We showed more Olympics to the boys after school today.  They were fascinated by how fast the swimmers were.  We watched the 4 x 100 men relay; Logan got to appreciate the tight race and how fast people can swim.  After the race, both Logan and Connor wanted to watch more swimming, but I changed gear to show them gymnastics.  They were quietly watching the floor exercises and the balance beam, and seemed amazed by all the tumbling.  Whenever the gymnast finished the routine, Connor would ask for more again.  Suddenly, he decided to move to the ground and try some tumbling himself.

     We had bounce house parties both days this weekend.  Yesterday was a block party to say goodbye to one of our neighbors.  The neighbor’s son is one of Logan’s best buddies on the street, so he was quite excited to attend.  By the time Connor and I woke up from nap, Logan and Stuart had already left the house.  According to Stuart, Logan took a little bit of convincing before he started enjoying jumping in the bounce house.  When we arrived to the party ourselves, Connor was not ready to play yet so he asked for me to find him a snack there first. After that and the rest of the afternoon, both Logan and Connor had a blast playing inside the bounce house along with other kids.  I crawled inside to be with them a majority of the time so I could keep an eye on Connor.  He enjoyed bouncing and then flopping down on the surface.  I was worried that he would get stepped on by older kids which unfortunately did happen once, ending up with a big cry but no major hurt.  Beside the bounce house, the neighbors also rented a huge water slide which was a big hit for the older kids.  Logan was interested to watch the action there, but was not interested to go try.  The slide was very steep with a pool of water on the bottom which we did not think Logan could handle anyway, so we never pushed him to try it.  For hours of the rest of the afternoon, we sat, talked, ate and played.  It was a fun party.

    Today was a birthday party for Logan’s schoolmate Justin, so I decided to go with Logan alone.  It was held at their huge house with a beautiful backyard.  They also rented a bouncy/slide house.  Logan needed a little bit of warming up time when we first arrived, so he asked the parents to let him go inside the house.  We were taken to the playroom; Logan and I played a toy for a little bit before returning to the backyard.  By then, Logan was ready to join his friends in the bouncy house.  He was not as aggressive as the other kids and it took him a little bit learning how to climb up to the top of the slide.  Once I ensured that Logan was doing fine, I joined the rest of the parents for a relaxing time.  All the kids became independently playing without the parents, and they eventually migrated inside the house to play with their toys and Justin’s birthday presents.  The parents and I had a great time talking, eating and drinking while occasionally checking on the kids.  Logan played well with all of his friends, and every time I checked on him, he and his best bud Rohan were staying together.  Logan enjoyed it so much that he even declined to eat cake, but he agreed to take a break from playing to sing birthday song to Justin.  After many hours, the parents finally decided that it was time to break up the kids to go home.  Fortunately, all the kids were good and said their thanks and goodbyes.

     Stuart and Connor had a good time together too while we were gone.  They went to the park, then picked up some groceries and had lunch.  Connor took an 2.5 hours nap, and was very happy to see Logan and me when he woke up.

     I have been doing a poor job teaching the boys Chinese, basically I have not even been trying.  But for some reason, Logan recognizes Chinese when he sees it.  When he reads the birthday card from my dad to Connor, Logan said “Why is there Chinese on it?”  If the Chinese channel was on TV, Logan would immediately say “I don’t want to watch Chinese.”  We have borrowed a few Chinese children books from Michelle, and Logan would occasionally ask me to read them.  I usually asked him if he likes to hear Chinese only or Chinese then English.  Logan would answer “English!”, but he would agree when I suggested Chinese then English and he would pay attention the entire book.  Last night when Stuart suggested reading the Chinese book, Logan responded “Daddy does not know Chinese”.  Stuart told Logan that he did indeed know and started reading it by making up what he thinks Chinese sounds like.  Logan looked at Stuart funny and replied “That is not Chinese”.  Logan once told me that he knows two Chinese words; then he attempted to say grandpa and grandma in Chinese.

ps. This is a funny picture.  I am still learning how to focus on the right person with the new lens, but it happened to focus on Logan.  This is the look of someone who is not having their birthday.

     Connor turned two today!!  Connor knew that too; he has been proudly saying “Two” whenever we and the teachers asked how old he is.  He seems to be learning his numbers, definitely knows one and two.  When he was playing in the car yesterday and mumbling to himself, Stuart even heard Connor said “one, two, three”.

