Owey

Enoch scraped the palm of his hand this morning. Very small, maybe 4 mm. Funny to see him favor it all day, acting like he is crippled. I washed it off and he was mad at me all night. When he gets mad he sulks and cries. He ended the night happy, playing chutes and ladders at least

flying saucer

The other day Enoch saw a flying saucer on a TV show. He first described it is a plate, and eventually came to call it a plate spaceship with a bowl on it.

Christmas deliveries

Took enoch and michael out to deliver m&m chocalte chip cookies we made together and christmas cards to neighbors tonight. They loved putting m&M's on cookies last night and loved giving away cookies and cards today. Michael loved to run inside everyone's houses and enoch at one point asked me what they were going to give us. "Nothing", I told him! It was fun and they were cute. It was fun to see them brighten up everyone else's day. All this after a day in the hospital with enoch for HSP.

pooping naked

I can't seem to convince Enoch that he doesn't have to take his shirt off and get completely naked when he goes poop. It will be fun to see if this keeps going when he starts school

peanut chocolate

After dinner Michael didn't get to eat a piece of chocolate because he didn't eat his dinner. Enoch was allergic to peanuts and now refuses to eat anything with peanuts in it. He routinely asked what kind of chocolate it was to rule out of peanuts, and out of jealousy Michael said "Peanuts"! Yes, we almost died laughing! :) 

我就不喜欢上学了！

(all in Chinese) Enoch said he didn't like preschool today. I asked what friends went to school with him, and he gave me 3 names. I then asked if he liked those friends and had fun playing with them. He said yes. Then I explained that if he liked playing with them, and those friends were all at school, then he also must like school. Then I asked if he liked school, and he said yes. Then, he said:

那如果朋友们不上学我就不喜欢上学！

I can't believe his logic is so good! He is so smart.

我就是！

The other day I kissed / growled at Enoch as I tucked him in. He giggled and smiled in a very cute and sweet way. I said:

你知道吗？你是一个非常好的一个孩子！

He said:

我就是！

It was very cute.

I want to make them really really sad...

Today Enoch's preschool talked about Thanksgiving and his teacher told me that he didn't want to talk today. So after lunch while Enoch was playing with duplos, I asked him a question that his teacher asked in class: Enoch, what are you grateful for? 

Here is our conversation: 

Enoch: I don't know.

Me: But your teacher asked the same question at school today.

Enoch: I didn't talk at school today. (Uh-oh he knows)

Me: Why did you not want to talk today? You need to talk at school, that would make mommy and daddy really happy.

Enoch: But I want to make them really really sad...

Happy birthday to dad

The best part of my day today was coming home and opening the front door, and seeing Enoch run up to me unprompted and hug me and wish me a happy birthday. Right behind him was Michael, in his diaper, running up with wide eyes singing happy birthday to you. You boys have a good mom!

Brotherly Love

Just remembered that last night close to 12am Enoch woke me up saying that Michael wanted water. Then he followed me to get water from the kitchen, and gave it to Michael who has probably been crying for a little while. I got really teary then to see their brotherly love and wanted it to remember that moment.

Brown boy

Today Enoch told me at the playground that a 棕色人 pushed him... I asked if he meant a brown shirt or brown skin and he said brown skin.  We don't talk about skin color, funny how he picks it up on his own

Peter's butt is too big!

Peter got stuck in the bumbo seat when I tried to take him out and this is Enoch's reaction: Mommy, Peter's butt is too big! (In Chinese)

Correcting me

Enoch started to correct my pronunciations quite a few times already. I know this is going to happen eventually, but didn't think it would come so soon. Sad but proud at the same time! 

Reading books to little brothers

Enoch likes to read books to his younger brothers. I often found him reading to Michael on the futon. And he also likes to read to Peter too. If I put Peter on the rocking chair, he would sit down and read a book with him and rock Peter at the same time. What a sweet big brother! I know that he is the perfect big brother for Michael and Peter!

Acting out characters

I was amazed to see Enoch acting out of the characters in the music video the other day. He would do what the people were doing in the video. Like in Lion heart, when the girl and boy bowl their head, run, happy, sad he would act it out. He even acted out the monsters. It was really funny to see. When I read the chinese bunny and turtle book with them last night, he would act out the bunny running and falling asleep under a tree. I see a potential actor in making. Although I'm not sure if daddy will let him be an actor :) 

Maybe we can engage him into a play now ?

