More Funny CJ Sayings

Whenever possible, CJ and I say our prayers at night before bedtime. I often ask him what he is grateful for  because I read that people who are grateful are happier. So I asked CJ recently what he is grateful for and he said:

*  Nice parents
*  A nice house
*  Nice friends
*  Great school
*  A baby brother who is usually nice but sometimes he's annoying

Ah, the perspective of a big brother....

CJ Sold the Most Popcorn for his Cub Scout Pack

Every parent is familiar with the drill: to raise money for your kid's school, you help sell wrapping paper, chocolate, yada, yada. The girl scouts sell cookies and the cub scouts sell popcorn.

Last year and this year, CJ, Maki and I hit up family, friends and our co-workers for popcorn sales. I sent e-mails to our family and friends, begging them to buy the $40 bags of popcorn. CJ got all dressed up in his cub scout uniform and waledk around the office with Maki to sell popcorn. Is it fair that CJ was walking around with the boss? Probably not, but then again, he was selling popcorn for a good cause, a lot of people bought popcorn for the troops, and the cub scout popcorn is really, really good stuff!

Well, as luck would have it, once again this year, CJ was the top seller of popcorn in the entire pack! During one of the meetings, CJ got the esteemed corn hat, a patch, an Amazon gift card and a cyclone, which is this contraption that launches something into the air. CJ was thrilled! We'll try to do even better next year!

MJ Started Walking on February 13

On February 13, MJ started walking! He just turned 15 months old when he started walking on his own.

Before February 13, MJ wasn't just cruising, he was walking confidently with help from a grown-up. The weekend before, I decided to give him some help.  Everywhere we went, I held his hand and we walked together. We went to lunch at Kyoto Restaurant and we walked to the car, with Grandpa Tak holding one hand and me holding the other. We walked around the house. We walked around the neighborhood with his push car. I suspected that this help would be enough to get him walking on his own.

Sure enough, the next weekend, he started taking a few steps on his own. He started with just a couple of steps, then more and more. He would take a few steps, then sit down or grab hold of someone or a piece of furniture.  Today, at 19 months, he is a confident walker. He doesn't crawl anymore, he insists on walking everywhere, and he tries to walk up and down the stairs (yikes!).

More Funny CJ Sayings

A light dusting of snow came down last weekend. When he woke up, CJ ran to the window.
CJ: Mom, it snowed!
Me: Yeah, but not very much.
CJ: It's enough to make a kid happy.

During mardi gras last night, I was talking to CJ about what he was giving up for Lent. I was in Philly for an overnight trip, so we talked by phone.
Me: Hey CJ, it's mommy. I'm having a hot chocolate right now. Remember that I'm giving chocolate for Lent.
CJ: Hi mommy. Daddy gave me candy because I'm giving up candy for Lent. What's daddy giving up?
Me: Daddy is giving up coffee with caffeine.
CJ: (shouts to Maki) Daddy, you better have a lot of coffee with caffeine tonight since you're giving up coffee with caffeine tomorrow!
Maki: (laughs) I can't do that but thanks for the idea!
CJ: Hey mommy, what's MJ giving up for Lent?
Me: Oh sweetie, MJ is a baby. Hee can't give up anything for Lent.
CJ: I know, he can give up crying at night for Lent.
Me: (pause) That is a great idea. Perhaps you can talk him into giving up crying at night period.

CJ's First Pokemon Tournament

CJ is crazy about Pokemon. It all started right before our move. CJ found a trainer pack of Pokemon cards that Maki had purchased for him a long time ago. Since they had never been used, I was going to donate them to Goodwill but CJ found the deck and asked Maki to play with him. The rest is history.

Turns out that this is the age when boys and girls get interested in Pokemon. A bunch of CJ's friends from school also love Pokemon, but most of them only collect cards. CJ and Maki, however, actually play the card game.

CJ also plays Pokemon in his Nintendo DS, which he got for his birthday. All he plays are his Pokemon games.

I downloaded a Pokedex (Pokemon index) on the iPad for him, he watches Pokemon videos on the computer, he watches other kids talk about their cards on YouTube, and he studies his cards intently. As a result, CJ seems to know his cards very well and talks non-stop about them. He talks about attacks, which cards evolve into which cards, which types have a weakness to which types, etc. It's pretty funny and amazing how much information he's stored in his brain about Pokemon.

We were supposed to go to Boston this past weekend to visit Uncle Kevin (Maki's best friend from high school) and let Maki, CJ and Kevin play in a Pokemon tournament. We canceled our trip at the last minute because of Hurricane Irene, which devastated the East Coast from North Carolina to Canada.

