i heart mamo

2011-10-06T00:57:00.004-04:00

isaiah is seven. he started second grade. this is the year he learns cursive and receives his First Holy Communion. big year.

we had a busy summer. one of the biggest things that happened to isaiah was that he played the role of Magician #1 in the church musical Are We There Yet? which is the story of Moses. he had to audition for the role. he was great and so were the other 90 kids in the musical. we *all* learned the *entire* musical, lines and songs for every character. isaiah had two lines: "and that's not the least of your problems!" and "your highness, don't be fooled. it's a simple magic trick." owen, especially, knows isaiah's line and performs them with much gusto. it's really cute.

isaiah had a ben 10 birthday party. all he knows about ben 10 is from reading a coloring/activity book that i got him and from short conversations with tito ryan. he isn't allowed to watch the cartoon because we haven't deemed it appropriate for him to watch (we try to limit the violence that enters his little brain). when i had asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted he said that he wanted "an alien birthday. but not the kind i had before when you put up the black curtain and had space ships and aliens hanging. like, a different kind of alien party." he totally wanted a ben 10 party but didn't want to ask outright because he knew we didn't completely approve of the cartoon. oh, isaiah. he was pleasantly surprised to find the house decorated in ben 10 on his 7th birthday. by the way, he still hasn't seen one episode of the cartoon. to be honest, some of the decorations were a little scary for the little ones.

9.27.2011 - isaiah loses his first tooth! eric and i were out for our anniversary, so we completely missed it. the permanent teeth for his bottom middle teeth were growing in behind the baby teeth, and both baby teeth were loose. the one on the left (his left) was more loose. the story goes like this: he bumps into xavier and his tooth falls out. he runs up the stairs carrying his tooth. "nani! i lost my tooth!!!" at the top of the stairs he bumps into ethan. the tooth goes flying. "oh, no! i really lost my tooth!" no worries, the tooth fairy knows where all the teeth are. she ended up leaving him $2.50. a one dollar bill, a one dollar coin and a fifty cent piece. second tooth should be coming out any day now!

2011-07-09T22:18:00.002-04:00

isaiah is almost 7 years old. he reads chapter books and changes diapers. he scores soccer goals and can get himself a glass of water. he is proficient at using the tv/tivo/dvd player and is learning to tread water. he is too big for toddler shows (which i know are safe for him to watch) and is venturing into star wars and thundercats and really really wants to watch harry potter (which we won't let him watch). he is really good at coloring in the lines and writes paragraphs and complete sentences.

where did my baby go?

he is huge. i can no longer buy him clothes from carters. that means he is huge. to me.

isaiah is incredibly enthusiastic. he really likes to watch tv and thinks he's bored when we don't allow him to watch (we tell him that it will turn your brain to mush). he loves to pretend to fight like a jedi and looooves playing in the little pool we have in our backyard (the "frosted family pool" as the box says). for some reason, the boys think it's awesome to jump in the pool with your clothes on, so we've let them do it twice so far. so silly. he's incredibly helpful and is easily offended when he's left alone to clean up a room. i don't blame him. his brothers can definitely be shirkers.

one of the funniest things isaiah has said in the last few months was during a conversation he was having with tita kelly about izzy's peanut allergy. "i'm allergic to animals. all of them. well, unless they're cooked." ha!

we like to ask the boys what they want to be when they grow up. isaiah's list has been: paleontologist or spy. last week, i asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up.

"i want to run fr. mikus hall," he said. "no, i mean, i want to do what fr. ben does."
you want to be a parish priest?
"yeah, i do."

i don't know if it's because he's been spending so much time in fr. mikus hall for play practice (he's magician #1 in the church musical on the life of moses) or if it's because he was really listening when fr. mark desser remarked to the altar boys that becoming a priest is a real option for their future. whatever the reason, i'm happy that it's an option that he would consider. we shall see.

2011-02-16T23:16:00.002-05:00

my almost 6-1/2 year old.

we're homeschooling now. he's the guinea pig. he is bearing the brunt of my failed attempts at patience while teaching. (with lots of grace, i'm getting better at it.)

isaiah is a shining star, but i don't do a good enough job making him feel that way. he is incredibly bright and can memorize anything you ask him to memorize (except math facts, argghh). he plays the piano well, is especially considerate and kind, loves to tell jokes even if he doesn't totally understand them, and he is such. an awesome. big brother.

if xavier is crying when he wakes up from his nap, isaiah will go get him.
if all the boys made a huge mess in the family room, isaiah is the first one to start cleaning it up.
if he's drawing pokemon and his other brothers start talking about their current favorite, he'll draw that character for them.
if he's eating the last cookie and owen wants some, he'll let owen finish it.
he loves to make them all laugh. he's so good at being super silly.

isaiah loves to altar serve. the first time we didn't go to 9 a.m. daily Mass, he cried a little because he had been so looking forward to serving. it thrills him to hold a "big red" candle as opposed to the "swing" candles that the younger boys usually carry. today, he got to carry the "big gold" candle because he was the only little boy serving. the "big gold" is a big deal. i love that these are things that he gets so excited about.

there is so much more to say about isaiah. i just can't believe that my first baby isn't a baby anymore.

2010-08-23T00:08:00.004-04:00

"shake your groove thing, yeah yeah! show me how you do it now!"

my baby is SIX. how can it be that i am the mother of a first grader?? i am so unbelievably proud of him. we have asked a LOT of him and he has handled it all beautifully with little complaint. as the oldest of 4, we ask him to be a good example, put his brothers first, be the bigger person, help take care of them, do small chores for mommy and daddy like throwing out diapers or grabbing boxes of tissue or making sure xavier doesn't go upstairs...i forget sometimes that he's still so little. but he rises to these challenges. he loves to be in charge ("mama's downstairs, ethan, so I'M the boss.") and he loves being helpful, especially when it comes to xavier. isaiah has a really good heart. i could go on for pages about how good isaiah's heart is, but i'll leave it at that for now. i am SO proud of him.

he had an alvin and the chipmunks birthday. i tracked down a red hoodie and had roby put a big yellow "A" on it for isaiah's gift. we played "pin the A on alvin's shirt" and danced around to songs from alvin and the chipmunks: the squeakquel. we also had movie time with popcorn buckets filled with cheese puffs and smartfood popcorn. as a bonus, daddy got home early just as we came home from an impromptu birthday lunch at burger king with noah and ellie. isaiah even got to pick out a present during some one-on-one time with daddy.

isaiah specifically requested two cakes: one regular one and one to smash his face into. it was literally the only thing he asked for for his birthday, so of course he got it. there were a lot of sugar sprinkles on his face-smashing cake which failed to make the mess that i think he was hoping for. next time i will make it with more frosting and no sugar sprinkles, if not just a whole lot of whipped cream on top.

i hope you had a great birthday, isaiah! i think you did, because before you went to bed on your birthday you told me that "this was the greatest birthday. like, better than all other birthday parties together! thanks, mom." you are the best, buddy. i love you so much!

2010-06-22T23:33:00.003-04:00

it's summer vacation. "i'm a first-grader now!" wow. first-graders are so OLD. i'm going to blink and he'll be graduating from college and leaving me to go marry a very good, smart and god-fearing girl.

in the meantime, he still needs to learn how to consistently write his letters and numbers the correct way. we're on it, though. we have workbooks and the whole summer.

do you want to know how good of a kuya isaiah is? he tells me that he wants to watch tv, but xavier is also awake. he says, "mama, i want to watch something where xavier will learn." so he put in blue's clues for xavier so he could learn his colors and shapes. i caught him teaching xavier how to count this morning using his silly bands.

sidenote: silly bands are the latest craze among kids. they are rubber bands in the shape of whatever - the boys have insects, dinosaurs and musical instruments - and the boys LOVE them. isaiah, ethan and owen all wear them. /end sidenote.

isaiah also holds owen's hand when we're walking down the street and does his very best to follow the rules. we went to chicago last weekend, and had to go in and out of the elevator a thousand times. every time, he held the door to make sure that everyone got in and out alright. he is SUCH a good and considerate boy. he is too big to hold and cradle in my lap, but i do it anyway.

i don't want him to grow up. i want him to stay this sweet an innocent forever.

2010-04-11T23:10:00.005-04:00

spring break has come and gone. i asked isaiah today if he was ready to go back to school. "no!" he told me with a smile. we did a lot last week.

easter itself was really nice. the easter bunny was good to him and his brothers...and he got to go on an egg hunt at noah's house. we made it a big deal to teach isaiah and his brothers about why we celebrate easter and Jesus dying for us and opening the gates of heaven by rising from the dead. "it's not about candy and the easter bunny!" isaiah learned in school. he made up a song, too:

"haaave a happy easter. haaave a happy happy happyhappyhappy easter. haaave a happy easter. and don't forget Jesus!"

monday was bowling with nani...he got a strike! i can't remember if he hit the bumpers, but a strike is a strike, right? right! he also pounded two hot dogs and a ton of french fries while we were bowling. there's something about crinkle fries that taste so good when served at a bowling alley.

tuesday we got to play with noah and ellie. first stop was the morley candy factory. second stop was the play area at lakeside. we took a snack break at panera in the mall and i discovered that isaiah like eating asiago bagels toasted with cream cheese. who knew?

the weather was really nice so we got to go to the park almost every day with daddy. isaiah and ethan got to play with their new scooters (spiderman for isaiah, cars for ethan...just like their bed covers) a lot. it's so nice to be able to all go to the park as a family. i actually have the energy to go now that xavier is bigger and i'm not pregnant.

isaiah is such a big boy and he's such a good boy. i took all the boys shopping with me one day, and when we got home, he took owen inside and then told me that he wanted to help me bring in the shopping bags. he learned how to take xavier out of his car seat this past weekend and even tries to help ethan unbuckle from his car seat, too.

isaiah really doesn't like to be in trouble. i think more than that, he doesn't like to disappoint us. a couple times recently, he has broken a rule or done something he shouldn't have (like standing up on the dining room table and jumping off)...but we didn't yell or get mad. we just told him that he shouldn't have done that and why and to not do it again. instead of feeling better about it, i think it just made him feel worse because he didn't get punished and he ended up crying quietly because he felt so bad. he really is such a good boy. i'm really proud of him because he always tells the truth.

he really likes to sing, especially songs he picks up from hearing daddy sing with the band. "we're going downtown in an earlier round. sugar plum goin' down swingin'." love it, buddy.