WIC is not fun

Today Michael had preschool and Enoch, Peter and I went to a WIC appointment. Coming out of WIC office, Enoch said " WIC is not fun!" I felt so bad. I always wanted to make preschools days a special day for Enoch and Michael, but since Libraries open really late on Friday and story times are only on Thus, I haven't been able to find interesting things to do with Enoch on Michael's preschool day. I feel guilt. Now Enoch called it out, I felt even worse. So I told him I was going to take him to play at McDonald's and then get him icecream cone. He was happy for the idea. Although the McDonald's icecream machine broke, talking about a bummer! So I told Enoch that we are going to get icecream in the store and eat it after lunch. The catch is that the icecream is his, and he can choose to share with Michael. So that made him happy. 

Feeding the horses

We went to a mounted patrol police department today where they have horses. Enoch was so brave today, he fed horses carrots many times ALL BY HIMSELF! I'm so proud of him! Michael on the other hand was a little scared, he is only two so that's normal. Enoch loved it so much that we ran out of carrots, he asked Leah for one more carrot  so he could feed it to the horses. Then Michael has a carrot in his hand which he doesn't want to feed it to the horses, so I told Michael I would exchange a fruit snack with his carrot if he gave the carrot to Enoch. He did and Enoch fed that last carrot to a horse. 

dizzy

yesterday I was playing with Enoch and Michael by spinning them on the office chair. I spun Enoch really fast, which he liked. After spinning him about 20 times, I stopped him, and he said, "爸爸，房间再转转!" Cute

Help with kitchen

Today while I was feeding Peter, I heard Sam teaching Enoch to help with the silverware. He told him to transfer chopsticks, forks, spoons, knives into the silverware draw from the dishwasher. It's always sweet to know that daddy is teaching them things that I sometimes don't have time to or didn't think of to teach them. Good thing I have a husband and they have a daddy.

Sam told me later that Enoch did great. I'm so proud of Sam and Enoch. I know that Enoch is a really sweet boy who loves to help out. He helps me to carry some grocery from the car to the house a lot. I started to ask them to carry a little bag of something small. And then after a few times, he started to do that all by himself. You know, sometimes, I do agree that children are born little helpers, they love to help if you know how to direct them.

Help with Peter

Enoch has been a really good big brother to Peter. He would help me to rock Peter,  try to get a burping cloth when Peter spits up, read books to Peter when he cries, somethings he does it because I ask him to and somethings he just does it all by himself.

Today I put Peter on his tummy. Enoch saw it and told me he is going to flip Peter over. So he went and did it, Peter was rather shocked with his eyes open really really wide. I couldn't help but laughed. It was really funny that Enoch flipped Peter over, and sweet to think that he wanted to help.

Smarter than daddy

Enoch wouldn't believe me that his toy jack a lantern was called that and not a trick or treat. He already thinks he's smarter than me...

Trampoline today

Eat like the Cookie Monster

Had a taste of the TV's influence on Kids today: I stopped Enoch from eating like the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street and taught him that it was rude to eat like a cookie monster. I bet Sesame Street people didn't think about that :) 

Punishment for hitting

We've tried different ways to punish Enoch when he hits Michael. But he doesn't seem to get it that it's really bad to hit. That makes me really sad and frustrated. Yesterday I had an idea to give Enoch a 10 min long time-out while Michael started watching TV. Enoch was so sad. Today Enoch was crying the whole 10 mins long. To make sure he gets why he couldn't watch tv with michael, I asked him why. He told me it was because he hit michael. So I told him to not hit michael again. Hopefully he will remember the consequences when he hits and remember not to do that again. 

自己祈祷

今天傍晚我给杰凯杰龙洗澡刷牙念书之后就去喂杰峰喝奶，爸爸还没有回来，杰凯就跟我说：“妈妈，我和杰龙自己祈祷。”然后他们就真的自己祈祷去了，杰凯祈祷说“谢谢妈妈给我们做饭吃”，真是一个好孩子。哈哈 

Floating all by myself

Today Enoch floated on his back all by himself for the first time! It was amazing. We've been working up to this all summer, slowly building his confidence in himself and his trust in me that I won't let anything happen to him. He's been close for a while now, and today was the day.

We had the entire public pool all to ourselves, so it was crystal calm. All 4 lifeguards were watching us. As I was helping Enoch float on his back, I told him to put his belly up and that I would let go and let him do it by himself for just a second, that I would not let anything happen to him. He seemed to understand, and when I let go he immediately flinched and started to sink. I held him, but he looked at me and smiled, saying, "Again, daddy!" We did it again, and he lasted a bit longer. We did it again, and he responded to my coaching to keep his belly up and head back perfectly. I told him to do it for 5 seconds, then 10 seconds, and he did great! I also tried having him float on his back by himself and kick, but that was a bit too much...

