Happy Chuseok!

Today is Chuseok.  To celebrate this Korean holiday in our own American way, we took "triangle rice" (I am sure it has a more official name, but that is what Marc's 2 year old friend introduced it to us as) to Yongsan Family Park for an afternoon in the sun.

Marc played in the sand and grass and made Korean friends.

Emmalyn ate the sand and grass and made Korean friends. 

They both ate seaweed (with rice and tuna or beef inside) - and really liked it.

A good day.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Today is the first day of our Chuseok holiday (the Korean thanksgiving).   This year, Jarrod is off work until Thursday, so we are looking forward to rest, recovery from illnesses, and playing in Seoul!

We kicked off this holiday with a trip to Kim's Club to buy Chuseok gifts, a treat at Dunkin' Donuts, and a stop at the Han Riverside Park by Banpo bridge to play at the playground and, yes, fly a kite!.

This was Marc's first time seeing a kite in person -- he kept saying "like Woody, like Woody" (we have perhaps watched Toy Story 3 a few too many times.. ;) 

 He was delighted with Jarrod's demonstration and enthusiastically cheered on his Daddy!

 Then it was Marc's turn... and he was a natural!

 I am not sure who was more thrilled, Jarrod or Marc... :)

 The sun was a bit bright, so Jarrod put some shades on Marc to help him out...

...and make him look SO stinkin' CUTE. (perhaps not the motive but a great byproduct)

 Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height...

...let's all go... fly a kite!

Long after we put the kite away, just before bedtime, Marc asked to fly the kite again. There will most definitely be repeat performances this Fall... probably tomorrow.

Wicked!

Earlier this month, Jarrod took me on a date to see the Broadway Musical Wicked!  It is the background story to Oz - from the Wizard of Oz - and we thoroughly enjoyed it (well.. let us know if you want the full critique ;)

We went to Samsung's Blue Square Musical Hall in Itaewon, right across the street from YISS! We have been watching the construction on the building since we moved here - and it was finally completed last spring.  Wicked is the first major Broadway musical at Blue Square.  The show was in English - for those of you wondering - but the theater has built in screens that project the words to the show in Korean.

We had a wonderful night out together!  The kids were at home (sleeping) with one of my friends.. we did our first ever "date night babysitting swap" - a great idea to be repeated soon!

This is definitely one of the benefits to living in a large city: a Broadway musical theater 10 minutes from our house!

Looking forward to Phantom of the Opera this December!
(Blue Square, where have you been these past 3 years?!)

baby radar

Both of my babies have seemed to have this built in radar... so that as soon as they start moving and exploring - they go to all of the places that could be dangerous....

and all of the places that need cleaned...

It is as if I have my own personal inspector.
Awesome.

Emmalyn's New Tricks

 Finger foods- who needs a spoon?  

 Kneeling, reaching, grabbing... anything that is Marc's (ok, this is not so new!).  Lately she has been climbing on top of this table - we can no longer leave it out!

 Standing! Still fairly unstable though...

 Master crawler - uses hands and knees all the time, no longer army crawls.

 Working her brother to get what she wants (he is not fooled)...

Working her mother to get what she wants (almost always fooled).

Potty Training: Success!

I had all of these ideas about what I would write about potty training back in August... but September is almost over... and Marc has now been potty trained for several weeks (despite rare accidents) - so it doesn't look like it will happen. Still, I feel like I need to at least say something to honor the sweet boy in this huge milestone.

We started potty training about a month ago - shortly after returning to Korea and allowing for time to get adjusted to the time change.  After a few days of "parent-training" and reading a copy of this ebook (in conjunction with Marc getting Hand, Foot and Mouth disease that quarantined us inside for a week) he caught on really quickly and there was no going back!

Highlights:

• I discovered that the best way to motivate my son is PRAISE.  If I want him to do anything -- praise him non-stop.  It worked so well for potty-training that I am going to need to try it to get Marc to feed himself - he always wants help!  The praise sounded something like this: "yeah, Marc you are dry.. I'm so proud of you! Remember to tell Mommy when you need to go potty"... 5 minutes later, "Emma, Marc's underwear is still dry! Isn't that wonderful?".... on the potty "yeah! good job! You did it!  Emma, Marc did it!" etc... exaggerate that by.. a lot.. and you get the picture of just how much praise was involved.  Similarly, he does not react well to disappointment, anger, or frustration. 
• As with all things Marc, the same day we introduced underwear - we had to "cement the bond" - no going back to diapers during the day.. it would confuse him and draw out the process even longer if we did. So - goodbye diapers! 
• Marc thoroughly enjoys deciding which Toy Story or Elmo underwear will be worn that day. Some days the decision is much easier than others. Why? I'll never know...
• The boy became a nudist! He used to stress out about having a shirt and pants on at all times, but now he LOVES the freedom he learned from us letting him run around undressed for a few days.
• I was really nervous taking him OUT for the first time to playgroug, church, and especially Bible study - where another adult is watching Marc and other kids while he plays with friends, watches movies - but after several weeks, he has never had an accident there.
• In the past few weeks has learned to get out of bed during naptime to go potty - so I think since we started on August 21st, he has only had one accident during naptime.  
• We are still working on dry nights - but are SO glad to say that we are back down to only one child in diapers.  

