’t worry mommy. 5 is a good number. All the numbers are special.

EV: Daddy ah! Daddy ah!…(pause) Mommy?

EV (wanting to eat what I’m eating): daddy, ah! Daddy, ah!
Me (looking cross): who am I?
EV: Mommy?
Me: yes! I’m mommy.
Daddy: who am I?
EV: Mommy?

Me: Is mommy beautiful?
AE: yes, and fat too!

Me: who’s cuter? NÉ or Lauren?
AE: NÉ, of course! She’s smaller!

EV: Baaaaaaaaay-B!

EV: ‘ello gitty! ‘ello gitty!

AE: mommy I just wanted to tell you something! The sun is shining and it’s almost blue up there.

S’s first words this morning: AE peed in her trash can.
Me: AE why did you pee in the trash can!!!!
AE: Just because I will be lonely.
(Guess we need some night lights)

This is very unpleasant for daddy as he is achy and bedridden. This is very unpleasant for mommy because she has 3 kids on her own. So what do we do? We watch TV. Lalaloopsy was good. Clever characters. Caillou was bad. Any show with a mom doing downward dog is just going to be about first world problems.

Mommy, EV, and NÉ are squeezed on a twin bed in AE’s room: the Nest. I think this violates every SIDS guideline. Just praying G is in control :). EV is annoyed by NÉ’s grunting and is whimpering in her sleep. Thank goodness AE didn’t insist on joining in. She cleaned the house while I was putting EV down. Feeling blessed. I told her I would take her for an ice cream tomorrow.

Went to Gl’s 10/1 gathering. So many people! NÉ slept through most of it. Panic I think. EV was clingy. At one point she plugged her ears. I think she was overwhelmed by the crowds. Thank goodness for Ayi’s help. A lot of friendly faces of people I don’t know too well but wouldn’t mind getting to know except I’m too exhausted these days. I think S was happy to have the house to himself. AE went to YY’s house to play afterwards. She came back with a lot of random odd shaped half-deflated balloons and various candies. Uh, and a rose tattoo. She was super happy.

Oh! There goes AE for her 3am bathroom break!

Well, we were supposed to celebrate EV’s birthday outside. Weather reports said 27•c and sunny but all that was dashed by a pollution report of over 300. So at the last minute, much to daddy’s dismay, we moved it to our house. While daddy, AE and chenzhen were at ch, Ayi and I quickly cleaned and decorated the house, stashing things in drawers and cabinets (which will be fun to undo later). I ordered pizzas and Coke, which is about all I could handle. No activities or games planned but thankfully the kids entertains themselves (mainly by quietly reading!). 8 families (24 kids!) celebrated together. I think S never thought we would ever be crazy to host something like that. It was good that he put a movie on in back for them. EV and Lucy, who were born a few hours apart, enjoyed playing iPad/iPhone away from the crowds. EV still can’t answer how old she is, unlike AE when she was 2, but if you ask “how old are you” and say “2?”, she’ll say “doo!” She also has learned to recognized Hello Kitty and gets excited to say “ello gitty”! She’s not good at hard consonants yet.

NÉ panicked and slept most of the time. Her eat sleep schedule got all screwed up by the excitement so she ended up being a mess yesterday. It didn’t help that I was eating pizza and laksa for the first time since confinement. S says we have opened the door for junk food again, a fit tastes good. Lp ordered a HUGE tous les jours cheesecake. Gabe blew out the candles the first time :). They always do that. When EV was supposed to do it, she looked clueless for a minute with all the kids yelling at her to blow out the candles. Finally S lifted her directly to the candle and we said “EV! Hot! Hot!”, which then makes her blow on things.

Teri left. I was nervous about having a guest stay with us so soon but she was awesome. It was lovely to catch up and the kids loved her. It makes me sad that we aren’t more in touch (and yet we are more in touch that I am with others) but it was nice that 5 days together helped catch up 15 years of not so much contact. Well, I guess she did visit me in Singapore in ’04. I’m glad she was really good with the kids… I know they will forever like her. AE said she didn’t want the Aunty to go. She was a huge blessing… Especially at a time when we are still adjusting to NÉ and weekends without Ayi.