It was an amazing moment. We have been working for weeks towards this moment and it was wonderful to share it together, and especially miraculous that we had the pool all to ourselves. I loved looking down at my little boy, floating perfectly in the water all by himself. Sharon just joked with me that all the lifeguards are going to think I'm a perfect dad. 

I love you, Enoch! You make me so proud. You were so proud of yourself, too. Such a lovely moment.

threaten daddy

Enoch loves to play with his food, and we have to be strict with him to not do that. Otherwise, he'll be at the dinner table all night.

Today I was playing with my cup at dinner time. Enoch said, "不要玩儿杯子，爸爸，要不然你被惩罚，去你的屋里"

I told him that I was sorry, that I wouldn't do it anymore. He thought it was the funniest thing! Such a clever little guy, turning the tables on me!

swimming and girls

I've been taking Enoch swimming by himself once or twice a week now all summer (Michael, too, but not as much). I think the one on one time is great for me and him. I love the chance to devote all my energy to him and showing him how special I think he is. I think it makes a big difference in how happy he is. Lately Enoch has been a bit depressed, and I think it's because we don't have as much time to spend with him with the new baby and my busy rotation schedule, plus our stress probably rubs off on him. Today he seemed especially quite and withdrawn. After swimming with me, however, he was an entirely different and lovely boy.

He has gotten so much better at swimming. He was so timid and afraid of doing anything new, but now he will jump into the water, float on his back, kick on his back, push off the wall towards me, jump from me to the wall. He was too afraid to do any of those things 3 months ago.

There is a Chinese family that often swims when we do. I've never spoken to them, but today I told Enoch to monkey on the wall over to the girl and say 你好。 He did, although he was shy and said it too quiet too far away. Nonetheless, eventually we started talking with the mom and her 5 year old niece. Enoch was too shy to say much, but eventually he started saying, "look at me!" and he would hold on to the wall and go all the way under water. He had never done that before! I always would try to get him to do it, but he never would.

Such a showoff!

I was proud of him. Mom was delighted to hear Enoch talk about this when we got home. As we were leaving, Enoch seemed to build up the courage to go and mumble out some words to the girl, "我叫杰凯，你叫什么？"

I think he was very excited to meet people that speak Chinese. It's like he realized that we're not the only people in this country who speak Chinese, and maybe Mom and Dad aren't so silly for making me speak Chinese after all.

Michael's turn to potty train

Today I bought Michael's potty rewards. I asked Enoch if he remembers when he was little like Michael, he got m and ms and chocolate when he went potty. He said yes. I then told him if he wanted to have m and ms and chocolate, he needs to motivate Michael to go potty. I think he really got it because he told Michael to go pee in the potty to get m and ms. 

I want to open the door by myself!

Enoch has been buckling himself into car seat since he was about 2.5 years old which is really advanced for his age. Recently he wanted to open the auto car door by himself. I told him that if he can unbuckle himself from the car seat then he can open the auto door by himself. So today he refused to get out of his car seat and wanted to unbuckle himself. I unbuckled him twice but he buckled himself back up. And even after we all went inside the house, he still set in the hot car for about 10 mins trying to unbuckle himself. Of course he is too young to do that, eventually I asked him if he wanted to go inside the house. He said yes, but not willingly. He was super sweaty when he finally got out of the car. He still cried for a good while for not being able to open the door by himself. I'm just glad that he went inside before he got too hot and die. Sometimes Enoch is really determined or stubborn, which can be a good thing. I just hope that when he grows up, he will still be so determined to do things he really likes and not easily give up.

没有奶了！

Enoch usually doesn't drink very much milk at a time. Today, before Enoch and Michael's afternoon nap, I had the boys come drink milk. Enoch was first, and I got a cup of leftover milk out of the fridge. There was a lot left, and I didn't think Enoch would drink it all. However, he started gulping it down, and didn't stop until it was all gone. He finished, looked up and smiled, and shouted, "没有奶了!"

Michael, of course, started crying.

The things Enoch is willing to do to upset his brother.

Cute sayings

Enoch likes to watch the Old Testament Bible Video about Enoch. Afterwards, he and Michael were arguing about which one of them was a prophet.

Enoch loves to say random things that we can't understand and then laugh hilariously. Whatever he is saying he thinks it's pretty funny.

The other day Enoch said "Penis, de nada", meaning "penis, you're welcome"

The water comes out

Enoch walked into our room with his hand over his crotch saying, "the water comes out!"

