Last week as we were driving home from Korean school Noah said, "Mommy, when I think of halmoni and halabuhji, I feel so proud." I asked him why and he said "Because I have such good grandparents." He is such a sweet boy. And indeed, he does have good grandparents. What other grandparents would give their grandson $5 for each korean sweet potato he will eat?!

Remi's favorite part of the day is the drive home after picking Noah up from school. As we're leaving the house I have her repeat after me, "Obba! I coming for you!" and she squeals his name as soon as he gets in the car. Then, on the 20 minute drive home they are non-stop talking and laughing with each other. Today, they kept looking at each other and smiling. Noah asked me, "WHY IS REMI SO CUTE?!"

Ack. I really need to keep better track of this blog. I was such a spaz about keeping Noah's blog updated with every single new milestone but now I find it hard to find a quiet moment to reflect, log on then write in coherent sentences. Anytime I get anywhere near the computer the kids are on me. Noah wants to play on Club Penguin or Lego dot com and Remi wants to see pictures of "online" or watch Alvin or Charlie Brown.

Yesterday we finally bought Remi a potty. She was so excited. We also bought her some pull ups. My mom had been NAGGING me for MONTHS to hurry up and start potty training her but I knew we needed to wait for a more settled time. We had so many events during the holidays and we've been so busy until now. I remember being so stressed about potty training Noah. We had the charts and rewards and everything. Thankfully it went rather smoothly. I wanted to take a laid back approach to Remi. I notice that she was telling us when she pooped but not when she peed so I wasn't quite sure if she was ready. But she surprised us all when we got home, we opened the potty and she peed in it just a few minutes later! We peed probably 4-5 more times the rest of the night. I guess she likes to surprise us. hahaha.

Other memorable Remi facts (age 26 months)

• Has finally started saying "Noah" instead of "woah wuh" but doesn't do it all the time. She'll also look at me coyly and call me "yooni."

• Will sometimes refuse to kiss you but if you act sad, she'll come back and say, "ok" and kiss you then try to make you smile.

• Takes one daily nap around 2pm. Most days she naps in the car on the way to picking Noah up from school. Almost like clockwork she is asleep by 2:20pm. I usually have a coffee and paper and read in the parked car. It's a pretty nice routine!
  

Happy New Year!

My sister, Jason and Emmaline have come for a visit and we've all been busy! We've had a packed house since Wednesday as that's when my parents, aunt and sister's family came to spend the night. They came just in time since we had been without daddy since Monday. Tuesday night was the hardest for Noah and he was crying for daddy.

He came back from his OneThing conference on Thursday and we were able to have our make-up Christmas dinner then. We weren't in too much of a festive mood on Christmas since my sister wasn't in town not to mention Remi's little toe. ouch.

Friday (today) was spent celebrating New Year's with the family. Noah was SUPER excited to bow to his grandparents so he could make some bank! But Remi ABSOLUTELY did not want to wear her hanbok and cried the whole time.

SO miserable but SO CUTE!

She finally did it but only because we told her she could take off her hanbok right away. We had Noah stay in position so she could see what to do.

She was still upset after we took her hanbok off. She was still crying and fussing then my mom asked if she wanted gum and she perked right up! Then we told her she had to bow if she wanted gum and she was on the floor in an instant!
Will bow for gum.

Get that gum ready!

Afterwards we went to visit WS's parents at their store. The kids bowed to them and got paid -AGAIN! Then the kids and I met Mrs. Kim/John/Danielle at Cheesecake Factory. Mrs. Kim is a total angel. She always treats me out to lunch because she wants me to have some time for myself away from the kids. As a mother of four, she really understands. She wanted to get our kids together for lunch so we met them there. The food was so good and Remi was happy to have the company. Noah was excited too because Mrs. Kim was spoiling him. He showed John/Danielle how to bow (right there in the restaurant) and Mrs. Kim was so impressed that she handed Noah a big wad of cash. Then to my horror, he started to count it right there. oy. He's received so much cash over the holiday season! We usually take it away from him and give him a small amount to spend but now I'm not sure how we're going to pry the cash away since he seems to be more aware of it now. He's thinking of saving up for something big.

Thankfully, my sister/jason/emmaline will be here for a couple of weeks but unfortunately, WS will be leaving again for another retreat from Sunday-Tuesday. Noah is so much more aware of when WS leaves and sometimes gets really sad. Poor kid. When you ask Remi where dad is, she always says "yo mama!"

Cousins!