Life in the Boonies

Frank goes to the potty with his Lego catalogs. But daddy was in the potty so Frank couldn’t get his catalog so I told him to just knock and ask. He said “Daddy says get out of here.” Which is exactly what Nat says.

I asked Frank which princess is in the picture and he said I can’t remember. Like grandpa says hi Timmy to me and I’m not Timmy.

Timmy continues to say “tankqu” for thank you even when he should be saying you’re welcome. Frank on the other hand screams and whines when we remind him to say it. Although Timmy being rewarded and complimented for being so polite is rubbing off some on Frank and he will say it after Timmy.

Timmy wants to do everything himself. “do di zip, do di close, do di…”

Timmy has a different name for the Cat in the Hat. It is Hop on Pop. Because that was the first book he read with the early reader symbol on it.

Frank asks lots of questions. Everything is why and how come. Even Timmy says how come. Good thing he is just repeating what he hears. So one day I was tired of answering so the conversation went like this:
Frank: why is there fog?
Me: why do you have a peegu (butt)?
Frank: to chu (poop)
Me: why do you have a head?
Frank: to see.
Me: why do you have cheeks?
Frank: I don’t need my cheek. But you can kiss them so that’s why I guess

The two kids are learning to negotiate… We come home from preschool and I told him daddy made mac and cheese. He saw there was corndog and started to whine. Go figure. That is his favorite food for lunch. Anyways then we gave him the mac and cheese and Timmy the corndog. Then of course he wanted the corndog. It went on and on the whining. I kept explaining to him he didn’t want it and Timmy did. So eventually he started to negotiate with Timmy.
Frank: You can have a bite of my corndog, pretend corndog. (His attempt at sharing so Timmy will have to share)
Timmy: blank stare.
Frank: Share a piece of corndog please.
Timmy: no
Frank: Then you can’t go on the motorboat. You (when he doesn’t get what he wants, the consequences for the other party comes)
Timmy: ok
Frank: You are going to turn into a corndog so I’m gonna eat you up.
Timmy: ok
Frank: Um (making eating actions)

We started a star system where Frank does “HW” (tracing and coloring) to earn stars and trade them in for prizes. We learned this from Auntie Maggie’s house and Frank was excited until he got all the candy out of his prize box. Apparently markers and pencils and stickers were not as appealing to him. So what is he into? LEGO! So we got him a bunch of LEGOs in his prize box and now he is properly motivated. We are also starting to trace Chinese words and will start on the MeiZhou Chinese booklets in March.

Bedtime is starting to be a struggle. Timmy runs around giggling as we try to get him dressed, etc. Tonight he had a stinky diaper so I firmly told him to stop and carried him downstairs to change him to show him I meant business. I put him on the pillow and he looked at me and said “cute” with a smile. I said “you are not cute” and was still being firm. When I returned with a diaper he gave me the most fake smile with his eyes closed and both hands on his cheek and fingers wiggling and said “Timmy cute.” I wish I had a camera. I had to smile and agree he was cute.

2/8 - We are into playing pretend camping again. So I set up the little tent in his room and we started to put things in and all huddled in there with a picnic basket and books. I got a pillow. Out of nowhere Frank says “Skunks fong pi (farts) alot.” He peeks out the tent and says, “No skunks outside the tent.” Then he tells me “they moved to where is cold, like Russia. Russia is cold right mommy?” I said yes. Later back to the skunk topic but now they have been eaten by alligators.

We are writing Valentines this week for all the kids in school and one for Timmy too. Timmy goes to the toddler playgroup and comes home with a free Valentine book. Frank wants it. So Frank said, “Timmy let me have the book.” Timmy says “NO” Frank says “Then I won’t give you a Valentine present. No one will give you a Valentine present if you want that (book).” That is pretty cruel. Good thing Timmy just ignores him.

We are also doing some Chinese words with Chinese New Year coming. Frank has been reading some books with a little boy that talks about the chinese characters looking like pictures. So we were tracing words from 1 to 9. Afterwards he told me the 8 looked like person in the Xiao Ming book. Something is being absorbed.

Frank finished his food and left. Timmy yelled after Frank “xixi shu” (wash hands). Later Frank is gentle patting my Chinese knot decoration and Timmy yelled at Frank “no pull, no pull” Frank kept saying “I’m not pulling”. I even told Timmy Frank is just gently patting. Timmy didn’t believe us and continued his demands.

Timmy tells me to “sit here. right now!” Early stages for bossiness.

After dinner one day, Timmy took his plate to the trash can and scraped off the bones and took it to the sink.

We are doing Parent and Toddler dance and all of the sudden after class Timmy repeatly said, “pick up sticks, buckle shoe, close da door.” He also does his fingers for itsy bitsy spider. And he now says “die” for diamond and shapes his hand like in twinkle twinkle little star.

I was brushing Frank’s teeth one morning and Timmy ran into Nat’s office. Nat said his computer was turned on and all kinds of stuff was done and he had to figure out how to get it back to the way it was. And a msg was send to his co-worker that said “mmmmmmm”. Nat couldn’t believe Timmy did all that in 5 minutes.

Timmy says “ABC” for anything that has word on it. For a day he carried the folded up ad from Nat’s new razor and called it ABC. In the car he would talk to himself, “ABC, ABC” as he points to all the words.

Timmy loves money in his pocket. He likes to get a penny and put it in. He says “penny” and “pock pock” for pocket. He says “marble, hold” when we are in grandma’s garden cuz he likes to take the marble out of the stepping stone and hold it.

As of 2/7 Timmy called a motorcycle as “motorcycle” instead of “deao deao”.

Timmy is starting to say “mercy me”.

For a long time when Timmy goes to bed I ask him “big kiss or little kiss” and he would reply “wuddle kiss”. I give him a little one. Then he says “big kiss”. I give him a big one. Then he says “aina side” (other side) and rolls over. I kiss him big on the other cheek. Then he says “nite nite yaya, nite nite tim tim, nite nite bunny, nite nite frank.” Recently he doesn’t want a kiss. He says “no kiss” in reply. One time I kissed him anyways and he said “wash wash” as he wiped his hand on his face.

Today the garbage truck came and both boys ran outside to see it. After awhile Timmy came back and told me, “too cold, inside see gaba truck”.

Frank often helps me understand Timmy. One time in the car Timmy kept saying “ai grain” and I kept asking him about airplane? Finally Frank said “Al’s crane!” Oh, “Al’s LEGO crane?” Timmy says “yeah”. Sometimes I have to just ask Frank “What is he saying?” Of course sometimes Frank doesn’t know either.