I told him to go pee pee, and he did.

Fits, kissing Peter

Yesterday as nursery ended Enoch was crying nonstop. His leaders didn't know what happened. When we got home he said "I want E N O C H!" Turns out he was upset they didn't write his name on the craft they did.

Yesterday he also came up to me at one point and said "I kissed peter!" Seconds later peter, who had been sleeping, started crying.

Subtraction

Went bowling for the third time yesterday with Grandma. Enoch and Michael both seemed to get bored rather quickly; it seems the novelty of bowling is wearing off.

Once, when after Enoch bowled 1 ball, you could see 3 pins, and Enoch said, "I got 7 pins!" Another time, Enoch bowled and you could see 2 pins and Enoch said, "I got 8 pins!" It certainly seemed like he was doing subtraction! Pretty impressive to me. He was actually wrong both times, since there was a hidden pin that you couldn't see both times. But it seems to me that he has a natural knack for numbers.

No parking spot

Finding a parking spot is one of the hardest things to go to places in Houston. I always tell kids that I need to find a parking spot so that we can get off the car, or go to the YMCA and such. One day at home, I told the kids to pick up their shoes and put them on the shoe rack. The top shoe rack where the kids' shoes are is getting really full. So I heard Enoch said " No parking spot!". 

Story time boycott

I went with Enoch to story time at the library. Many songs are sung there, which Enoch often sings at home. It's interesting, however, that he never sings along or dances or participates in any way during the actual story time at the library. The whole time he was looking down at the ground.

I think he's probably too young to feel that it's not cool, so it seems that he's just extremely shy or embarrassed to participate.

The interesting part is that Michael does the exact same thing. And Michael is often very outgoing, so I wonder if it's a behavior he has learned from Enoch. Or is he also shy, too? Or do both boys just think the whole thing is dumb?

The thing is, if I were them I probably wouldn't want to participate, either. As far as I can remember, I've always thought that kind of thing is dumb. But my memory is really shaky going back to when I was 3, and I would assume 2 and 3 year olds are too young for thoughts like that.

blueberries

Enoch saw the blueberries on the cover of the cereal box today. He was really excited about having blueberries in his cereal and was sorely disappointed when I told him there weren't actually any in the box. Deceiving, I know.

On the moon

I found a fun children's book about going to the moon at the library called On the Moon. Enoch really likes it and reads with us and by himself often. It starts with a little girl pretending to be an astronaut, then it details rockets going into space, then a bit about what the moon is like, and then blasting back off to Earth.

I think this book has blown Enoch's mind. It's like reading this book has opened his intellect to the reality that outer space exists, that the moon is a real place and separated from the earth by a real distance, that we actually live on a floating round planet, and so forth. It's so fun watching him get excited about it.

My favorite part about reading it is the end of the book. The little girl is looking up at the moon, and the text says, "Do you think you'll ever go to the moon?"

Every time, Enoch matter-of-factly says, "Yep" or "Yeah".

The way he casually thinks it's a likely possibility that he will get to visit the moon is so endearing. For the moment, he seems to have a dream, and it's fun.

Sacrament

Just remembered several weeks ago when Enoch suddenly started reciting the sacrament prayers. He got almost half way through and did a good job! Sometimes I don't realize that he listens to everything.

Also, yesterday Enoch told Michael: you sit on the little chair because you're a little boy. I'm a big boy and sit on the big chair.

Playing together

Yesterday Enoch and Michael were fighting constantly over the Duplos, mostly about the different cars. I took the Duplos away and said that since they couldn't share then nobody could play with them anymore for the rest of the day.

Interestingly, for the rest of the day they were both playing together a lot more than usual. And it was fun, imaginative play. Putting the laundry basket on each other's heads, etc. I think it's important to have time for that, with no TV or structured activities. It made me happy to see them having fun together.

Eye drop

The doctor prescribed eye drop for Enoch to use three times a day after his eye surgery. It has been so hard to give him eye drops every day. Yesterday Enoch wanted to watch Dora the Explorer. I told him to tell Daddy that he wants to get eye drops then watch Dora. He was super excited, and told daddy "Daddy I want to get eye drops then watch Dora!" But then when it was time to put eye drops in, he changed his mind. He didn't want to watch Dora any more because he didn't want to get eye drops. But Sam still gave him anyway because we didn't want him to sleep in bed all day to avoid eye drops :)

eye surgery

Enoch had eye surgery on Tuesday. 

