Emojis

Ok, so here is a little secret that no one really knows about me.

I am totally technologically challenged. Other than turning the computer on and clicking on the "start" icon to find microsoft word I literally know nothing. It's A-M-A-Z-I-NG I tell you, that I can even blog, let alone upload pictures and create new posts! I hate getting new phones or other gadgets because it takes me and ENTIRE lifetime to figure out how to get my contacts to show up when I click the phone icon to make a call. I've had my phone for probably over a year now (maybe even longer) and I JUST... JUST!! I tell you!!! figured out that there are more "emojis" than the standard smiley, angry, crying, laughing etc. ones. (oh, and i just also found out that the "smiley face icons" which was what I was calling them are actually called "emojis". AND EVEN THAT I HAPPENED UPON by chance because they are labeled that on my phone menu! YEARS LATER I TEll YA!!)

Anyways, so as I was texting my husband I realized that there were many more options for emojis I could access if I just swiped my finger to the left (...to the left...to the left....had a little Beyonce moment there...gotta love that song!) Anyways, I discovered some cute animal ones and food ones, and ones of different buildings..... (I'm not sure why you would need icons for buildings, but I guess it's just another "techy" thing I don't know!) So in a moment of shock, glee and amazement I started texting my husband.

This is how it went.

me: "Hey did you know there are animal emojis?" 
I then proceeded to text him a bunny, poodle, turtle, mouse, chick hatching from an egg, threw in a goat for some variety... you get the picture right?

asian husband: "Haha. (santa) (jack-o-lantern) baby's favorite"
He was referring to little asian baby's favorite holidays so he texted a santa & jack o lantern emoji.
So I swiped left (to the left...to the left.....) and found food icons and texted hubby emojis of little asian baby's favorite foods.

me: (pizza)(french fries)(shrimp tempura)(ice cream)(cake)(chocolate donut)(lollipop)(chocolate) too bad there are no boobs!
said I, because we all know little asian baby shamelessly still nurses and I shamelessly still allow her to.

asian husband: ( . )( . )

me: nice.


- little asian girl

"Mamma, you're breath is stinky."

Brutal honesty.

You gotta love it.

That's a great thing about toddlers. The fact that they have no filter. Sure it's embarrassing at times, when your toddler is asking (very loudly) why the other toddler at the red bullet store is "crying to his mom" and I feel sympathetic, empathetic, and just plain bad for the mother of the tantrum throwing child to have to experience a strange little asian baby calling out her son & her parenting skills......

but it's refreshing that when my breath is stinky, someone around me can tell me so without judgement or cruel intentions and I can go and brush my teeth.

Thanks little asian baby.

Mamma loves you~

-little asian girl

Playing with your toddler. A how-to post by Little Asian Baby!

Ok mamma's and papa's.

Little Asian Baby here. 

Listen up. 

My fellow play date mates and I have decided to help you out. Parents are always saying that there should be a "manual" or "how-to" guide when it comes to parenting. So I, Little Asian Baby, have taken it upon myself to educate the many, MANY parents out there who just want to have a successful, happy and tear free (I'm talking to you mamma about the tears!) relationship with their toddlers! And although some parents can't be helped even with a 10 day seminar, some parents just need a few tips and tricks!

So here is the first of what probably will be MANY posts about how to become a well trained parent.

HOW TO PLAY WITH A TODDLER
Four tips on how to a have a tear free, drama free, frustration free play time experience with your toddler

Tip 1.

When I (the toddler) asks you, "Which one do you like?" know this. It's a trick question. Parents, do not actually CHOOSE the one you prefer. Instead, you must stop. wait. and accept whatever I decide is the "one you like." And do not assume that just because I gave you the chocolate cupcake this time, that's the "one you like" every time. So just to be safe, practice tip 1 at any and all play time events. 

Remember. Stop. Wait. Accept.

Tip 2.

When you find my princess lego pieces in my play kitchen sink. DO NOT! I REPEAT DO NOT! Move the lego pieces back to their container. They are MY toys, I will play with them however I please. Sure Mr. Dinosaur is not SUPPOSE to be wearing sparkle bracelets and hold the magic wand...too bad. Accept it and move on. 

Tip 3. 