2010-03-20T23:13:00.004-04:00

isaiah spent a lot of time tonight practicing writing his numbers. he wrote all the way up to 70. he's SO good at writing the number 2. he used to write it backwards all the time, along with 6's and 7's. i'm so proud of him. he has great determination and puts a lot of effort into writing, drawing and playing the piano.

speaking of piano....isaiah participated in his first federation music festival last weekend. he had two pieces that he had to play by memory in front of two judges. miss jeanne is his teacher, and he started with her back in november. she was a little hesitant to enroll him in the festival, but she did anyway. he played "butterflies and rainbows" and "happy sam." are you nervous? i asked him before he went in to play for the judges. "no, i'm excited," isaiah told me. afterwards he admitted that he was "a little nervous." regardless, he did a wonderful job on both pieces. he got a little bit stuck in "happy sam" but kept right on going and played the rest perfectly. i'm super proud of him for memorizing his songs (dynamics and counting included!) and practicing so hard. he must really like playing the piano because we don't even need to tell him to practice. he practiced all the time. he has his recital next month and has to learn a new piece called "fuzzy wuzzy worm."

for some reason, isaiah and his classmates looove making hats/crowns. a crown for 100 days of school. a st. patrick's day hat made of clovers. a cat in the hat hat. they get to make hats for their easter parade, too. isaiah brings his hats home and wears them when he's practicing the piano. or coloring. he also likes to keep them all on his shelf as part of his "collection." it's really a collection of random things that periodically get purged without his knowledge.

sometimes i look at isaiah and think that he's just so old. but he's still so little! just 5 years old and already able to do so many things on his own. he can tie his shoes now (slowly). he helps his brothers put their shoes and coats on. he opens the car door on his own and even shuts it once he's inside. he's so honest and i love that about him. also keeps his brothers in check. he's really good at cleaning up and has really been trying to be encouraging to his brothers.

the latest rage right now in the agustin house is veggie tales (thanks to tita chrissy for the awesome dvds for christmas and to nani for the worship cd!). they've always loved silly songs, but now they have sooo much more to watch and listen to. they've read every single story in the veggie tales bible stories book, know every single praise song on the cd, and love to sing about belly buttons (or lack thereof). isaiah's memory continues to astound me. he's like my brother where he memorizes the dialogue or the lyrics to everything and repeats them as he watches it. it can be annoying but still pretty impressive.

2010-02-17T00:15:00.003-05:00

there is so much to say about my firstborn.

he's growing too fast. he's still skinny but he's getting taller. most of his size 5 pants are a little flood-y, including his school pants. i think i'll need to order new pants sooner than i'd like.

he still loves school. i love when he starts sentences with, "mom, when i'm in college..." somehow he got the message that college is important and really isn't an option. you go to college.

anyway, isaiah and his classmates get along really well. it's fun to help out at their class parties and watch how well they interact with one another. when i ask isaiah who his best friend is at school he always says, "zach, nathan, luke...well, everyone. my whole class."

isaiah doesn't like to be wrong on his schoolwork. his teacher once told me and eric that isaiah doesn't like to write anything down unless he's *sure* that it's right. they get weekly progress reports. U=unsatisfactory. S=satisfactory. O=outstanding. isaiah usually gets S's, S+'s and O's. the last progress report only had 3 O's and the rest S and S+'s. "i'm sorry i got all S's," he said to me. oh, isaiah! S's are great! i think he feels a lot of pressure - from me (and eric) and a little bit from himself. we do have high expectations of him, but i just want to make sure that he feels that it's okay to not be perfect or the best. eric and gary wrote a song and one of the lines goes, "i've done nothing if/you dont' know His love." i couldn't have said it better myself.

he really likes to draw, which i love. he and ethan have a LOT of their drawings taped on their walls. isaiah probably has 30 and ethan is trying to catch up. i love seeing the improvement in his drawings and the way he's more accurately drawing things like people and wii remotes and monsters and animals. by the way, isaiah can color really well.

piano lessons are going really well. isaiah is currently learning "butterflies and rainbows" and "happy sam." he's playing these solos on white keys (he started off learning on the black keys) and he's playing through these songs pretty fluently and smoothly. i'm so proud of how good he is for the short amount of time he has been playing.

2010-01-16T22:56:00.003-05:00

whenever isaiah would get dressed for church, we'd always tell him how handsome he looked in his nice clothes. these clothes are now known as "handsome" clothes.

when isaiah gets home from school i always tell him to change out of his uniform. mostly so the clothes will last longer. his thing now is hoodies. he always needs a hoodie. the other day he was changing out of his uniform:

"mom, i can't find a hoodie! can you find one for me?"
just pick out a long sleeved shirt.
"but there are no long sleeved shirts! can you help me?"
here's one. (it's a navy henley. very casual.)
"but that's a handsome shirt. are we going to church?"

i think he thought it was a "handsome" shirt because it had buttons. oh, isaiah!

****

isaiah can read. he can really read. we're not talking about regurgitating memorized books, we're talking about REAL reading. last weekend he brought one of his new dinosaur books to me and told me he could read me a story. okay, isaiah. "read" me a story. and he proceded to read me a story! no one had read it to him before. he hadn't memorized it. just slowly but surely reading through each word on the pages, occasionally looking at the pictures for help. i'm so proud of him.

speaking of proud...isaiah tied his shoe all by himself today for the first time! hooray! the sooner he learns to tie his own shoes, the sooner eric will stop requesting that isaiah wear velcro shoes.

2009-11-16T01:36:00.003-05:00

quick updates...

isaiah started piano lessons a few weeks ago. he has had 3 lessons and is doing great. he has to practice every day, which means that mama has to practice with him every day. it's good bonding time, but man does it help me exercise patience. it is all worth it because at the end of the day, not only have i had practice in patience, but isaiah can play songs and understand some basic musical theory!

11.13.09, 1 a.m. "mama, i threw up!" he's crying and running a fever of 103.5. (the only reason i remember his temperature is because it's also the christian radio station.) his temp would drop to normal then spike to as high as 104 a few times in the next couple days. he was quarantined to his room and got full room service treatment while watching movies and playing on the nani's laptop. he left the room after a day and a half, but only with a mask on to protect the rest of us from getting sick. we affectionately referred to him as H1N1 all weekend long.

we learned that 5 kids in his class were out the same time as him with H1N1. he was so sad that he had to miss school. "i'm gonna miss EVERYTHING!" including getting to check out a new book at the library. he didn't realize until sunday evening that he had missed his friend dylan's birthday party. that was really sad, because dylan thinks so highly of isaiah. when they celebrated dylan's birthday in class last wednesday, dylan wanted his mom to make a bigger cupcake for isaiah. that didn't happen of course, but dylan did choose isaiah to help pass out the napkins. it makes my heart happy that isaiah has friends that care about him at school.

11.16.09 isaiah has recovered. no fever for 24+ hours. back to school!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T22:38:00.010-05:00

isaiah has this knack for picking obscure characters to be for halloween. first he wanted to be link from hairspray. we told him no way. so then he was set on being jojo from horton hear's a who. jojo, who has a small yet significant role in a movie that isn't incredibly popular among kids his age. he really wanted to be jojo, so make his costume, i did.

he wore it to his school's trunk or treat a week before halloween. after spending the evening telling all his friends "i'm a who!" he was sooo over being jojo. (he had realized that they wouldn't know who "jojo" was, so he made it more generic by saying he was a "who" from whoville hoping that would be more recognizable. smart kid.)

i'll admit that i spent less than an hour making this costume, so i wasn't so bummed that he didn't want to wear it again. he did wear it again, however, to andrew's birthday party. after that he was a stormtrooper from star wars.

at school: zach, luke, dominic, isaiah

trick or treating: owen, noah, ethan, isaiah, ellie

2009-09-11T19:17:00.004-04:00

9.8.09 first day of kindergarten!

his teacher is ms. groesbeck. we were hoping that he would get her, so we were happy that he ended up in her class. isaiah really loves school. he is such a good kuya to ethan, trying to be really encouraging about ethan starting school. his classroom is just two doors down from ethan, so it was fun to hear that they saw each other in the hallway when they were on their bathroom breaks.

he's in school every day all day now...as it will be for the next 12 years!

2009-09-11T19:08:00.006-04:00

isaiah is finally five! well it was a few weeks ago that he finally turned five. he had an alien/space birthday party. of course, i have no pictures of the the alien/space theme. on his actual birthday, he at a cake of worms and mud. mmmm!

one day after he turned five he was already asking when he would be six. he's so old. i passed by his room while he was sleeping the other day and noticed how tall he has gotten...my first baby is so big!

2009-09-06T21:36:00.005-04:00

we love visiting the guevaras in cheboygan. especially now that the kids are older, it's fun for all of them to play together. of course there's some hitting and bickering and not sharing happening...but going to the beach, flying kites, getting huge scoops of ice cream for $1.75...all great parts of the wonderful land of cheboygan.

i remember when we first visited g, mads, and luci in lansing. it was so cute when isaiah would walk along the furniture and luci would come up and hug him. we joked around that they would love each other forever and get married.

this past weekend they got caught kissing under the tire at the playground.

??!!!

we told them to save their kisses for the person that they would marry. luci: "but i'm going to marry isaiah."

revision: we told them to save their kisses for when they were married. kissing now nipped in the bud. i think.

jump to bonfire and smores in the guevaras' backyard. isaiah and luci come inside...

luci: "me and isaiah are going to get married, and do you know what kind of car we're going to have? a limo! because we don't have to wear seat belts."

isaiah: "yeah, when we get even bigger! and there will be sparkly darkallies on the ceiling! like stars!"

luci: " do you want to practice walking in our wedding?"

apparently i missed some of the conversation outside where they determined that they would have three children and what song they would get married to.

sigh. they are 5 and 6.

there is so much in this world that we have to protect them from. i just hope that we can raise them with good enough values and spiritual fortitude to make good choices on their own.

2009-08-18T11:52:00.001-04:00

holding my youngest baby brother! i'm a kuya x 3!

