Letters from my Lovely

Watching your child learn truly is a wonderful experience...even if this includes learning how to empty cupboards or flush mystery objects down the toilet. Seeing their achievements make all the sleepless nights, barf showers, and conveyor belts of dirty diapers so worth it. When they learn how to smile it is amazing as suddenly this demanding, often disgruntled little munchkin has a way to show approval... to let you know they are doing well.. that, as a parent,  you are doing well. They also have the ability to turn normally rational, reasonable adults into high pitched, singing, dancing, raspberry blowing, wide eyed, smiling circus performers which, for other adults, can be fun to watch. Iz was pretty kind to us and decided to be an early smiler (although they were rare and boy did she make us work for them). Luckily the folks at the passport office are lenient with babies as she decided to smile or her first passport picture.
 This is our girl at 10 days old...

Say CHEEEESE

It is wonderful to be able to teach something... to share some knowledge or wisdom with your little one. Listening to Izzy parrot what I say... which seems to often be 'oh dear' or 'mess' is fabulous. I am, however,  often reminded by my gran that toddlers' minds are like sponges in case Izzy picks up some bad language from me... but I swear that really is just the way she says 'fork!!!' Lately Iz has also taken it upon herself to meld the words thank you and mommy together (really this is not my doing...consciously anyway) so I get all the credit for every nice thing her dad does. I figure she is probably playing catch up for her pre verbal days and should be done thanking me some time around her 37th birthday.

As great as teaching can be, the best moments for me are watching my kids figure something out without my help. There are the big ones like crawling and walking, which although often helped along by parents, are very much up to a child to figure out. There are also the smaller, less noticeable 'eureka' moments that pass without so much fanfare. To others they may seem trifling, but to me they are wonderful.  For example a month or two ago I was sitting on the bed with Izzy when she started to cover one eye, then the other, back a forth. It only lasted a few seconds and off she went to eat something or draw on something, but to see her figure out, without explanation from me or anyone, that yup those eye things work... and not only that, they each work separtely was just wonderful. A few days later she worked out that covering her ears made sounds go away. This was particularly special to me as I can recall doing the same thing whenever my mum would use the vacuum cleaner- I guess I liked the woooom wooom sound it made. The same can be said for when children learn to drop things on the floor...or as we like to call it in our house 'training adults to fetch'. As annoying as picking something up repeatedly can be, discovering the forces that act on your world is an important and considerable task. Watching these small discoveries makes it hard not to think, at least for a short while, how amazing supposedly simple things actually are.

Recently, at the grand old age of 19 months, our girl decided to surprise us with her smarts. She had learned almost all the letters in the alphabet without us knowing. She and I were sitting drawing pictures, well I was...she was mostly alternating between drawing circles and eating her crayon. I drew an apple and next to it wrote the letter 'A'. Iz looked for a moment and said 'A' sporting a big smile. I figured it's a common letter...and the first letter.. maybe it was coincidence. Next I drew a butterfly and the letter 'B'... she pondered for a moment and then said 'B'. Maybe she had learned the alphabet song- we sing and sign it with her pretty often...even more so since she learned to say and sign the dreaded  'again.' I decided to be sneakier... to try the letters out of order. I drew a snake and the letter 'S'. Sure enough, without a pause, came the 'S' sound. I decided enough with the pictures, I would just try the letters on their own. Over the next minute I tried the entire alphabet in jumbled order and barring a few long pauses, and a loss of interest or 2 on her part, she identified around 20 letters correctly. A couple of the mistakes - such as mistaking 'N' for 'Z' were actually due to the angle she was looking from. I was proud, and shocked, in equal measure. I am not sure when most kids learn their letters but I was impressed nonetheless. I hadn't gone out of my way to teach them to her- somewhere between signing, singing and 'superwhy' she had figured them out for herself. To me at least that is a pretty big deal. We have since started working on phonics and numbers. She can now count to 10... but apparently doesn't like 7..which is understandable, I mean after all ...............7,8,9!

(Sorry I cannot take credit/ censure for that joke- it was borrowed from my father in law when we told him the story).

Food Glorious Food

I happened upon the following in one of the books I read about how to be a good parent or something like that... it made me laugh so I thought I would share it with you...