Sure yesterday the VTECH Alpha Train was my favorite toy. I played with it ALL day and even sat on it for meals. TODAY however, "I'm done with that". Don't even ATTEMPT to get me to play with it. Also, reference Tip 2 and don't move it. (even though I parked it in the MIDDLE of the living room) Don't move it.

Tip 4. 

You must follow ALL the tips, every time, in order to have a successful, happy and tear free play time event. Don't assume that since you didn't move the puzzle pieces out of the shape sorter set that you can go choosing willy nilly what color crayon you should draw with. 

*siGh* raising parents is hard...

-little asian baby  

Christmas 2013!

I know, I know Christmas has come and gone, but I finally have time to blog about our annual Cousin's Christmas! (which actually happened on New Year's Eve this year and not Christmas, because everyone is busy!)

So I've blogged about asian husband's cousins getting together for Christmas for two Christmas' so far. This will be number 3. Just to recap, all of hubby's cousins have children and they are all basically under the age of 10 with the youngest baby Zoe being 15 months, so it's fun. I've documented the kid's "Christmas Photo" attempts every year, and this year was the most successful yet! (I mean..yeah..duh..the kids are older so they are better at taking pictures..but still!)

Here is a photo from the first Cousin's Christmas. Little asian baby is missing because she was too young to sit up by herself yet. All of the kids clearly aren't into taking the photo and are just trying to get off the couch. Little Malakai has hurled Hello Kitty off the couch in protest.

The second year we had the Christmas, the kids were better....sort of. Little asian baby is there now, but refused to sit next to any of the kids and eventually had a melt down after this first photo and ended up lying on the floor crying. Baby Zoe was a new addition, but obviously since she's basically a newborn she had to be held by her older cousin Bethany. Malakai, who is not so little now, is still protesting by being the only child standing.

Now THIS YEAR!!!! No one is on the floor. No one has to be held up by another. All participants are sitting. Sure not everyone is smiling or looking in the same direction, but you HAVE to admit...it's the BEST photo the kids have and could have taken!

We even did one like this!! The kids put their hands in the air and said "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!" (idea courtesy of me!) So I think since this year we managed to have a successful photo shoot and incorporated TWO different poses.....next year we're going to put on a three part musical about the magic of Christmas!

-little asian girl

"How 'bout them apples!"

Many of you don't know this.

Well, actually.

None of you know this...

but asian husband and I actually knew each other for a few years before we OFFICIALLY started dating for real. When we first met, neither of us thought of each other as serious potential spouse candidates and neither of us made an attempt to "get with each other" until years later. Asian husband thought I was a ditzy party girl and I thought of him as my "in between guy". You know, the guy you go out with when you're "in between" "real" relationships? HA! So I guess if God, fate, destiny, didn't intervene and we acted according to our own plans. We wouldn't have ended up happy&together.

So here we are 10 years after we initially met that fateful day at hubby's friend's house and 5 years since we've "officially" been together. We're married, with a little asian baby and laughing about how this life (AND THIS BLOG!!!) might have never happened.

YAY for ____________________________________________________________________!!!!
             (insert whatever deity, energy force or magical creature you believe controls your fate here.)


-little asian girl

I'm sure asian husband would like me to point out that when he told me to take this picture with him I said something like: "WhY? Just our shadows? That's going to look dumb? Who takes pictures of just shadows?"

But I have to say that asian husband was R..I......GHT (my fingers started to paralyze themselves...) and we have gotten compliments on this photo from people other than family members about it looking cool.

Good JoB asian husband. 

A Damsel in Distress...

So I live in a world, where I am told, frequently enough but not like ALL THE TIME...that I act kind of...well....princess-y.

Most of the time, it's my mom telling me that I'm a princess, and not in a "oh you're my precious baby princess" kind of way...but like "you're acting bratty and high maintenance like a princess" kind of way...

and although many a times I feel like I'm NOT being a princess....I guess...well.....

i am.

Yesterday, though, I found myself in a situation where I really could have been a princess, because the scenario involved, a balcony, a locked door, and even though the knight on a white horse was actually an asian hubby in a black prius, he still had to come and "rescue" me. 

Here is what happened.