2009-07-06T14:13:00.004-04:00

i can read with my eyes shut, by dr. seuss.

i can read in red.
i can read in blue.
i can read in pickle color, too.

i can read in bed
and in purple and in brown.
i can read in a circle and upside down....

isaiah has an amazing memory. with just a little help, he can go through a couple of his dr. seuss books verbatim. he pretends he can read. hop on pop forces him to sound out more words. it's hard to believe that he's already reading. when we were at target in fremont a couple months ago, isaiah goes to eric, "that guy's name is david." sure enough, the guy came back around and his nametag read "david." crazy.

2009-06-09T22:01:00.003-04:00

"mama, can i play my computer games when i get home?"

no, isaiah. let's just all play together. do you want to play with blocks when we get home?

"ummm....i'd rather play with my computer games."

oh, you'd *rather* play with your computer games? what almost five-year-old says "rather"??!!

2009-03-28T00:24:00.003-04:00

isaiah is finally better. he's had that weird never-ending fever since monday. bonus vomit on day 1 and beginning of day 2. yechh. i guess it's going around. i just hope it doesn't get to me or the younger boys.

he was so uncomfortable when he had a fever...lots of crying and misery. he voluntarily drank many bottles of water. i had bought the sipper tops (from the makers of the snack trap) that turn any bottle of water into a sipper...i think i got my money's worth just from this last bout of sickness. it saved a lot of spills and the need to keep opening and closing the bottle of water for isaiah. they also have these neat gel packs now that you can use instead of cold compresses. they just stick to your forehead (or back of your neck) and draw the heat out. isaiah was all about them. he's all about taking his medicine, too. i'm not sure what eric and i did to deserve boys that like to take their medicine, but i'm thankful!

2009-02-16T21:33:00.002-05:00

what can i say about isaiah?

he's learning to read. he's learning how to sound out words and that "ch" says "chuh"...last month his teacher made it a point to tell eric that isaiah read the word "sand" in class that day. good job, buddy! he loves to do homework. it consists of practicing writing his name five times, singing the days of the week or the months of the year song, reciting the nursery rhyme of the week, reading a book together, etc...he wants to go to school every day, which makes me comfortable sending him to kindergarten for the whole day next year.

he loves jamming with eric when eric and/or the band are practicing for the j.soliman world tour. current favorites: living on a prayer, eye of the tiger, and accidentally in love. i took isaiah with me to walgreens the other day and he was singing at the top of his voice..."take my hand and we'll make it swear-ayr...oohh oh! livin' on a prayer..."

he and ethan are still obsessed with nickjr.com. they both got new computers that move light years faster than our old ones, so playing games online is a whole new experience for them. it's cute to see them side by side playing their games.

2008-12-09T01:03:00.003-05:00

so much going on in the world of isaiah...

he's doing great in pre-k - this is based on our parent-teacher conference. he's being a good boy and is making friends. he's concerned about what's in his lunch every day and about whether he goes to latchkey in the morning or not. this friday is his school christmas concert. isaiah and his class will be singing "twinkle, twinkle holy star" and "jingle bells." isaiah likes to practice singing his songs. i really love that he learns the true meaning of christmas at his school. he came home last week and told me all about the "really big star" that showed everyone where baby Jesus was.
he was really sad to leave cheboygan today. on our way home, all he kept saying was how he wanted to go back to luci's house and he didn't want to go home, he wanted to stay in cheboygan. yes, isaiah, we feel you. on our way up to cheboygan he told owen, "do you know who you're going to meet? you're going to meet simon and he's going to be your best friend!"

isaiah has watched too much kung fu panda. so much for shielding him from violence. he pretends to karate chop the wall and even his brothers (sigh). of course the boys think it's fun/funny...they're kung fu panda watching days are pretty much done until they can demonstrate some responsibility in handling it.

isaiah has taken after his parents (or maybe just his mama) in singing about what he's doing or thinking about. you'll often catch him singing under his breath to a familiar tune...but the lyrics are different. some of the are pretty good. one of them went (to "mary had a little lamb"), "and God created everything and it was very cool."

fruit roll-ups are the latest cool snack for isaiah. he likes to rip them. and he says so every time he has one.

2008-10-22T21:52:00.003-04:00

tomorrow is picture day. we took the older boys to get their hair cut today at bosco's. who would have thought that the best place to take your son to get his hair cut would be a barber shop in a mall where the barbers are all older men who speak english as a second language? there's no appointment necessary, no wait (cuz there are 8 barbers just sitting around waiting for customers), they're awesome with little kids and it's super fast. $12 is more than i would like to pay to get their hair cut, but when you think of the service, it can't be beat!

isaiah likes to talk. he likes to memorize tv shows and what they say in between tv shows and then recite them back. you'll often catch him reciting a tv show under his breath when he has nothing better to do.

he likes to tell stories. sr. yvonne told eric last week, "this one [referring to isaiah] has a LOT of stories." he talks easily with his classmates. his best friend at school might be a boy named jacob. they're about the same size (okay, jacob is a little taller) and they are sooo cute when the talk to each other. they had their first class field trip and isaiah and jacob spent the whole time together. isaiah made friends with one of his classmates that also goes to latch key. his name is carter and i swear he's as tall as a first grader.

we were at mass last week and there was a reading from the book of isaiah ("hey! that's my name!") which mentions jacob ("hey, that's my class friend, jacob!"). in the gospel reading according to matthew ("hey, that's another one of my class friends, matthew!") they also talked about grace ("i don't believe it! that's FOUR names of my class friends! [counting on his fingers] isaiah, jacob, matthew and grace!")

one of my favorite things about isaiah right now is that you can reason with him. when he's tired, he's not so rational, but for the most part, he's good. i may have pulled the santa card out to get him to eat broccoli, stop crying over something silly and other things. i try not to play it often, but when i do it's instant good behavior. crazy.

2008-09-08T21:58:00.002-04:00

my sweet isaiah. so far he has all green lights for his behavior at school. green for good behavior. yellow if you break the rules more than once. red for continuing to break the rules. he has handled his new school and transitioning to a full day beautifully. i really don't want to have to leave him at latch key in the morning. i haven't left him there yet. i can't bear it. i don't want anyone else but me or eric to drop him off at his classroom or pick him up. isaiah really likes it, and i like being there for him in that way. but since i can't be late to work 3 times a week, i'll inevitably have to take him to latch key.

i hope that isaiah makes good friends at school. i hope others will love him for how sweet and silly he can be. i hope that he enjoys learning and excels at it. i hope so much for him. i just want him to be happy.

he started soccer on saturday. it's a metro stars program for 4 and 5 year olds held at the soccer fields at oakland university. he is the smallest boy on the "team" and probably the youngest. they played fun games to practice ball control and following instructions. puppies on a leash. putting out fires. tag. super cute. he got pretty tired, and that worries me. he's on iron supplements right now, so i worry about that fatigue. i really wish he would eat more meat and veggies. but i digress. so soccer. i wish they sold expanding soccer cleats for little kids. it's so hard to justify buying even $20 cleats knowing he'll outgrow them in 6 months.

his soccer class on saturday is the beginning of the end of eric's and my weekends to do whatever we please. if isaiah continues to enjoy soccer, this is my entrance into soccer mom world. i'm getting a glimpse into a world with busy children. i really don't know how my mom managed all three of us with baton, piano, gymnastics, bowling, violin, dance, swimming (yes, all at the same time of the year!)...what a time and financial commitment. i hope we can do the same for the boys....

2008-08-21T21:02:00.006-04:00

happy birthday, isaiah! (well, yesterday) you're FINALLY 4!!! i love you sooo much. i can't believe how fast you are growing. you are riding your new bike (your gift from mama and papa) like a pro!

we celebrated your birthday with nani, tita lorie, your friends from team philippines, tita ellen, tito roby, tito ariel, tita kelly, and baby izzy!

team philippines going on a dinosaur safari

2008-07-01T00:45:00.003-04:00

i heart the fantastic 4!!

hiding under the table waiting to surprise tito ryan (the fake surprise party)...ethan and ellie are under the table too!

2008-06-24T14:40:00.001-04:00

isaiah had his first dentist appointment yesterday. he was such a good boy! he let the hygienist get all the "sugar bugs" out, open when asked, closed when asked, didn't bite and sat still while his teeth got a polish. i'm so proud of him. he even waited patiently while i got a full set of x-rays and my teeth cleaned. if it was appropriate, i would have taken him for ice cream! instead, i let him watch scooby doo in the car. :)

2008-05-25T19:48:00.003-04:00

isaiah got to celebrate his birthday at school last thursday. his birthday is not until august, but his teacher gave all the kids with summer birthdays a chance to celebrate this month. i made him cupcakes in ice cream cones and decorated the tops to look like real ice cream with sprinkles and a cherry sour for the cherry.

isaiah, you get to celebrate your birthday at school tomorrow!

"am i gonna be FOUR?!"

no, it just means that you're *almost* four. it's your half birthday!

"no! i don't want it to be half! i don't want it to be broken! i don't want a broken birthday...it's like ripped!"

2008-04-29T04:12:00.003-04:00

oh, isaiah.

his first year of school is almost gone. he recognizes all his letters (his still learning lower case) and numbers and spells everything he can. everytime he sees an I it's "hey that's an I! that starts with my name!!" everytime he sees an N it's "hey that's how you spell noah! N-O-A-H." By the way, apparently noah is now isaiah's brother. so cute.

he gets extremely frustrated (or "fusterated") when...

...he asks "mom, am i four?" and i say, no. not until august. he wants to be four years old so badly.
...he can't sleep in the car. "i can't sleep because my eyes keep opening!"
...he realizes that he's not as tall as the other kids.

isaiah is not teeny tiny for his age, but he is on the smaller side of average. his best friends are the biggest kids in class, so i'm sure that has a lot to do with it. what worries me is that he'll have a complete meltdown because he's "not as tall" and can't reach things that his friends can reach...i just don't want him to have a complex about his size when he really shouldn't. he cried twice last week over it. i spent an entire car ride home reassuring him that being tall doesn't matter ("yes it does matter, mama!") and that we all love him just as he is. i'm not sure if it helped.

he's pretty transparent. when he's happy and excited, you know it. when he's sad or upset, you know it. pure, honest emotion. i appreciate that. one day we will be able to throw "rational" into that mix, but for now we'll have to deal with the irrational. (i do love how sweet he is, though!)