NÉ’s conehead is starting to shrink down (or her face is getting rounder). Just now I had to wake her to do 3am feed. I had too much. It makes up for the disastrous sleep I had last night (and needed a 3 hour nap yesterday afternoon) – bad days she’ll do a 2-3 hour stretch and then wake up every 30-60 minutes after that for another 4 hours. I really hope she starts to laugh soon. Her default face is annoyed and seems pretty stuck there, even as I tickle her or make all sorts of stupid faces at her.

AE had “growing pains” in her feet again which caused her to cry in her sleep. I think it’s her new version of night terrors. Too much excitement in the day and sleeping too late.

AE made a card for EV’s birthday. She drew an iPad because it was EV’s favorite. She says she hasn’t finished making all the games yet.

NÉ is starting to sleep a little better. Gas is my enemy. It keeps her up at night. I guess I should be thankful… The more she has the sooner she will learn how to deal with it.

We watched Return of the Jedi last week. When Vader comes on, EV says “uh-oh”. Our favorite conversation (to her anyway) is “daddy, I-paa. Daddy I-paa.” “I’m not daddy!” “Maw-mee?” I guess we say this 10x a day. Yesterday she said “ellow itty” when she say Hello Kitty. Great. Hello Kitty gets called by name but I’m still daddy.

Happy 2nd birthday, EV. We have a party planned at noon but not sure if it will happen since the air pollution is 287.

Auntie Teri is visiting. We love her!

EV bit AE 4 times today. I think she’s growing frustrated at not being able to communicate. AE also kind of brings it on herself by snatching. I think snatching is her entitlement from being the first child and never having to share before.

AE is super goofy tho, all things considered. She is obsessed with washing dishes. Takes her forever to wash one but at least it’s helpful! EV likes to help change diapers. She will get one and get a wipe and after she will help throw the diaper away. AE and EV are a little competitive, so when I ask one to help with the diaper, both will race to see who can get there first.

Those two are so different! I think they will still be good friends someday-complementary. NÉ is more like AE, I think although she’s only 28 days so it’s a bit early to tell. She had her first accident today. EV was walking on the bed and fell and landed on sleeping NÉ. Long silence and then big scream. She kind of landed on her head. I was a little scared but NÉ was ok. She was more fussy for a few hours after, still upset I think. Her peaceful world was shattered.

Xc has just taken AE to swim class. I guess EV tagged along. She hasn’t been out yet today.

Looking forward to ending confinement this week and being able to take AE and EV out again while there’s still sunny days left.

NÉ was up from 10:20-2am. Then she woke up every 1-2 hours until her sisters came in at 6:30. Not a good night. I’m longing for 3 hour naps.

And how is it that “older” kids always wake up 1-2 hours early on Saturdays. How do they know!

Looking forward to getting past week 3 growth spurt and getting a chunk of sleep again.

You snatched the iPad from EV. Daddy came in to spank you but he hit me on accident! Ouch!!! That hurt.

Stop snatching things from others! I think it’s an oldest sibling trait… Too used to getting whatever you wanted without having to share those first few years.

Tonight you were not so good. You pinky promised to take a nap but then refused to take a nap. I had to spank you. I hate giving spanks! I also forbid you to play iPad for 2 days. I hate it when people break promises. You also refused to read :(.

Evia bit you two times today. I spanked her hard and gave her a time out. Daddy is asking you why you are so nice to Nea but not to Evia. You replied “because Nea is too small”.

Today you skipped school because you said you had a cough. I also felt you looked pale. That’s why I really wanted you to take a nap!

Nea slept all day. She is 21 days today. I can’t believe it has been 3 weeks! She is going to be trouble tonight because she slept all day. I am sick of soup. All I eat all day is soup. Paigu soup for lunch. Suburah chicken soup for dinner. I guess that’s what feeds Nea.