See: http://chinglishlyinlove.blogspot.com/2013/06/enochs-eye-surgery.html

Turtle Enoch

Enoch has asked many times to watch Ninja Turtle because his new obsession-Leonardo turtle which was actually Sam's old toy. So even though it's not really age appropriate I put on a TMNT movie on for him today. And when I told him there is a turtle named Michael, he said he wanted to see turtle Enoch. Had to explain to him that Enoch is a very special name.

Swimming

Ice taken Enoch swimming a few times at the local free city pool. He thought it was the best thing ever to go with just me and him. He would smile and say, "just me and you"! He's pretty timid swimming but its been fun to see him get more brave. I can go under water with him, he will put his face in the water, and he's starting to be willing to float on his back like an airplane. He sure hates jumping in the pool though!

ouchy

After dinner at a friend's house, enoch ran out the door and tripped and scraped his knees. He cried a lot. At one point he said, "I don't want to be ouchy!"

After crying the entire car ride home, he said, "看电视就好了". Went inside, put on bandaid and neosporin, and put on Ice Age.

Singing "Ring around the Rosie"

Friends

Yesterday we baby sat some friends kids -- Camilla and Luke Transtrum, children of Mark and Jenny. Enoch used to be infatuated with Camilla. When I came home from work, Enoch cried when he saw me and kept saying "Camilla" over and over again. He thought it would be her, not me. Enoch isn't the best socializer, however. When they came over, Michael was the one doing all the playing with Camilla. Eventually, Enoch went to his room and was playing on his bed. I had to go in there and tell him it was rude to not play with friends that come over, that he needed to be nice and come outside. That seemed to give him motivation to be more social. It's so interesting that he seems to have anxiety over social situations at a young age. We went and did stuff that he's good at with Camilla, like playing candy land and puzzles. This is probably going to be a challenge for him for a long, long time.

Sad finger puppets

I made finger puppets during FHE today, each finger representing a family member. Told a story where the Enoch puppet hurt his eye and how the other family members were going to pray for him. Thought it would teach Enoch about prayer. As soon as I said Enoch's eye hurts, however, Enoch got really upset and cried.

Then I told another story where Michael's hand got hurt and everyone was going to pray for him. Enoch again got really upset, but no crying this time.

Then I said we were done, but Enoch said "now it's time for daddy to fall down!"

Nursery

Picked up Enoch from nursery today. Asked him if he was a good boy. The nursery leader said, "Enoch's always a good boy".

Ri-pad

Enoch likes to make up words sometimes, and when he does he thinks it's the funniest thing in the world. Previously, he used to say "angra", and he thought it was hilarious. Yesterday, he started to say "ripad", and laughed historically each time he said it. When I repeated it, he thought it was the best thing ever. I assume he's making a variation on the word ipad, and I love how clever he feels. Lovely moment.

Church

Pews were full when we got to church today, as we moved to hard chairs in back Enoch complained, saying he wanted to sit on the couch.

Sharon gave opening prayer, then Enoch said 妈妈很好祈祷了！

Enoch likes to try and find the hymn in the book all by himself. He didn't find it today and when he noticed the song was ending he got really sad. I helped him find it, but the song was over, and he almost started crying, repeatedly asking to sing the song again.

Leonardo

Last night Enoch had fun putting his stuffed ninja turtle (which used to be mine) in his Elmo backpack. He has transitioned from my old bugs bunny being his favorite to the ninja turtle. He takes his turtle everyone around the house, often carrying it on his back. I think he thought it was a brilliant idea to put it in the backpack. He ended up going to sleep wearing the backpack, and a few hours later I heard him crying. I went into his room and found him struggling to get the backpack off, with his back drenched in sweat. I took it off for him and he stopped crying and went back to sleep. So cute.

Played uno again with Enoch today. I went hard on him, not letting him win. I changed the color and said, "ha ha ha!" He thought it was funny at first, but when I changed the color again and stopped him from going and fake laughed again he said, "don't laugh daddy!" I told him that was a reasonable request. At 3 he already understands that it doesn't feel good to lose! I did end up beating him, and then told him what a great job he did and how much fun it was. He had fun. In some ways he is so mature.

Uno

Tuesday 5/21: Got home early today. Sharon took a nap and I started studying. Enoch finished playing with the duplos and asked me if I would play uno with him. I told him I was sorry but I had to study. Then he started cleaning up the duplos all on his own and asked if we could play after he cleaned up. He also cleaned up the ABC puzzle on the ground. Can't say no to such a sweet little boy! He knows how to get what he wants already.