     The birthday celebration starts at the afternoon snack at school.  I made the Oreo cupcakes again as it was a big hit for the kids, but I decided to make mini ones this time for the toddlers.  I brought them in right before snack time.  Logan happened to be in the courtyard playing, so he came into the toddler room with me.  Connor was so happy to see me, and was ready to go until I told him that it was cake time.  He sat down at the table along with all his classmates.  Logan must not felt comfortable sitting along with the little ones, so he rather returned to the yard to play than eating cupcakes.  The class sang the birthday song to Connor while he was looking a bit shocked but smiley.  I guess we had not taught Connor how to blow candles as he just stared at the candles when told to blow.  The teacher finally helped him out (I was filming), so we could move on to serve the cupcakes to the kids.  All the kids enjoyed the treat, and Connor even asked for seconds.  After cleaning up, we met up with Logan and left the school for the second half of the celebration.

    We picked Stuart up and went to our local Chuck E Cheese to let the boys play.  We decided to go there again as Logan had been asking about it lately.  The boys were excited, and immediately walked around and looked at the different games.  Logan was basically interested in the driving and shooting games only.  He actually could drive quite well in most games now.  Connor was happy just holding a token in his hand deciding where to deposit it.  We took a break for dinner; the boys were able to watch the big puppets and the TV show while we ate.  We played few more games afterward, then headed home for cake.  This time, we did give a quick lesson to Connor on how to blow a candle before Logan lead us in singing the birthday song.  We all enjoyed a small portion of our favorite ice cream chocolate cake.  Afterward, it was presents time.  Connor was in a roll opening all the presents, including the ones from grandparents and auntie/uncle.  He was so focused in opening the wrappers, then put all the papers into the trash can before he started paying attention to the toys.  Both Logan and Connor had fun playing with all the new toys, but Logan was whiny tonight, constantly asking us to play with him.  Logan must be tired of Connor getting all the attention lately. 

PS.  Logan came home from school the last two days with his shorts on backwards.  We think this happens as he changes from his water clothes to his regular outfit after outdoor play.  We will be focusing on teaching him back versus front this week.

      Connor had a doctor visit today for the two year checkup.  Since Logan has not received his set of vaccinations yet, we decided to make a family trip to the hospital.  Before picking up the boys, Stuart and I made a detour to have a quick visit to the Changs and to meet the brand new babies.  Colby and Cameron are so little and adorable; they were peacefully sleeping while we were there.  We had a chance to see Ashlyn and talk with her too.  Talking to Julie and Robert reminded us of all the hard work yet fun times are involved with little babies.  Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long as we had to take the kids to the doctor visits, but hopefully we can visit again soon when everyone is awake and huggable.

     After arriving at the hospital, the plan was for Stuart to take Logan to the Injection Clinic for his shots while I checked in for the appointment with Connor.  After 20 mins, while Connor and I were still waiting for the doctor, I saw Logan coming out with a very sad face.  According to Stuart, Logan did not cry at all, just whimpered a bit.  He even said a reluctant thank you softly to the nurse after receiving some stickers.  When Logan saw me in the waiting area, he looked like he was about to cry until I gave him a kiss and a hug.  The rest of the evening, Logan did complain of arm pain, especially the arm that received shot #2 and #3.  He needed help to put on his pajamas and getting up into his bed.  Other than that, he was very brave.

    Connor did well at the visit too.  He stood still for weight and height check, and for the head measurement too.  He smiled to the doctor several times, and even answered “Ya” to her questions.  He softly called for “mama” when he was being examined, and he cooperated as long as I stood next to him.  Everything checked out well.  As soon as I put the clothes back on him, Connor was ready to leave to the room to go find Daddy.  He did say “bye” to the doctor first before we left.  The following are his stats.  The doctor mentioned that his height might have been skewed as it was being measured while standing up for the first time (compared to being measured laying down in the past).  Connor is only 5-6 lbs less than Logan is now.  I compared Connor’s stats with the 2yr old Logan, and Connor is actually only 2lbs more than Logan was at that time.  They have the same height and same big head too.

Weight = 33lbs 6.4oz  (94.8% compared to 91% in March)

Height = 2’ 11’’ (68% compared to 91% in March)

HC = 20 3/8’

Calculate BMI = 19.17 

    These days the boys are so loud.  They both talk loud, definitely having my genes, but they also talk more now too.  Logan says random things at times.  One day, he just said “Mommy is the best..Mommy is bad…Mommy is the best…Mommy is bad!  Hey Mommy, this is a pattern!”  Connor likes to participate in everything.  Whenever anyone asks a question, he always volunteers and says “Me!” or “Mine” or “Ya”.  Sometimes, Logan likes to mess around with Connor, and says the opposites of what Connor says, then the two of them will keep saying their words back and forth loudly until Connor gets frustrated that we have to intervene.  Also Connor will say something next to Logan’s ear on purpose especially when Logan complains that he is too loud, and Connor will keep on going until we ask him to stop.  We often have to remind them to use their inside-voice.