2008-02-18T01:01:00.003-05:00

isaiah looooves baby owen. "i'll get the boppy and then i can hold owen?" he asks me daily. he sings "oh oh oh, owen! oh oh oh, owen" before planting a kiss on owen's head.

he sings all the time and he knows a TON of songs. his memory is pretty impressive. he was on the toilet today singing the dragon song from the backyardigans mighty knights episode. what a funny guy. i'm sure he'll love that i've documented that moment of his life. (side note: the singing voice for the dragon was adam paschal from 'rent'.)

isaiah is a really good big brother. he generally wants to be extremely helpful, whether it's getting a diaper for baby owen or shutting the bathroom door so ethan doesn't end up with his hands in the toilet. he'll help clean up his messes and genuinely feels bad for spilling and other accidents. of course he goes to the other extreme where he's not so helpful and quite sullen and stubborn - basically acting like a 3 year old, which he can't really be blamed for.

isaiah and ethan are starting to wrestle. it's tough to watch because it essentially looks like they're strangling each other at times...but apparently it's fun for them. i just make sure that i'm nearby to referee. the rule that isaiah is still learning is that he needs to stop when ethan starts to cry or whimper. *sigh* boys boys boys. i can only imagine what it will be like when owen gets big enough to join the fun.

latest crazes:

cutting with scissors
hanging out with owen
"chinese new year" (really, it's the new show on nickelodeon: ni-hao, kai lan)
putting on his own coat, hat, and mittens
changing his clothes
playing games on nickjr.com

2008-02-12T00:33:00.000-05:00

a kuya again!

2008-01-19T17:22:00.000-05:00

isaiah's latest excuse to not do something:

"i can't do it because i'm just a kid."

or

"will you do it for me, mama/daddy? because i'm just a little boy."

i have no idea where he learned it!

2007-12-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

eric and i have been home for the past two weeks. i think we've put isaiah in time out once the entire time. quite a difference from the multiple time outs we give to him when we're both busy and working. if there was ever an indication of what isaiah needs from us right now that would be it. attention. quality time. he is a very happy (and well-behaved) little boy when his parents spend plenty of quality time with him. *sigh* i hope we can give him and ethan the attention they need when owen comes.

i would say that isaiah had a good christmas.

7:22 a.m., christmas morning - isaiah is in my face whispering:
"mama! can we go downstairs to see if santa brought us presents??"

down the stairs, straight to his stocking and felt it to see if it was empty. it was not.
"i don't believe it! santa came and brought me presents!"

he proceeded to feel all of the other stockings and announced that santa brought each one of us presents. santa brought him a cranium puzzle game, pajamas, books, and candy. i will cherish these days that he is not asking santa for an xbox 360 or a dirt bike or something else that costs hundreds of dollars. we had to keep reminding him why he got so many presents. remember? it's Jesus' birthday. we get presents to remember the biggest gift of all from God... it may have stuck a little bit. we sang happy birthday to Jesus a couple times that day.

isaiah keeps asking if santa is going to come down the chimney again. not until next year, buddy. he seems content with that answer.

i can't believe it's going to be 2008. isaiah is going to have two little brothers. i think he'll be okay with owen. he still loves ethan so much. "i love my baby," he'll say to me (referring to ethan). oh, and he also still thinks that baby owen is in his tummy as well as in mine. such a silly boy. i think he and ethan will both be good kuyas...4 more weeks to go....

2007-11-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

isaiah updates:

loooooves playing on the computer. he could be on the playhouse disney website all day long if we let him. what's funny is when he opens up a gazillion windows and you just hear a gazillion mickey mouse voices each talking a split second after one another. "the computer is making scary noises!" says a wide-eyed isaiah as he bolts out of the study.

he has this dry erase placemat with the alphabet on it that he can trace. he sat with it for a half hour last night. time to go to bed, isaiah. are you ready? "in a minute. i'm working."

we're getting ready to transition isaiah and ethan out of our bed and into their own room. isaiah, do you want to sleep in your own room with ethan like a big boy? "no. i don't want to sleep in my own bed. i want to sleep with you because i'm scared to sleep in my own room." you can't really argue with that. direct answer, valid reason. we'll be working on that...

i'm amazed at how independent isaiah is. he goes to the bathroom by himself. he can change his clothes and put on his socks. he's making his own choices. (isaiah, you can eat your dinner or go in time out. sometimes it works and he chooses to eat. sometimes it's "i don't want ANYthing!") he's understanding better the responsibilities of being a big brother. last week at church isaiah and ethan wanted the same book. ethan was starting to cry, so eric explained to isaiah that ethan would continue to be loud unless isaiah gave him the book. so isaiah gave him the book. along with that, he understands that church is a place where you are very quiet and a good boy.

we get busted by isaiah a lot. "stupid" and "shut up" and "sucks" are regular jargon for the adults in my house...we get a lot of "you don't say stupid!" or "you don't say that word!" from isaiah. sorry, you're right. we don't say stupid. stupid is a bad word. should i go in time out? "no, you don't have to go in time out!" isaiah will say with a smile. phew.

2007-09-20T01:58:00.000-04:00

first day of school

2007-09-14T18:54:00.001-04:00

isaiah's first day of school: september 11, 2007.

i can't even put into words how sad i was that i couldn't be there because of work.

isaiah LOVES school. he insists on holding onto the straps of his backpack with his thumbs when he wears it. his teacher's name is miss poisson, and he can even tell you so if you ask him.

despite missing his first day, i was able to drop him off on his second day.

isaiah, hold mama's hand.
"no, i gotta hold my backpack."
i had trouble finding his classroom. down the long hallway...turn left. it looks like there are two rooms for preschool.
"oh! here's my classroom!" he drags me inside.
"oh, i gotta hang up my backpack." isaiah takes me to the little hooks, hangs up his bag, and beelines to the circle mat where some of his classmates are playing.
uh...bye, i guess, isaiah!
"bye, mama!" he waves and returns to playing.

my little boy. not even sad about leaving me. sigh. growing up too fast...

2007-08-20T13:34:00.000-04:00

one way to reason with isaiah about going to bed is to tell him that the sun went to sleep, so, therefore, he should, too. because of that, the first thing isaiah says the second he opens his eyes in the morning is, "oh, the sun woke up!"

this morning was the same. i greeted him:

happy birthday, isaiah!
"happy birthday, mama."
you're three today! how many is that?
he holds up four fingers with a huge smile. he isn't able to hold down his pinky with his thumb to do "three." he knows that four fingers is not three. he absolutely does not understand that today is his birthday.

i love him so much!!! i can't believe it's been three years of parenting madness. isaiah can really misbehave sometimes, but really...he is such a good and sweet boy who really loves getting candy everytime he uses the toilet. my favorite is when he asks, "will you hold me, mama?" of course i will hold you! i will hold you until you stop asking. and probably even after that. :)

happy birthday to you, isaiah!!

2007-08-07T10:36:00.000-04:00

i had to take isaiah to the doctor yesterday after he spent the previous night with a bad barking cough and a fever. poor baby. "i don't feel so good," he said.

he was so good. i am just so proud of him. he obediently stepped on the scale to be weighed and allowed the nurse to take his temperature. he held still while dr. soliven looked inside is mouth and in his ears and listened to his chest with the stethoscope. he even took the yucky tasting medicine without complaint. this is going to taste yucky, isaiah. just drink it really fast. and he did.

"after this, i get a lollipop?"
i don't know if the doctor is going to give you a lollipop, buddy, but you're getting something for being such a good boy.

he not only got a lollipop from the doctor, but a big sticker as well. "oh! i feel so good now!" of course you do, silly. you're eating a lollipop!

2007-07-23T11:28:00.000-04:00

ethan got a toy airplane for his birthday. he doesn't know how to play with it yet, but isaiah does. he puts his little polar bear in it and says, "mama, do you want to see what's inside?" and of course i want to know, so he opens up the front of the plane and shows me the little polar bear shoved inside.

where is the polar bear going, isaiah?
"he's going to get his face painted! he's going to the relay!"

so if you don't know already, i staff relay for life events. to a kid, it means a day of being outside and having fun, playing in tents, etc. to my kid it means 1) getting a sucker from the sucker pull and getting a prize, 2) getting your face painted, 3) getting tattoos and/or stickers, 4) getting balloon animals, and 5) getting to drink lots of juice and eat candy. oh and 6) jumping in a moonwalk. can't forget the jumping.

i really have no point, except to express that it makes me happy that isaiah has fun at my events, and that he looks forward to them and remembers them weeks and weeks later. and that it's just so silly that "the relay" is where you get your face painted. at one point "the relay" was equated to "shopping" - so whenever we'd tell isaiah we were going shopping, his face would light up and he'd ask if he was going to get his face painted. the end.

2007-07-12T09:30:00.001-04:00

isaiah is getting potty trained.

let's just start with how i wish there was a better name for the process. perhaps toilet training is a better phrase?

eric did a lot of the hard work by devoting his first couple days of shut down to acclimating isaiah with the toilet. what a guy. my cousin doesn't believe in using pull ups because it really is just a diaper. there is no consequence for the kid if he has an accident - he won't feel all uncomfortable having wet clothes. i bought into it. so i purchased several packs of underwear in all isaiah's favorite characters: cars, diego, spiderman... day 1 of potty training went well. i think one accident. day 2: not so successful. four accidents and a very frustrated father. we spent day 3 with the guevaras and put isaiah in pull ups. (we didn't want isaiah leaving pee all over their house when he had an accident.) i think this was the turning point. being around the already-potty-trained luci for a day and a half was good for isaiah to see. positvie peer pressure. that, and gary's jar of jelly bellies that we used to bribe isaiah. one jelly bean for trying. two jelly beans for actually going. we transitioned to "big red candy" (cherry sours, which are essentially big round jelly beans) when we got home. since then, isaiah has been fantastic about using the toilet. rejoice!

p.s. i never thought i could have so much joy over someone pooping in a toilet.