One of our cars (and although that phrase makes me sound like a ball-ah!! who has soo many cars...we only have two.) but the one that I drive everyday needed a routine oil change. Asian husband offered to drive the car to the dealership in the morning before work to drop it off. Since, the only car seat we have for little asian baby would be in the car at the dealership and I would basically be homebound all day, we also arranged for Asian Grandma and Auntie S to come and drive me to the dealership to pick up the car when it was finished. 

As Asian Grandma, Auntie S, Little Asian Baby and I were driving around running errands and eating lunch, my mom said "why don't you just let asian husband bring the car home and we'll just drive you around all day if you need to run errands? It'll save us a trip to the dealership and asian husband can drive home himself instead of asking someone for a ride!" 

"huh." i thought. Good idea asian grandma, i'll call asian husband and tell him that's the new plan.

So I called asian husband and told him to just bring the car home himself that way it'll be easier for everyone....blah blah blah...good and smart wife I am.

UNTIL........

I realized, that since we had changed plans mid-outing...I didn't bring the house key out, because I was thinking that I would be driving my own car home with my own set of keys attached to the key fob.

"OH! DON'T WORRY!!" I said to everyone. "I can just climb up onto the balcony and open the side door! We leave it unlocked just in case something like this happens!!!" So I proudly (and nimbly) scaled the side of the building like spidey-cat-woman and made it onto the balcony. 

"JUST WAIT A SEC AND I'LL OPEN THE DOOR!" I said.

UNTIL...........

I realized that the side door was locked. 

"WHY IS THIS DOOR LOCKED? IT'S NEVER LOCKED! HOW COME IT'S LOCKED?? WHO LOCKED IT? WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" was basically what I said.

Turns out, asian husband (who does not adopt my "que sera sera" outlook on life) thought that if an intruder were to decide to break into our house, that said intruder could easily scale the space between the staircase and our balcony (like I did) and steal our ikea furniture, vizio TV and possibly harm myself, himself & or little asian baby.

So. He locked it. (plus during the holiday season, we did see some "suspicious" people "lurking" around the complex so I guess he was right to do so)

Anyway, so there I was stuck on the balcony, unable to get into the house, unable to get back down to the ground, so I had to call asian husband to come and rescue me. What started out as a well intentioned plan to save everyone time, actually ended up being more inconvenient and time consuming in the end.

"You should take some pictures to commemorate your princess moment!" asian grandma said. 

So I did.

Asian Grandma, Auntie S and Little Asian Baby on the staircase as I stand stuck on the balcony. You can see that the space between the staircase and balcony is actually quite wide and we live on the second floor so if I had fallen, it would have died!

Asian Grandma, Auntie S and Little Asian Baby killing time by taking a stroll along the path as I watched on from the balcony.

My knight in a black prius coming to save me from my locked balcony!

Definitely a memorable day.

-little asian girl (now safely inside the house.)

****UPDATE ON CHEF POST!****

The week of Christmas I posted this post about how if little asian baby becomes a star chef, it would have been all because of me. Her mother. Here is an update on how she can now crack an egg, ONE HANDED no less, and all by herself!!

(all those who are disgusted and appalled my by my shameless and totally obnoxious baby bragging need not look on.)

- little asian girl

Gymboree Crew 2.0

When little asian baby was born, I decided that I would try and give her every opportunity to get ahead in life from day 1.

So that meant she would be breastfed until 21 (which oddly is currently her favorite number. Whenever some one asks her a question that needs a numerical answer she just says "21") I also made her homemade, organic baby food until she turned 1.5, which is the age in which she decided french fries, pizza and ice cream would be the only things she would eat. I tried to limit the amount of TV she watched, but Mickey and Minnie convinced me that without the Disney Junior Channel and the "Clubhouse" little asian baby would die. And I even tried extra curricular activities such as music class, gymnastics, and various mommy & me classes. 

It's safe to say that little asian baby has had a lot of opportunities to get a "jump start" on life so far in her short 2 yrs. 

(I am starting to realize that this post so far has nothing to do with the title of the post....my bad~)

Anyways, so the reason why I entitled this post "Gymboree Crew 2.0" is that at one of the mommy & me classes 1.5 years ago, I met a group of ladies with whom I am still friends with today. All of our daughters are the same age and since we live (relatively) close we have kept in touch and still have play dates once in a while. 

