Dialogues with our preschooler

Elijah loves his Lego. So does his ah-pa! Sometimes I wonder who loves Lego more--Elijah or Paul? They love building things together or next to each other. Last night, Paul was building a nice tunnel for Elijah's trains and tracks. Elijah was building something different on his own.

M: "Elijah, what are you building with the Lego?"
E: "I'm making a dinosaurus."
M: "A dinosaurus?"
(I ask P, is there such a thing as dinosaurus?" I was wondering why he was saying dinosaurus instead of dinosaur. P interprets that he has heard various names of different types of dinosaurs ending with "--aurus" so he added that and made up his own word. We both thought that was pretty clever.)
M: "Does the dinosaurus have a name?"
E: "Ah-guh dinosauraus. (ah-guh is Korean word for alligator.)
E: Pointing to one end, "This is his tail. His mouth and eyes are on the other side."
I wish I had taken a picture of his dinosaurus. It looked pretty cool.

E: "Dinosaurus is in school! I leave him now. Bye! Dinosaurus. I come back for you."
Pause....
E: "Dinosaurus, I am back to pick you up. I sign you out first." (He goes and grabs a piece of paper pretending to sign him out."


After preschool, I usually ask him how his morning was, what he did, etc. Today, I asked him if anyone at preschool cried.

M: "Elijah, did anyone in your class cry today?"
E: "Sarah."
M: "Why did she cry?"
E: Making a sad face and using whiny voice, he says, "mommy, mommy, mommy."
M: "Is she a new girl? Was she missing her mommy?"
E: "Sarah's mommy always comes back. It's okay." (I wonder if that's what he thinks about when he thinks of comforting her.)
A pause....
E: "I missed you mommy. Ah-pa came back for Elijah. Mommy didn't come back"
M: "I missed you too, Elijah. Mommy can't go outside except to see the doctor because her tummy hurts. But, I'm glad you came back for mommy after preschool. I was waiting for you."

Oh, how much he has grown....I love my tender moments with him.

After my fetal monitoring, I came home and brought the straps that they use during the non-stress test. I showed him how they wrap the straps around my stomach and how they listen for the babies' heart beat.

E: "Mommy, I want to listen to your heart beat."
He goes and gets his "doctor bag" which has the stethoscope and takes it out. He puts it on my heart and listens. Then, he puts it on my stomach and listens for babies'.
M: "Thump, thump, thump... can you heart them?"
E: "Yes." "Mommy, you listen to my heart."
M: "Everything sounds perfect."

Every morning, we have a short Bible reading and worship time. I love it when Elijah wakes up and says,
E: "It's Bible reading time!" (still lying in bed)
Paul reads a short verse for the day and gives a short explanation.
E: "Let's sing!"
P: "What do you want to sing?"
E: "This is the day!"

It has been really interesting to watch Elijah's language development. He loves to talk and these days, he does a lot of pretend playing, having conversations with his stuffed animals, trains, or with himself about what he is doing. One of the areas where I can tell he is still trying to figure out is the use of different pronouns. For example, he would always say, "Mommy, thank you for feeding you." He actually means, "Thank you for feeding me." But, because he hears me say, "Let me feed you," he thinks me is you.

Today, I asked him during his nap time, "Do you want to go on my bed or your bed?" And he responded, "My bed." So, I put him in his bed and said, "Ok. You're in your bed." Then, he said, "No, my bed!" because in his mind, when mommy says, "my bed," it means mommy's bed and he wanted to be in mommy's bed. Afterward, I could see on his face that the wheels were turning and that he was trying to figure something out..... we'll see how long it takes to figure out the pronouns! :)

Funny Sayings

So that I don't forget:

Yesterday, in the car, he's pretending to be flying an airplane, and suddenly says,
"Mommy! I'm flying the airplane and picking my nose too!"
Daddy and I couldn't help but to look each other and share a good laugh.

M: "Elijah, what did you do at preschool today?"
E: "Whining."
E: "And mommy came back." (He did so much better today, which was his second day at preschool. It was very reassuring for mommy to pick up her son who seemed happy rather than crying.)

1/17/11
Paul and I were tired so we stayed in bed while Elijah was up and playing in the living room. Suddenly, it got really quiet. When it becomes really quiet, you can't help but to wonder what the little guy is up to....so, I ask while in bed.

M: "Elijah, what are you doing over there?"
E: "I'm drawing."
M: "Are you drawing on a paper?"
E: "No. I'm drawing on the wall!"