Aug 24 - Our first "outing" with Marc in big boy underwear! 

 On September 1st - after several days without any accidents and many successful outings, we donned him "officially" potty trained.  For a celebratory reward, we gave Marc new Pororo shoes that light up and match his favorite new Pororo shirt. :) He is so proud!

What a big boy!

Dessert Baked Potatoes

This Summer we were able to spend a few days with my mother from Maine. She always comes with creative new ideas to do in the kitchen - and this was her latest: a baked potato for dessert.  When she asked us if we wanted to have baked potatoes for dessert, we were definitely skeptical - until she listed the ingredients: ice cream, hot cocoa powder, whipped cream, sprinkles, and nuts. 

She had me at ice cream!

AND, despite appearances (yes, I was skeptical), this was a delicious dessert!

So - how did she do it? 

 First, we cut a box of slightly melted vanilla ice cream into 12 squares and formed them into rough shaped "potatoes" (we used plastic wrap to grab each section of ice cream and form it- to keep the mess off our hands), placed the on a baking tray and placed in the freezer (best to do this quickly, they melt fast!)  Once refrozen, we rolled the ice cream "potatoes" in hot cocoa powder creating the potato's skin.

Replace in the freezer to firm up once again, until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, place a single "potato" on a plate, split with a knife -as you would a normal potato- and fill with toppings! This is where you can be creative.

We chose Ready Whip for "sour cream"and yellow sprinkles for "cheese"

We also added peanuts on top of the ones that wanted it - and to me, it really added a lot of flavor to the dessert.

When Jarrod saw this dessert (from a distance) he really thought it was a baked potato and said he would pass on the "dessert".  :) He was surprised and delighted to find that it was really ice cream!

Recipe:

Dessert Baked Potatoes
serves 12

1 half gallon vanilla ice cream
hot cocoa powder
whipped cream
sprinkles
peanuts - broken into pieces

Allow ice cream to become slightly soft, divide into 12 sections and form into the shape of a potato.  Refreeze.  Roll in hot cocoa powder. Refreeze.
When ready to serve, divide in half, fill with toppings: whipped cream, sprinkles, nuts.
Enjoy!

8 months old!

Emmalyn has so much personality these days! She loves to sit, crawl, smile, explore (with her tongue sticking out :p ), blow raspberries (not great when she has a mouth full of food!), be held my her parents, and learn from her brother.  She is such a delight and we are enjoying every minute!

bedtime songs

A while ago, I shared Marc's bedtime routine.  Since then, our song selections have increased to a large variety that includes any song that Marc is familiar with.  I am a sucker for it - I love when he sings along, and then says "one more, Mommy."

Tonight's selection included a new one.. or at least a "song" we haven't done in a long time.

Mommy:  "Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man;
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Roll it, pat it, mark it with a B,
and put it in the oven for Big Bro and me!"

Marc:  "......... microwave?
cake in the microwave!"

Apparently, he thought I was mistaken.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

We LOVE playgroup crafts!

Tomorrow we are reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar at playgroup and found LOTS of fun craft ideas on Pinterest to try out.  I opted to try two of them - both with paint, but one using your toddler's hands, and the other your toddler's feet.  

Marc and I tried out the hand craft first - creating a caterpillar out of Marc's hands.  He had a lot fun painting his hand and stamping the page - but this was very mom-intensive to keep it from getting too messy.. perhaps I wouldn't have been too worried about the paint if I put down newspapers or something to protect the floor.

We thought this caterpillar was SUPER cute.. even though Marc got over-zealous with the hand stamping and created a hump-back caterpillar.  Oh well, we still love it!

Verdict: This craft is possible to replicate at playgroup - but will need some serious guidance from adults. It is quick and a fun way to remember the story.

The Caterpillar Foot craft was a little more involved..

Marc laughed as I tickled his tows with the paint brush - and didn't quite understand what was going on when we placed his toes on the paper (there was a lot of paint, so we made several caterpillars). I definitely could have explained what we were doing better to him!  Marc really enjoyed this- and wanted to do it to his baby sister, Emmalyn, as well.. :) She definitely had no clue what was going on!

While we waited for the toe caterpillars to dry, Marc and I had fun painting leaves and fruit for the caterpillars to eat. 

Then I helped him paint the faces and feet on the caterpillars...

...and we continued to paint while we let it all dry.

Then I let him practice cutting while I cut out the caterpillars, fruit and leaves - pulled out the hole punch and then put it all together on another piece of paper.

Verdict: This craft was way too involved for a toddler - so finding a simpler way to reproduce it at playgroup will be necessary.  Having paper with fruit or leaves already on it to let the kids color and then using paint or a stamp to put the toes on and draw the face and feet would make it do-able.  

Looking forward to sharing this one tomorrow!