The new Toddler Miracle Diet, used by millions of trim toddlers the world over!!!
DAY ONE
Breakfast - One scrambled egg, one piece of toast with grape jelly. Eat 2 bites of egg, using your fingers; dump the rest on the floor. Take 1 bite of toast, then smear the jelly over your face and clothes.
Lunch - Four crayons (any color), a handful of potato chips, and a glass of milk (3 sips only, then spill the rest).
Dinner - A dry stick, two pennies and a nickel, 4 sips of stale beer.
Bedtime Snack - Toast piece of bread and toss it on the kitchen floor.
DAY TWO
Breakfast - Pick up stale toast from kitchen floor and eat it. Drink half bottle of vanilla extract or one vial of vegetable dye.
Lunch - Half a tube of "Pulsating Pink" lipstick and a cigarette (to be eaten, not smoked). One ice cube, if desired.
Afternoon Snack - Lick an all-day sucker until sticky, take outside, drop in dirt. Retrieve and continue slurping until it is clean again. Then bring inside and drop on the rug.
Dinner - A rock or an uncooked bean, which should be thrust up your left nostril. Pour iced tea over mashed potatoes; eat with a spoon.
DAY THREE
Breakfast - Two pancakes with plenty of syrup, eat with fingers, rub in hair. Glass of milk: drink half, stuff pancakes in glass. After breakfast, pick up yesterday's sucker from rug, lick off fuzz, and put it on the cushion of your best chair.
Lunch - Three matches, peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. Spit several bites onto the floor. Pour glass of milk on table and slurp up.
Dinner - Dish of ice cream, handful of potato chips, coffee.
FINAL DAY
Breakfast - A quarter-tube of toothpaste (any flavor), bit of soap, an olive. Pour a glass of milk over bowl of cornflakes, add a half-cup of sugar. Once cereal is soggy, drink milk and feed cereal to dog.
Lunch - Eat crumbs off kitchen floor and dining room carpet. Find that sucker and finish eating it.
Dinner - A glass of spaghetti and chocolate milk. Leave meatball on plate. Stick of mascara for dessert.

I can only imagine this was written by the exasperated parent of a picky toddler... I am not so unfortunate. Iz is a fantastic eater... both in terms of quantity and variety. I fear M might be more on the fussy side but Iz from the start would tuck in to almost anything. To elaborate I will share with some some of her current favourites. 

Firstly she loves olives, both black and green, and will quickly steal every one from a salad if given the opportunity. She likes to take the extra big black olives and put her fingers inside of them like little finger puppets. 

She happily tucks into seaweed- she loves gimbap, a korean fast food made from seaweed and rice with a variety of fillings - which many of you may know better as a sushi roll. A Korean family found out just how much she likes gimbap on a recent trip to the park to admire the cherry blossoms. No sooner had we set her free from the stroller than she was off exploring and to her delight she came across a pororo (her favorite cartoon) blanket and a mountain of gimbap-y delights just meters away. Luckily, for her and us, the family were more than happy to share with her and had a daughter of the same age. Koreans enjoy sharing food so the sight of this little cherub hoovering up gimbap like it was going out of style was wonderful in their eyes although I must admit I was a tad embarrassed. Luckily Iz is sturdy enough for people to see that we don't starve her. Usually when eating gimbap you eat the entire slice in one go.. but depending on the filling that can often mean quite a mouthful of food. Iz has no problem accepting a challenge though and will stuff the entire roll in her mouth even if it means having to prod at it with her little fingers until she finds space. Just when you are convinced there is no space for chewing and her only option is to spit everything out or choke the entire thing will disappear as if she has some kind of trap door and out shoots her little paw for round two. She did however, have a brief love affair with 'the eject button,' as her dad called it. Not one to waste though she would often re-eat the ejected food... or if she was feeling generous offer it up to the nearest adult... usually me. I can honestly say pre-chewed, pre- warmed lettuce may be my least favourite so far.

so refined

Iz loves lemons and lemon juice... she doesn't even make a sour face! She would happily drink an entire bottle of concentrated lemon juice if unchecked. She had a similar reaction to the bottle of apple cider vinegar she stole from the cupboard too. 

She loves fruit- all kinds- the tangier the better. She once ate an entire apple...core, seeds and all! She loves veg too. She loves baby corn at will eat a whole can just as finger food.. oh and frozen peas are like candy to her....she even likes brussel sprouts.

Iz loves dill pickles. She knows how to ask for them.... she walks around the house shouting 'picccccowwwwwllll pleeeeeaaseee' which her dad finds hilarious. You see I HATE dill pickles. I am not a fussy eater, I have eaten dog, spiders, beetles, grasshoppers and fertilized chicken's egg... but pickles are my cryptonite. I was that annoying child in McDonald's who insisted on a plain cheeseburger and kept everyone waiting. I couldn't even be tricked with a burger that had had the pickles stealthily  removed as I could smell the lingering dill-ness on my burger. I am not sure what it is I dislike about them - maybe it is that they look like huge monster fingers bobbing about in a specimen jar? Maybe it is something about the smell... I really don't know. I try my best not to pass on my food foibles to my kids though so when Izzy politely asks for a 'piiiiiccccoooowwwllll' I plaster on my happiest face and fetch her a smelly, icky, shrek digit with all the delight I can muster. My act is so convincing she often tries to share but until now I have managed to dodge that bullet. What she likes to do instead is to cover herself in pickle juice... really get her hands good and messy.... then come and play with my hair. Maybe she is trying for extreme aversion therapy but up to now it is not working.

