Chris!!!

Chris and I were planning on enjoying some Subway on our own, but after a great sale at the NorthFace shop we got home later than we planned, and at the same time as the kids. So I whipped the kids up a sandwich from stuff we had at home, but of course they wanted in on the yum yum goodness that is Subway. I was explaining to Guinness again and again that 'No, mommy's has jalapeños on it, you won't like it," when Chris finally did cut him off a slice. Gemma looked down her nose at him, admonishing eyes, and said in a perfect hushed tone, "CHRIS!!" It was so funny, I laughed for 5 minutes. Such a bossy mother hen!

We did some puzzle with Daddy yesterday, and had so much fun. Laughter is a great medicine (not better than coffee, but I think important to have every day) so I am hoping that 'laughing together as a family every day' is a realistic goal for 2012.

Yes, I can make goals for 2012 now because the Chinese New Year has just begun.

5 going on 15

Growing up.... by her attitude sometimes you would think that the birthday that follows five is fifteen. Isn;t this a good disgusted teenager look?

Age Gap

The kids got along pretty good for a long time. She likes to play computer games, he is happy to sit and watch. She likes to boss around, he likes to be bossed. Gemma did a good job of handling the baby business, and has been a pretty patient big sister till now, but the terrible twos are causing some frustration.

When Gemma was two and three, she loved to play the same games over and over; you be the mother I'll be the daughter, over and over again. Guinness is very into super heros, and we've been playing Spiderman for about three months. And Gemma is tired of it. She doesn't want to play superhero ANYMORE!

Gemma likes setting up her little villages and houses and stuff. Guinness physically can not resist the urge to plough it down. He draws on her art, he makes messes that take away mommy's time, he pushes buttons on the iPad when she's playing, he playfights too hard sometimes... the whole little brother thing is getting too frustrating.

It's been just amazing how much she's changed this fall. Really growing up.

She has one more week of holidays, then a final semester of Chinese school. We are pretty sure she'll join me at my school next year for kindergarten.

Tastes like...

Kids brains' are so weird! Today I made pancakes and bacon, and the kids love bacon. Gemma was dipping hers in her syrup, telling me, "Mom, you HAVE to try this." so it did, and she said, "It's so good, it tastes like chocolate ". Does the word 'chocolate' mean 'tastes good'?


And then, a minute or two later, Guinness was munching his bacon and he said, "this is is so yummy, it tastes like CUPCAKES!".

Like I said, weird!