So here are some photos of the girls from the time we met until now. (which is about 1.5 yrs.)

Summer 2012 

Right before the girls turned 1. 

Little O is the blonde. Baby M is the brunette. Little asian baby is...well...the little asian baby.

Halloween 2012

By this time all the kids knew how to walk so taking a picture of all of them "together" was challenging. 

(I also do not know why little asian baby has no shoes on and is reaching her hands out. 

She might be asking for her shoes..who knows.)

Fall 2012 at the pumpkin patch this time. 

Little asian baby (again) has no shoe on, but at least she's wearing socks this time.

Baby M's 1st birthday party. 

Little asian baby & Little O pose for their future album cover. 

Baby M is busy being a great party hostess and entertaining guests.

Winter 2012. Play date at Little O's house. 

The kids were popping bubbles, which is what little asian baby is doing. Little O is enjoying a beverage.

The girls TODAY!!!! 

2013~

Walking, talking, acknowledging each other and even holding hands! 

(And Little O is still enjoying her beverage!)

Baby M and Little Asian Baby "playing nicely" together. 

(The reason why little asian baby looks annoyed is that Baby M was playing CORRECTLY with the toy, but just not how little asian baby wanted. Luckily, Asia didn't declare war on America and the girls continued to play nicely for the rest of the play date.) 

I can't believe how time has passed by so quickly, and the little bundles of joy we would just plop down here and there for pictures are now full fledged toddlers who we couldn't even TIE down to take pictures if we wanted. 

What a lucky little asian baby she is to still have such good friends!

-little asian girl

"We have already established that you inherited that from your father....."

FINALLY!! I'VE BEEN VINDICATED!!!!

Ok, I admit. Little asian baby did inherit A LOT of her personality traits from me.

She's picky, high maintenance, indecisive, high energy with a low tolerance for stupidity (ok, so asian baby doesn't know what "stupid" is, but she does know when people aren't doing what they're suppose to and SHE DOESN'T LIKE THAT!)

and I just realized I only listed things that me look like a cross between Mariah Carey and Anna Wintour....
so I'll list some good traits now.

She is also like me in that she's upbeat, determined, organized (she ALWAYS has to put things back in their original state..sometimes I think she has "issues") and doesn't like to hear the word "No.".... and asian husband always says it's the "korean" in her and everything that's zen, smart, lovely, and socially acceptable is the "chinese" in her. (if you haven't already figured out, I'm the korean one and hubby is the chinese one.)

Anyway, so during the Christmas break we were getting ready to go to yet another family get together, and liittle asian baby was just being a little ole' grump. She gets into these "moods" and as she was brooding from room to room as we were getting ready, asian husband uttered the sweet, sweet words that was all the Christmas I needed...

"Hey, you're naturally grumpy like papa!"

"YES! HA! YEAH!" was my natural response and reaction.

so now whenever little asian baby is grumpy and moody and asian husband tries to imply that she got that lovely trait from me, I QUICKLY and SWIFTLY say:

"We have already established that you inherited that from your father."

and we move on.

-little asian girl

" I want my daddy to help me."

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!

Today little asian baby and I were painting while asian husband was relaxing on the couch. Like usual, asian baby got paint everywhere under the sun and subsequently had paint on her hands and fingers. As I grabbed a wet paper towel to start the massive 5 hours cleanup in which I would end up wearing the paint as well, she pulled away from me.

"What? What's wrong?" said I.

" I want my daddy to help me." asian baby replied with a shy but mischievous smile.

"AAAAWWWWWW!!!" asian husband and I said.

After 2 years 4 months and 25 days little asian baby FINALLY loves her daddy more than me!!

You would think that this fact would make feel a little sad.....

BUT IT DOESN'T!!

WHOO HOO! YAY!

-little asian girl

some thoughts from me! (little asian baby)

*siGh* another outing with mom.....wonder where she's taking me this time....
hope it's not to the doctor's office. I hate that place....
hope we're going some place fun.
Target?
The mall?
Papa's office?
Some place with pizza or pretzels I hope. I'm kind of getting hungry and all mamma gave me are these lame veggie chips in a plastic bag.
What's up with that?!
oh well...whatever..I think I have to potty...should I say something?
nahh..mamma will find out eventually.

-little asian baby