I must say I feel very lucky to have a toddler who is at least willing to try anything. Occasionally, such as chugging shampoo, it can have its down sides but for the most Izzy is a real joy.... I only hope she is a good influence on her little bro.

Lost in Translation

In Korea all Dr's offices are hospitals. I first learned this when hearing from my elementary aged class that one of the students was absent because they had to go to the hospital. Naturally I was instantly concerned for the poor little guy, given that the first bus I ever took in the country had crashed... and in the few weeks I had lived there I had witnessed around 8 collisions, I immediately thought he could have been in a car accident. Further questioning confirmed otherwise. He had a headache. I was confused... a headache??

Turns out Koreans go to the hospital the minute they feel a little under the weather... sick days are rare so rather than wait to see how a cold, cough, fever will turn out they head straight to the doctor. They generally prescribe you a medley of drugs. I say medley cos I have never had less than 5. They are given to you in little tear away packets for you to take however many times per day. I have only once been told what my little bag contained... on that occasion it was an antibiotic, a vitamin, a pill to stop the antibiotics hurting my digestion (I think), a painkiller and I am pretty sure the blue pill was to keep me in the matrix.

The reason I decided to discuss Korean doctors is due to the fact that M has recently had an ear infection. The doctor noticed it when he went for his routine vaccination so it didn't have a chance to get too bad although naturally he had a grumpy few days. The paediatrician we visit is the one attached to the maternity hospital that both the babies were born in. She speaks NO English whatsoever...she speaks Korean at lightening speed.... and she LOVES the sound of her own voice. Most of our interactions consist of her chattering away at me, while I stare back blankly. I stopped trying to hide my ignorance long ago... I shrug questioningly...  I don't laugh at the jokes she seems to find so funny. I don't answer the questions I presume she must be asking... I even say 'I don't know' in her native tongue but still she is undeterred...she just keeps chatting away. I feel bad that my command of the language isn't better but then my Korean friend said she couldn't follow her either. She can write in English though so if there is something wrong I just have her write down the diagnosis and Google it later. We continue to try find an alternative but have yet to find anyone who can speak English and is within walking distance of our home.  Also occasionally she throws in some charades.... the breastfeeding act was particularly amusing. 

As a communication tool I cannot praise charades enough. If you are willing to lose a little dignity you can usually get by in any country you should find yourself in. (The dignity part is often most affected when dealing with medical issues... miming diarrhea in a busy pharmacy is just one such example). There are the rare occasions, however, when this is not the case. In my pre-baby days I was lucky enough to travel to China. My friend and I decided we were going to travel through China and SE Asia over land, however given that South Korea is a peninsula bordered only by its infamous northern neighbour we had to resort to other transport to reach China. I suppose we could have donned our camouflage gear and attempted to evade enemy fire, land mines and prison but it just seemed a little too risky. Instead we opted to take a ferry from  Incheon in Korea to Weihai in China. The ferry ride itself was comfortable enough- we had opted to treat ourself to a first class cabin which, as swish as it may sound, was more akin to a caravan but it had comfy beds meaning we could wake up fresh in China in the morning. We were the only non-asians on the entire ferry so already we felt adventurous!  Weihai is not a big city (well by Chinese standards) so our plan was head straight to Beijing. We opted for a night sleeper bus which meant we had a few hours to kill so headed off in search of food. After walking around for a while we found what we were looking for.. a restaurant with pictures. We pointed to a couple of 'safe' looking dishes and sat waiting for our food. After living in Korea we were accustomed to being stared at.  It was clear we were quite a spectacle to the family running the restaurant, and also the family eating their meal next to us. The lady running the restaurant was so excited by our arrival she came to sit with us... she didn't speak English, we didn't speak Chinese, so we sat awkwardly smiling at each other for what seemed like a lifetime until she suddenly dashed off. A few minutes later she was back carrying a plate full of dumplings. She started pointing at the dumplings, of which there were two kinds, and miming an eating motion. We were touched she wanted us to try her food. We picked up our chopsticks and attempted to eat. Our hostess started frantically waving her arms and shaking her head. We were confused.. perhaps we weren't supposed to eat dumplings with chopsticks.. maybe it was a Chinese thing. We put our chopsticks down. Again the sweet lady started pointing at one dumpling, then another, then motioning to eat. We picked up one of the dumplings... the lady smiled..  moved it towards our mouths...again with the flapping and head shaking. By this point we had the undivided, highly amused attention of the table next to us and were feeling very confused. We guessed we had failed whatever test we were being subjected to when the hostess swept away the plate and disappeared. Still bemused we laughed it off and ate the food we had ordered. Roughly 5 minutes later our dumpling lady was back... again with her plate of goodies... although this time they were different...this time they were hot....this time they were REAL. It would seem we had been trying to tuck into the plastic imitation food often used in asian restaurant window displays. The pointing was evidently her way of finding out which ones we would like her to cook. On this occasion body language had failed us, but at least our travels had started with an amusing tale.