2007-06-26T12:19:00.000-04:00

a conversation i had with my first born while getting ready for work this morning:

"mama, are you going to see Jesus?"
no, buddy. mama's going to work.
he pouts. "why do you have to go to work?"
so i can earn money to buy you food and toys and clothes...
"toys?!!" (his face lights up.)
"clooothes?!" (excitement grows.)
"and a seahorse and penguins and water??? can i come with you???"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
we went to tito philippe's house for a bbq on sunday. isaiah watched the guys as they played a game of horse.

a guy named joel missed. here's isaiah: "OH!!!! did you miss it?"

another guy is balding in the front. here's isaiah: "hey, mama! did that guy get a haircut??"

sometimes i wish isaiah didn't talk so loudly.

2007-05-26T08:25:00.000-04:00

we took isaiah to the park the other day. two little boys run onto the playscape where isaiah was playing.

isaiah: wanna know my name? yes? or no?
little boys: yes.
isaiah: ISAIAH! (jumps up when he says it)

i recently taught isaiah what the different colors of the traffic light mean. now in the car it's always, "hey, mama/daddy - say 'should we stop or should we go?'" should we stop or should we go? it's always "stop," regardless if the light is red.

i should probably post pictures soon. stay tuned!

2007-04-23T00:20:00.000-04:00

"isaiah, you're so cool."
yes i am so cool. [touching his hand to his chest.]

mama, you beautiful.
"thanks, isaiah! you're beautiful, too!"
no. i not beautiful. i so cool.

[ethan cries.]
in a high pitched voice: shh shhh. it's okay, ethan. kuya's here.

he's definitely a kid. not so much a baby any more. his memory continues to astound me and eric. i think that i will always lament over how fast my boys are growing. it's probably something you never get over, so you'll probably continue to read how astonished i am at how fast time goes by. i can't even believe that it's time to think about sending isaiah to pre-school. school? my baby to school? has he had enough time to just play all day?

isaiah was still up tonight at 11pm. he was pulling books off of his little shelf in the kitchen. i was pretty much tired to the point of tears and still had to do a couple loads of laundry...in my head, i wanted to beg him to stop and send him off to bed. i had to remind myself how precious the days are when he wants to climb into my lap to read together or when he gets upset at the idea of being separated from me or eric. so i read to him whatever book (or in this case, many books) he wanted me to read to him. for some reason, i love playing with isaiah on the kitchen floor. it seems more fun.

he passed out on the couch while i watched a rerun of grey's anatomy. i guess i should get him up to bed. good night!

2007-03-16T15:53:00.000-04:00

oh, isaiah!

the little man is speaking more eloquently now. he's understanding feelings better. isaiah, please don't sit on your baby brother. isaiah continues to sit on baby brother. repeat 3 times. finally: ISAIAH! YOU DON'T SIT ON YOUR BROTHER!! he immediately cries and goes to eric: "mama being mean to me!" or to me: "mama, why you make me so sad?"

more recently, i've been gone a lot because of my night meetings with volunteers. i think because of that, isaiah has been more clingy. the other morning, i was getting ready to take a shower. "mama are you weefing [leaving]?" it breaks my heart! he cried and cried on the way to jen's yesterday because he wanted to stay home. i will try to cuddle with him as much as possible when i'm home.

current favorite movie: beauty and the beast. ("i'm mad gaston!")

my favorite song that he sings: i want a hippopatamus for christmas. ("NO CROC-A-DIIILE!! NO RHI-NOCEROS!")

when ethan goes for one of isaiah's toys, isaiah likes to move it out of ethan's reach. (while shaking his finger) "no no no, ethan. no no no. that's kuya's! mama, say it!" *sigh* ethan, that's isaiah's.

2007-01-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

for those of you that only want the pictures:

merry christmas!

happy new year at discovery cove!

baby boys at bible study

mousketeers!

2007-01-22T20:15:00.000-05:00

tita kelly showed isaiah how to do thumbs up yesterday after church. he has been practicing ever since.

2007-01-08T00:04:00.000-05:00

i've said this before: isaiah is impatient. when he asks for something - we'll use juice as an example - and you say "okay, just a minute," he immediately cries (usually a fake cry) because he has blinked and there is no juice in his hand. how do you teach a two-year-old patience?

on the other hand, he can also be extremely polite. ryan, lorie, kimmie, eric, and i were all sitting around the table one night in florida chatting and here comes isaiah. excuse me, daddy. can i watch more bugs please? i think all of our hearts simultaneously melted.

isaiah got the "bug's life" (aka "bugs") dvd for christmas. it's the current number one movie tied with "cars" (also a christmas present).

he's starting to ask "why" and is using "because." mama? can i have binky, please, because i want my binky?

he's also starting to distinguish between boys and girls. i a boy. is mama a boy or a girl? mama a girrrll. is ethan a boy or a girl? he a boy. is luci a boy or a girl? luci a princess. ha!

i think isaiah had a lot of fun in florida. he learned how to repeat "ice ice baby" while jumping up and down on the bed. he got to see the dolphins jumping and the fish and manta rays swimming at discovery cove. he also got to run around and play in the sand at discovery cove. he got to see the shamu show and feed the seals and sea lions at sea world. he got to see every single disney character and see spectacular fireworks at magic kingdom. he got to swim A LOT. even though he got pretty restless on the plane, he was pretty good considering that we were asking an extremely energetic little boy to sit still for 3 hours. thank God for first class seats. the extra space makes a huge difference.

2006-12-24T11:50:00.000-05:00

last thursday, isaiah and i were sitting on the couch. "isaiah, do you know who santa is?" he looks at me with his big eyes. santa brings presents.

???!!!!

eric and i aren't sure where he picked that up. so i taught him "santa clause is coming to town." we talked about how santa only brings presents to good boys and girls, and did he think he was a good boy? yup. of course he does.

he still likes to sing songs. jingle bells! jingle bells!...AAALLL way! oh what fun uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh. HEY! one day he'll be able to fill in the "uh uh" parts.

isaiah told me and eric a story yesterday: i played with noAH and we jumping (isaiah jumps) and..and..dancing (isaiah dances) and crwap (isaiah claps). and then, and THEN....ninONG and daddy prway guitARRR. and then, and then ninong and tito j and daddy prway guitar. "isaiah, doesn't tito j play the drums? and tito ryan plays the piano?" yeah! and tito j prway drums! and tito ryan prway p'aNOOO. and jumping (isaiah jumps) and noAH and crwap (isaiah claps)...and then...OH NO! that was the end.

most of the bible study was helping g out at a youth retreat last weekend. they were the band. isaiah and noah jumped a lot and danced a lot. during "trading my sorrows" the hand motions go "yes (thumbs up) Lord (point to the sky) yes (thumbs) Lord point) yes (thumbs) yes (thumbs) Lord (point)." isaiah has been singing it since.

i think he's suffering from noah withdrawal as well. i think they saw each other 7 times in two weeks, three of those days were consecutive. i like how they play together. they just like to run and jump and laugh. they're not so much into the violent movies or games or play, which i like. i figure that isaiah is going to inevitably be exposed to violence through cartoons, video games, friends, etc. i'd like to delay that as much as possible. i don't even get him squirt guns. anyway.

merry christmas to all!

2006-12-01T00:52:00.000-05:00

yesterday was a typical wednesday morning. i'm taking the boys to my cousin's house on my way to work. as we pull into my cousin's neighborhood, i say to isaiah that we're going to tita jen's house. he starts to whimper. no, mama. no tita jen's! i wan' go home! now he's crying. i wan go home!!!! aiya. he's not usually clingy (unless there are older filipino ladies around - they tend to scare him with their high pitched voices and incessant requests for kisses) and he rarely asks to go home. it breaks my heart to leave him when he's crying like that. i wonder if it's just a phase...like part of the terrible twos (which don't seem sooo terrible right now...)...

2006-11-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

current phrases:

"isaiah huunngry"
"i'm so sad!"
"ethan wave to kuya! ethan, say kuya! ethan! ETHAN! look at kuya!!"

current favorite song:

old macdonald (aka "EIEIO")

a couple times isaiah has attempted to give me a time out when i'm trying to get him to do something (like eat or clean his nose) that he doesn't want to do. no, mama, NO! time out!

2006-10-25T12:38:00.000-04:00

let's talk about haircuts:

isaiah got a haircut yesterday. i never realize how much hair he has until he gets it cut. afterwards, i feel like a bad mom for letting him run around with a big ol' mop on his head. he looks so much older! it's super short, so it looks much cleaner - well it's too short to mess up, so that makes sense. i love it. my little BOY. i still call him my baby. he'll be my baby forever.

okay, now let's talk about tummy time:

last night, i was giving ethan tummy time. "well done, ethan! way to pick your head up!" isaiah proceeds to get on his tummy and lift his head up and down just like ethan was trying to do. "good job, isaiah!" he says wanting the same attention. oh, of course. well done, isaiah!! way to pick your head up like you've been able to do for two years! silly boy.

...and now let's talk about football:

this is how you play football according to isaiah: 1) run around and around and around with the football. 2) throw the football. 3) fall down. repeat 1) through 3). i have since taught him how to say "hike!" before 1). he gets mad when you knock the ball out of his hand (FUMBLE!!) and try to get to the ball before him.

last but not least, let's talk about singing:

isaiah is starting to sing songs in their entirety. with no help. example: dora dora 'plorer. dora!...doo doo dora!...packpack! let's go!...vam'os!...no swiping! AW MAN! you know he knows all the words but can't sing them because he pauses in between lines and looks off into nowhere, a hesitant hum on his lips...you can practically see the missing lines being sung in his head. other hits: abc's, twinkle twinkle little star, blues clues.

2006-10-13T18:22:00.000-04:00

kimmie, to isaiah who smells like poop: isaiah, do i have to change your diaper? did you poop?

isaiah: no, baby brudder poopoo.

what a liar!! that's the first time (and certainly not the last) i've heard him fib.

on a completely different note...i came home today with starbucks. a caramel macchiato for me and a caramel frappuccino for kimmie. isaiah milk! isaiah drink milk! isaiah wants the frapp. so to please him, i make him an iced chai. (i figure, it's got milk in it and it's decaf.) what a little weirdo! yeah, i want chai. mama, chai! chai chai chai!

hi. my two-year-old drinks chai.

2006-09-30T02:10:00.000-04:00

isaiah likes pirate's booty. when you take them away from him he cries "PIRATE'S BOOTY PLEASE!!"