Paul and I jump out of bed and true to his confession, we saw drawings on the wall. Luckily, he did it with a pencil and we were able to erase his art work. I guess there is first time for everything....but, we definitely understand why parents get nervous when their child is really quiet! :)

Time to catch up!

I can't believe my last blog entry was on December 9th. It has been very busy but one of my goals is to have Elijah's blog updated because I want to make a book of his first two years of life from it. Supposedly there are a few sites that will make books from your blog entries. So, here are some things that I need to write about!

• Our last summer trip to the U.S. (July-August)
• First trip to Disneyland
  
• Christmas 2010
• New Year 2011
  
• Elijah's Two Year birthday party (as well as his cousin Christian's) at Chuck-E-Cheese with family
• LA Zoo with the Liang's and a small celebration there on his actual birthday
• First Day of preschool
• Funny saying and language explosion

Hopefully, I'll get to it soon!

Starting Preschool! (Jan. 10, 2011)

Elijah started preschool two days after he turned two years old. We have been gearing up for this big day for a few weeks. We had visited the school a few times so that he can get familiar with the place. Coincidentally, in the stack of DVDs that some friends have loaned us, we saw one called "Let's Play School!" with Barney. So, we have also used it to help Elijah get some idea about what school is and that it will be fun. We have been also telling him that mommy and daddy will not be staying at preschool with him, that he will be there with his teachers and new friends. He would say, "No, Mommy stay or Ah-pa stay." He was letting us know that it was not his preference, but we wanted him to know that we were not going to be there. I also started saying whenever I would pick him up from Sunday school, "See. Mommy always comes back for Elijah." He has repeated that phrase multiple times.

When the actual day arrived, he went out the door of our place excited and happy to be going to preschool. But, as expected, he started crying when we left. We told him that we will return to get him after he has had his lunch.
The first day, when I went to go pick him up, I could hear him crying. He was standing by the door with his sunglasses on and crying. Poor boy. He had snot and tears smeared all over his face. I felt bad that he seemed so upset. The teachers said he cried on and off, but that he did cry quite a bit. However, I could also tell that it was not as traumatizing as it could have been perceived because it didn't take him long at all to perk up and he was in a really good mood when we got home.

The second day was much better. He still cried when we left, but even as we were heading out the door to leave, I could hear that the crying had stopped. One of his teachers also told us that he finally warmed up and when we picked him up, he was having a good time in the playground. Furthermore, he talked about his teacher, Ms. Shirley when we got home. I could tell he had established some kind of bond with a teacher. I was grateful as it has been a prayer point that he would quickly bond with a teacher or two.

The third day, when we told him he was going to preschool, he kind of protested. But, he didn't resist. We walked to school. He cried again as we left but again, by the time we were leaving the premise, I didn't hear anymore crying. That day, after school, I didn't pick him up because I got stuck in traffic returning from OC so Paul went by himself. When I got home, the first thing he said to me was, "Mommy! Mommy always comes back for Elijah." I think he has internalized this truth/reality. He was in a good mood and when I asked what the names of his friends were, he named a few names. (I have been praying that God would help him to bond with a few friends there.) Paul said that he was not crying when he went to pick him up and that he talked about his friends.

I have already seen some of the benefits of preschool. Whenever we would go into a room with a large crowd, Elijah used to want us to pick him up and he would stay really close to us. But, on Saturday, at two different birthday parties, he didn't seem intimidated by the crowd at all. He seemed much more comfortable being in a crowd. He went right in and began playing. He seems to feel more confident to go out and explore instead of clinging on to us when he is faced with a group of new kids or a crowd. I am really pleased with the growth I see in him already.

I can't believe our little guy is already in preschool. It's a big milestone for him and for us as parents. (Mommy and daddy survived the first week too!) We are so proud of you, Elijah! You are a big boy!

Happy Birthday, Part 2 (Jan. 8, 2011)

On Elijah's actual birthday, we went to L.A. zoo with the Liang's. Thank you for making Elijah's birthday special by inviting us to the zoo! We got to see lots of different types of animals as well as a really cool bird show. We also got to try the kettle corn for the first time--YUMMY!

Daddy was pretty sick that day but he didn't want to cancel it since he wanted to do something special for Elijah on his actual birthday. So, he was a trooper and happily showed his favorite two year old the zoo and chased him around.

We got to have a very small celebration during lunch with cupcakes!

2 Years Old