Times I Wish The Camera Was On

*** We were talking to my mom on Skype when, all of a sudden, Wei reached out her arms toward Kai and gave him a hug. It was the cutest, sweetest moment! Kai was shocked at first, but then he solely enjoyed embracing his baby sister. They rest their heads on each other's shoulder, and they both had a big smile on. The connection between them was indescribable. It's connection through blood, since birth, and hopefully indestructible. It was obvious that, from all the hugs and kisses Kai's been giving her in the last few months, Wei knows he loves her and now she's able to love him back. 




*** Before picking up Kai this afternoon, I was sitting in the green chair by the bookshelf at the daycare trying to nurse Wei. She just would not settle down. She was looking up at the ceiling, down at the floor, and all around the room. Finally I gave up on trying to get her to nurse and stood her up on my lap. That was when she spotted the book "The Busy Truck" on the top shelf. (Let me put a side note here. I think Wei's favorite color is yellow. She's always intrigued by colors and patterns, but lately I've noticed she'd pick a yellow thing first before any other color.) Back to the moment. So I picked up the book and started reading it to her. She loved it! She shrieked, gasped, and cooed as we flipped the pages. She wanted to hold the book and turn the pages. I've been reading to her at home, but this was the first time I saw such a strong reaction from her. It was quite something considering she's only 5 months old. 




*** Kai had borrowed "The Runaway Pancake" from the daycare. It was the first time I'd seen the book, so I didn't know the story. I was driving home and heard that Kai was talking. I quickly looked over my shoulder and saw that he was "reading" the book aloud. From memory, of course. It was a moment that showed everything about Kai: how he carefully turned to every page and recited what he'd remembered from listening to the story when the teachers read it to him (remember what his teacher said about how good Kai's memory is?) I wonder how many times they've read this book to him because it's not one of his usual "take home books". Must remember to ask them when we return the book tomorrow.




*** Kai's been getting up (and making one of us get up with him) before 7 lately. With both kids getting up multiple times throughout the night, Bill and I are exhausted in the morning. One morning, I took Kai back to his room and asked him to go back to bed for a little while longer. "No!" he said firmly while running to the window. He lifted up the blanket that doubles as his curtain, pointed outside and said, "Mommy, wook! It's day time now. It's not time to sleep." (damn you, daylight savings time)  Smart kid knows how to use what we've told him ("Night time is for sleeping, so don't get up if you wake up in the middle of the night.") back at us, so I decided to introduce the clock.


Before I continue with this story, you have to know that we recently discovered that Kai knows his numbers and almost all the letters in the alphabet. When I decided to show him what a clock is and does, I wasn't trying to teach him to read the time. It was simply an introduction to the concept of time, and I thought he might get a kick out of finding numbers in a different place. It was 6:13 when we got downstairs. I pointed at the time on the microwave and rambled on, "A time is made up of the hour and the minute. This number on the left shows the hour, and these numbers on the right show the minute..." Kai interjected excitedly, pointing at the 6 on the left, "And that's 6!" "Good job recognizing the number. You're right! That is 6, and it's too early to get up." I could feel the weight of my eyelids. "When this number turns to 7, that's a more reasonable time to get up." I knew he wouldn't get it, but I felt better getting it out of my chest.


We read a few books in the living room, and I pretended to play cars with him while trying to steal 2-minute snoozes here and there. When we stepped into the kitchen again to make breakfast, Kai ran to the microwave, pointed at the hour, and started running to the bottom of the stairs, "It's 7! Time to wake up daddy. I wanna tell daddy it's time to get up because the crock says 7." Oh, what have I done?! Luckily, I distracted him by letting him help me make some oat meal. 


"I wanna go to school now, mommy!" Kai made the announcement when he finished his oat meal. I told him it was too early to go to school. "The school's not open until 8:30," I said as I was taking his bib off and gesturing for him to go to the bathroom to wash his bands.


I was doing the dishes in the kitchen and Kai was playing by shelf in the living room when Bill and Wei came down the stairs. As soon as he heard his dad's footsteps, Kai quickly ran to the kitchen. First thing he said to his dad was, "Daddy, we can go to school now. Rook! It's 8 now." I looked at the microwave. It was 8:03. Nothing escapes this kid! It's freaking scary.


Maybe we should put a digital clock in his room. Maybe we will be able to sleep till 7 every morning... Hmm~~