2006-09-25T11:14:00.000-04:00

translating isaiah-speak:

sing spiderman! = sing "son of man" (from tarzan)
look at me i'm spiderman! = look at me i'm superman
look it's spiderman! = look it's peter pan
look it's spiderman! = look it's spiderman
clues clues = blues clues (which is weird because he can say "blue")
chicken = chicken, beef, pork, fish - any meat that's not a hot dog or link sausage

...and apparently giraffes say "yeehaw." whoever taught that to him, please raise your hand.

i bought isaiah a tarzan book last saturday. kimmie and i told him that the pretty lady in the yellow dress is named "jane." eric told him that her name was "shaniqua." no isaiah, her name is not shaniqua. her name is jane. isaiah points to the pictures to show us what he has learned. who's that, isaiah? "neequa!" aiya.

2006-09-19T15:27:00.000-04:00

at church on sunday, isaiah said:

"oh, baby brudder so cute yeehaw!"

2006-09-17T23:47:00.000-04:00

eric and i took isaiah and ethan to the detroit zoo on my last day of maternity leave (last wednesday). isaiah has been exposed to a lot of different animals in "go, diego, go" and "little einsteins". isaiah will loove seeing the animals in real life. good idea, right?

one of the first exhibits we saw was the monkeys. they were behind a couple glass walls, one of the monkeys hanging out on the ground about 4 feet away from the glass in front of us. look at the monkey, isaiah! it's walking toward us! wave to the monkey! hi, monkey! monkey disappears behind a divider separating the two panels of glass and pops out six inches from isaiah's face on the other side. tears. whimpers of fear. uppy uppy, mama! isaiah wouldn't look at any of the other monkey or gorilla exhibits. i scared, he'd say. i think it's safe to say that isaiah has been traumatized by this experience. boo.

zebras good. giraffes good. bears good (because they were so far away). hippo good. in fact, isaiah asked to see the hippo again. eric thinks the hippo is dead because it's sleeping under water. hippo was not dead. penguins good. snakes, turtles, and other reptiles not good. he spent the entire tour of the reptile house on eric's shoulders clinging to eric's face in fear.

one of the coolest exhibits was the australian outback. there's a walking path through the exhibit that's roped off not two feet off the ground. kangaroos are literally right in front of you. one of the kangaroos was laying on the path, just chillin'. you couldn't pet him, but it was neat to be so close up.

i can't wait to show him shamu when we go to sea world in december...

2006-08-31T19:06:00.000-04:00

eric came home from work yesterday only to be thrown up on by isaiah, who was running a temp of 102F. poor eric. isaiah has thrown up on him so many times. more than he can count on both hands (and maybe both feet!). poor isaiah. he's napping on the couch right now with the shakes. he has a virus, so we've been keeping him away from ethan. he's so sad when we won't let him kiss baby brother.

isaiah hates the doctor's office. he's great in the waiting room, but the second you take a step towards the examination rooms, he's a wreck. i don't think any amount of toys or lollipops will make him okay in there. i feel so bad for the doctors and nurses. he used to be so sweet to them. now he just cries and cries and clings and clings (to me or eric). whenever i take him to the doctor, the wiggles song automatically plays in my head. there are lots of toys in the waiting room at the doctor's (at the doctor's)....

i dare say he has passed his wiggles phase. (woohoo!) it is now the little einsteins phase (again) with stints of dora, diego, and bob the builder. isaiah says "swiper fock" instead of "swiper the fox". t*hee hee.

2006-08-19T22:28:00.000-04:00

in less than two hours, my (first) baby boy is going to be two. two years old already!! he speaks in sentences and knows a ton of nouns. he can sing along to songs he knows (bob the builder! can we fix it? bob the builder! YES WE CAN!!!), he repeats everything he hears, he knows how to play with cars and how to make his animals talk to each other (how are you? how are you? how are you? how are you?). i think the terrible twos have officially set in. fits and tears whenever he doesn't get something right away, adamant NO!!s, tuning us out when it's something he doesn't want to hear, etc. he can be so polite one minute and a complete mess the next. eric's co-worker assures him that a switch goes off around 3-1/2 to 4 years old, and the kid becomes super sweet again.

anyway...happy birthday, my sweet baby boy!! thanks for making us so happy. you can stop growing if you want. you don't have to grow up so fast. it really does go by soooo fast. i love you very much!

2006-07-30T01:39:00.000-04:00

i might have said this before, but isaiah is HUGE.

i don't know if it's because he has a little brother 1/3 his size, or if he hit a growth spurt exactly when ethan was born, or both. we picked him up from my mom's house on our way home from the hospital and he just seemed so much more mature - like he knew that he had become a big brother. changing his diaper now is like changing the diaper of a grown up compared to ethan's teeny tiny diapers. it makes me wonder how ready he is to start potty training...

i think isaiah loves his baby brother. he hasn't really displayed signs of jealousy, although i'm not sure if that's because "baby brother" is still a novelty. isaiah always wants to hold ethan, which is the sweetest thing ever but at the same time problematic when ethan is trying to sleep or nurse. eric went back to work last thursday, leaving me alone and outnumbered with the boys. at one point, i had to go to the bathroom. we were in the living room - ethan on his baby bed, isaiah playing nearby. isaiah, mama has to go to the bathroom and will be right back. can you watch baby brother for a minute? "sure." i run up to the bathroom but not before i snuck a peek from the stairs to see what isaiah would do. i saw him abandon his toys, walk over to ethan, bend over to give him a kiss, then went back to playing. *smile* i hope they love each other their whole lives. isaiah really is a sweet boy.

2006-07-17T00:32:00.000-04:00

isaiah has this thing where he must close any open door he sees.

the weaning process off the binky seems to be going well. isaiah has stopped asking for his binky except for when he's on the brink of sleep. i'm relieved that he's able to soothe himself in other ways. every now and then (but not often) it's the finger up the nose.

all juice is apple juice. we've been diluting his juice with water 1) so he's not drinking as much juice and 2) to make the juice last longer. i think he could burn through a carton of oj in a day and a half if we let him.

i really hope isaiah takes to ethan well. i guess we'll find out soon enough.

2006-07-14T22:59:00.000-04:00

isaiah is watching eric play nfl 2k5. he's picking up on everything. in the past five minutes, isaiah has echoed eric's "shut up" and "OH CRAP!!" (among other things).

nice.

choose better phrases, i say. can you believe we taught him that? eric says. aiya.

cut to eric taking deep breaths in lieu of other choice phrases because he thinks the computer is cheating.

2006-07-12T22:38:00.000-04:00

isaiah says:

"sit down butt."

"knight quincy! knight 'saiah!"

"mama/dada, whe' ARE you??"

"more johnny (or einsteins or wiggles)!! more!"

isaiah, do you want water or milk? "chocolate milk?"

2006-07-03T00:18:00.000-04:00

isaiah sure knows what he wants. more importantly, he knows how to tell you what he wants. my heart breaks whenever he tries to tell me something and i can't decipher it. he gets so frustrated, and eric and i so badly want to understand. on the flip side, there are times when we know what he's asking for but don't necessarily want to give it to him. "wiggles!" "einsteins!!" "binky binky!" huh??? (us pretending we don't understand.)

isaiah likes to "cook" with me. i let him "whisk" eggs and then i hold him on my hip while i scramble them for him. he'll eat the eggs right up because he helped make them. i'll also give him a wooden spoon and a little pot with some uncooked pasta in it to "cook" while i'm fixing dinner. it's great and totally keeps him happy for at least a half hour.

it's been tough getting isaiah to drink milk. i think he'll only drink it willingly if there are other kids around him drinking milk. (thank goodness for oj fortified with calcium and vitamins a, b, c, and d!!) i've resorted to getting him to "cook" chocolate milk. we let him mix it up with a spoon and then he drinks it out of a straw. at least he's getting some milk in him. it's really cute when he says "chocolate milk."

last night i was looking through pictures of isaiah when he was a newborn. he was so tiny then and didn't know anything. we've blinked, and he's this little boy that walks and talks and laughs and plays. he makes faces and sings along to the songs he hears. i can't believe he's going to be a big brother in just over a week. i was telling eric today that it's really starting to sink in. what the heck are we getting ourselves into? two little boys! we must be nuts. i can't wait to hold them both in my arms.

2006-06-22T15:51:00.000-04:00

talk talk talk...

isaiah, do you want more banana? no no. [shakes head and puts his hand up.]

you's keed-ee!! [popping out from behind the curtains.] huh? you're kimmie? no no. [again with the hand.] you's keed-ee!!! i look at eric. "you scared me," he says. "that's what you say to him when he pops out from behind the curtains." ohhhhhh.

isaiah, do you want to color? yeah. seet down. colorrr.

[isaiah picks up two pens and hands one to you.] on guard!
[isaiah picks up two thundersticks and hands one to you.] on guard!
[isaiah picks up two towels and hands one to you.] on guard!
[isaiah picks up a sock and hands it to you to put on his hand.] sock? on? on guard!!

isaiah will often cry when he doesn't get what he wants. but he'll only cry for a little bit until he either forgets or finds that putting his finger up his nose is way more fascinating than the thing he asked for in the first place.

2006-06-12T12:07:00.000-04:00

when we first gave isaiah lucky charms, he quickly discovered that the marshmallows were the only part of the cereal worth eating. he never even finished his first serving of lucky charms because he quit on it after he learned that there were no more marshmallows left. in fact, i dont' think he's ever finished his lucky charms. anyway...when he's digging around for the marshmallows, he is silent. he's concentrating so hard that not one peep comes out of him. how great is it to have lucky charms at church??? SO great! not that he gets out of control at church, but it's nice to be able to actually listen to the readings and participate in mass. he was very well behaved for 98% of the mass yesterday. it wasn't until he started to get fussy right after communion that we discovered that there was a cry room (sigh). and on the door to the cry room read "No food allowed in the church." oops. =P

2006-06-08T11:04:00.000-04:00

isaiah's current favorite movie is chicken little.

he got it in his easter basket. i would say he got it from the easter bunny, but he has no idea who the easter bunny is. all he knows is that he has it, and it's all he thinks about.

he woke up at 4am a few nights ago just crying and crying asking for chicken little (over and over and over). it took a while, but eric finally got him calmed down and back to sleep.

eric's mom watches isaiah on thursdays. we use our ps2 to play dvds. isaiah can't watch chicken little on thursdays unless mommy starts playing it before she leaves for work. and he can only watch it once. lola doesn't know how to work the ps2.

we always watch all the way through the end of the credits. isaiah likes to shake his tailfeather. when the credits roll, isaiah grabs your hand and gives you a very serious look. "up!!" and pulls your hand so you can shake your tailfeather with him.