CJ was so upset when I told him we had canceled our trip so as a consolation prize, Maki offered to take him to a tournament in Warrenton, VA. The boys tried to prepare hard for the tournament. Maki and CJ played a lot of games and Maki made CJ practice making his own decks in 30 minutes.

So on Sunday morning, the boys braved the rain (which was tapering off) and made it to Warrenton in time for the tournament. There were about 50 people at the tournament, of which 6 were in the Junior Division (under 11) and over 20 were in the Masters Division (over 16).

CJ took 2nd place in the Juniors category! He won his first game with a bye and then won his 2nd game against a kid who was about the same age. I cannot believe it. CJ was beyond thrilled because he won a game and, most importantly, he got to take home 16 packs of cards (8 were from Maki).

CJ won with a Cobalion card (see above). The boys are so into Pokemon that I think I'm going to try my hand at the game this weekend. Stay tuned.

MJ is holding his bottle!

At around 11 months, MJ started holding his bottle. He's not consistent and he has a tough time when the bottle is about halfway full (then the nipple is only half full of milk and he gets air in his tummy) but he's really doing it.

Sometimes he gets lazy and won't do it, so then we get lazy and just hold the bottle for him. So we need to remember to always position the bottle so he can hold it himself.

A Week at the Outer Banks

This past July, we spent a week at the Outer Banks. We stayed for a week in the town of Corolla with our friends, the Widnells. The Widnells usually vacation with family but plans fell through, so they invited us and lucky us! Our week at the beach turned out to be so much more fun because was with one of his best friends!

The trip down to the Corolla was pretty hellacious. Kathleen warned us that we needed to be crossing the bridge onto the island by 11am or noon, but we didn't get going until 8:00am. I consider it a minor miracle that we left at the hour because we had been in temporary housing for two weeks while the elevator shaft was being completed (I didn't want to be in the house during the worst, dustiest part of the construction). We checked out of the apartment on Sunday morning, dropped off some stuff at the new house, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and we were off. The ride down to North Carolina was smooth and uneventful but when we got to the bridge, everything stopped. At one point, MJ was screaming because he was overdue for his bottle but I didn't have any way to warm up his milk. Desperate, we stopped at a random house and asked for hot water. The nice couple gladly gave us hot water and offered to let us come in, but once MJ got his warm milk, he was a lot calmer. The trip down took 8 1/1 hours!

Even though the ride down was tough, we had a great time. We got along famously with the Widnells (you never know how if you're going to hit it off with another family when vacationing) and CJ and Liam were two peas in a pod. The boys shared a room and often slept in the same bed; they showered together; they ate together; they read books together. They had a blast.

We managed to squeeze in a ton of activities while we were out there. At the end of the week, CJ wailed, "mommy, it felt like we just got here, why do we have to leave so soon?" We could have stayed another week and not gotten half the things done that we wanted!

MJ had a great time. Aside from the long car ride, he had a ball. He doesn't mind being in the car, he got to go the beach and the pool, we went for lots of walks around the neighborhood and to the nearby outdoor mall, he had lots of people doting on him, he loved the decks and the hammock, he took naps with mommy (he napped, I read, it was awesome!), and he loved crawling around on the sectional sofa.

Turns out that Nick and Kathleen are total foodies. We went to a great crab place, a great sandwich place and a wonderful seafood restaurant. One night, Nick made an incredible fish entree. Yum! Going on vacation is fun when you're with people who love food! And it helps that our boys are good eaters, too! Even MJ was tasting everything! One night, he noshed on a piece of celery for a half hour and enjoyed himself thoroughly.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

• MJ playing in the sand for the first time
• CJ and Liam riding go carts around a track
• The boys renting wave riders and going out on the water
• CJ catching a jellyfish, naming him Jerry and wanting to bring him home (I said no)
• Me finishing the first book in the Twilight series
• Playing Settlers of Catan (me, Maki, Nick and Kathleen) at night

Another long car ride with a toddler would scare me but we'd go back to the Outer Banks in a heartbeat!

This was MJ's first visit to the beach. He didn't really know 

what to do about the sand but we think he had a good time. 

MJ just loved the hammock!

Check out that smile!

CJ and Liam loved the hot tub and 

begged for hot tub time every evening!

Maki enjoyed lounging on the hammock, too!

I couldn't believe that CJ could drive a Go Cart on his own!

The boys conned me into buying them some rock candy.

The boys were inseparable. We'll never 

vacation without friends with kids again!

MJ loved banging on things so we gave him plenty of material.

Here's MJ sucking hard on a piece of celery.

MJ and Maki at the beach.

CJ and Liam used metal detectors to try and find treasure (no luck!)

MJ absolutely adores his dad

What kid doesn't like to play in the sand?

Here's Jerry the Jellyfish