2006-05-31T12:42:00.000-04:00

All dressed up in my barong for Tito Paolo and Tita Mandy's wedding.

Superstar!

....aaaand he made it! isaiah did a great job walking down the aisle at connie and pat's wedding. and, yes, he did walk. eric and i totally thought he was going to run, but come game time, he did a fabulous job. as isaiah reached the end of the aisle, he handed me his ring bearer pillow and then clapped twice as if to say "done!" we're soooo proud of him.

he was a dancing machine again. at both weddings. he even danced to the organ music playing before paolo and mandy's wedding ceremony. once the music started playing at the receptions, he was out on the dance floor doing his thing. he'd occassionally pull people onto the dance floor ("up!") only to abandon them to dance on his own. we actually had to keep him off the dance floor so paolo and mandy could have the floor to themselves during their first dance together as husband and wife. he missed his nap on the day of connie and pat's wedding, so he literally wore himself out and passed out around 11pm despite the blaring music. i think he had a good weekend. he had 6 more titos staying over our house to hang out with him and give him attention all weekend long. although, i hope he doesn't expect that kind of attention from now on...

it makes me happy that isaiah can bring so much joy to people around him. at least, it seems like he brings joy to people. he charms everyone. even big tough-looking men in the sports stores. one look at his animated face, and it's over. i hope he's as happy as he makes his parents.

by the way, i totally stole these pictures from chrislum. thanks, man!

2006-05-23T10:09:00.000-04:00

deeee-troit bas-ket-ball!!
(thanks, tita chrissy!)

2006-05-18T12:39:00.000-04:00

isaiah insisted on wearing his nemo swimming diaper *over* his pistons jersey/shorts last night. hilarious. (don't worry, he was wearing a regular diaper under the jersey.) maybe tita chrissy will post pictures. hint hint.

2006-05-17T13:48:00.000-04:00

just a bunch of little things that add up to isaiah growing up too fast...

he's mimicking words like crazy. we definitely have to watch our language around him. ryan had the privilege of being the first to drop the $h!# word and have isaiah immediately repeat it. thanks, bro. :P
he likes to hide. eric would take a blanket and say "isaiah let's hide," and they'd disappear under a blanket with isaiah whispering, "hiding, hiding..." and then they'd pop out from under the blanket yelling, "SURPRISE!!" isaiah, usually shrieking with joy from the fun of the game. he's recently taken to hiding in pillow forts that we build around him while he scrunches into a ball on the floor, face down. it is imperative that his little blanket covers the top of the fort.
he pretends to sleep. on the stairs. i don't know why on the stairs. i've figured out that our stairs are about 3 feet wide, since isaiah can fully lay out on a step with a little room to spare. he pretend snores to make it authentic. he gets upset ("no!!!") if you say "wake up, isaiah!"
he runs up to you and says, "doing!" as in "what are you doing?" you tell him "i'm brushing my hair." oh. then runs away.
he remembers you! well, if he sees you often enough, he'll remember your name. we're still working on the three-syllable words, so trying to get him to call people "tita" or "tito" and then their name is too much. so until he gets that, don't feel disrespected that you're just "bob" instead of "tito bob."
he's still calling eric "babe" and calls ryan "goose." hilarious.
eric's mom started teaching isaiah our real names. sometimes i'm "anna."
he's been adept at feeding himself with a spoon for a while now. he hunches over his little bowl, shoveling the food in his mouth with his right hand while holding the bowl steady with his left.
he really loves the pistons. he and eric spent quality time yesterday refreshing the pistons homepage just to hear mason. deee-troit bas-ket-balll!! i showed him his tayshaun prince jersey this morning and asked if he wanted to wear it. "pistons?! yeah!" he got upset when i put a onesie on him first. he thought he wasn't going to get to wear his pistons jersey. whenever he sees nba on tv, he asks "pistons?" that's our boy.
you can ask him his name. he'll say "ssay-yah."
he can for real catch a ball. and he can for real shoot a basketball from two feet away from his hoop.
sometimes he gets this crazy look in his eyes and then plants a big, looooong kiss on your lips. it can be a little uncomfortable, but it's still so sweet.
he greets us when we come home. "hi, mama. hi, dah-dee." what a great greeting.
he's getting his colors down. green. blue. purple. pink. red. black.

that's all for now...

2006-05-09T13:43:00.000-04:00

we took isaiah to the wave field on north campus (at umich) on sunday while we were visiting with marie. that little boy is fearless. he'd stand at the top of one of the hills, check out both sides, turn to the steeper side, say "reh-deee??" (to no one in particular) and then he'd jump, land on the slope of the little hill, fall to his knees, and roll the rest of the way down. he'd do this over and over and over. he wore himself out at the wave field....so much that he fell asleep sitting up in his high chair at pizza house. cutie.

isaiah jumps off of stuff at home, too. "ready??" jump! off the couch, off his little spiderman chair, off the bottom stair. he also loves hiding in the curtains we're putting up in the living room and dining room.

eric and i watched isaiah have a pretend phone conversations on my cell phone for 10 minutes yesterday.

"hello?"
*pause*
"umm...[insert jibberish we don't understand]"
*pause. push some buttons on the phone*
"[more jibberish we don't understand]"
*pause*
"umm...dada [points to eric]...mama [points to me]...'say-yah [points to himself]"
*pause*
"bye bye."

just like a real conversation!! (i wonder if he's talking to his guardian angel.)

2006-05-05T09:39:00.000-04:00

playing in the park

2006-05-03T14:25:00.000-04:00

i just got off the phone with isaiah (and kimmie, who's watching him).

isaiah: hi, mama.
me: hi, isaiah.
isaiah: love you.
me: i love you, too. are you going to take a nap?
isaiah: yeah. (closes his eyes an opens them, according to kimmie.)
isaiah: bye bye.

crazy exciting, i know. (you can note the slight sarcasm.) whenever i'm home during the week with isaiah, i like to call eric at work at least twice a day so he can hear isaiah's little voice answer "hi, dah-dee". it's so silly to call just for that, but it's so cute. plus, isaiah really likes talking on the phone.

*******
something to work on....

we show isaiah pictures all the time. when there's a picture of him, we'd tell him "look, that's you." so now if you show him a picture of himself and ask "who is that?"...he says "you". =P

2006-05-03T11:20:00.000-04:00

we started weaning isaiah from his binky yesterday.

2006-04-26T12:14:00.000-04:00

sometimes the boogers in isaiah's nose are so big that you can't focus on anything else until you get them out.

2006-04-20T09:57:00.000-04:00

eric and isaiah were reciting the alphabet yesterday. every letter was coming out really clear. A. "A!!" B. "B!!" C. "C!!".....V. "V!!" W. *silence* then (quietly) "bahbah". X. "X!!" Y. "Y!!" Z. "Z!!"

it might be a while before he says a triple-syllable word.

my mom, lorie, and kimmie were over on tuesday night for our weekly dinner. eric had gone into the kitchen to do something and isaiah was babbling away with us. sometimes he just sits and says names of people who are on his mind. ("andrew? andrew, wait. andrew, wait. andrew, wait." or "mama? dada? daddy? mommy? na-nee? na-nee? na-nee?!" or "luci. luci. luci. mia?" it could go on for a while.) anyway, that night he was looking for daddy. "dada? where'dhego?" isaiah, call daddy. "daaah-deee!!" eric didn't here him. i try to help. "hey, babe. he's calling you." then we hear "hey! babe! baaaabe!" no, isaiah, say daddy. hi, daddy! "HI BABE!" eric's just shaking his head in the kitchen. clearly, flashbacks of when isaiah was first learning to talk were running through his mind. isaiah used to call eric "bob"...he'd hear me calling eric "babe" and would copy. ha.

we currently need to take buddy with us wherever we go. buddy is the little stuffed dog that leslie gave isaiah when he was born. silly me thought isaiah was attached to all of his doggies and not one in particular. i learned my lesson on the half-hour ride home from the pistons game on sunday when isaiah cried the whole way asking for buddy and totally rejecting the dog i had brought. silly me.

2006-04-18T15:08:00.000-04:00

sometimes it's just easier to post pictures... happy easter everybody!

all dressed up for easter...with my juice.

i loooove my juice.

let's go see the pistons!!

come on, bumble bee...we're going to see the pistons.

2006-04-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

where's isaiah??

2006-04-10T12:23:00.000-04:00

isaiah is like his mom. he doesn't like being awake when he doesn't want to be. he is definitely not a morning person.

2006-04-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

sweet boy or ad for "feed the hungry children"?

2006-03-31T15:05:00.000-05:00

our sweet baby boy is getting too big!

ninang = na-nee
starting to talk into the phone without freaking out by a response on the other end
tall enough to walk up and down the stairs while holding the banister
will still fight sleep until the bitter end
loooves dogs (HIII, DOGGIE!! *wave*)
puts his head on my belly and say "hi, baby"
really good at copying dances and hand motions (and remembering them)
can do single arm pump *yes!*
wipes his forehead and says "phew!"

2006-03-28T09:53:00.002-05:00

noah noah came over to hang out last night while ellen and rob (his parents, my cousins) were at work. noah is just 5 months older than isaiah, so it's great that we live close enough for them to spend time together often. oh, and noah is also going to be a big brother (t minus 4 weeks!).

i think that it's pretty fair to say that both isaiah and noah have not been very good at sharing. (can you blame them? they've been only children their whole lives.) usually, we have to hang around both of them to make sure they're not snatching toys from each other and making the other one cry. but last night we left them alone in the living room with blocks and doggies (stuffed animals) and nemo books, and they shared! passing the dogs back and forth and hugging them at the same time. "reading" the nemo books and showing each other the pictures in the book they're reading. it's so funny to watch them interact.

isaiah: mamo! dada!
noah: gurgle gurgle gurgle...book.
isaiah: book book book.
noah: gurgle gurgle gurgle...okay.

they played and played and played. i think that isaiah played last night (even after noah left) until he was ready to drop. i changed him into his pajamas and he was out in eric's arms within 5 minutes. i'm betting that if eric didn't hold him still for a minute, he would have literally played until he dropped.

taking care of two boys is exhausting. that was good practice.

2006-03-24T09:10:00.000-05:00

picture of the day (stolen from jon yang...thanks, man!)

2006-03-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

i think isaiah has croup. he just has the barking cough, nothing more. no fever, no runny nose, no drooling, no lack of appetite or desire to play. i'm thankful for that. we've been doing everything you're supposed to do to help it along....letting him play outside in the cold, cool mist humidifier, etc. hopefully it goes away in a couple days. a little over a year ago, we spent two nights in a row with isaiah in the ER because he came down with RSV bronchiolitis. it's so scary to see such a small person working so hard to breathe. he had to get an iv and everything. i don't want to imagine it getting worse than that. anyway...like i said, i hope it goes away in a couple days.

on a completely unrelated note...when disciplining your child, it's important to be prepared for any reaction your child has for your form of discipline. isaiah can get a little excited when he plays/tries to communicate with you and tends to hit. so we've been doing the "no hitting, gentle, etc." a couple days ago, he smacked me pretty hard in the face, and i immediately went into a very stern "no, isaiah! that's hitting. you don't hit! you gave mommy an owie." and was instantly greeted with the biggest eyes and a "HII!!" with a wave and a hopeful smile. ugh! i had my guard down and started to laugh. i had to turn away. i see eric in the front seat (we were in the car) shaking from laughter (and keeping his face out of view in the rearview mirror, i might add). *sigh*

2006-03-20T16:16:00.000-05:00

isaiah knows:

how to tickle
how to wake you up
how to kneel and fold his hands in prayer (with much prodding and only for a few seconds at a time)
how to say "where'd it/he go?" when something/someone disappears
how to point to his diaper and say "poop" whenever he pees
how to do 50% of the wiggles' dances
how to sway back and forth to motown songs while trying to snap his fingers
how to get on the web browser on my phone
how to mysteriously shut down the laptop with two keystrokes (and never touching the power button)
how to turn on the receiver for the tv
how to brush his teeth (kinda)
how to put in contacts (kinda - he dips his finger in the case then touches his eye)
that two comes after one (but he can only say "two")
that despite us referring to milk as "white juice", it is not as good as real juice

2006-03-13T09:19:00.000-05:00

at bedtime last night, we had had the lights out for a good 5 minutes. clearly, it was time to sleep. isaiah had been tossing around, but was quiet. then a little shadow appears by eric's head: "hiiii!!" super clear, super loud.

hahaha. what a silly boy.

isaiah's starting to understand right from wrong. he can't use the "but i didn't know and i won't be developed enough to understand for a while" excuse anymore. enter time outs and stern reprimands. (side note: it's amazing how long 1 minute is for a time out.)

at church, isaiah is usually pretty good for 3/4 of the mass. it's usually when we get to the "holy holy holy" that he becomes restless. he dropped his binky and i let him go get it. (he drops his binky a zillion times during mass.) a lightbulb went off in his head: "aha! i can run around if it means i have to go get my binky!" so he starts throwing his binky so he can walk even farther to get it. eric sits him down and says "no, isaiah. we do not throw our binky. no throwing." isaiah pauses. processes what eric told him. looks down. then looks at eric, waves, and says, "hiii."

so that's how we know that he gets it. whenever we tell him that he's done something that he shouldn't do, he stops for a second to process it, understands it, then says "hi." it's hard to not smile when he does this cuz it can be really cute. then there are those times where he just totally tunes you out. but that's another story....

2006-02-28T22:03:00.000-05:00

"choo choo...wake up!!" = one two three, wake up! (as in: wake up, jeff!)

2006-02-27T14:36:00.001-05:00

tita lorie (and since they are married and share money, that would include tito ryan) bought isaiah two wiggles dvds. it's the ONLY thing he thing he wants to watch on tv. he had a wiggles marathon on saturday night. please note that wiggles marathon means that he watched the same dvd 4 times in a row. when isaiah sees you reach for the tv remote, he puts both hands in the air and goes "woo!" because he thinks you're going to put on the wiggles for him. when he sees the tivo menu, up go both arms with a "woo!" because, again, he thinks you're going to put on the wiggles for him. and when he sees that the tv program you have selected is not, in fact, the wiggles, he hands you the remote with a confused look and goes "wig-gle?" aaaahh!! poor tita/ninang kimmie is watching him 4 out of the 5 days this week. no doubt she will be going out of her mind with "quack quack quack quack quack cock-a-doodle-doo" and "fruit salad, yummy yummy."

isaiah turned 18 months last monday. he's. SO. BIG. i can't believe how much he knows. we were saying that it was like a flipped a switch and decided to let us in on just how much he understands. it's nice because he's getting so much better at communicating to us what he needs. and vice versa! he's better at understanding what we say to him. he's not a baby anymore, which is good and bad. bad, only because gone are the days that we can hold him as much as we want. good, because he's at such a fun age. he's discovering everything, and it's fun to watch. we're painting our living room and dining room, so we moved out all the furniture out and laid down some plastic last night. plastic makes a neat noise, and open spaces are GREAT for running back and forth. i'm sure you can imagine what fun isaiah had with big sheets of crinkly plastic and 400 square feet of empty rooms. he's such a nut!

2006-02-20T13:17:00.000-05:00

isaiah knows quite a few words. he has his babble, but i would never say that he was "talking". last week isaiah decided that it was time for him to start "talking". he has been a little chatterbox ever since. i think i understand 25% of the words that he says.

current favorite word: "wiggle"

it's high pitched and turns up at the end like a question. "wig-gle? wig-gle?" last thursday and friday night he went to sleep repeating "wig-gle? wig-gle?" until he passed out.

(i should note that he loves the wiggles. eric thinks it's just not right for 40-year-old men to be singing and dancing like that. i think it's a little weird, too, but kids LOVE it. especially ours. so it has been added to our season pass along with jojo's circus, little einsteins, and lazytown.)

he has also enjoyed practicing the use of the word "no". he uses it right 50% of the time.

another word he has been practicing (thanks to tita ninang's oh-so-eloquent-diaper comments): "ew" he never uses that word right.

isaiah has learned to give eskimo kisses and thoroughly enjoys peek-a-boo. i'm afraid that he's going to hurt himself because he covers his eyes so hard when he plays. peek-a-boo often gets mixed in with excerpts of little bunny foo foo and the itsy bitsy spider. cars are called "choo-choos". anything that you drink is "juuuuice!"

my favorite sound in the world is the sound of his laugh. so genuine and pure. i love it.

2006-02-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

i really don't know what it is about little boys trying to squeeze into tight spaces. there's a space in the corner of our living room between the sofa and the chaise. it's about 5 inches wide. isaiah is forever trying to get through the space to get to the corner table and whatever else is back there. but so far, he's always tried to squeeze through tight vertical spaces. until last night...

we're just chillin'...watching tv. all of a sudden isaiah's screaming. "babe, he's stuck!" huh? "his head! it's stuck!" i look behind me and isaiah has managed to get his head stuck *under* the chaise. we couldn't get him to turn his head sideways so he could get out from under the chaise like a normal person, so eric ended up lifting the furniture to free isaiah. i wonder what he was looking at/for. behind the couch and under the chaise are treasure troves for binkies. i hope he has learned his lesson....although, i somehow feel we'll be lifting up the chaise again soon....

2006-02-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

isaiah looooves chocolate. he remembers that the tub of candy left over from my recruiting at umich is on the kitchen table, and he knows which chocolates he's allowed to eat (i only give him the plain hershey bars. i'm worried he'll choke on the krackle and mr. goodbar). so he climbs onto the kitchen chair, reaches for the chocolate in the silver wrapper and brings it to me or eric to open for him. he then proceeds to take one bite then shove the rest in his mouth. mmm! my mom gets mad at me for giving isaiah candy bars. i like to give isaiah treats because for some reason, i feel that i missed out when i was a kid. like i never had the cool candy or cool chips in my lunch box.

last night was a rough night. isaiah woke up screaming at least 3 times. we think the rest of his molars are coming in. poor kid. since we've pushed the bed into the corner, he's been sleeping next to the wall. but last night since he was in pain, we put him in the middle (he loooves being able to touch both me and eric while we sleep). cut to eric against the wall, me on the edge of the other side of the bed, and isaiah horizontal between us. feet on eric's face and head tucked under my arm. it's amazing how a 30" toddler can monopolize a queen-size bed.

i love isaiah so much. he's the best in the morning when he's super calm and still wants to cuddle. yesterday morning, we just sat in the rocking chair in his room for a while. he kept burying his head on my arm or in my chest. he'd pop up every now and then and give me a big smile and then go back to burying his head. it's great when he gets sleepy and he grabs your face with his tiny hands while he rests his head on your shoulder. i remind myself to cherish those moments because the day will soon come when he'll fend off my kisses and hugs so he can run and play with his friends.

2006-02-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

isaiah woke up this morning super smiley. i love it when he's still half asleep, but has a big ol' grin on his face. it's the best. the last couple mornings i've had this dialogue with him:

me: isaiah, do you love mama?
isaiah: uh-uh*
me: i love you too. isaiah, do you love dada?
isaiah: uh-uh
me: daddy loves you too. isaiah, do you love mamo?
isaiah: uh-uh
me: mamo loves you too.

*when isaiah says "uh-uh" it means yes. clearly, the last question about loving mamo shows that. he LOVES nemo (aka "mamo"). sometimes it seems that nemo is all he thinks about.

he also says "juice" now. and he can say "jo-jo" from jo-jo's circuis on playhouse disney. he also knows that goliath is her friend and that goliath is a lion. "isaiah, who's goliath?" "roaarr!" one day, isaiah will actually say lion (or dog, or cow, or monkey, or cat) instead of just saying the sound they make.

little bunny foo foo and the itsy bitsy spider are big hits in the agustin house these days. isaiah knows the hand motions and everything!

2006-02-08T11:53:00.000-05:00

isaiah's growing so fast. i don't want to forget all the little steps he makes to becoming more developed every day. plus, some of these things are so darn cute, i don't want to forget!